2011 Achievement Citation Nominees

Acadiana Community Pharmacy
Our Lady of Lourdes RMC
Lafayette, La.
The Acadiana Community Pharmacy is a partnership among the Lafayette Community Health Care Clinic, Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center and area social service agencies. The pharmacy provides access to medication for the poor and uninsured in the community. A registered pharmacist is on staff to dispense medication, counsel clients on their prescriptions and answer any related questions. The pharmacy is located in an easily accessible area of Lafayette and provides non-narcotic medication and antibiotics for chronic conditions and symptom management. Clients benefit from timely access to medications, which promotes health and helps prevent or delay further disease progression.

AWARE Program
St. Mary's Hospital, Behavioral Health Services
Passaic, N.J.
Adolescent Wellness and Recovery Education (AWARE) is an intensive therapeutic program that offers group, individual and family counseling to youth and families residing in Passaic County, N.J., and surrounding areas. Using a blended approach based on cognitive behavioral therapy, behavior management techniques and elements drawn from art, recreation, play and drama therapies, the program aims to address symptoms and behaviors associated with psychiatric diagnoses and to reduce the negative impact of mental health issues on the entire family system. Some specific needs of the population relate directly to suicidal/homicidal history, self-mutilation, acculturation issues, substance abuse, family relational issues and physical, emotional and sexual abuse. The program develops treatment plans that address these needs and assists clients in better managing symptoms that occur as a result.

Care and Mission Funds
Carondelet Health
Kansas City, Mo.
The Care and Mission Funds program was founded on the philosophy of people helping people. Employees of Carondelet Health donate time and money to assist colleagues and patients in financial need. The Care fund provides financial aid to employees and the Mission fund benefits patients of St. Joseph and St. Mary's Medical Centers. The needs vary greatly — from paying for medications and medical equipment to transportation, utility bills and food. Many who apply for assistance never expected to be in a situation where they needed help, and most had contributed to the Care fund for many years. Beneficiaries not only gain monetary help, they gain peace of mind from knowing others care and that they are not alone.

Community Connections
St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor
Ypsilanti, Mich.
Community Connections is an online assessment tool designed to facilitate information-gathering with a goal of matching patient needs with community resources. Administered during routine office visits to health clinics, patients answer questions through a touchscreen computer kiosk that evaluates the gaps and barriers of care delivery in their daily routines. The program targets unmet needs in areas of medication, transportation, housing, nutrition and other health and human services. When the assessment tool identifies specific needs, the patient is prompted to connect to a United Way 2-1-1 call specialist through a phone located at the same computer kiosk and/or additional support staff within the clinic, such as a social worker or patient advocate, who then work to address patients' needs through existing community resources.

DaySTAE, Success through Activities and Environment
Mercy Health Partners, Mercy Franciscan West Park
Cincinnati
DaySTAE serves in-house residents of senior living facilities with dementia who exhibit significant disruptive behaviors. The program encourages use of imagination to inspire and engage persons with dementia as a means to help create a safe living environment. It collaborates with local and national organizations to bring effective, engaging activities to participants that create opportunities for success and promote self-esteem. A recent example was the filming of a short fictional story. Through reminiscing and improvisation, a collaborative story was videoed, pairing the residents and crew together as cast. The experience allowed residents the freedom to speak their minds and the film captured a lasting footprint of a time when their minds were grounded in the present.

Dominican Hospital Organic Garden
Dominican Hospital
Santa Cruz, Calif.
Eating healthy, local and organic is the tenet for this program, along with saving money. The grounds of Dominican Hospital include a 7,300-square-foot garden that supplies produce served to employees, patients and guests of the hospital. Volunteer gardeners include students with learning disabilities, patients and families, members of the local community and hospital employees. Food waste from the hospital kitchen is composted and reused on garden beds. In 2009, the garden provided more than two tons of produce and the hospital realized $10,000 in savings. In addition to providing healthy and sustainable foods, the program provides participants with opportunity for social interaction, horticultural education and the satisfaction of creating beautiful spaces.

