Impact March 2016

UTMB Newsletter • March march 2016

Highlighting UTMB’s Patient Placement Center Celebrating our volunteers: A work of heart Taking health care around the globe

Building the future of health care

Becker’s Hospital Review has named Cheryl Sadro, CPA, executive vice president and chief business and finance officer at UTMB, one of its “130 Women Hospital and Health System Leaders to Know.” The annual list recognizes leaders for their management and leadership skills, as well as career accomplishments. Sadro joined UTMB in 2014 and has more than 30 years of experience in public accountancy and financial leadership roles at major mission-based health systems.

Jeff Farroni, PhD, JD, was named UTMB’s director of Clinical Ethics for the Health System and joins the faculty in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. Farroni will provide leadership and direction for the Ethics Program, including the Ethics Consultation Service and the Ethics Committee. He comes to UTMB after serving as a clinical ethicist and assistant professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He received a PhD in Medical Sciences from Texas A&M University, a Juris Doctor from the University of Houston and post-doctoral training at UTMB in both clinical and research ethics.

Craig Cassidy, MHA, has been named associate director of Research Advancement. In this role, Cassidy will help faculty members develop new applications for extramural funding or revise those previously submitted. He’ll also help develop multi-investigator and multidisciplinary applications.

Cassidy has served in various leadership roles in higher education for more than a decade, including as assistant dean for Research, Corporate Relations and Diversity for the College of Science, Engineering and Technology at Jackson State University; executive director of Research and Diversity Initiatives for the University of Houston System; and assistant director for the Center for Structural Biology at Texas A&M University.

Krista Versteeg, a Microbiology and Immunology graduate student at UTMB, has been named a 2016 Emerging Leader in Biosecurity Initiative Fellow by the UPMC Center for Health Security. Versteeg is one of 28 fellows chosen from around the world.

The 2016 ELBI class will engage with influential leaders in the field of biosecurity through a series of meetings and candid discussions on issues that are critical to the future of work in this area. The program lasts throughout the year and will begin with a Washington, DC workshop in March.

UTMB Physician Assistant students were recently presented with the Texas Academy of Physician Assistants PA Day at the Capitol Award for best student participation at the March 2015 Legislative Day at the 41st TAPA Spring CME Conference in Houston. More than 50 UTMB Physician Assistant students traveled to Austin last year to meet with legislators regarding Physician Assistant bills and issues, and to learn more about the legislative process. This is the first time the award has been presented. UTMB will hold the award for the next two years.

Rachel Murray, business manager for Transplant Services, was presented with the Early Career Healthcare Executive Regent’s Award by the American College of Healthcare Executives. ACHE is an international professional society of 40,000 health care executives who lead hospitals, health care systems and other health care organizations.

Scott Weaver, PhD, Nikos Vasilakis, PhD, and Dr. George Saade participated in a workshop on the Zika virus organized by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in Washington, DC. As infectious disease and maternity care experts, they were part of a daylong discussion on Zika and its effects. The virus has spread nearly unabated through parts of the world, including South and Central America, and has been linked to birth defects and neurological ailments.

Jill Bryant-Bova, a quality management specialist in Quality and Healthcare Safety, recently published “Improving Chemotherapy Ordering Process” in the Journal of Oncology Practice. Chemotherapy is a highrisk medication and is the second most common cause of fatal medication errors. Read the full abstract to learn how she increased quality through education and standardization of the chemotherapy ordering process.

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From the President

March 2016

On Feb. 26, we ushered in a new era for our health sciences university, with the dedication of the Jennie Sealy Hospital on the Galveston campus. The event marked a major milestone in UTMB’s 125-year history—one made possible by the hard work and determination of untold numbers of UTMB employees, students, alumni, contributors and friends over the past seven-plus years.

Day in the Life of the program director of Capital Projects

We were so fortunate to be joined at the formal dedication events by UT System dignitaries and elected officials from the federal, state and local level. We were pleased to also welcome the Board of Directors of The Sealy & Smith Foundation, an organization whose significant philanthropic contributions since 1922 have spurred tremendous progress at UTMB helped bring the new hospital to life.

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The festivities were a wonderful opportunity for celebration within our UTMB family as well, and gave all of us a chance to showcase this wonderful new hospital to the greater community before the first patient arrives to receive care there on April 9.

Spotlight on Amy Lussier, Health System

You can learn more about the Jennie Sealy Hospital dedication inside this issue, along with stories about our people. Among them:

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• A day in the life of Capital Projects, with Jake Wolf, program director • A profile of Amy Lussier, associate vice president for Health System Operations • A closer look at the School of Nursing’s RN 2 BSN Award Program • The Virtual Drug Discovery Portal that’s making a global impact • A spotlight on a few of the many volunteers who give their time, energy and passion to serve our patients and their families • Drs. Ben and Sharon Raimer and their Hands and Feet Medical Missions

Volunteers: A work of heart

• Vision safety tips by Dr. Matthew Crookston

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• Numerous accomplishments and kudos in the Working Wonders column and throughout the newsletter You’ll also see an item about our WEAR campaign, intended to help us all remember to wear our badges, every day, all shifts, responsibly.

Thank you!

Taking health care around the globe

Dr. David L. Callender UTMB President

Impact is for and about the people who fulfill UTMB’s mission to improve health in Texas and around the world. We hope you enjoy reading this issue. Let us know what you think!

ON THE COVER: Health System’s Amy Lussier and Business Operations and Facilities’ Jake Wolf played major roles in the design and construction of the new Jennie Sealy Hospital. Read more about Lussier in this month’s Leader Spotlight segment on page 11. See what a “Day in the Life” of Jake Wolf is like on page 8.

P rinted b y U T MB graphic design & P rinting S ervices

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Vice President Marketing & Communications Steve Campbell

Contact us Email: impact.newsletter@utmb.edu Phone: (409) 772-2618

Associate Vice President Marketing & Communications Mary Havard

Campus mail route: 0144 U.S. Postal address: UTMB Marketing & Communications

301 University Boulevard

Galveston, TX 77555-0144

Editors Kristen Hensley KirstiAnn Clifford Stephen Hadley Art Director Mark Navarro

PATIENT CARE

Going with the patient flow: UTMB’s Patient Placement Center B y K i r s t i A n n C l i ff o r d

it’s a great feeling. It makes everyone feel better knowing that the patient will be coming to an area where they need to be.”

