Northside Hospital Volunteen Newsletter

June Lunch and Learn Conference By Katherine Ward

This past June, volunteens from Northside hospital had the opportunity to meet with one of the most innovative

vascular surgeons in the world. Dr. Joseph Ricotta, medical director of Northside Hospital Heart and Vascular Institute,

took time out of his busy schedule to explain his journey into the medical field and his specialty to the volunteens. Dr.

Ricotta shared how his distinguished medical education led him to the specialty that he practices today. While a medical

areer as o o i his fa il , Dr. Ri otta as ot o pletel o i ed to follo i his father’s footsteps u til he

spent a summer in Central America assisting a doctor in remote villages. After graduating from Yale University, Dr.

Ricotta entered medical school at Thomas Jefferson University, completed his residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and

received further training at Oxford University, the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo clinic. The volunteens enjoyed hearing

how Dr. Ricotta never missed a surgery during his residency because he slept in the operating room. Dr. Ricotta also

explained how the people he met over the years helped him get to where his

is today.

The volunteens seemed most fascinated with the surgical cases Dr.

Ricotta explained to the group. Dr. Ricotta showed the group pictures of a

tumor he removed that was surrounding an artery in the neck, cutting off

blood flow to the brain and causing stroke-like symptoms. He then

intravenously unclogged the artery of calcium deposits. Dr. Ricotta also

explained how he unclogged an artery in the ankle, restoring blood flow to

the patie t’s foot a d allowing the infection to heal, preventing an

amputation. But the volunteens ere ost i pressed ith Dr. Ri otta’s groundbreaking endovascular treatment for an aortic aneurysm. Dr. Ricotta is

the only physician certified by the FDA to create and use customized

branched stents to fix aortic aneurysms. Each stent Dr. Ricotta uses is custom

fit to the patie t’s a ato . The olu tee s fou d Dr. Ri otta’s i et ee medicine and biomedical engineering intriguing and would certainly love for

him to continue to share his story and experiences with the volunteens at

Northside Hospital.

High Risk Perinatal By Emily Jameson

This summer I was placed to work in the HRP (High Risk Perinatal) Wing of the hospital, which is where high risk

pregnant women are monitored before their due date. The main goal of the doctors, nurses and techs of the wing,

hi h is ritte o e er patie t’s hite oard i their roo , is al a s to sta health , sta preg a t a d h drated . Many of the women in the wing suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, fetal formation problems and other various

ailments that require constant monitoring.

I shadowed a patient care technician named Loretta during my shifts. I helped her refill waters, make beds, stock

towels and supplies and weigh patients, while she would take on more experienced jobs like insulin checks, leg wraps

and many other tasks. My favorite part of working in the HRP

was seeing the newborn babies brought in to see their

mothers. A nurse would push in a newborn straight from the

nursery in their rolling bed across the quiet floor, and they

would get to spend some time with their mother before

being released. I did ’t get to i tera t or see a a ies since I worked in a Perinatal unit, so I was always excited to

see the results of a high risk pregnancy come to full term

with a healthy baby as proof.

My name is Tahirah Ahmad,

and this is my second year as a Volunteen at

Northside. I worked in PACU Ground floor

last year. This year, I chose to volunteer in

the Central Distribution department, and if I

were to describe it in one word, busy is what

I’d use. In Central Distribution, supplies for

the whole hospital are stored. Gowns, IV

poles, emergency carts, it’s all down there!

Central Distribution is located in the

basement, supporting the hospital in more

ways than one. It’s set right next to the

loading dock (and the morgue). Anyways,

various divisions of hospital send in requests

for any supply they need. When a request

comes in, I go to the backroom to retrieve it

from the one of many confusing aisles and

boxes full of supplies. Of course, I get

directions from one of the people who work

down there. They will tell me exactly where

to look, because they remember where

everything is located by heart. If the item is

small enough, I tube it up, but more often I

have to carry it to the floor that needs it.

Since requests come from all over, I get to

visit many different areas in the hospital. It’s

a lot of fun to see them all, and how they

differ. When going into Blood and Marrow

Transplant, it’s important to disinfect and

cover yourself before entering. Labor and

Delivery is a large section, and difficult (for

me) to navigate with all the halls and rooms

looking nearly the same. The Women’s

Center has Jolly Ranchers out at the main

desk, and the nurses there are very friendly.

But even friendlier are the people

down in Central Distribution. The head of the

department is one of the nicest people I’ve

ever met, and very organized too. She is

friends with everyone down there, and that’s

quite a lot of people. The main room is

always a bit cramped, filled more than

halfway with emergency carts that need to

be checked and people going in and out. I

spend a lot of time in the back room stocking

Isolation Carts, and helping other people

with their tasks if I’m not busy, like putting

together IV poles or sorting files. I’m always

doing something, which is why Central

Distribution suits me and why I’d very much

like to work there again. Everyone is so

friendly, it’s never boring, and every day is

sort of an adventure, getting to see new

places and meet new people.

The Heart of the Hospital By Tahirah Ahmad

Margarett Miller, head of Central Distribution, in the main room.

