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Associations recognize St. John's HospiceCare nurse, Auxiliary, hospital
Nov. 12, 2002
Two Missouri health care organizations - the Missouri Hospital Association and
the Missouri Hospice Association have recognized the staff of St. John's
Regional Health Center, St. John's Auxiliary and a HospiceCare nurse for
outstanding achievement in their areas.
The Missouri Hospital Association awa\rded St. John's Auxiliary with the
Auxiliary of the Year award at its annual conference at Tan-Tar-A Nov. 7.
St. John's Auxiliary Director Jerri Flikkema said St. John's is very proud of
its volunteers and was honored to recognize all of the hard work they do.
"I am always overwhelmed by the extreme willingness of the volunteers to give of
their time. We could not do it without them," Flikkema says.
The Auxiliary of the Year Award is presented to small, medium and large
hospitals and is based on an application, number of members and how much the
auxiliary has given back to the hospital, among other criteria, Flikkema said.
St. John's Auxiliary won the large hospital category.
St. John's Auxiliary has donated more than $3 million to the health system since
1958 and this year gave a significant financial contribution to make the St.
John's Whiteside Endoscopy Center and the new infant transporter for St. John's
Life Line possible.
The auxiliary, comprising more than 645 volunteers, is also celebrating its
50-year anniversary with St. John's Health Center and Mercy Villa.
During the Auxiliary awards banquet in the summer, members were awarded pins for
their hours of dedication. One Auxiliary member, Fannie Arbeitman, was
recognized for 50 years of service and received a standing ovation at the
banquet. Arbeitman remembers being a part of St. John's from the beginning and
helping to move all of the medical records from the old hospital on Main to the
new one on Cherokee.
"We had four cars and two women in each car," Arbeitman said. "We drove to the
old hospital loading dock and there were men who loaded our cars up with medical
records. Then we took them to the new loading dock where some different men
unloaded them. The whole community was involved in the move and all of us ladies
just wanted to be a part of that and help someone other than ourselves."
The MHA also presented St. John's Regional Health Center with the 2002 Donate
Life Award for staff efforts to support organ donation. The second largest
hospital in the state, St. John's is also the second-largest organ donor
hospital for the Mid-America Transplant Services region. St. John's employees
recognize donors with wooden memory boxes for families' mementos of their loved
ones and journals that are placed in the boxes.
The Missouri Hospice Association awarded St. John's HospiceCare nurse Erna
Bowman, R.N., with the Heart of Hospice Employee Award in October in Kansas
City.
The Missouri Hospice Association is a collaboration of Missouri hospices that is
dedicated to keeping hospice organizations updated on rules and regulations and
lobbying for individual hospice programs, said HospiceCare Clinical Manager Sue
Herr, CRNH.
"We are very proud that someone from our hospice received this award," Herr
said. "Erna is an inspiration to our department. She is never tired and will
sometimes ask for a day off just to do her volunteer work."
More than 300 hospice workers meet once a year with the Missouri Hospice
Association to bring everyone up to date on the latest changes in hospice care,
and to give out three awards after the state committee reviews nominations for
the association's volunteer of the year, employee of the year and hospice of the
year awards.
According to HospiceCare Director Genie Wood, the award is given to the hospice
employee who most exemplifies what hospice is about.
"Erna has brought to hospice her nursing knowledge, kindness and common sense,
which only years of life experience can produce. Her calm acceptance and
demeanor in the face of difficult situations, patients and families is a
wonderful role model for the rest of us."
Bowman has worked for St. John's HospiceCare as a registered nurse since its
development in 1995, and worked for the Visiting Nurse Association for eight
years prior to that, Wood said.
Bowman works part-time and volunteers for the hospice on her days off.
"After my sister-in-law was diagnosed with cancer and hospice was involved I
decided hospice is where I needed to be," Bowman said. "I think I can relate to
my patients and they can relate to me because my age. It helps my patients
recognize that I have been through the same lifetime they have."
Mitchell added it is a great honor for an employee from St. John's to be
selected for the Heart of Hospice award.
Three St. John's HospiceCare staff members nominated Bowman for the award,
unbeknownst to her.
"I was surprised that they did that. This is a great honor at this time in my
life. I am pleased to know that my co-workers feel as though I am a model of
what a hospice employee should be," she said.
Bowman said she will continue working in HospiceCare as long as she can because
she said her patients give as much to her as she does to them.
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