If there’s an open bed, the goal is to get the patient placed within 30 minutes and reduce any delays in transferring patients from clinical intake areas such as the ED and PACU to nursing unit beds. However, it can get tricky when there’s a waiting list of admissions and the 443 beds in John Sealy Hospital are full, which is routinely the case.

The PPC team: (From left) Anna Green, April Mears, Laurie Popovits, Priscilla Boothby, Renee Brown, Melanie Mencacci, Jennifer Almendarez, Leslie Beattie. Not pictured: Grace Dickerson, Pat Flowers, Julio Mejia, Allen Simpson, Evonne Tolbert, Likita Wooten.

The phones never stop ringing in UTMB’s Patient Placement Center.

Tucked away in a small office near the Emergency Department on UTMB’s Galveston Campus, the PPC is home to 12 staff members who coordinate the admission, discharge and transfer processes for all hospital patients at the Galveston and Angleton Danbury Campuses. It’s a 24 hour-a-day, seven day-a-week job.

“It’s high volume and high stress,” said Laurie Popovits, assistant director of the PPC. “Just yesterday, we had 24 people in the ED waiting for inpatient beds—and that didn’t count patients who were waiting at home, in clinic, or in the Cath Lab, Interventional Radiology or Post-Anesthesia Care Unit. There were also Intensive Care Unit patients that needed to move to a floor bed to decompress the ICUs, so that was a busy day.”

The PPC used to be known as the Bed Information Center, or BIC, until about two years ago when the name was changed to better reflect the team’s responsibilities. On an average month, more than 19,000 calls go in and out of the PPC, and staff members coordinate about 350 patient transfers in that same time frame. Transfers often come from places as near as Angleton Danbury or as far away as Belize, Ecuador and Mexico.

Leslie Beattie is a registered nurse and the transfer coordinator in the PPC. Beattie and her patient placement coordinator colleagues are expert multitaskers. It’s not unusual for staff to be talking to a physician on one phone line, holding on another, requesting a bed to be cleaned “stat” through bed-tracker software and taking down notes on a patient diagnosis all at the same time.

“No two days are ever the same,” said Beattie. “Everyone here works as a team and we take our work to heart. And we have a good rapport with our physicians. When I connect a physician from a rural area who doesn’t have the needed services for a patient, and put them on the phone with one of our doctors,

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“The biggest challenges are prioritization and helping others understand the urgency for bed placement,” said Popovits. “You may have six different things on your desk that you need to do including an emergency transfer, which can be a life-or-death situation, while at the same time, another six admissions just came across the printer from the ED for which you have to give team assignments and ‘page out’ the residents. What do you do first? So, it’s looking at the whole big picture and prioritizing— that’s so critical.”

With patient lives on the line, each PPC coordinator is trained for a solid three months before taking on the full responsibilities of the job independently. Popovits says there are so many different processes for each different service that it can be a lot to take in.

For example, there is a 21-step process for admitting General Medicine patients, which is part of a “geolocalization” initiative to promote continuity of care by placing patients with the same team of doctors and nursing staff each time they visit the hospital.

“We go through a series of steps and look up a patient’s primary care provider and do our very best to place them on the floor with that team, so they have the same nurses, nurse practitioners and physicians every single time they come back,” said Popovits.

“We started that initiative in 2014, and it’s been very popular with patients.”

Communication and collaboration with the clinical operations administrator, the administrator on call and Environmental Services are another aspect of PPC. Bed assignments are not decided just by PPC—activities and events impacting certain areas are taken into consideration.

As the new Jennie Sealy and League City hospitals open, the PPC staff will be responsible for patient placement and transfers in the new facilities, as well. And the goal will remain the same: to ensure all patients get the right bed in the right place at the right time.

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PATIENT CARE

Correctional Managed Care Awards Employees of the Year B y K irsti A nn C lifford

Some of UTMB’s top Correctional Managed Care employees were recognized during CMC’s 2016 Winter Conference at Moody Gardens in Galveston on Jan. 28.

About 500 CMC employees attended the conference, which consisted of educational breakout sessions and was directed toward multidisciplinary physicians, mid-level providers, nursing and administrative personnel.

Congratulations to the award winners!

Texas Department of Criminal Justice:

Texas Juvenile Justice Department:

Operations Manager of the Year Valencia Pollard

Manager of the Year Jackie Smith, RN, BSN

Nurse Manager of the Year Shelly Hanson, RN

In addition, the following individuals were recognized as having been nominated for the 2015 Nicholas and Katherine Leone Award for Administrative Excellence:

Mental Health Manager of the Year Jeffrey Sanders, LPC

Kirk Abbott, BSN, RN, CCHP, Regional Nurse Manager Sarah Abke, Senior Practice Manager

Provider of the Year D.A. Ruby, PA

Brenda Fread, BSN, RNC, CCHP, Cluster Nurse Manager Raul Garza, RN, Cluster Nurse Manager

Support Person of the Year Janet Gonzalez, RPH

Anitra Lindley, Senior Practice Manager

Dentist of the Year Randall Meyer, DDS

Patricia Outlaw, RN, Facility Nurse Manager

Kelly Naramore, MA, LPA, Mental Health Manager Jamie Williams, Senior Practice Manager

What is the No. 1 thing every employee can do to improve workplace security?

Wear your ID badge!

Wearing a UTMB identification badge is not just a matter of pride for all university employees; more importantly, it is an issue of security and safety, as well as UTMB policy. All employees, students, volunteers, contractors and vendors must wear a UTMB-issued ID badge while on UTMB property.

Don’t forget:

• Wear your badge • Every day • All shifts • Responsibly Watch the April issue for more information.

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ResearcH

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A laptop and Internet access are all researchers need to be on a path to discovering possible new drug candidates to fight a vast number of diseases, including obesity, cancer, influenza, dengue fever and leishmaniasis, a tropical disease transmitted by sand flies.

