Celebrating 10 years of HOPE & JOY

Many people bring their mittens out this time of year. But each year, Susan and an army of volunteers make hand-stitched "mittens" that are filled to the brim with care items to help chemotherapy patients pass the time during their long hours of infusion. What she began as a way to support a young colleague in 1999 has grown into an annual volunteer-driven labor of love for adult chemotherapy patients. To date, more than 8,800 patients have been delighted to receive this gift when they arrived for treatment around the holiday season. Susan is described by her peers as “filled with joy”, and not only does her job exceptionally well, but she makes purposeful efforts to spread her joy to others.

Julia makes a lasting impression with her patients and their families as a nurse working with liver transplant recipients, where she follows patients throughout their lifetime. She recognizes that involving the patients and their family in their care is a key aspect of having successful outcomes. She sees advocating for the patient voice, respecting patient and family choices, and safeguarding the patient's dignity as the important components of creating a therapeutic and supportive relationship with patients and families. Julia shares that working in transplant has shown her how important it is to celebrate the milestones, and to work diligently to offer information, encouragement, and compassion to patients and their families.

Sarah is known to exemplify an ongoing commitment to improving the patient and family experience. Although she is not directly involved in clinical patient care, she makes an incredible difference to patients and their families. She is warm and engaging, and has a communication style that allows her to be incredibly effective in her ability to help patients and families navigate a complex system, while they are often dealing with devastating health issues. No matter how sensitive the situation, Sarah rallies with compassion and composure – helping patients and families solve problems big and small. When she does not know an answer, she works to find it or connect patients with the right contact, ensuring that patients get the information they need and don't get left behind. Beyond the countless "in the moment" efforts, Sarah follows up, reaches out, and she builds relationships.

Nicole is armed with empathy as she works in her role with older adults that are facing eviction. In what can often be an intense and grueling time in their lives, Nicole brings warm and supportive communication, and is often pulling the levers with resources and support to help. She recognizes that dignity and respect are often lacking in her clients lives, so she centers on those ideals as a way to build back empowerment. Nicole believes that an ideal patient experience is one where a client feels involved and empowered and can move forward with a sustainable care plan. She notes that "it’s important to meet clients where they are, but not leave them there."

The Emergency Critical Care Center (EC3) improves patient access to timely and high quality patient centered critical care, and ensure seamless transitions from the emergency department to the inpatient intensive care units. This team works tirelessly to care for the sickest patients that need emergent care, providing ICU-level care in the emergency department setting. But, despite the fast pace, they still make time for what matters most to our families – even recently supporting and facilitating a wedding ceremony on the unit, so that a mom on end of life care could be present to see her daughter’s special day. The team rallied to arrange food, cake, handmade decorations, and took special care to dress and style the patient for the celebration, which included photos for the family to treasure. The family was able to share their first dance, enjoy a toast to their happiness, share cake and a wonderful meal, all in the presence of their loved one, who passed away the following morning.

This interdisciplinary work group has been working collaboratively to improve gender-affirming health care at Michigan Medicine. The diverse team of more than 40 individuals has worked across the health system to identify areas where we could improve the services, resources, and quality of care and experiences for gender affirming patients. Reviewing policies, practices, care pathways and barriers have been a labor of love as the team moves forward to ensure that each patient is treated with dignity and respect through holistic, compassionate care.

The Michigan Medicine Security (MMS) team is driven by the principles of patient and family centered care to create an exceptional experience for our patients and families. They aim to ensure that everyone in the community - patients, families, visitors and staff - are supported in a way that reduces risks, alleviates anxiety, and creates an experience that surpasses what they might expect. MMS is on the roadways and in the parking structures, in the emergency departments, and at the surgery suites, on the inpatient units and at the outpatient clinics, in the lobbies and corridors, and at off-site buildings. They rescue turtles from busy traffic, ducklings from storm drains, run to fire alarms, celebrate happy news with patients, jump start vehicle batteries, and comfort the community through challenging times. They keep people safe during a mental health crisis, find lost phones, screen visitors, create Lego towers with our patients, offer a safe and reassuring presence, and everything in between. Most importantly, the MMS team values the opportunity to share more than public safety, but to share humanity, and add a little light to someone’s day.

Nicholas makes a difference every day by showing compassion and empathy to every patient and with each encounter. Environmental Services staff are often in and out of our patient’s rooms, so have a real impact on their experience. Nick not only provides great customer service, but actually look for opportunities to connect with each patient, family member, and visitor– and shines a light through his warmth and generosity, and by treating others as he would want to be treated.

Laurie is recognized by her peers as someone that lives our mission to provide the best care to our patients. In addition to being caring and supportive of her team members, she leans in when people have a need and remains creative and flexible to better serve patients and families. Laurie rallied with her team to offer later clinic hours, video visits, and Saturday flu clinics – making it better for patients, and staff are supported in a way that make them more connected.

Dr. Myers has taken the concepts of patient and family centered care into uncharted territory. Progress in patient experience advancement has been limited in areas less familiar or less visible to patients and families – until now. Recognizing that pathology touches the lives of nearly every patient who looks for hope, Dr. Myers and his team have truly partnered with patient and family Advisors to rethink how pathology services can be offered. Sharing data with patients is just one component of the “nothing about me, without me” mantra of Dr. Myers and his team, leading Pathology to sparking many lights in new places.

Dr. Van De Ven engages the entire family to ensure that he is supporting the patient and their partner, well beyond the pregnancy and delivery. He is well known for ensuring that all patients are treated with dignity and respect. With high risk pregnancies, the experiences can range from celebrations to challenging conversations and decisions – and Dr. Van De Ven approaches these with incredible grace and sensitivity, making space for each unique experience. He further strengthens the connection to the patient and family through his team approach.

Through every intervention and interaction, the Cystic Fibrosis Center Pediatric Program strives to ensure that they are partnering with the patient and family in their care. With a strong team approach, the team actively involves patients and families in identifying, designing, and implementing improvements. Their inclusive approach ensures the patient perspective is incorporated, and work to support their young patients through many challenges, while also focusing on making their stays as rich as possible, considering the many days they spend inpatient. They are creative in the ways they engage patient advisors, including virtual meetings to ensure everyone has a chance to participate.

Parents have shared that having a clear understanding of what to expect, can make or break a care experience. This may especially true with surgery. In 2014, this multidisciplinary team gathered to create a consistent message and guidance for pediatric surgery, which can be anxiety producing for patients and parents alike. Anchoring their work in patient and family feedback, this team created a portfolio of materials, including a video showing the day of surgery through the eyes of a patient to help ensure the best experience – and outcomes - possible. 

By providing health care services to children through the public school system, the Regional Alliance for Healthy Schools is a model of community engagement. Providing vision services in the Flint and Ypsilanti schools, including glasses delivered to the school to avoid disruptions for families, models dignified care that arose out of community identified needs. This multidisciplinary team that bridges healthcare into the community helps remove barriers to the best care. Creative collaboration and a focus on understanding patient and family needs are at the core of this team's work, which continues to expand to serve students in different communities.