Who is your person?

So, there are a few of you I can count on at every employee meeting to ask me a question. And when I say count on, I really mean count on. You guys are the first to raise your hand, and always willing to fill an awkward pause (although there rarely are any).

I know there are questions that you guys have, and I hope you know that I truly appreciate when people put it all out there on the table – especially the tough ones!

Theresa DeFosse (Rehab Tech, New Brunswick) is one of those people I can rely on when it comes to asking questions, so I asked her for some help on some blog ideas.

So, I want to share something with you guys. I can see the number of views that the blog gets, and I’ve noticed that the numbers have been dropping a bit.  I’ve asked you guys for some ideas on things you want to hear about, but I didn’t get many! 

Back to Theresa. She likes to think about it for a bit, and then will send me an email with some topics or issues. Recently, she sent me the push on reminding people why voting matters right before Election Day. You probably saw my email about it, so you can thank her for giving me that boost!

Well, it made me start to think about how much some of us use friends and trusted advisers to be better—better leaders, colleagues, parents, children,  friends, etc.

I am blessed with trusted colleagues and friends who I can work through any issues that come up where the path just isn't clear for me. It is such a gift to have these resources!

Yes, management books and Ted Talks provide tools, but there is nothing like that trusted friend or colleague who is going to tell you straight. And definitely nothing like that one person who will raise their hand and put issues on the table.

So who is that person for you – the person you go to when you need to work something out? What are the things you value about them? Or maybe you would be willing to share how you serve as that person for others and what lessons you have learned from these relationships?

Also, don’t forget to leave me some comments about topics you want me to talk about at the employee meetings. They are coming up fast!

The Equipment Shuffle

Teamwork is one of our core values that we have that ensures we a) don’t burn out trying to do everything on our own and b) that our kids get the best care they possibly can while they are with us.

So when this example came across my desk (well, in my email inbox) I couldn’t wait to recognize this team.

We accept donations of medical equipment so that when families are in need of specialized equipment we can loan something out to them, or use the equipment for either LTC or the inpatient program. The donation process can be tedious for those who aren’t familiar with it. Each new piece of equipment needs to be cleaned, checked for safety, processed into inventory, and then stored until it’s needed.

Then the shuffle begins! No, not the dance (although I wouldn’t put it past the staff in Rehabilitation Technology do a little jig from time to time), but the equipment gets shuffled from one site to another, depending on where the donation is accepted and where it is needed.

Getting the right equipment to the right site and department takes a team effort!

For this story, Sheila Blochlinger (Rehabilitation Technology Manager, Mountainside) gets the lucky straw since she is the one who got to see the happy child and family when we are able to loan a piece of equipment. 

She recently shared with me that we had an 8-year-old boy who came to us because he was just diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy. He could no longer walk and was falling down all the time. We have been trying to get him an adaptive stroller through his insurance provider, but it is still not approved. 

A stroller donation from the Toms River site was ready for him and Fresnel Pierre (Materials Management) had transported it to our Mountainside site. It was the perfect size for this child and it was in good working condition. 

Sheila was able to fit the stroller and show the family how to use it properly. His parents were thrilled but most importantly, the child was thrilled. He was finally able to get around without the fear that he’d fall and hurt himself.

Here is the best part. He sat in the stroller and looked in the mirror and said, “Now I look like a King, instead of a baby.” He was smiling ear to ear.

Did happy tears just stream down your face? Because they did for me when I heard this story!

This truly shows how many hands it takes to make a good thing happen and live our value of compassion and teamwork. Not just that, but this shows us all how to be an inspiration to the kids and families we serve!

Yes, we helped to make sure that this patient was safe as he moved around, but more importantly, we changed how he felt about himself. He felt like a King!

Thanks Sheila for sharing this story with me and allowing me the opportunity to share it here on the blog. And thank you to everyone in our Rehabilitation Technology department for ensuring that equipment is clean, safe, and stored until our kids are ready to use it.

Do you know someone that should be recognized on Access Amy for something they’ve done at Children’s Specialized Hospital? I’d love to hear! Share below in the comments or send an e-mail to Megan Muller at memuller@childrens-specialized.org. 

Our partnership with China begins

First, let me begin by saying what a tremendous honor it was to for Michael Dribbon (VP Rehabilitation Services and Program Development), Chris Haines (Chief Medical Officer), and I to represent Children’s Specialized Hospital to begin our new consulting relationship with LIH Olivia’s Place. So many of you have asked about our trip, so I thought this would be a great place to share with all of you!

I’m going to totally over share on this one, but Michael over packed. Ha! Standing in the United Airlines line for check in, he had to take out ½ a pound of stuff from his suitcase. He was carrying presents and other materials for the people we were going to meet, but it ended up making his bag weigh a whopping 70.5 lbs! They wouldn’t let him pay to send the bag as is, so we had to do some luggage juggling.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived was the very tall apartment buildings. Inside entire, multi-generational families live together in 1,000 square feet homes. I can only speak for myself, but it really struck me how many people are in such a small space; everything is so compact.