“All you have to do is upload a protein of interest that is involved in a disease. The web portal submits it to the supercomputer, which tests hundreds of thousands of molecules to see if they might bind to the protein—it’s like solving a massive 3-D jigsaw puzzle,” said Watowich.

Stan Watowich, PhD, associate professor in UTMB’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has been collaborating with the Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas at Austin since 2013 to develop the DrugDiscovery@TACC portal.

Without supercomputer resources, it used to take years to do the same calculations in the lab. “We have it down now so we can do this searching in the course of a day—and we hope to get even faster,” he said.

More than 120 researchers worldwide are now using the portal, which is powered by a TACC petascale supercomputer containing 30,048 next-generation processors. It can quickly identify small molecules that bind to a target protein—the first step in drug discovery.

Watowich recently returned from a trip to Colombia, where he taught researchers from several Latin American countries how to use the free, user-friendly portal. He said it’s already proving beneficial to researchers in developing countries that do not have access to high-performance computing or a extensive background in computational chemistry.

RESEARCH BRIEFS Compiled from press releases written by Donna Ramirez and Christopher Smith Gonzalez. Find out more at www.utmb.edu/newsroom.

Patricia Aguilar, PhD, assistant professor of Pathology, has found that a recently discovered virus is able to spread to healthy neighboring cells by a mechanism previously unseen in other arthropod-borne viruses. Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) virus, a tick-borne bunyavirus discovered in China that causes severe fever and can lead to death, was first described by a team of scientists, including UTMB experts, in 2011. Since then, Aguilar’s team has found that, while SFTS virus does infect cells in what is considered the conventional manner, the virus is also able to manipulate extracellular vesicles—fluid-like sacs typically used for cell-to-cell communication—to help it spread to uninfected host cells. This is something that has not been seen and described before for any other enveloped arthropod-borne virus. Discovery of this novel use of extracellular vesicles by the virus could have important implications in the development of vaccines and treatments. SFTS virus can cause those infected to suffer from symptoms related to

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hemorrhagic fever and is deadly in about 30 percent of cases. It is found in China and other Asian countries. In the U.S., a similar virus, Heartland virus, has also recently been described. The study’s findings appear in the Journal of Virology.

Dr. Amitesh Agarwal, fellow in the UTMB Division of Pulmonary Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, and colleagues are the first to examine differences in care given to patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by medical doctors compared with nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

To meet a growing need for primary care providers, many health systems are looking at alternate models of care by expanding the workforce of advance practice providers, or APPs, which include nurse practitioners and physician assistants. APPs are increasingly contributing to the care of those with health conditions requiring lifelong management, such as COPD, diabetes, high blood pressure and others. For the study, records of 7,257 Medicare COPD patients who had at least one hospitalization in 2010 were reviewed. Researchers were looking

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Research “Everyone was submitting their disease-specific proteins to the supercomputer in Austin and getting their results back in a day,” said Watowich. “We had doctors, faculty and students from seven different countries, including a few from Cuba, and they were all excited. It was really rewarding to see people moving their projects forward and see the science community come together.”

The portal is also helping researchers in Texas and the rest of the U.S. get drug discovery calculations done much quicker. Watowich and his lab at UTMB recently used the portal to find compounds that target a newly identified enzyme involved in obesity.

“The idea is if you can inhibit this particular enzyme, you increase metabolism and those fat cells start burning many more calories, resulting in weight loss,” said Watowich. “We quickly ran the program, got some predictions, and some of the drug leads are now working in the laboratory. We’re now moving forward into animal studies and are in discussion with some pharmaceutical companies that have expressed interested.”

Stan Watowich teaches a workshop in Colombia.

Watowich admits that the drug development process is a long and winding road. Discovering and bringing one new drug to the public is expensive and can take up to 20 years before it’s available in pharmacies. But, he says the DrugDiscovery portal can help researchers take that first step to finding a medication that could ultimately cure disease.

“We are trying to help researchers rapidly combine new ideas and disease targets with advanced computing resources, to produce novel drug candidates.

This resource can set researchers on a productive path forward that they may never have found otherwise.”

So far, researchers have used the portal to complete more than seven million hours of calculations, resulting in dozens of potential new drugs.

The portal is available to any and all interested researchers. It can be accessed at drugdiscovery.tacc.utexas.edu.

for differences in the medical care given by the two types of providers and outcomes of patients. They found that APPs were more likely to prescribe short-acting inhalers or oxygen therapy and to consult with a pulmonary specialist, but less likely to give flu and pneumonia vaccinations compared to physicians. Patients receiving care from APPs had lower rates of ER visits for COPD and a higher follow-up rate with a pulmonologist within 30 days of hospitalization for COPD than those cared for by a physician. The researchers’ findings appear in the journal Plos One. Kenneth Ottenbacher, PhD, professor in the School of Health Professions and associate director of the UTMB Sealy Center on Aging, has received funding from the National Institute of Health to exam health outcomes in Hispanics. The grant, “Long-term Health Outcomes in Mexican American Older Adults,” provides $1.55 million over four years to study the use of health care resources, outcomes and costs in Mexican Americans age 65 and older living in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and California. Information collected over the past 20 years by investigators at UTMB will be analyzed for approximately 2,500 participants in an ongoing

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Watowich (center) with the doctors, faculty and students from seven different countries who attended a recent workshop.

field-based survey studying the natural history of aging in the Hispanic population.

The research will help to better understand frailty and health-related outcomes in older Mexican Americans.

Scott Weaver, PhD, was awarded more than $3.7 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to support the World Reference Center for Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses. This reference center is a comprehensive, diverse collection of over 6,700 virus strains in 21 families, as well as antisera, antigens and other reagents to enable research worldwide.

The funds will be used to maintain a comprehensive set of emerging viruses, arboviruses and associated reagents to support research and surveillance; discover, isolate and characterize newly acquired viruses; perform analyses of selected virus groups to determine evolutionary histories and emergence mechanisms, patterns of spread and infection, and to rapidly determine the sources of new outbreaks; and to train scientists in the identification and characterization of emerging viruses and arboviruses.

