Hupdate September 5 2014

Volume 25

Number 18

September 5, 2014

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

`` (Above): Bernice Jones with the Project Hope display.

(Right): Former Project Hope “stars” Alexis Knese (top and right) with brother, Andrew, in the ICN and today.

Staff Reach Out to Help New Parents Inside Making History and Progress with the National Veterans Wheelchair Games ...................2 A Playground to Have Fun… and Learn...................................3 Helping People All the Time.....3 Boxers and Briefs Hit Philly Streets..............................4 Biking to Raise Awareness.......4

With all its equipment and sounds — and the constant flurry of activity — HUP’s intensive care nursery can be a stressful environment for parents. And that doesn’t begin to address the roller coaster of fears and uncertainties that they experience for their newborn. Understanding the high levels of anxiety among parents, members of the ICN staff have developed several family-centered initiatives to help moms and dads better cope.

Parents of former ICN patients are an excellent resource for current parents because of their shared experiences, said Bernice Jones, MSN. Many are happy to come back to give support, guidance and, sometimes, just a shoulder to cry on. For example, during the unit’s twice-monthly Coffee Hours with former ICN parents, “the new parents feel comfortable talking about what they’re feeling or any issues they’re having because the former parents know exactly what they’re going through,” said Jones, who chairs the unit’s Patient- and Family-Centered Care Committee.

Project Hope, a new program, also uses the experiences of former parents to raise the spirits of new moms and dads. A photo display in the waiting room shows the progress of former patients — from newborn status in the ICN to happy, confident toddlers, with an accompanying narrative written by the parents. “Each describes life in the ICN and what they were feeling, the baby’s progress, and how they’re doing now,” Jones said. “Many families want to stay involved.”

“It offers hope to the current families,” said nurse manager Kelley Karp, MSN, BS, “telling them, ‘We had a rough start as well and it turned out well.’”

The Knese triplets — Andrew, Alexis, and Abby — were recent “stars” in Project Hope. Born at 29 weeks, they were immediately placed in the ICN. The Project Hope narrative notes that “it was a rocky road — on ventilators, off ventilators, apnea, transfusions, everything you could imagine. But each day we watched them grow stronger and stronger, under the care of the amazing ICN nurses and staff.”

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(continued from front cover)

Staff Reach Out to Help New Parents Both Andrew and Alexis went home after six and seven weeks, respectively, in the ICN. Abby, who was born with a heart defect, was transferred to CHOP after two months in the ICN but passed away a few months later. “While we know that she received the best possible care at CHOP, we credit the nurses in the HUP ICN for the amazing 5 ½ months we had with her,” Sandy Knese wrote in a letter.

“We believe that it was the love and care she received during the first two months of her life, when she was the most vulnerable, that gave her the strength to fight as hard as she did.” The Kneses are planning to make a donation of some much needed items to the ICN in Abby’s memory.

“My children didn’t just survive, they thrived, because of the care they received,” Knese said.

Jones said they will switch family stories every few weeks but “we’re working towards getting an electronic display that would do a continual slide show.”

Other initiatives allow current parents to get to know and talk with each other, in a less stressful environment. For example, Parent Time offers them a chance to chat while doing a craft. “One mom said, ‘I was feeling bad — I thought I had caused the early birth. After talking with other moms I feel much better. Thank you so much!’” Jones said.

The staff also uses crafts to recognize big holidays that occur during an infant’s stay in the ICN. For instance, “on Valentine’s day, we give parents a heart-shaped card with their baby’s footprint on it,” Jones said.

Family-centered care is a big component in the ICN; staff work with parents to take an active role in their infant’s care and gain confidence. For example, “a developmental specialist teaches parents how to massage the infant, which relaxes the baby, helps with development, and creates bonding,” Jones said. Staff also hold “baby basics” classes to help parents make the transition to home. CPR classes are available as well, for high-risk babies going home, she added.

ICN Mission Statement

F A M I L Y

amily-centered care provided in a baby-friendly environment ccountability for clinical excellence ultidisciplinary collaboration with mutually determined goals ntegrated Primary Nursing providing a team approach to your care ifelong learning to support evidence based practice our cultural diversity is important to us

A new program now under development goes beyond caring for a newborn. “Many parents — especially those still in their teens — may need continuing education, beyond diapering and feedings,” said Kathy Mercado, BSN. The monthly classes will discuss “every aspect of raising a child and taking care of themselves.”

Mercado said the classes will initially be held in the Patient Education Center, but would like to eventually take them out into the community.

“We’re hoping that once they come, the information they get will bring them back for more,” Mercado said. “Many parents need this guidance and if we don’t help, who will?”

Making History and Progress with the National Veterans Wheelchair Games This year marked the 34th National Veterans Wheelchair Games — the largest games yet, with over 650 men and women competing in softball, quad rugby, basketball, power soccer, and other events in Philadelphia and South Jersey.

This year, the theme was “Philly: Where Heroes Make History.”

Some of the week’s volunteers came from Penn Medicine, including physicians, nurses, and other hospital staff, and students from Penn Medicine’s High School pipeline program.

“There was such a positive energy—smiles on everyone,” said Nora Brennan, BSN, a primary care connector nurse at HUP, whose husband served as a U.S. Marine and whose nephew served multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Brennan seized the opportunity to give back, volunteering at the durable medical equipment room, the hospitality table, and Kids’ Day. On top of

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those duties, she was one of thousands of fans in the stands at many events, including awards ceremonies and basketball.

For more on the 34th National Veterans Wheelchair Games, including first-person accounts from Penn Medicine volunteers, please visit the Penn Medicine News Blog at http://news. pennmedicine.org/blog.

Helping People All the Time Congratulations to May’s winners in the Helping People All the Time raffle. Thank you for all you do!

