RxTraA publication for the staff of Hartford Hospital Aug. 27, 2012 Vol. 68 No. 32

HH Team Wins Gold in Dragon Boat RaceA crew from Hartford Hospital took first place in the community B divi-sion of the 12th Annual Riverfront Dragon Boat and Asian Festival in downtown Hartford on Aug. 18. The event included more than 1,800 ath-letes on 50 teams.

Members of the gold medal win-ning team were: Jose Arduiz, Securi-ty; Trisha Bell, Fitness Center; Hank Christensen, Pharmacy Research; Jeffrey Coza, Security; Ken Hurren, Fitness Center; Lionel Lee, Materi-als Management; Jeffry Mather, Re-search Administration; Danielle McGeary, BioMed; Robert Prince, Ma-terials Management; Kathleen Race, Care Continuum; Jozef Szymanski, Security; Darrel Tanner, Fitness Cen-ter; Joe Tortora, Research Admin-istration; Diane Wade, B11I Nurs-ing; Ricardo Waldron, Hemodialysis; Brenda Woznicki, Burlingame Cen-ter; George Zern, Kitchen; Luis Zer-tuche, Neuropsychiatry. Also part of the team were Lisa Butler from CCMC, Sara Pritchard from Mid-state, Patrick Sikora, Gabrielle Sikora and Adolphus Gayle.

Dragon boats are long, narrow craft with room for 20 paddlers, a

drummer who sets cadence for the team, and a steersperson.

The drummer leads the paddlers throughout a race using the rhyth-mic beat to indicate the frequen-cy and synchronicity of all the pad-dlers’ strokes. The paddlers must

synchronize their strokes with oth-ers on the team. The steersperson controls the boat with an oar rigged at the rear of the craft.

The paddlers sit facing forward, and use a paddle which is not rigged to the boat in any way.

The gold-medal winning Hartford Hospital Dragon Boat Race Team

The United Way kickoff breakfast was held on Aug. 23 at Hartford Hospital, giving employees and volunteers a fo-rum to share the ways in which the United Way impacts the community.

The United Way’s mission is to en-gage people to improve lives and change community conditions.

This year’s Campaign Committee has set goals of $230,000 in pledges and 35% employee participation.

Susan Klein, United Way chair, ex-plained that last year only 26% of employees contributed to the United Way, while CCMC’s participation rate was 32% and other hospitals like Mid-dlesex had 50% participation. If every one of Hartford Hospital’s 7,000 em-ployees pledges just one dollar a week we would far exceed our goal.

Jeff Flaks, Hartford Hospital president & CEO, thanked volunteers for their continued efforts.

“Our participation in the United Way reflects our commitment to our mis-sion of service and is a reflection of our values of Integrity, Excellence, Caring and Safety,” he said. “We un-derstand that this is a very difficult financial year, but we hope that ev-eryone can participate.”

The breakfast was emceed by Rebecca Stewart, director of Media Relations. Speak-ers included Yvette Melendez (VP, Government & Community Al-liances), Dr. Jack Greene (United Way Physician Li-aison), Mayra Es-quilin (executive director, Hartford Areas Rally To-gether) and Brit-ta Raczkowski (vice-chair, Unit-ed Way Emerging Leader’s Society).

Hartford Hospi-tal’s 21st annual United Way Com-munity Cam-paign Fair will take place Sep-tember 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and will be held outside on the plaza between the CCMC and Conklin Building. The festivities will include craft and food vendors, music, and draw-ings for great prizes. Volunteers are being sought to help during the fair.

An online auction will run during the United Way Campaign (Sept. 10 through Oct. 5). If you have an item or service that you would like to donate to the auction, please let us know.

Last year’s auction items included assigned parking spaces, airplane flights, golf instructions, an iPad, and a South Africa Photo Safari.

To volunteer during the fair, or if you would like to donate an item to the online auction, contact JoAnn Cam-era at 860-545-2132 or jcamera@har-thosp.org.