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When Jake Wolf walks into the new Jennie Sealy Hospital, he can tell you the story behind every light fixture, piece of furniture and architectural detail that adorns the 765,000-square-foot building.

On a Wednesday afternoon in February, I’m lucky enough to have Wolf lead me on a private tour. As the program director of Capital Projects at UTMB, he has managed more than $650 million in design and construction projects, including the new Jennie Sealy Hospital, Clinical Services Wing and League City Hospital. So, it would be accurate to say he’s been busy lately.

“It’s controlled chaos,” says Wolf. “My calendar is usually filled to the gills and sometimes I’m double- or triplebooked, so I just have to do the best that I can. I enjoy it—it’s challenging, that’s for sure.”

I first meet him at his office before 8 a.m. Coffee in-hand, he’s having a quick huddle with his project managers before they disperse for the day. It’s getting down to the wire to finish up last-minute construction projects and equipment move-in before the first patient is to be transferred into Jennie on April 9.

And with Jennie’s completion in the homestretch, Wolf spends much of his day in meetings.

I try to act like a fly on the wall during the first session with the Jennie Sealy Hospital architect, contractors and UT System Office of Facilities Planning and Construction. A few tense exchanges pop up regarding the “punch list,” a collection of tasks that need to be completed to satisfy the terms of the construction contract. Wolf, however, exudes a calmness and confidence that puts everyone around the table at ease.

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“The most challenging part of the job is all the coordination—I work with architects, engineers, contractors, our folks with Office of Facilities Planning and Construction and numerous consultants,” Wolf says. “There are a lot of opinions, but not everybody gets their way. It’s a challenge to try and balance between the budget, everyone’s wishes and the campus master plan.

Sometimes they can conflict.”

Wolf credits his talented team in Design and Construction with keeping everything running as smoothly as possible: Christy Hermes, a senior project manager who has been in charge of the 10,000 pieces of medical equipment going into the new hospital; Paul Graham, a senior construction manager, who has been at UTMB for 28 years and knows the ins and outs and nooks and crannies of the entire campus; Bryce Burkett, a construction manager; and Carol Luck, a project team coordinator who was recently named the office “MVP.”

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After dropping in on another meeting about medical equipment—apparently, some items have been delivered to the wrong unit and workers are on a hunt to find the missing items on one of Jennie’s 12 floors—Jake suggests we head over to the new hospital and take a look around ourselves.

“There’s always something,” he says with a smile.

As we approach the new hospital, I hear an alarm and spot a few fire trucks sitting outside. Wolf tells me not to get too excited; it’s fire-alarm testing day.

It’s noisy and lively as firefighters roam the lobby area, but when they leave, the hospital suddenly feels eerily quiet— furniture has been moved in, art has been hung and a few contractors in hard hats work contently on last projects—but no patients, doctors or nurses occupy the halls just yet.

station, even an elevator cab to make sure we could get equipment in there in case a patient ‘codes.’ When you walked into the old Lipton Tea Building (1902 Harborside Building), it was literally like walking on to a Hollywood movie set. It was the best way to test everything out and see if it worked.”

We continue our tour at one of Wolf ’s favorite parts of the hospital, the OR, which features 20 state-of-the-art operating suites and intraoperative MRI capability. A “skylight” complete with cloud images accents the ceiling above the iMRI, which is used to get real-time images of the brain during surgery and helps neurosurgeons achieve a more complete removal of brain tumors.

Two workers are putting a coating on the floor next to the high-tech machine. Wolf kneels down to talk to them, checking their work while running his hand over the smooth surface.

Wolf has led several tours lately. He gave a sneak peek of the new hospital to 150 Correctional Managed Care managers, the Sealy & Smith Foundation and a few members of the UT “It’s pretty wild,” said Wolf. “There’s only a few iMRIs in the System Board of Regents. He walks and talks like a seasoned nation that have this capability. It’s a big deal.” tour guide, pointing out the spacious OR I leave Wolf waiting room as we as he runs off “It seems like just yesterday we were pouring make our way to the to another concrete. Jennie is a great gift to UTMB, elevators. meeting—this one regarding On the 11th floor, I’m the island and the people of Texas. So it’s the John Sealy immediately hit with Hospital humbling to be part of that.” the spectacular views renovation. His of the Gulf of Mexico job never stops, and Galveston but he wouldn’t harbor that can be have it any seen from many of other way. It’s the hospital’s patient moments like rooms. It feels more these, as he can like a hotel suite, see a project like with two TVs, a the new Jennie sofa bed for visitors Sealy Hospital and a refrigerator. in its final form, Wolf explains that when he knows plentiful research his hard work has went in to designing paid off. every aspect of the hospital, from the patient rooms to the curved corridors.

“It’s exciting. It’s been over four years, right? It “I drove everyone seems like just Wolf and his talented team in Design and Construction (from left): Christy Hermes, Sr. Project Manager; crazy during yesterday we Paul Graham, Sr. Construction Manager; Bryce Burkett, Construction Manager; Carol Luck, Project Team mock-ups,” said were pouring Coordinator; and Jake Wolf.

Wolf. “I wanted to concrete,” Wolf mock everything says. “Jennie is a up. I created life-sized models of a patient room, an ICU great gift to UTMB, the island and the people of Texas. So it’s humbling to be part of that.” patient room, an operating room, a decentralized nurse’s

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EDUCATION

Initiative paves way for UTMB nurses to obtain BSN degree B y S tephen H adle y

For registered nurses, providing care to patients has become increasingly more complex over the last decade.

From making critical decisions about patients who are sicker and more frail to dealing with a host of issues that require significant training in analysis and synthesis of extensive patient information, registered nurses are dealing with a rapidly evolving health care system.

To better equip nurses to handle the rigors of their changing workplaces, the Institute of Medicine in 2010 recommended that a more educated nursing workforce was the answer. In fact, the organization called for 80 percent of registered nurses to hold a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree by 2020 to better prepare them for careers in the profession.

UTMB has had an RN to BSN program since the 1980s, according to Carol Wiggs, PhD, associate professor and the RN-BSN track administrator. But the newer iteration of the program— which takes place over two semesters with classes held online— is focused on providing education that makes nurses bedside leaders.

