Advocate South Suburban Hospital - Advocate Pulse

FALL 2007

Current Pulse Issues Advocate System Advocate Impact Advocate Sites Advocate Bethany Hospital Advocate Christ Medical Center Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center Advocate Lutheran General Hospital Advocate South Suburban Hospital Advocate Trinity Hospital Pulse Archives Pulse Home		A Message from the President read more A Message from the President At Advocate South Suburban Hospital, our programs and services extend well beyond the walls of the hospital into the neighborhoods we are privileged to serve. As part of Advocate Health Care, we provided more than $296 million in charitable care and services to benefit patients, families and communities across metropolitan Chicago in 2006. You will learn more about these important community partnerships and programs in this issue. Also highlighted in our fall Pulse are our asthma initiatives, as well as an update on health care legislation. We are proud to serve you and your community. Ann Errichetti, M.D., MBA President close Asthma 101 As the south suburbs continue to grow, Advocate South Suburban Hospital has developed programs to meet the changing health care concerns of our community... read more Asthma 101 As the south suburbs continue to grow, Advocate South Suburban Hospital has developed programs to meet the changing health care concerns of our community. For several years, the hospital offered the Open Airways program which partnered with area elementary schools to reduce absenteeism among asthmatic school children. Through Open Airways, Advocate South Suburban Hospital respiratory therapists taught asthmatic children from Oak Lawn to Mokena how to prevent asthma attacks and treat their potentially life-threatening condition. Now the program has moved on to its second phase and the hospital’s respiratory therapists are offering Asthma 101—an educational program for staff at these same elementary schools. Asthma 101 is designed to take asthma education to the next step from the educational process for school-aged (third to fifth graders) children in the Open Airways program to the school teachers and support staff. The program is designed to provide useful asthma statistics and information asthma to staff members. The program has proved especially useful to physical education teachers with students who may require quick relievers (such as metered dose inhalers) prior to exercise. The teachers may be unaware of what to expect from the medication(s) that their students take everyday. Respiratory therapists at Advocate South Suburban Hospital provide an informative one-hour session to staff. Topics include: medication information, asthma triggers, signs and symptoms of asthma and how to handle emergency situations with their asthmatic students. close Someone you should know Lorelei Beyer, RNC, BSN, is a charge nurse in the Family Birthing Center at Advocate South Suburban Hospital. read more Someone you should know Lorelei Beyer, RNC, BSN, is a charge nurse in the Family Birthing Center at Advocate South Suburban Hospital. She is also the hospital’s Nurse Advocacy Council representative. What motivates you to be an advocate for nursing issues? Furthering my nursing education has brought a lot of nursing issues to my attention. In addition to broadening my knowledge base, I have learned to appreciate the need for leaders in the nursing profession. The more nursing voices are heard, the more empowered our profession will become. What is one valuable experience you have had since joining the Nurse Advocacy Council? One of the most valuable experiences that I have had is moderating the legislative forums held at Advocate South Suburban Hospital. This is truly bringing the work of the Nurse Advocacy Council to my peers. The forums give nurses the opportunity to hear about the issues important to nursing and to voice their concerns and opinions directly to the legislators on a more personal level. What do you hope to bring back to the nurses at your hospital by serving on the Nurse Advocacy Council? I hope to educate nurses on legislative issues that are important to our profession so that they can feel empowered to voice their concerns to legislators. close Medical Mission Making an impact for our patients With all that has changed in the past 30 years, for Jean Taylor, one thing has remained the same: her volunteer work at Advocate South Suburban Hospital... read more Medical Mission Making an impact for our patients With all that has changed in the past 30 years, for Jean Taylor, one thing has remained the same: her volunteer work at Advocate South Suburban Hospital. Taylor started working with the hospital in 1976 because she wanted to give back to the community. Since that time, she has answered phones, put away supplies, cleaned patient rooms—even babysat for children whose mothers are having tests. "If I see a patient looks cold, I’ll offer them a blanket. I try to interact with patients when possible to make them more comfortable," Taylor says. The 76-year old Tinley Park resident volunteers in the emergency department. She asked to be assigned there and says she likes it because no two days are ever the same. Taylor says she didn’t expect to volunteer for so long, but she has no plans to stop. She says as long as she can walk, she’ll keep coming back. "It’s something that completes my week. It’s very rewarding. When I do something and a patient smiles, that’s pretty big payment." close Advocate Health Care’s 2006 Community Benefits Contribution read more Advocate Health Care’s 2006 Community Benefits Contribution Charity care and other uncompensated costs: Care that is provided free, subsidized or without full reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid or other government-sponsored programs. $224,121,000* Subsidized health services: Services that respond to unique community needs, such as neonatal intensive care and behavioral health services; as well as health screenings, immunization programs, school-based health care and other community outreach programs. $14,250,000 Hospital-based education: Education to train physicians, nurses, radiology technicians, physical therapists and a host of other highly skilled health care professionals. $44,471,000 • Volunteer services: Services provided by hospital workers who volunteer in their communities and community members who volunteer at hospitals. $2,913,000 • Language-assistance services: Services, such as translators, as well as signage, forms, brochures, patient education materials and other information in languages other than English.$1,334,000 Donations: Contributions by hospitals of meeting and clinic space, as well as other assistance to community groups. $8,944,000 Total Community Benefits Contribution*: $296,033,000 Includes unreimbursed costs of Medicare, Medicaid and other government-sponsored programs and bad debt. Includes unreimbursed costs of community benefits activities of Advocate’s eight hospitals, home health care operations, and other non-profit health care operations. close For more information and a complete listing of local events, please call 1.800.3.ADVOCATE**