Author: Chris DeFrancesco

UConn Health Auxiliary: A 50-year Legacy

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Debbie Baril manages the Connucopia Gift Shop at UConn Health, which is run by the UConn Health Auxiliary. (Photo by Tina Encarnacion)

The UConn Health Auxiliary is in its 50th year of existence. Over that time, “The Good Deed People” have contributed more than $9 million to UConn Health.

The Auxiliary runs the Connucopia Gift Shop, both the main store in the University Tower (main level next to Starbucks) and the kiosk on the first floor of the Outpatient Pavilion, as well as the UConn Health Auxiliary Thrift Shop on Park Road in West Hartford. Whenever you patronize those shops, or any of the vendors who visit UConn Health during the year, or any of the vendors who come to the Spring Market or the Festival of Trees and Winter Faire (look for more details in the weeks to come), you’re supporting UConn Health by supporting the Auxiliary.

The UConn Health Auxiliary Patient and Family Education Center in the Outpatient Pavilion was dedicated in November 2015. Pictured, from left, are Irene Engel, Dr. Andy Agwunobi, Mary Louise Wadsworth, Margo Granger, Dr. Bruce Liang, Debbie Baril, Swapna Das, Ellen Cartun, and Ann Lazarek. (Photo by Defining Studios/Roger Castonguay)

Historic contributions include:

More recent contributions include:

  • Scholarships and student travel funding
  • Cancer survivors’ program
  • Patient assistance program
  • Web cams in the NICU (with the Farmington Rotary)
  • The UConn Health Auxiliary Patient and Family Education Center in the Outpatient Pavilion, including two interactive kiosks
  • Providing notebooks for patient education in both the Outpatient Pavilion and the UConn John Dempsey Hospital

New members and volunteers are always welcome!

UConn Health August 2018 Programs, Events

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Here is a list of UConn Health programs scheduled for August and early September 2018. This information will be updated with any additions or other schedule changes.

Bladder Cancer Support Group
Saturday, Aug. 4, 2 to 3 p.m., UConn Health, Onyiuke Dining Room
Patients, family members and caregivers (not limited to UConn Health patients) are invited to join others whose lives have been touched by bladder cancer. This support group, established in partnership with the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, usually meets on the first Saturday of the month and is the only group of its kind in New England. Call 888-901-BCAN for more information.

Breastfeeding Class
Thursday, Aug. 8, 6 to 8 p.m., UConn Health Outpatient Pavilion, 3rd floor large conference room S3301
A certified lactation consultant leads a discussion of topics including the benefits of breastfeeding, how to get started, and how the rest of the family can help the breastfeeding mother as well as how to continue breastfeeding and working. Fee is $25 per couple. Call 800-535-6232 to register or for more information.

Free Hospital Maternity Tours
Saturday, Aug. 11, 2 p.m., UConn Health, University Tower lobby
A representative will guide you through labor and delivery, postpartum, and the nursery at the UConn John Dempsey Hospital. Children and grandparents are welcome. Call 800-535-6232 to register or for more information.

Free Cosmetology Services for Cancer Survivors
Monday, Aug. 13, 1 to 3 p.m., UConn Health Outpatient Pavilion, 4th floor
“Look Good…Feel Better” is a free program to help improve the self-image and self-esteem of women experiencing appearance-related side effects from cancer treatment. During this hands-on workshop, a trained volunteer certified cosmetologist will teach women how to cope with skin changes and hair loss using cosmetic and skin care products donated by the cosmetic industry. Classes are offered every other month and are not limited to UConn Health patients. Please call 860-679-7820 to register (required).

Childbirth Preparation Class
Wednesday, Aug. 15, 6 to 10 p.m., UConn Health Outpatient Pavilion, 3rd floor large conference room S3301
This one-day class covers anatomy and physiology of pregnancy and labor, emotions of pregnancy, nutrition, fetal growth and development, comfort measures for labor, working with unexpected events in labor, cesarean delivery, and practice of relaxation and breathing techniques for labor. Class size is limited to eight couples. Remember to bring two pillows and wear comfortable clothing. Light snack is provided. Fee is $100. Call 800-535-6232 or 860-679-7692 to register or for more information.