Thanks to the RN 2 BSN Award Program launched last year, selected UTMB RNs are provided upfront tuition and required books to attend the UTMB School of Nursing for the two-semester program.

“The Health System initiative was to have 50 of our UTMB registered nurses who have associate’s degrees to go through our RN to BSN program over the next two years to get their bachelor’s degrees,” Wiggs said.

The first 23 students enrolled in the RN 2 BSN Award Program are set to graduate in April. The next group of UTMB RNs will begin classes this fall.

“Our program is not like other RN to BSN programs,” Wiggs said.

“Our focus is on leadership, patient safety and quality outcomes, and that’s what makes it unique.

“The nurses who complete the program are grounded in evidence-based practice. They have a broader knowledge of what’s going on in health care and a more holistic view of what’s going on with an individual patient that goes beyond just a set of skills. They truly become leaders, and that’s where the future of nursing is headed.”

The RN 2 BSN Award Program is specifically geared toward UTMB-selected nurses who have already completed their prerequisite courses for their bachelor’s degrees and are approved for the UTMB School of Nursing’s RN-BSN program.

To qualify for the Awards Program, an employee must be a full-time UTMB RN without a nursing bachelor’s degree who has worked at UTMB for two years or more at the time of their

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From left: Catalina Bekkema and Shelito Alviza, both registered nurses working at UTMB, will be among the first group of students to graduate from the School of Nursing’s RN 2 BSN Award Program in April.

application to the program. In addition, Awards Program applicants must agree to work at UTMB for a minimum of two years following completion of the RN-BSN program.

The program itself has been crafted to vastly expand the knowledge base of practicing nurses, Wiggs said.

The 10 courses in the two-semester program are focused on providing the four knowledge components needed by a baccalaureate-prepared nurse: professionalism and theory, research, community health, and leadership.

“This education takes the registered nurse to another level,” Wiggs said. “I don’t just go in a patient’s room and give them a pill or a diagnostic test. I know why I’m doing it, what the expectations are and what I’m going to look for. It really is educating nurses to have a deeper understanding of a patient’s health and determining a way forward to improving their health.”

Courses in the two-semester RN-BSN program Semester One Foundations for Evidence-Based Practice Contemporary Professional Nursing Clinical Reasoning in Health Assessment Evidence-Based Practice and Research Legal and Ethical Issues in Health Care Career Pathway 1: Assessment and Development

Semester Two Meeting Challenges in Health Care Community and Population-Based Care Leading and Managing in Nursing Career Pathway 2: Expanding Horizons (Capstone project)

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LEADER SPOTLIGHT

Spotlight on Amy Lussier, Health System Operations Amy Lussier joined UTMB in 2013 as director of Health System Special Projects, serving as a liaison between UTMB and the construction design teams for the League City Campus, Clinical Services Wing and Jennie Sealy Hospital. She recently began her new role as associate vice president of Health System Operations, where her areas of responsibility include the League City Hospital and Perioperative and Endoscopy Services, while continuing her work in the activation of the new facilities.

Lussier brings more than 20 years of experience in national program development, design and facilitation of new construction for health care facilities, change management, operation planning and implementation, patient experience and administrative management. She began her nursing career at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston. Lussier earned a Master of Business Administration from Texas Woman’s University and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from UTMB. What does the Road Ahead look like for you?

Since joining UTMB just over two years ago, I have been working with the project teams on the Clinical Services Wing, Jennie Sealy Hospital and League City Campus. As construction comes to an end, the road ahead for me will be to help with opening LCC as we begin to offer new services for our patients. I will also be working with our Perioperative Service teams in both Galveston and League City on strategic planning and systemizing processes to improve margins, efficiencies and workflows. Finally, I am excited to participate on the project involving our partnership with MD Anderson at LCC. I am looking forward to returning to hospital operations and working with the teams to strategize, make the best use of our resources and develop new processes to reach goals. I truly enjoy working with frontline staff and believe they are the key to sustainable innovation and change. We have a remarkable team at UTMB and I am grateful to be a part of it in such exciting times.

As the liaison between UTMB and the construction teams for new facilities, how excited are you to see them come online?

I am beyond excited for our staff to be able to work and our patients to receive care in our new facilities.

Many departments and staff devoted hours to the various stages of the design process to ensure our new facilities provide the tools they need where they need them so they are able deliver exceptional care to our patients.

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You hold a BSN and MBA. How does your combined experience in nursing and business administration contribute to your success?

I believe that nurses are up for any challenge and are natural-born problem-solvers. Nursing is often like mission control as you coordinate care and communication among patients, caregivers, ancillary departments and patient families. I have had some unique roles since becoming a nurse and each one has been rewarding and educational. I never imagined this position while in nursing school, but honestly, I never imagined some of the others either. I was just always up for a new challenge and love change.

The position as a liaison provided an exciting opportunity to work closely with our partners in Business Operations and Facilities, which I thoroughly enjoyed. As a nurse, most of my experience was related to hospital operations, so the opportunity to work with and learn from colleagues in Design and Construction, Facilities, Finance, Information Systems, Environmental Services, Environmental Health and Safety, Portfolio Management, Logistics and all the others in Business and Finance has been invaluable.

The business degree was important for me personally because I wanted to increase my understanding of operations, finance and processes that aren’t directly clinical. I have only scratched the surface in this area and am always seeking new opportunities to learn and work with those wellversed in these fields.

(Above) Amy with her son, Kyle; daughter, Brooke; and Dan Marsh. (Left) Lussier with her daughter, Maddie, in front of the Vatican during a trip to Italy.

I believe the combination of the two degrees gives me an advantage and helps me see the big picture and understand a process from both viewpoints. I also think it helps me communicate more effectively.

Those who know me would say I have no problem talking, but I do not speak finance or IT naturally, so I think the combination helped me understand what information they needed so that I could be better prepared.

What do you like to do outside of work?

