Public Employee Press

Commission honors Sea View Hospital
Patient Care Techs shine

By ALFREDO ALVARADO

Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center and Home on Staten Island — already highly regarded for the excellent care its staff provides in the state’s first brain injury unit and for developing a drug to cure tuberculosis — recently added the 2007 Ernest Amory Codman Award to its accolades.

The Codman Award, which Sea View won in the Long Term Care category, is the firstnational health care award to recognize excellence in patient care. The honor came from the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations.

The staff, made up mainly of DC 37 members in locals 420, 1549 and 768, were cited for sharply reducing incontinence, a common problem at long-term care facilities.

Incontinence often causes skin lesions and falls, not just to patients but also to the staff who assist them. Falls among the elderly can result in life-threatening injuries.

Working closely with the union members, management implemented several changes to decrease the incontinence rate among their patients. They improved the documentation and evaluation of the program and created an incontinence assessment procedure to detail the needs of each resident.

A new lift device to transfer patients to the toilet was introduced. “Before this new lift, we used a hydraulic lift,” said Molly Kamalakshan, a Patient Care Technician and member of Municipal Hospital Employees Local 420. “This is a big improvement that allows us to do our job better.”

Together with other union workers, the Patient Care Technicians played a central role in decreasing incontinence rates at Sea View from 79 percent in 2003 to 38 percent in 2006, and most importantly, in improving the quality of life and dignity of the residents.

“The PCTs are the ones who are the most familiar with the routines and habits of the patients here,” said Jean Policastro, director of facility affairs at Sea View. “They play a critical role in that.”

“This shows the key role our members play in the health care of New Yorkers,” said Local 420 President Carmen Charles, “and what labor and management can do when we work together.”