Shelton resident named Griffin Hospital 2016 Employee of the Year

Operating room nurse wins top honor  

Griffin Hospital 2016 Employee of the Year Kim Kelly  

DERBY - Griffin Hospital recently honored its nearly 800 employees and physicians who reached service milestones of five years and more and announced its employee and department of the year award winners at its 46th Annual Service Awards Dinner at the Aria Banquets in Prospect.

Operating room nurse Kim Kelly of Shelton was named Griffin Hospital’s 2016 Employee of the Year, and the hospital’s Case Management Department was named the 2016 Department of the Year.
At a “Classic Hollywood” inspired celebration, Griffin Hospital CEO and President Patrick Charmel personally presented gifts of appreciation to longtime employees and announced the winners.
The celebration is held each May during National Hospital Week to recognize employees and physicians for years of service and for outstanding performance.

Kelly Named Top Employee
Kelly joined Griffin Hospital in 1989 as a per diem float nurse, and advanced to a full-time staff nurse on the inpatient floors before being transferred to the hospital’s Digestive Disorders Center in 1998.
She recently took on the new roles and responsibilities of an OR nurse, functioning flawlessly as a patient advocate, teacher, team member, influencer, leader, and communicator. 
Kelly is the Bariatric Surgery Service Leader, the OR Safety Champion and received the Marie Santini Operating Room Nursing Excellence Award in 2015.

“Kim continually goes above and beyond,” Charmel said in presenting the award. “She anticipates the needs of the department, will volunteer to take extra call, and willingly works until all of the patients’ needs are met. She provides a high level of nursing care in all services and departments, with the capacity to float to [gastroenterology], Same Day Surgery, and the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit as needed - always with a smile. To express her appreciation to her co-workers, Kim frequently makes her famous coffee cake to thank the staff for a job well done with the OR’s patient safety high reliability initiative.”

The hospital's Employee of the Year selections come from its monthly I Take It Personally (ITIP) program where employees are nominated by their colleagues for outstanding work. 
Each month, one employee is selected from the hospital’s four service divisions - Ancillary, Nursing, Service, and Support - for his or her efforts to improve patient satisfaction and promote Griffin Hospital’s commitment to patient-centered care. Of these employees, four are selected as finalists for the honor of “Employee of the Year.” 
In addition to Kelly, Amanda Boroski, of Griffin Faculty Practice, Ricky Le Pera, of Griffin's Cardiac Rehabilitation, and Tricia Palmer, of Radiology and The Hewitt Center for Breast Wellness, were finalists for the top honor.

Case Management Named Departments of the Year
Griffin Hospital’s Case Management Department was honored with Department of the Year for improving coordination with other hospital departments and community agencies to provide excellent transition of care and patient satisfaction.
“The Emergency Department Care Coordinators were able to prevent avoidable readmissions by tripling the number of community service referrals, including Meals on Wheels, Health and Human Services, The CHF/COPD Wellness Clinic at Griffin Hospital, and other skilled facilities,” Charmel said. 
“The Complex Care Team monitored patients at the greatest risk for hospital readmission and were able to keep 80 percent of these high-risk patients healing at home and out of the hospital.”
In addition, Case Management was able to help improve Griffin’s financial stability by working with physicians to improve clinical documentation and recoup denied health insurance reimbursements.

The Department of the Year is selected from the four hospital departments selected as “Department of the Quarter” by the ITIP program. 
In addition to Case Management, Department of the Quarter winners were Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, The Childbirth Center at Griffin Hospital, and Medical Education.


This is a press release from Griffin Hospital.