Hundreds Celebrate Life After CancerMore than 650 cancer survivors, their families and friends joined more than 100 cancer center volunteers and physi-cians last Sunday at the Learning Corri-dor to mark their own victories against cancer and to remember those lost to this disease.

The 21st annual Celebrate Life was bois-terous event featuring live music from the cancer center’s own Tré Johnson and her brothers as well as the Screamin’ Ea-gles Jazz Band from Pratt & Whitney.

Master of cer-emonies Scott Haney, WFSB-TV’s irre-pressible host and weath-er guy, kept things fast-paced and unpredictable.

A Celebration of Victory

“It’s a time for us to celebrate with you the victories that all of you have achieved,” said Donna Handley, vice president for cancer services. “I want to recognize and congratulate each and every one of you in this room -- our pa-tients and those who walk with them. You are the reason we are here. You are our patients, our family, our friends, our inspiration and our heroes. You are the reason we do what we do every day.”

Dr. Andrew Salner, director of the Helen & Harry Gray Cancer Center, provided a brief update on the progress being made in patient care, research, outreach and survivorship at the cancer center.

The featured speaker, Matthew Zachary, who was diagnosed with pediatric brain cancer at the age of 21 and told he’d likely not sur-vive six months, pro-vided an inspirational and informative mes-sage. A concert pianist and composer, he went on not only to survive, but to found Steps For Living, a support organization for young adults diagnosed with cancer. That group became the I’m Too Young For This! Cancer Foundation, which to-day is the largest support organization in the United States with a global following and hundreds of thousands of friends, fans, readers, listeners and members.

Zachary helped bring “cancer un-der 40” to the na-tional spotlight through the OMG! Cancer Sum-mit and The Stu-pid Cancer Show (http://stupidcan-cer.com).

Elliot Joseph, president and CEO of Hart-ford HealthCare and Hartford Hospital, himself a cancer survivor, spoke about the importance of the annual event.

“We are absolutely committed to ensur-ing that this event and the services and program that go along with it will con-tinue forever,” Joseph said. “We just be-lieve that’s how important it is. The work we do with you and your family and loved ones around survivorship is exact-ly the kind of programming that we in-tend to strengthen over time so that we can have coordinated care and excellent care for those of us who need it.”

Scott Haney

Matthew Zachary

Donna Handley, Elliot Joseph and Dr. Andrew Salner

RxTraA publication for the staff of Hartford Hospital June 13, 2011 Vol. 67 No. 20

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The Women’s Health staff represented Hartford Hospital at the city’s “Healthy Women, Beautiful Women” third annual event held on June 9 at Pope Park in Hartford. The Office of Community Relations coordinated the event with the City’s Depart-ment of Health and Human Services as part of their HOPE series – “Healthier Opportunities Promote Equality.”Below left: Debra Hein, CNM, answers questions at the HHC table. Center: Mary DelCiampo, RN. Right: Brunella Ibarrola, RD (left) and Debra Hein.

Women’s Health Staff Participates in City Health Event

A Loving Tribute:

Bo Stevenson, The Voice of The Engineering DepartmentIt is with a great sorrow we share the passing of Richard “Bo” Stevenson, 61, a longtime Engineering Department staff member. Bo died on May 12. He had been with Hartford Hospital for 41 years.

Bo was a dedicated staff member and a model employee, and was known to be caring and responsive. He has been the voice of the Engineering Depart-ment and was the first person may peo-ple spoke with when requesting repairs. Hartford Hospital team members always count on “5-HELP,” and Bo was there, lis-tening to complaints and following up professionally and in a timely man-ner. His demeanor was to always assist others regardless of their stature in the organization.

Bo was from a small town in Pennsylva-nia. He graduated from the Greensburg Institute of Technology with a degree in mechanical drafting. He came to work here in 1970, joining the Institute Of Liv-ing staff as an aide.

Bo adored his family. He met Mary Ga-branski, a student nurse here, and they married in 1972. Together they raised five children in Ellington: Katy, Adam, Joshua, Rebekah, and Abigail. Bo loved his dog, Lucy, whom he called his sixth child and referred to as an angel. He had five grandchildren. Through the years he was present at all of the children’s events and was their No. 1 supporter. Bo had been an active member of his church until the time of his illness.

During his years at the IOL and HH, he filled many positions. He advanced from psych tech to senior tech, working with adult inpatient populations in the Ge-riatric Unit and Braceland 1. Later he took a position in the Geri-Day treat-ment Center in the then new Donnelly Building.

Eventually Bo came to work in Mainte-nance/Engineering. He was an active member of the IOL Safety Committee and the HH Safety Committee.

Bo has been a strong advocate for the pa-tients we serve. He always approached his job with dignity and respect for oth-ers. Bo Stevenson will be sorely missed by many, including the Hartford Hospi-tal community that he so loyally and lovingly served for four decades.

Claris Arthurs, Aida Bermudez and Del-ilah O’Neill, members of the GI Endos-copy Tech team, recently were reward-ed full scholarships for the Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (SGNA) associates program.

All three have successfully completed the program and now are recognized as a GI Technical Specialist (GTS).

The SGNA associates program is an on-line education program that provides an opportunity for associates and tech-nicians to validate their skills and rein-force their commitment to the GI/endos-copy profession.

The program includes modules in anat-omy and physiology, equipment, re-processing/ infection control, patient care, risk management, roles and re-sponsibilities, safety, and emergency preparedness.

