RxTraA publication for the staff of Hartford Hospital December 30, 2013 Vol. 69 No. 49

It’s a great time of year – a season of celebration filled with oppor-tunities to spend time with fami-ly and friends. For me, it’s also a time to think about the year that is now ending and look forward to a new one.

When I reflect on our year togeth-er, I am filled with gratitude for the wonderfully important work you do every day.

I am constantly amazed and hum-bled by the daily acts of compas-sion and humanity you perform for those in your care – and for one another. Your ability to be in the moment in the fast-paced, emo-tionally charged world of health care is what sets you apart.

Hartford HealthCare is a place of health and healing because of you.

The health care world is being rocked by dramatic changes. We are doing our best to ensure that our organization is strong and sta-ble so that we will be able to serve our neighbors, friends and family members in the decades ahead.

As we face our many challeng-es, we must never forget that our most basic mission is to bring hope and healing to the sick, sym-pathy to those suffering a loss and a brighter future to those whose health we help improve.

To each of you, I want to say that you have my most sincere re-spect and ad-miration for a job well done in 2013.

I wish for you and your families a pleasant and restful holiday sea-son, and I extend a special thanks to those of you who work over the holidays.

Be safe, warm and healthy.

All the best,

Elliot Joseph

Hartford HealthCare President and CEO

New Year Message From Elliot Joseph

Hartford Hospital and Hartford HealthCare showed a strong pres-ence at the Manchester Road Race held Thanksgiving Day.

More than 90 participants were proud to wear our colors.

Congratulations to everyone who participated.

See if you recognize any of these HHC runners....

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90 Runners Represent HHC at Manchester Road Race

Hartford Hospital has recently ad-opted a Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) policy/protocol for the Emergency Department.

Sickle Cell Disease is a group of inherited disorders where the red blood cells - which are usu-ally round and flexible and move through small blood vessels to car-ry oxygen to all parts of the body - become hard and sticky and look like a C-shaped farm tool called a “sickle.”

When the malformed sickle-shaped cells travel through small blood vessels, they may get stuck and clog the blood flow. This can cause pain and other serious prob-lems such as infection, acute chest syndrome and stroke.

The pain experienced by patients with SCD can often be managed at home. However, in extreme cases, individuals warrant a trip to the hospital for intravenous narcotic medication administration.

The primary con-cern of SCD patients when admitted to the hospital is often a pain crisis. Unfor-tunately, pain often becomes the sole focus of managing the disease without the implementa-tion of a plan to ad-dress preventative measures.

A comprehen-sive plan will aid in assuring access to adequate pain management and appropriate triage in addition to mitigating frequent admis-sion and unnecessary length of stay.

To keep with the mission of Hartford Hospital, the devel-opment of this SCD plan will aid in providing a consistent patient-centered experience.

“The adaptation of this policy was designed as a measure to provide individuals living with Sickle Cell Disease a compre-hensive, evidence-based ex-perience at Hartford Hospital,” said Daileann L. Hemmings, Hartford Hospital Department of Women’s Health. “This pro-tocol is the first step to creat-ing a Sickle Cell Disease man-agement plan for this patient population in the Hartford HealthCare System.”

Hemmings is a high risk OB nurse on North 8, and serves as vice president of the board of direc-tors of Citizens for Quality Sickle Cell Care. She also has a five-year-old nephew named Brandon with the disease.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) has named Sickle Cell Dis-ease the most common blood

disorder in America, affecting ap-proximately 100,000 individuals in America and millions worldwide.

Hemmings invites fellow staff members to learn more about Sickle Cell Disease: http://www.cthealth.org/blog/a-quiet-dispari-ty-brandon%E2%80%99s-story.

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Compliance Questions or

Concerns?If you need to obtain information about compliance issues or raise concerns regarding internal and regulatory practices or policies,

please contact your supervisor or call the ComplianceLine, a

confidential and toll-free service, at1-855-HHC-OCAP;

or go online to HHC.OCAPComplianceLine.com;

or contact the Office of Compliance, Audit & Privacy

(OCAP) directly:· Compliance 860-972-4093

· Audit 860-972-7064· Privacy 860-972-1573

Above: Sickle cell on the left, with three normal red blood cells on the right.

