 |
|
|
Summer 2009The Above and Beyond Award at CVMC is given to employees, volunteers and physicians who clearly went "above and beyond" to help a patient or fellow colleague. Nominated by their peers and awarded by Judy Tarr (CEO and President of CVMC), the stories of these award recipients exemplify the spirit of caring at CVMC.
Chelsie Alden 
Sue Thompson (Phlebotomy/Medical Secretary II) Lab nominated Chelsie Alden from Registration who covers the greeters window for the Phlebotomy Department. Chelsie deserves this award because she is always very friendly with the patients (even when she is having a bad day either because she is not feeling well or if she has simply had a rotten day). Chelsie is always willing to help out in the Phlebotomy Department by answering questions, getting extra help for us from the main lab, doing errands and just overall being a happy, friendly, helpful person. No matter what is going on, Chelsie is professional, courteous and extremely helpful.
Scott Baggs RN, BSN 
One May evening Susan Shafer RN was to pick up Scott Baggs RN BSN patients on 2 South. When she arrived, there was a man who had been undergoing treatments for the past 10 months who had made the decision that he did not want to continue, as his quality of life was no longer what it used to be. Scott stayed and made arrangements to have the family come in to discuss options with the patient. He also contacted the doctor and had a conference over the phone with family and doctor. The patient was changed to palliative care, and Scott made sure the patient and family were comfortable with both the decision and surroundings prior to signing off. There is something to be said for continuity of care and building a rapport with patients and family, especially in situations of the heart such as this one. Scott showed his professionalism, dedication to his work and compassion for his patients. That is why Susan is nominating him for Above and Beyond.
Aaron Bilbry 
On a busy Monday night, a young couple brought their five-year-old son to the Emergency Department with vomiting. Before getting to the ED, he had vomited in their car. At discharge they asked if we had something they could clean up their car with. ED tech Aaron Bilbry gathered cleaning materials and cleaned their car for them so they could proceed home in a clean car. Thank you Aaron for taking it to this level. Nominated by Sydnee E. Boucher, RN CNC ED.
Heather Blunt 
Heather Blunt, CVMC's DHMC Consulting Librarian is one of the many members of the CVMC staff who are easily overlooked but whose contribution to our ability to provide quality health care is enormous. In Dr. Roger Knowlton's opinion, she has frequently gone in regards to helping physicians obtain information (journals, articles, internet info, etc.) that we use on a daily basis and that help us stay up to date.
Sydnee Boucher, RN, CNC 
President & CEO Judy Tarr and Alison White, Chief Nursing Officer and VP for Nursing and Quality would like to recognize all of the Emergency Department staff , as well as floor staff and supervisors, who were involved with the two recent tragic car accidents in our area. It is because of your efforts, lives were saved. In particular, they want to recognize Sydnee Boucher, RN, CNC , who was working both shifts. Her strategic thinking mobilized critical care transports sooner and contributed significantly to lives saved. Sydnee, words cannot express our deep appreciation for your work on both of these evenings.
Greg Ciampi 
Practice Manager Jayne Lowe noted that in early June when the lawn service was moving the lawn around the employee parking lot a rock flew from the mower into the backseat window of an employee's car. Not only did Greg Ciampi help with the situation with the police and by gathering information from the lawn service, he cleaned out all of the shattered glass out of the employee's car and covered the window with plastic in case it rained later in the day. Thank you Greg for taking the extra steps to make an unfortunate situation better and keeping it from being even more unpleasant if it rained.
Donna Domingue, LNA and Liz Isabelle 
It was early June. The Women and Children's Unit had four labor patients and one more on the way, not to mention the patients that were already here. Donna Domingue, LNA and Liz Isabelle, patient sitter/secretary were training to take on the charges of the other units. As the labors progressed and we started to need to move patients to make room for the labors, Donna jumped right in and worked tirelessly until 19:00 , well beyond her expected shift. Liz, after finishing up her work, came out and answered phones, lights and the doorbell. They made a huge difference in a day that could have been a lot worse.
The entire staff was amazing under the circumstances of the day. There were so many points at which things could have broken down and never did. Stevie, Holly, Erica, Tracey , Nancy and Marcia all could be nominated because they all went Above and Beyond for the patients, the Unit and CVMC. Submitted by Scott A. Lamberti, LNA, Women and Children's Unit Secretary.
Carol Dufresne 
Carol Dufresne is such a wonderful asset to CVMC that Interfaith Chaplain Caroline Herz is hard pressed to give but one example. The Advance Directive Performance Improvement Committee, of which Carolyn is a member, launched an initiative to improve awareness of Advance Directives among employees and the community. Carol's help in this effort truly went Above and Beyond . She spent a day helping to staff the information table in the lobby, prepared all of the posters for the event, processed all the ads, and prepared an informational Power Point presentation. Most of these things were done without being asked. Carol is exceptionally able to anticipate what might be needed and just do it! All this PLUS grace and good humor. She is an exemplary employee and I am so glad to work with her!
Laura Hubbell also nominated Carol Dufresne stating that Carol has been a huge asset to both the CVMC Breast Care Program and the Advance Directive Initiative. She not only takes minutes at meetings but comes prepared with handouts and agendas and is able to keep the group updated and on task. She is extremely organized, very self-motivated and always more than willing to help. She completes tasks in a better than timely manner, if that's possible. I have never seen Carol without a smile on her face and a skip in her step. We are lucky to have such a pleasant, organized, hard working, motivated employee here at CVMC, and I am so glad I am able to work with her.