I have a whole new appreciation for rush hour in New Jersey! In Beijing, it took us almost 95 minutes to go 5 miles. One of our hosts described driving in Beijing to me like a boulder in the middle of a stream. The water just makes its way around the boulder on the sides and isn’t deterred. People, cars, and bikes all move the same way. It just goes. I spent a lot of time in the back of the van with my eyes closed!

Beijing Children’s Hospital had just begun to institute appointments to their outpatient clinics. Prior to the week we arrived, people would just line up at the wee hours of the morning outside of the clinic doors and wait – just like you would at a department store. When the doors would open, people would be lined up by which physician they needed to see, and then wait again to be seen.

The physician would spend an average of 3 minutes with each patient and see 500 or so patients a day. It was hard for us to conceive how all of this functions.

The inpatient hospital is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday-Friday. Just one nurse stays at night for the entire hospital. The families are expected to stay with their children to provide care over night and on the weekends.

Dr. Haines said he saw many children who had Guillain-Barre and other disorders that we also care for. There are so few surgeons so the things that we see as routine (e. g, feeding tube insertion) are not done because the clinicians can’t take the time away from the more traumatic surgeries that need to be completed.

Our role at Olivia’s Place is to provide expert advice as they open outpatient rehabilitation centers. Their first center was due to open the Monday after our arrival.

Their therapy staff was foreign trained and supplemented with therapy aides. The facility was beautiful and looked very much like ours. All of the patients are private pay, since the government insurance does not cover rehabilitation. It is their hope that they will be able to offer free care but that is an aspirational goal right now.

There were some things I saw there that I found hard to get used to. The signs in the bathroom at the hotel state, “Do not drink the water.” We had to use bottled water to brush our teeth. Also, in the closet there was a face mask with aerator on the front – think gas mask – in case the air was too polluted.

We got a chance to visit The Great Wall of China! It was 100 degrees outside that day. I sweated so much that the dye from my purse bled on my white shirt. There were attractive purple stains all over the back of my shirt and on my shoulder. The sights were beautiful, but I’m not sure how great I look in all the photos since I was so sweaty!

To make matters even more humorous, Michael and I have a bit of a fear of heights, whereas Dr. Haines was fearless during our adventures! Not only were we sweating because of the temperature, but I’m sure our nerves from being so high had something to do with it.

Also, giving a speech with a translator was very tough. You all know that I very rarely use notes and if I have them, I don’t keep to them. Well when someone is translating they read word for word on the slides. So, if you use words that aren’t on the slides and the translator doesn’t know them, well you can only imagine what gets translated.

It is clear to me that we have a unique ability to improve children’s lives in ways we can’t even begin to understand. We are continuing to provide assistance to our partners and hope that they will take us up on our offer to train side by side, both here and in China.

My thanks to all who have volunteered and we will continue to keep you apprised.

The Winners Are…

As you know, with our redesigned Employee Recognition Program we have introduced the Employee of the Quarter/Year component. This program recognizes five (5) employees each quarter who go above and beyond in exemplifying our Core Values and Service Excellence Standards.

Our Q2 honorees for 2015 – and our Employees of the Quarter – are:

• Adrienne RobertielloAutism Educator, Autism Program, Fanwood
• Beth Anne DoboshDirector of Corporate Foundation Relations, Foundation Department, New Brunswick
• Cynthia GreenPhysician Relations Representative, Business Development Department, New Brunswick
• Haig MinassianSystems Analyst, Strategic Improvement Department, New Brunswick
• Melissa SmithClinical Lead – ST, Administration, New Brunswick

Here’s a little peak into what their nominator had to say about them:

Adrienne Robertiello

“[Adrienne] is a visionary who routinely looks for and creates opportunities for CSH to shine and to broaden our reach. For example, not only has Adrienne created resources to improve safety for people affected by ASD, she has also instructed countless emergency providers how to recognize people with special needs and how to more effectively communicate and anticipate in order to prevent emergency situations and/or to better handle situations as they arise…She tirelessly works to make improvements to the Hub and to add practical information that is accessible and also promotes the expertise of CSH…Adrienne is always willing to help others with various projects, including using her graphic arts

background to create professional posters and flyers, problem solve situations involving patient/family needs, and hook up families and staff with community resources.”

