May 2013 - Arkansas Children's Hospital

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Honoring Those Who Do the Most for our Kids: The 2013 Ruth Olive Beall and Betty A. Lowe, MD, Awards A sitting Arkansas First Lady who has made children’s behavioral health, oral health, health literacy and injury prevention her platform. A retired neurologist who created the first program in the state to address complicated pediatric sleep issues. A tireless advocate of special needs children. A scientist who has guided the start-up of a unique federally funded research institute that focuses on children’s nutrition. A community gastroenterologist who has helped scores of kids reach the services they need. The 2013 Ruth Olive Beall and Betty A. Lowe, MD, Awards brought special recognition to individuals who have done these things and so much more for the children of our state. Each year, ACH convenes board members, medical staff, administrators and supporters to honor those who have gone the extra mile to create a better world for children. The awards ceremony, held April 25 at Chenal Country Club, is the hospital’s signature recognition program and highlights the hard work of the entire medical staff. In addition to the five special honors, nearly 50 physicians were recognized during this year’s ceremony for service to ACH ranging from five to 40 years on staff. This year’s ceremony included a new honor: the Dr. Robert H. Fiser, Jr. Research Achievement Award. This honor will be awarded annually to an ACHRI research scientist who has distinguished himself or herself through extraordinary scientific research that will have lasting impact on the health, development and well-being of children and their families. The inaugural award was given to Dr. Thomas M. Badger, director of the Arkansas Center for Nutrition Research. The night also included recognition of Arkansas First Lady Ginger Beebe, who received the Betty A. Lowe, MD Award from the ACH Foundation. The annual honor recognizes the personal initiative, service and leadership of an individual who has made a significant contribution to the health and well-being of the children of Arkansas. Dr. Helen Casteel, was recognized as the Dr. Tom Ed Townsend Award recipient. The honor recognizes an Arkansas community physician who has provided excellence in health care and has been a consistent supporter of ACH. Dr. Casteel is the founder of Pediatric Gastroenterology Associates in Little Rock and a member of the ACH medical staff and a community advocate for children. Dr. May Griebel, a neurologist who founded the Sleep Lab at ACH, received the Ruth Olive Beall Award. An honor of highest distinction, the Ruth Olive Beall Award is given to a physician who consistently displays the ACH Service and Behavioral Standards. The Drs. Joanna J. & Robert W. Seibert Award was given to Dr. Eldon Schulz, a pediatrician who works with special needs children and also led the Dennis Developmental Center for 20 years. The Seibert Award honors outstanding teamwork and is named for physicians who epitomized and promoted teamwork at ACH. Before the awards ceremony concluded, those in attendance were treated to a special presentation. The booming voice of Dr. Betty A. Lowe, who died in March, rang out in the reception hall. A recording of her speaking to an interviewer gave way to memorial video that captured her wit and wisdom, as the evening honored her memory. New Faces: Directors of Child Life, Clinical Nutrition Join ACH Team ACH is rolling out the welcome mat for two new directors of important departments this month. If you see either of these new team members on campus, please be sure to welcome them to our hospital! Renee Hunte, MA, CCLS, joins ACH as the new director of Child Life and Education. She previously led the Child Life Department at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas and also worked in the same area at MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital in Houston. She also worked several years at Phoenix Children’s Hospital as a Child Life specialist and as the director of Psychosocial Programs for the Children’s Cancer Center. “Arkansas felt like a hidden gem when I came for the interview in January,” Hunte said. “The department has a wide-range of experience among the staff, and I sense a great deal of pride in the team and others who work here at ACH!” She lives in Little Rock with her husband and their 5-year-old twins. Shannon Hendrix, MS, RD, LD, is the new director of Clinical Nutrition at ACH. She comes to the hospital after serving as director of Nutrition at Arkansas Heart Hospital, where she also worked in Food Service and Clinical Management over a seven-year span. Hendrix has also held positions in in clinical nutrition at St. Vincent Health System, Southwest Hospital and Baptist Medical Center in Stuttgart. Hendrix has always been impressed by ACH’s reputation as a great place to work and wanted to be a part of that community. “I’ve always had a strong passion to help people, especially children,” she said. “Proper nutrition is vital to the survival of children, especially those with special needs.” In her spare time, Hendrix enjoys reading, exercising and spending time with her husband, 18-month-old son and adult stepdaughter. Get Fit with the 2013 Summer Weight Challenge Join the free Summer Weight Challenge program at the ACH East Campus Fitness Center! Sign up starts June 3 on the ACH Training system. Weigh In: June 24 – July 2 • Weigh Out: Aug. 19 – 26 Maintain or lose weight (within 1 or 2 pounds) during the eight-week program and receive a prize! Your name will also be entered in a drawing for a $25 gift card.