Champions of Care Program Honors LBH Staff

How many times in your career have you heard:

"With all my love and gratitude from the top of my aorta to the bottom of my mechanical valve, thank you for giving me a chance to live my best life!" or " You exhibit the highest quality of skill combined with a warm and caring personality – thank you."

These are but some of the glowing comments LifeBridge Health staff have gotten recently. These observations were put in writing, mailed to the hospital and forwarded to the employee. Included was a monetary donation to the hospital to honor the staff member.

The Champions of Care initiative allows a skilled and caring employee to learn how much he or she is appreciated by a patient. The patient gets a chance to express gratitude to a staff member. The hospital gets a donation toward employee and community health education, equipment and patient programs.

What made it even sweeter for the first recipients is that they had no idea Champions of Care even existed. They were just doing their jobs and doing them very, very well.

"It gives us a way to identify our patients who are grateful for their care," says Alice Caltrider, campaign manager in Development. Certain patients, such as those who are frequent visitors to the hospital, are asked specifically if there's a special person at their hospital that they'd like to thank. "They receive letters from the presidents asking about their care and asking if they would like to recognize one of their caregivers through a donation to the hospital," Alice explains.

Karen Foote, guest relations representative at Northwest Hospital, was having a very bad day.

"It was rough. We had about 200 people here. We had two deaths. And I was feeling very much underappreciated," Karen says.

That happened to be the day Karen received the letter in interoffice mail that she was one of the
Champions of Care.

"Someone showing appreciation made me feel like everything was all right. That note was awesome!" Karen says.

So far, there have been more than 100 Champions of Care at LifeBridge Health. You might notice them by the lapel pin they are wearing. The patients have donated amounts ranging from $25 to $1,000. The employees recognized so far includes nurses, physical/occupational/speech language therapists, food service representatives, physicians and nurse practitioners.

At Sinai Hospital, you can see the full list of the 2009 Champions of Care in the “Patient Comments” display case off the main hallway leading toward the cafeteria. At Northwest Hospital, the names are in a display case toward the end of the connector hallway in the main building.

Are you a former patient who wants to recognize a Champion of Care? If so, click here.

-Sandra Crockett