In the Know – January 2015 - Princeton Community Hospital

JANUARY 2015
Advanced Surgical Techniques
for Rural Surgeons
Dr. Gene Duremdes is Published in
Textbook for Use Internationally
Dr. Gene Duremdes, general surgeon, Princeton Community Hospital.
Dr. Gene Duremdes authored chapter 20 in the
textbook, Advanced Surgical Techniques for Rural
Surgeons, published in January by Springer Publications.
His article featuring step-by-step instructions
for pacemaker implantation, was chosen
from at least 10 submissions on the topic.
Dr. Gene recently attended a meeting
sponsored by the Georgia Chapter of the
American College of Surgeons in which a surgeon lecturing on rural surgery, announced the plan to gather the collective experiences of rural-based surgeons established in their practices into a new
textbook for use as a valuable reference for surgeons throughout the
United States as well as in other countries.
The images above show spreads from Dr. Gene’s
article. His personal photographs were used
throughout to illustrate the content.
The rural surgeons were invited to contribute chapters/articles on various
topics pertinent to practicing surgeons in rural settings. Dr. Gene said, “A
contributor was being sought for the topic of pacemaker insertions. I mentioned to the surgeon that I had been performing pacemaker insertions for
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(continued)
DR. GENE DUREMDES – continued from page 1)
the past 21 years. As a result, I was invited to be a contributor. I submitted my chapter to the editors and they
determined whether it was acceptable or not. My submission was chosen from among numerous other potential candidates.”
geons in rural practices see a wide variety of surgical
problems not typically seen by those practicing in more
urban settings. Surgeons in the “big city” tend to see a
narrower scope of general surgical problems to deal
with because there is no shortage of speciality surgeons
in the city, whereas in the rural practice, the general surgeon may be the only surgeon in the area.”
Dr. Gene continued, “The book will be particularly useful to those surgeons in a rural setting since general sur-
Vinegar is the New Smell of Clean!
At the January Birthday Bash with the CEO, employees brought up the
smell of vinegar that is briefly evident after a room has been cleaned
and disinfected.
Director of Environmental Services Fred Browning explained that the
vinegar smell dissipates in a short period of time and it indicates that
the cleaner is working. He said, “We started using Oxycide (a combination of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide) because it eliminated the need
for individual disinfectants designed to kill a specific pathogen. Oxycide is a universal disinfectant that effectively kills all microorganisms
including Clostridium difficile, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and MRSA.”
Director of Environmental Services Fred Browning
at an Oxycide dispensing station. Once dispensed,
the solution is effective for 24 hours. After that
period of time, any unused product is discarded.
Oxycide works in three to five minutes and the
vinegar smell dissipates once the solution is dry.
Oxycide is more cost effective and it is far better
for the environment. The old bleach-based cleaners were hard on hospital surfaces as well as on
the lungs of patients and employees.
All hospitals throughout the U.S. are moving toward this combination of vinegar and hydrogen
peroxide cleaners. Vinegar will become the new
smell of clean!
Teresa Atwell, RN, BSN, Infection Prevention/Occupational Health,
added, “In the world of disinfectants it is difficult to find products that
will be effective against a broad spectrum of organisms that our hospitals have to deal with on a daily basis. We have struggled with many
products in our facility to achieve this goal. The Oxycide cleaner is a
product that is effective on all of the organisms we are challenged with
and is the first EPA-registered cleaner to be effective on CDT spores in a
non-bleach formula. This allows us to standardize our disinfection
process in our daily cleaning, discharges, and in cleaning all isolation
rooms. We have also reduced cost in eliminating unnecessary products
and the cost of replacing damaged goods from products that were caustic to our equipment and surfaces.”
Expression of Appreciation
When I think about my Internship at Princeton Community Hospital, the first thing that comes to mind
is commitment. I realized after my first day at the hospital that the staff at hospitals are truly committed
to their jobs. Seeing all of the responsibilities the nurses had for each patient was overwhelming to me. The
staff did not complain about their job and simply made sure they had taken care of each patient. This was
inspiring to me to see people so passionate about what they do, especially the nurses. After this week, I
have a new found respect for nurses because they deal with so much more than I realized.
From a Career Connections Intern
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PCH Welcomes New Executive Chef
Tommy Lee Vance, Jr. developed an interest in cooking
early in life. By the age of 13,
he was experimenting in the
kitchen and preparing full
meals for his mother’s enjoyment.
Tommy Lee grew up near
Pineville, in the coalfields of
southern West Virginia. After
graduating from Pineville
High School in 1995, he
worked as a paramedic for
the Princeton Resue Squad
for the next 10 years. He
later worked for other EMS
agencies including those in
McDowell County, Bluefield Rescue Squad, Ghent
Fire Department, and Best
Ambulance in Beckley.