`` (L—R) Mel Kearney, Rick Kearney, and Patricia Vadden, first grade teacher at Walnut Elementary School, are among many who are helping bring the school’s playground back to life.

A Playground to Have Fun… and Learn When most people think of a playground, they connect it with having fun. But the playground is also a good place to learn important lessons, like sharing, cooperating (think seesaw) and waiting your turn. It also promotes regular exercise and social interaction.

That’s why Mel Kearney, BSN, of Occupational Medicine, is putting so much effort into making sure the kids of the Walnut Elementary School have a playground. The school is located in an underserved area in Darby. All that remains of its original playground is a lone metal piece of playground equipment.

Mel has a special affinity for this school. Her husband, Rick, taught there for 38 years before health problems led to his retirement. “He taught the kids the ABCs of life — attitude, behavior, and choices,” she said. “For some kids, this school was the most stable part of their lives, because of Rick and others who stayed and helped. They love these kids.”

And clearly the affection was returned. When Rick retired, he was known as Pop Pop Kearney. The playground will be named in his honor. “Many of his former students have shown an overwhelming support for the project,” Mel said.

Mel has also found support in the Penn community. Sometimes it’s a donation. Or it’s people sharing their talents, their connections, their resources. She’ll use a Penn Medicine CAREs grant to help turn the nearly vacant land back into a playground, for example, by painting outlines to play hopscotch and buying playground equipment like basketballs and jump ropes.

“Our goal is to not use Penn’s Trauma Center,” she said. “We want to encourage healthy behaviors that will help prevent violence.”

To learn more about the playground project, go to www.gofundme.com/ walnutstplayground.

Valerie Pearsall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ravdin 6 Susan Dougherty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Silverstein 10 Wadeeah Henderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ravdin 7 Colleen Hayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pharmacy Morganne LaRocco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ravdin 6 Latanya Pierce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cardiology Sarah Allen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ED Whitney Zachritz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nursing Melisa White. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ICN Stefanie Luker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patient Accounting Janice Scott. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Social Work Lindsay Johns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Silverstein 8 Ameena Elahi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Radiology Van Doan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Radiology Heidi Micolucci. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Radiology Caren Levine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Radiology Deb Dearstyne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rhoads7 Antoinette Edwards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Radiology Sarah Cotrufello. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rhoads 7 Tineal Beattie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Silverstein 11 Bradford Dungan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Radiology Joe Cox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Materials Management Jamilah Patton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Silverstein 7 Sakinah Wade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Silverstein 8 Alexandra Brangan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Silverstein 7

Heartfelt Thanks

I am writing to let you know what a wonderful person Officer [Michael] Hudson is. I’ve been coming to Perelman for roughly 5 months now and each time I drive into the parking lot, I have been greeted warmly by Officer Hudson. Initially, overwhelmed with what lay ahead of me, I would drive into the parking lot scared and down — Officer Hudson would wave me in as if I was the most important person driving into the lot and give me a sense that all was going to be alright. It sounds exaggerative — how could someone in such small encounters do something so impactful. I don’t know exactly how, but I can tell you, he had that positive effect. I continue to come to Perelman to complete some procedures and am on my way to healing.

I look forward to my drive to the lot, anticipating the wide, bright grin from Officer Hudson, knowing that his positive energy had helped me so much.

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Flu Vaccine Campaign: Starting Soon!

Biking to Raise Awareness Darren Ensinger (r.), a flight nurse on PennSTAR, rode over 500 miles — from Boston to DC — in seven days with the Muddy Angels to raise awareness of flight safety and honor the many EMTs, paramedics, and other EMS personnel who have lost their lives while helping others. Joining him in the Pennsylvania part of the ride were two other PennSTAR crew members, Joe O’Leary (l.) and Wayne Riddle. Also participating in the ride was PennSTAR flight medic Fred Wurster.

The 2014 Penn Medicine Influenza Vaccine Campaign for employees will begin as usual in late September/ early October. This timing is chosen to provide optimal protection during the usual peak times for influenza infection in the Philadelphia area. The vaccine components are identical to those of 2013. As usual, the UPHS Occupational Health practices will provide vaccination opportunities at multiple convenient sites. The calendar and details will be posted on the UPHS Intranet Homepage.

Penn Medicine staff will be able to print their own bar-coded consent forms beginning in mid September.

Any Penn Medicine faculty or employees who choose to be vaccinated for the 2014 season in their own doctor’s offices or pharmacies should save the documentation and submit it in September or October with their barcoded forms. Documentation can be submitted by drop-off to your Penn Medicine Occupational Health Practice or by emailing pdfs (including the bar-coded form) to OccHealth@uphs. upenn.edu.

HUPdate Editorial Staff

Boxers and Briefs Hit Philly Streets Turn your underwear into outerwear for this year’s Philadelphia Undy Run/Walk. On Saturday, September 13, participants will hit the pavement on Martin Luther King Drive donning family-friendly, underwear-themed outfits. The Undy Run/Walk benefits the Colon Cancer Alliance, but a portion of this year’s proceeds will also go to Penn Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center’s West Philadelphia Gastrointestinal Health Outreach and Access Program. This patient navigation program helps West Philadelphia patients complete their screening colonoscopies — a powerful way to prevent colon cancer!

The Undy Run/Walk isn’t just your every-day run. Instead of receiving a race day t-shirt, participants will receive a stylish pair of boxer shorts and will have the opportunity to take a stroll through a larger-than-life inflatable colon. This creative and educational inflatable is a unique way for visitors to understand the disease.

For more information or to register, visit www.undyrunwalk.org and click on “Philadelphia, PA.”

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Sally Sapega Editor and Photographer Trissy Harding 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.