Youth at Pop-Up Event Say YES to A Healthier South Los Angeles

On February 27, 2016 between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. there will be a Great Streets pop-up event on Central Avenue between 33rd Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard. Mayor Eric Garcetti launched the Great Streets Initiative to help re-envision neighborhood centers, one main street at a time. All Los Angeles neighborhoods deserve Great Streets that are livable, accessible, and engaging public spaces for the people who live and work around them.

February's Youth Envisioned Streets (YES) event is a collaboration between the National Health Foundation, A Place Called Home, Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, Los Angeles Walks, and Coalition for Responsible Community Development to empower South LA youth to plan and execute a one-day community event that demonstrates how our public spaces can be reimagined as safe, vibrant, active places for all members of the community.

With the vision of a truly community-driven layout for Central Avenue, the event will feature A Place Called Home's Health & Garden Expo and include a kids play zone, mobile health clinics, nutrition and gardening demos and giveaways, raffle prizes, live music, vendors, and a community-driven temporary street design that will showcase street enhancements to improve safety for all modes of transportation, including pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders and drivers. All members of the community are invited to attend this free event and participate in a survey to determine the community's needs and aspirations for Central Avenue as a Great Street.

We would like to thank our event sponsors: Wilshire Law Firm, Lead Sponsor, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Home Depot, Naked Juice, Northgate Market, Reed's Original Ginger Brew, and Whole Foods Market.

National Health Foundation Receives the 2015 California Center for Public Health Advocacy’s Visionary Nonprofit Award

From left to right : Presenter Alfred Mata, California Center for Public Health Advocacy and NHF staff Mia Arias, Tricia Fitzgerald, Alba Pena, Raymond Diaz, Lupe Martinez, Grace Cotangco, and John Rivera.

National Health Foundation (NHF) is pleased to be honored by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy (CCPHA). We received the 2015 Visionary Non-Profit, Southern California award for our dedication to the elimination of health disparities, and for putting residents in the lead of developing, advocating and implementing solutions that improve physical and mental health outcomes.

We have been addressing the healthcare issues of the underserved for more than 40 years. Our mission and vision are focused on improving health and eliminating health disparities by developing and supporting innovative programs that can provide systemic solutions that bridge the gaps in the healthcare system.

We are proud to be focusing on engaging youth in several programs so that they may become leaders in their community. With NHF’s guidance, students conduct community-based research and learn ways to promote health in their own neighborhoods. Currently, these youth-led initiatives are empowering students to develop and lead health‐driven community change and innovation.

NHF’s Health Academy, launched in 2013 through a grant from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, engages high school youth in conducting research projects that identify challenges to consuming healthy foods and beverages, and obstacles to being physically active in South Los Angeles. Youth teams have used their research to implement projects that promote nutrition and/or physical activity in their communities. This year, NHF spearheaded a partnership that received a national planning grant, The BUILD Health Challenge Award, to map out key solutions to tackling obesity, diabetes and

cardiovascular disease in two South Los Angeles neighborhoods.

At its core, NHF embraces the philosophy that every individual, regardless of who they are or where they live, can achieve the highest level of health. In addition, NHF has recognized that to address the complex health issues plaguing our communities effectively, we must build community capacity to promote community health. Through innovative public health program implementation and youth development emphasis, NHF is successfully addressing the health issues communities face today while working to foster the next generation of health leaders.

Heart-Warming Hospital Heroes

We recently celebrated Hospital Heroes who help to bridge the gaps in healthcare by providing exceptional care to their patients and their families, and who, through a deep desire to serve and connect, have left an indelible mark on their communities. They are specialists and nurses as well as volunteers, program directors, social workers, and surgeons. What follows is the last in a series of profiles of these heroes.

As Director of Clinical Process Improvement, ProvidenceTarzana Medical Center

Risk Management, Sharon Gross’ work touches all aspects of the organization and extends beyond the hospital walls. She recently designed and implemented ‘Community Outreach’ and Walgreen’s Pharmacy programs to ensure patients successful transition from inpatient to outpatient settings. Additionally, she has worked with the community to develop both TelePsych and TeleStroke programs contributing to the hospital’s own unique service delivery mission. The program brings psychiatric and specialty stroke care to Providence Tarzana within moments via robotics. Sharon has also led important improvement processes that directly impact patient care. She has led our hospital through many successful Joint Commission, Stroke Center and other surveys allowing us to provide the level of care required by our community. Sharon has assumed responsibility for important system initiatives centered around high reliability, patient satisfaction and patient throughput. In just a few short months PTMC has seen a significant rise in patient throughput which has resulted in improving patient satisfaction scores as a result of her leadership.