Below: Daileann Hemmings with her nephew Brandon, who has Sickle Cell Disease. (Photo by Nick Caito)

Hartford Hospital Adopts Sickle Cell Disease Emergency Room Pain Management Plan

Happening at Hartford Hospital

Questions or comments about RxTra? Contact editor Annie Emanuelli at annie.emanuelli@hhchealth.org or 860-972-2199

Customer Service - The Hospitality ApproachThe Health Science Libraries offer a unique class in developing Customer Service using the Hospitality Approach, which was developed by the hotel in-dustry, but has been adapted to health care by Sheila Hayes, senior librarian in the Robinson Library. The next class is Thursday, Jan. 2 from 10–11 a.m. in the Library Classroom, 3rd floor, ERC. Ar-rangements can be made for your whole department to take this class. Call/e-mail Sheila Hayes 860-972-2416 or shei-la.hayes@hhchealth.org to register.

Town Hall Meeting with President Markowitz At Newington Campus

Please join Dr. Stu-art Markowitz, pres-ident of Hartford Hospital, at a town hall-type meet-ing on Friday, Jan. 10, from 9–10 a.m. in the Newington Campus’ Amphithe-ater. Peter Fraser,

the vice president of Human Resourc-es, will also be in attendance and will be available for questions.

Auxiliary Drive for Children’s BooksOn Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, the Auxil-iary will hold a book drive collection of new and gently used children’s books for Read to Grow, an organization supported by the hospital and the Auxiliary. Read to Grow works to educate new parents on our maternity floor about the impor-tance of early literacy. If you have any questions about the book drive, feel free to contact Jenny Quigley at jmintonq@comcast.net.

Mental Health First AidHartford Hospital will offer a full-day Men-tal Health First Aid course on Jan. 14, Jan. 21, and Jan. 30. The classes run from 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. in the Hartford Room, Commons Build-ing at the IOL. Mental Health First Aid gives general information about men-tal health issues and the tools to better serve those with mental health issues. Instructors are Ed Clukey and Patricia Graham. The fee of $15 covers the re-quired manual. 12 enrollees are needed for the course to run. Registration is re-quired. Please contact Patricia Graham at PatriciaC.Graham@hhchealth.org or 860-545-7716 to register or for more information.

Volunteers Needed for “No One Dies Alone”Under the direction of Pastoral Services, a nationally recognized program called

No One Dies Alone has been making a differ-ence for here for nine months. A “compassionate companion” vol-unteer provides reassuring pres-ence to patients who would oth-erwise die alone.

With the support of the nursing staff, companions are able to help provide pa-tients with that most valuable of hu-man gifts: a dignified death. Our next volunteer training will be Tuesday, Jan. 28 from 10:15 a.m.–1:15 p.m., in the ED Conference Room. If you are interested in volunteering for the No One Dies Alone Program, please contact the Volunteer Department at 860-972-2182 or e-mail volunteerservices.HH@hhchealth.org.

Employee Discounts on Just About Everything! Do you want to know how to get HH em-ployee discounts on everything from the Hartford Courant to Monster Mini Golf, or at J’s Restaurant or BJ’s Wholesale Club, or on cell phone plans or car service? Go to the Em-ployee Recreation/Dis-counts page on the in-tranet! (http://intranet.harthosp.org/hh/docs/378?route=2)

Here are the discounts currently available:

• Hartford Courant

• UConn Ice Hockey Classic

• Monster Mini-golf

• XL Center Events

• Au Bon Pain e-Club

• Bushnell events

• Broadway shows

• Disney on Ice

• Comfort Inn

• LAZFly airport parking

• Chicago Sam’s in Cromwell

• Dakota’s Restaurant, Rocky Hill

• J’s Restaurant - Hartford

• Lucky Lou’s Bar & Grille

• Peppercorn’s - Hartford

• Cell Phone Discounts

• BJ’s membership

• Bill’s Automotive

• Cesar’s Foreign & Domestic

• Leather & Sound

• Meineke

• Roggi’s Garage

• Footprints Shoes

• Fromyouflowers.com

• MZ Cleaners

• Nature’s Spa

• New Balance

• Raymour & Flanigan