Beth Anne Dobosh

“Having grown up with an aunt who had Down syndrome, Beth Anne had a special place in her heart for people with disabilities and she knew she wanted to make a real impact for an organization that helped children with special needs. Lucky us, because during her 7 years here at Children’s Specialized, Beth Anne has developed into a dynamic, multi-skilled leader under the guidance and direction of Phil Salerno, among others. Beth Anne has too many accomplishments to list; millions of dollars raised; numerous corporate partnerships that have blossomed into signature relationships with multi-tiered levels of support from monetary, grants to thousands of volunteer and corporate service hours. Beth Anne has been a part of our Community Engagement Pillar since its inception and has helped lead many successful changes and initiatives to increase our community engagement events. What’s important to understand about Beth Anne’s work is that she has to inspire and motivate others to give, to volunteer, to grant funding and to commit to helping our cause – to be successful with any of those tasks it takes an incredible amount of passion and skill.”

Cynthia Green

“Cindy always goes above and beyond to provide VIP concierge service to every family. For example, not only does she arrange car service if needed, she gets them local gym membership, purchased a bathing suit for a child who did not have one so the patient could participate in aquatics, and found a poster of a patient's favorite hockey team for a patient who lived in California and was extremely homesick. She shows this same compassion, sincerity, commitment, and anticipation of unstated needs with co-workers. For example, she has befriended the troubled young son of one of the staff in New Brunswick, providing a listening ear when he visits, making sure that he has a snack and help with games to keep him busy while his parent prepares for home. She travels throughout the NJ-PA-NY-CT area to tirelessly promote CSH programs…Her eyes and ears are always open for patients, families and staff interests and needs…Many of the families who contact Cindy are extremely anxious about the health of their children. Cindy acknowledges their concerns and follows through 100% of the time…Cindy has been singled out by many inpatient and outpatient families for going above and beyond.”

Haig Minassian

“Haig worked throughout the past year to prepare for the roll out of both the Tablet Registration and the Patient Portal and has been the point person for both projects. Both of these projects are responses to the expressed need of patients and families and seek to improve the experience of those we serve while also increasingly efficiency and keeping our organization at the forefront of the marketplace. Haig has been working incredibly long hours throughout the state to make sure that the tablet roll-out is successful, and he balances a great deal while also training staff, anticipating concerns, and problem solving on the go. He keeps the strategic aspects of the project in mind in the face of daily minutia that also needs to be addressed…I've been particularly impressed at how I have seen him grow in recent months as he interacts with a wide spectrum of people in many roles with a wide spectrum of personalities and life experiences. He has been very encouraging to staff who are learning something new.”

Melissa Smith

“As a clinical lead [Melissa] has the opportunity to influence so many by sharing her clinical expertise using evidence based practice and the most current literature both in one on one mentoring and in workshop settings. She continues to support the inpatient teams with leadership and provision of highly skilled Speech services in a family centered environment. She is truly impacting inpatient and outpatient services by being compassionate and caring mentor to make a positive lasting difference for many staff and patients... Melissa has truly taken on her new role with a passion, she understands the importance of being committed to developing and growing her own leadership skills so that she can have a greater influence on improving our clinical lead team and in turn the organization.

Congratulations to each of you and thank you to the team members who took the time to recognize all who were nominated!

Each of these individuals will be rewarded with a $50 gift card and an item of their choice from our Give a WOW! gift shop, as well as considered for Employee of the Year.

Please join me in congratulating each of our honorees for their dedication to Children’s Specialized Hospital both in the comments below and on Give a WOW!

If you have a colleague that you feel should be rewarded for going above and beyond both at Children’s Specialized and in their community, please submit an Employee of the Quarter nomination in Give a WOW! Questions on how to do this? Please contact Megan Muller at x7135 or memuller@childrens-specialized.org.

Do I really write these things?

So, one of the questions that I get pretty frequently is "Who writes the Weekly Wrap Up, Access Amy, etc for you?"

One of our values is Teamwork, so believe me when I say that these are all team efforts!

The content for both the Wrap Up and Access Amy come from each and every one of you! Your achievements, your events, your questions and concerns. Sometimes you write to me about a big award a colleague recently received, or questions about a new program. But everything that is shared is about our Children’s Specialized Hospital family.

For the Wrap Up, some of the information is written by others and shared in the Wrap Up format. As for Access Amy, let me set the record straight – I write every single blog.  And because I’m a planner, they are written sometimes long before they appear on the blog – well, depending on the topic.

Like I said, it’s a team effort.

I’ll be the first to admit, grammar is not my strongest skill and my fingers often type faster than spell check can keep up with! So, I have a team to make sure I write well! Rose Allsop (Exec. Asst., New Brunswick) helps me to format the Weekly Wrap Up and send it out to everyone, after Megan Muller (Internal Comm Spec, New Brunswick) gives it a quick review for typos and errors.

For Access Amy, Megan and Rebecca Mazzarella (Comm Mgr, Mountainside) read over my posts and give me some feedback on how to make them better. They also help to publish them and get the word out about the new posts.

I am writing this post on Tuesday, August 18 from a fast-moving train in Japan on a once in a life time vacation. This picture is actually taken from the window so you could be here with me!

