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S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 1
Employee News
On the web:
Clinical Social Work Website
The Clinical Social Work Department
provides psychosocial support,
interventions and coping strategies
for patients and families during a
hospitalization. Clinical social workers
help promote active participation and
collaboration in patient treatment
and care.
To learn more about this service,
visit: www.uclahealth.org/clinical
socialwork
Santa Monica Campus Community Celebration
Bring your friends and family for a sneak preview of UCLA Health System’s new Santa
Monica Campus before it opens in 2012. The special celebration for the community will
include tours, health screenings and literature, children’s activities, musical entertainment,
giveaways and refreshments.
Sunday, September 18 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
16th Street between Wilshire Blvd. and Arizona Avenue
Flu Vaccination Protects
You and Our Patients
“At least 90 percent of healthcare workers should
be vaccinated,” advises T. Warner Hudson, M.D.,
FACOEM, FAAFP, medical director of UCLA
Occupational Health. “At UCLA, approximately
70 percent of employees are vaccinated each year,
but I hope to improve that statistic by urging
employees and staff to get their flu vaccinations
on time to protect themselves and our patients.”
Continued on page 4
IN THIS ISSUE
UCLA People
3 Suzanne Travis Heals with Humor
Inside Stories
2 Leadership Lessons from Dr. Levey
2 UCLA Football Game Tickets on Sale
2 2011 Holiday Card Collection
4 Volunteer Services Seeks Magazine Donations
5 UCLA Health System Says Goodbye to Smoke
5 Staff Training for Santa Monica Campus
5 Jules Stein Eye Center in Santa Monica
Wellness Initiative
6 LA Heart Walk
6 Smoking Cessation Program
News Shorts
6 CareConnect Update
6 UCLA Family Commons Serves Community
6 Cathy Ward, RN, Receives Nursing Award

Leadership Lessons from Dr. Levey
In a book published this summer, Gerald S.
Levey, M.D., dean emeritus of the David Geffen
School of Medicine at UCLA and former
vice chancellor of UCLA Medical Sciences,
discusses the lessons he learned during nearly
16 years at the helm of one of America’s premier
healthcare institutions.
Dr. Levey wrote the book as a business memoir
intended to provide insights for leaders of all
types of organizations. “The traits I identify are
as relevant to business or government as they
are to medicine,” he says. “Rather than going
into detail about issues like cost containment,
patient satisfaction and quality of care, I
wanted to share how a successful leader makes
decisions and the role of the leadership team in
achieving the institution’s goals.”
Never Be Afraid to Do the Right Thing: A
Leadership Guide in an Age of Change and
Challenge (Second River Healthcare Press)
highlights the challenges Dr. Levey faced
shortly after arriving at UCLA and being
confronted with the damage caused by the 1994
Northridge earthquake. It soon became clear
that a significant portion of Dr. Levey’s mandate
would be overseeing the building of a new
hospital. “In one fell swoop, the job I thought I
was going to have completely changed,” he says.
The book’s title derives from Dr. Levey’s favorite
business admonishment. He frequently advised
members of his leadership team that, more
important than whether a decision turned out
to be correct, was whether it was “the moral,
ethical and honest thing to do.” He argues that
one of the most important traits of a strong
leader is the ability to adapt to circumstances.
“No one knows what the healthcare system will
look like 10, 20 or 30 years from now,” he says.
“But the leaders of that system are going to have
to know how to adapt. If, for example, Medicare
or Medicaid were drastically changed, they
would have to figure out how to function at a
high level in such a system.”
Never Be Afraid to Do the Right Thing is
available from www.Amazon.com and
www.SecondRiverHealthcare.com
UCLA FOOTBALL GAME
Mark your calendar to join other UCLA
Health System employees and their guests.
UCLA vs. Cal
Saturday, October 29
Rose Bowl, Pasadena
$25 per ticket
(4 ticket limit per person)
$11 bus transportation (optional)
Cash Only. No refunds!
Tickets on sale now through October 10
at RRUCLA Main Cashier, 200 UCLA
Medical Plaza Main Cashier, and SMUCLA
Main Cashier. Get your tickets while
supplies last!
Go to http://uclabruins.cstv.com, and
click on “sports” for event information.
2011 Holiday Card Collection
The Holiday Card Art Program strives to create opportunities for
“kids to be kids.” Artists work with children during long hospital
stays to encourage creative expression. The
collection features cards of the season created
by young patients who share their interpretation
of holiday celebrations. A collector’s Barbie card,
designed by Mattel, Inc., is also available.
Proceeds from card sales benefit the Chase
Child Life Program, whose specialists work with
young patients to ease fear and anxiety during
lengthy hospitalizations.