* Be one of the three biggest losers throughout the eight-week challenge, based on the highest percentage of loss, and win a $50 gift card! During the Summer Weight Challenge you will receive: • Weekly motivational emails with easy-to-make healthy recipes; and • 25 Travel to Wellness points if you weigh out at the end of the program.* Maintain or lose weight from the end of the Summer Weight Challenge (Aug. 26) through the beginning of the Holiday Weight Challenge and your name will be entered into a drawing for a gift card during the Holiday Weight Challenge, also! *ACH employees only Communication Corner Tips that Improve Communication in the Workplace It’s important to think about how we can all promote positive communication at work. Here are some helpful hints to keep in mind: • Start with positive words at staff meetings. Be personable. • Maintain frequent communication. • Make sure to follow up regarding communication. • Call people by name. • Hold people to high standards. • Show gratitude. Say “Thank you” as something helpful is happening. • Help others save face. A friendly, “It happens to the best of us” goes a long way. • Be considerate. Resource: http://appitive.com/business2012/01/11 Need to Make Benefit Changes Important May 2013 Open Enrollment Dates Open Enrollment allows you to review your benefit options and make important changes. Please save the date for the 2013 Open Enrollment appointments. Wondering when and where you will enroll Your department supervisor will let you know. • Live On-Campus Enrollment starts • May 1 • Live On-Campus Enrollment ends • May 24 • Last day to make election changes by phone is May 29 at 5 PM • Effective date of Open Enrollment elections is July 1 Congratulations Kudos to Jay Desphande, MD, MPH, senior vice president and chief quality officer, on being named to Becker’s Hospital Review list of “50 Experts Leading the Field of Patient Safety.” Experts were chosen based on their local and national impact on patient safety through participating in or heading patient safety initiatives, educating others, publicly speaking about patient safety and publishing articles and research. Congratulations, Dr. Deshpande! We are grateful for your hard work to keep our patients safe. The Arkansas Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics recently recognized two ACH dietitians for their service in the field. NICU dietitian Sarah Douglas, MS, RD, LD, received the honor of Young Dietitian of the Year. The academy noted that Sarah is “a wonderful team player, a conscientious dietitian and one who will go the extra mile to ensure her patients have the best nutritional care.” In addition, CVICU dietitian Jessica Burgess, MS, RD, CSP, LD was honored as an Emerging Dietetic Leader. She was recognized for her devotion to the field and “has been known to purchase specialty food items for her patients and has made herself available at night and on weekends to provide mixing instructions to parents for children going home.” Congratulations, Sarah and Jessica. Thank you for all you do to help our patients! The Arkansas chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) honored ACH President and CEO Jonathan Bates, MD, with its prestigious Diamond Award for communication skills at a recent luncheon in Little Rock. The Diamond Award is presented to an individual who has made significant contributions resulting in enhancement of the image of Arkansas and who has performed outstanding service to the state in which the principles of public relations have played a major part. Dr. Bates was selected for the Diamond Award not only because of his leadership of Arkansas Children’s Hospital, but also for his support and value of public relations in building the visibility and reputation of the organziation that has cared for so many Arkansas children during his tenure. The accolades for his contributions include recognition of his skill as a collaborator, problem-solver and child advocate. Congratulations! 2 Need ACH Security in the hospital or a parking lot Call X44444 or 364-4444
