Big Brothers Big Sisters Beyond School Walls

Part of an Optimal Healing Environment means we work with our community.   This year we have had an amazing opportunity at Lee Health Cape Coral Hospital.  One of our directors, Beth Dowd, recruited our hospital staff to become Big Brothers or Big Sisters for a program called Beyond School Walls.   The idea of the program was to pair Cape Coral High School students with mentors who work at Cape Coral Hospital and we would meet together one day a month for the school year to develop friendships and to allow the students to have some time and exposure to the medical field.

Beth Dowd, RN Director of Emergency Services

I was excited to do this as a grandmother of 14 and a mother of 6, I love being around young people.  I signed up!  This involved an interview to match me with my little and of course the background checks and making sure each mentor was appropriate.  Each month we have had a half day session where we get to do a project or talk with our student and share ideas with them and they with us!

Here are some photos of our Big Brothers Big Sisters Beyond School Walls program from a recently day when we shared a CPR Friends and Family Course AND we had FOX 4 here to do a story on our program which is the first in the area! Great fun and learning by the whole group!

  

Rick Helvey Director of Environmental Services

Stephanie Smoker, LPN Emergency Department

Harry Alberti, MD VP Operations Chief Physician Executive

Hanging out with my mannequin on CPR Day!

 I have loved participating in Big Brothers Big Sisters Beyond School Walls program this year. It has been great seeing the mentors <bigs> participating and having fun with their students <littles>. A great group of kids! We are looking forward to doing it again next year and expanding it with more of our great Lee Health Cape Coral Hospital employees!

Bill would help lower mothers dying from childbirth

Everyone is concerned about decreasing maternal mortality because even one death is one too many. Let's work together to make this a never event.

Mindful Diapering Tips to Enhance Baby's Development (Ask A Nurse)

Mindful Diapering!

A few months ago, AWHONN asked me to do a video on Mindful Diapering in conjunction with Huggies!   This is the video!   Feel free to share it with Mother Baby Nurses and New Parents so they can learn about Mindful Diapering Techniques!

My Advice to New Nurses!

My Advice to New Nurses!

I was recently asked to write a chapter for a book that will be for nursing students at a college near my home in Atlanta.  As part of this I was asked to share my nursing story and to give advice.  I decided to share my advice to nurses in a blog post!

My advice?

Share your story!   Someone someday is going to come up to you and ask you to share your story.  Don’t be afraid to do that.  Write an article.   Give an interview for the news media.  Showcase your work for your school, hospital or department newsletter.   Speak at a conference.   Present a poster.   Many nurses shy away from these opportunities but they are so very important for the nursing profession.  Yes, it can be scary to be filmed the first time, but do it!  It highlights the important things we do on a daily basis, every day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all over the world.

Teamwork!  Pretty much everything you do in nursing you are doing as part of a team.  Respect everyone on your team.  Everyone has a role to play.  Sometimes you are the most important person on the team.  Sometimes, it is your colleague.  

Get Involved!  Join your professional organization.  For me, that is AWHONN (Association of Women's Health Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses)  I am sorry I waited so long to do so.   Once you join, be active.   Go to meetings.  Find out what is happening.  You will find friends you can call for advice and mentoring on almost any subject.  You can be a mentor! You can have a mentor! Network with others.  Don’t be afraid to walk up to your nursing idol and introduce yourself.  You may find yourself with a new friend and someone to work on a project with.

Never stop learning!  Things are changing in the nursing profession all the time.  Expect to always be challenged with change.  Read professional journals, take a class.  Ask questions!  Share what you learn with others.

Be active in your community!  Find some way to be a volunteer in your community or for another organization.   Vote. Make the world a better place for others.

Follow the Golden Rule.  Treat people (and families) the way you would like to be treated! Everybody has the right to be treated with dignity.   Everyone is not always at their best when they come for nursing care. This is difficult for us to deal with some times.   Before I go in, I take a deep breath, center myself and believe they are the most important at that minute. 

Don’t Burn Bridges!   Every step of your journey builds on the last part! You will need to reach back at some point.   It will become important for you to look into that history from time to time.  You will also be surprised that someone from your past can help you in your future!

Take time for you!  Nursing is a hard job.  Take time to stay healthy yourself.  Eat well.  Exercise. Meditate.  Breathe.  Laugh. Have fun!

Trying Out a New Role

I have been very busy over the last few months.... In September, I was asked to take on a role as the interim Vice President of Patient Care Services in the hospital that I have worked for the last 18 years.   I was not sure I would like this position.   After all, it was going to take me away from my work "home", away from my team and away from OB.    I did say yes, because I love my hospital, the people I work with, my community and I wanted to make a difference.

