October 2013
Hocking Valley Community Hospital
Dear Team Members:
October
Empty Bowls Luncheon, Sat. Oct. 26th,
Central Elementary School,
11:00 am to 2:00 pm
Halloween Cookie Sale, Thursday Oct.
24th, Front Lobby, 7:00 am to ?
Safe Sitter class, October 28th, CIC
Conference Room
November
TWIG VI Chinese Auction, Sat. November
2nd, Fairgrounds
Book Sale, Tuesday November 19th, Front
Lobby, 7:00 am to 4:00 pm
TWIG II Thanksgiving Bake Sale and
Pumpkin roll pickup, Wed. Nov. 27th,
7:00 am-?
I want to thank you for your kind attention at the
Fall Forums and the suggestions for “Eating the
Elephant”.
In my rounding after the Forums, many of you
asked about the ideas that were submitted. I
thought it would be beneficial if you knew what
was submitted and perhaps that would stir suggestions from others.
The enclosed sheet contains all the suggestions that were submitted verbatim. I have not
included the names as many were not signed. I can tell you that some
of the suggestions are in the process of being implemented immediately, others will take further time, and some are not possible to implement. I will do my best to keep you informed of the progress so continue to look at your pillar boards.
It’s never too late to make suggestions, so don’t hesitate to submit
“Your Bite of the Elephant”. You can send it to me via hospital mail or
drop it in a Direct Line box.
Thank you for your continued support.
Julie
Last Week of Food Drive!
December
Oct. 17th is the final day to
bring in non-perishable food
items for the annual HVCH
food drive. Please take the
time to purchase a few food
items for the drive. The
CHAP program counts on
our generous support at this
time of year, to distribute
food to families in need.
Employee Christmas CelebrationThursday, Dec 5th, Front Lobby
Sharon Conner’s team has an early lead in
the food drive competition.
October 2013
Welcome New
Employees
Alicia M. Snyder - STNA Med/Surg.
Josie Schultz- Student- BHU
Olivia A. Fisher - OT Assistant Rehab
Terri Higgins - RN - Med/Surg.
Employee Wellness
Fair
Frances Lehman is completing the
lab testing for the Wellness Profile.
Employees need to have their profile
completed by Nov. 30th.
The Healthy Lifestyles
Committee recently held the
annual Wellness Fair for HVCH
employees. Many employees
fasted and completed their lab
work. If you still need to complete your lab work, your deadline is Nov. 30th for Insurance
deductible discounts. All employees, even those who do not
have HVCH health insurance,
are required to complete the Tier
1 Wellness profile before Nov.
30th. go to https://hockingvalley.motivation.cc
Hocking Valley Community Hospital
Happy Birthday September
Front Row: Julie Stuck, Cheryl Sampson, Rebekah Driscoll, Wendy Lytle,
Missy Hoffman and Jeff Hovatter. Back Row: Julie Freeland, Brenda Lehman,
Kristen Butler, and Karen Standiford.
Children’s Christmas
Party-December 3rd
TWIG IV Cookbooks
Still Available
The Employee Satisfaction Team
will be hosting the annual
Christmas party for the children
and grandchildren of HVCH
employees. The event will be
held on Tuesday, Dec. 3rd, from
5:00 pm to 7:30 pm. in the front
lobby.
Children that are ages 10 and
under can receive a gift from
Santa Claus, but gift registrations
must be received by Oct. 25th in
the box in the cafeteria. The registration forms are available in
the employee pay envelope.
If you have not
purchased your
TWIG IV cookbook yet, there
are still some
available. The
book is only
$10.00 and
contains more
than 100 delicious recipes. The books can be
purchased from any TWIG IV
member, the Patio Shoppe or
Administration. Payroll deduction
is available
Toys & Stuffed Animals
Needed
Wildlights Tickets
Deadline Approaching
The Emergency Department is in
need of new toys or new stuffed
animals. These items are needed for small children to calm
their fears and make them smile
while they are a patient at
HVCH. For infection control purposes, they cannot accept any
used items. Drop off your items
to the ED.
The Columbus Zoo & Aquarium
Wildlights tickets are valid
November 22, 2013 – January 5,
2014, but the orders must be
placed by Oct. 18.
Adult (age 10-59) - $7.50
Child/Sr (age 2-9 & 60+) - $5.00
Payroll deduction is available.
Contact Ginger in Administration
at ext. 8207.
October 2013
Rehab Update
Julie Freeland, Occupational
Therapist is shown helping a patient
improve their grip with the new
dynamometer.
The Occupational Therapy Dept.
received funds from the
American Legion Post, for purchase of a digital hand grip
dynamometer. This replaces a
hydraulic dynamometer and provides a more precise measurement of grip strength and performs calculations previously
done manually. We thank the
Vets for their support.
