As always, the Hartford Hospital staff performed admirably in preparation for and during Hurricane Sandy last week. Hospital operations continued normal- ly and patients were well taken care of, as always. During the height of the storm, on Mon- day, Oct. 29, seven babies were born at our hospital, 86 surgical procedures were performed and 175 patients were treated in the Emergency Department – lower than the average 250 patients we see daily. We opened our Incident Command Cen- ter at 8 a.m. Monday, Oct. 29, to coordi- nate hospital activities and communi- cate with staff, patients and the general public. It was closed around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. “Throughout a tense day as Hurricane Sandy battered the East Coast, Hartford Hospital staff members continued to demonstrate profound dedication and outstanding service, leaving their own families at home to care for others,” said President Jeffrey Flaks. “Our lead- ership team members are profoundly proud of our staff, and your commit - ment to our patients.” Shortly after mid- night Monday, when Hurricane Sandy was at its worst on the Con- necticut shore, the Command Cen- ter received a call from the Divi- sion of Emergency Management and Homeland Securi- ty, requesting food for 100 firefight - ers working in Fairfield County. Task force strike teams from Litch- field, Tolland and Hartford Coun- ties had been de- ployed for res- cue efforts along the shoreline, but they could not find food for the crew as everything was closed. The Hartford Hospital Command Cen- ter overnight staff worked with Paul Pracon, unit leader from Dietary, to put together platters of food for the fire- fighters, who picked it up at 1 a.m. The quick work by the Hartford Hospi- tal team demonstrates our values of in- tegrity, caring, excellence and safety, doing the right, kindest, best and safest thing for our community. < Working with Dietary, Patty Verrea- neau, operations chief of the command center, and overnight command center staff provided food for firefighters work- ing in Fairfield County after receiving a re- quest for aid during the hurricane. R x T ra A publication for the staff of Hartford Hospital November 5, 2012 Vol. 68 No. 41 Hospital Staff Rallies During Hurricane Sandy
Transcript
As always, the Hartford Hospital staff performed admirably in preparation for and during Hurricane Sandy last week. Hospital operations continued normal-ly and patients were well taken care of, as always.
During the height of the storm, on Mon-day, Oct. 29, seven babies were born at our hospital, 86 surgical procedures were performed and 175 patients were treated in the Emergency Department – lower than the average 250 patients we see daily.
We opened our Incident Command Cen-ter at 8 a.m. Monday, Oct. 29, to coordi-nate hospital activities and communi-cate with staff, patients and the general public. It was closed around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.
“Throughout a tense day as Hurricane Sandy battered the East Coast, Hartford Hospital staff members continued to demonstrate profound dedication and outstanding service, leaving their own families at home to care for others,” said President Jeffrey Flaks. “Our lead-ership team members are profoundly proud of our staff, and your commit-ment to our patients.”
Shortly after mid-night Monday, when Hurricane Sandy was at its worst on the Con-necticut shore, the Command Cen-ter received a call from the Divi-sion of Emergency Management and Homeland Securi-ty, requesting food for 100 firefight-ers working in Fairfield County. Task force strike teams from Litch-field, Tolland and Hartford Coun-ties had been de-ployed for res-cue efforts along the shoreline, but they could not find food for the crew as everything was closed.
The Hartford Hospital Command Cen-ter overnight staff worked with Paul Pracon, unit leader from Dietary, to put together platters of food for the fire-fighters, who picked it up at 1 a.m.
The quick work by the Hartford Hospi-tal team demonstrates our values of in-tegrity, caring, excellence and safety, doing the right, kindest, best and safest thing for our community.
< Working with Dietary, Patty Verrea-neau, operations chief of the command center, and overnight command center staff provided food for firefighters work-ing in Fairfield County after receiving a re-quest for aid during the hurricane.
RxTraA publication for the staff of Hartford Hospital November 5, 2012 Vol. 68 No. 41
Hospital Staff Rallies During Hurricane Sandy
Hartford Hospital is providing free flu shots to all employees, con-tractors and volunteers.
Tuesday, Nov. 6: Women’s Ambulatory Health Servic-es on Park Street, 8-9 a.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 7: Jefferson House, 7-9 a.m. and 2:30-4:30 p.m.
