Moments That Matter

Getting a colleague back on the road

By Ken Harrison

After his bike was stolen, Vincent Campbell, center, was surprised by colleagues on the Hartford Hospital Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit with a special gift.

Vincent Campbell enjoys riding his bike into work — it’s a chance for some exercise, to get some fresh air and enjoy his surroundings before he starts his job as an environmental services floor technician for the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit (IRU) at Hartford Hospital.

This serene daily routine came to an abrupt end last summer, however, when he got off work one day only to discover that his bike had been stolen from the hospital grounds. On that particular day, Campbell had agreed to pick up
a second shift to help cover for a colleague and was shocked to find his bike missing when it was finally time to head home.

Campbell immediately sought the help of the Safety & Security team who reviewed security footage with him to see if they could identify the culprit. But, to their chagrin, security cameras did not catch the thief in action despite showing Campbell pedaling into work and parking his bike that morning.

When Campbell told Renee Fevrier, one of the nurses he works with at the IRU, what had happened, she knew she and her team needed to come together to help one of their own. Without Campbell’s knowledge, Fevrier organized a fund- raising effort and, within a few days, had collected $900, more than enough to help purchase a new bike.

The team wanted to keep this incredible act of camaraderie a surprise for Campbell, so they asked his supervisor to call him into an important “meeting” at which they announced the good news.

“I had no idea what the meeting was about and remember thinking ‘Uh-oh, I hope I’m not in trouble,’” Campbell recalled. “I really couldn’t believe that my coworkers did this for me. I was in shock!

“It feels like we are a family here and I am so grateful to everyone who pulled together to help me. I appreciate the people I work with so much and I know that they appreciate me, too.”


Win-Win: Helping the Homeless and the Environment

By Anne Rondespierre-Riczu

Melissa White sews sleepsacks for the homeless out of instrument tray wrappers that are ordinarily thrown away in the operating room.

A little ingenuity and a lot of compassion is all it took to turn packing material that is typically thrown away into shelter for homeless people.

It started when Melissa “Missy” White, RN, and Dianne Urban, CST — colleagues in the St. Vincent’s Medical Center Operating Room and members of an OR social media page where members share personal experiences, stories and ideas — saw a post giving instructions for turning large instrument tray wrappers used in the OR into sleeping sacks.

These wrappers are normally discarded. However, they are water resistant and, therefore, can help users retain body heat and add an extra layer of protection from the elements.

A little ingenuity and a lot of compassion is all it took to turn packing material that is typically thrown away into shelter for homeless people.

It started when Melissa “Missy” White, RN, and Dianne Urban, CST — colleagues in the St. Vincent’s Medical Center Operating Room and members of an OR social media page where members share personal experiences, stories and ideas — saw a post giving instructions for turning large instrument tray wrappers used in the OR into sleeping sacks.

With the DIY project in mind, White and Urban took several of the wrappers home and got right to work on their sewing machines, creating sacks that can be distributed through local community shelters or given to patients in need when they are discharged from the hospital.

Both women found this to be a wonderful way to give back to the community while helping to reduce the hospital’s carbon footprint by repurposing the instrument tray wrappers.


Food fuels recovery

By Elissa Bass

When a client faced quarantine after being discharged from Natchaug Hospital, Mansfield, and had no way to get food, Angellina Martinez and Michele Kelly knew they needed to do something.

From that need grew the Natchaug Client Pantry, which offers bags of food and toiletries to people returning home after an inpatient unable to care for themselves immediately.

“Imagine coming home from a 10-day stay at a psychiatric inpatient unit and everything in your fridge is bad, and you don’t have anything in the cabinets,” said Kelly, clinical supervisor
of Natchaug’s Adult Psychiatric Inpatient Unit. “We hope we can alleviate a little bit of those stressors.”

The pair initially paid for items by themselves but fundraising efforts have kicked in to help.

“Many people are struggling to get basic needs met, whether it’s food, healthcare or connecting to programs,” Martinez said. “If we can at least fulfill the food insecurity aspect for a few days, that might help clients feel more secure in connecting with programs.”

Food isn’t the only item in the bags. Kelly and Martinez curated recipes using the donated ingredients. From chicken cacciatore to tuna patties, they are helping clients live a healthy life- style even when they are no longer in their care.

They hope to expand the pantry to include children, adolescents and Backus Hospital’s inpatient unit. The goal is to create a partnership with Foodshare to sustain the pantry, allowing it to open to the public.

To donate, you can:

• Visit our Amazon Client Pantry.

• Go to www.natchaug.org/giving and indicate the donation is for the Client Pantry.

• Drop items in the box in Natchaug’s main lobby, 189 Storrs Road, Mansfield.

• Contact Kate McNulty at Katherine.McNulty@ hhchealth.org, 860.465.5909, or Sherry Smardon at Sherry.Smardon@hhchealth.org, 860.465.5910.

Every day, our team does amazing things to benefit patients and the community. Email your moments that matter to susan.mcdonald@hhchealth.org.