We’ve all had to go to the hospital at some point in our lives. Many of us may have had to deal with the uncertainty and distress of sitting bedside with our loved ones. Doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals in Bergen County do all they can to help the thousands of men, women and children rushed to them every week, but in some cases they don’t have the time or resources to pay as much attention as is needed to the family members on the other side of the stretcher.
Sitting by the bedside of your loved one can be an emotional roller coaster to say the least. Seconds feel like centuries. Your total focus is on that person whose hand you’re gripping for dear life. In some cases, when the patient is in stable condition, you really just need to step away and grab a breath of fresh air, a cup of coffee, or maybe just take a shower.
The “Take a Break” volunteer program, founded in March 2010 at the emergency trauma department (ETD) at Hackensack University Medical Center, allows family members and caregivers to do precisely that. A core group of volunteers, ranging from college-aged to retirees, have received extensive training to assist with bedside care giving techniques so that family members can leave their loved ones for up to two hours at a time. These volunteers provide compassion, companionship and basic assistance so that the caregivers can have a short respite.
Program Leaders
Every great program has equally excellent visionaries behind them. In the case of the “Take a Break” program there are three people who currently drive the program’s success.
Sandra Kissler’s husband, Gerald Kissler—Jerry as his friends and family members called him—was a patient at Hackensack for many years. Jerry suffered from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and thus he and Sandy were frequent visitors to Hackensack’s ETD whenever Jerry experienced setbacks such as breathing difficulties or pneumonia.
On one trip to the ETD, Sandy met someone who would change her life. Sandy, secretary of the HUMC Foundation board of trustees, was by her husband’s side and she was asked to leave the room. One doctor, however, noticed how upset she was.
“He said ‘how are you doing?’ And I said ‘Oh, just fine,’ and I burst into tears and he put his arms around me and he said: ‘You know, everyone always asks how the patient is doing but nobody ever asks how the family member is doing.’”
That doctor was Dr. Joseph Feldman, the chairman of emergency medicine at HUMC. After this first act of compassion and kindness towards Sandy, Dr. Feldman became great friends with the couple.
The ETD is a stressful environment for everyone involved. Dr. Feldman, who has been at HUMC for 14 years, says that, on average, he sees more than 200 patients a day. Still, he finds the time to use not only his expertise, but also his compassionate personality to the full advantage of all those around him.
“I generally look at patients not just as the person on the stretcher, but as the entire family unit,” said Dr. Feldman, who was Jerry’s doctor for several years before Jerry passed away in 2005.
After Jerry’s death, Sandy and Dr. Feldman were committed to honoring his memory in the most effective way possible. The two helped develop the Gerald Kissler Institute for Family-Centered Care at HUMC.
The whole idea was to make the ETD a friendlier environment for family members. And caregivers. Sandy and Dr. Feldman are strong proponents of keeping family members in the know. Family-centered care ensures that family members are aware of what is going on at all times. They know what resources are available to them, and information is shared in an appropriate and effective manner.
“My vision for the program was to make people feel more comfortable, to feel less anxious, to feel that they’re being taken care of, to feel that they’re being attended to,” Sandy explained.
Playing a crucial role in making the program an integral component of the ETD, Caryn Loffman is another key player of the “Take a Break” team. While she was pursuing her master’s degree in social work from Touro College’s Graduate School of Social Work, Loffman was brought in as an intern to research a way to create a program that would mesh with Sandy’s vision while also improving patient and caregiver satisfaction.
Volunteer Core
After extensive research, brainstorming and meetings, the “Take a Break” program was initiated in March 2010. In its first year, it offered its services to more than 1,200 patients; services gladly given by the approximately two dozen volunteers carefully chosen for this program.
“Just having a volunteer coming to the bedside and alleviating that conversation and engaging the patient or engaging (the caregivers) distracts from what has been going on, and gives everyone an opportunity to be liberated in their thinking process,” said Loffman, who currently serves as the program coordinator for “Take a Break.”
According to Loffman, program volunteers derive as much benefit from the volunteer experience as the people they are helping.
“We all got involved in the healthcare system in order to make a difference in somebody’s life,” Loffman noted. “We feel that we can offer something that will help people to get to a better place and I think that our volunteers do that every hour of every shift every time they come to the emergency room.”
The volunteers are there to help out in ways that nurses and doctors may not have time to do. For instance, if a patient needs a blanket, the volunteer is there to get one. If they would like water or juice, the volunteer is there to get it, as long as the patient is allowed to have liquids. In addition, volunteers are provided with special Spectra Link phones, which allow family members to contact the volunteer.
“It’s so important to give respite for family members that are there, and also just to become ‘family’ members for patients who don’t have their actual family there,” said Dr. Feldman.
Earning Recognition
Healthcare organizations have taken notice of the positive impact “Take a Break” has made and continues to make. In fact, Kissler, Dr. Feldman and Loffman have received awards for their efforts—most notably three awards at the 2010 Planetree Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado. Planetree is a non-profit organization that aims to provide information that leads to more personal and innovative methods in healthcare.
The trio traveled to Denver to personally receive the honors. Dr. Feldman was given the “Physician Champion Award,” Kissler received the “Caregiver Award,” and Loffman, Dr. Feldman and Kissler all were honored with the “Best Practice Program Award” for their collaborative efforts.
While in Denver, Loffman had the opportunity to lead a workshop about the program. She received lots of positive feedback, and mentioned that other hospitals are now exploring ways to develop programs similar to the one at HUMC.
Speaking for all three developers of “Take a Break”, as well as the program’s volunteers, Loffman stated: “It’s invigorating. It makes you feel like there’s a potential to really impact healthcare in a substantive way.”
Justin Davidson, a graduate of New York University, is a frequent contributor to BC THE MAG.
