December 18, 2018
by umassnewsviews
Each holiday season, our Medical Center employees contribute generously to community agencies and local families in need. Our employees’ selfless acts of giving align with our systemwide True North principles (Our Patients, Our People, Our Future and Our Discoveries). That’s why it’s so important that News & Views brings you information about our journey to becoming the best place to give care and the best place to get care. Today’s and Thursday’s News & Views issues show how much our departments and teams care about our patients, our greater community and each other. Learn about this year’s acts of holiday benevolence.
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The Community Mitten Party provided 650 children with the gift of warmth!
The eighth annual Obstetrics and Gynecology Department Community Mitten Party was held in cooperation with the Belmont Community School. This winter-safety themed event, complete with cupcakes, featured a reading of Flat Stanley on Ice and a conversation with a favorite Disney princess for children in grades K through 2. Children in every grade – from preschool through grade 6 – received mittens, hats and gloves generously donated by UMass Memorial Health Care caregivers.
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The Managed Care Operations Department adopted a family through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass/Metrowest. Their gifts were chosen from the family’s Christmas wish list.
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Radiology Department team members donated Thanksgiving food baskets to 23 families in need.
Radiology Department team members from five locations – the University Campus, the Memorial Campus, the Hahnemann Campus, the Ambulatory Care Center and Shrewsbury Radiology – joined together to donate Thanksgiving food baskets for 23 Girls Inc. families. This was a record high for this 20-plus-year department tradition of giving thanks by giving to others. The effort was coordinated by Marcia Amaral and Steve Beaudoin with help from coordinators and contributors in every division!
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Robyn Stokowski, Anticoagulation Clinic supervisor (right), helps “stuff a cruiser.”
The Anticoagulation Clinic is helping to “stuff a cruiser” at the Hahnemann Campus to benefit Friendly House in Worcester.
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The Department of Pediatrics administrative staff participated in a “Reverse Advent Calendar” this year. Their 24-day calendar didn’t give them gifts; instead, each day listed a food item for them to donate, such as cereal, canned goods, pasta and dessert mixes. The team is filling a large box with the items they donated and delivering it to the Worcester County Food Bank in Shrewsbury.
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Members of the Office of Clinical Integration team
The Office of Clinical Integration Wellness and Employee Engagement Committee coordinated its traditional and ever-popular daily fundraising drawings in November. Twenty-four prizes were donated by co-workers, and more than $400 was raised for the grand prize winner’s charity of choice, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Office of Clinical Integration team members also supported the annual Department of Children and Families Holiday Party with gifts for children and families in our community.
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Patients in the Lakeside 3 intensive care unit and stepdown unit will receive homemade cards on Christmas day.
The nurses on the Lakeside 3 stepdown unit brought their children in to make homemade Christmas cards for patients in the Lakeside 3 intensive care unit and stepdown unit who will be in the hospital on Christmas day. The children were rewarded for their community spirit with pizza and cookies.
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The University Campus Oncology Pharmacy, Ambulatory Care Center fifth and sixth floors, University Campus Inpatient Pharmacy and Memorial Campus Pharmacy sponsored six families from the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester, purchasing wish-list items such as toys, clothing, coats, gift cards and stockings. The families ranged in size from two to four members, and the number of families sponsored by this group grew from one in years’ past to six this year!
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The University Campus Oncology Pharmacy, Ambulatory Care Center fifth and sixth floors, Infusion Suite staff and Interventional Radiology staff designated four elves to purchase wish-list items for five animal shelters – four in Worcester County and one in Connecticut. The group collected $500 and donated items such as food, beds, cat litter, toys and cleaning supplies.
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Seventy-five households benefitted from the GenX Millenial Employee Resource Group’s grocery-shopping trip.
The GenX Millennial Employee Resource Group, armed with funds from our United Way of Central Massachusetts Summer Strong and Beyond campaign and a shopping list developed by Kattia Corrales-Yauckoes, MS, RD, LDN, set out on a group grocery-shopping trip that benefited 75 food insecure households in Worcester County. The bags of groceries, with Corrales-Yauckoes’ “Tips for Eating Healthy on a Budget” sheet in each one, were delivered to the Pernet Family Health Services and Friendly House food pantries. Groceries were also delivered to the New Citizen’s Center School for students to bring home to their families. This effort was supported by caregivers from numerous departments at all levels throughout UMass Memorial Health Care.
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The Pediatric Endocrinology Department is donating a gift card to Walmart or Target to the family of a type 1 diabetes patient to help them purchase gifts for the holiday. The staff also purchases several smaller gift cards that are given as a surprise gift to some of their teenage diabetes patients.
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The Physician Referral Services team with holiday gifts for a Friendly House family
The Physician Referral Services team adopted a family through Friendly House in Worcester and have purchased and wrapped toys, games, DVDs, gift cards and clothes for the family.
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The Office of the General Counsel is collecting food items to donate to the Food Pantry at Saint Bernard’s Church in Worcester.
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Roxanne Vallejo Torres and Susy Felciano with items donated for Project Just Because
Staff at Marlborough Medical Associates are collecting donations of winter clothing, baby formula, diapers and more for Project Just Because. The organization is dedicated to helping men, women and children by being a resource for items that families need while creating an element of hope for a brighter tomorrow.
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Pictured are Giving Tree organizers Barbara Wray and Linda Shelton.
The Transplant Team sponsored a Giving Tree with all gifts going to Abby’s House local women’s shelter. The gifts were delivered to a very grateful staff.
Every year, our Medical Center caregivers exemplify the spirit of the holiday season by participating in activities that bring assistance and joy to less fortunate members of our community. And every year, we dedicate two special editions of News & Views to sharing these acts of kindness carried out by our Medical Center departments and teams. Is your team involved in a collection, fundraiser or other initiative to support community agencies and families in need? Please 
Several phone and fax lines throughout the Children’s Medical Center recently underwent an update resulting in phone number changes. Many physician and staff phone numbers were affected by this change, along with seven patient-facing numbers for the outpatient specialty clinics. Physician and staff lines will remain active through December 22, 2018, while all patient-facing lines will remain active through September 30, 2019. Callers reaching a phone number that has changed will be met with a message directing them to press 0 to be connected to the new number. See an updated Children’s Medical Center 
