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Public
Employee Press Commission
honors Sea View Hospital Patient Care Techs
shine
By
ALFREDO ALVARADO
Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center and Home on
Staten Island already highly regarded for the excellent care its staff
provides in the states first brain injury unit and for developing a drug
to cure tuberculosis recently added the 2007 Ernest Amory Codman Award
to its accolades.
The Codman Award, which Sea View won in the Long Term
Care category, is the firstnational health care award to recognize excellence
in patient care. The honor came from the Joint Commission on the Accreditation
of Health Care Organizations.
The staff, made up mainly of DC 37 members
in locals 420, 1549 and 768, were cited for sharply reducing incontinence, a common
problem at long-term care facilities.
Incontinence often causes skin lesions
and falls, not just to patients but also to the staff who assist them. Falls among
the elderly can result in life-threatening injuries.
Working
closely with the union members, management implemented several changes to decrease
the incontinence rate among their patients. They improved the documentation and
evaluation of the program and created an incontinence assessment procedure to
detail the needs of each resident.
A new lift device to transfer patients
to the toilet was introduced. Before this new lift, we used a hydraulic
lift, said Molly Kamalakshan, a Patient Care Technician and member of Municipal
Hospital Employees Local 420. This is a big improvement that allows us to
do our job better.
Together with other union workers, the Patient
Care Technicians played a central role in decreasing incontinence rates at Sea
View from 79 percent in 2003 to 38 percent in 2006, and most importantly, in improving
the quality of life and dignity of the residents.
The PCTs are the
ones who are the most familiar with the routines and habits of the patients here,
said Jean Policastro, director of facility affairs at Sea View. They play
a critical role in that.
This shows the key role our members
play in the health care of New Yorkers, said Local 420 President Carmen
Charles, and what labor and management can do when we work together. | |