voLunteer Corner ACH Volunteers Make a Great Impact Arkansas Children’s Hospital depends on volunteers to provide assistance for patients, their families and hospital staff. Whether the volunteer is a retiree wanting to give back to the community, a student hoping to fulfill a service requirement or just a person with a simple desire to help others during their free time, there’s a wide array of opportunities at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. From interacting with patients to helping in an office setting or the gift shop, there are opportunities galore. If any of your friends or family members express an interest in how they can help us, please direct them to the Volunteer Services website (archildrens.org/volunteer) We are always looking for new volunteers! Look at how these ACH staff members utilize and appreciate our volunteers: Diana Denning, ACH Foundation: “The work the volunteers do here in the ACH Foundation may not be as hands-on as some of the hospital volunteers, but it is just as essential. Our volunteers not only help us raise money to benefit the patients and families we treat here at the hospital, they have also become members of the Foundation family. We are so grateful for the work they do.” Amber Williams, Child Life & Education: “I often hear patients and families specifically mention the volunteers, or ‘the people in the blue shirts’ as people who really made their day by bringing something as simple as a coloring book and a bright smile. It is the little things that really make a big difference in the experience that the families have while here at ACH.” Cynthia Sizemore, Legal Affairs: “I love the enthusiasm that a volunteer brings! Their attitude of service is contagious and serves as a reminder to me of the wonderful privilege we have of caring for children and their families at ACH.” Amelia Randag, Child Life & Education: “Many of our volunteers give their time after working a full-time job. I have had volunteers who are students, but many others who are business owners, doctors, teachers, lawyers, counselors, etc. These volunteers see this time as a way to give back to the community and help others.” Masters of Disaster: PULSE Center Helps NICU Drill for Real-Life Scenarios It’s the kind of crisis no one wants to imagine occurring at a hospital: a full-scale disaster that shuts down the power and requires that critical care patients be evacuated. Unfortunately, it’s happened often across the country in the last two years, and it’s important to think about how ACH will respond to such a scenario if it does happen. The PULSE Center team recently helped Emergency Medical Director Dr. Kristin Lyle and Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Shoptaw envision this type of crisis. They designed a drill that played out in the NICU last month by simulating four evacuation scenarios for infants. Each scenario required two evacuation drills – one that moved the mock patient to another unit and one that evacuated the patient off-site. “In a true disaster, critical decisions and actions must happen very quickly and the outcomes from those steps are equally significant,” Dr. Lyle said. “Stressing the system through a simulation gives us a wonderful opportunity to improve our plans when there’s really not a disaster.” The crisis drills were conducted simulating an environment without power, meaning no use of elevators. The patient evacuations moved down hospital stairwells, and demonstrated just how many people are needed to make this kind of transition. At least nine individuals were required to carry a baby on ECMO weighing 6.5 pounds down the stairs, for example. The events were also timed to show how long each evacuation will take when minutes are ticking away. While disaster drills are common at many simulation centers, the PULSE Center team is unaware of other groups offering similar evacuation exercises. Dr. Ashley Ross, comedical director of the NICU, said the in-depth planning shows ACH is at the forefront of pediatric hospital disaster training. The interdisciplinary approach meant that just about every position in the NICU participated, too. Improvisations made during the drills were also helpful; providers employed creative solutions when power wasn’t available. “We discovered new ways to move patients that are very different from what we would use on a typical day,” Lyle said. “These included disconnecting all non-critical medicine drips, detaching non-critical equipment from the patient, hanging foley bags on the scrubs of care providers moving with the patient, taping chest tube drains to the patient warmer – even cradling patients with hot pacs in Ziploc bags to keep them warm in transit.” The NICU is already making changes to its everyday processes based on the drill’s outcomes. NICU Nursing Director Luann Jones has added a safety coordinator to every NICU shift, which will reinforce the evacuation system when the need arises. “These drills gave us the real data that we need to identify areas that need to be changed or further