Left to Right: Delilah O’Neill, Aida Bermudez, and Claris Arthurs.

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Bach’s Lunch!The Hartford Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet performed a free lunch-time concert Friday, June 10 on the Plaza between Conklin and CCMC. Staff, patients and visitors enjoyed the sounds of Scott McIntosh and Joe Fol-ey on trumpet; Barbara Hill, horn play-er; George Sanders on trombone and Steve Perry on tuba. The program was called “Bach’s Lunch” and included se-lections from J.S. Bach to Eric Clapton, with many stops in between.

Ethics or compliance concerns?If you have any business ethics or compliance concerns, please contact your supervisor

or call the Compliance Helpline, a confidential service, at 1-800-431-5572.

Su usted habla Espanol, favor llamar 1-800-297-8592.

Endoscopy Techs Complete Associates Program; Recognized as GI Technical Specialists By SGNA

Happening at Hartford Hospital

Questions or comments about RxTra? Contact editor Annie Emanuelli at

aemanuelli@harthosp.org or 860-545-2199

Reminder: Service Training Course Mandatory for All Staff by July 1The “Making a Difference” service train-ing class is designed to introduce staff to the patient-focused set of values recent-ly adopted by Hartford HealthCare, and the specific behaviors that were identi-fied that support the values. Staff mem-bers are expected to hold themselves ac-countable to these behaviors. The class is mandatory for all Hartford Hospi-tal employees. Sessions will continue through July 1, and are available seven days a week, days and evenings. Enroll via HealthStream.

RSVanity Designs in Auxiliary Store ThursdayRSVanity Designs, featuring a collection of wearable art by Puerto Rican artisan Raquel Santiago, will be available in the Auxiliary Store on Thursday, June 16, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Stop by and meet the designer.

SmartStream Scheduled Maintenance June 18SmartStream, web requisitioning, and all SmartStream reporting will be down on Saturday, June 18 from 7-10 a.m. for scheduled maintenance. Please use downtime procedures during the out-age. If you have any questions, please contact Dennis Rider at 860-545-3586 or e-mail drider@harthosp.org.

New York Bus Trip July 9Join our friends and neighbors from Connecticut Children’s Medical Cen-ter on a bus trip to New York City July 9. They have 15 seats left on their bus, and cost is only $29 for transportation. You’ll be on your own in the city. The bus leaves Hudson Street at 8 a.m., and departs from NY at 6 p.m. There will be four drop off points in the city. Seats are first come, first served. Call Veronica at 860-545-9441.

Retirement Party for Georgia Lindo July 15Friends of Georgia Lindo, RN, who has been at Hartford Hospital for 37 years, are invited to her retirement party July 15 at the Bond Ballroom in Hartford. Most recently, Georgia has been a case coor-dinator in cardiology. For more informa-tion on the party, call Shirley Fagon or Michelle Franco at 860-545-5400.

New Links on Library Intranet PageThe Library intranet page has undergone many recent changes. There is a new section called “Featured Resources.”

There are three new links:

• Disaster Resources - Includes two links to help children cope with the severe weather.

• Hartford Hospital Authors

• Stroke Update

The Robinson Library will be adding MD Conference Express as a database re-source in the next few days. This data-base will enable clinicians to keep up-dated on world wide conferences in all the major medical disciplines.

Hyperbaric Training for Health Care ProvidersThere will be a week-long Hyperbaric Training for Healthcare Providers course run at Hartford Hospital from July 11-15. This 40-hour introductory course, run by OxyHeal University in collaboration with HH, is designed to meet the require-ments of an UHMS designated introduc-tory course in hyperbaric medicine and will introduce to health care provid-ers the clinical indications, documenta-tion and operational requirements of a clinical hyperbaric medicine facility. The class will be held Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost is $1,000. For more information, e-mail Mike Powers, Wound & Hyperbaric Center program director, at mpowers@harthosp.org.

Volunteers Needed for ING Golf Classic Volunteers are needed for the 2011 ING New England Golf Classic taking place July 15-17 at Wintonbury Hills in Bloom-field. The event will benefit “Chip in for a Cure,” the charity which raises mon-ey to benefit breast cancer research and the breast health programs at Hartford Hospital. Morning shifts are generally 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and afternoon shifts 12:30-5 p.m. For more informa-tion, contact Nadia Woodman. nwood-man@harthosp.org.

New Procedure for Ordering/Delivering TPNAs of this week, the pharmacy has be-gun outsourcing the preparation of TPN (total parenteral nutrition). The new pro-cedure will require TPNs to be ordered earlier and will change the standard TPN administration time. TPN must be ordered through SCM by 12 noon each day. The pharmacy staff will deliver the TPNs daily between 6:30-7:30 p.m. and nurses should hang the bags every eve-ning at 8 p.m. If you have any questions please contact the clinical pharmacy manager, Nick Tessier, at ntessie@har-thosp.org, or call 860-542-2221.

Need Child Care?The “Kids Are Great” Leaning Center is now enrolling children of HH staff members for summer and fall care. We are conveniently located on the Insti-tute of Living campus, and open Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. serving children aged two months to six years old. Full time, part time and drop-in care is available. There will be an open house at the Leaning Center on Thursday, July 7 from 5:30-8 p.m. so you may visit the center and experience a day in the life of our children, and meet the director and teachers. Please RSVP to Lynn or Debra at 860-545-8460.