A psychiatric nurse for more than 30 years, Jeannine Loucks, RN-BC, MSN

works tirelessly and compassionately to serve patients with psychiatric disorders. Not only is she a devoted care provider as the manager of the Emergency Clinical Decision Unit (ECDU) at St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, she also advocates for patients outside the health care setting by teaching law enforcement officers how to interact effectively and respectfully with people with mental illness. In response to an increase in officer encounters involving mental health issues, Jeannine reached out to the Orange Police Department and offered to develop a training curriculum to help ensure people will mental illness are treated with respect in the community and receive the care they need. Field encounters were often resulting in lengthy intervention times and subsequent visits to the hospital emergency department or incarceration. Jeannine’s innovative program has enhanced each officer’s knowledge and confidence to appropriately interact and refer individuals in crisis to community resources such as the Orange County Mental Health Association Drop-In Center or Mercy House, instead of the emergency room. Her enthusiasm and support of this underserved patient population has always extended beyond the walls of our facility, but her involvement with law enforcement is something unique.

Michael Young, OT, is UCIrvine Health’s hospital hero but he will tell you it took a team to help Cory, a trauma patient.  On May 5, 2015 Cory was riding his motorcycle to take a final exam at Long Beach State University when the throttle stuck.  As he attempted to slow in traffic, he slammed into the center divider on a busy Southern California freeway.  He was left paraplegic, with rods, screws and a cage to replace missing vertebrae.  It was the worst traumatic spine fracture UC Irvine Health had seen. Cory was just one week away from graduating from college. Missing his commencement was inevitable, but Michael saw to it that Cory’s graduation would be celebrated. Sounds simple…but it took a committed college president in full cap and gown, psychology professor, dean of students, family members, staff and Michael to realize the dream.  Traumatically injured two weeks prior, Michael and the Surgical ICU team eagerly accepted the challenge to prepare for a graduation ceremony. Michael focused on Cory’s passions and strengths and on May 28, 2015 Michael entered Cory's room with great vigor, on a mission to coach Cory to dress, groom and mobilize to the cardiac chair.  Cory didn’t know it, but he was getting ready to graduate!  This was an advanced OT treatment session, but necessary to make wishes like this happen.  Michael reflects, "We are creative and open minded, allowing great patient accomplishments to occur every day".

Cory received his degree at UCI Medical Center in Orange, CA. Thursday May 28, 2015 after a motorcycle accident on May 5th left him paralyzed from the chest down. (Thomas R. Cordova Press-Telegram/Daily Breeze)

National Health Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving and enhancing the healthcare of the underserved by developing and supporting innovative programs that can become independently viable,

provide systemic solutions to gaps in healthcare access and delivery, and

have the potential to be replicated nationally.

Patient Safety First: Collaborative Care

 by Kelly Bruno, CEO, National Health Foundation

At National health Foundation, we work to bridge gaps in healthcare access and delivery by developing and supporting innovative programs that provide systemic solutions.  In 2010, we launched Patient Safety First (PSF), a California Partnership for Health. PSF brings together National Health Foundation, California’s Regional Hospital Associations, Anthem Blue Cross and over 180 hospitals across the state in a groundbreaking partnership to improve quality of care, reduce health care costs and ultimately save lives by improving patient safety and perinatal care in California. PSF provides a forum for peer-to-peer learning, networking and sharing of best practices to improve patient safety and clinical outcomes. PSF has been a catalyst for improving safety and quality in California hospitals for the past six years. Now, with the continued support of Anthem Blue Cross, PSF will be extended through 2016.

A pioneer in the patient safety movement, PSF has been nationally recognized for its collaborative model and significant achievements in reducing rates of hospital acquired infections and sepsis mortality as well as improving maternal care. In Phase 1 of the program (2010-2012), participating hospitals achieved the following:

 •74% reduction in early elective deliveries prior to 39 weeks gestational age

•57% reduction in cases of Ventilator Assisted Pneumonia

•43% reduction in cases of Central Line Blood Stream Infections

•26% reduction in Sepsis mortality

In addition, 3,576 deaths were avoided as a result of reduction in Sepsis mortality. These achievements have not only transformed quality of healthcare for Californians and saved lives, but have also generated $63 million in cost savings for the healthcare industry. With over 180 hospital participants, PSF remains one of the largest, most sustainable patient safety collaboratives in the nation.