Dan and I have five kids, ages 11–16, so the majority of our “free time” is spent at their practices or games. But when we are not at a field or court, I love spending time with them, family and friends, preferably with live music and laughing. We see a lot of concerts and I also love to travel. Last year, my 15-year-old daughter and I spent a week in Greece and Italy, which was incredible. I know I struck it rich with kids, family and friends, so I am open to doing pretty much anything when they’re involved. I have a group of nine friends from fourth grade that still get together regularly. We are also on a group text and “talk” every day. As I get older, I know more and more that the people we are lucky enough to love are the most important asset.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

I want to go to Barcelona and Portugal. I traveled through Spain and loved the culture, art, food and people. I didn’t get to see Barcelona on that trip, so I’ve always wanted to go back, and Portugal has just always been a place I want to see. I am really not a picky traveler though and will go just about anywhere!

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VALUES

UTMB Volunteers and Angleton Danbury Campus Auxiliary:

A Work of Heart

More than 350 active volunteers, including those in Galveston and League City and members of the Angleton Danbury Campus Auxiliary, give their time, energy and passion to serve patients and their families at UTMB’s three campuses.

Whether they’re delivering coffee and seasonal beverages to waiting areas, or providing emotional and spiritual support to patients receiving infusions, volunteers play a vital role in UTMB’s mission to improve health for the people of Texas and around the world.

Take a moment to say “thank you” to our volunteers, and learn a little bit more about several of them throughout the institution who have spent months, years—even decades—of their lives lending their ears and giving a helping hand to those who need it most.

Bobbye Peltier

Amelia Collins

Jim Stricklin

UTMB Angleton Danbury Campus Volunteer for 47 years

UTMB Galveston Campus Volunteer for more than 30 years

UTMB Galveston Campus Volunteer for 20 years

Bobbye Peltier is a floor hostess at UTMB’s Angleton Danbury Campus. She visits every patient who is admitted to the hospital and tries to make their stay more comfortable and pleasant by listening and giving out stuffed animals and fresh flowers. She also works a blood drive once a month and is “the cookie lady”—in charge of handing out homemade refreshments for blood donors.

Amelia Collins volunteers in the Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Unit at UTMB’s Galveston Campus.

Bilingual in English and Spanish, she visits with patients and provides company for those who don’t have any visitors or just want to talk. In 2014, she was named UTMB’s Volunteer of the Year.

Jim Stricklin is in charge of a beverage cart that he takes all over John Sealy Hospital and UTMB Health Clinics on the Galveston Campus. He also collects magazines from around the community and distributes them throughout the hospital. On most weekday mornings, he shows up around 5:30 a.m. to start brewing coffee and make his rounds. If it’s a holiday, you may even see him in costume!

Why do you volunteer at UTMB? I’m actually one of the charter members of the Auxiliary of Angleton Danbury Medical Center, now called UTMB Health Angleton Danbury Campus Auxiliary, a group of more than 200 volunteers. There was a definite need for a hospital in our local area and I went over to check it out and got hooked. I’ve been a floor hostess since May 1969. My husband and I were rice farmers, but I still found time to volunteer. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you can do whatever you set our mind to, and as the mother of eight children, I wanted to set a good example for them.

I’m 87 years old now and have volunteered nearly 30,000 hours. I’ve seen many changes over the years, but I always enjoy making a stranger feel better. If someone needs extra attention, I visit them and give them a pocket angel. One experience that has stuck with me occurred several years ago, when a man was dying and one of the nurses asked if I would sit with the family. We all stood around his bed holding hands and singing a song. I can’t carry a tune, but they didn’t care! It was a moving experience and he passed away peacefully.

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In 2015 alone, Galveston and League City volunteers donated more than 12,400 hours, and ADC Auxiliary members donated nearly 20,000 hours!

Why do you volunteer at UTMB? I’m a proud BOI (Born on the Island) and was born at UTMB 84 years ago—I trained here, worked here, retired here and now I’m volunteering here! I’ve always felt like I’m here to give the best that is in me to my church, my family and my community.

I started volunteering at UTMB while I was still working in Surgical Pathology. During my lunch hour, I would rock babies in the pediatric hospital. When I retired from UTMB in 1994, I continued volunteering and now visit with elderly patients in the ACE Unit—I’m among my peers there and many of them are actually younger than me. Many of the patients are lonely because they don’t have any family members who can stay with them, so I will sit down next to them and provide some company. Sometimes, you just hold their hand and sometimes, they don’t want you to leave. Many patients tell me I made their day because no one has visited them except for nurses and doctors, so it’s very rewarding.

What do you like most about volunteering at UTMB? I like to bring laughter and smiles everywhere I go, especially to the OR waiting area, where people may be nervous because they have a loved one in surgery. I’ll go in there and tell them I have fresh coffee. If it’s a Wednesday, I’ll say, “I just made it fresh . . . last Friday.” And people are like, “Friday?!” and start laughing. I also dress up in costume and decorate my coffee cart every holiday that the clinics are open, including Mardi Gras. I’ve been doing it for years and people really get a kick out of it. Just about every day, people come up and thank me for doing what I’m doing—many times they even try to tip me, but I refuse.

Before I started volunteering at UTMB, I was a correctional officer at Hospital Galveston and would escort offenders over here to see the physicians. So, I already knew many of the doctors, nurses and staff. When I retired in 1996, I started volunteering four or five days a week. I tell people that volunteering is what keeps me alive—I love doing this.

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VALUES

Carl Schutz

Lavenia LaGrone

Ruth Des Jardins

UTMB Galveston Campus Volunteer for 15 years

UTMB Galveston Campus Volunteer for 6 years

UTMB League City Campus Volunteer for 11 months

Carl Schutz is a Pastoral Care volunteer at UTMB’s Galveston Campus. On Tuesday mornings, he can be found visiting with patients receiving infusions on the third floor of UTMB Health Clinics.

As a lay chaplain, he provides support for the spiritual, religious, emotional and value concerns of patients.

Lavenia LaGrone is a volunteer in the Emergency Department at UTMB’s Galveston Campus.

She is the “go-to” person for any administrative duty needed, including filing, preparing spreadsheets, maintaining mailboxes and lockers for employees, answering phones and running errands.

Ruth Des Jardins offers beverages to patients and visitors at UTMB’s League City Campus. Most Thursday afternoons, she wheels a drink cart to the different patient areas, sharing a laugh and quenching any thirst.

