Kelly Harmon, R.N., receives DAISY Award for December

Kelly Harmon, R.N., received the DAISY Award in recognition for her compassionate and caring nursing skills as an R.N. in the Emergency Department.

The DAISY Award was established by the DAISY Foundation in memory of J. Patrick Barnes who died at age 33 of ITP, an auto-immune disease.

Kelly Harmon, R.N., was nominated for the DAISY Award by a former patient's daughter. She expressed in the nomination, "I cannot say enough about Kelly. She was on duty the night my mother was seen in the ED (admitted to Neuro) and took care of her. She literally treated my mother as if she was part of her family. It was comforting to watch her in action as she cared for my mother, and as she cared, it calmed our fears. My mother has advanced Alzheimer's disease. Kelly is extremely gifted in her approach to patient care. She was able to get my mother to cooperate with her as she started an IV, drew labs, and catheterize her. It is true that my mother was smiling when she was finished. Kelly is a team player and provided exceptional care to my mother that spilled over to our family. Even my father was using her name as he told additional family members about the exceptional care my mother received. My mother would say exactly the same thing and more about Kelly if she was able to. Saint Luke's has a valuable leader in Kelly. Thank you, Kelly, you are an angel!"

Harmon grew up on a farm in northwest Missouri. She attended Northwest Missouri State until her junior year when she switched paths to pursue nursing at Saint Luke's College of Nursing. She then became an intern in the SLH ED, where she has continued to work full-time for three years. Her high school sweetheart, Billy, has followed her throughout her education pursuits, and they have been married for more than a year. In their free time, they enjoy traveling, watching movies, and keeping up with their dog, Walter. Harmon works the night shift in the Emergency Department and enjoys getting to know patients and being able to make a difference in their lives.

On Jan. 23, the Nursing Recruitment and Retention Committee and the ED staff surprised Harmon with the DAISY Award and a breakfast that included Cinnabon® Cinnamon Rolls. Harmon also received the Healer's Touch Sculpture, an award certificate, DAISY pin, and a Saint Luke's Hospital parking spot.

Congratulations to Kelly Harmon, who like so many Saint Luke's Hospital nurses, deserve a big thank you for her extraordinary and compassionate nursing care!

Do you know a nurse deserving of a DAISY Award? Send an email to daisyaward@saint-lukes.org or pick up a nomination form located in most SLH waiting rooms.

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CPE Program to undergo accreditation review

Saint Luke's Health System's Clinical Pastoral Education Program (CPE) is an accredited program of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. (ACPE). Saint Luke's Hospital has been an accredited center with ACPE since the early seventies. Since its beginning, the CPE program at Saint Luke's has trained hundreds of clergy, lay pastors, spiritual leaders, and seminary students in the 'practice of spiritual care' for our patients, their families, and health care staff.

To ensure continuous quality improvement of its accredited centers, ACPE requires each center to undergo rigorous self-examination of its programs through careful attention to ACPE National Standards as well as the U.S. Department of Education requirements for quality outcomes-based education programs.

Since 2000, ACPE has required both a five-year paper review and a 10-year site review of all centers seeking continued accredited status. Saint Luke's has successfully met these requirements since its beginning and is now poised to have a site review scheduled for Feb. 14 and 15.

During our upcoming two days of review, four professional review team members from across the country will visit SLH to meet with current chaplain residents, interns, program supervisors, Spiritual Wellness Department staff, and Saint Luke's administration. They will meet as part of the ACPE assessment of our program's effectiveness in providing a quality education experience and spiritual care service opportunity for each of our students.

In addition to their visit at the Saint Luke's Hospital campus, one team member will be visiting at Saint Luke's East, South, and North campuses on Feb. 15. If you happen to see one or more of the accreditation reviewers wearing a visitor ID badge and accompanied by one of our chaplain education students, please take a moment to acknowledge and welcome them to Saint Luke's Health System.

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Cardio Wellness Center Open House

Join us for our open house celebration, enjoy some heart healthy snacks, and learn about how our cardio wellness services may help be your key to optimal health and longevity. Our expanded space allows for additional services such as a whole-body fat scanner with advanced visceral fat assessment capabilities and nutrition counseling and classes.

Charles & Barbara Duboc Cardio Health & Wellness Center

Thursday, Feb. 28

2 - 6 p.m.

The new center is located in Saint Luke's Hospital's Medical Plaza Building III, Suite 2400.

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Look Good, Feel Better workshop

Women currently undergoing cancer treatment are invited to attend the next Look Good, Feel Better class, a free two-hour workshop that teaches simple beauty techniques for skin and nail care, makeup application, and coping with hair loss. You will receive a complimentary bag of makeup to use in the session and at home.

