March 30, 2015
Volume 24 – Number 14
March EOM Gives Exceptional Care
“IF WE COuLD vOTE YOu Employee of the
Month every month, we would,” Oncology Nurse Manager Willa Shimomura told
Robert Sagisi, CNA. “No task is too big or
too small for you to tackle and you do it all
with a smile on your face.” Robert replied
with his trademark smile, still believing he
was brought to the conference room to
handle some problem for unit Secretary
Mel Childers. A sign proclaimed him EOM;
acting COO Cindy Kamikawa, RN, vP Darlena Chadwick, RN, and Carol Santiago,
representing Human Resources, presented him with the EOM bennies of free parking for a month and some handy cash, but
he remained unconvinced.
“Receiving this is a truly amazing honor,” he finally managed to say. “I couldn’t
do this without all of you—my managers,
coworkers, my wife.”
Mel had been working hard to prepare for this day, collecting photos of
Robert and notes of appreciation from
the QET 7 DH staff to put on a poster
(see photo, far right). Some of the comments she collected include: “You make
a special connection with patients and
families….You make a huge difference on
our unit. I love working with you….There
are no words to express how fortunate
we are to have you as part of our ‘ohana.
You have such a huge and caring heart…
Jean and Robert Sagisi with Willa Shimomura.
You always put others before yourself.”
Robert has worked at Queen’s for almost 10 years now, and most of that time
was spent on QET 7. Born and raised
in the Philippines, Robert majored in
accounting and earned a bachelor of
science degree in commerce. He first
worked in the hotel industry and then
took a job at a hospital. He found that
he enjoyed the hospital setting more
than the hospitality industry, and spent
14 years as a surgical tech. He moved to
Hawai‘i and got his nursing assistant certification while working with a home care
agency. It wasn’t long before he found a
home on QET 7 DH.
Patients and their families really connect with Robert and one of them wrote
this endorsement: “Robert is the best! My
father has been in and out of the hospital
for six months now and Robert always
brings a smile to his face. He takes the
time to ensure my dad is comfortable and
really watches his patients. He is also the
only person my dad lets bathe him. Robert is so gentle and careful and gives extra
massages to help comfort my father. He is
always helping the nursing staff. Everyone
on the floor knows he’s the best.”
Nurse Manager Karla Ihara, RN, said,
(Continued on page 2.)
Queen’s ‘Ohana Steps Out to Cure Diabetes
THE QuEEN’S ‘OHANA had over 100 regis-
tered walkers at the annual American Diabetes Association’s Step Out Walk held
Saturday, March 21 in Kapi‘olani Park.
Employees, patients, friends and family
from both the Honolulu and West O‘ahu
campuses walked together and had a
presence at the accompanying health fair.
The Queen’s booth featured the dangers
of excessive sitting with a catchy new display titled “Sitting is the New Smoking” as
well as handouts with tips for sitting less,
and standing or moving more.
ERP
Name
Game
C O N T E S T
EOM Robert Sagisi
(Continued from page 1.)
“Robert is an employee of the day, everyday that he is working. Compliments are
made daily by patients and families. His
approach is always very respectful and
gentle. He is a hard worker and every
nurse who works with him only has positive comments about his work ethic, team
work, and overall compassion. I feel so
fortunate to have him on my unit.”
“In the Philippines, I worked mostly in
the OR. I didn’t have a chance to interact
with patients,” Robert explained. “On our
unit, people are in a lot of pain and I really
enjoy trying to make them more comfortable, to make them smile or laugh. I try
to make a joke out of simple things like
bringing them a glass of water or helping
to bathe them.” His wife Jean agreed that
he has a real knack for making people
laugh. She smiled shyly while admitting
that it’s what drew her to him.
At the EOM celebration coworkers recalled an especially difficult patient who
actually cried at discharge because he
was going to miss Robert. “Robert literally
sweated bullets to care for him,” they endorsed. “He is an exceptional employee.”
The Queen’s Health Systems has
launched a project to build a finance and supply chain superhighway that will transform finance and
supply chain processes. Right now,
the project is simply called “the ERP
Project,” you are invited to invent a
catchy title —something simple, inspiring, and descriptive. The winning
entry will be used to brand all ERP
project materials, including communications, activities, and training materials. The winner will receive a $100
gift certificate and be invited to the
official project kick-off later in April.
Deadline: Friday, April 3, 2015, by
5:00 pm. Please submit your contest
entry to: Cori Chang at corchang@
queens.org, OR via interoffice mail
to Cori Chang, Manamana 310, Honolulu campus. For employees only.
