Reading Hospital Foundation has named Vinti Shah, DO, Chief, Section of Palliative Medicine, as recipient of the “2018 Russell S. Bickel Jr. Award for Excellence in Communication and Caring to Patients and their Families.” The Foundation also has named Mary Jo Auman, MSN, RN, CEN, CSN, as recipient of the Russell S. Bickel Jr. Memorial Grant for Quality Improvement. The recipients will be recognized during Reading Hospital’s Quality Patient Safety Symposium on Saturday, January 27 at 7:45 a.m., at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton in Reading.
The award, established by Barbara Swoyer, sister to the late Russell S. Bickel, Jr., and her family, recognizes an individual who has consistently demonstrated excellence in communication and caring to patients and their families. The grant, also established by Barbara Swoyer and her family, supports a Quality Improvement project that improves patient-centered care, with a special focus on communication between patients, family and care providers.
Dr. Shah received the award for her caring manner and tireless work to enhance communication for patients receiving palliative care, their family members, physicians and staff. She emphasizes that palliative care doesn’t focus on death but on how to help patients choose how they wish to live when they are ill or dying. Open communication is vital as these decisions take place.
Mary Jo Auman received the Quality Improvement grant for her initiative, “Bereavement Resource and Support through Purposeful Communications to Patients, Families and Staff in the Emergency Department.” With the grant, Auman and the Emergency Department Bereavement Resource Team will develop a formal bereavement education program to cultivate purposeful communication and improve the quality of patient- and family-centered care when a patient in the Emergency Department has died or their family faces end-of-life decisions.
Barbara Swoyer, MSN, FNP-BC and her daughter, Mary Swoyer, MSN, FNP-C, will attend the presentation to congratulate each recipient. Anthony Donato, MD, the 2017 Bickel Grant recipient, will present an update on his project, “Heart Failure Across the Continuum.”
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