Embracing Excellence Customer Care Service Initiative
St. Joseph's Healthcare System
Paterson, N.J.
This initiative places emphasis on the value of each employee to the health care system. It is an interdepartmental approach designed to increase employee support and understanding of what each other's roles are within the system. Participation in retreats with staff from other departments helps employees connect with one another on a personal level as they share common concerns and successes. Support staff feel appreciated and respected for their valuable contribution in providing quality, compassionate, necessary care, and front line staff have opportunities to share ideas and suggestions for improvements to delivery of care. The initiative has improved the system's patient satisfaction scores and aided in employee retention.

Emergency Department Consistent Care Program
Providence St. Peter Hospital
Olympia, Wash.
The Emergency Department Consistent Care Program is a proactive, collabora-tive intervention program for patients with complex health needs. The majority of patients served suffer from severe mental health or drug addiction issues. They frequently visit the hospital emergency department for care. The program exists in four hospitals in a five-county region and brings together experts and organizations that offer participants continuity of care, as well as a safety net of services. Private physicians, insurance payers, community health clinics and chemical dependency and mental health services are among the groups working to guide treatment decisions, share plans of care and help patients reshape their lives.

Geriatric Assessment Program
Mercy Health Partners
Knoxville, Tenn.
The Geriatric Assessment Program (GAP) is a multidisciplinary, outpatient assessment and treatment program designed to address the emotional, social and functional health of individuals ages 55 and older. A multidisciplinary team of physician and nurse practitioners, psychiatrists and social workers provide a holistic approach to care for patients experiencing the onset or progression of depression, anxiety, dementia and other mental disorders. Early detection and intervention is key to preserving independence and enhanced quality of life. GAP staff share their expertise with the community through presentations about dementia and caring for aging persons with dementia or psychiatric illness.

Giving+Learning Riverview
Riverview Place
Fargo, N.D.
For an immigrant newly relocated to the U.S., the stigma of being unemployed and illiterate is often detrimental to successfully integrating into a new community. Giving+Learning is a simple yet unique mentoring program that helps adult new Americans gain a basic proficiency of the English language. It applies a one-to-one partnering of an adult volunteer mentor with an adult new citizen to help the individual learn to speak, read and write in English, as well as navigate issues such as transportation and childcare, which can often prove challenging in a new country.

Healthy Bodies/Healthy Minds Program
Providence Holy Cross Medical Center
Mission Hills, Calif.
The Healthy Bodies/Healthy Minds Program works in partnership with four Catholic elementary schools, serving children in kindergarten through eighth grade. Through a holistic approach, the program addresses both the physical and mental dimensions of health that impact students' ability to learn. Serving schools with a large proportion of students from low-income families, the program brings physical and mental health services on site at no charge. Health screenings and counseling services are provided on school campuses by a trained staff of nurses, social workers, marriage and family therapists, volunteer peer counselors and graduate social worker students. They identify students at risk and refer them to appropriate community, social and mental health resources.

Healthy Kids Club
Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center
Joliet, Ill.
This program combats childhood obesity through three unique, creative after-school programs, each designed to teach children how to eat healthier, grow their own vegetables and incorporate physical activity into their daily routines. One is a fitness program for third graders that incorporates physical activity with nutrition education. Another is an outdoor program for fourth graders that teaches students to grow and cultivate gardens while also allowing them playtime in nature. The third is for fifth grade students. It takes place at a local YMCA and free transportation is provided to participants. The students receive 30 minutes of swim instruction, followed by a half hour of nutrition education and exercise in the gym. Children participating in Healthy Kids Club benefit from increased activity and healthier food choices and encourage their families to do the same at home.

If We Don't, Who Will?
Franciscan Village
Lemont, Ill.
Around the world, approximately 16,000 children die of starvation each day. At Franciscan Village, a one-day service event was designed to educate staff and residents about the plight of starvation and provide a tangible way for individuals to combat it. Volunteers spend several hours packaging food items that are distributed to starving children in 70 countries through the Feed My Starving Children program. The service day includes a retreat where participants learn about the heritage of the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago and reflect on how the service day connects to the Franciscan mission.

