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Above and Beyond Award - Fall 2009The Above and Beyond Award at CVMC is given to employees, volunteers and physicians who clearly went "above and beyond" to help a patient or fellow colleague. Nominated by their peers and awarded by Judy Tarr (CEO and President of CVMC), the stories of these award recipients exemplify the spirit of caring at CVMC.
On the weekend of June 13 Ms. Sharon Stafford, RN went Above & Beyond in her role as a nurse in the Women and Children's unit wrote Roger Knowlton, DO. She was caring for a newborn that required very specific types of intensive care. She performed these nursing duties well. I feel it was her ability to help the baby's parents deal successfully with this infant's needs, as well as all their other many and varied stresses and issues that provided a more holistic approach to this family's situation. It is one thing to just carry out one's specific (in this case) nursing duties, but I feel Sharon also helped the family develop skills that will help them be more successful.
Shirlaine DeForge, phlebotomist for the lab primarily nominated Charlotte Stevens , registration and also Cindy Corey and Susan Nadeau from registration and Erin Abare who works for Berlin Urology. A very difficult patient came in. The ladies in registration were worried about me drawing the patient by myself in the outpatient lab. They asked Charlotte what to do. She said she'd go down and stand by in the outpatient lab to keep an eye on me. The patient was very rude and there were other problems following the blood draw. If Charlotte hadn't taken the EXTRA initiative to come and keep an eye out for me, I wouldn't have had a witness and the extra protection needed in case a code green (aggressive situation) was called. It's hard working the evening shift and being alone in a place with thousands of needles. I am truly blessed to work with so many caring and thoughtful people who look out for me! Thank you!
A construction worker was admitted as a patient on Med/Surg as the result of an accident. After treatment, he needed special equipment delivered here for home therapy before he could be discharged. A few snags were encountered getting the approval for the equipment, and it became obvious the equipment was not going to be delivered until the next day, in spite of considerable energy expended to make that happen. His friends had arrived to drive him home to St. Albans which now wouldn't be until the next day, requiring his friends to make another trip. Going the “extra mile,” Diane Murray, RN and Leslie Carpenter, LNA personally paid for and ordered pizza and bread sticks to be delivered to this patient for supper, since he was on alert all day awaiting his discharge news. “This is just one more personal touch added to the nursing care that is delivered every day by these two professionals. They went Above & Beyond and had a full and happy construction worker!” wrote Lynne Carpenter, RN.
Paul Messier always goes Above & Beyond when it comes to bringing our supplies, transporting our medical records and getting our mail where it needs to go in a timely manner. No job is too big or too small, and he does it with a gigantic smile and a hearty team playing attitude. Even when he is having a rough day, he makes our day bright and shiny. He makes our office feel special as he greets everyone by name and with a genuine “Paul” smile. He is the best, and we love him! Submitted by Cindy Warren, LPN and secretaries Jennifer LaPerle, Lori Davis, Pam Bean and Sasha Bernier, front office staff of Associates in Pediatrics.
Bonnie Breer of Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice recommended Janet Koval , an employee in CVMC's lab. Bonnie described Janet as being attentive to her needs. Bonnie came to the hospital at about 10pm with a blood sample. She didn't think it was going to be acceptable, but Janet ran the testing for the blood. Janet took the time to talk with Bonnie and explained everything about the testing, etc. She was able to spend about 40 minutes with her, and Bonnie felt Janet was so attentive to her and very helpful for future blood testing. She wanted to make sure we recognized Janet for Above & Beyond service and care.
Frank Casey , Rehabilitation Services, has worked as a rehabilitation tech for many years and has always been caring and responsive in his interaction with patients and staff. The last week of June and first week of July, we had a situation where we were significantly understaffed due to one tech being off for a scheduled vacation and another tech out due to an injury. All of the rehabilitation techs helped by pitching in during this period. Frank, being the only tech in our main therapy location, rose to the occasion and worked diligently, keeping the gym going, processing all the scanning/paperwork and helping with patient care. He missed breaks and lunchtime without ever complaining. It was noted by office staff and therapists that he happily hustled through his job, never once saying no to any request or getting upset, despite it being quite hectic at times. His efforts greatly helped with patient care and satisfaction. Nominated by Robert Patterson PT, Director of Rehabilitation Services.