Living With Heart Disease Meeting
Thursday, Aug. 16, 11 a.m. to noon, UConn Health, University Tower, 2nd floor conference room
Men and women affected by heart disease meet on the third Thursday of every other month to discuss post-diagnosis topics such as prevention and wellness, social and emotional support, heart-healthy recipes, coping strategies and resources. Significant others and caregivers are also welcome to attend. Please call Sue at 860-679-3633 for more information.

Breast Cancer Support Group
Thursday, Aug. 16, 7 to 8 p.m., UConn Health, Onyiuke Dining Room
This is a support group intended for women under the age of 45 who’ve been diagnosed with non-metastatic breast cancer. Women at any point in their cancer survivorship journey are welcome. Meetings are the third Thursday of the month. To register or more information, call 860-679-7820 or email tillinghast@uchc.edu.

Infertility Peer Support Group
Thursday, Aug. 16, 7 to 8:30 p.m., Center for Advanced Reproductive Services, 2 Batterson Park Road, Farmington.
The Greater Hartford chapter of RESOLVE, a national nonprofit resource for those facing the challenges of infertility, offers support, information and confidential, informal, peer-led discussions on the third Thursday of the month. To learn more or to check for weather-related cancellation, call 860-523-8337.

Stroke Survivor Group
Wednesday, Aug. 22, noon to 1 p.m., UConn Health Outpatient Pavilion, 3rd floor
The UConn Health Stroke Center invites stroke survivors, families and caregivers to a monthly group meeting to discuss topics such as prevention, coping methods, support systems, rehabilitation tips, resources, and promoting independence. The Stroke Survivor Group generally meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Call 860-679-4846 for more information.

Free Hospital Maternity Tours
Saturday, Aug. 25, 2 p.m., UConn Health, University Tower lobby
A representative will guide you through labor and delivery, postpartum, and the nursery at the UConn John Dempsey Hospital. Children and grandparents are welcome. Call 800-535-6232 to register or for more information.

Free Workshop: “Things to Consider Before Joining a Research Study”
Monday, Aug. 27, 5 p.m., UConn Health, Onyiuke Dining Room
The UConn Health Human Subjects Protection Office offers an educational session about the rights and responsibilities of participants in research projects on the last Monday of the month. Registration is required: 860-679-8802 or cagganello@uchc.edu.

Living Well With Epilepsy: A Support Group for Young Adults
Saturday, Sept. 1, noon to 1:30 p.m., UConn Health Outpatient Pavilion, 2nd floor large conference room S2010
The Epilepsy Foundation of Connecticut, in partnership with the UConn Health Department of Neurology, offers a support group for young adults who live with epilepsy. This group is open to those aged 18 to 30 who would like to join others to share experience, gain peer support, and learn together about epilepsy and overcoming its challenges to live well. The group generally meets on the first Saturday of the month. Please call 860-346-1924 or email manzelone.efct@sbcglobal.net for more information.

Bladder Cancer Support Group
Saturday, Sept. 1, 2 to 3 p.m., UConn Health, Onyiuke Dining Room
Patients, family members and caregivers (not limited to UConn Health patients) are invited to join others whose lives have been touched by bladder cancer. This support group, established in partnership with the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, usually meets on the first Saturday of the month and is the only group of its kind in New England. Call 888-901-BCAN for more information.

Free Hospital Maternity Tours
Saturday, Sept. 8, 2 p.m., UConn Health, University Tower lobby
A representative will guide you through labor and delivery, postpartum, and the nursery at the UConn John Dempsey Hospital. Children and grandparents are welcome. Call 800-535-6232 to register or for more information.

Directions to UConn Health are available at health.uconn.edu/locations.

Coast to Coast Riders Racking up Miles

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The UConn medical and dental students making their way across the country by bicycle this summer continue their progress home from Washington state, with some now having reached the Eastern time zone.

Zach Giaconne, Josh Goodman and Brian Leland, all going into their second year in the UConn School of Dental Medicine, make up the first of three teams on the 2018 Coast to Coast tour. They were the first to fly to Seattle June 4 and are leading the way home, having just reached western New York.

Five other students also are pedaling their way back to Connecticut. Proceeds this year benefit the statewide nonprofit Mental Health Connecticut.

