Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

INSIDE

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Picking up a quick lunch near HUP is easy, but finding a nearby peaceful area in which to eat it is not as simple. But that’s about to change. A new landscaped plaza across the street from the hospital will offer a much-needed respite from the hustle and bustle of hospital life. Located on the site of the current parking lot between 33rd and 34th Streets, the space will soon be “an extension of the University’s green initiative,” said Marc Cooper, project manager in the University’s Facilities & Real Estate Services Division, which will oversee the project.

The new green space will feature large shade trees, white flowering trees and shrubs, and plenty of benches around the perimeter, creating a space for people to sit and relax.

The food carts currently located adjacent to the parking lot will be moved across the street to the northeast corner of 33rd and Spruce by Franklin Field, where there are already two food trucks. “This lot was always intended as a fresh-air food plaza, with a sitting area with tables and chairs.”

Pavers will form a walkway around a central mounded area of grass planted with ornamental trees. “The pavers are permeable so rain water will easily pass through the joints and filter down to the stone beneath, a sustainable green feature,” Cooper said.

Safety and security issues were also addressed in the plaza’s planning. Currently, many people jaywalk across 34th to access the food carts in this area. As part of the renovation, a fence will run within the perimeter’s dense planting, with two openings into the plaza: the corners of 33rd and Spruce and 34th and Spruce. “This directs people to safely cross at the intersections,” said Bryan Heigh of UPHS

Real Estate, Design and Construction. The sidewalks that currently border the parking lot on 33rd and 34th will be eliminated.

The plaza will be well-lit and kept under surveillance via closed circuit TV camera by the University’s Department of Public Safety. There will also be an emergency phone. No smoking will be allowed.

Work preparing the Franklin Field lot for the food carts has already started. “In late May, we expect to relocate the food carts to the new site,” Cooper said. Signs will be installed to coincide with their relocation. “We want the vendors to be successful.”

Once the carts are moved, the parking lot will be closed down, and work will begin, transforming it into a green space. Completion of the plaza is anticipated for November.

Volume 23 Number 9 May 4, 2012

Phase One of Penn Medicine’s Strategic Planning Ends ..........2

Speaking with HUP’s Leaders ...3

Girl Scouts Celebration at Penn Medicine ......................3

Healthy Behaviors = Healthy Rewards! ...................................4

A GREEN TRANSFORMATION

Spruce Street Plaza will provide a serene place to eat and relax

(Continued on page 2)

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While work progresses on the new plaza, another component of the project will focus on the median that separates 33rd and 34th Streets in front of Penn Tower. Right now, no real provision exists at mid-block to cross those streets safely. Openings among the planted yew bushes allow multiple opportunities to jaywalk in crossing to and from the hospital.

The new plan calls for a marked mid-block pedestrian crossing right across the street from the walkway leading to the University City train station. The rest of the median will be landscaped, with a fence down the middle to encourage people to use the specified crossing. A signal — with either flashing yellow lights or a full-blown traffic light — will be added to increase safety. Work on the median landscaping is scheduled to start in July, with completion in November.

A GREEN TRANSFORMATION

(Continued from page 1)

The first phase of Shaping the Future, Penn Medicine’s strategic planning process, came to an end last month.

To recap: six working groups of Penn Medicine faculty and administrative staff members are developing ideas and projects that will help set institutional priorities over the next few years. The groups submitted their individual reports at the end of April. The process’s executive planning council (consisting of members of Penn Medicine’s senior leadership team) will incorporate the reports into a unified plan, which will be sent to J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine, in June for review. The plan will then be submitted to the Penn Medicine board of trustees for its approval in the fall.

The working groups were organized thematically: patient care, biomedical

research, medical education, faculty life, resources, and community-based programs. Well over 100 ideas were proposed, including new ways for enhancing patient care, promoting collaboration across departments, creative opportunities in information technology and bioinformatics, and efficiency improvements in administrative processes and operations.

“The planning process has been open, collegial, and innovative,” said Dean Jameson. “The commitment of our faculty and staff and the quality and originality of the ideas under discussion are truly impressive.”