Did you know that Kari Holly P.T.
and Becky McCarty, P.I., are
both trained in diagnosis and
treatment of BPPV (benign
paroxysmal positional vertigo)?
In layman’s terms... inner ear
cause of dizziness.
Olivia Fisher, COTA, joined the
Occupational Therapy Dept. in
August as the newest member of
HVCH’s contracting
Occupational Therapy services
to students in the Logan Hocking
Schools.
Hocking Valley Community Hospital
Surgery Update
Dr. Marshall and the Surgery
team at HVCH are now able to
offer chronic back pain sufferers,
a new outpatient procedure
called Radio Frequency ablation.
The procedure uses radio waves
or electric current to generate
sufficient heat to interrupt nerve
conduction on a semi-permanent
basis.
Approximately 70% to 80% of
patients will get good block of
the intended nerve. The nerves
are usually blocked for 6-9
months, although it may last as
short as 3 months or as long as
18 months.
Staff Updates
Angela Schetter is now doing
Pre-admission testing. Amy
Markin is now working in the
Pain Management Clinic and will
continue to provide wound care,
Picc lines and US DV’s.
Mary Chorniak is now circulating,
and Natasha Colley is now in
OPS full time.
Empty Bowls
The Empty Bowls Committee
invites you to support the 2013
Empty Bowls event by purchasing a bowl for $10.00. The
fundraising event is designed to
help fight hunger in Hocking Co.
All proceeds help to support
United Way of Hocking Co. &
HAPCAP with funds earmarked
for the local food pantry. The
luncheon is at Central
Elementary on Oct. 27th, from
11:00 am to 2:00 pm.
OSHIIP Event Planned
for November 15th
On Friday, November 15th, from
10:00 am to 3:00 pm, HVCH’s
OSHIIP representatives, Kristen
Butler and Debra Sheets, will
host a Medicare Check-Up and
Open Enrollment Event. The purpose of this event is to assist
Medicare beneficiaries with
selecting or changing their Part
D plans and health plans. Open
enrollment is from Oct. 15th
through Dec. 7th. Call 380-8270
or 380-8128 to schedule appointments.
Enhanced Employee
Benefits
As a new member of SCOIC
(HVCH insurance plan), an
enhanced Employee Assistance
Program (EAP) became available to all participating members.
The Pulse will feature one of
these benefits monthly, and you
can access the information at
any time by going to this website,
www.achievesolutions.net/JHP,
or by calling the toll free number,
877-233-0976.
Legal and Financial Benefit
A free 30 minute consultation per
problem can be accessed
through the toll-free number.
Additional services beyond the
initial consultation are available
at a discounted rate. Self-serve
tools for building standard legal
documents, relevant articles and
other resources are available
on the EAP website.
"A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities
of his difficulties." ~Harry S. Truman
October 2013
Hocking Valley Community Hospital
HVCH Supports Volley for the Cure
Julie Grow, center, accepts the game ball on behalf of HVCH, at the recent
“Volley for the Cure” fundraiser at Logan High School.
The Logan Lady Chiefs and Jackson Iron Ladies volleyball teams
wore pink tee shirts to commemorate “Volley for the Cure” night at
LHS. Julie Grow accepted the game ball on behalf of HVCH, which
sponsored the tee shirts for LHS Varsity and JV. The annual event is
a fundraiser for the fight against breast cancer.
HVCH Team to Teach
Safesitter® Classes
HVCH is now a registered Safe
Sitter ® teaching site. Trained
instructors, Stacey Gabriel,
Crystal Kerns, Mindy Davis and
Kandy Fizer, will offer the comprehensive training program to
children 11 and older. The class
offers choking rescue and a CPR
course. The first class will be
Monday, Oct. 28th, from 8:30 am
to 3:30 pm. The charge for the
class is $40.00 and they will be
held in the CIC building conference room. To register or for
more information call Sharon
Littleton at x8187
Julia Mundy Retires
Julie Stuck and Bob Schmidt, were
on hand to wish Julia well in her
retirement.
Julia Mundy has been at HVCH
as a Unit Secretary for 6 1/2
years. She is looking forward to
tackling some home projects and
maybe spending some time in
Florida. When asked about her
time at HVCH she shared,
"HVCH has been a large part of
my life for 6 1/2 years. I was
born in the old Cherrington
Hospital, and this hospital was
always here when we needed it.
Leaving is like leaving family."
Plant Operations
Update
To keep patients and staff comfortable, PM is done on 44 separate air handling systems and 35
exhaust fans, that control the air
quality of this building. PM
stands for preventative maintenance and it is done to limit failures, and lessen the severity of
a failure if one should occur.
Common failure parts are kept
on hand to limit the length of
down times. Each area of the
hospital has it’s own requirement
for air quality. For example,
patient rooms require two complete outside air exchanges and
6 partial air exchanges per hour.
