Volume 27
Number 13
June 24, 2016
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
W H AT
Joy I N
SOUND! Carolyn Sienicki started wearing hearing aids in kindergarten. Her hearing loss “affected how I learned in the classroom, the ease of forming new friendships and relationships, and how people perceived and responded to me.” After 40 years of “honed coping strategies and expensive new hearing aids” that were no longer doing the job, she decided to take the next step: getting cochlear implants. She received the first in November 2014 and the second last September. They changed her life. The “What Joy in Sound!” painting (left) she created and gifted to her surgeon, Michael Ruckenstein, MD, of Otorhinolaryngology, illustrates the difference that hearing has made.
INSIDE A Winning CANstruction..........2 ‘Above and Beyond’ Recognizes HUP’s Every Day Heroes.................................3 Two from Path & Lab Named in “40 Under Forty”.......................3 Join the 5k for the IOA and Memory Mile Walk....................4 HR Generalists Now at HUP.....4
The cochlea plays a key role in our ability to hear. Its delicate hair cells send neural signals to the brain via the auditory nerve. When these cells are damaged, no signals reach the brain. The cochlear implant comprises an internal electrode — which is surgically implanted in the cochlea — as well as an internal receiver and an external processor with a microphone.
Sound enters the implant through the microphone and travels, via special FM sound waves, into the internal receiver which sends it to the electrode. This, in turn, stimulates the auditory nerve which sends the sound to the brain stem and then the brain. Driving home after her first implant was activated, “I was waiting in traffic to turn and heard a tick-tick-tick sound,” Sienicki said. Having no idea what it was, she pulled off to the side of the road, thinking something must with wrong with the implant. The sound disappeared. She then signaled to get back on the road. There it was again. “I realized the car’s turn signal makes a sound!” she said. Activating the implant doesn’t immediately lead to perfect hearing, said Hannah Kaufman, AuD, CCC-A, coordinator of HUP’s Implantable Hearing Devices Program. “The brain has forgotten how to hear normally, to tune out sounds,” she said. “Patients become overwhelmed in a noisy environment trying to separate the speaker from the background sounds.” (continued on page 2)
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W H AT
Joy
(continued on from cover)
Relearning how to hear requires hours of work, but “along the way there have been all these little, unexpected moments when I realize I’m hearing something for the first time in my life,” Sienicki said, for example hearing the birds sing, her daughter’s breathing as she falls asleep, and food sizzling.
IN
SOUND!
The idea for her painting came after the second implant. Leaving Penn, she noticed that there was not a cloud in the sky. “It mirrored how I felt, as if someone had taken a paintbrush and put the blue back for me,” she said. Picturing the cochlea as the sun, she painted two strands of 22 circles each to represent the electrode in each ear. “I put a memory of an unexpected moment in each circle. It was really hard to narrow it down to just 44.”
`` Shown here with daughters Sarah (l) and Erin, and husband Jim, Carolyn Sienicki feels “my biggest joy has been hearing their joy.” Photo credit: Jennifer Starr.
Now hanging in Audiology, the painting inspires other patients undergoing their own cochlear implant processes. “They recognize sounds on the painting that they too have just heard for the first time,” Kaufman said. On their first visit after activation, patients bring in a list of what they can now hear. “Most put down three or four things, but then they see the painting and they’ll tell me, ‘I hear that, too!’ It’s a sense of comradery and relatability.”
A WINNING
CANSTRUCTION
The PennFIRST team — comprising UPHS staff as well as the design and construction management firms — is involved in the New Patient Pavilion project on the site of Penn Tower but members took a break to benefit a good cause: hunger relief with CANstruction®. This charity hosts competitions in major cities to build huge structures made from cans of food. The completed structures are put on display and then all food is donated to a local organization that helps to feed the needy. This year’s theme was “Decades.” Basing their design on the LOVE structure in Center City, the PennFIRST team’s creation spelled out CURE and called it “#weCANcure — Celebrating the Advancement of Medicine through the Decades.” The design called for more than 3,200 cans and all were either red or blue. Amassing that many cans was no easy task. One cashier scanned a single can 684 times… and proceeded to print out an 8-foot-long receipt. (A CANstruction record!) Lauren Valentino, project manager in Real Estate, Design and Construction, said they first did a dry run at 3737 Market Street, the PennFIRST office. “We had to first practice how to build it and make sure it was structurally sound,” she said. When the real build date arrived, they took down the mockup and loaded all the cans into a Uhaul to bring to Liberty Place, where the competition was held. Starting at 8 pm, they managed to complete the entire
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creation in under 2 ½ hours. “Some groups were there for much longer – we became very efficient!” The design was clearly a favorite. It not only won second place overall but was chosen as the 2016 CANstruction People’s Choice award winner!