Second-year medical students Pat Lau and John Sullivan make up Team 2; they left Connecticut June 9 and just reached Niagra Falls. Team 3 left June 12 and includes Christine Donat, Taylor Larese, and Curtis Xu, also medical students. At last check, they had reached Minneapolis.

The students are aiming for a mid-August return to Connecticut. So far they have raised more than $13,000 toward their goal of $20,000.

Team 1 is posting updates on Instagram, while Team 3 is maintaining the Coast to Coast 2018 blog.

Those interested in supporting this year’s ride can make an online pledge at http://mhconn.org/UCONN.

 

Looking at Us: Alka Sharma, Epic Architect

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Alka Sharma receives a PAWS Award from Dr. Scott Allen (left) and Dr. Andy Agwunobi (right) March 29, 2018, in Keller Auditorium. (Kristin Wallace/UConn Health photo)

The cheers were loud when Alka Sharma was presented with a PAWS Award this spring. It’s a testament to the numerous colleagues who understand and appreciate her contributions, particularly to the transition to our new electronic health record, UConn HealthONE. Alka is an application architect in the Information Technology Department who, among other things, was instrumental to the technical dress rehearsal, or TDR—the testing of the functionality of every work station that would use HealthONE to ensure device compatibility. She lives in Southington.

Describe the HealthONE journey and your role in it?

My HealthONE journey has been fun. It has included many highs, a few lows, and more than a couple unexpected twists and turns. I have learned many valuable lessons and insights about myself, my abilities, and most importantly, my true potential.

I have been fortunate enough to work under four different chief information officers. Each of them saw some kind of potential and assigned me challenging and high-profile projects. I remember talking to Bruce Metz, our current CIO, and asking to lead “Technical Dress Rehearsal” (TDR) alongside project manager Dean Moroniti.

Alka Sharma

Favorite movie:
“The Emperor’s Club” with Kevin Kline

Favorite holiday:
Thanksgiving—John and I cook for the entire family and they enjoy each and every dish!

Favorite place to visit:
California

Famous person you’d most like to meet:
Michelle Obama… and I’d really love to have lunch with Dr. Andy one day.

Something about you today that your younger self would never believe:
I would play a key role in an Epic implementation for a hospital.

Bruce brought a unique perspective to my personal and professional development and his wisdom pushed me to see things about my own leadership capabilities and aptitudes that I had never seen, fully appreciated or understood in myself before.

I report directly to AVP of Strategic Projects Rob Darby, who is clearly interested in helping me grow as an employee. I continue to emulate his energy, expertise, and vision for UConn. Rob has also provided me many opportunities to grow in my role. He empowers me to make decisions in my current role and is open to new ideas. However, my thirst for learning and passion for work makes Rob’s job a bit difficult.

What is your assessment of how we’re doing with HealthONE so far?

Our go-live (April 28) was very successful. Our open ticket rate was below 20 percent after five weeks. I think we are doing great. HealthONE’s success is largely a collaborative effort from all of the HealthONE analysts, who deserve recognition as well.

What was your reaction to being honored with a PAWS award this spring?

I was overwhelmed and humbled by the nomination from [application analyst] Cori Brown. It’s a great feeling to be recognized by your peers. It was a busy month as we were preparing for go-live, yet a lot of people showed up to support my nomination, which made it even more special.

How would you describe the changes you’ve seen at UConn Health since your arrival here?

All the changes that I have witnessed in IT have been very positive, specifically the decision to move to our integrated system, HealthONE. Some folks have left but new people joined, bringing fresh outlook to technology and research, and they have made transformative changes to enhance patient care.

Personally, I love change because it gives one an opportunity to learn, unlearn old things and relearn new things.

What do you like to do when you’re not at work?

I like to watch inspirational videos on YouTube and love ironing to de-stress.

More Addresses Than 263 Farmington Ave.

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UConn Health’s main campus has 12 buildings on 164 acres, yet it’s all considered a single address. In the age of GPS, that can make it tricky to find a specific location within 263 Farmington Ave.

Proposed address changes map detail
Wake up that GPS! (Click image for larger view)

What if we could instead have unique addresses for several of our buildings?