The efforts of the working groups have been supplemented by entries on the strategic planning blog (https://www.med.upenn.edu/strategy), surveys, presentations, and focus group sessions with faculty and staff members, patients, and students. “These added tools provided valuable information

that guided the working groups’ efforts and played a major part in their final recommendations,” said Deborah A. Driscoll, MD, chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology and co-chair of the planning process.

A strategic planning retreat was recently held which included senior leaders and working group members. “The working groups had been meeting individually, so the retreat was a terrific opportunity for the groups’ members to gather in one place and hear updates from their colleagues,” said Jon Epstein, MD, chair of Cell and Developmental Biology and co-chair of the planning process. “Promoting collaboration is a major theme emerging from the planning process and we had a chance to put it into direct action at the retreat.”

The plan will be made available to all employees online once it receives final approval.

Phase One of PENN MEDICINE’S STRATEGIC PLANNING Ends

` The new plaza, located on the site of the current parking lot between 33rd and 34th Streets, will provide a serene place to eat and relax.

... and played a major part in their final recommendations,”.... (as

opposed to ‘will play’ I forgot to change tenses).

New construction has started at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine as well, on the South Pavilion Extension. Learn more in an upcoming HUPdate.

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Trying to reduce its large budget deficit, the state government is proposing cuts in its health-care line items that may save money now but will potentially end up costing more in the long term, said Al Black, COO of the hospital, at a recent Meal with an Administrator.

For example, one proposal reduces eligibility for medical assistance, leaving more people uninsured. “People without insurance frequently put off getting care,” he said. “This could lead to a more severe medical condition.”

The state is also proposing to reduce its payment for OB deliveries, paying expenses for only the mom or the newborn, but not both. “Many hospitals no longer offer obstetrics because it’s not financially viable,” he said. “These kinds of changes could further reduce the number of hospitals offering OB care.”

In other news, Judy James, HUP’s associate chief HR officer, said that managers and supervisors should be meeting with staff to review the results of the employment engagement survey and create action plans to resolve concerns. “It’s important to be engaged at work and we’re trying to raise the level of engagement,” she said. “If people aren’t, we want to know why and what we can do to help move that bar.”

“We’re a lot bigger than we were 30 years ago, and everyone is expected to do more in a much shorter period of time with fewer people,” Black added. “It’s not that we don’t care. It’s that we don’t always have the time to show it. So we do these surveys to find out what we can do to help.”

Kate FitzPatrick, MSN, RN, clinical director, Nursing Operations and Women’s Health, said that Shared Governance has helped give nurses more of a voice with leadership. One participant said, “People may be nervous about approaching leadership but will feel empowered to bring their concerns up with Unit Council. We then talk about it at Unit Council meetings and try to resolve the situation.”

Capital ImprovementsConstruction has begun on the South Pavilion Extension, which will be built over the loading dock of the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. “We will be moving most of our remaining outpatient programs at HUP into that addition,” Black said. “This will not only improve the patient experience but also help us increase our outpatient services.” There will also be a 1000-car parking garage built adjacent to lot 51. “The vision is to consider building a new patient tower in the future.”

Another opportunity to improve the patient experience came from ‘Your Big Idea,’ the Innovation Tournament which brought in over 1,700 suggestions from across the Health System. “We received really creative ideas,” FitzPatrick said, including an app for a phone to help patients navigate the sometimes confusing facilities. The top 10 ideas have been selected. Final presentations will be made to Penn Medicine leadership on Wednesday, May 9, in the Translational Research Center, from 4 to 8 pm.

HUP has invested in a substantially improved infant security system, FitzPatrick said, using the latest technology. An interdisciplinary team worked together to examine the entire process, from birth to discharge, to make sure everything was covered. “It’s important to have other people’s perspectives, people who haven’t seen the process before and are looking at it with new eyes,” Black said. “If you’re too close to a situation, you don’t always see the holes.

“We’re always trying to do things better,” he continued. “We want to create an environment where people feel comfortable coming forth with ideas and suggestions.”