Tommy Lee Vance, Jr.
Executive Chef
Tommy Lee enjoyed the
challenges and the personal fulfillment of helping others as a paramedic,
but he never forgot his
love of cooking. A friend
owned a catering business and Tommy Lee occasionally helped out in
his spare time. With a renewed interest in food
preparation, he made the decision to attend Le Cordon Bleu’s Pennsylvania Culinary Institute
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 2008.
During his time at the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, Tommy Lee worked at The
Duquesne Club – the exclusive club founded
in 1873 with an annual membership fee
starting at $15,000. He completed his externship at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville,
North Carolina. The externship lead to fulltime employment at the Biltmore as a demichef. From the Biltmore, Tommy Lee
accepted a position with the 1927 Lake Lure
Inn and Spa, Lake Lure, North Carolina,
where he served as executive chef for five
years. In addition to running a kitchen that
Tommy Lee is a 2008 graduate of the
Pennsylvania Culinary Institute.
(continued)
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PCH WELCOMES NEW EXECUTIVE CHEF – continued from page 3)
prepared made-from-scratch gourmet meals for
guests of the 69-room resort, Tommy Lee and his
small staff of four hosted an average of 225 weddings
and other corporate events throughout the year.
West Virginia where they could spend more time
with family and friends. His position with the Lake
Lure Inn in North Carolina left little personal time for
travel.
In 2012, Tommy Lee’s mother passed
away and he and his wife Amanda
made the decision to return to
Upon returning to his home state, Tommy Lee
worked as executive chef at The Oak Supper Club
during the 2013 season, assisted the executive chef at
Pipestem Resort State Park, and worked as a souschef at Concord University.
He was hired by Morrison as the executive chef at
PCH on December 1, 2014, and the following day
was in charge of preparing and serving a holiday
feast for over 1,600 employees and family members at the largest employee event of the year –
the Annual Holiday Banquet at the Chuck
Mathena Center.
Tommy Lee hit the ground running with one
special event after another throughout the
month of December. He is happy to be back in
southern West Virginia, and he is thankful for
the opportunity to serve the patients, family
members, visitors, and employees as PCH’s new
executive chef.
March is National
Nutrition Month
Your Nutrition Services Department has
many activities planned for the month of
March! Watch for more
information on:
• Weekly games
• Weekly facts and helpful hints
to better nutrition & health
• Daily Fit & Healthy combos
• Special meals and nutritional
hints on the Culinary Corner
• PCH Biggest Loser competition
Letter of Thanks
Dear 3-West Staff,
Thanks so much for taking such good care of my husband
after his knee replacements and for allowing me to stay
with him. He received excellent care with great kindness.
Special thanks to Tiffany for making both of us feel
comfortable!
Paula Morris
Birthday Bash with the CEO for February Birthdays
Thursday, February 26 • The luncheon will be held in the boardroom at 12:00 p.m.
To reserve your place at the table, please RSVP to Crystal Mabe by email or by calling extension 7242 at least four days prior to the luncheon.
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New and Familiar Faces in Human Resources
Seated: Sondra Gillespie, Heather Poff, and Lynn Pendleton. Standing: Winnie Newberry, Terri Dart, and Janet Horn.
Heather Poff, HR Director
employee wellness fair as well as
lunch and learns for employees.
Heather has worked at PCH for
three years. During that time, she
has partnered with the HR staff to
automate processes, implement
technology, and expand services
for employees. For example, the
HR office is open from 7:00 a.m. –
5:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. on
Friday to better serve employees
no matter what shift they work.
PARs used to track employment
changes are completely paperless,
and the application, hiring, onboarding, and annual evaluation
processes are now completed online. Competencies will soon be
updated and online as well. Last
year, during Healthcare HR week,
the HR staff sponsored the first
Heather said, “I am sad that we
lost EJ Curley, Phyllis Mikels, and
Carolyn Neal to retirement as
many years of knowledge and experience have been lost with their
departures. However, I am excited
to have Winnie, Terri, and Lynn
join the HR team. Together, the HR
Department will continue streamlining processes and improving the
services HR offers to employees.
The team is currently focusing on a
number of upcoming events including the preparation and distribution of Employee Benefit
Statements, activities to celebrate
Healthcare HR Week (including
the second annual employee wellness fair), the Second Annual
Macey Whittaker SIDS Awareness
5K, Healthcare Volunteer Week,
Benefit Open Enrollment, and Hospital Week.”
