Olympic Medical Center representatives named six Patient Experience Champions at a board of commissioners meeting in early June.
Healthcare workers nominate their peers for the recognition of Patient Experience Champion for “communicating with courtesy, compassion and respect, empowering patients to learn or cope effectively, contributing to new programs, improving processes, and/or going above and beyond to serve the needs of patients and their families,” OMC officials said.
Honorees are annually selected in May and recognized in person by the board.
This year’s Patient Experience Champions include:
• John Blevins, patient access representative
• Debbie Campbell, human resources generalist
• Richard DeCou, materials management document specialist
• Phyllis Slife, emergency department physician
• Debe Stallings, home health speech and language pathologist
•Renae Winston, patient financial services supervisor
Jennifer Burkhardt, Olympic Medical Center’s Chief Human Resources Officer, and General Counsel Jennifer Burkhardt and Patient Experience Director Patti Haught shared the nominations – submitted by employees – with the board.
Blevins is often the first person patients interact with as they come to the emergency department, and John always creates a positive first impression.
“He has an incredible ability to put our patients at ease (while checking them in),” Burkhardt said. “No matter how stressed, ill or frightened a patient or family member is, they are left feeling at least a little bit better after an interaction with John.”
According to Burkhardt, Campbell goes above and beyond for the good of patients, offering a level of care and service to new employees who then take care and consideration in attending to our patients.
Debbie “embodies what it is to be a Patient Experience champion at OMC through her grace, compassion and care, which are all of a caliber to be emulated,” Burkhardt said.
As the Materials Management Document Specialist at OMC, Rich DeCou’s work “helps us respect and honor patients’ rights, facilitates communication and improves service efficiencies across the organization,” Burkhardt said.
He is integral to providing translation services, and he directly supports patients’ right to information in their preferred language, she said.
Slife is an emergency medicine physician, but she is also considered a kind, thoughtful, fair and calm presence, OMC representatives said.
“Dr. Slife truly listens to her patients and considers their thoughts and input,” Burkhardt said. “She is never flustered or short with anyone, which is impressive considering the high-stress, fast-paced environment of the emergency department. Dr. Slife is always looking to truly help patients and put them at ease.”
Stallings is a skilled speech-language pathologist with Olympic Medical Home Health. Many patients have praised Debe, thanking her for her help improving their speech, swallowing and even processing post-stroke, OMC representatives said.
“Debe is a great team player advocating for her patients’ needs,” Burkhardt said. “She is always looking for ways to improve the workflow to help her patients more effectively and innovatively.”
Winston works with Medicare, Medicaid and Veterans Administration every day to ensure patients have their government claims paid. This position requires a lot of advocacy, Burkhardt said, and Renae and her team provide that.
“Renae goes above and beyond to make her team successful,” which not only creates a positive team environment, but ensures patients are taken care of financially through processed claims, Burkhardt said.
Plus, Winston is “friendly, direct and respectful—a perfect fit for her responsibilities and for OMC,” Burkhardt said.