In 2016, under the PSF plan, participating Hospitals will specifically focus on continuing to reduce sepsis mortality and improve maternal care.  

NHF is proud to partner with the Hospital Associations across the state of California and Anthem Blue Cross to make this initiative an on-going success. For more information about PSF, please visit: www.nhfca.org/PSF

Heroes of All Kinds

 

We recently celebrated Hospital Heroes who help to bridge the gaps in healthcare by providing exceptional care to their patients and their families, and who, through a deep desire to serve and connect, have left an indelible mark on their communities. They are specialists and nurses as well as volunteers, program directors, social workers, and surgeons. What follows are a series of profiles of these heroes.

Charlotte Lisco ,  RN, CWON at KaiserPermanente Fontana Medical Center, provides consultation and care to patients that have wounds and ostomies. She collaborates with the front line nurses and physicians to ensure that these patients receive the most current evidenced based care, which promotes healing and health. Charlotte lives the KP Nursing Vision:  She advances the art and science of nursing in a patient-centered healing environment through her professional practice and leadership.   Extraordinary nursing care.  Every patient.  Every time. But her heroics don’t end with her professional feats. Earlier this year, Charlotte was attending an event for her sons’ baseball team.  During the meeting one of the attendees starting complaining of chest pain, and collapsed.  Charlotte jumped into action, alerted the emergency response system, and started CPR.  Charlotte continued to perform CPR on this gentleman for over 19 minutes, until the Ambulance and Paramedics arrived.  Even though she became extremely exhausted. The patient was transported to the hospital, still unresponsive, and it was determined that he had a fatal heart rhythm.  He was taken to the OR and a pacemaker was inserted. This man is alive today because of Charlotte's actions.

 At Providence Holy CrossMedical Center, Yvonne Gaffney is the Director of perioperative care and cardiology services. In this role, Yvonne knows and understands her patients’ worries and deepest fears. She counsels patients herself and mentors her team to know each patient to ease their way. As a professional, she is a critical thinker who analyzes the big picture, then creates a plan - for patients and their families. She helps friends through rough times and follows through, making sure they find the right doctors, understand medications and answer truthfully when she asks how they’re doing. Yvonne constantly gives of herself, and lives the Providence Mission of compassionate care to the poor and vulnerable. A few years ago, that giving took on an even greater scope. Yvonne joined a group from Providence in an annual trek to Mexico to learn about conditions and to help building housing in a small Tijuana village. So inspired, she recruited a group that return on their own each, advancing that mission. When Providence planned its first surgical mission to Guatemala, Yvonne arranged for the medical supplies for the team. “You have to have that inner drive,” said co-worker Patty Mayberry. “You have to want to give more back than you ever receive. She knows her strengths and she offers up this expertise without hesitation and embodies the emotional well-being of all.”

Precious Querubin is the Co-Project Director, Community Health COPA Program at ProvidenceLittle Company of Mary Medical Center San Pedro. Precious is committed to practicing the Providence core strategy: Creating Healthier Communities, Together. She believes this happens by collaborating, by brainstorming and by leading as her team creates and operates outreach programs in underprivileged areas of the South Bay. She develops and oversees sustainable programs that teach children fitness and nutrition in communities where obesity rates, diabetes rates and other chronic health issues are epidemic. Precious works in community benefits where hospital proceeds fund outreach to the poor and vulnerable. Her main responsibility is Creating Opportunities for Physical Activities, which trains teachers to teach PE at schools in lower-income areas. It is Precious’ mission to work in partnership with schools and other organizations to interact directly with children and their families to help ensure they are NOT patients. Precious has taken her drive to improve community health global. On her own time, she has visited India where she worked directly with orphans, AIDS patients and leprosy patients isolated from the community. She polished the nails of prostitutes and retired ones, reaching out to offer hope in a country marked by its caste system. Close to her Long Beach home, she volunteers at a nonprofit program for families experience hardship – some homeless, some parents trying to kick their drug habits and all seeking help for their children.  Even on the job, she reaches beyond – creating movie nights to bring the community together, partnering with public and nonprofit agencies to help get families out together. She is a hero at home and away.

National Health Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving and enhancing the healthcare of the underserved by developing and supporting innovative programs that can become independently viable,

provide systemic solutions to gaps in healthcare access and delivery, and

have the potential to be replicated nationally.

