- 2009 United Way Campaign: 25 cents a day
- Tuition benefits available for you and your family
- Nursing school earns national recognition
- Be prepared when booking air travel
- Children’s art contest illustrates health and wellness
- Tuition advancement tax withheld this month
- UPMC buys green: Recyclable and reusable packaging
- Campus news
Please print and post for staff who do not have access
to e-mail.
It takes just 25 cents a day to make a difference in someone’s life.
Your donation to United Way of 25 cents a day — $2.50 per pay — can help provide skills training for a physically challenged individual, home safety assessments for seniors, after-school day care programs, and more.
The needs are great, and as individuals alone we certainly can’t help everyone. But working together through United Way we can help so many. All of us together, giving what we can, can become a powerful force to help those in need.
Please make your pledge to United Way today.
Are you thinking about going back to school? UPMC's tuition assistance program provides financial assistance to eligible staff members, their dependent children, spouses, and domestic partners who wish to enhance their careers or further their education. You can find out more about the Tuition Assistance Program on Infonet.
You also can review the new Tuition Discounts page on Infonet, with links to schools that are offering discounts to staff and some family members. Drexel University Online now provides UPMC employees and immediate family members with tuition discounts of 10 to 25 percent. Use partner code "UPMC" to receive your full tuition reduction. In addition to the discounts offered by Drexel, the online courses you take may be eligible for tuition reimbursement.
The UPMC Shadyside School of
Nursing is one of five nursing schools in the United States to
receive designation as a Center of Excellence in Nursing Education by
the National League for Nursing (NLN). The schools received this prestigious
designation at the NLN’s annual Education Summit in Philadelphia last
month.
Read
the press release.
UPMC staff who make airline reservations with Carlson Wagonlit Travel, UPMC's preferred travel agency, should be aware of new U.S. Department of Homeland Security regulations. In order to help ensure safe air travel, the Secure Flight program requires travelers to provide the following data at the time of booking:
- full name (as shown on the government-issued identification the traveler plans to use at the airport)
- date of birth
- gender
Carlson Wagonlit Travel will ask all travelers and travel arrangers for this information when booking each reservation. For more information about the Secure Flight program, visit the Transportation Security Administration website.
UPMC Health Plan is sponsoring a series of five art contests for children ages 5 through 11. Each contest will focus on a different health or wellness topic. The first topic, “Healthy Eating,” featured children’s thoughts on what healthy eating is and how they practice proper nutrition. The names of the winners will be announced in an upcoming issue of Extra Express.
The next topic, “Stop Smoking,” will allow children to illustrate how and why smokers should quit the habit. The deadline to return submissions to designated Wellness Committee members for this contest is Friday, Nov. 6.
Winning artwork from each UPMC facility will be used in posters designed by UPMC Health Plan and distributed at UPMC. Each artist of a featured poster, as well as the artist’s parent or guardian, will receive a free day at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium in spring 2010.
Access the rules, consent forms, contact information, and art contest template on Infonet.
If you receive tuition advancement, remember that some states (including Pennsylvania) and local municipalities consider this benefit to be taxable income. Employees who received tuition advancement for the 2009 summer semester will have applicable state and municipal taxes withheld from the pay they receive on Friday, Oct. 30.
The withholding rate for Pennsylvania state tax is 3.07 percent. The city of Pittsburgh tax rate is 3 percent. Other state and municipal tax rates vary.
For more information about tuition advancement, call the UPMC Employee Service Center at 1-800-994-2752, option 3, or visit the tuition section of Infonet.
The next time you are purchasing a product, think about the impact it will have on the environment.
On average, packaging accounts for more than 50 percent of a product’s waste. One way to reduce UPMC’s impact on environmental waste is to request either recyclable or reusable packaging.
Recyclable lightweight plastics and aluminum packaging reduce the amount of waste because they do not end up in landfills or incinerated, both of which can increase our exposure to hazardous emissions. Heavy-duty plastic film, polymer, glass, and metal containers and heavy-duty waxed boxboard or cardboard are reusable. Biodegradable materials such as paper are also an environmentally friendly choice.
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. 9, 2009