May 2016 - Lancaster General Health

May 2016
Employee honored with Patriot Award
Solider recognizes supervisor for support during deployment
When Natalie Luciano, a 1st Lt. in the
U.S. Army Reserves, was called to
active duty in Iraq, she left to serve her
country knowing that her role as an
RN in the Emergency Department at
Lancaster General Hospital was secure.
She credits her job security to Lisa
Williams, Assistant Nurse Manager.
Now home from her deployment,
Natalie showed her gratitude to Lisa
by nominating her for the Employer
Support of the Guard and Reserve
(ESGR) Patriot Award.
The ESGR is a Department of
Defense office that works with
organizations who employ individuals
serving in the Guard and Reserve
forces of the United States. The
primary function of the ESGR is to
ensure Guardsmen,
Reservists and
employers are familiar
with the Uniformed
Services Employment
and Reemployment
Rights Act (USERRA), and
to promote and enhance
employer support for
military service in the
Lisa Williams accepts the Patriot
Guard and Reserve.
Award from Col. James Astor.
Nominations for the Patriot Award are
submitted by service members in the
Guard or Reserve, or their spouse. The
Patriot Award recognizes individual
supervisors for the support they
provide directly to the Service member
and their family.
Col. James Astor, USAF-Retired
presented the award to Williams
during an Emergency
Department staff
meeting.
At the award
presentation,
William’s recognized
the entire Emergency
Department for their
efforts and support.
While the award is an
individual recognition,
“this was a collective
effort,” she said.
“When someone is called up for
military service, there is a separation
and a loss. They can’t do it alone,” said
Astor. “They need the support of their
work family. This helps their mind be
focused on the task at-hand when they
are deployed.”
Recognizing those who freely work during National Volunteer Week
Esther Shaubach gets ready to deliver
flowers to a patient at LGH.
More than 500 volunteers support the
work of Lancaster General Health on a
daily basis.
LG Health also annually recognizes the
volunteer efforts of employees with
Helping Hands grants.
From transporting patients to teaching
classes, this past year our volunteers
donated over 78,000 hours to the
organization. This team includes
longtime volunteers like Esther
Shaubach. Esther started her volunteer
work at Lancaster General Hospital
when her daughter left to attend
college in 1960. Her daughter Judi is
now a retired teacher and Esther is still
volunteering.
These grants honor employees’
contribution of time and expertise
by providing up to $5,000 in total
grants per year to eligible community
organizations ($1,000 maximum
per grant.). Additionally, $10,000
in non-profit awards went to honor
employees or physicians who volunteer
time to a medical mission effort.
Meet this year’s Helping Hands grant
recipients on page. 3.
President’s Message
An urgent need for Behavioral Health
By Jan Bergen, President & CEO
A behavioral-health diagnosis is
incredibly complex and challenging
for patients and their entire families.
The stress is magnified when services
that are essential to recovery aren’t
available close to home.
Obesity, substance abuse and
behavioral health are the three health
priorities Lancaster General Health
selected to focus on based on our
Community Health Needs Assessment.
Current providers and facilities are
unable to meet the burgeoning
demand for both inpatient and
outpatient behavioral-health services
for patients of all ages.
LG Health recognizes this urgent need
in our community. We are committed
to leading a coordinated effort to
enhance access to a wide range of
critical behavioral-health services.
Lancaster General Hospital is Lancaster
County’s largest provider of acute-care
behavioral-health services, but our 36
adult inpatient beds often are full. Our
planned 126-bed behavioral-health
facility will strengthen our existing
commitment to the community – and
enable us to do so much more.
The proposed facility, which could
open in 2018, will include many
features not currently offered in our
community:
• A continuum of care,
from inpatient and partial
hospitalization to intensive
outpatient services, which will
improve access and provide a less
restrictive treatment environment
for patients.
• The county’s only inpatient
adolescent unit. Currently, local
teens who require hospitalization
for a behavioral-health crisis might
spend weeks or even months in a
facility far from home.
• Other specialized units for
women’s trauma, patients with
complex medical conditions or
substance-abuse disorders, and
older adults.
• Design enhancements, including
Your life. Your decision.
Dr. Randy Oyer talks with experts and community
members at the Lebanon Health Center
If you needed medical care unexpectedly, do
you know what kind of treatment you would
want? Would your loved ones or healthcare
provider know your wishes?
In recognition of Healthcare Decision
Day on April 16, Advance Care Planning
gardens, a gym and other
recreational facilities, which foster
mental well-being and healing.