Holiday cards are $20 per box for 12 holiday cards
and envelopes. Early-bird pricing of $15 is available for
cards ordered September 15 through October 7, 2011.
For more information visit: www.uclahealth.org/holidaycards
or email childlife@mednet.ucla.edu
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UCLApeople
Suzanne Travis, Registered Nurse, Clinical Nurse II
Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital
Healing with Humor
Travis is an oncology nurse and a stand-up comedienne who uses humor to
connect with patients. She has worked at UCLA for a total of 18 years — first
as a nurse in the oncology unit at UCLA Medical Center, then as a UCLA Home Health nurse and, for the
past three years, as an oncology nurse at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital.
How did you become interested
in stand-up comedy?
Back in the early 1990s, when I was a home
health nurse for AIDS patients, I had a patient
who was very funny and who at the end of his
life was at home still making jokes when he
knew he was dying. At the exact same time,
I had another patient who was a professional
comic who used to listen to me make jokes
about being single and being a nurse and
he said, “You really should perform comedy
because you’re so funny.” He encouraged
me to take a class at UCLA Extension and I
loved it. I started performing and soon the
University Hilton gave a friend and me a space
to perform on Friday and Saturday nights. We
called it Club 555 and would sell tickets and
donate the money we earned. Over the years,
I’ve performed in countless clubs and have
hosted about a dozen comedy fundraisers.
How do you make your patients laugh?
If a patient tells me he’s depressed or sick of
being at the hospital, I might say, “Well, if you
weren’t depressed, you’d be nuts!” A comment
like that will make the patient laugh and think,
“Thank God, it’s a normal reaction to being
in this hospital.” It just erases the anxiety. If a
patient has been with us for a long time and
is finally getting to go home, I might say, “Are
you sad about going home today? Do you
want me to keep you a little longer?” Humor
humanizes patients and elevates them out of
the patient role where their identity may be
lost. Laughter also equalizes the relationship
between nurse and patient.
“Humor humanizes patients and elevates them out of the patient
role where their identity may be lost.”
What do you like about being
an oncology nurse?
I believe those who choose this profession
have a calling. I feel I do. Also, you see so
many inspirational things in the face of all the
sadness — like the 22-year-old patient I just
had who would wear a rainbow-colored clown
wig and walk around the station making jokes
with everybody. There’s a lot of authenticity
when people are faced with very serious
illnesses. Everybody becomes very close, very
quickly. It’s extremely gratifying.
Has being an oncology nurse changed
you in any way?
It has changed my worldview in that I don’t
think we have control over certain things.
And when something comes out of left field
— like a perfectly healthy young person has
a shoulder ache and then finds out he has a
catastrophic illness that changes his whole life
— you learn not to sweat the small stuff and to
really cherish the right now.
What’s the hardest part of the job?
Because I’m a mother, my biggest challenge is
dealing with other young mothers who are
very sick. They might ask me how my
daughter is doing in high school, knowing
they might not live to see their own child in
high school is very poignant. Sometimes I cry
with my patients. I’m not afraid to be with
them in that moment of sadness. It’s also hard
when you get close to someone who has been
coming in for maybe a year and who suddenly
starts going downhill. It can be very hard, but
that’s where the humor comes in. At the end
of an intense day, if I personally didn’t have
humor or the ability to poke fun at my own
self, I wouldn’t last.
What are your other interests?
I love to write and have an article called
“Laughter and Healing” in the first issue of
4Southwest Pulse, a new quarterly newsletter
created for and by the nursing staff. I know
this sounds so cliché but I’m also writing a
screenplay with a friend. And I love to paint.
I helped paint a mural of an ocean scene
in the phlebotomy area of the 200 UCLA
Medical Plaza building and am hoping to get
permission to paint a mural for our floor here
at Santa Monica.
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Volunteer Services Seeks Magazine Donations for Patients
If you’re an avid reader of Sports Illustrated
or People or someone who always picks
up a Readers’ Digest at the grocery
checkout stand, UCLA Health System’s
Volunteer Services would like you to donate
your current, gently used magazines for
distribution to hospital patients and their
family members.
Volunteer Services, which already distributes
about 100 copies of USA Today at Ronald
Reagan UCLA Medical Center every
weekday, plans to add current, general
interest magazines to the free reading
materials it offers to patients and their
visitors, says Volunteer Services Director
Kathy Sipes-Barron. Magazine donations
will be collected outside the door of the
Volunteer Services office at B791 in RRUCLA
and at the SMUCLA Main Information Desk
at the 15th Street entrance.