So you know who writes these posts and my team of helpers. The other question I frequently get is “Why?”

While the easy answer is “because I want to make sure that you have information about health care environment or things we are trying to tackle,” the other reason is that I want you to have a sense of who I am and what influences my leadership and my thinking. 

Thirteen years ago, during the interview process for this job, I was being interviewed by about 10 doctors during the physician portion when one of them said they often didn't understand the decisions that were made out of the "White House," or the upper management. I was then asked what I would do to better inform the staff about the why behind the decisions made, rather than just the decisions themselves.

Fast forward to today. My blog is a vehicle to do just that – to make sure that the all of our team members are informed in not just the final result, but the decision process and all it involves.

One of the reasons I invite you to ask questions on my blog posts, at the employee meetings or give me ideas to write about, is so I can use the forums to try and answer those "why" questions.

Even if you don't agree with decisions, I find having the background of what influenced the decisions helps to have a context for why those decisions were made. 

So, as long as you keep reading and sharing, I will keep writing. I hope you will continue to ask questions and share your ideas, even give me topics you’d like to see here on the blog or shared in the Wrap Up! They don't have to be weighty and serious (I mean, I’ve shared my shoe closet with you guys on the blog!).

So now that you know who writes the blog, I want to hear from you. What should I write about next?

Walking and Rolling at the 9th Annual Walk n’ Roll

This Saturday was our annual Walk n’ Roll! Can you believe this was the 9^th one we have held in Johnson Park in Piscataway!?

We started the walk as a way to ”introduce” Children’s Specialized Hospital to the New Brunswick community when we were building/opening our new inpatient hospital in 2007. With just over 300 participants the first year, it has been an extreme honor to see it grow to over 2,100 participants this past weekend!

What I find most special about this event is what it brings out in our employees…

Now, I know we’re all a little competitive by nature – but a few years back, when our Foundation suggested that each site have teams and compete to see who can raise more money, I knew they were on to something!

This year’s top honor of Top Children’s Specialized Team goes to Team Mountainside, led by the dynamic duo of Joan Gowdy and Kaylee McGuire. Congratulations to Kaylee, Joan, and all of our employee fundraisers that have literally been fundraising for months!

Not sure how many bake sales, car washes, and happy hours I’ve been to, but you guys are amazing! Doing anything to help our kids – including coming up with some really great ideas! 

 

Speaking about doing anything for our kids, Richard Raymond (Desktop Support Analyst/NB) and Beth Anne Dobosh (Director of Corporate Foundation Relations/New Brunswick) had a crazy idea. Why not send our VGo robot to the Walk n’ Roll and let Poppy control it since he was unable to attend walk this year?!?

Well, if you know Beth Anne like I know Beth Anne, once you give her an idea it will happen. Low and behold – with the help of Rich, Dr. Chris Haines, and Georgia Cassidy (Clinical Nurse Educator/New Brunswick) – that’s exactly what happened!

VGo joined us all on the start line and he walked… well… rolled with us around Johnson Park! Now that’s innovative!

What’s most special about Walk n’ Roll, and what I hope you can personally experience some day, is something that I cannot adequately describe in writing.

It’s a feeling.  A feeling that nearly always moves me to tears. A feeling of joy seeing patients who left our hospital needing help with the simplest of things; now running freely into the arms of the nurse that helped wipe their tears so many years ago.

A feeling of fulfillment seeing patients from Egg Harbor, Clifton, Hamilton, and Toms River all gathered in Piscataway knowing these patients would have never had access to care, close to home, if we haven’t had the means to expand our services and open new outpatient centers.

A feeling of celebration and acceptance for children and people with disabilities – public outings can often be very hard for families with children with disabilities and communities aren’t always very accommodating or accepting of children’s special needs.

At the Walk n’ Roll we do everything we can to help each family have a great experience and we celebrate everyone’s differences by honoring those special kids with fun team names with some really great shirts!  

Thank you to the entire Foundation team for creating this wonderful event that has evolved from a fundraiser to a day of celebration! Special thanks to Toni Bodrato  (Director of Special Events/Mountainside) who led the planning, fundraising, and logistics!

Also a HUGE thank you to all of our sites for your efforts – whether you won the fundraising challenge or not – your leadership and effort matters. Every dollar that you raised and every person you recruited to walk matters. Thank you for your support and compassion for this event and for our kids.

It takes a well-oiled machine to pull off an event as large as this! Great job everyone!

The Star-Ledger/NJ.com has an album full of photos: Click here. 

News 12 NJ did a short news story: Click here.

What is your favorite Walk n’ Roll feeling or memory?

Building relationships through family-centered care

Being unsure of what the future holds for your child’s health can be a scary place to be. So many of our families experience a number of emotions the first time they come to us for care. With the addition of Family Faculty, we have been able to ease the tension that so many of our patients and their families experience on a daily basis.