This facility is just one part of LG
Health’s ongoing efforts to improve
community access to behavioral
healthcare. We also plan to embed
counselors at our primary-care
practices to help patients overcome
the impacts that behavioral-health
challenges can have on physical
health. Down the road, we will focus
on improving access and coordination
of behavioral healthcare for older
adults.
I am pleased and proud that LG Health
will actively lead efforts to provide
these much-needed behavioral-health
services to benefit everyone in our
community. We will keep you informed
as our efforts continue.
informational sessions were offered to
employees and community members.
During the community events, a panel of
experts was on-hand to answer those tough
questions about advance care planning.
Be ready for whatever comes your way.
Advance care planning is not about filling out
forms, your age or overall health. It’s about
being ready for whatever comes your way.
During the information session, the team
encouraged attendees to think about their
wishes, to talk early and often with family
about what their wishes are -- should they
no longer be able to speak for themselves.
Interested in learning more about advance care
planning? An informational page is available
online, visit www.lghealth.org and search for
Advance Directives.
Our Mission
To advance the health
and well-being of the
communities we serve.
Our Vision
Delivering on the promise
of a healthier future.
The Experience is a monthly
publication for employees of
Lancaster General Health.
Contact:
Corporate Communications
Melissa Frill Esterly, Editor, at
mesterly2@lghealth.org
Helping Hands grant recipients make a difference in our world
This year, five employees received
Helping Hands grants and four received
Helping Hands Abroad grants.
Meet this year’s grant recipients:
Since 1981,
Greystone Manor
Therapeutic Riding
Center has been
providing equineassisted therapeutic
riding activities for
children and adults
with disabilities.
Jennifer Snoberger began volunteering
in January of last year, serving as a sidewalker, horse groomer, barn maintainer
and horse leader. The Helping Hand
grant will enable several special needs
individuals to enroll in a free, 6-week
therapeutic riding session.
Girls on the Run
inspires girls to be
joyful, healthy and
confident using a fun,
experience-based
curriculum, which
creatively integrates
running. Jodie Stark
has served as a head coach for Girls
on the Run for four seasons at Martic
Elementary School. Since its beginning
in 2009, Girls on the Run has been
able to offer 3,200 girls with financial
assistance. The grant will enable the
organization to continue to offer
scholarships to girls who cannot afford
the registration fee.
Wendy Walton
volunteers on the
board of directors
for the Southern
End Community
Association. SECA’s
mission is to
create recreational
opportunities for the
residents of southern Lancaster County.
The variety of offered programs require
supplies, equipment and instructors;
which will in part be covered by the
Helping Hands grant.
Since November
2013, Rebecca
Hartley, MSN, RN, has
volunteered as a Level
II Reiki Practitioner,
providing free, Reiki
therapy to members
of the community.
With the Helping Hands grant, the
non-profit clinic will be able to
continue to provide free services and
replace equipment, as needed. Helene
Williams, RN, 4 Lime, also volunteers
with the clinic, serving as president.
The Atlas Initiative works with
motivated, lowincome individuals
and families to
achieve greater
levels of stability
through personcentered planning
and support. For
the past two years,
Heather Hostetter has worked with
a participant who is helping her
children navigate the process of college
applications, while studying for her
own GED. Heather’s grant will provide
healthy meals during meetings, which
encourages participation in the group.
Six years ago, Dr.
Bonnie Zehr joined
South American
Mission for her first
foreign mission trip.
Since then, she has
traveled to Haiti,
Honduras and again
to Peru. During her
trips, the team provides medical care,
including treating tuberculosis and
foot infections, providing GYN care for
women and providing wheelchairs.
Traveling to Peru again this summer, Dr.
Zehr’s grant will go toward the cost of
medicines and other various medical
supplies.
Following the 2010
earthquake in Haiti,
Susan McDonald,
MSN, RN, felt a
calling to travel
to that country to
provide medical
care. Now gearing up
for her eighth trip,
Susan’s grant will enable her to provide
medical training programs, purchase
CPR training equipment, officially
certify clinic staff Basic Life Support
(BLS), and provide a functional AED
machine, along with training.
Dr. Atilla Devenyi has traveled to a
mountain village
in Guatemala
with the Kairos
Ministries for the
past four years.
The group provides
basic medical
care, including
deworming,
nutrition supplementation, treatment
of minor illnesses, and the stabilization
and transfer of those with more
serious illnesses. Dr. Devenyi’s grant
will be used to purchase supplies and
equipment to support the mission
of providing medical care for these
mountain villagers.