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Susan Klein, Hartford Hospital’s United Way chair, welcomes vol-unteers to the United Way Campaign Kickoff Breakfast.

Goals Set At United Way Kickoff Breakfast

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, at

1-855-HHC-OCAP

or online at HHC.OCAPComplianceLine.comVolunteers learned about ways in which

the United Way impacts the community at the Kickoff Breakfast.

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August is National Minority Donor Awareness Month, which aims to educate people about the desperate need for organ, eye and tissue do-nors within multicultural commu-nities nationwide. Minorities (in-cluding Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and people of multiracial decent) make up 56 percent of the people on the national organ transplant waiting list, but only 36 percent of the U.S. population.

Evelyn J. DeJesus, nurse manag-er of Surgical/Trauma ICU, shared the story of why she and her fam-ily became registered or- g a n donors.

“July 15 marked the 11th anniversary of one of the most traumatic tragedies my family and I experienced. My 17-year-old cousin was a victim of a gang re-lated homicide. He was a vibrant, ed-ucated, innocent, and kind young man who fell in love with the ex-girlfriend of a gang leader. As a Latino young man driven by his ‘heart’ and trying to pro-tect his love, he lost his life.

In the midst of the pain, my family was approached by an organ donation repre-sentative that meant well, but was not culturally aware of our beliefs or how we process that kind of information.

Thus, she was unable to connect with the ‘heart’ of our thinking. My family unfortunately refused the opportunity for organ donation.

Soon thereafter, I became an ICU nurse and was blessed with the opportunity to see both sides of the miracle of organ donation. As a nurse I understood the complexity of the process, but more im-portant, as a Latina my ‘heart’ under-stood the value behind organ donation.

I have learned that families that are grieving a tremendous loss gain the peace in knowing that where there is no longer life, their loved one will bring about new life once again. In turn, those that receive the gift of a new life cherish it with every breath and there is the true miracle! Your loved one now leaves the world having changed it for the better. Isn’t that what we all would like to have achieved at the time of our departure; having left this world giving to another?

I believe our Latin culture is highly driven by what some might perceive as emotions. I better translate that into ‘driven by our hearts.’ I believe we do the right thing if we understand the sig-nificance. We Latinos also live in tribes; therefore, a lesson learned by the tribe leader becomes a teaching for the entire tribal community.

We can make a difference. Today, I am proud to say if you asked any of the more than 80 De Jesus-Robles tribe members to show their drivers licens-es, they all say ‘I am an Organ Donor.’ All it took was one ‘heart’ to inspire the rest.”

To register as a donor or for more information, please visit www.donatelife.net.

August is Minority Organ Donor Awareness Month

Evelyn DeJesus

Stephanie Wills, RN, Cardiac ICU

“I am dismayed when I hear how many African Americans do not sign up to be organ donors. People in my social circle have told me that it may be attributed to a belief that only the rich or famous receive organs. As a registered nurse for the last five years in the cardiac intensive care unit, I have witnessed first hand the life saving miracle of organ donation, and my experience does not support this myth!

Patients from all walks of life and socioeconomic backgrounds are admitted to my unit to wait for the gift of life through heart transplantation. The first criterion to be met for them to receive their heart is based on genetically matching the donor. This becomes very relevant for African Americans since there are so many presently on the transplant waiting list and not enough African American donors. In fact, the rate of minorities in general that are in need of organ transplantation exceeds the number of registered donors.

I hope this information dispels some of the myths associated with organ transplanta-tion. As an African America nurse, I encourage all people to become registered organ donors.”

Silpada Silver Jewelry in Auxiliary Store ThursdayCarol Burke of Silpada Designs will be in the Auxiliary Store selling jewelry on Thursday, August 30, from 9 a.m.–3 p.m.

Hundreds of pieces of sterling silver jew-elry will be “cash and carry.” Silpada’s 2012 retired pieces will be 50% off.

