These three wishes all became a reality over the past year because of a special fund sponsored by the Memorial Medical Center Foundation that helps make wishes come true for hospice patients and their families.

The goal of hospice is to focus on quality of life for every patient. As a team, hospice works to enhance this quality of life physically, emotionally and spiritually. 

“Much time is spent reflecting with patients and families about their memories, hopes and wishes. With the help of the Sharing Wishes Fund, we have been able to fulfill the wishes of many hospice patients,” said Elena Kezelis, executive director of the MMC Foundation.

On April 27, approximately 400 people attended the second annual Memorial Hospice Gala at the Crowne Plaza. Proceeds from the Gala and silent auction benefitted the Sharing Wishes Fund.

 ”Whether it is a special family-and-friends gathering or a visit from a distant loved one, these donations will help make the wish of a hospice patient become a reality,” Kezelis said.

 More than $25,000 was raised at this year’s event. The video below provides an example of some of the heartwarming stories this money helps create.

 
To learn more about the Sharing Wishes fun, including how to donate, visit SharingWishesFund.org.

A quick look at the numbers tied to the expansion includes:

• 3 new patient floors, which will accommodate a total of 114 private rooms designed with specific “zones” for the patient, family members and nursing staff to optimize care giving;
• 6 new operating rooms, for a total of 23, in our soon-to-be-expanded lower-level Surgery Center;
• 2 additional lanes of traffic in our main drive, for a new total of 3, to improve flow of traffic;
• 1 new Memorial Center for Learning & Innovation, a three-floor building that will enhance learning and training opportunities for Memorial employees as well as our medical partners.

Early stages of construction are under way, with work expected to ramp up significantly within the coming weeks. In the video below, our leaders and physician partners explain what this expansion means for our patients, guests, employees and the community and how committed Memorial is to advancing care – by design.

Today, May 9, is National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day and a perfect opportunity for parents to speak to their children about emotional and behavioral health.

“From birth, we are developing skills to regulate our emotions and behaviors,” said Kari Welch, a licensed clinical professional counselor with the Children’s MOSAIC Project, a program of The Children’s Center. “As a parent, it is critical to respond to an upset child without judgment or criticism for what they are feeling, and help them recognize healthy ways to express uncomfortable emotions.”

When it comes to depression, prevention begins with teaching children that their feelings are never wrong and modeling healthy coping skills to manage sadness, anger, confusion and fear. 

 “Symptoms of depression can look different in children than in adults,” Welch said. “Children communicate feelings through their behavior, and may have an increase in temper tantrums or emotional outbursts when they are feeling depressed.”

 Some common signs of childhood depression include loss of interest in activities a child once found enjoyable, changes in sleep patterns and appetite, difficulty concentrating, lack of energy, increased irritability and crying and feelings of hopelessness or suicidal thoughts.

 Many parents will say their child, especially a teenager, demonstrates symptoms of depression on a regular basis. So what’s normal and when should a parent be concerned?

“I recommend that a parent seek help from the family’s pediatrician or a mental health professional when the symptoms begin to interfere with the child’s ability to function socially or in school or when the symptoms negatively impact relationships with friends and/or family,” Welch said. “A parent also needs to look for behaviors that are non-typical for their child.  For example, if your child is usually smiling and talkative, and now you are noticing them being quiet and reclusive, this could be an indicator to get professional assistance.”

Welch offers these tips for parents to help their child who is depressed:

• Recognize changes in your child, and inquire about what they are thinking, feeling or experiencing. 
• Offer reassurance and assist your child with identifying healthy ways to manage negative thoughts and feelings.
• Provide support and structure.
• Seek professional help. A mental health professional can assist parents and children with coping strategies to reduce symptoms of depression. Therapy can help reduce negative thinking patterns that lead to depressive symptoms.

Want to put help raise awareness about childhood depression and other mental health issues? Lace up your sneakers for the Road to Recovery 3K/5K Walk-Run on June 29 in Washington Park. There are three registration options: Individual, Youth (12 and under) and Team (maximum of four people). This family-friendly event is sponsored by the Children’s MOSAIC Project; The Children’s Center, a program of Mental Health Centers of Central Illinois; Lincoln Prairie Behavioral Health Center; and NAMI Springfield. Register online at MHCCI.org.