As we prepare our application to the town of Farmington on this matter, we’d like to share a draft plan with you and hear your thoughts and suggestions.

We’re thinking of the following changes:

  • Renaming the road leading to the University Tower “Hospital Drive”
  • Changing the rest of East Road to be an extension of Main Road
  • Renaming West Road “Academic Way”

These suggestions are illustrated here, with new hypothetical addresses for the University Tower, Building C, and the Academic Rotunda.

The Administrative Services Building, UConn Musculoskeletal Institute, and Outpatient Pavilion would have Dowling Way addresses, and the Creative Child Center would have a Circle Road address.

What do you think?

Please leave your comments below, or fill out our comment form.

HealthONE Planned Maintenance Sunday, July 15

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The reason for the maintenance:

Planned maintenance for the HealthONE system involves the following:

  • Special Updates (SUs) to our production and training environments by Epic datacenter staff.
  • Network switch upgrade by UConn IT. Switches allow different devices on a network to communicate.

The date and time of the maintenance:

  • HealthONE Maintenance, Sunday 7/15/2018, 1:00 a.m. through 5:00 a.m.

Services that will be down:

We are expecting services to be down during this maintenance window. HealthONE will be in read-only mode (SRO) from 1:00 to 5:00 a.m. on Sunday, July 15.

Users logged into the system will receive a message that a planned downtime is occurring within 15 minutes of the scheduled maintenance. The same message will reappear 5 mins prior to the start of the maintenance window. Users should save their work and logout of the environment.  If users do not log out before the start of the maintenance, they will risk losing any unsaved information.

After 1:00 a.m., your HealthONE desktop icon will provide SRO access. Follow your department’s published downtime procedures.

During this time, the UConn Network Team will reboot the network switches floor by floor, which may cause brief SRO interruption as well as interruptions to all network based applications.  Expect an approximately 15-minute outage per floor.

One notable limitation of the SRO environment is that In Basket is not available. Please use phone or pager for time-sensitive situations, such as a critical result or an urgent consult request.

What will be done then:

Epic datacenter staff will install July updates and UConn Network Team will upgrade network switches concurrently. Once tested by Epic staff it will be turned over to UConn HealthONE IT for validation.

If everything goes as planned:

Once UConn validation is complete users logged into HealthONE will receive notification to log back out of HealthONE (read-only-mode environment) and immediately log back in. This will redirect all users back onto the HealthONE Production environment.

What we need you to do:

Please post in your areas to notify your staff of this maintenance window.

As with any scheduled maintenance activities, we would want all areas to review their downtime procedures with their staff.

Where to go for updates:

Please call the Help Desk at x4400 option #1 with any additional issues experienced during this outage window.

More Dragon Training Available

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Please see the latest on additional Dragon dictation training opportunities:

  • Dragon 301 – Provider Optimization Sessions: UConn IT and Nuance Dragon support have teamed up to bring two additional training weeks to UConn Health providers. If you’re feeling ready for next steps, optimization training will be held July 10 through July 13 and July 23 through July 27, five times per day for ATE training. This one-hour session is scheduled at your office, workspace or clinic to optimize the integration of HealthONE, reducing the number of clicks needed for your workflow. If you would like to signup, contact Bert Romeo at extension 8054 to schedule your one-on-one session.
  • Incoming Residents & Fellows Dragon e-Learning: All incoming residents and fellows have been provided Health Stream access to Dragon e-Learning. If you are a resident or fellow and would like to use Dragon, please refer to your Health Stream assignments.
  • Did You Miss out on Dragon Training Last Month? If you are a provider and didn’t have an opportunity to be initially trained on Dragon dictation, and wish to do so, contact Bert Romeo at extension 8054 to be scheduled for in-classroom training at the Academic Library. At this time, we do not have regularly scheduled training but accommodations can be made that will work with your schedule.
  • Emergency Medicine Department-Wide Workflow Optimization: And finally, a team of HealthONE ASAP providers, Epic Analysts and Dragon support team members are currently building integrated workflow optimizations for the Department of Emergency Medicine. If you are a technologically savvy provider and wish to take on the lead role for your department, contact Bert Romeo at extension 8054. Once the ED workflow is complete, we will schedule your department to be next in line for this time-saving workshop.