“We’re trying to think about all the ways we
can help patients when they’re here in the
hospital,” Sipes-Barron says. “We want to
make their stay with us more pleasant and
we want to support their family members so
they in turn can support the patient more.”
Other magazines frequently requested by
patients include Better Homes and Gardens,
National Geographic, Time, Newsweek,
Vogue, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal,
GQ and Us. Sipes-Barron asks that donors
remove their names and addresses from the
donated magazines before dropping them off.
Volunteer Services runs several programs to
improve the morale of patients and family
members. They co-host “Music at the
Med,” a free classical music concert series
that runs from January to June in RRUCLA’s
Tamkin Auditorium
and features UCLA
musicians.
With a staff of just
seven, Volunteer
Services oversees
more than 4,600
active volunteers at
both RRUCLA and
SMUCLA, serving as
patient escorts, family
liaisons, greeters,
student ambassadors,
interns and research
Kathy Sipes-Barron
and volunteer harpist
Amy Wilkins.
assistants, Sipes-Barron says. “We have
a wonderful staff and everything is done
with total teamwork. Everyone helps
everybody out,” she notes.
Flu Vaccination continued from page 1
Each year in the U.S., 5 to 20 percent of the population gets seasonal
influenza, or “the flu,” but most people can avoid getting and spreading
the flu simply by getting an annual flu vaccination, which the CDC says
is the most important step in preventing the flu. “Early symptoms of the
flu can be very inconspicuous and people may be transmitting the virus
even when they’re not very sick,” says Dr. Hudson.
The 2011–2012 flu vaccine protects against the three most common
influenza viruses: influenza A H3N2, influenza B and influenza A H1N1.
“People at highest risk for serious flu complications — young children,
pregnant women, people with chronic health conditions and people 65
years and older — should get a flu vaccination as soon as the new vaccines
are available each year,” advises Dr. Hudson.
Flu symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body
aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people may also have vomiting
and diarrhea. People with these symptoms should limit contact with others
as much as possible and stay home for at least 24 hours after their fever is
gone without the use of fever-reducing medicines. To reduce the risk of
catching or spreading the flu, the CDC recommends that people wear a
mask or cover their mouths when coughing or sneezing; wash their hands
often with soap or an alcohol-based
hand rub; and avoid touching their eyes,
nose and mouth. The most important
preventive method, however, is getting
vaccinated, Dr. Hudson emphasizes.
“In the healthcare environment, we
never know when we may come in
contact with someone at high risk,”
adds Dr. Hudson. “It’s not a perfect
vaccine, but most years, it’s 70
percent effective in preventing flu in
people younger than 65, and among
vaccinated people who get the flu,
it prevents about half of flu-related T. Warner Hudson, M.D.
deaths,” he says. “We owe it to our
patients to protect them from getting the flu from us.”
UCLA Occupational Health Services will notify employees by email
when annual flu vaccinations are available. For more information,
go to ohs.uclahealth.org
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TRAINING BEGINS
IN SEPTEMBER
In preparation for our January move into
the new spaces on our Santa Monica
Campus, Human Resources began
orientation and training this month.
The goal is to ensure all staff, physicians
and volunteers will be intimately familiar
with the physical layout, operational
workflow of their units and all fire and
safety standards before the actual move.
Doing so ensures a safe transition for
our patients.
UCLA Health System Says Goodbye to Smoke
UCLA Health System is taking another step
towards protecting the health and well-being of
our faculty, staff, students, trainees, volunteers,
patients and their families. On November 17,
2011 — on the day of the 36th Annual Great
American Smokeout — UCLA Health System
is establishing a smoke-free environment
throughout the indoor and outdoor areas of
all our hospitals and clinics.
The areas that will be affected by this new policy
include Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center,
UCLA Medical Plaza, Santa Monica-UCLA
Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital,
Tiverton House, the Schools of Medicine,
Nursing, Dentistry and Public Health, as well as
some areas of the UCLA campus.
We recognize that this new smoke-free policy
will not be popular with everyone, but the reason
is simple: It is the right thing to do for the
health of everyone at our healthcare and healthsciences
campuses.
Written policies governing our new smoke-free
environment are still being developed, and more
information will be made available as the date of
implementation nears. In the meantime, we are
committed to helping the members of the UCLA
community and our visitors become smoke-free.
We will be highlighting smoking-cessation classes
provided by health plans, providing nicotine
patches and offering other smoking-cessation
materials. Patient materials also are being
updated to inform patients and visitors that no
smoking is allowed in the “smoke-free zone.”
All SMUCLA staff will be required to
attend a Staff Transition Training session,
scheduled by their managers. The training
will include patient experience training
and orientation to new policies and
procedures essential to the transition into
the new medical center.