“Early identification and management of risk factors for heart disease through a healthy diet, weight management, exercise and stress management, can greatly reduce a woman’s risk for heart disease,” said Paula Harwood, RN, BSN, and manager of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation and heart failure at Memorial Medical Center.

 Harwood suggests women take these steps to reduce their chances of developing heart disease:

• Establish good, clear communication with your healthcare provider. Open and honest communication is crucial in determining if you have any risk factors that could contribute to heart disease and managing those risk factors.
• Make the switch to heart-healthy foods. Limit your consumption of unhealthy fats, cholesterol and sodium; control portion size; and add more vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and low-fat protein sources to your diet.
• Manage your weight.  Being overweight is considered a “modifiable” risk factor (something you can do something to prevent) for heart disease. Reducing your weight by just 10 percent can begin to lower your risk of developing heart disease.
• Exercise for 30 minutes on most days of the week.  An inactive lifestyle is one of the top risk factors for heart disease.  Getting some regular, daily exercise can help reduce that risk.
• Learn relaxation techniques that can help reduce stress. Stress raises your blood pressure, which can contribute to heart disease. To relieve stress, relaxation should calm the tension in your mind and body. Some good forms of relaxation are yoga, tai chi (a series of slow, graceful movements) and meditation.

“So many times, women take care of everyone else and neglect their own needs,” Harwood said. “We want to encourage women to be proactive in taking care of their heart health.”

To help empower women of all ages to be proactive in taking care of their heart health, Memorial Heart and Vascular Services, along with the YMCA and Memorial SportsCare are hosting  “Celebrate the Heart of a Woman,” Tuesday, May 14, 6 to 8 p.m. at the Gus and Flora Kerasotes YMCA. To register for this free, fun and informative event, visit MemorialMedical.com or call Memorial’s Healthline at (217) 788-3333.

Nurses seek to care for patients beyond the bedside in ways that often go unseen by patients and their families. Patient safety and comfort are two of the driving factors that lead nurses to seek new processes and best practices that ultimately transform the care delivered to patients.

In recognition of Nursing Excellence Week, May 6-12, here’s a look at 10 outstanding innovations in patient care that were implemented or achieved great results at Memorial in 2012, all of which Memorial nurses contributed to significantly.

1.       Psychiatric Readmission Team

Memorial realized a 30-percent reduction in 30-day readmissions for patients on Memorial’s inpatient psychiatry unit following the launch of a Psychiatric Readmission Team, a nursing-led initiative to assess readmission patterns and revise processes to avoid certain types of readmissions.

2.       Heart Failure Support Team

A nursing-led initiative to provide patients with multidisciplinary support following their hospital discharges resulted in a 9-percent 30-day readmission rate for patients who participated in Memorial’s Heart Failure Clinic, one of the lowest rates reported nationally.

3.       Star 45

Nurses helped develop our Star 45 program, which diagnoses patients who present with stroke symptoms and begins appropriate interventions within the national standard of 45 minutes of the patient arriving at the hospital. Nurses also looked at the process from a patient-flow perspective so that an appropriate ICU bed is available after an intervention is applied.

4.       Neurointerventional Radiology Program

Our nursing team helped develop our new neurointerventional radiology program by researching evidence-based practices for care of stroke patients requiring neurointerventional radiology and collaborating with neurologists, surgeons and other providers on developing state-of-the-art practices to best treat these patients.

5.       Rapid Clinical Exam

In 2012, Memorial’s Emergency Department implemented the Rapid Clinical Exam process, an evidence-based process for expediting the care for Emergency Department patients that has been adopted by many leading healthcare organizations across the country. This process has resulted in a 20-percent reduction in the length of stay patients experience in the ED, as well as reduced the number of patients who leave without treatment by more than 70 percent.

6.       Hip Fracture Response

Our nurse program coordinator for Orthopedic Services led an initiative focused on improving the timeliness of surgical interventions for patients presenting to Memorial with a hip fracture that resulted in a 92-percent decrease in readmissions.

7.       Care Aware

An electronic interface between cardiac monitors and the Clinical Documentation flowsheet in the critical care units, called Care Aware, is a Nursing Infomatics innovation that reduces potential documentation errors and frees the nurse to attend to the patient.

8.       CAUTI Bundle

A process bundle developed by our nursing team enables nurses to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) from 3.53 percent to a low of 0.79 percent , with some units now achieving a 0-percent incident rate.