For surgery, this rises to 3 complete air exchanges and 15 partials per hour. Complete air
exchanges mean discarding all
of your conditioned air and starting from scratch to recondition
the air in the room. It is essential to maintain the integrity
and reliability of the equipment
that keeps us all comfortable in
whatever season we find ourselves in. A lot of our time is
spent behind the scenes working
diligently to keep employees, visitors and patients as comfortable
as possible and to make HVCH
the provider of choice for
Hocking County and beyond.
MY BITE OF THE ELEPHANT........
Employee Submissions at Fall 2013 Fall Forums
• Take a look at the supplies in the med room on Swing Unit. We have way more supplies than
needed (10 bags of 1000 ml D5W,) which have sat there since I have been here and they are
getting ready to expire. So many insulin needles we won’t ever use. Supplies need to be
ordered better.
• Take care of patients who are at end of life. Keep them close to family. We have room and
people.
• As a member of the Registration Department, I am required to ask patients for co-pays and
deposits. I know ED and Clinic visits are unplanned so the co-pays are unpredictable to collect.
However, I believe deposits for outpatient scheduled visits would be easier to collect if patients
were made aware and told of the cost due when the appointment is set up.
• Stop stuffing our paychecks with announcements. I know businesses that do not provide written
pay stubs, they use a website called paycor.com. They claim it will save them money.
Employees access a digital copy of the pay stub on their online account. Less copies of Pulse.
Supply 1-2 per department and eliminate or lower copies of Welcome Publication.
• Recycling – less trash cost.
• Nice Job! This presentation has been easier to understand than some in the past. Lights in
CIC Bldg stay on all night every night.
• Limit the amount of pays for Employee Payroll deduction on their medical bills. Right now it is
whatever they want and the accounts stay open forever…It should bring $ in faster.
• Plastic med cups are cheaper than paper. Why keep both?
• We get hundreds of papers a day that print off with only 1/3 of the page used. Everyone should
remove patient information and cut paper into notepads for scrap paper instead of buying post-its.
Each department could send to a central place or cutting.
• Revisit the idea of having a credit card. Having a cc would make it cheaper, quicker, and easier
for Plant Ops to get parts and supplies to repair equipment. Examples upon request.
• Charge Medicaid patients a $5.00 co-pay every visit per patient. Make them wait until clinic
hours for clinic issues. No more 3am sore throats – will gladly take care of your non emergent
issue at 11am this would decrease time Dr must spend with non-emergent issues and increase
time they can spend with patients having a actual emergency. Accountability for a change.
MY BITE OF THE ELEPHANT
Continued
• Ask for volunteers to cut back hours in non-clinical areas. Even just 15-30 minutes. I think it
could help
• Ordering supplies must be approved by Director.
• Ask Employees in non-clinical areas to turn off lights when leaving a room.
• Get new statement policy. Would like to not be sent to collection when I’m making my agreed
upon monthly payment. Send a statement that shows what the service was for and please send a
monthly statement consistently. It took over a year to get a statement on payment arrangement
account.
• Angie wouldn’t have to write off so much on Caid, if doctors didn’t order CT’s through the Urgent
Care.
• The nurses who are double dipping in retirement, let them retire and rehire a younger nurse that
wages are not as high.
• Do a contest for the departments in regards to changes. Whoever has the least
amount can get a reward.
• The work that Kathy K is doing with the advertising is really great. I think, it’s helping us overcome our unfortunate reputation as a “band aid station” We look like we’re competing with the bigger hospitals now. I am very impressed. Ortho surgery is the most elective surgery I can think of.
Patients get to make choices about ortho surgeries. I think that there is a lot of potential for us to
harvest more post-op therapy pts from large hospitals. (Swing and Out pt) Could some of our
advertising focus on these services? They’re really great services and we have a really good reputation in the community. However, I experienced with my grandparents that people are frequently
in a state of crisis (following a fall, etc.) when big hospitals ask about d/c plans. Would advertising
help to bring HVCH to mind when pts are asked about post-op care decisions? We have recently
had quite a few end-of-life care patients. I’ve noticed that we are sending these to long-term care,
even though they are quite close to death. Is there a potential for revenue if we provide this service? I thought that the chat given by FairHope was very promising. End of life care is one of
those services that family/community members really remember. Having a place close to home is
also very important to a community. Providing a service like this would help to reinforce that
HVCH is a place full of “people who care.” I know that the time was not right for this the last time
that it was discussed, but I think that a lot of staff would be interested in launching a service like
this if it were a reasonable endeavor.
• Look up the individual 0.9 NS flushes in the med physis to be charged individually to the patient.
Example – IV Starts = one flush = 1.95 each pt charge; so 20 IV starts each day @ 1.95 each =
$39.00 a day x 7 days a week = 273.00 week x 4 weeks = 1.092 a month x 12 months = 13,104 a
year. That is not including the flushes for IV meds.