I received an e-mail last week about our Family Faculty and knew this would be the perfect example to share in this month’s employee recognition blog post.

Over the past few weeks Amy Myers-Morris has had several families with whom she is working with share their struggles with various hardships. While reflecting on how she can better assist them, she shared with me her reflection on how thankful she is to have our Family Faculty.

Luciana Mendes-McGuire (New Brunswick) has been incredibly helpful with these families recently, as they are Spanish-speaking. In addition to trying to understand new terminology pertaining to their child’s health, the families struggle with trying to understand a language they are not familiar with. Thankfully, Luciana has been able to translate the information they need to make decisions for their children’s care.

This has been such a team effort, to work with these recent families. Megan Fennelly (Hamilton) and Sharon Clarken (Hamilton) helped Amy to think about how to approach each of these families, to determine what help they may need and how to be sensitive to the different cultures. Both Megan and Sharon put in a heavy amount of research to gather resources in the community for Luciana to share with the moms, as well as researched insurance options for one of the families!

One of the families expressed a need for “long-term” assistance, so Megan hit the ground running to find organizations in the area – food pantries, clothing drives, etc – that the family could receive help from. Sharon even provided clothes that her own son had grown out of.

The families that Amy and the Family Faculty team have been working with have expressed how incredibly thankful they are that Children’s Specialized Hospital is a support to them, and how gracious they are for the dedication from Amy, Megan, Sharon, and Luciana through this challenging time.

This is just one example of how Family Faculty has become a key player in helping our families at Children’s Specialized Hospital. Knowing that they are available to assists with our families helps our clinical teams better serve the individual child and also lets the family know that Children’s Specialized is a beacon of hope for them.

Please join me in sharing your memories of working with Family Faculty below. 

Making the impossible a reality for our kids

Friday Night Fever (FNF) is a program that was started over a decade ago by two of our employees – Sheryl Manier and Michelle Lee. Their premise was simple; they had adolescents and young adults who were doing well in therapy who had no real social circle outside of their immediate families. Today, the group consists of young people between the ages of 13 to 21 years, interested in supportive recreational or social activities.

The concept was that they would host one group activity each month and invite these kids to attend. The program was so successful that it expanded to Toms River, where Laurel Leithauser took the charge.

We now have two big programs in Mountainside and Toms River. The program is led fearlessly by Kaylee McGuire (Rec Ther, Mtn), Carolyn Romond (Rec Ther, TR 94 Stevens), and Bobbi Jo Pansier (Rec Ther, TR 94 Stevens). The program is staffed with volunteers – many of which are staff at Children’s Specialized Hospital who give their time for these kids. Groups are kept at a smaller scale, to provide a more typical feel when the events are held in a more public setting, with approximately 30 people in a group.

The activities that the team arranges for each month are varied from a prom – which incorporates volunteer expertise from the event planners association – to holiday shopping with the Elizabeth Police Department, visits to  New York, yoga and all sorts of fun things typical teens like to do together.

The teenagers and young adults who participate in FNF have a variety of or sometimes multiple special needs, such as cerebral palsy, seizure disorders, autism spectrum disorders, intellectual challenges, and traumatic brain injuries. Most importantly, in FNF they help the kids accomplish what they thought they couldn’t do.

Would you believe me if I told you that one of the trips the FNF group took recently was a camping trip where each attendee zipped down a zip line?

Well believe it. Here is how Kaylee remembered the event:

The overnight camping & zip lining trip exemplified everything that Friday Night Fever & Children’s Specialized Hospital is about—helping our members break through limitations that the world places on them & help them recognize their abilities. There is something truly magical about being so close to nature. It was a bonding experience for the teens as well as the staff that volunteered. It was quite an accomplishment for our group—one that I use now to remind myself of what we can do, and to inspire our team to push the limits for future events & programs.  

 

It is a huge amount of work to plan each excursion, but what it has done for our kids – is truly amazing! Both the volunteers and the kids who attend have developed lasting friendships and learned how to play. There have been teenage romances and even a few broken hearts.

It has been truly amazing to watch the program grow and to see how these kids have learned to love and care for each other. Annually, FNF conducts a graduation ceremony recognizing program participants for accomplishments. Past participants have moved on to greater things, including college. It is because of the support of a program like FNF, that these members have built such strength.

My favorite memory is the Shore Dreams event, where the boating organization donated their time and boats to take our kids out on the ocean.

This was one of the first events I attended, and one of the kids in a wheelchair had never been in a boat before. She was so excited; she screamed (happy screams) the whole time. The unmitigated joy on her face is something I will never forget. 

If you’re interested in volunteering for an upcoming Friday Night Fever event, please contact Kaylee McGuire at kmcguire@childrens-specialized.org.

Do you have a favorite memory – either through Friday Night Fever or Children’s Specialized in general – that makes you smile when you think back on it? Please share below! 