9.       Patient Fall Prevention

The Patient Fall Prevention Agreement was implemented in 2012 to engage patients and families in preventing falls by not getting up without staff assistance. Nurses recognize patients may feel uncomfortable asking for assistance getting up, so the agreement encourages patients and families to ask for help, thus reducing the number of injuries to patients from falls.

10.   Pressure Ulcer Prevention Bundle

We have reduced our mean hospital-acquired pressure ulcer (HAPU) prevalence hospital-wide by more than 50 percent after implementing the Pressure Ulcer Prevention Bundle. Nursing Outcomes Improvement Facilitators review each incident with the nursing units to identify contributing factors and preventative interventions.

These innovations are only a few of the unique advancements our nursing teams initiate and implement every year. While we recognize our nurses for their compassionate and skilled nursing care, we applaud them for going the extra step to continually improve patient safety and quality of care.

 We extend our gratitude to all of our nursing staff for their unwavering commitment to continually “Raising the Bar of Nursing Excellence” and to their dedication to advancing the nursing profession at Memorial.

“Nobody has volunteers like those at Memorial,” said Dee Clump, who served as director of the Department of Volunteer and Community Services from 2004 to 2007. “They’re there because they want to be there – they just want to make a difference. They just love the hospital.”

Memorial’s Volunteer History

The first organized group of volunteers began assisting Memorial in 1909 as the Springfield Hospital Club, a small cluster of women volunteers and fundraisers. The group changed and grew, ultimately including help from several women’s community groups and the Women’s Auxiliary of Springfield Hospital by the early 1930s. As the years went by, participants in Springfield’s Junior League andFriends of Memorial also provided volunteer hours for the hospital.

In 1963, Memorial’s board of directors voted to create a Department of Volunteers, with Elaine Hoff as its first director. This year, Memorial is celebrating the 50th year of the department and, during National Volunteer Week, April 21-27, reflecting back on what has made the department a strong, vital part of the medical center.

“Memorial’s volunteer department has provided invaluable support and assistance to the hundreds of thousands of inpatients and outpatients we have served over the past five decades,” said Ed Curtis, president and chief executive officer for Memorial Health System. “Our volunteers’ generous sharing of their time and talents to serve the needs of others is an inspiration to us all.”

The Memorial Volunteers

As the hospital has changed and expanded to make up the large medical center it is today, so has the role — and demographic — of our volunteers. When former department director Julie Dirksen first took over in 1979, all volunteers were women, mostly young or middle-aged and very few who worked outside of the home. Their duties consisted of flower deliveries, the hospitality cart, assisting in one surgery lounge and working in the Gift Shop. By the time Dirksen retired in 2004, when Clump took over, the department had been renamed the Department of Volunteer and Community Services and about 95 percent of Memorial’s volunteers were retirees, including a large male contingency.

“Both the role of the hospital in the community and the role of our volunteers really changed,” Dirksen said. “We went beyond flower delivery and working in the waiting lounge by expanding their duties and also offering community education programs.”

Volunteer Program

Some of the programs volunteers helped support over the years included the Gold Club, Healthy Aging programs, TeleMed (a phone line that community members could call and request to listen to tapes on various health topics), TV BINGO, a health education program in partnership with Lanphier High School students, providing one-on-one after-school tutoring to Enos School students, and more.

Today, Memorial’s volunteer program consists of 357 members who provided nearly 63,000 hours of service in 2012. They work throughout the hospital — as escorts, Gift Shop cashiers, in several waiting areas, the Emergency Department, Baylis Medical Building and SportsCare.

Throughout its 50 years, the goal of the volunteer program has remained to support staff so that employees can do their jobs to the best of their ability, which ultimately benefits our patients.

“Staff know that volunteers are here to help them do their job better, so they appreciate the volunteers,” Clump said. “And they are so pleasant to be around – they bring a spark of joy to your life.”

Become a Volunteer

If you are interested in volunteering at Memorial Medical Center, visit MMCVolunteers.org and complete an online application.

“Water is the body’s fluid of choice,” said Christina Rollins, a registered dietitian at Memorial Medical Center and spokesperson for the Illinois Dietetic Association. “But other beverages—and foods, too—also can help you meet your daily needs. All beverages supply fluid, though some may come loaded with calories or caffeine.”