AND
‘ABOVE BEYOND’
RECOGNIZES HUP’S EVERY DAY HEROES Above and Beyond is a new program at HUP that recognizes those who do amazing things for our patients, well beyond job expectations, and inspire others around them. “We want to recognize those people who help make Penn Medicine great,” said Suchin Wadhwani, MD, an Anesthesia resident. “They take pride in their job and continually push the envelope for how we should interact and treat others.” The initiative is a collaboration between the Hospital and Advanced Practitioner Quality Council and the Nursing Quality and Patient Safety Core Council. Each quarterly award will be given to staff from one of five disciplines: nurse, doctor, AP/CPNP, pharmacist, and ancillary staff member. Suchin, who is taking the lead on this project with Melissa Maynard, BSN, of Rhoads 3, an oncology unit, said the first call for nominations brought in over 140! “We look for people who are not only caring and are of utmost integrity but also have done something extraordinary, something unexpected,” Suchin said. “It was difficult to choose just five.” While only at HUP now, they hope to eventually expand the program throughout the Health System.
Below are the first five winners of the Above and Beyond Award and a brief description of why they were chosen: Kathy Hyde, RN, of Silverstein 8, was truly an exemplary teammate when she came to the L&D floor unscheduled when she heard that they were extremely busy and worked into the next shift to help her colleagues. Yoruba Rose, a dispatcher in Patient Transport, put patients first when she was just entering work and noticed a patient struggling to walk. Without even clocking-in and with grace, she helped the patient into a wheelchair and took the person to the appointment at PCAM. Nate Singh, MD, a PGY-3 resident in Internal Medicine, arranged with a foreign embassy to help his terminally ill patient return to her country to spend her remaining days with family. Lauren Simmonds, PharmD, has repeatedly demonstrated herself a meticulous pharmacist, catching life-threatening pharmacotherapy implications, and a pleasure to work with every day. Stephanie Toth, CRNP, balances warm and compassionate patient care with office responsibilities happily and eagerly. To nominate someone for the next Above and Beyond Awards, go to http://uphsnet.uphs.upenn.edu/beyond/. The deadline for the next round of nominations is the end of September.
Two from Path & Lab Named in “40 Under Forty” The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) has named Kevin Alby, PhD and Roseann Wu, MD, both of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, to its 2016 “40 under Forty” list. The award, now in its third year, honors the top 40 pathologists, residents, and laboratory professionals under the age of 40 who are making significant contributions to the profession. Nominees represent the achievements and qualities important to the pathology and laboratory sciences fields and stand out as the future of laboratory leadership. The ASCP cited Alby for his active role in professional organizations, selecting roles that allow him to serve as a mentor to others in his field, and Wu for her use of innovative methods for delivering education and involvement in adaptive e-learning initiatives.
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Heartfelt Thanks
JOIN THE 5K FOR THE IOA AND MEMORY MILE WALK Mark your calendars for Penn Medicine’s 5th Annual 5K for the IOA and Memory Mile Walk on Sunday, September 25. The event will be held on Penn’s campus, starting at Shoemaker Green between the Palestra and Franklin Field, and running through Penn Park, with its skyline views of Center City Philadelphia. The 5K Run will begin at 8:00 am and the Memory Mile Walk/dog walk will begin at 8:15 am. Dogs are welcomed to join in the walk! The cost to register is:
• $25 before September 9 • $30 before September 25 • $35 the day of the race Proceeds will help further innovative research by Penn’s Institute on Aging through the Pilot Grant Program, to fill funding gaps and foster exploration of new directions in research for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. To register, to volunteer or donate, go to www.pennmedicine.org/5kIOA. For additional information, contact Elizabeth H. Yannes at 215.573.4961 or elyannes@upenn.edu.
HR GENERALISTS NOW AT HUP HUP’s HR Generalist team has moved into the office suite on Ground Gates. A formal reception will take place once the renovations and moves are fully completed. The new phone numbers for the team are: Reinaldine Fleury 215.614.0316
Lidia Corso 215.614.0315
Andrea Mathis 215.614.0314
Domenic Sanginiti 215.615.2394
Shannon Camps 215.614.0313
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I am sending this email to inform you of an amazing act of kindness done by patient transporter Adam Hicks. Mr. Hicks arrived to Founders 12 to transport a patient to the discharge lobby. The patient failed to communicate to the staff that he did not have a means of transportation to 30th Street to catch a 1 pm train. Attempts were made to contact social work to resolve this issue rather quickly. It was 12 pm and we did not want the patient to miss the Amtrak train. The patient was unkind to Adam but despite the treatment he was receiving, Adam volunteered to give the patient one of his personal SEPTA tokens so that he would not miss the train. That was a wonderful act of kindness. In the face of adversity, Mr. Hicks was able to rise and go beyond the call of duty to make sure a patient’s need was met. Kudos to Mr. Hicks.
HUPdate EDITORIAL STAFF Sally Sapega Editor and Photographer Maureen McGirr Graphic Designer
ADMINISTRATION
Susan E. Phillips Senior Vice President, Public Affairs Holly Auer Director of Communications CONTACT HUPDATE AT: 3535 Market Street, Mezzanine Philadelphia, PA 19104 phone: 215.662.4488 fax: 215.349.8312 email: sally.sapega@uphs.upenn.edu HUPdate is published biweekly for HUP employees. Access HUPdate online at http://news.pennmedicine.org/inside/hupdate.