Teen Conference By Tahirah Ahmad

Volunteens at Northside hospital are more than likely

looking for a career in the medical field, and going to

Teen Conferences is a perfect way to explore that path.

During the Teen Conferences, at least 2 professionals

would come in and speak about their careers, along

with a session in self-defense with Security, and—the

best part—ice cream at the end :). I have been to every

Conference since I joined, because each one is fun and

filled with interesting things! Every professional has

broadened my horizons in regards to career choices in

the medical field. This year, a professor and

gynecologist, Dr. Assia Stepanian, MD FACOG, came to

speak to us

about her

career and

how she had

gotten to

where she is,

from her

childhood in

Moscow to

work in

Northside.

Dr. Assia Stepanian grew up in Moscow, the daughter of

two illustrious physicians. In fact, much of her training

was supervised by her mother, Dr. Leila Adamyan, the

developer of some of the most advanced techniques and

classifications used today in the practice of Minimally

Invasive Gynecologic Surgery. She is the founder of an

online media and educational platform of the American

Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists, (AAGL),

SurgeryU, a d the A ade ia of Wo e ’s Health a d Endoscopic Surgery in Atlanta, a private gynecology

practice, earning her various awards. Dr. Stephanian

encouraged us to follow our passion as she did hers and

do the best we can in life. Her speech was very

motivational, and I was amazed by how much one could

accomplish!

After her speech, the interactive part of the conference

arrived: security. In this session, the head of security in

the Cherokee division of Northside, Dan Dreslinski, came

by to teach us what I

thought was very

important: being

aware of yourself and

how to defend

yourself. It was only an

hour long session, but

I learned quite a lot

from it. He taught us

defensive techniques

and how to react in

certain situations. We

got to try out the

methods on each other and him, with some equipment he

brought, but no one got hurt. It was all a lot of fun and

very educational.

Next we had

another professional

come in, this time a

respiratory

therapist, whose job

I found very

i teresti g. I’ e added respiratory

therapist to list of

possible careers). At

first I thought his job

was kind of self-

explanatory, just

checking on the

regularity of breathing

for patients, but it was

a lot more. Respiratory

therapists need to be

on site in emergencies

like strokes or heart

attacks, are crucial

duri g Code Blue’s, a d their patients range

from premature babies

with undeveloped lungs

to elderly patients who Checking oxygen saturation

Intubation on (fake) baby

Dr. Assia Stephanian speaking

Practice with defensive techniques

Teen Conference By Tahirah Ahmad

have diseased lungs. Babies are what Northside Hospital is

known for, so he had prepared an interactive activity

where each of us got to perform intubation on a fake

baby. Intubation is the act of placing an endotracheal

tu e i to the a y’s tra hea in order to connect a life

support ventilator. If this is not done correctly, more likely

than not, the baby will not survive. We also got to check

the oxygen saturation levels in our blood, and check how

well we could each breathe based on age and height.

Those activities were

followed by lunch, and

then a game/tour led by

Carol Kratochvil

(Manager, Volunteer

Services). In the

beginning of the

conference, each teen

had been asked to guess

how many people a

patient interacts with

before surgery, and I

guessed 12 people.

After the respiratory

therapist, Ms. Kratochvil led us around the hospital in a

mock-patient procedure, where we went to all the places

a patient would, from the Admissions Office to 3rd floor

PACU (Post-Anesthesia Care Unit). The total count was

more than 35 people. The prize for guessing correctly was

– you ready?—a stapler. When the tour ended, we played

another game where we calculated the costs of living

comfortably if we graduate from college. The result was

that we need at least $1700 a month to at least afford an

apartment and other basics. That amount is hard to make

without a college education, so it really hit home (not that

I as ’t pla i g o a ollege edu atio ).

All in all, this Conference was definitely worth attending,

and I learned a lot in a very fun way!

How Do I Want to Live? With

Michelle Arkin

The Nursing Station By Luke Qin

The name is Luke, and I’ve been volunteering in nursing stations since freshman year of high school when I first joined the summer teen program. The nursing station isn’t a very popular sector of choice amongst the teens, but it’s an awarding experience and probably the best area to work in my opinion for people who aspire to implement their

skills in patient care one day. The nursing station is a complex system and the heart of

all patient care at Northside exists here. For this area to function properly, people in

various positions must fulfill their duties promptly and in an efficient manner.

Registered Nurses – They hold one of the most familiar positions in a traditional

hospital. They are healthcare providers trained in helping patients in various scopes of

medicine such as orthopedics and general surgery. At Northside, each nurse is assigned

patients on his/her respective floor. Depending on the patients’ condition, it’s nurses’ job to carry out necessary procedures. It’s a complex position to hold and when things at the station get crazy, it really tests their patience, multitasking skills, improvising

skills, and even their gag reflexes. Some of the nastiest things go down here.

Patient Care Technician – Also simply known as PCTs, they work alongside doctors,

nurses, and other health professionals to give direct patient care. At Northside, they’re the ones who mostly transport the patients on bed and carry out discharges. They’re job requires more patient contact making them vital in how the patients are assisted in

carrying out the simplest stuff in the hospital such as walking, getting up from bed,

using the bathroom, etc.

