{"id":3360,"date":"2015-10-19T19:06:31","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T19:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.accentcom.com\/stmary\/?p=3360"},"modified":"2017-02-16T17:41:27","modified_gmt":"2017-02-16T17:41:27","slug":"news-item-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.accentcom.com\/stmary\/news-item-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Ambassador Circle Quarterly Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

Enhancements to services abound at St. Mary!<\/span><\/h3>\n

The St. Mary Foundation\u2019s Ambassador Circle met on Friday, April 26th for lunch and their quarterly meeting at the Northampton Valley Country Club.\u00a0 After welcoming remarks and opening prayer, Dan Drake, Vice President of Continuing Care, gave a brief presentation on LIFE St. Mary and plans for serving the aging population in Bucks County through this year and into the future.<\/p>\n

Dan reported that this group presents both a challenge and an opportunity for St. Mary.\u00a0 Pennsylvania ranks third in the nation for population over 65 years of age. Just over 16% of Bucks County residents\u00a0are over age 65 and we possess the highest percentage of residents over 85 in the whole state.\u00a0 In 2009, St. Mary opened a Program for All-Inclusive Care for Elders (PACE) called Living Independently for Elders (LIFE) St. Mary, to serve this growing population.\u00a0 While in the LIFE St. Mary program, participants receive personalized healthcare services based on their specific needs.\u00a0 Enrollment in the LIFE program allows individuals to remain living in their own homes instead of a nursing home facility.<\/p>\n

\"LIFESM\"<\/a>Last year, the LIFE program, which is located in Trevose, had 220 Medicaid\/Medicare eligible participants aged 55 or older.\u00a0 All participants resided in one of 16 approved Lower Bucks County ZIP code areas. This year, LIFE St. Mary has experienced a small growth spurt and is now serving 235 participants from 30 approved ZIP code areas.\u00a0 Should any LIFE St. Mary participant or other elderly Bucks County resident require a hospital stay, St. Mary is equipped with the only geriatric-friendly unit in the area.\u00a0 Nurses on this unit are specially trained to work with this population in a setting that has been designed with their specific needs in mind.\u00a0 Future plans for serving the elder population at the main St. Mary campus include assessing the need for a senior-friendly emergency department as well as other units throughout the hospital.<\/p>\n

Two areas of care where improvement can be made for the elderly population of Bucks County are in housing and hospice services.\u00a0 Our area is one of the four wealthiest counties in Pennsylvania, making up part of the \u201cwealth corridor\u201d along with Chester, Montgomery and Delaware Counties.\u00a0 Because of this, affordable housing for seniors has never been viewed as a priority; until now.\u00a0 With the assistance of Terri Rivera, VP of Mission Services, St. Mary has obtained two apartment units dedicated to the frail elderly.\u00a0 This is the first step in building a strong, lasting relationship with\"LIFEVanweb\" the Bucks County Housing Authority that will benefit seniors in our area greatly.\u00a0 St. Mary has also begun a partnership with three highly respected organizations to provide end-of-life hospice care for our patients.\u00a0 Our new
\ncollaborations with Chandler Hall, Compassionate Care and Kindred at Home hospices will give patients multiple options for receiving this essential care. Dan concluded his presentation with questions from the audience regarding the LIFE St. Mary program and future plans for elder care at St. Mary.<\/p>\n

Director of the Volunteer Services Department at St. Mary, Lil Schonewolf, spoke next to the Ambassadors about the various roles volunteers serve throughout the hospital.\u00a0 Over 1,000 individuals volunteered last year in 40 St. Mary departments for a total of 129,505 hours!\u00a0 Volunteers at St. Mary serve in ways that best suit their interest, skill, and desire to help.\u00a0 Healing ambassadors visit with patients and distribute items like handmade blankets and pillows, which are made by our volunteer crafters.\u00a0 Over 10,000 items have been made and donated to hel\"volunteer_flowers_72dpi\"<\/a>p comfort our patients during their\u00a0treatments and stays.<\/p>\n