There will be “roving” flu clinics on nursing units on Nov. 6, 8, 13 and 15 at different times. There will also be off-site flu clinics at Hartford Spe-cialists, Sleep Lab, and multiple ERN locations. All the times and lo-cations for flu shots are listed at http://intranet.harthosp.org/flu.htm. For more information, please e-mail [email protected].
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Schedule of Flu Shot ClinicsHartford Hospital Hosts First Black Men’s Health
Project Event: “Take Charge of Your Health Day”More than 100 peo-ple attended a half-day seminar at Hartford Hospital on October 27 devoted to building awareness and inspir-ing action among black men to lead healthier lives.
The hospital developed the Black Men’s Health Project in collaboration with the Omega Foun-dation. Greg Jones, a member of the hospi-tal’s Board of Directors, serves as president of the Omega Foun-dation of Hartford and was a driving force behind the collaboration.
The program focused on diseases more prevalent among black men, includ-ing diabetes, hypertension and prostate cancer.
The initiative is endorsed by Kevin Ollie, newly-named coach of the UConn men’s basketball team and former profession-al basketball player, and Scott Burrell, Quinnipiac University coach and for-mer professional basketball and base-ball player.
Below right: Greg Jones.
Jeffrey Flaks, president and CEO of Hartford Hospital, was honored with a “Catalyst Award” from Hartford’s Conference of Churches on Oct. 25.
“I accepted the award on behalf of all the outstanding staff members of our fine institution who make the community a better place to live and work,” Flaks said. “The award honors leaders who have reshaped the community landscape through innovative programs, services or thought leadership to provide opportunities for people to become ‘healthier, wealthier or wiser.’ Hartford Hospital plays a major role in community health.”
Jeff Flaks (center) accepts the Catalyst Award from Rev. Dr. Shelley Best, president/CEO of the Conference of Churches, and Rev. Donald
Hamer, chairman of the Board of The Conference of Churches.
President Jeffrey Flaks Wins Community Leadership Award
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Compliance Questions
or Concerns?
If you need to obtain information about
compliance issues or raise concerns re-
garding internal and regulatory practices
or policies, please contact your supervisor
or call the ComplianceLine, a confidential
and toll-free service, at
1-855-HHC-OCAP or online at
HHC.OCAPComplianceLine.com
Surgeons Show Off Carving Skills at HalloweenSurgeons from Hartford Specialists showed off their skills at Hartford Hospital’s annual “Chefs vs. Surgeons’ pumpkin-carving competition, held at the Connecticut Science Center on Oct. 28.
Left to right: Dr. Brendan Killory, Dr. Daniel Fusco, Dr. Rafal Barczak and Dr. Mark Shekhman, at Hartford Hospital’s annual “Chefs vs. Surgeons’ pumpkin-carving competition. Dr. Barczak practices at MidState Medical Center; the others practice at Hartford Hospital.
Patients from the Surgical Weight Loss Center at Hartford Hospital celebrated their success in losing weight and en-hancing their lives at the 2nd Annual Pa-tient Reunion Event on Oct. 24.
More than 150 patients and guests at-tended sharing an evening of celebration with the Center’s physicians, s t a f f , and fellow patients.
The Reunion Event was held at the Glastonbury Riverfront Community Center.
Directed by Dr. Darren Tishler and Dr. Pavlos Papasavas, the Center has sur-gically treated 2,555 patients over the last seven years. This equates to 140,633 pounds of weight loss.
Attendees know it’s not just about the weight loss, but being able to realize a new quality of life with significant im-provements in weight-related health issues.
The Hartford Hospital program strives to continually advance the quality and safety of patient care as demonstrated by their newly developed Patient and Fam-ily Advisory Board, Back-on-Track pro-gram, and ongoing research initiatives.
Surgical Weight Loss Center Holds Patient Reunion
President/CEO Jeff Flaks will be holding Town Hall
Meetings over the next month open to all staff members.
This is a time to ask questions or discuss any ideas or
concerns you have about Hartford Hospital.
Please join President Flaks at one of these meetings:
The Institute of Living (IOL) hosted a diversity fair Oct. 2 titled “Compas-sionate Care for Our Most Vulnerable Patients.”
It was attended by agen-cies representing the el-derly, destitute veterans, financially disadvantaged and other patients with diverse needs.
Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra joined President Flaks in welcoming agen-cy, clinical and adminis-trative leaders.
Dr. Harold Schwartz, psychiatrist-in-chief at the IOL, facilitated a dialogue to help identify ways the vulnerable patients’ ex-perience could be improved.
More than 100 staff members attended the fair, representing psychiatry, cardiol-ogy, woman’s health, medicine, orthope-dics, and pastoral care, along with stu-dent nurses and psychiatric residents.
IOL Hosts Compassionate Care Fair For Most Vulnerable Patients
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Employee Health & Wellness Center Holds Ribbon Cutting We held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 23 at the Hartford HealthCare Employee Health and Wellness Center in our Medical Office Building. Hartford Hospital is the pilot for the system for this employee program, which focuses on pri-mary care and wellness.
A Hartford Medical Group physician runs the center, which is open five days a week at hours that accommodate most shifts. Employees can make appointments or walk in for treatment.
This wellness center will go well with the em-ployee fitness center that will open in February in our new garage on Hudson Street. Increas-ing access to care and wellness for our staff is in keeping with our values.
Hartford Hospital Team
Helps Make Strides
Against Breast CancerHartford Hospital had a team of more than 70 walkers for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at Bushnell Park on Oct. 21.
They raised about $3,600.
Hartford HealthCare was the start line spon-sor, and cut the ribbon to start the race.
Hartford Hospital’s cardiac reha-bilitation program is celebrating its 30-year anniversary. It was opened in Glastonbury in 1982. The pro-gram has been nationally accred-ited since the year 2000. It is cur-rently the largest cardiac rehab program in the state.
It was the first hospital in the com-munity to provide EKG-monitored exercise therapy outside a hospital setting, and the first in the state to manage patients who had Left Ven-tricular Assist Devices (LVADs) and heart transplants.
Cardiac rehab patients consistent-ly score their patient satisfaction above 90%. Several former patients have donated funds to placed TVs in the Emergency Room and equip-ment in the gyms.
The program has existing offic-es in Glastonbury and a hospi-tal-based location in the Conklin Building, and recently expanded to Farmington.
We are integrated with surround-ing towns to support and sponsor heart counseling/blood pressure measurement events.
The Department of Cardiac Re-hab is an active partner within the HHC system and meets quarterly with Mid State Medical Center; The Hospital Of Central Connecticut and Windham Hospital to ensure unified support and goal-based di-alogues for our patients.
For more information contact:
Hartford Hospital Cardiac Rehab 860-545-2133
Farmington Cardiac Rehab 860-696-0080
Glastonbury Cardiac Rehab 860-633-9084
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Cardiac Rehab Program Celebrates 30th Anniversary
Hurricane Sandy disrupted many the operations of many local businesses, and even support departments at Hartford Hospital.
But during all of the uncertainty, closures, and chaos Sandy caused, the Payroll Department managed to once again step up to the plate and process the HHC payroll in a time-ly manner, allowing us all to be paid last Thursday.
“While they are used to pitching in and working under pressure, given the extenuating circumstances and being down a staff member, it is a testament to just how well they work together and care about the employ-ees at HHC,” said Joan Tetro, payroll supervisor.
Front row(left to right): Tony Buono and Valerie Mills
Back row (left to right): Joan Tetro, George Urbanik
and Ron Carrier
Absent from photo: Teresa Conceicao
Payroll Staff Comes Through In The Storm
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Top: Elliot Joseph addresses 400 at the State of the System meeting.
Above: Team EXCEED, winners of the first Making a Difference Together Award.
Left: Guest speaker John Nance.
More than 400 system lead-ers attended Hartford Health-Care’s annual State of the Sys-tem event at the Hartford Hilton Oct. 26. HHC President/CEO Elliot Joseph discussed the system’s accomplishments for FY 2012 and the challenges we face go-ing forward.
Guest speaker was John Nance, author, ABC news commentator, and medical safety and quality expert.
HHC holds the event to give lead-ership the opportunity to net-work, as well as to discuss issues important to the organization and the health care industry.
One highlight of the meeting was the awarding of the first systemwide “Making a Differ-ence Together ... by living our values” Award.
Team EXCEED from Hartford Hospital received the top prize. More than 40 nominations were received for the award.