Healing Heroes

We recently celebrated Hospital Heroes who help to bridge the gaps in healthcare by providing exceptional care to their patients and their families, and who, through a deep desire to serve and connect, have left an indelible mark on their communities. They are specialists and nurses as well as volunteers, program directors, social workers, and surgeons. What follows are a series of profiles of these heroes.

Providing dignity at the most difficult time is a challenge that Dr. Jeremy Grosser,  Medical Director Palliative and Transitional Care Services at  Dignity Health Northridge Hospital Medical Center, rises to each day. Dr. Grosser demonstrates a passion for patient advocacy for chronic disease and terminally ill patients. As a pioneer of patient advocacy, he addresses patients with an approach that supports dignified and compassionate patient care delivery and speaks on the behalf of the patient to their care partners and providers, which takes much bravery for these difficult discussions. His approach addresses care transitions that support quality of life for the patient and care partners throughout the continuum of the patient’s illness. Dr. Grosser’s level of commitment, and ability to walk in the patient's shoes, encourages appropriate and informed decisions and choices for the patient and care partners. Dr. Grosser has been a change agent for the medical center. Through his diligence, a transition in medical staff culture has occurred, building trust for referrals to Palliative and Transitional care services. Dr. Grosser is active on several internal and external community boards and collaboratives that support patient advocacy, avoidable readmission prevention, and services for dignified and compassionate care at end of life. His holistic approach addresses the clinical, psychosocial and spiritual needs of the patient and care partners and communicates through his actions that they are not alone in their journey.

Charanjit Saroa, MD, Physician/ Pulmonary Medicine at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, is the Medical Director of the ICU and DOU, is the Chair of the Critical Care Committee and serves as a member of the Trauma Committee.  Dr. Saroa is there in the trenches, and takes the time to educate and share his vision of exemplary care with physicians, nurses, and other staff members throughout the hospital.  His dedication to our hospital is also demonstrated through his work as a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. He exemplifies physician leadership. But it is his dedication to promoting the delivery of exceptional patient care and his ability to share his knowledge with staff that garnered this high praise from one of the DOU nurses: “He takes the time to help educate the nurses when he can and answers all of our questions willingly. I truly feel he has a vested interest in our professional growth as nurses as well as a vested interest in making sure our hospital provides the best patient care. We truly feel he is a very special doctor and outstanding human being. We feel so blessed to have him here at Henry Mayo.”

Dr. Humberto Sauri, Trauma Surgeon at Orange County Global Medical Center excelled in school but growing up in predominantly white community, he fought with kids who called him ethnic slurs. His father worked in an old record factory and taught Humberto the importance of an education. Even after graduating from both Stanford and Columbia University School of Medicine, Dr. Sauri considers receiving his citizenship the proudest day of his life. He now works as the Medical Director and surgeon in one of the only Level Two Trauma Centers in Orange County at Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana. Dr. Sauri represents the true meaning of the “American Dream” and is an inspiration for anyone wanting to make a difference in their community. In addition to advocating for patients who do not have adequate medical insurance, Dr.Sauri always takes the opportunity to discuss the importance of using safety restraints and wearing bicycle helmets. He also uses his personal story of coming over from Mexico as an illegal immigrant to show gang members that having a career is obtainable. Humberto even encourages people to look into the process of citizenship. Dr. Sauri takes time with his patients to ensure they are safe and making good choices after they leave the hospital.

Dr. David Sato, Staff physician, medical director, cardiac catheterization lab at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center did not think twice when a patient’s family was arriving at the airport during a very difficult time; he simply picked them up so that they could be with their family member! He is a role model for his colleagues and the hospital employees and he advocates for nurses and is caring, devoted and supportive of the entire hospital family. Dr. Sato's patients praise him as compassionate, treating their heart disease, and supporting their emotional needs as well. Dr. Sato is physician leader, active on multiple hospital committees including department of medicine, cardiology and ICU. Currently he is serving as medical director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory and STEMI (heart attack) program. He also sits on the Board of Governors for the Providence Saint Joseph Foundation. This kind of involvement brings innovation, increased focus on quality and patient safety and fund-raising to upgrade state-of-the-art equipment for diagnostics and treatment - all directly affecting patient care.

National Health Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving and enhancing the healthcare of the underserved by developing and supporting innovative programs that can become independently viable,

provide systemic solutions to gaps in healthcare access and delivery, and

have the potential to be replicated nationally.