Operational Medical
was started in June
2013, when Cheryl
Anne Peck and 13
others met with the
purpose of creating a
sustainable, not-forprofit organization that
would provide medical
care to areas in need. Cheryl Anne
continues to help Op Med with dayto-day operations and participated in
surgical mission camps in India and the
Philippines. The Helping Hands grant
will enable Op Med to continue its
mission, conducting surgical outreach
to communities in need.
Penn Medicine’s Lancaster transplant Investing in the future of
medical professionals
clinics increase patient convenience
In April, Lancaster General Hospital welcomed
approximately 100 high school students from area
high schools for the annual Future Nurses Field
Trip event.
Penn Medicine’s
Lancaster
transplant clinics
aim to increase
access and
convenience for
local patients.
Penn opened a
liver clinic here in
March 2015 and a
kidney/pancreas
Drs. Roy Bloom and Navdeep Kaur
clinic in August. The
transplant care to low-risk
clinics, at 554 N. Duke St., third
patients.
floor, enable local patients to
receive pre-transplant evaluation The relationship between HKS
and testing, along with some
and Penn helps to minimize
follow-up care, in Lancaster.
the number of times that local
Roy D. Bloom, M.D., Medical
Director, Kidney/Pancreas
Transplant Program, Hospital of
the University of Pennsylvania,
said demand for the Lancaster
kidney clinic’s services is strong
and the clinic recently expanded
its hours to accommodate the
need.
“Penn has the largest transplant
center in the region, with
excellent outcomes,” Dr. Bloom
said. “One of our goals is to
improve access for patients who
live outside of Philadelphia.”
Dr. Navdeep Kaur, a transplant
nephrologist at Hypertension
Kidney Specialists (HKS) with
an adjunct
appointment
at Penn,
evaluates
potential
candidates
at the
Lancaster
kidney
clinic, and
provides preand post-
patients need to travel to
Philadelphia. “Once patients are
stable, the expectation is that
most of their care will be back
with Dr. Kaur at HKS in Lancaster.”
Dr. Bloom said.
“I really appreciate this
opportunity to help bring Penn’s
transplant services to Lancaster,”
Dr. Kaur said. “Patients are
very grateful for the added
convenience of accessing these
services close to home.”
Penn’s Lancaster concierge liaison
is available to assist local patients
with travel to Philadelphia. In
addition, the Penn Clyde F. Barker
Transplant House offers patients
an affordable lodging option
during periods of frequent posttransplant appointments.
“The expectation is that patients
should have relatively little
disruption to their lives in order
to have access to our programs,”
Dr. Bloom said. “There certainly
has been great demand in
Lancaster, and we do hope to
expand.”
During the
day-long visit,
students who
are interested
in pursuing
a medical
career, had the
opportunity
Karen Colosi, Surgical Technician
to talk with
teaches Erin Dull, a senior from
real medical
Manheim Central, how to preform a
professionals laparoscopic surgery.
about their
careers, tour Lancaster General Hospital and
participate in skills demonstrations.
Skills demonstrations included learning how to
intubate, laparoscopic surgery, blood pressure,
and inserting an IV.
Customer Service Hall of Fame
Honoring staff members named in
patient surveys
Lancaster General Hospital
Children’s Health Center: Steph Ulrich, RN; AidesMohammed Tahir, PtCA; Joshua Padilla, PtCA
3 West: Kristie Harrower, RN; Kathy Pearson, PtCA;
Erica Jones, RN; Talonda Rogers, RN; Jamie Stake,
RN; Brittany Morales, PtCA; Jena Saldana, USC
4 West: Michelle Vesely, PtCA; Trisha Kirchner, PtCA;
Valeria Santiago, PtCA
4 Lime: Iris Negron, PtCA; Maria Lugo, Housekeeper
4 North: Val Paschke, RN; Kelly Stauffer, RN; Jen
Swope, RN; Courtney Hamilton, PtCA; Jen Cruz,
PtCA; Katie Neiss, PtCA
5 East: Jacklyn Popielarski, RN; Carly Bazow, RN;
Kristel Horning, RN
8 Lime: Andrea Castillo, RN
8 North: Paula Trump, RN; Bob Groff, PtCA; Megan
Grimsey, PtCA; Patty Urbaniak, RN
Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute:
Clinic lab: Shannon Brinson, PtCA
Radiation Oncology: Denise Turoczi, RN
Oncology Clinical Support: Annie Lattanzio Hale, RNNurse Navigator
Women’s Health Therapy-Lymphedema: Kristen
Ditzler, Physical Therapist
Infusion Center: Ann Morris, RN