investigated in advance of a real event that might necessitate evacuation,” Lyle said. “We are now also able to better package and target the training for the general nursing and physician staff that will be coming up next!” Little Physicians Have Big Fun During Teddy Bear Clinic All the elements of a typical ACH exam or operating room were present: bandages, tongue depressors, surgical tape and even an anesthesia mask. But the patients Well, they were a little furry. But that didn’t bother their young medical team! These docs and nurses in training were excited to help provide a little TLC. That’s how it went during the recent Teddy Bear Clinic in Camp Wannaplay. ACH patients – mostly kids under the age of 10 – were each given a “plush patient” to care for. They could touch up a stuffed animal’s wounds with Band-Aids, treat their little pal’s “broken leg” by helping apply an actual cast and even assist with a teddy bear’s “open heart” surgery. The event marked Child Life and Education month, and allowed that team to help children have some control over their hospital experience. Judging from the patients’ smiles and excitement, it may have opened up some future career possibilities, too! A Decade of Family-Centered Care Reynolds PICU Marks 10th Anniversary of Extensive Remodel Every minute is sacred inside the Donald W. Reynolds Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. For a team that cares daily for more than 20 critically ill and injured patients, each single minute can make a difference in a child’s life. The team can hardly believe that it’s been a decade – 5.25 million minutes – since the unit reopened with a focus on family-centered care after a major remodel in 2003. That update was made possible by the generosity of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, which gave an $8.4 million gift to the unit. That is still the largest gift ever made to the hospital. The remodel brought in state-of-the-art technology and nearly doubled the unit’s size to 23,000 square feet. “Time flies, but we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to serve Arkansas children and their families,” said Kim White, nursing director of the Reynolds PICU at ACH. “This team is really amazing and a tremendous resource for Arkansas children at a critical point in their lives.” In the decade since the renovation, the PICU has been on the front lines to care for children in many crisis scenarios, ranging from the Super Tuesday tornadoes in 2008 to the global pandemic of H1N1. The 2003 makeover put ACH at the cutting edge of pediatric care facilities with a focus on making families a part of their child’s care team. For the first time, parents were able to room-in with the child on the PICU because the remodel included private rooms with daybeds. This inspired features in the new South Wing that opened last year. The renovation also allowed the PICU to expand its team and care for even more kids on a daily basis. In 2013, the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit saw 1,600 patient visits. As the team looks ahead to the next 10 years, there is much excitement about the opportunities on the horizon. “We’re still grateful for how the Reynolds Foundation has given so many kids a new chance at life through the resources available in our PICU,” White said. “We plan to continue to improve this state of the art resource for children and send thousands more kids home happy and healthy in the next decade.” (Photo: The mural outside of the PICU.) Got Moves Show Them Off at the So You Think You Can Dance During May Parties I scream, you scream. We all scream for ... dancing (Well, and ice cream too, of course!) It’s time to get your groove on and fill up a cone or cup! The annual ice cream parties – complete with a dancing contest – will be held May 2 and May 4, in locations listed below. Great ice cream sundaes, popcorn, slushies, fresh fruit and other refreshments will be on the menu. * Have some treats, visit with friends, play carnival games for prizes and enjoy the entertainment. Or if you want to show off your dance moves, enter the So You Think You Can Dance contest! Look for signup information on dance contest flyers in your department and in Vital Signs eNews. East Campus Children’s Hall: 1:30 PM to 4 PM – Thursday, May 2** Hospital South Dining Room: 2 PM to 4 PM – Thursday, May 2 Capitol View Dining Room Evening: 8 PM to 10 PM – Thursday, May 2 Capitol View Dining Room, Weekend: 6 PM to 8 PM – Saturday, May 4 For more news about what’s going on around ACH check Vital Signs eNews daily! *Low-fat frozen yogurt, sugar-free and dairy-free products will be available in one serving line. Popcorn served at East Campus location only. **Extended hours during the Thursday East Campus event: 1:30 PM – 4 PM. 3
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May 2013 - Arkansas Children's Hospital

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