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Blood donor of the month

Even after donating more than 13 gallons of her blood, Marie Boyle, research study coordinator, continues to give regularly at Children's Hospital Boston's Blood Donor Center. As the administrator in the Informatics Program, Boyle has worked at Children's for the past 16 years. In April of 1993, she walked by the center, located at the top of the main staircase, and decided to walk in.

After giving whole blood, she decided to take the leap to become a platelet donor. "I asked about the process and was told that because of the time commitment not as many people want to donate platelets, making the need for the donations greater," she says. "I decided that the two-hour commitment was worth it." More than 100 pints later, Boyle continues to give platelets. "It's rewarding," she says. "It's hard not to want to do something to help the patients here."  

The platelets from Boyle, as well as those donated by others, directly help children with cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy. These children frequently require daily transfusions because the treatment destroys bone marrow where platelets are produced, making it difficult for their blood to clot.

If you're interested in volunteering or would like more information on platelet and whole blood donation, call the Blood Donor Center at ext. 5-6677. In the words of this month's donor of the month: "Donating blood is a small commitment of time that could help change or save someone's life."


Master of ceremonies Chad Boutin and Mary Sawyer

10 Northwest gets creative with recognition

Kristen Dennen, RN, BSN, Lexi Yusah, RN, BSN, and Danielle BeanRN, BSN, recentlyorganized a People's Choice Awards ceremony for staff on 10 Northwest, orthopedic and general surgery. More than 40 people nominated their coworkers for superlative awards, and the winners received category-specific gifts, like a whoopee cushion for Most Mischievous, and whitening toothpaste for Best Smile. The event was set up like a Hollywood awards show, complete with a red carpet and music to match announcements of each category. Here are the winners:

Most Team Spirit
Kristen Dennen, RN, BSN, staff nurse I

Best Dressed
Tonna Hession, RN, BSN, staff nurse II, and Colleen Mooney, RN, BSN, staff nurse I

Funniest
Annalise George, RN, BSN, staff nurse I

Most Creative/Artistic
Kerri Giannino, RN, SN, staff nurse I

Most Likely to be on American Idol
Mary Sawyer, RN, BSN, staff nurse II

Best Smile
Megan Taffe, RN, BSN, staff nurse I

Most Talkative
Danielle Tucker, RN, BSN, staff nurse I

Best Team Player
Megan Taffe, RN, BSN, staff nurse I

Best Mingle Attendance
Shelby Mudarri, RN, BSN, staff nurse I

Biggest Drama King/Queen
Chad Boutin, RN, BSN staff nurse I

Most Mischievous
Kristen Dennen, RN, BSN, staff nurse I

Most Likely to pick up Overtime
Michael Felber, RN, BSN, staff nurse II

Most Likely to Become Nurse Manager
Lexi Yusah, RN, BSN, staff nurse III

Most Likely to Become Level 4
Diane Tubman, RN, BSN, staff nurse III

Most Likely to Marry a Resident
Colleen Mooney, RN, BSN, staff nurse I

Best Advocate
Sharon Rivello, RN, BSN, staff nurse II

Most in Need of a Fanny Pack
John Scannell, RN, BSN, staff nurse I, and
Elaine Lee, RN, BSN, staff nurse I

Best Charge Nurse
Sharon Rivello, RN, BSN, staff nurse II

Best Preceptor
Diane Tubman, RN, BSN, staff nurse III

Best IV Skills
Marianna Franciosa-Johnson, RN, BSN, staff nurse I

Most Dedicated
Laura DeBenedictis, RN, BSN, staff nurse II

MVP
Ellie Hartford, RN, BSN, patient care coordinator

Rookie of the Year
Suzanne Zickell, RN, BSN, staff nurse I


Kennedy Middle School comes through again

Every year, Joe Salvo, a teacher from the Kennedy Middle School in Waltham, rallies his students to collect toys for an annual holiday donation to Children's. In late December, the gifts were brought to the Patient Entertainment Center to be enjoyed by some very excited and thankful patients.


Diverse fellows

Children's has six new 2008 fellows through The Partnership, Inc, a leadership development program dedicated to diversifying the workplace.

Congratulations to the following new fellows:

Non clinical:

Michelle Gordon-Seemore, director of staffing in HR

Ron Wilkerson, manager of Business Intelligence in ISD

Omar Abarca, team leader applications specialist in ISD

Clinical:

Louise Kaye Lee, MD, Emergency Medicine

Sharon Redd, MD, Day Surgery

Mary Lopez, PhD, Bio-medical Research/Endocrine


Cisco Santa phones home

At Christmas time, Children's patients got the chance to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas via video messaging through Cisco Systems' Boxborough office. The office connected inpatients to the North Pole by using an Internet video phone system. Cisco's Boxborough office also generously ran a toy drive and will be dropping off the collected gift donations for patients.


Edible houses in Waltham

A total of 16 gingerbread houses were entered in the Waltham campus' festive confection competition this year. At the end of the day, the Radiology team's Boston-themed gingerbread house took first prize.


Small Santas give big

For the second year in a row, Haley Rich and Lauren Barnard, fifth graders at Schofield Elementary School in Wellesley, created holiday gift packages for Children's patients. They organized a bake sale at their church and raised $400 selling cookies and cupcakes. Then they delivered their packages, which included hand-crafted ornaments, coloring books, word search puzzles, crayons and stuffed animals, in a big red sack.

 


 

 

 
     
 

Features
Food Services takes the '06 survey to heart

Meet our 2007 Black Achievers

Three new faces

Research
The latest Children's research

Gratitudes
The McDonough family gives thanks

Destination Children's
Juan Ibla, MD

Glad you asked!
How are night shift employees recognized ?

Employee of the month
Chad Cotter

In their own words
Eileen Sporing, Chief Nursing Officer

Bruce Zetter, PhD, Chief Research Officer




   
 
    In other publications
 

Children's Hospital AIDS program success story

A day in the life: Children's photographer Ethan Bickford

 

Fixing children's hearts without skipping a beat

3 is the new 2: Having weathered the 2s, you may be in for a surprise at age 3