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RxTraA publication for the staff of Hartford Hospital March 18, 2013 Vol. 69 No. 10

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you succeed outside of work. WHAT DO YOU VALUE? Your answers will guide long-term planning as Hartford HealthCare grows to become the region’s premier health care provider and its best employer.

Click here to begin your survey. http://redcap.harthosp.org/surveys/?s=Eitbu9

100th Baby Born in Centering Pregnancy ProgramOn March 7, the 100th baby in the Centering Pregnancy Program was delivered at Hartford Hospital.

The Centering Pregnancy Program was started here in 2011 as a health promotion program for pregnant women served by our Women’s Ambulatory Health Services.

Centering Pregnancy provides a group of women who have similar due dates with ten 2-hour sessions facilitated by a midwife.

Each session focuses on a differ-ent health issue, such as nutrition, stress management, domestic vio-lence, family planning, and parent-ing skills.

The group setting empowers the patients to become more involved in their prenatal care planning.

The women learn to chart their own weight and blood pressure and perform urine analysis.

They also provide peer support to each other, which has been prov-en to reduce pre-term delivery and low birth weight rates.

Centering Pregnancy’s success is

seen in the participants’ evalua-tions and the fact that the program is beginning to see some second-time mothers who say they appre-ciated the knowledge and confi-dence they gained in the program.

Centering Pregnancy was original-ly intended for women who were at low risk for complications and, therefore, did not qualify for higher level monitoring. It has expanded to continue to serve women who develop gestational diabetes while

in the program.

The Centering Pregnancy Program is an excellent example of a com-munity benefit provided by Hart-ford Hospital.

It serves a vulnerable population and provides an educational and community health improvement program that promotes health, im-proves residents’ access to health care services, and enhances the health of the community and ad-vances health knowledge.

The Avon Breast Health Outreach Pro-gram has awarded a $30,000 one-year grant to Hartford Hospital to increase awareness of the life-saving benefits of early detection of breast cancer.

It is the 11th year that the program has received funding from the Avon Foun-dation for Women to support its work on this important health issue, and in recognition of the program’s excellence.

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women in the Unit-ed States, and the leading single cause of death overall in women between the ages of 40 and 55. According to the American Cancer Society, 3,050 new cases of breast cancer will be detect-ed in Connecticut this year and 460 lives will be lost. Nationwide, there is a new diagnosis every three minutes and a death from breast cancer ev-ery 14 minutes. While advances have been made in prevention, diagnosis and treatment, early detection still af-fords the best opportunity for success-ful treatment.

The Connecticut Breast and Cervical Cancer Early De-tection Program (CBCCEDP) at Hartford Hospital will ed-ucate Greater Hartford area women and refer them to low-cost or free mammograms and clinical breast ex-ams in their own communities. The vital program will also refer women for cervical examinations, pap smears and colonoscopies, as well as glucose and cholesterol screenings (through the WISEWOMAN program).

Hartford Hospital is also one of 30 sites - and the only one in New Eng-land - chosen to participate in the National Cancer Institute’s NCI Com-munity Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP). The program is designed to encourage the collaboration of medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists to research new and enhanced ways to assist, educate, and better diagnose and treat cancer to meet the needs of underserved populations and reduce cancer disparities.

“Our outreach program helps to provide lifesaving pre-vention and early detection education to the medically underserved communities we serve, as well as to pro-vide free screenings for breast, cervical, prostate, and colorectal cancer,” said Dr. Andrew L. Salner, director of the Helen & Harry Gray Cancer Center.

Since 1995, the CBCCEDP at Hartford Hospital has reached more than 12,000 women with information about the importance of early detection of breast cancer, and has referred over 6,000 women for mammograms and clinical breast exams.

Programs such as the CBCCEDP at Hartford Hospital help ensure that all women have access to early detec-tion information and options, even poor and medically underserved women.

“We are proud that the Avon Foundation for Women shares our mission and has chosen to support our program,” said Devon Latney, community outreach coordinator for the Helen & Harry Gray Cancer Center, and project director of HH’s CBC-CEDP. “With these funds we will be able to pro-vide outreach education to community women

on breast health and encourage women to obtain their annual clinical breast exams and mammograms.”

For more information on the Connecticut Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program at Hartford Hospital, please call Damaris L. Perez, outreach educa-tor for CBCCEDP at Hartford Hospital, at 860-545-5002.

For more information about breast cancer, contact the American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345 or www.cancer.org, or the National Cancer Institute at 1-800-4-CANCER or www.cancer.gov.

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Damaris Perez, outreach educator for Connecticut Breast and Cervical Can-cer Early Detection Program (CBCCEDP) at Hartford Hospital, and Devon Latney, community outreach coordinator for the Helen & Harry Gray Can-cer Center, and project director of HH’s CBCCEDP.

HH Receives Grant From Avon Foundation for Women To Promote Early Detection of Breast Cancer

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Congratulations and thanks to our social workers during Social Work Month!

Social work is the profession of hope - fueled by resilience and advocacy. Social workers matter because they help millions of struggling people ev-ery day dream differently.

In the United States, more than 650,000 of these highly trained profes-sionals know how daunting and immobilizing life’s tragedies and obsta-cles can be. But they also witness the sheer determination of countless in-dividuals and families to achieve different lives.

In Memoriam: Karen White, Nurse ExtraordinaireKaren White, nurse bed manager in the Transfer Center, passed away peacefully with her family by her side on March 10 at Hartford Hos-pital after a courageous fight with ovarian cancer. She was 60.

Karen began and ended her nurs-ing career at Hartford Hospital. She graduated from the Hartford Hos-pital School of Nursing in 1973 and immediately began working in our Emergency Department as a staff nurse and then assistant head nurse.