State of the System Meeting Looks At HHC Accomplishments and Future Opportunities
Benefits Open Enroll-ment Starts This WeekOpen enrollment (opportunity to make changes online or telephonical-ly through Farmington Company) will occur Nov. 5-26. An enrollment news-letter and update will be mailed to the homes of all benefit-eligible employees prior to this. Benefit fairs (information-al sessions where employees can ask questions or set up an appointment for a personalized one-on-one meeting -- but NOT make changes or enroll) will be held this week:
Dementia Caretakers Support Group TuesdayBeing a caretaker or loved one to some-one with demen-tia is a challenge. Please join the IOL social work staff as we bring together experts and those who want guidance, direction and sup-port through this journey. The first meet-ing of this monthly series is Tuesday, Nov. 6 from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the IOL in the Donnelly Building conference room. A light lunch will be served. Please RSVP to Mary Cameron at 860-545-7665. This meeting is supported by the IOL Family Resource Center.
Save the Date: Staff Holiday Parties Wednesday, Dec. 5
Tropical Plant Sale The Horticulture Pro-gram will be selling tropical plants, nor-mally available at the greenhouse, in the cafeteria on Thursday, Nov. 15 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. They will also be sold in the Donnelly Building Lobby on Wednesday, Nov. 21 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. For more in-formation, call 5-7397, or email [email protected].
Buy Raffle Tickets for Black&Red This WeekThe Employee Council will be selling raf-fle tickets on Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 7 and 8 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in the cafeteria, and on Friday, Nov. 9 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on the Newington Campus, 5th Floor connector hallway. The prize is two tickets to the Black & Red, Hartford Hospital’s signature fund raising event. Raffle Tickets are $20 and proceeds will benefit the Transplant Program, the ben-eficiary of the 2013 Black & Red. You must be an HH staff member to pur-chase a raffle ticket, and a staff member must use at least one of the tickets. The Black & Red, a black tie event, will take place on January 5, 2013 at the Bushnell. Earth, Wind & Fire is the featured enter-tainment. Tickets were donated by Evan Fox, M.D. Cash and checks (made out to Hartford Hospital) will be accepted. For more information on the event vis-it http://giving.harthosp.org/blackandred.
$6 Sale in Cafeteria FridayHCI Fundraising brings their huge $6 sale to the Hartford Hospital Cafete-ria on Friday, Nov. 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Name brand, top quality prod-ucts, factory direct prices, and values up to 80% below retail. You’ll find products for women, men and children includ-ing great values on fashion and seasonal accessories, jewelry, gadgets and more. Sponsored by The Auxiliary Store.
Foxwoods Bus Trip 12/7Join us Friday, Dec. 7 for an evening at Foxwoods Casino to benefit the Unit-ed Way Campaign at Hartford Hospi-tal. (The trip was rescheduled from Fri-day, Nov. 2. Tickets already purchased for the Nov. 2 date will be valid for the Dec. 7 date. If you bought a ticket but cannot attend on Dec. 7, contact any of the people listed for a refund.) The bus will leave the Newington campus (Cur-tis Building) at 6 p.m., and will stop to pick up passengers at the HH Hartford campus (Jefferson St. entrance) at 6:30 p.m. It will arrive at Foxwoods at 7 p.m., and depart Foxwoods at midnight. It will arrive at the Hartford campus at 1 a.m., and at the Newington campus at 1:30 a.m. Cost is $25 per person, which includes bus, a $15 food voucher, and a $10 Keno play. Tickets are first come, first serve. Contact:
• Wendy Benjamin: 860-696-3106
• Stasia Gray: 860-696-6046
• MaryAnn Majewski: 860-696-6083
• Gwen Freeman: 860-696-6043
• Lucy Rignrose: 860-696-3114
• Rosa Rosa: 860-696-6048
• Jerry Belanger: 860-545-3905
Poinsettia Sale The Auxiliary’s an-nual sale of poinset-tias will take place on Thursday, Nov. 29 from 8 to 4 p.m. in the lobby and cafeteria as sup-ply lasts. Preorder forms will be distrib-uted through mailboxes to all depart-ments and in the Auxiliary Store. Preor-ders receive a 10% discount. All proceeds are used for hospital grants. For more information, contact Anita Manuck ([email protected]) or Kathy Herzog ([email protected]).
Happening at Hartford Hospital
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