Chabert employees with August
birthdays enjoyed a luncheon on August 15th, 2010.  Rhonda Green, Chief Executive Officer shares a celebration every month with employees to have a personalized time to share hospital news and to hear feedback from staff.  Employees enjoy special attention and treats, and take this time to elect the Employee of the Month after reviewing all nominations.

Pictured: (left) Rhonda Green, (middle) Rosalind Ellis
(right) Penny Prosperie

LJCMC July Employee of the Month is Rosalind Ellis...

Rosalinde (Linda) Ellis has worked at LJCMC since January of 2006 for Nursing Administration as a Patient Transporter. She is described by her peers to always have a smile on her face and constantly goes the extra mile to comfort patients, provide any assistance and get them to their destination on campus in a timely manner. In addition to having an outstanding attendance record, Linda is committed to LJCMCs mission for the patients even in stressful circumstances. Recently, Linda and a patient were in an elevator that malfunctioned . She maintained her professionalism and catered to the patient's need for calmness and safety until they could exit after repairs were made.

Congratulations to Rosalind Ellis

Chabert Medical Center has successfully launched the first Palliative Care Team for the HCSD hospital system. On July 22, 2010, a ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place to honor patients and recognize the new Palliative Care Suite located on the 4th Floor Medicine Unit. The program has provided a more comfortable, quality-based standard of care for end-of-life patients since its inception in April, 2008. Palliative care treats the pain, symptoms and stress of serious illness. The goal is to relieve suffering and improve quality of life. Unlike hospice care, it can be provided at the same time as curative treatment, and it is not dependent on prognosis. This new field of medicine is associated with improvements in both healthcare quality and healthcare costs. (web resource: http://www.capc.org).

Chabert's team is led by Dr. Lee Arcement and Linda Steck, ICU Unit Supervisor. The team was formed using a strong interdisciplinary model to cover all aspects of patient care, with the focus on communication with the patient and family. Recently, a kind anonymous donor asked to provide a dedicated suite for palliative care patients. The room is furnished to resemble a secure home atmosphere, with soothing design, comfort items such as a sleeper sofa for the family and music. A major component of the care team is to offer pastoral care as requested and allow families to spend time, pray and benefit from a private safe, setting with professional support close at hand.
Dr. Arcement states, "This is a definite plus for our Internal Medicine Residency program. It is yet another dimension to demonstrate to the ACGME/RRC, that we are innovative, forward thinking, and committed to incorporate the latest clinical practices for the residency. Our residents are exposed to all aspects of medical care, including palliative care; we have added infrastructure, in addition to a consult service, multiple order sets targeted on end-of-life comfort care.Palliative care is now required in the IM residency curriculum".

Linda Steck, RN Critical Care Supervisor, laid the foundation for this program, reaching out to community resources to provide educational materials for the staff and patient families. The committee team meets regularly to review clinical data and metrics in real time, for quality tracking. Inpatient unit supervisors have embraced the program, educating staff in an ongoing fashion and reaching out to families. The patient care unit supervisors have made it routine practice to follow up with a personalized sympathy cards to families who have lost a loved one. Response has been overwhelming with the families calling back to say how important and meaningful receiving a card from the caregivers was to help them through the grieving process. Chabert Medical Center is proud to have established the program to meet upcoming standards of care, but mainly to provide the best continuum of care for all aspects of patient needs.

Joe started at LJCMC on 6/30/79 as hospital chaplain until 1/1/87 when he was designated as an Office Systems Analyst. Later, he was promoted to Network Manager in the IT department where he stayed until he retired on 6/30/2010. Joe was extremely knowledgeable about IT and was the first IT employee at the hospital. He helped to develop our computer infrastructure which has grown from a handful of computers early on to 600+ at present. His coworkers describe him as profoundly detail-oriented with an excellent memory. Joe's commitment to his job is described as unrelenting and his dedication even more evident when he took up temporary residence in the Computer Services Department after a hurricane to expedite the recovery process. Joes says his new commitment will be to doing yard work. He will be missed.

The National Patient Safety Foundation has chosen LJCMC's Patient Safety Week photos for their 2010 Patient Safety Awareness Week Calendar Challenge!Each organization chosen will receive 10 free copies of the 2011 PSAW Calendar. This is a great honor to showcase our facility and our commitment to Patient Safety.

Chabert Medical Center’s Diabetes Education and Wellness Program celebrated the 34th diabetes graduation on April 23, 2010.  The graduation ceremony was held to celebrate the accomplishments of 54 patients that have completed 10 hours training in chronic disease self-management.  Chabert’s administration team was in attendance to recognize the accomplishments of these patients and the positive changes they have made in controlling their diabetes and living health lives. 

Pictured: (left) Michael Garcia, MD, (center) Thomas Ferguson, MD, (right) Rhonda Green, RN, CEO

National Doctors' Day

March 30 is the nationally recognized day when we join together to show appreciation for the doctors who care for us and our patients.  Chabert Medical Center  joined the rest of the nation to honor our physicians, with a luncheon and awards for doctor of the year nominees.  Rhonda Green, Hospital Administrator, introduced the nominees and shared comments from surveyors who recently visited complimenting the unique culture of partnership at Chabert Medical Center.  She stated that she is proud to work with our physicians and attributes Chabert's success to teamwork.  Dr. Garcia, Medical Director, presented the Doctor of the Year award to Dr. Thomas Ferguson.  

Congratulations to all nominees and especially to Dr. Ferguson!

See New Media Release

Our Quality Management Department has incorporated a new program to promote safety and to recognize employees who go the extra mile for safety.  Please click on link and learn more about how to nominate employees for doing the right thing

COMPLIANCE ALERT !!!!!

ALL PHI BREACHES MUST BE REPORTED

Employees including Medical Staff may report any safety and/or quality of care concerns related to services provided in the hospital to the Joint Commission without disciplinary action.  Employees are encouraged to follow the reporting procedure in the Unanticipated Adverse Event Policy.

Hotline 800-994-6610

complaint@jcaho.org

7/2005; Updated 5/2006