2018 HOPE and JOY Awards

Every year, the Office of Patient Experience (OPE) recognizes faculty, staff, patients and families who show outstanding commitment and dedication to improving the patient experience by honoring them with the Evan Newport HOPE and JOY Awards.

The Evan Newport HOPE and JOY Awards ceremony will be held on Wednesday, December 12 from 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. in Ford Auditorium at University Hospital. Please join us in celebrating the hard work and efforts of all of our colleagues and volunteers who advance patient and family centered care at Michigan Medicine.

The HOPE awards are given to faculty and staff, and winners are announced at the ceremony. The JOY Award is given to patient or family member advisors and the Celeste Castillo Lee Award is given to a peer mentor.

Meet the 2019 JOY and Celeste Castillo Lee Award Winners

Winner of the JOY Award for Adult Services, Chloe Rothschild, became a patient advisor to work on OPE’s Autism Awareness Project. Chloe conducted extensive research and helped develop an educational video for staff members to improve the patient experience for others with sensory disorders. She worked alongside Security Officer Maureen Muysenberg to improve the training and a sensory disorders toolkit and co-lead educational staff sessions at Michigan Medicine and other health care organizations. Chloe was also a guest speaker at a UH/CVC Town Hall.

Winner of the JOY Award for Pediatric Services, Toula Saratsis, has been volunteering as a family member advisor on multiple committees including the Transition Room Committee, Mott Memorial Committee and End of Life (EOL)/Palliative Care Conference Planning Committee, and worked on the OPE Caregiver Project. She has spoken during Grief Week and this year’s EOL/Palliative Care Conference. Toula also serves as a Pediatric Communication coach. Through her own experiences of dealing with the grief and loss of her young daughter, Toula volunteers to create positive outcomes for patients, improving their health system experiences and interactions.

Winner of the Celeste Castillo Lee Peer Mentor Award, Russ Maurer, is a peer mentor with the Congenital Heart Center (CHC). Russ knows all too well the highs and lows of having a child with heart illness and subsequent loss and grief. Russ provides weekly mentoring to both moderate/general care unit heart families and critical care heart families on the Pediatric Cardio Thoracic Unit (PCTU). This requires a large breadth of mentoring skills as mentors may see several families in one day ranging from a patient on ECMO with poor prognosis, to a family getting ready to be discharged home. He loves to make children laugh and is also able to jump right into deep discussions when needed, all while also providing a wellspring of positive feeling.

The Office of Patient Experience celebrates all of our winners and nominees.

JOY Award nominees