September, 2003
Providing others with the knowledge and education on how to lead healthy lifestyles is what Cindy Murillo, Senior Public Health Nurse clearly enjoys. Working with the Probation Department's "8% Program" at the Youth and Family Resource Center (YFRC) at El Toro, Cindy is currently developing population-based nursing by working with juvenile offenders and their families in the community as part of a multi-disciplinary collaborative team.
"It is very exciting to work in a large collaborative in which our clients are seen differently by each discipline and together we all get a greater perspective of our families as we develop plans to help," said Cindy. "One of my greatest challenges is to develop community health care partnerships to provide holistic and comprehensive service to a population that is largely overlooked and where resources are scarce."
By providing juveniles and their families with basic health screening and counseling, identifying health needs, and assisting them with access to health care and other community resources both in public and private sectors, Cindy sees that with each visit there is an opportunity to help make a positive impact.
"This is an exciting opportunity to develop a new program in an area of nursing that is still being explored," said Cindy. "I have always been an agent for change and I am grateful for the chance to impact the lives of adolescents and their families in a meaningful way."
Cindy began her career with HCA as a Public Heath Nurse for the County's North Region. Within a few months, she accepted a position in Behavioral Health as Patients' Rights Advocate in the Office of Patients' Rights where she worked with children's mental health advocacy and health consumer education for 4 years.
Cindy also had the opportunity to work in Adult Outpatient Mental Health and Children's System of Care Case
There were lots of HCA personnel with their fingers crossed on September 3rd, but that soon changed to rounds of applause and more than a few "high fives" as IRIS, the Integrated Records Information System, sprang to life as scheduled.
All HCA Behavioral Health clinics and Correctional Mental Health Services were part of the big "go-live" event. According to IRIS Team Leader Marcia Desrosiers, there were a few "bugs" reported on the first day but staff members were able to respond to those issues and, all in all, the first day was considered a success.
Leading up to September 3rd, dozens of HCA staff
members participated in hands-on training sessions to familiarize them
with the new system. The feedback received from staff during the
training was very positive and helped to build the level of
excitement that culminated with the entry of the first patient into the new
system. Go-live was also successful because of the long hours put
in by many staff members from Behavioral Health Services,
Correctional Mental Health Services and Information Technology
who worked to customize the system for HCA's needs and made
sure
. . . continued on page 6
With customer service in mind, HCA Information Technology (IT) has launched a new department called the Integrated Help Desk. Last year, IT began looking for innovative ways to bring the Help Desk up to speed in anticipation of an ever-growing computer user base and the new IRIS Enterprise System. HCA computer users can now obtain a single point of contact for all their Information Technology needs by calling 834-3128!
"With a mix of new and existing resources, we are going to raise our level of customer satisfaction and resolve more calls during the computer user's first contact to the Help Desk," said John Crane, IT Help Desk Manager.
IT plans to introduce some great new system enhancements. Particularly visible to the user is Auto E-mail, which will enable users to submit "trouble tickets" via e-mail with the ability to receive updates along the way. Another tool enhancing IT's support is the ability to solve user issues via remote support, or what IT calls the Systems Management Server (SMS). This system will enable front line technicians to virtually sit at your PC, diagnose and fix problems without traveling to your site.
Another customer service plan that IT is pleased to announce is the introduction of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between the customer and PC support, which will define terms of service including response time, fix time, guidelines for customer contact, and related matters.
IT will also be adding an automated enhancement to send out regular surveys to their end users in order to gauge how well IT is doing, and to see how well users are responding to the new Integrated Help Desk system. Expect to see surveys coming your way soon!
"The most important part of the Help Desk experience is the people. Without a talented and friendly staff we would fall short of our goal of being a "single point of contact," said John Crane. "We are also very fortunate to have Lynn Burkhart who took the lead in defining exactly what IT needed to implement the new system by meeting with customer relationship software vendor, TouchPaper, and drawing best practices defined from the Help Desk Institute."
John adds that with the addition of Mike Franco, Christy McCabe, Shirley Moreno, Rene Larios, and Sharon Economen, the Help Desk staff will be able to better assist HCA's PC users with the wealth of knowledge that they bring to the new department.
For more information about the new Integrated Help Desk, visit IT's Intranet site at http://balsam/intranet/it and see the FAQ's and Self Help links for helpful tips. Remember to call 834-3128 for any troubleshooting questions regarding your PC.
The Health Care Agency and the Office on Aging, together with the Caregiver Resource Center, will host a series of workshops at the Hall of Administration Board Hearing Room on October 15th and November 14th to assist County employees in caring for a loved one.