Staff Transition Training will be
conducted September 26 through
November 3.
In addition, all staff, physicians and
volunteers will be required to complete
an online General Orientation training to
familiarize themselves with all general
policies. The online training will be
announced later this Fall. If you have any
questions regarding training, please contact
Kety Duron at kduron@mednet.ucla.edu
or Ragini Gill at rgill@mednet.ucla.edu.
Jules Stein Eye Center Debuts in Santa Monica
UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute has begun
offering its world-renowned comprehensive and
subspecialty eye care at a new location in Santa
Monica. The Jules Stein Eye Center in Santa
Monica offers nearly all the evaluation, diagnosis,
testing and treatment services that are available
at the Jules Stein Eye Institute in Westwood while
providing greater convenience to patients in
Santa Monica and surrounding communities.
“UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Center offers Santa
Monica residents the premier services of the Jules
Stein Eye Institute, which is recognized as one of
the top programs in the country,” explains Bartly
Mondino, M.D., director of the Jules Stein Eye
Institute. “We’re bringing these programs to the
neighborhoods of Santa Monica.”
The new center is conveniently located just off
of Wilshire Boulevard and 18th Street, and
features six exam rooms (soon to be expanded
to eight), well-equipped testing facilities and an
optical shop in 2,800 square feet. There is on-site
parking for easy access.
Visit the Jules Stein Eye Center in Santa Monica
at 1807 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 203 or call
(310) 829-0160.
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news SHORTS
wellness INITIATIVE
We’re answering your
questions about CareConnect
UCLA HEALTH SYSTEM IS AN OFFICIAL
SPONSOR OF LA HEART WALK!
Join Team UCLA Health System for the
Annual LA Heart Walk.
Saturday, October 15, at the Rose Bowl
Registration is FREE at http://wellness.
healthcare.ucla.edu/ or call (310) 794-0529
for more information.
This is a family fun event and fundraiser.
Invite your colleagues, friends and family!
SMOKING CESSATION PROGRAM
“Freedom from Smoking” is a proven
program designed by the American Lung
Association. Sessions run 90 minutes to
two hours. The first session is free.
For more information
or to sign up call
(310) 825-0014.
How will CareConnect affect my job?
Where will CareConnect be implemented?
What happens if the system goes down?
You’ll find the answers to those questions
and dozens more in a new series of
FAQs on CareConnect’s website.
CareConnect will be used by about
15,000 faculty and staff and replace
about 65 legacy systems – resulting in
one chart for patients and one database
for all information. Learn more about
CareConnect from the new fact sheet
posted on the “Tools & Resources”page.
UCLA Family Commons to Help Improve Daily Life Skills for Families
The UCLA Family Commons, a community
wellness center located in downtown Santa
Monica, is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation to transform evidence-based
interventions into proven practical tools to
apply in everyday family life. The UCLA Family
Commons offers family coaching or “counseling
for the well” as an alternative to traditional
therapy. This involves children and parents
participating in classes and workshops that teach
practical and fun tools to improve day-to-day life
skills. Classes include Martial Arts, Mindfulness,
Mommy and Me Music and Yoga, Yoga for Kids,
Parents’ Table Talks, Promenade Kids Club,
summer camps, and Expert Series.
The UCLA Family Commons
1221 2nd Street, Santa Monica
Monday to Saturday: 9:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Sunday: 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
For information and a list of classes and
programs, visit: www.uclacommons.com
Visit www.CareConnect.uclahealth.org
or drop us a line at CareConnect@mednet.
ucla.edu
Nursing Excellence
Congratulations to
Cathy Rodgers Ward,
RN, DNSc, NEA-BC,
director of Nursing,
Ronald Reagan UCLA
Medical Center, for
winning the 2011
California Nurse Week
Nursing Excellence
Award in Management.
Ray Riordan, Executive
V.P., Gannet Healthcare
Group and Cathy
Rodgers Ward, RN
UCLA Health System Employee News
Director of Marketing: Pattie Cuen | Marketing Communications Manager: Judi Goodfriend | Editor: Tiffani Quach Mendinueto
Contributors: Amy Albin, Ted Braun, Kim Kowsky, Roxanne Moster | Design: Oglesby Design | Photography: Margaret Sison
Copyright ©2011 UCLA Health System. All rights reserved. email: tquach@mednet.ucla.edu
UCLA Health System Marketing | 10920 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1850, Los Angeles, California 90095-6923
WWW.UCLAHEALTH.ORG 1-800-UCLA-MD1 (1-800-825-2631)
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