ERP Name:
Your Name:
Dept.:
Email:
Phone:
Analyzing the Big Picture of Public Policy
Politics has always been exciting to
Paige Heckathorn. When the Affordable
Care Act was being passed, she wanted
to be there. For Paige, it was the pinnacle
of political theater at its best, not to mention a historic event. Still in college, she
missed the passage, but did the next best
thing and went to work for Senator Daniel Inouye in Washington, DC, as a junior
staffer shortly after. Now Paige is working the political scene back in Hawai‘i as
QHS Government Relations Legislative
Analyst. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to be the policy person for a hospital,”
she says. “I heard so many good things
about Queen’s.” It’s a key role. What happens at the State Capitol could be either
very good for Queen’s—and consequently
Hawai‘i’s health care system—or bad, and
there needs to be someone there who
knows how to get things done on behalf
the health care providers and patients.
A Punahou School graduate, Paige is
the daughter of the late veteran journalist and journalism educator John Heckathorn, who served as editor of Honolulu
Magazine and taught at Hawai‘i Pacific
University. Paige counts herself fortunate
to have gotten a job with Senator Daniel
K. Inouye as a staff assistant after graduating from Boston College. She did a lot
of constituent services work, but also
helped another staffer who worked on
health care issues and learned a lot from
her. When Senator Inouye passed away,
Paige was hired by Senator Brian Schatz
and worked on issues relating to health
care, nutrition, seniors, and women.
“I’ve been wanting to come home for
a while and put down roots,” said Paige,
explaining that a lot of people stay in DC
for only three or four years (she had been
there for three and a half). “I heard about
a lot of exciting things that were happening in the state while working for the
delegation. I wanted to be a part of that.”
Paige had also worked with Queen’s
some while with Sen. Schatz. Interestingly, she says the pace of politics is much
quicker here than she’s used to. Unlike in
Washington, DC, she says, legislators at
the state level have limited time and budgets to do research on issues, and the
number of bills is much greater.
As QHS’s legislative analyst, Paige is
charged with analyzing the big picture of
public policy—that is, how laws and rules
affect the entire health care system in general and QHS specifically, either positively
or negatively, and to articulate that to both
lawmakers and QHS leadership. Put another way, Paige’s job is to wade through all
the rhetoric and talking points and provide
objective, nonpartisan analysis of what policies and bills will do. Her role is also to support the health care providers—those who
are taking care of patients every day—by
making sure their voices are being heard.
“My goal is to make sure that Queen’s
voice is heard in governmental affairs, and
that we speak as one voice on issues that
affect our four hospitals,” says Paige.
For many, the political process is mysterious, and you may wonder how Paige’s
work involves health care providers. If
you know of legislation you are concerned about, she advises, let her know
whether you are for or against it, and why.
You may be asked if you would be willing
to be used as expert testimony at a hearing. Also, if you know of a problem that
could be improved or resolved by amending a rule or law, then Paige can learn
more about the issue and see if there’s
something that can be done.
Paige realizes that many people are involved in the legislative process through
their own local or national specialty
groups (e.g., for nurses, doctors, pharmacists, or other health professionals),
but she is still interested in what their
groups are lobbying for. “I want people to
feel they have a relationship with me and
see me as a resource,” she says. “There
are a lot of ways for QHS Governmental
Affairs to grow, and I hope that we can
become a good source of education and
an effective influence on public policy.”
2015
Queen’s
Doctors’ Survey
Coming Soon!
For all doctors at QMC Honolulu,
QMC – West O‘ahu and QDC
Confidentially
Administered by
The 2015 Nursing Excellence Award
nominations for QMC in Honolulu are
now open. Award categories are Clinical,
Education, Leadership, Performance Improvement, Research or Evidence Based
Practice and the Queen Emma Nursing
Leadership Award. Nomination deadline
is Friday, April 14. Forms were sent out
through Exchange Admin email and are
available on the Queen’s Intranet. Call
Char at 691-7919 with any questions.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The QHS Native Hawaiian Health Program presents Mo‘olelo Hawai‘i: A Modern Hawaiian History Series. The threepart series will be held on Tuesdays, April
7, July 7, and October 6, from 12:00 - 1:00
pm in the Queen’s Conference Center,
Room 203. The series begins by understanding pre-contact Hawaiian civilization, Kamehameha the Great’s unification, the monarchy era, the republic and
territorial periods, statehood, and modern movements and issues. Participants
will learn about our collective history and
how it shapes our institution today as we
strive, “to fulfill the intent of Queen Emma
and King Kamehameha IV to provide in
perpetuity quality health care services
to improve the well-being of Native Hawaiians and all of the people of Hawai‘i.”