Heather has recently had the opportunity to lead some supervisor
training courses for employees
here at PCH and has thoroughly
enjoyed working with the employees in the classes. One of Heather’s
favorite parts of HR is seeing employees grow and develop.
Outside of work, Heather is a
member of the Rotary Club of
Princeton. She is currently serving
as the Club Vice President and will
assume the role of President in July
2015. She and her husband Rick
also serve as foster parents with
The Children’s Home Society.
(continued)
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(HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT – continued from page 5)
Terri Dart, HR Assistant &
Volunteer Coordinator
“I began my employment with
PCH at Mercer Medical Group in
2013. I transitioned to Human Resources/Volunteer Coordinator in
2014. In this position, I provide
Human Resources support and
Volunteer Services leadership. My
responsibilities in the HR department include providing customer
service to the visitors of the HR
Department, assisting applicants
with our automated job application system, and processing of all
of the new hires. As Volunteer Coordinator I direct and coordinate
the Volunteer Services for our facility and I manage the gift shop.”
Sondra Gillespie, Employee
Relations Manager
“I have worked at PCH for the last
27 years in the HR department.
For 25 years I worked as the Benefit Specialist (loving every minute).
In 2012, I transitioned to the Employee Relations Manager (I do
plan to retire someday so someone
else is being trained for the Benefit
Specialist position).
My responsibilities as Employee
Relations Manager include:
• Coordinating Employee Relations programs such as Service
Award Program, Employee Holiday Dinner, WinterFest and
Hospital Week activities
• Leading new employee orientation
• Manage the employee termination process
• Managing employee survey
process
• Ensuring compliance with hospital grievance policy
• Managing compensation
process (i.e. pay range placement, calculating pay rates for
job changes, surveys)
• Investigating workplace complaints, making recommendations for problem resolution
• Acting as consultant to employees and managers regarding
Human Resource policies and
procedures
I will continue to be available for
employees in this role as my top
priority is to always provide the
best service possible for PCH employees.”
Janet Horn, Recruiter
“I welcome the opportunity to be
the Recruiter for PCH. I enjoyed
assisting the former HR Director
with recruitment when I first
moved from CardioPulmonary to
Human Resources nine years ago
and that is what made me fall so in
love with HR. As a result, I returned to college to complete my
degree.
My focus is on recruiting the most
skilled, compassionate, and dedicated professionals to fill job vacancies within PCH. I enjoy
attending job fairs and visiting
local colleges not only to recruit
the very best candidates, but also
to share our culture of quality, caring service.
PCH is the second largest employer in Mercer County with
1,100 dedicated employees. We are
truly the heart of this community.
I’m proud to say I’ve been part of
the PCH family for 27 years.
I have one child who is an RN at
PCH, as is her husband (Jennifer
and Matt Terry).
I’m very active in the Children’s
Ministry at my church, but most of
my spare time is filled spoiling my
precious grandchildren, Jackson and
Hannah.”
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Edwina “Winnie” Newberry,
Benefit Specialist
“I presently serve as your Benefit
Specialist and I am new to the PCH
family. I worked in the Human Resources field for nearly 20 years before coming on board here at PCH.
Mostly recently I served as the
Human Resource manager at Pocahontas State Correctional Center. I
currently reside with my husband
and two daughters in Bluefield,
Virginia.
I will be your point of contact for
health, dental, and vision insurance;
life insurance and LTD programs;
defined benefit retirement plan;
Great West 403B account transactions and FMLA administration.
Please feel free to contact me anytime for questions you may have, or
just stop in to introduce yourself. I
look forward to serving the PCH
family for many years to come.”
Lynn Pendleton, HR Generalist/Corporate HR Compliance
Lynn has 28 years of service with
PCH, but is new to the Human Resources Department. She assumes
the duties of the HR Generalist –
Corporate HR Compliance position.
She will work with employee injuries, workers compensation,
OSHA, disciplinary actions, evaluations through the Health Source
Performance Manager, and HR
policies. She will oversee the Random Drug Screening at PCH, primary source verification of licensed
personnel, incident management
and job descriptions. Lynn’s new
duties also include being a member
of the Environment of Care Committee where reporting performance improvement data of incident
management is relayed.
(continued)
(HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT – continued from page 6)
Lynn said, “I am excited for the opportunities in my new role within
the HR Department and I am very
interested in being a link to each
staff member with anything from
helping staff with name/address
changes to providing staff with help
obtaining the right path for any
workers comp issues that may arise
not to mention those times when
the staff of PCH are honored
throughout the year for Hospital
Week, during the very popular
Awards Banquet Ceremonies held
annually and at the Employee Holiday Banquet celebrated during the
Christmas Season. I very much
want to be a partner to my fellow
employees in any way possible.
