Please print and post for staff who do not have access
to e-mail.
UPMC has developed guidelines for UPMC staff who are suspected of having H1N1 influenza. These guidelines, which are available on Infonet, outline the testing procedures for health care workers, including when testing is recommended and how it can be accessed. In addition, the guidelines spell out return-to-work procedures for employees who have tested positive for the virus.
The Infonet site also includes valuable information about preventing the spread of H1N1 and treating yourself or family members with H1N1 or seasonal flu.
In tough times, it’s good to know we can come together to help meet our community’s most critical human service needs. When you give to United Way, even a small donation — just 25 cents per day — can make a big impact:
- $2 per pay can help pay a college application fee for one teen whose family cannot afford the cost.
- $3 per pay can help a senior with grocery shopping, rides to medical appointments, or telephone reassurance.
- $5 per pay covers 10 sessions of home maintenance exercise activities for a low-income person with multiple sclerosis.
- $10 per pay provides a family with one week’s worth of food from a food bank.
As a UPMC staff member, you can direct your contribution wherever you’d like to make an impact — to United Way’s Impact Fund, to community initiatives, to a favorite agency, or to one of many UPMC programs.
To make your donation, visit the United Way Infonet site, or visit www.doyouliveunited.org.
UPMC staff are invited to attend “The Journey to Transform the Patient and Family Experience Begins Here … One Step at a Time.” Part of the Patient and Family Centered Care VisionQuest Workshop Series, the workshop will be held from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, in the Herberman Conference Center at UPMC Cancer Pavilion, UPMC Shadyside.
Topics addressed in the program will include "The Six Steps of PFCC,” “Creating High-Performance Care Teams,” and “The PFCC Tony Awards,” a theater-based presentation showcasing real-world examples of PFCC working groups and high-performance teams at UPMC.
The workshop registration fee for UPMC employees is $25 if paid before Oct. 30, and $50 after that date. To register, visit www.patientandfamilycenteredcare.org, or call 412-641-1857.
A new certificate program at Chatham University will help prepare health care professionals for the future of quality management. Chatham’s new certificate program in health care quality management will be offered at Chatham’s Shadyside campus starting January 2010. The one-year program, offered one evening a week, will provide students with a clear understanding of leading strategies in health care improvement and how to implement lasting change. Students will design real-world projects to create measurable improvements in areas such as patient satisfaction and work flow.
The program, which consists of three three-credit, 14-week-long courses — History and Philosophy of Health Care Quality Management, Tackling Health Care Change, and a capstone project on change management — will enable students to create, implement, track, understand, and report on quality improvement measures to colleagues and hospital leadership. Those enrolling in this program may be eligible for tuition reimbursement.
To register, or for more information, call Chatham University’s College for Continuing and Professional Studies at 412-365-1147.
Winners have been selected from various UPMC facilities for the first of five MyHealth Art Contests sponsored by UPMC Health Plan. These young artists were selected by their facility or wellness committee as having best illustrated “Healthy Eating.”
The winning artwork will be used in posters designed by UPMC Health Plan and distributed at UPMC. Each winner, as well as his or her parent or guardian, will receive a free day at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium in spring 2010.
The next topic, “Stop Smoking,” asks children to illustrate how and why people should quit smoking. The deadline to return submissions to designated wellness committee members for this contest is Friday, Nov. 6. Access the rules, consent forms, contact information, and art contest template on Infonet.
Congratulations to our winners:
Genevieve A., age 6, UPMC St. Margaret
Pierce B., age 5, Seneca Hills Village
Isabela C., age 10, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC
Janaya C., age 9, UPMC Health Plan
Tyler C., age 8, UPMC Northwest
Emily G., age 10, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC
Ella Grace H., age 5, UPMC Bedford Memorial
Stephanie K., age 9, Seneca Manor
Gabriel L., age 7, University of Pittsburgh Physicians
Beth M., age 11, Centers for Rehab Services
Colleen M., age 8, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC
Julianna N., age 10, UPMC Passavant
Lauren S., age 6, UPMC Horizon
Lindsey S., age 8, Churchill
Jaiden T., age 8, UPMC Presbyterian
Zachary V., age 6, Cranberry Place
Mia Rose W., age 7, UPMC Shadyside
Sara Lynne W., age 5, UPMC Braddock
Madison Z., age 8, UPMC Cancer Centers
The next time you are purchasing a product, think about the impact it will have on the environment. When purchasing items that are not durable, or have a limited use (that will become waste in a short time), change your perspective: consider what materials the product is made of and whether some of them can be recycled. By doing so, you will help limit the amount of material that would need to be disposed of in a landfill or incinerated.
When making purchases, ask vendors about the material content of their products and ask how to dispose of their products in an environmentally friendly way.
To learn more about environmentally preferred purchasing, visit the Environmental Initiatives site on Infonet or view UPMC’s systemwide policy, HS-MM0300, Guidelines for Purchasing.
Select your location for this week's news and events specific to your campus or hospital.
Oakland, Shadyside, and Corporate locations
Click here to access past issues of Extra Express.
Click here to send us your feedback and suggestions.
Oct. 16, 2009