She devoted her life to caring for those who needed help. H e r calling to be a nurse was not only completely fitting, but also fulfilled her. She was active in HH’s Alumnae Association, and there was nothing she didn’t enjoy about being a part of the nursing community.

Nurses touch lives in the most trau-matic of moments, leaving an im-pression to last a lifetime. Karen was a true advocate for kindness, and never lost sight of what was most important - the patient.

Her uncanny knack for anticipat-ing and diffusing obstacles in our

complicated health care system before they reached a patient’s bedside was nothing short of miraculous.

Her tireless work ethic shone through from the start of each shift to well beyond, never ask-ing for anything she would not give. She worked hard, and ex-pected the same.

Karen was blessed with a flair for Irish storytelling, and her humor entertained staff and lightened moods on the darkest of shifts. Her tales may have skirted the edges of fiction, but never failed to bring a smile to those who needed it most.

We offer our deepest sympathy to Karen’s family and friends – her son Wesley and daughter Caitlin; her sisters, Susan, Sheila and Maura, and her beloved nieces and nephews.

Karen’s daughter is continuing her mother’s commitment to nursing. We wish her the best and to remem-ber from her mother’s extraordinary career that “the character of the

nurse is as important as the knowl-edge she possesses.”

Karen’s obituary can be found at http://www.legacy.com/obit-uar ies/hart fordcourant/obit-u a ry. a s p x ? n = k a re n - b e a t t i e -white&pid=163617100&fhid=4098

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.com

March is Social Work Month

Auxiliary Store’s Spring Clearance Sale On NowThe Auxiliary Store’s Spring Clearance Sale is up and running. A fantas-tic group of selected items are 75% off their original price. Stop by soon for the best selection. Regular store hours.

Colon Cancer Seminars March 19, 26 and 27March is colorectal cancer awareness month. Learn the importance of colon cancer prevention, detection and treat-ment at these free educational semi-nars with physicians. Registration is re-quired. Call the Health Referral Service at 860-545-1888.

Tuesday, March 19 at the Hartford Hospital Wellness Center at Blue Back Square in West Hartford. 6:30-8 p.m. Pre-senter: Dr. Paul Vignati.

Tuesday, March 26 at Gateway Medical Park in Glastonbury. 6:30-8 p.m. Present-er: Dr. William Sardella.

Wednesday, March 27 at the Family Health Center in Enfield. 6:30-8 p.m. Pre-senter: Dr. Joseph Ianello.

Volunteer To Help At Sandy Hook 5K Race

Hartford Hospital will provide medi-cal coverage for the Sandy Hook 5K Run scheduled for Saturday, March 23 from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in downtown Hartford. To date, there are 12,000 reg-istrants for the race. We will be support-ing three medical aid stations. If you are an MD, RN or EMT who can help cover the medical stations, we welcome your assistance. Please contact Ralf Coler at 860-545-2373.

Beads4Dreams in Store ThursdayBeads4Dreams will be in the Auxiliary Store on Thursday, March 21 from 9 a.m.–4 p.m. You’ll see distinctive, one-of-a-kind jewelry crafted using recycled paper beads, which have been made by a women’s craft group at Kiwoko Hospi-tal in Luwero, Uganda. One hundred per-cent of the proceeds from the sale of this jewelry go to the hospital in Uganda.

Car Seat Clinic at Fire House on March 26CT Safe Kids is pleased to present a Car Seat Clinic on Tuesday, March 26 from 3–6 p.m. at the City of Hartford Fire De-partment, Engine Company #10, 510 Franklin Avenue, Hartford. You can have your car seat inspected for proper instal-lation. This event is by appointment only. Please have the age, height and weight of your child available when you call. To schedule an appointment contact Olga Früster at 860-545-8815 or by e-mail at [email protected]

Save Money On Your Health InsuranceYou can still save money on your health insurance. The sooner you complete your Aetna Health Risk Assessment and one online health education activity, the more you can save. Aetna Choice Plan members can get $4 a week in your pay-check and $8 if your spouse is covered. Health Savings Account enrollees can earn similar deposits to your HSA. The awards are deposited monthly, beginning in the month following completion of the required actions. So if you do it in March, your rewards will begin in April. For de-tails, check the intranet, or click here

Donate Life CeremonyThe annual Donate Life Rose Ceremony will be held on Friday, April 5 at 2 p.m. at the flagpole at the front entrance. The flag will be raised in honor of all organ, tis-sue and eye donors. It will remain flying for the entire month of April, which is Donate Life Month.

“Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day”Applications are available for the Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, Thursday, April 25. Applications are due by Friday, April 5. Children from 4th-12th grade are eligible. Contact Amanda Blaszyk for an application at [email protected] or ext. 5-4732.

Sign Up For Golf LeagueThe 2013 season for the Hartford Hospital Golf League starts Thursday,

April 25. Members on two-player teams playnine holes at Goodwin Golf Course every Thursday at 3:30 p.m. until Sept. 5. Fees are $340 per player for 18 nine-hole rounds. Registration required by Fri-day, April 12. For information, contact Ron Jambard at 860-972-4293 or [email protected]. Players who wish to be available as substitutes are also welcome.

Recycle Your Flu Badge!Flu season is official-ly over, so we no longer need to wear our plas-tic flu attachments on our ID badges. Instead of throwing yours away, please take a moment to recycle it. There are col-lection boxes in the main hospital lobby and in Newington.

Happening at Hartford Hospital

Questions or comments about RxTra? Contact editor Annie Emanuelli at [email protected] or 860-545-2199