Strength in numbers

Saint Luke's heart transplant program recently performed its 600th heart transplant. Only 21 programs in the U.S. have performed more adult heart transplants. This year, Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute celebrates the 28th anniversary of cardiac transplantation, and this new milestone builds on a heritage of success treating patients with advanced heart failure. Our program is the only active adult heart transplant program in the Kansas City region and ranks among the top 10 for number of adult transplants nationwide.

Thanks to the gift of life from donor families and help from the Midwest Transplant Network, we continue to be able to provide a unique opportunity for a second chance at life through transplantation. Congratulations to our entire heart transplant team for this remarkable milestone.

New hours at outpatient pharmacies

Saint Luke's Health System is standardizing open pharmacy hours for the four metro campuses beginning Tuesday, Sept. 3.

The four metro SLHS employee/retail pharmacies will be open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. and closed for lunch from 1:30 - 2 p.m.

This change is in response to a review of current utilization of pharmacy hours and will provide consistency systemwide.

If you have questions, please contact the pharmacy nearest you:

Saint Luke's Hospital Outpatient Pharmacy - 816-932-2923

Saint Luke's East Hospital Outpatient Pharmacy - 816-347-4750

Saint Luke's North Hospital Outpatient Pharmacy - 816-880-3850

Saint Luke's South Hospital Pharmacy - 913-317-7604

Employee Engagement Team update

Thank you for taking the Employee Satisfaction Survey. Your Employee Engagement Team will review results and begin working on goals to improve engagement for all employees.

Saint Luke's Hospital 2013 Employee Satisfaction Results

Engagement Index - Top Three:

• I am comfortable reporting unethical/illegal behavior to my supervisor, the Compliance Office, or Human Resources.
• I am willing to go beyond the requirements of my job to help my organization succeed.
• I plan to be working at my organization a year from now.

Engagement Index - Bottom Three:

• My workplace motivates me to higher levels of performance.
• The continuing education opportunities available to me support my future goals.
• I am involved in the planning for the future of my organization.

Special congratulations to 21 departments for completing the survey at 100 percent participation during the first week the survey was available.

¡Gracias por participar en nuestra Encuesta de Opinión para el Empleado!

Mother-Baby renovations complete

New moms, infants, and their families now enjoy spacious, attractive, up-to-date postpartum facilities, thanks to renovations on East 2 at Saint Luke's Hospital. Renovations were completed in three phases from 2011 - 2013. In addition to providing a facelift and increased elbow room, the project brings facilities and amenities up to the same level of expert care provided by our nurses, doctors, and staff.

Employees can get a sneak peek at the larger, remodeled postpartum rooms on Sept. 10, from 4:30 - 6 p.m. (Come to the Mother-Baby Unit entrance on the second floor). Phase III will open to patients the third week of September.

The $9.2 million project completely remodeled and reconfigured the second floor of the hospital's East wing. Features include 26 postpartum rooms - approximately one-third larger than previous rooms - with modern amenities and more space for patient care and rooming-in of the newborn and an overnight guest. Renovations also include a family waiting room and areas for staff including nurses' stations, a break area, and rooms for physician dictation. In addition to the capital improvements, Saint Luke's Foundation is raising $200,000 for Mother-Baby education and research programs and has reached approximately 70 percent of its goal.

The renovation project represents Saint Luke's ongoing commitment to enhanced care for women and infants, enabling staff to provide high-quality postpartum care in a modern, comfortable environment. This project follows on the heels of other improvements at Saint Luke's Hospital, including the opening of the Ellen Hockaday Center for Women's Care in 2010 that featured a new Labor and Delivery Unit, and establishment of the area's only human milk bank and cord blood donation program. Approximately 2,200 babies are delivered annually at Saint Luke's Hospital.

Saint Luke's Anemia Clinic now accepting patients

Research clearly supports the early identification and treatment of anemia to reduce morbidity and mortality and to improve patient outcomes. Utilizing a collaborative approach with primary care and specialty physicians, the Anemia Clinic at Saint Luke's provides evidence-based anemia management for:

• Anemic preoperative patients
• Preoperative no-blood patients
• Iron-deficiency anemia related to menorrhagia, pregnancy, and postpartum
• Intestinal disorders related to chronic occult blood loss or malabsorptive disorders
• Iron-deficiency anemia related to inadequate dietary intake

To refer a patient or get more information call 816-932-6183.

Saint Luke's Anemia Clinic is located in Medical Plaza, Building 1, 4320 Wornall Road, Suite 348, Kansas City, MO 64111.

Make your imperfections perfections

Saint Luke's Dermatology Specialists is offering SLHS employees a 20 percent discount on all aesthetics services (excluding Botox and Juvederm). Call 816-932-4500 to schedule your consultation appointment today.

Saint Luke's Plastic Surgery Specialists is offering SLHS employees a 20 percent discount on all cosmetic procedures (excluding Botox injections). You will also have an opportunity to preview what your new features will look like before you have surgery! Call 816-932-0288 to schedule your consultation appointment today.

Back to School Supply Drive

Physician Billing Services (PBS) recently held a Back to School Supply Drive to raise donations to benefit PBS employee families and the local community. PBS demonstrated great teamwork by creating teams to compete against each other to see who could donate the most supplies. Through this competition, PBS was able to send 30 PBS kids off to school with a full bag of supplies. PBS received 26,405 sheets of paper, 554 index cards, 2,838 markers, colored pencils, crayons, 567 pens and pencils, and 75 glue sticks and bottles along with many other useful items. The remaining supplies will be donated to The Children's SPOT for children with learning disabilities and developmental delays. PBS is proud to take part in activities to help enrich the lives of its employees and the community we live in.

Your Fight Against Blood Loss: Save Your Cells

Saturday, Sept. 28

2 - 4 p.m.

Broadway Dining (Cafeteria)

Haseeb Ahmed, D.O., will talk about how anemia affects patients before, during, and after surgery and how Saint Luke's Anemia Clinic can help. There will also be a physician panel, interactive medical booths, hemoglobin level checks, and gift basket drawings.

This is a free educational event. Call 816-932-5100 or visit saintlukeshealthsystem.org/bcevent for more information.

Get Active!

Are you one of the more than 1,700 Saint Luke's employees who have taken the Get Active Challenge to be more active, eat healthy, or lose weight? If not, then it's time for you to join the fun with the Aetna Get Active online wellness program designed for all SLHS employees.

The program connects you through an online social network to improve your fitness, health, and wellness with your friends and colleagues. You can choose from more than 50 categories to track such as walking, stair climbing, eating more vegetables, and relaxing. Plus a sophisticated calorie tracker can keep you accountable to a healthy diet.

We are proud to report some great results from the Get Active team challenges so far this year. The most recent challenge, Level Up, had the best retention rate yet at 64 percent. This is no surprise because the 282 individuals who participated lost a combined 400 pounds, put in over 8,000 hours of exercise, and took nearly 90 million steps!

Cumulatively in 2013, SLHS employees and spouses have taken enough steps to walk around the earth more than 4.5 times, have lost the weight of a polar bear, and have put in more than 2.5 years worth of time in exercise!

We are currently in the middle of the Face Off team challenge and look forward to sharing amazing results from the more than 440 participants soon.

If you have not yet joined Get Active, sign up today! Register at aetnagetactive.com and use company code SLHS.

Email MyWellnessMatters@saint-lukes.org with questions or for more information.