Elaine Mustacchio Receives National Recognition

A few weeks ago I shared in the Weekly Wrap Up that Elaine Mustacchio, MSN, CRRN, nurse manager, was notified that she had received a national award recognizing her lifetime of service to pediatric rehabilitation.

For Elaine it was very overwhelming and somewhat embarrassing – my word not hers. See she, like many of us, has the chance to work with our children and sees it as a tremendous honor and gift to help our kids get better.

All of those holidays when she ran around like a crazy person to make sure every kid had a Halloween costume or when she worked with Dr. Burke to make sure one of the babies was wearing their best dress when their new foster parent came to see them for the first time.

She didn’t do any of those things because someone told her to or she had to. She did it because it was part of the healing process; a natural next step to try to get things to normal.

When our kids “age out” she continues to go visit them in their new locations. She’d be the first to say “I am not the only one who does this. Many people do.” And she would be right – that is what makes Children’s Specialized Hospital so special.

I’m so impressed and thankful for the things you guys do without thinking twice—Trish West-Low coming in from her vacation to teach yoga to the kids at camp or Kate Vieni working in a 10-mile run with one of our children in the pain program, for example. Or the hundreds of hours the Trish Yurochko, Ann Marie Santos, Elke Van Hooydonk, and ALL the people who volunteer with Lightning Wheels donate to help those children achieve their personal bests.

All over the state, through the work of each of you, you are extending your work and touching families in a way that give them hope and make it all seem better – even when it may not be anywhere close to what they had hoped and dreamed for their children.

We all celebrate and honor Elaine for this amazing recognition. We are so very proud. And we know it could have been anyone in the Children’s Specialized family – because those are our values, our culture, and who we are as people. That is what brought us to this very special place and why we work so hard to improve the lives of our children.

Are you ready for some football?

You all know that I am a huge college football fan. Yazmin Hatcher, registration representative in Mountainside, suggested that we have a few “Football Fridays.” I love your FUN FAN spirit Yazmin! Every Friday this fall (Sept-Nov) you can dress in your favorite football team gear – college or professional – and of course wear your jeans.

I bet some of you are asking, “Why are you such a big fan?”

I love college football because even at a place like Alabama ─ which is all football all the time ─ the players are still kids. Managing classes, their first time away from home, maybe even their first real love and heartbreak. They are still real people – not superstars like the pros, but just normal folks who happen to play ball.

You see tremendous dedication and work ethic. You also see entire groups of people wrap themselves around the team – an outpouring of emotion with each win or loss.

In many ways I liken it to the work we do here. We rally around the children we serve, cheering their every accomplishment in the face of tremendous challenges. They and their families often have to have super human strength to stare down the life that could be before them and find the hope to believe that with hard work, the victory – however it is defined – can be achieved.

 

I love all of the different emotions you feel when your team, or child we are privileged to treat, gets through their season or finishes their time with us. There are tears, laughter, high fives, and just pure joy when a goal is achieved. There is also sadness and disappointment when we fall short but we hold ourselves up with hope… that there will always be another season.

For our kids, we hope that there will be one more new treatment or break through, and until that point we just keep doing our best.

Who are you rooting for this season?  

Turning 50 – It’s All Good

So now that we are into August, here is my not so secret, secret (mainly because I have been finding a way to tell everyone I can): I am going to turn 50 this month! I am thrilled and astounded by this fact. Let’s start with astounded first. 

I can remember when my father turned 50. He was a BEAR! He was furious at being “so” old. He didn’t want presents or a cake and he was just – in my words – depressed. Now at age 85, he would give ANYTHING to be 50 again! That lesson is vivid in my mind, so I decided I was going to fully embrace this passage of time and try take 2014 (9 months before my birthday and 3 months after) and find ways to do great things with people who have been a significant part of those 50 years. 

January 2014 began with my best friend from college and me running a half marathon together in Key West, Florida. This was significant because I had never run before I got to college and now I do it almost every day. She and I ran together while at college, but it was only after college that we both started focusing on our technique and running further distances. We had a wonderful time together – even though my race was not even close to my personal best. But that wasn’t the point. We were able to celebrate our 32 years of friendship and count blessings of all we have gone through together. 