Please contact Kalani Kaanaana at [email protected] or 691-7010 if
you would like to attend. Seating is on a
first come, first served basis.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
THE MARCH OF DIMES annual March for
Babies will be held on Saturday, April 25
at 7:30 am at Kapi‘olani Park. QHS is a
Gold Sponsor of the event this year and
has set a fundraising goal of $13,000. AnnaLyn Ogata, RN, director of Oncology
Services at QMC in Honolulu, is the Family
Ambassador for Queen’s and she opens
her heart and shares her story on the
March of Dimes website at http://www.
marchforbabies.org/team/TheQueensMedicalCenter. You can register for the
walk or make a donation on the site. Team
members will be selling tags/pin-up cards
in the Harkness Dining Room at Queen’s
Honolulu from March 28 - April 25. Email
team captains Rocky Lee at rlee@queens.
org or Marisa Adaro at madaro@queens.
org for more information.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
the clean hands are safe hands campaign is off and running at North Hawai‘i
Community Hospital. Staff will earn tokens when “caught doing a great job” of
handwashing, and are wearing “Ask me
if I’ve washed my hands” buttons as part
of the educational hygiene campaign. Tokens will be collected from departments
each week and results will be tallied and
posted in the cafeteria. If 1,000 tokens are
collected by May 1, staff will be rewarded
with a gourmet feast.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The annual Good Friday service will be held in the 4th floor chapel on Friday, April 3, from 12:00-12:30
P.M. Everyone is invited to attend.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The monthly farmers market will
be at Queen’s Honolulu on Wednesday,
April 1 in the Harkness Courtyard from
9:00 am - 1:30 pm, and Fresh Market at
Queen’s - West O‘ahu on Wednesday,
April 15, on the Great Lawn.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Paddlers are needed to help North
Hawai‘i Community Hospital defend their
title against Hilo Medical Center at the
32nd annual Kamehameha Business Canoe Regatta set for Sunday, April 12,
from 7:00 am - 5:00 pm. Beginners are
welcome; practice sessions are held every Wednesday and Friday from 5:00 6:00 pm, and Saturday from 8:00 - 10:00
am at Surf Park in Kawaihae. Family
members and keiki age 9 and up are welcome to participate. Contact Kim Pratt at
[email protected] if interested.
All are invited to cheer on the paddling
teams and enjoy the family-centered
event held at Hilo Bay.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
yoga basics will be held at QMC in Honolulu on Tuesdays, April 21 – June 27,
5:30 – 6:30 pm. The fee is $66 for all six
classes. Bring a mat and towel. Register
by calling the Referral Line at 691-7177.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The NHCH trauma team will offer free
bicycle helmets at the Waimea Healthy
Keiki Fest. The 16th annual event will be
held on Saturday, April 18, from 9:00 am
- 1:00 pm at the Parker Ranch Center.
CONFIDENTIAL!
Families are invited to participate in more
than 30 hands-on activities designed to
develop healthy brains, bodies and beings. The free event is sponsored by
NHCH and Tutu’s House.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Queen’s Basketball League
(QBL) is now forming teams for tournament play this summer. All interested
players or teams are invited, but you must
be a QMC employee. Contact raquino@
queens.org for more information.
The Queen’s Print Connection is published by Creative Services. If you have
news or wish to opine, call 691-7532 or
email [email protected]. The news
deadline is Monday prior to publication.
QHS/QMC Pres. . . . . . . . Art Ushijima
Publisher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Keala Peters
Editor/Writer. . . . . . . . . . Jason Kimura
Assist. Ed./Writer. . . . . Glee Stormont
NHCH Contributor. . . Krista Anderson
The Queen’s Health Systems consists of The
Queen’s Medical Center, The Queen’s Medical
Center – West O’ahu, The Queen’s Health Care
Centers, Queen Emma Land Company, Queen’s
Development Corporation, Queen’s Insurance
Exchange, Inc., Moloka‘i General Hospital and
North Hawai‘i Community Hospital, and has
ownership interests in CareResource Hawai‘i,
Hamamatsu/Queen’s PET Imaging Center, and
Diagnostic Laboratory Services, Inc.
www.queens.org
The Queen’s Health Systems is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit corporation