If a tree falls in the woods…

Often during our Senior Leadership meetings, we discuss how best to educate people about the great work we are doing. I have used the age-old analogy that if the tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it matter that it fell?

If we are doing all this hard work, and we are not yet known nationally, does it matter? Of course the short answer is, of course it does. The work we are doing benefits the children we are fortunate enough to care for and that means the world – regardless of who knows it.

Dr. Yvette Janvier (Medical, Toms River) and Dr. Jill Harris (Autism, Fanwood) recently confirmed that their article, “Screening for ASD in Underserved Communities: Early Childcare Providers as Reporters,” will be published in the national journal Autism. The article examines the identification of Autism in children who live in the inner cities. This work was so very important because of the impact on the children who are under diagnosed. but also because the national recognition makes people start to ask, “Who is this Children’s Specialized Hospital?”

I can’t tell you how many times I have been told, “I had no idea that you served that many kids or had that many physicians!”

We recently found out that Dr. Manuel Jimenez (Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics) was selected by the Pediatric Society to present at the Plenary Session on his work on Adverse Childhood Experiences, Literacy, and Kindergarten Problems this April.

I was so excited to share his great work with you all. This is the kind of stuff we need to shout from the rooftops!

This work was started while he was a resident at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. At this time, he created a program at Elijah’s Promise – the Soup Kitchen in New Brunswick – to begin focusing on children who were served there.

He helped to provide books to these children and encouraged their families to read to them. He continued his work as a fellow at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and returned to RWJ as the first Chancellor Scholar for the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, where we share his time.

What Dr. Jimenez found was that the average child who was coming to the clinic at Elijah’s Promise had only a few books, where the average child not living in poverty had hundreds of books. It is one of the most essential factors in preparing these children for kindergarten.

We are so very proud of all of the hard work that you all do each and every day, and all of your efforts to help us make more families aware of the great things that happen at all of our sites!

When you love what you do, it’s not just a job

When someone asks you “Why do you enjoy going to work at Children’s Specialized Hospital every day,” how would you answer? Just think about it for a minute.

I wanted to share this story with you guys to share an example from Gina Freeman about why she enjoys working at Children’s Specialized. 

Gina Freeman (Occupational Therapy Supervisor, Toms River 94 Stevens Rd) recently shared with me that her team had an outstanding in-service training on ribcage breath support, positioning for feeding, and oral motor facilitation for feeding. The training was informative, and well received by the team, but it was even more special due what was going on in the environment DURING this training.

They were able to prepare the in-service training in the midst of very busy schedules and the UltiPro roll out!

Trish West-Low (Physical Therapy, Toms River 94 Stevens), Jen Kus (Speech, Toms River 94 Stevens), Cara Melmid (Speech, Toms River 94 Stevens), Megan Lafontaine (Occupational Therapy, Toms River 94 Stevens), Dalthea Beavers (Physical Therapy, Toms River 94 Stevens), and Melissa Smith (Speech Clinical Lead, New Brunswick) presented a patient demonstration and clinical discussion that was useful across all disciplines and programs. 

Then they were lucky enough to have the clinical leads present for the in-service and continued the discussion. Problem solving and brainstorming continued for the rest of the afternoon in the gym and in the staff office.

This example is exactly what comes to my mind when I think about what makes working at Children’s Specialized so special. When colleagues can get together and share their knowledge, help one another, and improve the great work they do it’s a true testament to wanting each other to succeed and wanting to provide the best care for our children.

Why do I love coming to work every day at Children’s Specialized?

For me there isn't just one thing I love about Children's Specialized – it is about how all the parts work together.

Your selfless dedication to the children we care for, their families, as well as to each other. When the chips are down, you all have stepped up – whether it is giving your free time, sacrificing your TOP days, donating to the crisis fund, or simply showing love. There is no end to how you extend yourselves.

Also, the kids. You know I didn't get to have children of my own, but the children whose lives I have been able to come in contact with have deep meaning in my heart. I appreciate I feel vulnerable enough to cry with a family when that is what is needed and strong enough to be their rock when the situation requires.

All of these things we get to do each and every day. It is a pretty special place that lets that all happen each and every day.

Now tell me in the comments, Why do YOU enjoy coming to work at Children’s Specialized every day?

Inpatient Pain Program – helping kids live a life without pain

Our Inpatient Pain Program treats children without traumatic injuries or without a formal diagnosis who are experiencing chronic, excruciating pain.

At first I was confused. I just couldn’t understand how a child could experience such debilitating pain without having some sort of injury or disability.

Our Pain Management Program is a specialized inpatient program for children and adolescents, 9-21 years of age, afflicted by Reflex Neurovascular Dystrophy (RND). RND is a very painful condition. It usually affects the limb (a foot or leg more commonly than a hand or arm), but can cause pain anywhere on the body.