I jumped right in.   Going from expert to novice in one full jump!   Every day has been full of challenges and learning opportunities for me.  Sometimes doubting myself and sometimes having confidence.  Luckily in our facility they have instituted a dyad leadership model with a physician and a nurse leading each hospital and I have a great physician partner.   I am very comfortable with this model as we have been using it successfully for many years in Women's Services.  I knew it could work.   I have enjoyed working with my dyad partner on a day in and day out basis.   Thanks Harry!

There have been a lot of new meetings to attend, new terms to learn, people to meet, and for me, things outside the world of Women's Services.  I was able to promote one of my supervisors to the Manager of Women's Services after the first month in my new role and that has helped tremendously because I learned quickly I could not do both roles at the same time.   I am thankful for Liz for stepping up to the plate and out of her comfort zone too!

One thing we do is round on patients every Thursday with our Leadership team.  It is fun.  I get to work with a Lean coach who has been very helpful in my transition.  It was my Lean coach who came to me after one of the first leadership rounds and said, "When you go in to the patient room and introduce yourself, tell them you are the Vice President of Patient Care.  You don't have to say you are the Director of Women's Service.  Say it and believe it!"  So after that, I began to say it with confidence.  Thank you Thu!

I have learned to work with a great assistant who helps me stay on task and make it to all my meetings.   She has kept me in order and helped with my transition and I appreciate her more than she will ever know!   Thanks Jessica!

Most of all, I have been finding out that I like this new interim position, more than I ever dreamed I would.   I love learning new things and I love being able to make a difference.  Morale of the story, if you are asked, don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone!   Learn something new every day!  It makes work fun!   BUT, take care of yourself and don't forget to BREATHE!!  After all, it is an Optimal Healing Environment that we work in!

World Breastfeeding Week!

The last two years celebrating World Breastfeeding Week have been pretty amazing!   Last year, I represented the Florida Breastfeeding Coalition at the United States Breastfeeding Committee annual meeting in Washington, DC.   I was a part of a group of breastfeeding advocates that had a day on Capitol Hill to talk to our senators and representatives about the importance of breastfeeding for both mothers and babies.  

Speaking in Congressman Francis Rooney's office.

This year, I stayed home and it was still amazing.   I was able to work with my team and my hospital hosting the Big Latch On. 

www.biglatchon.org is a global event where mothers across the world latch their babies or provide breastmilk for their babies at the same time.   The community around them comes to show their support for these mothers and their children.   We have hosted this event for many years at our hospital.  It was very exciting this year as we were hosting for the first year as a Baby-Friendly Designated Hospital!  It was so fun to see our mothers and babies come back to this event and see the babies all healthy and happy!  I want to thank my wonderful team who came out to help with the event and the Healthy Life Center of Cape Coral for their work on today's event!   

Food is Medicine, right from the start!   Doing the right thing for mothers and babies is what it is all about!  Support breastfeeding mothers out there in your community!   It takes a village!

The news was there for a story about breastfeeding for World Breastfeeding Week at our event!  Here is a link to the story!  http://www.winknews.com/2018/08/03/lee-healths-big-latch-on-events-give-support-to-breastfeeding-moms/

What is the Best Thing About Your Job?

Someone recently asked me, "what is the best thing about your job?"  I have been a nurse for 40+ years and I can say I have mostly loved all of it.   All of my career, I have worked in some aspect of maternal child nursing.   I have gone from a small community hospital pediatric unit to a major teaching children's hospital, to a newborn nursery while learning labor and delivery nursery, to primary care and urgent care and back to hospital nursing in women's care.   I think I  have a passion for caring for women and babies. 

Some one saw something in me long ago and sent me on my journey to not only caring for patients but also caring for other employees as a nursing leader.  In 1986 I took on the role of Nursing Director and I haven't looked back since.   So, for 32 years I have been not only taking care of patients but taking care of and mentoring employees.  All of those nurses and allied health personnel who have worked with me over those 32 years have made an impact on my life and given me gifts along the way.

I have a pretty amazing nursing staff that I have been working with for the last 18 years.   We have a nursing staff that is comprised of 100% certified nurses.  They go to conferences and they learn new things.   At one time, we had 20+ people on our team that were in school for one thing or another.  We love learning.

The really fun part of it is they are open to trying new things.  We have some what prided ourselves on being the trend setters in our area as far as birthing practices go.   They take ideas and run with them and make them even better than I ever imagined.   Ideas come from every where!  We read journals, we network, we share ideas with each other and put them into practice to make birthing better for our mothers, babies and their families.  I love when my team is inspired and put their ideas into action!  I love watching when they work together to solve problems.   

Watching your team grow is a huge satisfier.   As a leader, you want to watch your team to grow and develop to do amazing things.   From presenting a project as a poster presentation for the team to presenting at a staff meeting to their peers.  I have watched them participate and run hospital committees. I have also had the honor of watching my team members present at national meetings.   Something they thought they "never could do", they did with ease.   All of this shows growth and development in the professional practice of nursing.  

Give your team wings and let them fly!   Every idea is a gift.   Being a mentor is a wonderful thing.