Mary Anne Douglas, RN nominated Sandy Spargo, RN, CNC (clinical nurse coordinator) on Med/Surg for an Above & Beyond award. Although ‘above and beyond' is the norm for Sandy , her contribution last night (and on a previous occasion) really deserves recognition. On Sunday, August 23rd, Sandy worked her scheduled 7a-7p shift as charge nurse on the unit. During that time, it became evident that we were going to be short-staffed on the night shift. (Schedule changes had previously been made to allow some night-shift staff to attend an in-house chemotherapy course.) Nursing supervisors made several phone calls attempting to locate charge nurse coverage but were unsuccessful. Sandy 's dedication to the unit and the hospital would not allow her to leave. She agreed to go to one of the overnight rooms to sleep for a couple of hours. She then returned at 11pm and remained charge nurse until 7am on August 24th. For any one of us, this would be considered ‘above and beyond.' What makes this especially notable is that this is the second time that Sandy has done this when there's been a dire need. And to take it a step further, Sandy remained on the floor after reporting off to the day clinical nurse coordinator. She wanted to ensure that an early morning admission was settled in and her IV fluids started before she left for the day. Sandy is the type of nurse so many of us aspire to be. She is incredibly caring about her patients and co-workers alike. I hope that you will acknowledge her contributions and commitment by awarding her Above & Beyond recognition.
The Woodridge activities staff ( Ellen O'Hara, Lucie Gilbert, Heather Prevost and Pam Fadden ) often go Above & Beyond but today they proved their extraordinary commitment to our patients, residents and families. One of their co-workers died at the hospital this morning. She had been ill for a while and had been hospitalized for about three weeks, but the turn she took this morning was unexpected. Two of the staff were not only Mary's colleagues but also close personal friends. Despite suffering this terrible emotional blow, all four worked at Woodridge the entire day and no activities were eliminated or shortened. An evening cookout was on the schedule and they set up for it outdoors but had to do the extra work of moving it indoors when the weather worsened. These large special meals are so much work, but they tackled the job without complaint and served almost 100 people cheerfully and lovingly, staying until everyone else had left and the room was completely cleaned up. Nobody attending the event would have guessed that it was anything but a usual day at Woodridge . These people deserve our admiration and thanks says Theresa Lever, patient navigator.
Sherry Howes, Clinical Office Supervisor at Associates in Pediatrics & Barre Pediatrics nominated Paul Messier, transport and John Sefcik, biomedical engineer. A piece of equipment was sent to CVH from our office for possible repair or replacement. A couple of weeks went by with no word on the status of this request. Several calls were made and the piece of equipment was not located. Paul was on vacation and had nothing to do with the transport, but upon his return when I mentioned it to him, he began to search for it – giving me a daily report on his progress. Paul found the piece of equipment at the end of his shift and took it to John the next morning. John fixed it immediately and it was back at Barre Pedi that morning. I believe these two gentlemen went Above & Beyond to locate, repair and return this important piece of equipment for our office! Thank you Paul and John!
John Hannigan does a big print job for the Community Relations and Development Department once every quarter. He prints 23,000 color copies of the Healthy Community Sheet for insertion in a newspaper and it usually takes him three to four weeks to print. As August rolled around, it was a big question mark about whether it would be done for September. John had another big print job request from human resources at the same time for 1,000 Flex Books by August 12th. It really didn't seem possible that he'd get the jobs done in time, but he did, with time to spare! In talking with John, there were definitely two things that contributed to his success: 1. John stopped by on the weekends to reload the printers so that they continued running all week long; 2. While John was out delivering supplies to the floors, his co-workers in materiel management regularly pitched in by keeping an eye on his printers, reloading when they were out of paper. I think these are both examples of going Above & Beyond . Without this extra effort by the materiel management team, Hjonis Hanson, Manager, Marketing & Community Outreach doesn't think the project would have been done in time, and he is truly grateful!
On the same subject, John Hannigan wrote to recognize all of his co-workers, Kelly Ballard, Sandy Luce, Jeff Eastman, Paul Demers, Scott Farnham, and his manager, Linda Squier. I had four weeks to complete the two jobs referenced above, plus regular print shop jobs. I greatly appreciated the surprise of a new paper folder showing up the day we started this project. Our manager knew we needed one and she also made sure I had all of the paper needed for the community relations job. Thank you. To all of my coworkers, while I was out doing my other duties, it was they who showed the great teamwork that our department has in helping each other out when we need a hand by keeping the mac hines running and the paper trays filled. They did this on their own without being asked, and I really appreciate all they did. I think it really shows the team effort and great leadership this department has. By all of their assistance and help, we were able to have the Flex Books done three days early and the Community Relations Broadsheets done a week in advance. I appreciate the fact that Hjonis put me in for Above & Beyond for getting his projects done, but I think, as I told Hjonis and Judy Tarr, none of this would have happened without the unselfish help of my coworkers.
Kathy Nickels, Administrative Assistant arrived early one morning prior to the CVMC Finance meeting and discovered the room was not set up as requested. Nancy Conrad, registration was kind enough to bring a message upstairs to Lisa Copeland in transport. She and Scott Cookson , from plant facilities came and helped set up the tables and chairs for the meeting. I appreciate their extra effort.
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