Some children have pain all over while a few have intermittent attacks of pain. The pain these children experience, however, is much more intense than one would normally expect because the pain signal is amplified.

RND is also known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), amplified musculoskeletal pain syndrome (AMPS), childhood fibromyalgia, and complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). Diagnosing RND can be difficult because while many children do not have any underlying illness to explain the pain, many of the symptoms are physical in nature.

Over the last two years I have seen kids who can barely walk, have trouble getting into or get out of bed enter our hospital. After their stay with us and intense therapy they are fully functioning, but more importantly they are confident that they can tackle their pain.

As with so many of our programs, it is the combination of teamwork that brings the greatest success. While the physical therapists are leading much of the efforts in the Inpatient Pain Program, the combination of the multi-disciplinary team is critical in the success of these children. In addition, we thank Dr. Katherine Bentley for her leadership, the AMAZING team of therapists who give so much to these children, and the Inpatient Admissions Team for identifying children in need of this service.

What’s even more exciting is these kids are coming from all over the country to be part of this program because they are looking for relief and hope and their families are confident that we can provide for them better than any other children’s hospital. 

Last month, when one of our inpatients was discharged, her Mom told me that she never could have imagined that her daughter would experience joy and freedom from the burden of the pain she was experiencing. That is truly life altering.

We will continue to reach outside of “typical” rehabilitation to meet the needs of the children who need us and it will continue to be an honor to do so.

Shoveling the way to safety

My favorite post to share with you all is when we spotlight one of our employees who really shined. Today, I’m sharing a wonderful story about Justina Candelaria (LTC Unit Secretary, Toms River - Stevens Road).

Winter weather is brutal – between the freezing temps and the inches upon inches (or sometimes feet upon feet) of snow – some of us may not be our usual “bubbly” selves.

One of the major storms back at the end of January – you remember, the major blizzard that really wasn’t, but still was pretty bad – Justina really stepped up to make sure everyone was safe.

The snow was starting to pile up, really coming down hard, and Justina knew the area in front of the hospital needed to be shoveled to help our patients and families get into and out of the site safely. Security wasn’t able to leave their spot at the front of the site, so Justina put on her boots and got to work!

She found a shovel and shoveled the entrance to Long Term Care, then salted the area to make sure it would stay as clear as possible. She did this because one of our families from LTC was out in the community with their child and would need to be able to get safely back inside!

This was not technically in Justina’s formal job description, as part of her role at Children’s Specialized Hospital. She wanted to ensure the safety of our patients and visitors and figured out a way to do it.

Thank you, Justina, for anticipating the needs of our patient and their family, as well as staying on top of getting the job done! You are a great team player.

Here’s to hoping the snow is slowing down! How many more days until Spring?

Do you know someone that should be recognized on Access Amy for something they’ve done at Children’s Specialized? I’d love to hear! Share below in the comments or send an e-mail to Megan Muller at memuller@childrens-specialized.org. 

Scheduling Department prepares for major improvements

We recently shared the great work we are doing through our Operation Excellence efforts. Step by step we are looking at all the moving parts in our organization and finding ways in which we can improve. 

One of the areas that showed remarkable improvements over the last year was in our Scheduling Department. This team has done an outstanding job looking for ways to increase our access for our children to get their much needed services. 

The Scheduling Department did the following in 2014:

• Reduced the answer speed:
• Answer speed in English went from 2:20 minutes to 1:26 minutes
• Answer speed in Spanish went from 7:20 minutes to 2:38 minutes
• Developed a formalized training program for new staff
• Expanded the staff by an additional 2 schedulers
• Implemented rescheduling process for text message cancellations
• Refined the text messaging system
• Re-structured the staff so that they have been given a specific job function

So what’s next for 2015?

• Expansion of staff by an addition of 2.5 schedulers
• Expansion of bilingual Spanish staff
• Build a scheduling dashboard to manage the department and ensure scheduling and rescheduling is completed in a timely fashion
• Automate the text messaging cancellations so they no longer need to be completed manually

Great job guys! We know that these efforts along with the other efficiency will help us reduce the current 66 days wait time to see a developmental pediatrician!

Stay tuned for a future blog post where we will go into greater detail about some of the projects from the Scheduling Department when they are completed. 

Is your department making big movements? Do you have a big project for 2015? Let us know in the comments below and you could be featured in an upcoming blog post!

Operation Our Town brings a little “home” to our troops over seas

We always support both our families and community members' needs throughout our community. When you look at your church, synagogue or other organizations you may be involved in, it may seem like the same people are giving so much of their time. 

There is an old adage that 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. I think those 20% all work at Children’s Specialized Hospital! 

Katie Grogan (Nursing LTC, TR 94 Stevens) volunteers her time – along with her mother – to an organization called Operation Our Town. They collect contributions of necessities and then send to the troops with a note and maybe even a card from our kids. Providing random acts of kindness to people they may never meet! 

