April 20, 2023

Earth Day Challenge

This Saturday, April 22, is Earth Day and it's a time to demonstrate support for our environment. At Woman's, our team in EVS works hard every day to keep our campus clean for patients, visitors and colleagues. Now is your chance to commit to keeping Woman's clean!

Take the Woman's Earth Day Challenge
In recognition of Earth Day, organize a clean-up project on campus with your department or with a group of coworkers. Clean out an office storage closet, do a workspace deep clean or tidy up a breakroom — keeping Woman's clean involves everyone! Share your team photos on Woman's Connect and help encourage other groups to take the Earth Day Challenge.

Cancer Pavilion Leadership

Brooke Coogan, Director of Woman’s Center for Wellness, has accepted the position of Administrator for Woman’s Cancer Pavilion. She will be replacing Cynthia Rabalais, Executive Director of the Woman’s Cancer Pavilion, who will be retiring later this year. Brooke will work with our Cancer Joint Venture Service Line partners, Mary Bird Perkins and Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, to oversee the operational success and comprehensive cancer care at the Pavilion.

For more than a decade, Brooke has worked as the Director of Woman’s Center for Wellness and is credited with helping to implement programs that serve prenatal and postpartum women, cancer survivors, those suffering from arthritis and those at-risk for developing diabetes. Under her leadership, Woman’s Therapy grew its outpatient cancer rehabilitation from 2% to 25% of the total patient volume. Brooke has worked to enhance existing programs for cancer patients while also helping to develop new ones such as lymphedema treatment, pelvic floor treatment plans for cervical cancer patients and the Look Good Feel Better Cancer Workshop for women.

Her direct involvement with cancer programs and committees, along with the impact she has already made in our survivor community, makes her a great asset to our Pavilion team and the patients we serve. Brooke will work with Cynthia as she transitions into her new position starting May 1. In addition, Human Resources will begin the search for a new director of Woman’s Center for Wellness.

Join us in congratulating Brooke on her new role!

Employee Giving Grants

Thank you to everyone who applied for an Employee Giving Department Grant! The Employee Giving Committee selected 19 projects out of the 32 applications to further enhance patient or family care and improve workplace efficiency.

These grants were made possible by the 2022 We Are Woman's Employee Giving Campaign. Congratulations to the following departments who were awarded a grant:

Outpatient Lab
A reclining adjustable phlebotomy chair to allow our employees to move patients to safe, comfortable positions before, during and after blood draws.
Inpatient Pharmacy
Diabetes Teaching Kits to provide patients with hands-on interactive practice on insulin self-administration prior to discharge.
Labor and Delivery
A digital camera to capture photos for a family experiencing the loss of an infant.
Cancer Pavilion
Legacy kits to offer guidance in end-of-life decision making, tasks to consider completing, stationary to write memories to loved ones, occasion cards, ideas for legacy building and caregiver/family support.
NICU
750 HALO SleepSacks for NICU patients to utilize before discharge and at home.
Pre-Surgery
Hibiclens for surgical patients to reduce SSIs caused by germs that live on the skin.
AICU
Patient comfort supplies to enhance patient care and increase patient satisfaction.
Environmental Services
Portable sound equipment to be used throughout the year at various hospital events on and off campus.
Assessment Center
To create a Quiet Room which is a private, calming and relaxing environment for patients going through challenging situations, including but not limited to sexual assault, pregnancy loss or the loss of a family member.
LSU Gynecologic Oncology
Chemotherapy comfort supplies to ease the side effects of chemotherapy.
LSU OB/GYN
Hygiene kits for pregnant, non-pregnant and postpartum women, including items like pads, tampons, soap, lotion, nursing pads, deodorant, and toothbrushes
IEAC Committee
Uniform vouchers for new employees with financial constraints.
Care Management
To assist high-risk patients with purchasing discharge medications that are not covered by insurance, families that do not have the means to purchase car seats or car beds for their infants and provide travel vouchers for patients who need to return to the hospital after discharge for complications and to help NICU families visit their baby.
Wellness Center
Provide personal amplification systems for hard-of-hearing persons who have no other source of funding available to them.
Adult Therapy
EMYO Biofeedback System treats patients with diagnoses like urinary/fecal incontinence, pelvic pain, constipation, urgency and prolapse.
Speech Therapy
iPad for pediatric patients to access apps that enhance traditional language and articulation therapy and serve as motivators for our pediatric patients.
Wellness Center
Cancer survivorship services not covered by insurance for survivors with any cancer diagnosis and within 5 years of treatment for that diagnosis.