What do you like most about volunteering at UTMB? The people. I see a lot of the same patients every week while they are receiving treatment, and the nurses and doctors are like family to me. Most of the time, you can find me in the infusion room in the Cancer Center. I roll up a stool next to patients receiving an infusion like chemo, iron or blood and introduce myself as a lay chaplain. If they don’t want to visit, they can say “no, thank you,” but the majority of patients start talking. If they want to pray, I pray with them, but I try not to come off as an evangelist—I’m just there to give them some distraction and get their mind off the situation they are dealing with. If I can get one person’s mind off their concerns for one minute, that’s worth my whole year.

Some of the best moments are when I start talking with somebody who’s not in a particularly good mood and doesn’t really want to talk, but I find a way to engage with them. By the time they leave, they are smiling and laughing. It’s like their whole demeanor has changed and they walk a little higher. It makes me feel like I’ve done something to help them.

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Why do you volunteer at UTMB? I worked at UTMB as a research chemist for 35 years prior to my retirement in 2005. My last position was with Dr. Bill Mileski in his research lab in the ED, so it’s nice to be able to give back to the department.

After UTMB reopened following Hurricane Ike, I had a doctor’s appointment, and after the appointment, I stopped by to say “hi” to the staff in the ED office. Prior to the storm in 2008, there were about six or eight administrative people working there, but after the storm, there were only two. I asked if they needed help and the rest is history. I have been volunteering two mornings each week since then. Besides enjoying learning to do the different tasks, volunteering gets me up and out of bed each morning with a purpose.

In addition to volunteering at UTMB, I volunteer three mornings each week at the Turning Point Food Pantry. The truth be known, I really need to feel like I am making a difference each day in some way.

Why do you volunteer at UTMB? I am a BOI (Born on the Island) and recently moved back to Texas from New Mexico after the passing of my husband in 2014.

After spending a few months getting settled in my home, I felt that I needed something to fill my life—sitting in my easy-chair watching TV was not an option.

I needed to give back and keep my life busy. My daughter, who lives in League City and works for UTMB, told me about volunteer opportunities at Victory Lakes.

The facility is a perfect fit and I don’t have to travel very far from home. I now volunteer on Thursdays and offer drinks of water, coffee and lemonade from my cart. Of course, sometimes people ask me for a cocktail, but I just smile and tell them the bar is closed until 5 p.m. I love the communication I have with people.

Sometimes they just need a friendly word and a smile.

UTMB’s Volunteer Services recruits, orients and trains volunteers to participate in a wide variety of opportunities throughout UTMB’s hospitals and clinics. If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer at UTMB, visit www.utmbhealth.com/volunteer. For more information about the ADC Auxiliary, call 979-849-2152.

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GOOD NEWS

UTMB husband and wife team have been leading medical mission trips since the 1970s B y K irsti A nn C lifford

A trip to help build a hospital in India. A summer spent walking from village to village in mountainous Appalachia, providing health care to underserved populations. Those were the defining moments, years ago, when Drs. Ben and Sharon Raimer found their passion for traveling and helping the less fortunate.

Most of the time, they travel as a team—and they like to share the experience with students.

Hands and Feet Medical Missions began as an initiative of the Baptist Student Ministry at UTMB shortly after Hurricane Ike. Ben and Sharon act as advisors to the student-led organization, which focuses on the delivery of health care to marginalized populations in Texas and beyond. The group takes several trips to small communities in Texas, as well as one big trip to Peru every year.

“Traveling to India during medical school at UTMB is when I realized how much I could do,” said Ben Raimer, who is senior vice president of Health Most recently, the Raimers joined an interdisciPolicy and Legislative Affairs. “I learned that I plinary group of 37 students, along with Adrianna can’t fix everything—I’ve had babies die in my Drs. Ben and Sharon Raimer in India in 1975.

Laprea, DPT, an assistant professor of Physical lap who were so malnourished and dehydrated, but there are many people you can help and make a big difference.”

Therapy at UTMB, for a week-long trip to Peru in January. The group saw 529 patients in four days, with students taking care of patients’ physical and Sharon, who is chair of UTMB’s Department of Dermatology, agrees with her spiritual health. husband’s sentiments. Over the years, their mission to help the underserved has taken them around the world, from Laredo, Texas, to China, Central and “We go in to some places that haven’t seen any health care in 20 years,” said South America, and even Armenia, where they helped restructure primary care Ben. “In one community, a 93-year old man waited in line for two hours just after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. They could tell endless stories about to tell me how much he appreciated us being there to take care of the kids in their experiences—and the infections and illnesses that aren’t commonly seen the village because they’d never seen a doctor before. Those are life-changing experiences for the students.” in the U.S. “On one of our trips to Nicaragua, I had a group of about 40 people surrounding me as I treated a patient with myiasis, a condition where flies deposit their larvae in a person’s skin,” said Sharon. “When the nodule on the scalp of a child was opened, a worm actually popped up out of his head—that’s not something you see in clinic here!”

Sharon adds that it’s good for students to see how difficult it is for some people to get care in developing countries.

“Besides learning a lot about medicine and getting hands-on experience with patients, I notice that students come back a little bit changed,” she said. “They are more out-centered than in-centered. And we see a lot of these students continue to volunteer in their local community or on global projects and it’s great to see that.”

The Raimers point out that what they do is just a small supplement to what other faculty members are doing—UTMB orthopedists, general surgeons, plastic surgeons and others also take teams around the world to do extraordinary work in an inpatient environment.

But, big or small, they know they are making a difference in the lives of students and patients around the world. Ben and Sharon plan on continuing to go on medical mission trips with students as long as they can—and hope to take each trip together.

“It helps me appreciate just how special Sharon is—I don’t get to watch her work at UTMB and it’s great to see her with students,” said Ben. “She’s an incredible teacher and very patient.”

Drs. Ben and Sharon Raimer with SON students Nancy Mai and Kathy Mai during a recent Hands and Feet trip to Peru.

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For more information about Hands and Feet Medical Missions, visit www.texashandsandfeet.com.