Making the decision to join the United States military services is noble. Our service men and women voluntarily defend our freedom, as well as fight for peace in other areas of the world. Regardless of where they are stationed, it’s our civic duty to ensure they receive the support and respect they deserve. 

Think of how excited you are when you are headed home after a long day of work, a business trip, or a vacation. You probably can’t wait to throw off your shoes, flip on your favorite channel, and pour yourself your favorite beverage. 

When our troops are stationed in other countries, they are away from their friends and family for what could be a very long period of time. They don’t have the luxuries they had while home—the simple “pleasures” such as candy, games, sometimes even toiletries.

This is similar to the children who come to our inpatient hospital. Some of our kids stay with us for a handful of days and others stay with us for weeks to months. They pack items from home to make them feel more comfortable during their stay and pass the time, but it’s difficult for them to not be in their “home” environment. 

The boxes of goodies put together by Katie and Operation Out Town are sure to put a smile on the face of our service men and women who are missing their homes. Much like we put a smile on the faces of our kids when we provide fun activities and events for them!

Operation Our Town absorbs the cost to ship the packages. So, they graciously accept monetary donations to help offset the cost of shipping. 

If you’d like to volunteer your time with Operation Our Town or make a donation of food, toiletries, or assistance for shipping, please send an e-mail to Katie Grogan at KGrogan@childrens-specialized.org.  

Thank you, Katie, for everything you to do bring a smile to the faces of our troops!

Do you volunteer your time with a community organization? Let us know in the comments below and you may be showcased in an upcoming blog post!

Skipping the line with the new tablet registration

In a perfect world, our patients and families wouldn’t have any wait time before their appointment. After receiving some feedback from patients and families, as well as observation from staff, about the registration process—we knew we had to figure out a solution to a very long registration process.

Drumroll please…

On December 15, 2014 our Mountainside outpatient center rolled out a new tablet registration process! And so far, the feedback has been terrific!

Here’s how it works—a patient comes in to register for their first appointment, we need to scan them in or double check their documentation before “clearing” them. We would work with this patient to clear all of their documentation before moving on to the next patient family – who is probably here for their weekly therapy visit.

So, if the next patient in line has already had their paperwork checked and is considered a “clean registration,” they’d still need to wait until we complete the registration for the first patient.

You can see the issue here.

This new tablet registration streamlines the whole process and decreases wait time. Now, each patient will receive a card that will allow them to check themselves in at the self-service kiosk. How cool is that?!

Let me explain.

Greeters wait in the lobby in Mountainside for patients to arrive. The greeter can see the patient’s appointment time as well as if there is any documentation that they need copies of or signatures for.

Each patient gets a card like the one below. This card allows them to breeze through the registration process with just a swipe! If there is any missing documentation, the system will alert the family (if using the self-service registration) or the employee that something needs to be completed.

The bonus? They get two cards – so if there are two caretakers who swap appointments they won’t need to worry about sharing a card – and the card can be used at any of our locations.

This new registration process is incredibly beneficial on many levels.

First, by allowing patients whose documents are up to date move quicker through the registration process, their wait time is decreased significantly, allowing for an improved patient experience. In addition, because each “clean registration” receives a card, families are able to check themselves in for their appointment and avoid waiting in line!

As any project that we begin, we need to ensure that the end goal is aligned with our corporate goals. As an organization, we have set a growth goal of opening 1-2 sites each year. With the addition of this tablet registration process, we decrease wait time but also increase the amount of patients we are able to see. With more patients, we are able to look into more sites!

And lastly, consistency is key! The tablet registration will help to streamline the registration process and create more consistency at all of our sites. Since the goal is to have a “clean registration” for each patient, the documentation process will be much smoother on the back-end as well. For example, Finance will be able to collect the necessary information for insurance claims, since each greeter will be ensuring all documentation is updated and in the system before the patient proceeds.

This project was a huge undertaking, and took a cross-departmental team of motivated folks to complete. I have to give major kudos to Darlene Carr, Jana Prokop, Carrie Snyder, Lindsey Marabella, Nicole Assante, Tamisha Bourne, Jessica Hall, Donna Provenzano, Chuck Chianese, Linda Waddell, Haig Minassian, and Taaliba Warden for working through weekly 2-hour meetings, and testing. Kudos to Patient Access, Strategic Improvement, and IT for all of their hard work in making sure the table registration went off without a hitch.

And lastly, cheers to the Registration Staff at Mountainside for being our pilot site to launch the table registration. They have been continuing to provide input to the team on modifications, and helped us to get into a better situation to launch this system to our other sites.

By Spring we hope to implement tablet registration in two other sites – Newark & Hamilton – with a goal of using the system in at least 85 percent of our sites by the end of 2015.