How much fluid do you need? An average adult needs about 2 ½ quarts (10 cups) daily to keep the body running smoothly and to replace fluids lost throughout the day. If you lose more water, such as through heavy perspiration, you’ll need even more. You can meet your needs by drinking water and other beverages, and you can also get water from foods such as fruits and vegetables.

Rollins offers these tips for making smart beverage choices to get in the flow of good health:

•  Water is easily absorbed, highly accessible and can even help keep your appetite in check. Of course, it’s also calorie-free. If water is not appealing or thirst-quenching for you, try it colder or add a squirt of lemon or lime juice for a boost of flavor. If you’re very active, sports drinks are an option to help your body absorb more water and replace electrolytes, just remember that these drinks also supply calories.
•  Coffee and tea also can help you get enough fluids. The caffeine in these drinks has a mild diuretic effect, however, so it can increase the amount of water you lose through urination. This effect is relatively small, but depends on how much caffeine you drink. Drinking coffee or tea won’t cause you to be dehydrated, just don’t rely on these beverages as your primary fluid choices. Of course, decaffeinated coffee and tea or herbal teas contain significantly less caffeine. General guidelines suggest keeping caffeine at about 200-300 milligrams per day, or about two to three cups of coffee. Tea contains about 40 milligrams of caffeine per cup. Don’t forget that gourmet coffee and tea drinks also can deliver plenty of calories.
• 100-percent fruit juices supply water in addition to vitamins A and C (and some other phytonutrients depending on the juice). Fruit juices may be thirst-quenching, but calories can easily add up. An 8-ounce glass of apple juice, for example, comes with about 110 calories. To get more fluid for your calories, try diluting fruit juice with water. Although 100-percent fruit juice counts as a fruit group choice, guidelines suggest no more than 1 serving (1 cup) of fruit per day from juice. Juice drinks, juice cocktails or juice beverages usually contain only a small amount of fruit juice along with added flavors and sugar.
• Milk delivers calcium and other important nutrients in addition to water. Soy milk is a nutritious non-dairy option, just be sure to look for a product fortified with calcium. The fat and calorie content may vary with different types of milk, but the contributions of nutrients and water are about the same. Flavored milk typically contains about 40 to 60 calories more per 8-ounce cup than an unflavored option. Guidelines suggest getting 3 cups each day from the milk group, which also includes yogurt and cheese.
• Soft drinks may offer fluid (about 90-percent water), but they also supply loads of calories, perhaps caffeine and no nutrients. Soft drinks go down easily for many people, and sometimes at the expense of other more nutritious beverages. For instance, there are many more nutritious ways to “spend” the 400 calories that come with a large, regular soft drink (32 ounces). Diet soft drinks are an option (99-percent water), but again, these drinks supply no nutrients and may deliver more caffeine than you need.
• Alcoholic beverages don’t count toward your fluid intake because alcohol’s diuretic effect makes your body lose water. For many reasons, moderation is advised for drinking alcoholic beverages. This means up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men. Some people, such as those on medications that can interact with alcohol (some diabetes medications), should not drink any alcohol. Although some research suggests that drinking a small amount of alcohol may lower risk for heart disease, it isn’t a reason to start drinking or to drink more frequently.

Losing a job can lead to challenging times for many people. The loss of an income is significant, but unemployment can also cause stress, which can bring about emotional and physical problems.

 “Unemployment can cause a sudden shift in roles within a family, and that can have a negative impact on someone psychologically,” said Trish Fehr, a licensed clinical professional counselor with Memorial Counseling Associates. “When someone who saw themselves as an employee and wage earner suddenly finds themselves standing in the unemployment line, it’s common for a grief process to begin because of the loss of employment status and their loss of status within their family and society.”

The stress of unemployment can lead to thoughts of hopelessness and feelings of anxiety and failure. When under stress, many people experience sleep problems and depression. Just like with other major life changes, it is imperative that individuals take care of their mental and physical health when they are unemployed.

Fehr provided these tips to help people who are unemployed remain optimistic and mentally healthy:

• Seek support: Make sure your family and friends help you stay solution-focused, rather than allow you to get down on yourself. Do not isolate yourself from social interaction. “It is always nice to know we are not alone and have an advocate in our corner,” Fehr said. “If stress becomes too much or you find yourself depressed for more than two weeks, it’s important to seek help from a mental health professional.”
• Take on new responsibilities at home: Having tasks to complete will give a sense of purpose and allows someone to know they are contributing. “They may discover a new affinity for cooking or organizing that had eluded them when their 9 to 5 duties demanded more of their time,” Fehr said.
• Enhance yourself: Find out about opportunities to further your education or skills. “Learning can help someone see a situation like unemployment as an opportunity rather than the end of something,” Fehr said.
• Don’t forget about self-care: Take a daily multivitamin and make physical exercise a priority most days of the week. Eat a healthy diet and limit your intake of caffeine and sugars.