Employees will have the opportunity to learn about techniques, tips and resources for on-going care as well as learn ways to take better care of themselves. The workshops will also include an interactive session to explore various scenarios related to each topic. The two upcoming workshops include:
•
"Caregiving Tips from Professionals"
Wednesday, October 15th
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
•
"Memory Loss: Alzheimer's and Other Dementias"
Friday, November 14th
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For more information about the workshops or to reserve a seat, please
call (800) 510-2020. You may also submit scenario suggestions for the
interactive portion of each workshop session to
Maxine.marcus@csa.ocgov.com.
Gold Star
Management. She then moved on to work as a Public Health Nurse at Orangewood Children's Home and Juvenile Hall, which eventually led to her current position.
According to her colleagues, Cindy continually goes above and beyond her duties and genuinely cares for the well being of her clients. She is a dedicated and knowledgeable nurse who strives to provide guidance and support to both her clients and co-workers.
Cindy's extensive nursing background was a result of beginning her healthcare career as a nursing assistant at the age of 16. She completed an Associate's Degree in Nursing at Chapman College and became licensed as a registered nurse and later received a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing and Public Health Nursing from Cal State Fullerton. She also participated in specialized training at UCI Medical Center in
The American Lung Association's (ALA) Golden Lung Award was presented to the Orange County Board of Supervisors at the August 26th Board meeting to recognize Orange County for achieving an 95% or higher overall non-smoking compliance rate in stand-alone bars and bar/restaurant combinations.
Representatives from the Orange County chapter of ALA, and Theresa Boschert from BREATH, a statewide program of the ALA, were on hand to present the award to Chairman Wilson. Members of HCA's Tobacco Use Prevention Program (TUPP) and Dr. Mark Horton, County Health Officer, also joined in the presentation.
Working together to help keep the community healthy, HCA's TUPP program collaborates with various community agencies and organizations to decrease tobacco use and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in Orange County. For more information, or to report businesses in violation of the California Smokefree Workplace Law, call TUPP at (714) 541-1444
Neonatal Intensive Care and as a Labor and Delivery Nurse.
Even prior to joining the Health Care Agency, Cindy continually found ways to expand her effect on clients. While working in hospital-based nursing, she developed areas such as perinatal loss interventions and policy in a local hospital, served as an infant CPR instructor, participated as a speaker for the Orange County Chapter of the March of Dimes, and developed a high-risk neonatal home care program in San Diego.
Cindy is also currently working with Public Health Nurses for Juveniles at Risk, a group of Southern California nurses working to meet the needs of adolescents in the Juvenile Justice System. In addition, she is a member of the California Juvenile Justice Health Care Committee.
Her joy of helping others, especially children, is evident when Cindy recalled a memorable moment when she knew that her efforts clearly made an impact on a teenage client who was at first resistant to her health teachings during initial visits.
"She slowly began reaching out and asking me questions about STD risk reduction and pregnancy prevention," Cindy said. "And then during a home visit, the girl had asked me to help educate her cousins. With no time permitting, she asked for my brochures that I use to teach these topics and began to teach her cousins and friends about what she learned."
Cindy adds that her client had no future goals before they met, but now she plans to join the Air Force after completing high school and would like to take courses on how to become a Public Health Nurse.
"This is why I do what I do," Cindy added. "Nurses
empower people through care and education to help them find
healthier lifestyles … and sometimes even more than that."
HCA employees were honored at the Employee Recognition Awards ceremony held on Wednesday, July
30th for their
dedicated years of service and outstanding contributions to HCA. Honorees were presented with years of service pins
and a certificate to commemorate their dedication. The ceremony also included Public Administrator John Williams
who presented one of his staff with a service award. The following is a listing of awards presented:
5 Years of Service 65
10 Years of Service 24
15 Years of Service 20
20 Years of Service 8
25 Years of Service 1
30 Years of Service 0
Due to a camera malfunction, the group photo of Behavioral Health staff unfortunately did not turn out. We would like to congratulate the following staffers who were presented with service award pins and certificates by Sandra Fair, Chief of Behavioral Health Operations, during the July 30th Recognition Awards ceremony.
20 Years: • Mary Morris
15 Years: • Gregory Masters • Shirley Romano • Christine Uyeno
5 Years: • Stephen Hatch • Mary Keesey • Chandara Lee • Karen Litfin • Eva Perez
Mark your calendars to attend a grand opening and open house event on Wednesday, October 15th from 3 to 6:30 p.m. to celebrate the addition of a new California Children's Services (CCS) medical therapy unit (MTU) in the City of Garden Grove.
The new center, located at 6202 Cerulean Street, is a collaborative effort between the County of Orange, CCS and the Garden Grove Unified School District. The new MTU will provide physical and occupational therapy services to children with physical disabilities.
