Digital Edition of Presby Bulletin - 10/14/2016

Volume 11

Issue 21 October 14, 2016

PRESBYbulletin Penn Presbyterian Medical Center

7th Annual Cultural Competence Conference – Global Health

FROM TRAUMA PATIENT

TO VOLUNTEER If you’ve walked the halls of the Trauma Center at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in the last few months, there’s a chance you’ve come across Alisha Sawant. She’s the positively beaming volunteer with a permanent smile who often greets friends and family of patients, and generally helps out on the floor.

Just a few years ago, however, Alisha was a patient herself at Penn’s Trauma Center, and while she may be back on the unit, today it’s in a very different capacity – and the journey to get her there took years of hard work and care.

Alisha’s life changed on June 2, 2013. She was 25 years old; a Drexel University graduate who had started her career with a leading cosmetics company. Then one night she was involved in a catastrophic accident between the motorcycle and a car. Simply surviving the wreck was the first sign that Alisha would be one to buck the odds.

“I wasn’t here the night Alisha came in, but the kind of injuries she had, you don’t see a lot of survivors,” said Samir Mehta, MD, chief of Orthopaedic Trauma and one of Alisha’s surgeons.

Alisha arrived at Penn’s Trauma unit, then at HUP, with devastating (continued on back)

Join PPMC’s Cultural Competence Committee for the upcoming 7th Annual Cultural Competence Conference!

This year’s conference title is Global Health: Lessons Health Care Providers Can Learn from Other Countries and the focus is on raising awareness of current global health initiatives.

The keynote speaker is Anne Teitelman, PhD, FNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, who will present “Stigmatization of Women’s Health Around the World.” Teitelman is Patricia Bleznak Silverstein and Howard A. Silverstein Endowed Term Chair and Associate Professor in Global Women’s Health. Robert I. Field, JD, MPH, PhD, a wellreceived speaker at our 2012 conference on health care reform, returns this year to provide an update on the Affordable Care Act, describing current successes and future challenges.

It will take place on Friday, October 28, 2016, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. in PHI-106 of the Philadelphia Heart & Vascular Pavilion on the PPMC campus. Cost is FREE and all are welcome. Seach for the event on Knowledge Link to register.

FROM TRAUMA PATIENT TO VOLUNTEER (continued from front)

injuries. The trauma team went to work, evaluating and treating her injuries, even removing the left side of her skull to address trauma to her brain. Her injuries would leave her in a coma for a long period, with her friends and family with nothing to do but wait.

“Her injuries were very serious, but fortunately, our team was able to work quickly and stabilize her,” said Jim Schuster, MD, PhD, director of Neurotrauma, and the trauma attending on service that night. “But we knew it was going to be a long a difficult road, and in the beginning, there was really no telling how extensive or permanent some of the damage might be.”

After months of care at Penn and Good Shepherd, Alisha was discharged on August 21, but continued to receive care at home. It was months after the grisly wreck before Alisha would begin to walk on her own, one step at a time.

Earlier this year, Alisha became a PPMC volunteer and she chose to join the team in the Trauma Surgical Intensive Care Unit. Alisha wanted to be involved and give back to the institution that had given her so much.

Alisha assists patients and their families with finding their way around the hospital and unit, she offers help as she can with guest and family relations and services, and generally offers support however able. She said her parents were deeply grateful for the support of everyone at Penn when she was going through her ordeal.

“I’ve been given a second chance and I just knew I had to use it to give back to the people who saved my life,” she said.

“I want to support the patients who are going through what I went through and their family and friends who are in my parents’ shoes.”

Supply Chain Leading Change, Advancing Healthcare

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Last week was the nationally recognized Materials Management Week and the theme was Supply Chain Leading Change, Advancing Healthcare. The department at Presby celebrated throughout the week with lunches, special gifts of appreciation, meal tickets and raffles.

“The Materials Management Department would like to extend our gratitude for the support throughout the year especially with the recent Joint Commission inspection and the many challenges that we have experienced with the recent openings of the Infusion Suite, Pharmacy Satellite as well as the additional beds that have opened on Pac 5. The cooperation and collaboration we receive on a daily basis paves the way for the distribution of supplies to all the areas that we serve for the benefit of our valued patient care providers as well as our patients. We will continue to “Lead Change” with introducing new and improved products with our continued focus always for our patients and patient care providers within our ever changing environment.

Thank you all for recognizing our team members on this special week.”

– Art Schimmel, director of Materials Management at PPMC

Contact Us: Paul Foster | paul.foster@uphs.upenn.edu | http://news.pennmedicine.org/inside/presbybulletin/