Not all Heroes Wear Capes

We recently celebrated Hospital Heroes who help to bridge the gaps in healthcare by providing exceptional care to their patients and their families, and who, through a deep desire to serve and connect, have left an indelible mark on their communities. They are specialists and nurses as well as volunteers, program directors, social workers, and surgeons. What follows are a series of profiles of these heroes.

Leslie "Les" Sampson, MSN, RN, is the Clinical Liaison, Director at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and has dedicated his life and career to serving patients and family members as both a critical care nurse and in his current role as the clinical liaison for the Office of Licensure, Accreditation and Regulation (OLAR). Every single patient benefits from Les’ thoughtful and clear understanding of nursing practices, the regulatory requirements of California and The Joint Commission. His depth of understanding of healthcare and his unique perspective of the nurse at the bedside has always guided his work in creating policies, protocols, guidelines and procedures that help ensure the safe, quality care of our patients. He is a hero in the minds and hearts of the patient caregivers who know the value of his work, and he is a hero to the patients whose care is guided by his skill and expertise.

At home, she is mom, but once she has donned her scrubs and sent her kids off to school, Amy Pullen is the Emergency Department Director at Desert Valley Hospital. As such, she holds strangers’ hands when no one else is there for them, cries with families when they lose a loved one and holds a child because her mommy is sick. Amy does all of these things daily, and much more, when managing the hospital’s most hectic, but most vital, department. Amy implemented the LEAF program within the E.D. and has been innovative regarding decreasing pressure ulcers with this program.  A monitor has been set up at the nurses’ station to evaluate if the patients with LEAF monitor system have been turned appropriately. Also, Amy was the main component in Desert Valley becoming a STEMI center, in order to provide the quality care that Desert Valley Hospital has committed to the community. She recently completed her BSN studies while continuing to manage this area. Staff turnover has required her to work the department while still completing all duties as the Director. Amy is responsible and it is sometimes hard to fathom where her fortitude comes from. Her colleagues honor her as their hospital hero and hope to emulate the work and demeanor she displays while accomplishing some of the amazing things that she has been able to achieve.

The most profound acts of heroism are often carried out quietly, by angels in our midst, and this is certainly true of Vickie Kropenske, PHN, MSN, founding director of Hope Street FamilyCenter at Dignity HealthCalifornia Hospital Medical Center. Vickie established HSFC in 1992 in response to Los Angeles’s civil unrest. It’s grown from a pilot project with three staff supporting at-risk mothers delivering at CHMC to a national model with a $9M grant-funded budget and 125 staff serving 2,000 families annually. Vickie would credit HSFC’s partners for this achievement. But without her vision, tenacity, and ability to build upon our patients’ strengths, this vibrant resource for low-income families wouldn’t exist. HSFC is the first community wellness center located on a hospital campus in Los Angeles—perhaps California—and while its founding predates the ACA by 20 years, it epitomizes innovative approaches to improving health outcomes. Perhaps the words of two HSFC parents best express why Vickie is a hero:  “For us and for the parents in our community, our children are everything.  We see her do so many jobs . . . she becomes an architect, an accountant, a psychologist, a nurse and just about any professional she needs to be for Hope Street to thrive. But even with all this, she still takes the time to listen to our individual problems and help us in any way she can.”

At Methodist Hospitalof Southern California. Charles V. Brown Jr. is a Senior Decision Support Analyst. He provides the data analysis to the managed care team and other key stakeholders to ensure patients, through their insurers, receive the best care at a competitive cost. Charles has worked tirelessly to provide the data analysis and innovation required to succeed in today's highly complex and competitive healthcare landscape. Today, more than ever, consumers as well as insurers are seeking the best outcomes at a fair and cost competitive price tag. Charles makes it happen.

Hortensia Sandoval De Carillo is an environmental service assistant at Riverside Community Hospital and she has the unique reputation of having a positively infectious personality! She is responsible for cleaning the hospital and following proper procedures for infection prevention.  She does her job incredibly well, pays attention to every detail, and does it with a smile and kind word.  She greets everyone she meets, maintains a positive attitude, and goes out of her way to help you if you need anything, from cleaning to keys!  Hortensia is redefining the patient experience simply by modeling the way we all should be toward our patients and each other.  She spreads happiness and joy every place she goes!

National Health Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving and enhancing the healthcare of the underserved by developing and supporting innovative programs that can become independently viable,

provide systemic solutions to gaps in healthcare access and delivery, and

have the potential to be replicated nationally.