Donna Izor MS, FACMPE 
We were checking the set up for a luncheon, explained Hjonis Hanson , marketing manager, when we found that there wasn't going to be enough room for everyone and that we had to rearrange things. We started some last minute scrambling to move chairs and bring some extra tables into the conference room. Donna Izor MS, FACMPE vice president of physician services , came in, dropped down her pad of paper and started moving stuff with us. We really needed the help too, as people were starting to show up! After we finished, I asked Donna where she was sitting (assuming that she was part of the meeting) and she replied, “Oh…I'm not in this meeting. You guys looked like you could use some help and that's what we do around here right?” She then picked up her pad of paper and left. Thank you Donna!
John Koval 
Volunteer Jean Rubalcaba was working at the Front Desk and volunteer John Koval (his shift ended at noon ) stayed until 2:30 to help her, doing some running and stuffing envelopes. Jean has seen him helping out on many occasions and thinks he deserves to be thought of for Above & Beyond.
Theresa Lever 
Theresa Lever, Social Worker at Woodridge , was the catalyst that resulted in a weekend of blessing for a resident and her family. She asked Mary what would be her dearest wish. Mary said she'd like to see her large extended family in New Jersey . Theresa contacted the family to see if it could happen and then her “can-do” attitude put everything into place: doctor permission, airline reservations, transportation to and from airports, photo I.D. for travel and many other arrangements.
The result was a wonderful weekend; quiet moments sitting on the porch, reconnecting with family and friends she hadn't seen in years, watching the children play, lots of good food, drink and music.
Eileen Supplee LNA was privileged to be Mary's companion for this trip and to witness much laughter, happy tears and memories shared. It truly was a blessing for Mary, her family and Eileen and would never have happened without Theresa Lever.
Leo Martineau, Walter Eldred and Mike Bott 
Nutrition and food services director Terry Redmond wants to acknowledge Leo Martineau, Walter Eldred and Mike Bott from the maintenance department for their efforts, and the entire NFS team , in accomplishing the Herculean task of moving the entire kitchen operation in a matter of 3-1/2 hours on Friday, without major interruption of service, into the cafeteria, and then on Sunday cleaning the kitchen top to bottom post-construction and moving the entire operation back in and ready to go by 7:30 pm Sunday evening for full operation Monday morning. It was a beautiful thing to behold. Thanks.
Jeanne Stearns, RN
In January, Jeanne Stearns RN, nursing supervisor, was nominated by a group of nurses: Tricia Vitori RN CCRN, Sarah Magdon RN, Stephanie Frederick RN, nursing supervisor, Eileen Wheeler RN, Beth LaBerge RN and Cathy Lake RN . Jeanne not only stayed for longer than a double shift but selflessly did so to allow us to have Stephanie (who was supposed to relieve Jeanne) stay in the Davis Special Care Unit (DSCU) to help us. Not finished yet… she also walked by a room and saw a nurse preparing to do a bath on a vented patient. Jeanne came in and helped not only then but again later on. How she worked that many hours and also helped with patient care, and also managed to work longer than a double shift as supervisor running around for the whole hospital, is truly a feat worth recognition. And it should also be mentioned that she did it all with a smile. Thank you so very much Jeanne – truly Above & Beyond .
Shaun Stephens MS, CCC-SLP 
On the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend Robert Patterson, PT, director of rehabilitation services, received a phone call from the inpatient physical therapist that a gentleman who was admitted to the Davis Special Care Unit (DSCU) was choking and unable to swallow even thickened foods. The attending physician wrote a referral for speech language services which are not typically provided over the weekend, but the patient and his family were quite concerned with his status. Given it was a holiday weekend, the soonest he would be seen was on Tuesday. Robert called Shaun Stephens MS, CCC-SLP and he gladly rearranged his weekend schedule. After calling the DSCU on Sunday, he evaluated this patient first thing on Monday morning. The patient and his family were thankful for his care.
Melanie Tucker 
Judy Tarr, President & CEO, was walking through the lobby when Melanie Tucker, an employee in Diagnostic Imaging , went to her and said “some of the mulch in the parking lot is on fire!” Melanie went on to explain how she had tried to stomp the smoldering mulch out with her shoes but with little luck. She then came into the hospital to search for help. I asked her to show me where the fire was and when we got out there, I called Richard Morley on my cell phone and he came out with two big containers of water and put the fire out. Thanks so much Melanie for going Above and Beyond in caring for the safety of CVMC.
Woodridge Staff 
When Amanda Mills-Brown, RN Nurse Manager Woodridge, Evergreen Unit thinks of customer service, she usually thinks of patients and visitors. Recently because of six fabulous individuals she was reminded that each employee is a customer as well. Amanda nominated Yvonne Gammel, Kathy Blouin, Adam Merchant, Jen Smith, Deb Dunbar and Tiffany Anderson for stepping up to the plate when a fellow employee was in trouble. A co-worker of Adam's, Jen's, Deb's and Tiffany's had lost her ride to work. Because she was without a ride, this employee was facing corrective action at work and looking to the future with dismay. Amanda asked around for people to help provide rides while she worked on getting another plan in place. When she asked co-workers at Woodridge , the above mentioned people agreed to take on the extra task. When Amanda sent a corporation-wide email asking for help, Yvonne and Kathy jumped at the opportunity to help someone they had never even met.
Offering a ride to a fellow employee is clearly Above and Beyond and not in any job description I have ever read, so it is heartwarming to know that there are people who will go the extra mile to make sure that other humans are taken care of. It makes me proud to be a CVMC employee and work with such caring individuals. If our employees are able to care for each other so much, then imagine what they do for patients!
Thanks to these employees of CVMC for thinking outside of themselves, which is not so easy to do in the world we live in. Hopefully their actions will cause others to pass along the kindness.
|
|
|
|