Even though it will be difficult at times, Fehr encourages people who are unemployed to focus on the positive as much as possible.

“When you become unemployed, you realize there are many hours in a day that used to be dictated by an employer but are now open for self fulfillment. Take some of that time to job search, but also seek opportunities to not think about being unemployed — consider volunteering,” Fehr said. “When you become involved with an organization, you will experience the feeling of being appreciated and that can definitely make a difference on a person’s mental health.”

Billy Ruyle, Transplant Recipient

When Billy Ruyle could not sign his name at work or even grasp the pen, he realized he had a problem that was bigger than just a cold.

Billy grew up in a small town, just south of Springfield. After high school, Billy married “the most amazing wife” and together they had three boys and one girl and now have lots of grandkids. He worked as a full-time truck driver until just a few years ago when he took a part-time job hauling beans in Waverly.

“There is a lot of dust when you haul beans. At first, I thought I caught some sort of cold from the dust, and I just kept getting weaker and weaker,” he said. “I should have stopped working right then, but I didn’t because there was a job to finish.”

“When I got home later that day, I told my wife what had happened and we knew then something was seriously wrong.”

The following day, Billy was admitted to Memorial Medical Center and underwent a series of tests to determine the cause of his weakness. It turned out his immune system had failed. As a result, Billy’s kidneys were failing. He was put on dialysis as well as the organ transplant waiting list.

On Oct. 18, 2012, Billy received the gift of life at Memorial. Marc Garfinkel, MD, surgical director for Memorial Transplant Services and a physician with SIU HealthCare, performed the transplant.

“When an organ becomes available, a match list is run. Each recipient is evaluated on a number of factors including age, time on the waiting list, and closeness of an immunological match between the donor and recipient,” Dr. Garfinkel said.

For Billy, his new kidney has truly given him another opportunity to enjoy his life, especially his grandkids. To his kidney donor and family, Billy says, “I just want to say thank you. Thank you for this gift of life.”

More than 115,000 Americans are waiting for life-saving organ transplants, according to Gift of Hope, a not-for-profit organ procurement organization. Join Memorial Medical Center and Gift of Hope to celebrate National Donate Life Month and register or reaffirm your decision to become an organ and tissue donor.

You can be a part of this effort by visiting the Memorial’s Hospitals for Hope webpage and show your support for donation today.

Just say, “om.”

Yoga — a set of body movements intended to stretch parts of the body while also focusing on breath control —is a great way to enhance your workout routine, said Gabriel Stinson, MS, PES, a sports enhancement specialist with Memorial SportsCare.

“Moving through and holding the various positions of yoga focuses on improving strength, flexibility and cardiovascular function,” Stinson said. “It’s also a great stress reliever. It provides a great workout while refreshing the mind and body.”

Because it is a low-impact form of exercise, yoga also is a great tool for recovering from an injury. According to Active.com, “a well-rounded yoga practice includes dynamic flexibility training, core stabilization, strengthening and balance work. By focusing on these vital elements, yoga can help you recover faster after workouts, open up the tight areas that hinder performance, improve range of motion, and develop mental focus and concentration.” 

Yoga also is good for injury prevention by helping to maintain and improve flexibility, Stinson said.

To learn more about the role yoga has in an active lifestyle, as well as other ways to be active this spring, check out SportsCare’s Be Fit for Spring series, a free two-part training series that takes place April 20 and 27 at the Gus and Flora Kerasotes YMCA, 4550 W. Iles Ave. Each two-hour session will begin at 9 a.m. and take place in the YMCA’s multipurpose room. The first session on April 20 will cover general fitness, cycling and yoga. Participants can bring in their bicycles for a diagnostic evaluation. The second session on April 27 will cover running and nutrition.

Registration is not required for these events. Those attending both sessions will be eligible to win a grand prize that includes a 20-session SportsCare Healthy Lifestyle package, three-month YMCA membership, and running and biking apparel. For more information, visit MemorialSportsCare.com or call 862-0444.