As soon as I got home, another dear friend ─ also an only child ─ watched her mother go from perfectly healthy to gone in weeks. This same friend had lost her father to lung cancer 2 years prior and her Mom had really held her own, even though she missed her husband every day. She had been treated by a local hospital for pneumonia but she wasn’t getting any better. 

We finally took her to RWJ where they discovered she had an aortic aneurysm, and without open heart surgery she would die. The masterful surgeon explained the risks of the surgery (paralyzed) and the time for recovery (8 months). Her mother decided that she had been blessed with 78 years and wasn’t going to have the surgery. She died within 48 hours. It was a tremendous gift to me to see someone who was so clear about what she wanted and it was our job to honor her wishes. It was a lesson of courage that left me sad at the loss and reminded again about personal strength and determination.

I ran the first race ever for charity, and of course it would be for Children’s Specialized. Another half marathon. This one I ran as a tribute to the children we serve, and how blessed I am to work with each of you and do work that is so meaningful. 

You have heard me say that I have the best job in the world and this was a small way to acknowledge my “work” as a blessing. 

This Spring I was privileged to be inducted in the NJ Business Hall of Fame. It was very significant to me to have both of my parents, my colleagues, and board members with me that evening. What was especially poignant was I asked my priest, Rev. Karin Mitchell, to introduce me. I wanted people to know that you could have a deep faith, whatever your religious background, and still do great work in the business community. And that often your faith is the strength you get from the things that you do outside of work—that influence your decisions and help you face the struggles of the changing business environment. 

Last month I was asked to meet with a group of women leader’s in health care. We were brought together for 2 reasons – 1) to begin work on our personal legacy and 2) to identify how we can humanize the delivery of health care to have a partnership of healing and health. Many of the women in the group were a little bit older than I and what I saw frightened me. At age 60, they were still questioning whether they had done enough, both at home and work. Some were not at their ideal health and others were facing major life decisions as they found themselves not wanting to end their career as they are now. 

It shocked me. 

It went right back to how much time people (but especially women) spend wasting worrying about not doing enough, or beating themselves up because our expectations about what is possible are just not achievable. We each continue our own journey ─ together and separately on both legacy ─ but it set the tone for me for how I want to enter 50.

I know now that life isn’t perfect. Bad things do happen to good people and the only thing you can control is your reaction to those things. When you start from the premise that people are trying their best, then generally your reaction, the outcome, and interaction will be better. 

The most important thing I am going to embrace: I may not have lived my life the way I thought I would when I was 20, but I have been blessed with a family who loves me, a wide range of friends who make me better, and I work with people whom I learn from every day about working harder than you could imagine, the courage to keep trying new and different things, and the compassion to enter into families’ lives as a partner to help them and help their children.

It is all good. 

My thanks to all of you for what you do for our kids and what you have taught me. 

A birthday blessing.

Not Hitting the Mark

We have tallied the results of the employee engagement pulse survey, which asked you to rate the following: “I am involved in decisions that affect my work.” Almost 500 (more than 1/3) of you responded and I thank you for that! Just as a reminder, one of our 6 corporate goals for this year is to improve the score at each site in response to this question. A positive movement in this score has a direct correlation to how you feel about us as your employer. 

As I say during each orientation, we know there will be times when you spend just as much time here as you do at home and we want to create an environment that allows you to be fully engaged in your work for our patients and families.

Here are some key findings from the recent employee engagement survey:

• Bayonne, Clifton, Lakehurst Road, and Egg Harbor all increased their score AND happen to be our smallest locations 
• New Brunswick remained EXACTLY the same
• Every other location went down

These findings sparked a series of questions for Senior Leaders. 

• Ok, what are we missing?
• What are the decisions people want to be involved in or feel involved in that they are not?
• Is it communication?
• Is it process?
• Is it the people?  

It would be tremendously helpful if you would be willing to share your ideas on things that you think would help you to feel more involved in the decisions that impact your work.

Here’s my promise – share your ideas, comments, and suggestions here and we will follow up and let you know what we can and cannot do about it.

Deal?

Children's Challenge

If you follow social or traditional media, you have to have heard about the ice bucket challenge to raise funds and awareness for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease.” The ALS association has raised millions after the craze got national attention when golfer Greg Norman challenged "Today" host Matt Lauer, and he accepted on live TV. The premise is simple: Dump a bucket of ice water on yourself, post video of the stunt online, and then tag Facebook friends and family to do the same. The challenge requires participants to take the plunge within 24 hours of being "nominated" or donate $100 to ALS.