Saint Luke's Hospital

Muriel I. Kauffman Women's Heart Center Conference Room

Thursday, March 7

1 - 3 p.m.

Call Vickie at 816-932-2124 to sign up.

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Don't let your heart go to 'waist'

Did you know that as your waistline grows, so does your risk for heart disease? Carrying fat around the belly promotes inflammation, raises blood pressure, and alters cholesterol levels - all of these are risk factors for heart disease. A simple tape measure is one of the most important tools you can keep in your home. An ideal waist circumference is:

• Less than 35 inches for females
• Less than 40 inches for males

Set a higher goal and personalize your own waist circumference! Measure about one one inch above your belly button, then take your height in inches and divide it by two.

Brought to you by Saint Luke's Muriel I. Kauffman Women's Heart Center

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Important login information for Kronos WTA application

The new Workforce Talent Acquisition (WTA) application went into effect Feb. 1 as the position requisitioning and applicant tracking system used by Saint Luke's Health System. The user name for all internal users, whether applying on the eLink or signing into the Hiring Manager Console, is the employee A or P number. The initial password is the employee A or P number and year of birth.

Example

User Name: A12345

Password: A123451975

Passwords are case sensitive, so you must use an uppercase A or P. When creating your new password, the system requires the use of at least one special character. The employee will be required to update his/her password after the initial login.

Internal applicants will click on the "Internal Postings" link from the "Jobs" dropdown menu located on the Employee eLink. Managers and supervisors needing to create requisitions for open positions will access the Hiring Manager Console from the Citrix icon located on the Applications tab.

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Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, which in the Christian faith is the 40-day preparation leading to Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday is observed by marking one's forehead with the ashes from last year's Palm Sunday palms as an outward sign of your commitment to renew your faith and turn your life toward God.

This year we will observe Ash Wednesday during several worship services and throughout the hospital on Feb. 13.

Worship in Saint Luke's Chapel

• 7:30 a.m. - 20-minute service with Imposition of Ashes
• 11 a.m. - Ash Wednesday Liturgy with Holy Communion and Imposition of Ashes (Episcopal Rite - all are welcome)
• 3:30 p.m. - Roman Catholic Mass with Imposition of Ashes

Imposition of Ashes

In addition to worship services, Imposition of Ashes will also occur at the following locations:

• 8:30 - 9 a.m. - Peet Center Lobby (near Coffee Corner)
• 9:45 - 10:15 a.m. - Medical Plaza I Lobby
• 1:15 - 2 p.m. - Chapel
• 2:30 - 3 p.m. - Gift Shop Lobby (Heart Institute)
• 3:30 - 4 p.m. - East 7 (near blue elevators)

Chaplains are available to visit patients and staff upon request. Please feel free to call them at ext. 22180. We will also try to accommodate off-campus locations if requested. It will be helpful if we receive such requests ahead of time.

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SLHS secure email services

Did you know?

The earliest forms of secure communication (or "cryptography") date back thousands of years. One of the first uses of cryptography was found in non-standard hieroglyphs carved into monuments from the Old Kingdom of Egypt, circa 1900 B.C.

Over the years, and with the introduction of the electronic communication age, cryptography has advanced to complex mathematical schemes in an attempt to protect electronic communication. The use of advanced cryptography to encrypt messages has become a standard and effective means of ensuring sensitive data is communicated in a secure manner.

SLHS has a secure email solution available for our end-users that provides the latest in encryption methodology. This solution is mandatory when sending Protected Health Information (PHI) via email to external users (an external user is anyone with an email account outside of the SLHS network). The use of encryption to protect PHI in email communications is a requirement under HIPAA. A violation of this HIPAA requirement can result in fines and/or jail time.

If you require the use of the SLHS secure email solution and do not yet have access to it, please contact the Client Support Center at ishelp@saint-lukes.org or call 816-251-9999.

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Time Clock Usage Policy

Saint Luke's Health System is committed to paying you for all the time you work, including overtime pay for overtime hours. To make that happen, SLHS requires you to read and follow its Time Clock Usage Policy. The policy states:

• Make sure you record all of the hours you work. Failure to do so is commonly referred to as working "off the clock." Regardless of the reason, you should never work "off the clock." For example: If you feel like you were not efficient during your workday, you should not spend time working after hours or at home that you do not record on your time card. If you work at home, be sure to add that time to your time card. If your supervisor (or anyone else) asks you to keep working after you clock out (or to work at home), then you must record that time on your time card. No SLHS employee has the authority to ask you to work for free. If anyone does, then please notify management or HR.
• You cannot "volunteer" your time.
• If you forget to clock in, notify management so your time can be adjusted to reflect when you actually started working.
• Make sure you do not record any time that you did not work. Doing so is commonly referred to as "padding time." Regardless of the reason, you should never "pad" your time.
• You should clock out for unpaid breaks, if you leave the worksite for a personal errand, lunch, etc. If you forget to clock out, notify management so your time can be adjusted to reflect when you actually stopped working.

