Always Prepared

I don't know about you, but I have been tied to my TV watching the weather radar. Truly, I keep hoping that Irene will hang a right and just go out into the ocean and all of this excitement will be for not.

To be honest, I wasn't as interested in the weather before I started working at Children's Specialized. For us when the basics go down and our kids literally live or die based upon electricity, roads being cleared and all the things that some people may just see as a minor inconvenience.

It’s been my experience at CSH, whether it is a snow storm, floods or the one tornado I was part of, that we always rise to the occasion and demonstrate the absolute best in our planning and teamwork.

Kevin Sullivan is our Emergency Management Expert and has done an amazing job with his committee making sure our emergency plans are always where they need to be. You will be getting an email from him today outlining our plans and also offering thoughts for you as well.

Our friends at Children's Hospital of Alabama sent us a list of tips for our personal use that they have refined from their vast experience managing unpredictable weather. It was so very nice for their CEO to send it, that I thought I should share it with you.

Add your own helpful safety tips in the comments below.

Suggestions from Children's Hospital Alabama for your personal homes:
- At least 18 hours prior, set your AC at 55 or 60 so your house cools down and has the ability to stay cooler if the power goes out.
- Put as many containers of water in the freezer as you can. You will be able to use them in the lower part of the fridge as cold packs if power goes out.
- Make sure you have Coleman ($9-10) battery operated camp lanterns (Target, Wal-Mart, etc) and plenty of batteries. They last a long time and are handy for reading!
- Charge your laptop computers, cell phones, etc.
- Make sure you have a battery-operated radio.
- If you have a grill, make sure you have charcoal or propane to use. A good way to cook ...including eggs and pizza!
- Cook as much food as possible in advance so that you only have to reheat and can do that easily on grill.
- If a storm does strike, move to the basement, if you have one.
- If you have gas hot water heaters, showers are still doable!

Good luck to all and please be safe.

Getting to Know You…

So, sometimes we learn fun facts about people we have worked side by side with for years and just never knew.

Last week Missy Morrow, Rec Therapy NB, was telling me a story about how a colleague came to her rescue with one of her patients who loved to play baseball and Missy doesn’t have the best pitching arm so to speak. So Melissa Smith, SP NB, (a very skilled softball player) and Sue Winning, PT NB, (an avid golfer with the lowest handicap I’ve ever seen!) came to the rescue and stepped in. It was a great story about team work but it also made me wonder - "What else don't I know about the people I work next to every day?"

So here we go, great blog topic to get us sharing again.

Have you climbed Mt Everest? Are an accomplished scuba diver? Were you the drum majorette or member of the all state track team in high school? Do you have an unusual talent? Have you ever been on a reality TV show? Were you voted most likely to ….. in high school? Have you traveled to the ends of the Earth and back? Lived with the gorillas like Jane Goodall! (I honestly know a CSH employee who’s done this! Okay, she certainly didn’t live with them, but stayed for a good long visit)

What things have you accomplished that might be fun to share? Or do you know something special about your colleagues that you would like to share (with their blessing of course)?

Please don’t feel like you’re bragging or being boastful. Think more of it as a way to get to know your work friends a little better and you might be able to help your colleagues in a new way!

Okay – I’ll start. I played the violin throughout elementary, middle school, high school and beyond. I was even elected president of our orchestra. When I was about 16 the tuba player in the band quit and I decided to give it a try to help – because what’s a band without a tuba! But I couldn’t carry the enormous case and gave up after two weeks!

Tips for Losing Big

I have heard many of you saying that you would like a place to go for information. Let's share our tips for weight loss!

You know Marianne is encouraging us to make sure we are being smart, eating right and exercising too. It is no good to be thin and not be able to walk up a flight of stairs (Jessica Krill told me that!).

So what are your tips for taking the weight off and staying motivated?

Accomplishments All Around

Wow! I have heard of several amazing feats lately by our staff, family, and friends, which made me wonder how many more there are that we don’t know about. Warren Moore's son won the National Toshiba Science project for his team’s creation of a bionic ear - and he is in only in high school. Victor Vena's son is now ranked third in the country for top scores in shot put, having thrown 75 feet. He won four gold medals at the Penn Relays, which almost never happens. Rose Allsop’s son came in sixth in a National Collegiate competition where he and his team created a vehicle that works on both land and water, and had to hit a goal time as well.

Kelly Lynch and Ellen Brennan (PT's, Stevens Road) are both completing their doctoral program - while working FULL TIME! It is just amazing!

These things made me wonder what else great stuff is going on. Do you have wonderful things to share about you or your family?

Please share. We all love to celebrate great things that are happening for the people we work with each and every day

What Do You Think Makes a Hospital Great?

This article called “What Makes a Hospital Great” appeared yesterday in the NY Times. Click here to read it.

It talks about what makes a great hospital. Now I know we have talked about this many a time but it was so interesting to see that the "little things" are as important to people as the big things. This also coincides with me attending the AIDET training hosted by Family Faculty this week. You need to attend the training to find out what AIDET stands for but so much of all of the best practices are common sense.

I often think about needing the fancy equipment and the best of everything for our patients. What the article basically asserts is that customers expect that you will have all of those things but what makes you stand out and gain their trust is the basics - communication, respect, and a focus on listening.

I would be interested in what you think makes a great hospital - either from your experience here, or as a patient, or what you have seen in caring for family members.

Clearing the Skies

I have been back 48 hours from vacation and I have already had 5 people say to me that there is a black cloud over us because so much sadness is happening. Deaths, personal illness of staff, really tough cases with our patients who are struggling with their anger and lashing at staff - Just a lot.

When I got divorced, there were days that I literally didn’t want the sun to come up the next morning. I didn’t want to face one more day. Of course we all know that time is the ultimate healer, but it also took the support of family, friends and church, commitment to keep running to clear my head and seeking outside expertise to help show me the skills I had that I couldn’t see because the pain was so hard to work through.

How do you find your way through tough times? Are there things you could share that might help others?

Thanks for taking the time to post. You never know when your advice could be that suggestion that gives someone else strength that they so desperately need.

Winter Weather and Responsibility

Many of you know both my parents are retired teachers. So when winter came around, they would have their snow chains out and they would to call all of the teachers to make sure they picked them up on the way to school. The biggest issue was trying to decide whether or not to cancel school and what the implications for meeting state mandates on school days attended and the safety of the children. It never dawned on me until I married a police officer that in some worlds, such as police and hospitals, there are no such things as snow days.

I have had a couple of questions on the rumor mill, but more I have heard on the under current and grumbling about why we don't close sites and why we won't just give you the days off. Obviously you assume it is because we don't care about your safety as to why we have this policy.

So let's put it out there - we are a hospital.

While some of our services are emergent, for that family has waited 6 months to see Dr. Janvier, our decision to keep the centers open is not an insignificant decision.

Like it or not, we signed on for a higher order - we care for children. As an outpatient therapist, many of you proactively reschedule patients when you know the weather is bad. For those of us who don't have clinical function, our clinical staff depends on us to be there to be able to do the clinical work if needed, or assist in any way possible to maintain the appropriate level of care.

So, it is not that we don't care about your safety. We do and we give you the chance to make the decision about taking TOP, with your supervisor approvals.

At the end of the day, we are here to serve the kids and like me to support the people who serve the kids