Andrea exemplifies the professional practice model at CHCO.
With the neuro-oncology population Andrea serves daily, she provides more than just family-centered care. This population of patients often has recurrence of tumors which requires treatment to transition to end of life care. Andrea's ability to guide our families through the hardest time of their lives with such dignity and grace takes my breath away.
With limited pediatric hospice services, she strives to keep the families at home focusing on patient comfort and empowering parents to care for their child where they are most comfortable. She works with her providers and the communities to find creative solutions for pediatric hospice and palliative care when these options are often scarce. I have witnessed phone calls when families call for support because they are terrified, when their child's breathing is changing or when pain is not controlled and the families do not know what to do. Andrea is there to reassure them and walk them through what to expect. This comfort is the healing touch the family needs at that moment.
Serving families in this capacity is not easy nor is maintaining compassion and resiliency, however, Andrea continues to do this work daily. Andrea is also a support to her coworkers which is evident in every peer evaluations each year. She is consistently recognized for the support she gives to her team while maintaining the ability to laugh even when she really wants to cry.
Andrea's ownership expands beyond patient and family centered care. As a CNIII within the CCBD, Andrea has increased our MyChart activations from 30% to nearly 50% within less than a year. Her work and ownership on this project highlights the importance of an inter-professional collaboration. She has provided tools, education at meetings, and frequent communication to medical assistants, nurses, providers, and families. Her work is bringing the CCBD close to the national best practice of 60% of active patients using MyChart. Her emphasis of MyChart as a tool to improve access and communication with the healthcare team has driven the application into practice.
Andrea also presented at an international neuro-oncology conference in 2016. She presented patient and family education materials related to side effects of chemotherapy for brain tumor regimens.
Andrea's dedication to CHCO, CCBD but most importantly the patients and families exemplifies the mission and vision of CHCO.