Please read and follow the Time Clock Usage Policy carefully. In addition to recording time accurately, there are other requirements in the Policy. For example:

• You must record your own time. Regardless of the circumstances, you should not ask someone else to record time for you, and you should not record time for anyone else.
• You should not change or edit any time card without proper authorization or documentation.
• To ensure you are paid correctly, please review your time each pay period to make sure it is correct. If your time is incorrect for any reason, then please notify management immediately so that it can be corrected.
• For further questions about the System Time Clock Usage Policy, refer to the Policy under Employee eLink - HR Policies or contact HR, your manager, or your entity Ethics and Compliance Officer.

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2012 W-2 forms

2012 W-2 forms have recently been mailed to employees' home addresses. The following informational items may apply to you:

• If you worked for more than one Saint Luke's Health System entity during 2012, you will receive separate W-2 forms from each entity.
• If you lived and worked in the same state all year, boxes 15-17 will be populated for that specific state only.
• You may or may not receive a second W-2 with additional information in Box 14.
• If you lived in one state and worked in another for any part of the year, you will receive two W-2s. For Kansas, boxes 15-17 will print with all the federal information above the Kansas information, as Kansas falls alphabetically before Missouri.
• The Missouri W-2 will only contain tax information for Missouri in boxes 15-17. Box 14 may or may not contain information.
• If you lived in one state and worked in another during any part of the year, the appropriate portion of your 2012 earnings will be reported to your state of residence.
• As a reminder, boxes 12a-d are used to provide coded amounts that may or may not influence your tax filing. Check the index on the back of the W-2 form to understand which codes apply to you. Starting with this year's W-2 form, code DD will be used to disclose the cost of employee-sponsored health coverage.  This amount is presented for informational purposes only and should not be considered taxable.

Requests for duplicate W-2s will not be accepted until Feb. 15. If the W-2 has not been received by Feb. 15 or has been lost, the W-2 Replacement Request form can be accessed on Employee Self Service  - Forms - Benefits, Human Resources and Payroll - Payroll Forms. Submit the form using one of the following methods:

1. Interoffice mail.
2. Fax to Central Payroll Processing at 816-932-9679.
3. Scan the document and attach it to an email addressed to payroll@saint-lukes.org.

Upon receipt of the request, replacement W-2s will be mailed to the employee address on file within five business days.

If you claimed exempt status for Federal Income Tax withholding purposes for 2012, you must complete a 2013 Federal W-4 form by Feb. 8 to continue with exempt status for 2013. If a valid W-4 form is not received by Feb. 8, withholding will be calculated as single with zero withholding allowances starting with the March 1 payday.

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"Ready, Set Go" begins Feb. 11

Are you ready to make 2013 your year to lose weight and stay active? SLHS is again offering this eight-week team challenge. The "Ready, Set, Go" challenge features a free welcome kit with a logbook and pedometer for tracking steps. During the eight weeks, you can track one or more of the following: weight loss, pedometer steps, and/or exercise minutes.

Team formation is in progress and the "Ready, Set, Go" challenge begins Feb. 11. Current members of Aetna Get Active can participate in this Challenge by logging in to the Aetna Get Active website and completing the following:

• Create or join a team.
• Remember that only teams of 5-11 members will be eligible to compete in the team competition.
• Teams of less than five will not be included in the team standings.
• Feel free to create a team of one if you would rather not compete in the team competition.
• Select one or more divisions in which you wish to compete: weight loss, pedometer steps, and/or exercise minutes.
• You will be prompted to enter your shipping information in order to receive your welcome kit, complete with pedometer and logbook.

Not yet registered on the Aetna Get Active website?

Go to Aetna Get Active and register by typing "SLHS" in the company field and clicking "Search." Next, click on "SLHS" to go to the registration page. You will then enter your Employee Identifier (the five digits of your "A," "P," or "O" number and the last four digits of your SSN) and your date of birth to verify eligibility. All active SLHS employees and spouses are eligible. Spouse will enter the employee identifier and his/her own date of birth to register.

If you have already registered via the Aetna Get Active website you can login anytime to create challenges, engage your supporters in conversations, and participate in weekly bonus challenges. In addition, you can track your calories in the calorie tracker and up to 50 other activities as you wish. Get ready for some fun and make 2013 your year to lose/maintain weight and Get Active!

For more information go to the My Wellness Matters webpage located on the Employee eLink or email yourhealthmatters@saint-lukes.org. 

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