Stop by anytime with questions! I
am always happy to help!”
Lynn continued, “I was born and
raised in Princeton and in October
of 1978, I married ‘the boy next
door!’ (Well, the next block actually
– but close enough)! How smalltown is that?! My husband Allen is
a senior buyer for Materials Management at PCH. We have one
daughter, Candace. I am a “crafty”
person and my first love is working
with plastic canvas. I enjoy reading
and I love cats. We have three cats
at the present time that I “purrfectly” adore – Mandalyn, Fiddle
and Trixie – all of which have captured my heart with their individual antics and personalities!”
Honoring Sandy Hager in Her 45th Year at PCH
September 28, 2015 will mark Sandy Hager’s 45th year of employment with Princeton Community Hospital. She came on board in
1970 as a clerk typist for then Director of Nursing Marlise Mooney
and CEO Jim Dalton.
Marlise Mooney taught German, chemistry, and literature at
Athens High School before joining PCH as the Director of Nursing.
Sandy had been one of her top students, so when Ms. Mooney's
secretary was off on sick leave, she called on Sandy to fill in.
After the secretary returned to work, Sandy was given a permanent position as Billing Clerk in the Pharmacy Department and the
Business Office.
Sandy Hager
Sandy was born in Iaeger, West Virginia, in McDowell County.
When she was seven years old, her family relocated to Alexandria,
Virginia, where her father worked as a carpenter and a brick
mason. The family then lived briefly in Princeton (her father’s
hometown) and Athens, West Virginia, before following construction jobs back to Washington, DC. Their hearts were always back in
West Virginia, so the decision was made to return to the Athens
area when Sandy was twelve.
Shortly before Sandy graduated from school, her father was diagnosed with cancer. Both she and her older sister Syreda worked in order to assist the family financially. It was during that time that Sandy joined PCH.
She said, “When I became Billing Clerk, it was decided that all medications would be invoiced from within the
Pharmacy Department. We had one other person working in the pharmacy by the name of Francis Litton, LPN.
When I was caught up on my billing, I would help her fill doctors’ orders. We had no pharmacists on staff at
that time and if we had questions we called Joe Lilly at East River Pharmacy for advice. Eventually, I was
moved into the position of technician and Pam Tuggle was hired to take over billing.”
(continued)
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(SANDY HAGER – continued from page 7)
During her 45-year career with the hospital, Sandy’s responsibilities have included Clerk Typist, Billing Clerk,
Technician, Chemo Technician, IV/UD Coordination Technician, Chief Pharmacy Technician, and Pharmacy
Administrative Assistant (her present responsibility).
She was the only
technician that
took a correspondence course in
the field of pharmacy technician
and received a
certificate. That
was before technicians were required to be
certified. She
served on the
committee that
developed the
first fire plan for
PCH and she
helped establish
the IV admixture
program and
chemo program. She was the first technician to work
both of these programs and the only tech to work
chemo. She was also instrumental in setting up the first
PCH Pharmaceutical Formulary.
Sandy said, “I have seen many changes while working at
PCH. The greatest reward for me is knowing I was helpful
to someone in need. Working in this medical environment
helps me not take life for granted and it makes me even
more thankful for my health and wellbeing. After my dad
died and the chemotherapy program opened at PCH, I really wanted to work in that area so I volunteered to help
with the chemo admixture. I have never been one who
seeks the limelight. I function best behind the scenes but I
do take great pride in my work.”
Above are examples of Sandy’s award-winning photographs.
She continued, “I was raised in the Pentecostal faith. Church and family have always been top priorities. My
mother was an evangelist so we traveled often. Although I have no children, I consider my six nieces and nephews
my own, and I helped raise them. For 25 years, I worked part-time for the United Christian Ministerial Association
located in Cleveland, Tennessee. I would leave work here on Fridays, drive five hours to Tennessee, work all weekend, return home Sunday night, then start all over again come Monday morning. I served as a part-time secretary
and photographer for that ministry.”
In addition to being an avid reader and baker of desserts, Sandy is an accomplished photographer. Her work has
been published by the International Library of Photography in Washington, DC, where she was awarded first prize.
Additionally, her photographs have received top awards in numerous competitions throughout the area including
the Princeton Camera Club; Mercer County Fair; Chautauqua Festival in Wyethville, Virginia; and the Virginia
Highlands Festival in Abingdon, Virginia. She also won first place in the first annual “Pumpkin Baking contest” for
Princeton AutumnFest. Sandy serves as secretary for the Princeton Camera Club and as treasurer for her church.
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