Well, we all know I’m always up for a good challenge and I have personal connections to people affected by ALS. So – I drenched myself in the name of ALS and of course donated to the cause. I’ve seen and heard about many staff taking this challenge and this truly speaks to living our value of compassion! 

Tara Mohamed, child life specialist and Laurie Bodner, rec therapist in New Brunswick, put a twist on the ice bucket challenge!  I wish I had thought of this one! 

This got me thinking… how can Children’s Specialized Hospital use this premise to bring awareness and funds to help the kids we treat? I know we have some pretty creative folks here – I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below! 

Now the folks in Marketing tell me that you can’t really “make” things like this happen and cannot guarantee this type of viral outcome… If we don’t end up doing our own “challenge” – I challenge you to become our best public advocates.  Spread the word about Children’s Specialized through your social networks - the services we provide, the great work being done, recent news articles, upcoming events and fundraisers that you think you friends/families might support. 

Thank you all for living our values everyday and going above and beyond to help our kids reach their fullest potential!

You can fix a pipe with your phone!

Well kind of… This weekend at the gym, I saw an ad for an Angie’s list app. The premise is if you have something broken in your home, and you have this app and a membership in Angie’s list, you can send a picture of the problem on your smart phone and they will identify the vendor needed to repair what is broken, schedule the person to come at an appointed time you have requested and use your credit card information that is saved on line. All you have to do is upload the picture and arrange for someone to be there when the person comes to fix it! No haggling, no yellow pages or Google searches – they do it all for you.

Then I came across this article that describes how technology is changing how we care for patients.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/the-doctor-will-see-you-now-via-webcam-smartphone-1.1014614


You have heard me say I believe technology will transform healthcare in ways we can’t even imagine today. Sort of like all the things the iPhone can do versus the shoe box size cell phone I first used in 1990! : ) My point is, that part of our challenge as a healthcare provider is to both anticipate the changes and be agile to accept changes as they present themselves.

At the Family Advisory Council we are brainstorming on what the new world could look like. If you had a blank sheet of paper, how would you want healthcare delivered? Many of the initial answers are in the confines of the existing bricks and mortar that we have but we are going to keep talking and thinking about what it could be.

So what about you? As a patient, how would you like to receive care? Or if you had that blank sheet of paper, what would the healthcare system look like or act like to better meet the needs of all Americans?

Can’t wait to hear your answers!

Random Acts of Kindness

So I know you all have cringed, more than once, when I have done an employee meeting and may have let a curse word slip in because of my passion about whatever the topic was. Believe it or not, even with my many slips (we’re all human), I am actually a devoutly religious person and work hard to listen to the sermons each week and try and be a better person.

At the start of Advent, Mother Karin, my priest in the parish I have belonged to for 44 years, gave a sermon on doing random acts of kindness. Not the typical nice things that you would always do: open a door, write a thank you note, but something that just comes upon you, presents itself when you least expect it. I have worked hard to do one random act of kindness every day since that Sunday and I must tell you that I am struck by two things. One how surprised people are when you do that unexpected thing and secondly how good it makes me feel to do it. For no other reason than it brought joy to someone else. Now these are not huge things - I am not talking about changing the world, but just a little something. I took chicken soup to a sick friend. I sent a get well card to my friend's Mom. I bought a strangers dinner when I heard them say had just got engaged.

So, it’s no surprise that when I found out that next week is national Random Acts of Kindness Week (Feb. 10-16.) I thought this would be a prefect opportunity to ask you to share things you have done or seen your colleagues do for others. One reason is because this weather is wearing me out and we could all use a little pick me up. The second is it really is wonderful to hear all the amazing things that happen here. Share your stories, photos, videos and ideas on our blog (http://childrens-specialized.blogspot.com) or with me personally and I will share with everyone, if you want.

Random Acts of Kindness do not have to be grand gestures. Here are a few ideas to get you mind thinking…

- Compliment the first 10 people you talk to
- Buy the person behind you at the coffee line their morning coffee
- Leave encouraging sticky notes around your office
- Tell someone how glad you are they work with you
- Bake cookies & share with your coworkers
- Give directions to someone who is lost
- Be patient and support someone who is having difficulty learning
- Laugh out loud, and laugh often, share your smile generously