For more information about California Children's Services or the upcoming open house, call the CCS program at (714) 347-0300.
With the start of annual Compliance training just a few days away, many HCA employees are choosing the convenience of on-line training to complete their 2003 Compliance update.
For the first time, HCA staff and contractors can choose between classroom sessions and computer-based training as the Agency puts the power of its computer network to work to accommodate the more than 2,000 people who participate in the annual refresher training. "We hope that staff will find the e-training to be not only more convenient but also to be just as engaging and interactive as the classroom sessions," said Senior Assistant Compliance Officer Jeff Nagel. The computer training provides on-line resources, and employees are encouraged to contact the Office of Compliance if they have any questions or comments from the training. "The e-training will also help the Agency use its personnel and financial resources more wisely during this period of concern over state and local budget issues." Those staff members with access to an HCA computer are urged to utilize e-training with the approval of their supervisor or manager. Remember, the e-training is to be done on county time during normal work hours.
In case you haven't yet registered for training, make sure you sign up as soon as possible. The schedule of face-to-face Compliance training sessions may be adjusted depending on the response to the e-training opportunity. Both the e-training and face-to-face sessions will cover the same information to ensure that all Agency employees receive an appropriate annual refresher.
If you have any questions about the 2003 Compliance training effort,
please call the Office of Compliance at (714) 568-5614.
The HCA Compliance Program offers a
confidential telephone hotline to voice your concerns about
any situation that may conflict with Compliance
Program principles. You may call the hotline 24 hours a day, 7
days a week at:
(866) 260-5636
What's UP is a newsletter for employees of the County of Orange, CA, Health Care Agency.
Editors
Tricia Landquist
Howard Sutter
Anne Fialcowitz
Your Input
Phone (714) 834-6644
E-mail TLandquist@ochca.com
FAX (714) 834-7644
Pony Bldg. 38-S, 4th Floor
Your HCA Labor Management Committee (LMC) is pleased to introduce the new "Team Excellence Awards"! This is a terrific opportunity to spotlight groups within the Health Care Agency that exemplify the principles of Enlightened Leadership and Team Excellence in creative and collaborative action. It is easy to spot a team that functions like a well-oiled machine, but what characteristics do they have? Characteristics such as clearly defined goals, valuable roles for each team member, positive and creative thinking, effective communication, and commitment to solutions, are just a few examples.
Most people are familiar with the LMC's efforts in successfully resolving workplace issues, but the LMC also has a vision to create a more productive and rewarding workplace environment and to encourage employees to work together to accomplish common goals. The LMC's Project Development Subcommittee created the concept for the Team Excellence Awards, patterned after the County's "Woman of the Year Award," and, with the support of the entire HCA LMC, has been working on this project for the past year.
The objectives of this awards program are:
• To identify the qualities and characteristics of effective work teams,
• To encourage teams to exemplify the principles of Enlightened Leadership,
• To recognize and reward teams and employees for their efforts that have resulted in increased service, productivity or effectiveness.
It's easy to nominate your team or a team you know. Just complete the Application Form, with information regarding the team members, supervisor and reference names and contacts and provide additional information addressing the following five criteria:
• The team's skills in planning, prioritizing, delegating, evaluating, communicating and problem solving,
• The ways in which the team excels in their job and exhibits unique traits and performance that highlight the principles of Enlightened Leadership,
• How the team has handled setbacks, overcome obstacles, and successfully met challenges, and
• How the team's efforts and accomplishments have provided better service, improved performance and productivity, and improved morale.
The winning team will be highlighted in a future "What's Up" newsletter issue, expanding on what characteristics/methods the team used to work successfully to complete their project. The team and individual members will also be recognized at a future HCA Awards ceremony and each member of the winning team will receive a certificate from the LMC.
The Application Form, Nomination Criteria and one page description of
the Characteristics of Excellent Teams is available to download on HCA's
Intranet at
http://balsam/intranet/lmc/team.asp.
Let's celebrate those effective teams that work well together to accomplish a
common goal and who are role models for our Agency!
that all of the necessary equipment was in place.
Go-live was truly just a first step for HCA, as IRIS will be expanded in the coming weeks and months to serve other facilities and provide additional capabilities. Our congratulations to all of those involved in the IRIS project for their contribution to its success on the first day and in the years to come!
October Health Observances
Family Health Month
Healthy Lung Month
National Brain Injury Awareness Month
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
National Dental Hygiene Awareness Month
National Spina Bifida Awareness Month
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Awareness Month
Mental Illness Awareness Week 5 - 11
National Child Health Day 6
National Depression Screening Day 9
National Adult Immunization Awareness Week 12 - 18
National Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Week 19 - 25
—Leonardo da Vinci
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