Volunteers also offer comfort through providing company when a patient has no one to be at their bedside or if their family needs to be away from the hospital for a time.\u00a0 Respite Companions visit, with permission, and provide conversation, play music or games, read aloud, or simply listen.\u00a0 For patients approaching their end of life, specially trained Comfort Companions are available through the No One Dies Alone program.\u00a0 These volunteers provide much-needed relief and support to both the patient and their families during very difficult times.\u00a0 Neither Respite nor Comfort Companions perform nursing duties but are trained to alert nurses if the patient is in need of attention.<\/p>\n

\"dog_with_patient_bed_72dpi\"<\/a>Visiting patients to provide comfort and cheering up is not a task limited to\u00a0humans.\u00a0 At St. Mary, 19 very special four-legged volunteers and their owners make regular rounds throughout many units.\u00a0 Dogs of all breeds and sizes whose owners comply with the proper certification procedures are permitted to join the Pet Visitor program at St. Mary.\u00a0 Ambassador Circle members had a meet and greet (and scratch behind the ears) with two of the St. Mary Pet Visitors at the meeting.\u00a0 Portuguese Water Dogs, Bubba and Dozer, accompanied their owner David Rotenberg to the meeting.\u00a0 Patients of all ages are always delighted to have such well-behaved dogs visit their hospital rooms!<\/p>\n

The final volunteer effort Lil highlighted in her presentation was the Community League of St. Mary Community Aid Recycled Equipment Store (CARES).\u00a0 The CARES program offers the opportunity for those who no longer need items such as walkers, wheelchairs, and canes to assist patients who are unable to afford them.\u00a0 Items donated to CARES are cleaned, sanitized, refurbished, and provided free of charge to those in need.\u00a0 The store is located within the St. Mary Thrift Store in the Pine Watson Shopping Center just minutes from the hospital.<\/p>\n

Jeff Yarmel, St. Mary VP & COO was the last speaker for the day and provided the group with an update on construction projects at the hospital.\u00a0 The Orthopedic and Spine Unit, located just off the main lobby of the hospital, was recently completed.\u00a0 All of the rooms are now upgraded, single-patient occupancies with new bathrooms.\u00a0 A new greeter\u2019s desk, conference\/teaching area and furniture throughout the unit completed the renovation.\u00a0 Also recently completed was the expansion of the Outpatient Cardiac services area and renovation of the restrooms in the outpatient care building.<\/p>\n

Off-campus, Jeff reported the Grand Opening of the St. Mary Health at New Falls Road would be taking place on May 14th.\u00a0 This extended hours, walk-in care facility will provide primary and OB\/GYN care, lab services and more.\u00a0 All the quality of care, convenience and compassion of St. Mary will be available early, late, and on the weekends in Levittown.
\nProjects in the works include the expansion of the Central Sterile Processing services.\u00a0 This unit is essential in the daily function of the hospital as it sterilizes equipment used in surgical procedures.\u00a0 \"garden_sign_panorama_72\"Expansion of this unit will enhance safety and productivity and is expected to be complete by July 2017.\u00a0 The outpatient building entrance and the EP Lab are currently undergoing a renovation as well.\u00a0 Areas of the Cancer Center are scheduled for renovations beginning in late Fall of this year.\u00a0 The Infusion Room will receive some much-needed attention and convert the existing space into a more calming, comforting environment for patients undergoing infusion treatments.\u00a0 Views of the Healing Garden, room for visitors and increased privacy are just some of the planned upgrades for the new area.\u00a0 A Healing Boutique will also be constructed\u00a0during this time offering products and services that will help patients deal with the effects of their cancer treatments.\u00a0 More information on these and all construction projects will be provided in future communications.<\/p>\n

The meeting concluded with a thank you to all Ambassadors for their attendance and for spreading the word about St. Mary throughout the community.<\/p>\n

If you would like more information on any of the programs or services\u00a0mentioned in this article, contact the Foundation Office at 215.710.2591.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Take a peek at what goes on at an Ambassador Circle meeting. Get the latest update here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.accentcom.com\/stmary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3360"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.accentcom.com\/stmary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.accentcom.com\/stmary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.accentcom.com\/stmary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.accentcom.com\/stmary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3360"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.accentcom.com\/stmary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5890,"href":"https:\/\/www.accentcom.com\/stmary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3360\/revisions\/5890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.accentcom.com\/stmary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.accentcom.com\/stmary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.accentcom.com\/stmary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.accentcom.com\/stmary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}