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Welcome to the future of health care Jennie Sealy Hospital dedication celebrates UTMB’s resilience and vision B y K irsti A nn C lifford

eries made,” said Cornyn. “Today is about more than just a building, but the future of medical innovation.

With UTMB, the future of health care is bright.”

Following the dedication, attendees were able to tour many floors of the new hospital, including patient rooms and the 20 operating suites and intraoperative MRI room. Nearly all who looked out from the 11th floor patient rooms couldn’t help but comment on the awe-inspiring views of Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Others commented on the beach-themed art throughout the hospital, which features local artists.

“Welcome to your new Jennie Sealy Hospital—an indelible sign of what vision and hope and hard work can inspire.”

President David Callender’s remarks drew a standing ovation from a crowd of about 700 state and local dignitaries, UTMB employees, students, friends and volunteers who gathered in the spacious second floor concourse of the new Jennie Sealy Hospital to witness its formal dedication on Feb. 26.

It was a bright and sunny day in Galveston, as many attendees arrived for their first glimpse inside the $438 million state-of-the-art facility. Callender thanked everyone who made the new hospital a reality after Hurricane Ike devastated the island eight years ago. He noted contributions both large and small—from The Sealy & Smith Foundation’s $170 million gift, to UTMB staff who stood by when the future of UTMB was unknown.

“We will not soon forget you and what you have done for UTMB,” said Callender. “The staffers, who stood on muddy street corners after Ike to hand out paychecks and cash to colleagues because there was no other way to make sure our people got paid. Or the specialists who ran two miles of extension cord so the lights on our tower would shine on the Sunday after the storm passed on Saturday to let people know UTMB was still standing. . . . This is a celebration of a resilient people whose will, determination and just plain stubbornness lifted UTMB from the dark throws of devastation in 2008 into the bright light of this beautiful day.”

As the keynote speaker, U.S. Senator John Cornyn noted UTMB’s rich 125-year legacy and said the new hospital proves that UTMB is in no way slowing down. He mentioned the collective efforts of many, including his friends in the Texas legislature who helped secure funding for the expansion and redevelopment of the medical branch.

“This collective support translates into more lives saved, more doctors trained and more groundbreaking discov-

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“This is awesome!” said Isaac Ohalete, a software systems specialist with the School of Medicine. “I’ve been to a lot of hospitals, but this is breathtaking. It’s so beautiful and amazing. So far, I’ve seen the recovery rooms and Day Surgery areas—and I found my name on the Family Campaign Wall of Honor!”

Dora Kuntz, a clinical educator, will be working on several different floors in Jennie when it opens to patients on April 9. Besides the breathtaking views, she said the space makes a huge difference.

“It’s the openness—there’s just so much more room,” said Kuntz. “You won’t be turning around and tripping on things. Nurses can get in patient rooms to take care of them without saying ‘Excuse me, let me move this chair out of my way so I can get to you.’ It’s just so much more patient and provider friendly. And some rooms have lifts built in already, so that will encourage more mobility, as well. The way this hospital is laid out, patients are going to want to be mobile and up moving around.”

In addition to the bright and spacious healing environment, the new hospital is equipped to weather future storms.

All of the hospital’s activity begins on the second floor, a full 25 feet above sea level, protecting vital functions from flood waters. It’s a reminder that, although Galveston will always face the prospect of another hurricane, UTMB stops for no storm.

To see video and photo highlights from the Jennie Sealy Dedication Ceremony, Employee Open House and Community Open House, visit www.utmb.edu/jennie-sealy/dedication2016.

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Eight tips to save your vision

By Matthew Crookston, OD, UTMB Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences March is National Save Your Vision Month.

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, more than 20 million Americans suffer from severe vision loss.

While not all eye diseases can be prevented, you can take steps now to help keep your eyes healthy and reduce the chances of vision loss in the future.

5. Be aware of family health history.

There are numerous eye diseases that have a hereditary component, including glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. Any information about your family health history that is offered to your eye care provider is valuable.

6. Don’t smoke. Smoking increases the risk for vision loss caused by age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, dry-eye syndrome and other conditions.

1. Schedule an annual eye exam. Thorough examination of the adult eye can reveal problems such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and cataracts, as well as evidence of vascular disease. Exams for children are also important and can screen for disease as well as ensure they have optimally corrected vision to aid in school performance.

2. Wear sunglasses. The AAO recommends wearing UV-blocking sunglasses whenever you’re out in the sun—at any time of the year. Sunglasses should provide 99 to 100 percent protection from UVA and UVB radiation. Wide-brimmed hats, caps and visors can also provide protection.

3. Follow the 20-20-20 rule. If you regularly spend long hours reading or in front of a computer screen, take a quick break every 20 minutes. Look away from your book or screen and focus on something about 20 feet

away for 20 seconds. Artificial tears lubricant drops also may be used to help eye comfort during long periods of computer use.

4. Protect your eyes. Wear protective eye wear such as safety glasses, goggles, safety shields and eye guards when indicated.

Whether protective eye wear is acquired with or without prescription, the lenses and frames should follow Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines for impact tolerance.

7. Eat right and maintain a healthy weight. Diets that are rich in fruits and vegetables, particularly dark, leafy greens, may promote eye health and help protect your vision. Dietary intake of omega-3 fats— found in salmon, tuna, flaxseed, walnuts and beans—are also beneficial. Being overweight increases the risk for glaucoma and diabetes, which can lead to vision loss.

8. Care for contact lenses properly.

Always wash your hands before touching contact lenses and follow your eye doctor’s recommendations for their use, care, replacement and storage. Lenses should be removed immediately if redness, pain or vision changes occur. Consult your eye care provider any time a contact lens-related issue arises.

Pa rt i ng Shot

Fine art is good medicine.

Evidence shows art is an important component of a healing environment.

The new Jennie Sealy Hospital features more than 1,000 pieces of art exuding a calming, coastal vibe. The art decorating the interior of the hospital comes from dozens of artists—about half of whom are from the Houston and Galveston area— and includes paintings, photographs and larger installation pieces. The art even matches the views from the patient rooms.

On the Gulf of Mexico side of the building, you’ll see images of beach scenes and on the Galveston Bay-facing side, you’ll see illustrations of ships and wharves.

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