Girl Scouts Celebration at Penn Medicine To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the Eastern Pennsylvania chapter of the Girl Scouts (GSEP) came to Pennsylvania Hospital, where they gave nurses from both there and HUP free lifetime memberships to the Girl Scouts for all girls born in each hospital on that day. HUP and PAH were the only two hospitals within the Philadelphia city limits to be given the free memberships because UPHS delivers the most babies annually in Philadelphia.

According to Alex Nelson, nurse manager of Labor & Deliver, in addition to the lifetime memberships, each of these moms received a GSEP baby t-shirt and 100th anniversary patch, a stuffed animal and, of course, Girl Scout cookies!

What did the recipients say? “They thought it was really great,” said Meghan Maloney, RNC, BSN, adding that one mom – who thought she was going to have a boy but had a girl – said, “I’m thrilled to have a girl and this is icing on the cake!”

` (L. to r): Karen McKinney, Elizabeth Byran, Erika McHolls, Megan Fluck, Kim Pak, Zandia Reid, Meghan Maloney, Jenna Nagele, and Kate O’Rourke gave out balloons and Girl Scout goodie bags to all girls born on March 12 in celebration of the organization’s 100th birthday.

SPEAKING WITH HUP'S LEADERS

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HUPdateEDITORIAL STAFF Sally Sapega Editor and Photographer

Julia Fiorello Designer

ADMINISTRATION Susan E. Phillips Senior Vice President, Public Affairs

CONTACT HUPDATE AT: 3535 Market Street, Mezzanine Philadelphia, PA 19104

phone: 215.662.4488 fax: 215.349.8312 email: sally.sapega@uphs.upenn.edu

HUPdate is published biweekly for HUP employees. Access HUPdate online at http://news.pennmedicine.org/inside/hupdate.

HUP Celebrates Its DocsOn Doctors Day, HUP treated its doctors to coffee, a food voucher for the cafeteria, and a Penn Medicine umbrella as a small thanks for all they do for our patients. Right, Beth Floyd, MD, a GI fellow, stops by the table at the Perelman Center to receive the giveaways from Katie Farrell and Mike Murphy, both of Peri-Op.

Physical Plant recently completed an audit of the Founder’s A/C systems to ensure that they match the original design conditions. This “commissioning” audit inspects and tests each mechanical system to identify any deviation from design. As Pete Zeitz, UPHS Energy Manager, explained, building systems deteriorate over time, and commissioning identifies areas for improvement. “A number of Energy Consumption Measures were identified and then corrective actions were implemented to bring the system back to design efficiency.”

Findings were as simple as a broken damper that did not allow fresh air to be controlled and some heating valves that were found to leak, causing simultaneous heating and cooling. “Like leaving the air conditioner running with

the windows open!” Between electrical and steam reductions, the savings totaled $83,000 per year. The commissioning process also identified larger capital projects which can save energy, but these must be prioritized with other capital needs.

“A fair amount of our equipment is 35-40 years old. We need to continually invest resources to make sure that it operates as efficiently as possible,” said Chuck Aitken, assistant executive hospital director.

The success of the commissioning work in the Founders Building has led to the approval for a second building study this coming fiscal year.

You can help us save energy as well. Submit your ideas to save.energy@uphs.upenn.edu.

Energy Audit Nets $83,000 Annually in Savings

Complete a Personal Health Assessment (PHA) this month and certify that you’ve participated in two healthy behaviors, and you can earn up to a $130/year Healthy Reward Credit ($5 per pay paycheck). It’s easy:

Step 1: Log onto uphs.carewisehealth.com.

Step 2: Click on ‘Personal Health Assessment.’ Complete the PHA and earn a $65 healthy rewards credit.

Step 3: Click on ‘Rewards’ and then on ‘Healthy Behaviors.’ Certify that you’ve participated in two healthy behaviors and receive another $65 credit. Examples of healthy behaviors include eating a healthy diet, managing your weight and keeping a body mass index of less than 25, and engaging in physical activity on a regular basis.

If you complete both during the month of May, you will receive the full $130/year ($5 per pay check), beginning with the first pay check in July. To learn more, go to uphshrandyou.com and click on ‘My Health Journey’ on the Wellfocused tab or contact your HR benefit representative at 215-615-2675, prompt 4.

Healthy Behaviors = Healthy Rewards!