Case Managers – In the scene of a hospital, medical case managers is centered on

working with not just the patients, but rather the patients’ family and friends to help them treat their mental and physical conditions. Difficult situations tend to appear and

affect those people due to whatever the patient is struggling and it’s the case manager’s duty to assist them in coping with it in hopes of achieving a higher quality of life. This usually requires counseling and detailed planning. Every process is kept in

record such as phone calls, referrals, and home visits. Medical case managers tend to

specialize in a certain area and find it necessary to utilize hospital resources.

Unit Secretary – This is the heart of, if not most, all of the functions in the nursing

station. The secretary deals with a variety of responsibilities. One of the most crucial is

answering patient/outside calls and handling their request accordingly usually by

relaying the message to the PCT or the patient’s nurse. This job requires a good

knowledge of medical terminology for it is also his/her job to make orders on patients

via entering abbreviated codes on the computer. Unit secretaries are serious multi-

taskers as well. As a volunteer at the nursing station, I’ve done a great deal of unit

secretary work excluding tasks that require computer usage, and it has really expanded

my awareness of not just how the nursing station operates, but the whole hospital.

When a person becomes sick, is diagnosed with cancer,

becomes a victim of an accident, or any other life altering

situation, that person does not get to choose when it

happe s. Disa ilit a d disease do ot follo a perso ’s s hedule or allo itself to take a da off for that perso ’s convenience. No, when someone is disabled or sick, they

become chained to a new way of life that is far more difficult

than what they had previously known and their schedules and

routines are no longer theirs.

Disabled for a Day

By Hannah Zenas

My name is Hannah Zenas and I have been a Volunteen at

Northside Hospital for three ears. I’ e had the pri ilege of working in various parts of the hospital including High Risk

Perinatal, Infusion, and at the front desk in the Main Lobby as

an ambassador. These units have allowed me to meet

hundreds of people, some who are patients and some who are

not, all with their own stories and for many, their disabilities.

This summer I have also worked as a technician at Georgia

Prosthetics, a business that builds artificial limbs for

amputees. This job gave me hands on experience in helping

disabled men and women walk and use their arms again, and

I’ e heard so a i redi le stories as to ho these e a d women lost their limbs and how different living is now

compared to before their accidents or amputations. Hearing

these stories changed how I viewed the patients I work with at

the hospital; illnesses and disabilities go beyond health

challenges, they completely change day to day life.

To understand and empathize more with patients,

some Volunteens and I went a day, or a good portion

of a da , ith a i du ed disa ilit . For e a ple, Tahira Ahmad spent 24 hours as a mute. She did not

speak all day, and she told me that it was extremely

difficult because she had a dinner party that night and

ould ’t sa a ord to a of her guests. Be ause she did ’t k o sig la guage, or did a o e she a ted to communicate with, she carried around her phone

and a notepad to either type or write what she

a ted to sa . “he said that Bei g ute as u h more difficult than I thought it would be, especially

e ause I fou d I ould ’t t pe or rite fast e ough to keep up a o ersatio . After I’d ritten down an

answer to a question or something, there would be an

awkward silence between me and the person I was

talki g to. Tahira now can understand patients who

may be mute or unable to speak because she saw

what it was like to be without an effective way of

communication. In response to if she will view

patie ts differe tl o she said, Yes, a solutel . No I k o ho I’d a t to e o u i ated ith if I

ere i their shoes. This e er ise taught her that patience and understanding is a necessity in

interacting with patients.

Like I said, I worked in a prosthetics business this summer, so I

had a very interesting experience in being disabled for a day. I

borrowed a prosthetic arm that was made for instructional

purposes for patients to learn how to use such a mechanism, so

it fit to my arm even though I had no amputation. The arm

works so that you wear a harness around your shoulders and

when you pull and put tension on the connecting wires from

the harness to the arm, it opens a hook at the end of the

prosthesis, thus enabling me to pick things up, write, eat, etc.

At first I as e tre el e ited to use this a d I did ’t thi k it would be that difficult because the hook worked very well, and

I still had my left hand with full functionality. But how wrong I

was. The harness pulled and chaffed my skin, my handwriting

as a ful (I’ right ha ded, a d hile I ould rite ith the hook, it was not very legible or efficient), and people looked at

e fu . There are ele e ts of ei g disa led that ou do ’t consider, such as how people look at you. Not fitting into the

ategor of or al is ot a good feeli g, a d that is a drawback of ei g ill or disa led that a do ’t think about.

Before taki g part i this e er ise, I fou d I kept pushi g it off. I ould thi k Oh, toda ’s ot good to ot e a le to use right ar ; I ha e to ork a d other su h e uses. I fou d this to e er fu a d profou d e ause people ho a tuall are

disabled never had that choice; to push off when their functionality became limited. If I personally learned anything that I could

pass o to the Volu tee s, it ould e to spe d a da i the patie ts’ shoes, if ou a , e ause ou ill realize that ei g sick

or disabled is 100 times harder than we could ever realize just by observing. This was an exercise well worth taking the time to

do and will change how I work with patients in the hospital.