Patients supported by advocates, coordinators

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Whether it's making a phone call, making a hotel reservation or answering a complaint, four women who work at two Springfield hospitals make it their business to see that patients and their families receive the best service possible.|ret||ret||tab|

From their office in Ste. 305 of the Cox Medical Plaza Tower II, 3850 S. National, Jamie Whitesell and Mary Beckerdite work as advocates for cancer patients. |ret||ret||tab|

Whitesell said the advocates' job primarily is to connect patients with re-sources.|ret||ret||tab|

"These resources include the Ameri-can Cancer Center, which provides transportation, lodging, educational programs and nutritional supplements for the cancer patients. We have free rooms where people can stay, or the American Cancer Center will pay for hotel rooms for people who live 30 or more miles outside of Springfield," Whitesell said. "There's a gas reimbursement program for people traveling over 100 miles roundtrip to and from Springfield. If someone needs to apply for benefits, we send them to the night acency, or help them fill out the paperwork."|ret||ret||tab|

She said there's a resource center for cancer patients on the third floor of Cox's Medical Plaza II, which has books, videotapes and Internet access.|ret||ret||tab|

All new patients are seen in the radiation center, which is a part of the Hulston Cancer Center, also located at Medical Plaza II. |ret||ret||tab|

Cox's cancer patient advocacy program is paid for by the Glauser Oncol-ogy Fund, which is funded by Rosemary Glauser, whose husband, James Glauser, is a former cancer patient. |ret||ret||tab|

Whitesell said she loves her work with the patients.|ret||ret||tab|

"It really helps them get hooked up to the resources they might not know about."|ret||ret||tab|

Beckerdite agreed.|ret||ret||tab|

"This program is an asset," she said. "People are in shock when they find out they have cancer. They need someone to talk to and are trying to work through this."|ret||ret||tab|

Susan Lansdown and Dana Huckaby, the two women who work as patient relations coordinators at St. John's Regional Health Center, 1235 E. Cherokee, be-lieve that the patient is the focus of what they do.|ret||ret||tab|

Lansdown and Huckaby said that as coordinators, they are to "act as a clearinghouse for concerns, compliments and suggestions from patients and visitors in regard to the care and services provided by our health-care system; provide pa-tients and visitors a safe place in which to express their feelings."|ret||ret||tab|

Both noted that all patient concerns are thoroughly reviewed, and follow-up in-formation is shared with the individual who initiated contact with patient relations. Additionally, information collected by patient relations may be used to identify potential areas of concern in the health system and to evaluate system processes and individual performance. |ret||ret||tab|

Lansdown said the patient relations department, which was created in April 2000, handles an average of 375 contacts each month phone calls, letters, staff referrals and walk-ins.|ret||ret||tab|

The office is located on the first floor of the hospital. |ret||ret||tab|

Huckaby said that when the hospital was smaller, all employees were expected to deal with patient concerns. |ret||ret||tab|

"Our hope is to funnel patients' complaints into one area. Then, the information is put into a database." |ret||ret||tab|

After the information is in the database, Huckaby and Lansdown compile the information into reports.|ret||ret||tab|

"This helps us see where our areas of concern are," Lansdown said.|ret||ret||tab|

In response to the questions and complaints, Huckaby and Lansdown work to get answers and solutions.|ret||ret||tab|

"We try to get an immediate resolution," Huckaby said. "Getting an answer to someone's question may just take a visit to a patient's floor or it can mean two or three phone calls."|ret||ret||tab|

Lansdown said they "offer whatever comfort there is. The patients and their families know there's someone objective to listen to them."|ret||ret||tab|

Huckaby said the patient advocates also receive a lot of compliments about the hospital staff.|ret||ret||tab|

"We share the compliments with the employees or their managers," she said. "Feedback is very important."|ret||ret||tab|

Lansdown believes that communication with the staff also is important.|ret||ret||tab|

"There are more than 7,000 employees at St. John's," she said. "So communication is a real concern. The flow of information can get caught up. The more the employees understand what we do, the more effective we can be."|ret||ret||tab|

The money needed to run the patient relations department comes out of the planning and marketing department's budget. The work the patient relations coordinators do is considered to be a general service to all of St. John's pa-tients. Lansdown said St. John's patient relations department has growth potential. |ret||ret||tab|

"It will take administration giving us direction on how we should grow," she said. [[In-content Ad]]