(l to r) Courtney Fourroux and Brooke Coogan - Wellness Center

(l to r) Courtney Fourroux and Mary Beth Magee - Assessment Center

(l to r) Courtney Fourroux and Michelle Leerkes - Cancer Pavillion

(l to r) Courtney Fourroux and Shannon Thibodeaux - NICU

(l to r) Hope Price, Joy Lafleur and Renada Deschamp - IEAC committee

(l to r) Kim Gruse and Jay Latour - OP Pharmacy

(l to r) Raymie Mejia and Jennifer Levy - LSU Clinic

(l to r) Vildra Holiday and Jessica Lejune - Labor and Delivery

(l to r) Whitney Craig, Kayla Tamplain and Cathy Griffiths - Patient Support Fund

(l to r) Vildra Holiday and Peggy Dean - Patient Pharmacy

(l to r) Vildra Holiday and Toni Dantonio - Pre Surgery

Epic Myth Buster

Interoperability

Myth: We won’t have access to our patients’ records from other Epic facilities because we are getting our own instance of Epic instead of joining theirs.

Fact: Based on decisions from the interoperability workgroup, Woman’s will not only match the level of interoperability at nearby organizations with Epic, but Woman’s will also be MORE interoperable by sharing additional records and information.

Care Everywhere will send CCDs (continuity of care documents) which include problems, allergies, medications, immunizations, birth history, OB history, lifetime does tracking, etc. These documents can be sent automatically at discharge, encounter closed, when addenda are signed, when notes are signed, or when surgical logs are posted or addended.

Learn more about Care Everywhere on the Epic User Web.
You will need to create an Epic User Web account to access this and many more great resources. You will be prompted to select your organization and enter your network credentials through single sign-on access.

Annual Testing

Audible/Visual Fire Alarm Devices

Facilities Management and Johnson Controls, Inc., will be conducting the annual test of audible and visual fire alarm devices on Tuesday, April 25, beginning at 9 AM. Call Richard Oswald at ext. 5353 with any questions.

What to expect
During the test, strobe lights will flash continuously while the alarms sound. Alarms will be silenced as soon as testing is complete. The test will be conducted on a floor-by-floor basis and will last approximately 10-15 minutes on each floor.

Nursing Notes

The following nurses have been approved for April Career Ladder:

RN 2

Nyla Allen, Med Surg/Oncology
Delaney Brown, Mother/Baby
Cherie Burns, NICU
Mary Katherine Duffy, High-Risk Unit
Brittany Leblanc, High-Risk Unit
Katherine Thibodeaux, PACU

RN 3

Ashley Breaux-Baudean, AICU
Celeste Ducote, NICU
Jan Haindel, Mother/Baby
Heidi Picard, Mother/Baby

ISMP Medication Safety Alert

April 20: Volume 28 | Issue 8

In this week's issue:

Ensuring Competency and Safety When Onboarding Newly Hired Professional Staff.
Incorrect lidocaine infusion option selected in smart pump drug library.
Acute Care Action Agenda (January – March 2023).
Celebrate Nurses Month – May 2023.

Click here to read the latest issue.

Emergency Systems Test

Facilities Management will test the Emergency Power Systems on Friday, April 21, from 4:30-6:45 AM. During this time, all emergency power to the hospital will be provided via the emergency generators. Contact the Director of Facilities Management, Martin Albores, with any questions or concerns.

During that time, expect the following:

Emergency power sources in your area will switch off and then back on at the beginning and end of the test (red outlets).
To prevent any carriers from getting lost, the Pneumatic Tube system will be shut down from 4:15-7:00 AM.
Elevators will not be available from 4:30-4:35 AM and again between 5:10-5:25 AM in five-minute intervals. (NOTE: If you are on an elevator when it shuts down, it will let you off at the first floor before shutting down.)

Please report any equipment that fails to operate on critical or emergency power circuits as soon as possible.

Pelvic Health Physical Therapy: Labor, Birth and
Postpartum Recovery

Wednesday, May 10
1:00-2:00 PM

Learn More