Part Three of “Weight of the Nation” Thursday

Part 3 of “The Weight of the Nation,” the 4-part HBO documentary series con-fronting America’s obesity epidemic, will be shown this Thursday, Aug. 30. There will be two viewings - at 12-1 p.m. and 5-6 p.m. in JB-118. Part 4 will be shown Sept. 6 and 13. The series is presented by Diabetes LifeCare and Preventive Car-diology. The films were developed with the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention and the National Institutes of Health. You can register to attend the free film showings using HealthStream (Course title: Weight of the Nation).

Epilepsy Support Group Meets Thursday The monthly epilepsy support group is this Thursday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m., Conk-lin Building, 3rd Floor, Room 319. The support group, run by Hartford Hospi-tal in partnership with the Connecticut Epilepsy Foundation, is the only epilepsy support group in the region. It meets the last Thursday of each month.

Workplace Violence Prevention Training 9/5The Hartford Hospital Safety Action Committee is offering Workplace Vio-lence Prevention & Crisis Intervention Training on Wednesday, Sept. 5, from 7:30-8:30 a.m. in Dining Room A. Enroll via HealthStream. The class will also be offered on Oct. 3 and Nov. 14.

Jewelry and Pampered Chef in Boutique 9/6Two vendors will be in the Boutique in the Helen & Harry Gray Cancer Cen-ter on Thursday, Sept. 6 from 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Kit’s Creations Jewelry will feature unique one of a kind beaded and sea glass designs. Kit also takes orders for ball sterling silver, and mother or grand-mother bracelets. The Pampered Chef will also be there with favorite kitchen tools and entertaining items. A portion of the sales benefit The Boutique in the Cancer Center.

Retirement Tea Sept. 7 for Richard Januska

There will be a re-tirement tea for Richard Januska, ac-counting manager, on Friday, Sept. 7, from 3- 4 p.m. in the Newington Campus Cafeteria. Richard has worked in the Accounting Depart-ment for 28 years,

and has managed the department for 26 years. All staff members are invited to come give Richard good wishes for his re-tirement. In addition, there will be a re-tirement party for Richard on Thursday, Sept. 13 from 5:30–7:30 p.m. at the Indian Hill Country Club in Newington. Cost is $35, which includes gift and buffet din-ner. Contact Chris Edwards at 860-696-6232 or Cedwards02@ harthosp.org.

23rd Annual Auxiliary Golf Tournament Sept. 10The 23rd Annual Hartford Hospital Aux-iliary Golf Tournament will be held Mon-day, Sept. 10 at the Tumble Brook Coun-try Club in Bloomfield. Proceeds will benefit the Epilepsy Center. For more info, contact Shelli Sigel, 860-490-3062 or Lori Flaks, 917-748-0531.

United Way Fair Sept. 13

The annual United Way Campaign Fair will be held Thursday, Sept. 13, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on the plaza between CCMC and Conklin Building. We need volun-teers to help out during the Fair to make it a success. If you can volunteer for one or more 2-hour shifts, contact JoAnn Camera at 5-2132. For more information regarding this year’s campaign, visit the United Way Intranet page at http://in-tranet.harthosp.org/unitedway.htm.

New IT Service Request System Coming Sept. 18ITS will initiate a new IT Service Request System on Sept. 18 at Hartford Hospital and MidState Medical Center. The new system, BMC Remedy Service Request Management, provides you with a Ser-vice Request portal on the HH intranet that allows you to initiate a request for services to Information Technology Ser-vice. This will provide staff with quick and effective access to standard IT ser-vices such as ordering/requesting PCs, laptops, application access, or request-ing the relocation of your IT equipment.

Additional informa-tion on this topic will be published over the next several weeks. For more information, contact Travis Keider-ling at 860-972-3277 or tkeider@harthosp.org.

Happening at Hartford Hospital

Questions or comments about RxTra? Contact editor Annie Emanuelli at aemanuelli@harthosp.org or 860-545-2199

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