Volunteen Newsletter Summer 2014

1. Northside Hospital
Volunteen Newsletter

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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.