Operation Walk: Newark
Saint Michael's Medical Center
Newark, N.J.
Operation Walk is a non-profit initiative that seeks to provide freedom from pain and disability to people who under ordinary circumstances would not be able to afford joint-replacement surgery. Participating surgeons and medical professionals donate their time and talents to provide top-quality care to patients regardless of their socio-economic status. Treatments often include pioneering procedures such as robot-assisted orthopedic surgery. The program has aided individuals with crippling arthritis, avascular necrosis and other debilitating conditions by restoring freedom of movement and the priceless ability to walk again.

Phillips Women's Heart Program
Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center
Hartford, Conn.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most prevalent cause of death and disability in America. The goal of this program is to reduce mortality in women suffering from CVD through risk-factor assessment and risk-reduction education, both provided free of charge to women ages 18 and older. The goal is to reduce women's CVD risk factors through weight loss, improved blood pressure control and cholesterol measures. The program uses skilled health care professionals including a cardiologist, registered nurse, registered dietician and exercise physiologist to provide accurate assessment and education to women. The program also strives to reach underserved women at high risk through community outreach activities.

Red Dress Sunday
Saint Agnes Hospital
Baltimore
Red Dress Sunday grew out of the need to educate minority women, especially African Americans, about heart disease. Largely responsible for the health decisions of their families, these women often do not tend to their own preventive care. Statistically, they do attend church services regularly, providing a unique opportunity for health specialists to speak from the pulpit with the backing of the pastor. Adapted from two programs from the American Heart Association — Wear Red for Women and National Heart Month (February) — the program is conducted in area churches. Women are urged to wear red dresses on the Sunday closest to Valentine's Day to raise awareness of heart disease. Special sermons centering on issues of the heart, guest speakers from the hospital and community, educational booths and free health screenings at the churches are a few highlights of the program.

St. Vincent STAR Program, Workforce Development
St. Vincent Health
Indianapolis
The Special Talents to Achieve and Rise (STAR) program works with individuals with significant barriers to employment to build the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to gain and maintain employment and establish or rebuild a stable lifestyle. Participants include the impoverished, ex-offenders, recovering substance abusers, those lacking a high school diploma, victims of domestic violence, homeless and others who have been left behind. It is a 12-week program with six weeks in class followed by a six-week, supervised on-the-job mentorship at a St. Vincent Health ministry. While job placement is not guaranteed, historically 75 to 85 percent of individuals completing the program gain employment with a system ministry or other local employer, with 87 percent retaining employment for at least 12 months after initial placement. The program recognizes that long-term employment is often the linchpin to not only economic stability, but to improved physical and mental health and quality of life.

Vasek Polak Health Clinic
Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center
Torrance, Calif.
The Vasek Polak Health Clinic is an accessible, affordable and high-quality medical home for 5,000 uninsured working adults that reside in and around Hawthorne, Calif. The Clinic is located in a retail environment along a heavily-traveled commuter artery, one block from a major bus route. With extended hours, six days a week, this clinic is easily accessible to residents and those who arrive by freeway. The clinic provides the uninsured population in its region with affordable health care and a central location for their medical home. The program includes the use of patient navigators to link clients with resources and extensive outreach efforts to community partners who help promote the clinic as a medical home for adults without insurance.

Women In Medicine
Mercy Hospital Mt. Airy and McAuley High School
Cincinnati
Women in Medicine is designed to address the growing, long-term need for health care workers. It provides high school students an opportunity to observe and learn about health care career options in a real world setting. The program provides promising students with a rigorous learning opportunity, prepares them for college-level studies and presents them with a realistic, close-up view of the many careers available in health care. Academically gifted freshman and students who have completed their freshman year and who meet the required standards are invited to participate. Because program participants are required to volunteer in the hospital, the program serves the broader needs of the community as well.

Past Recipients