News from the University Hospital at Downstate
September 2022

A Message from David H. Berger, MD, MHCM, FACS, CEO of University Hospital at Downstate

As you know, our WE CARE Journey describes University Hospital at Downstate’s journey toward becoming a High Reliability Organization (HRO). An HRO is an organization that performs well for a long period of time without having any serious accidents or bad outcomes. The concept of this objective is attractive for health care, due to the complexity of what we do each day and the possible risk of injury to our patients. Hospitals that implement HRO principles build systems to prevent mistakes and errors from impacting patients.

Below, you will see two slides that explain our We Care Values and Standards of Behavior, as well as our Strategic Plan and Goals for this initiative.

This is a very exciting time to be at UHD as we continue on this journey toward becoming an HRO. To learn more about our continued progress with the We Care initiative, please click here.

Spotlight on Betty Jung

Betty Jung, RN, was born to Chinese immigrant parents in Long Beach, NY. In 1981, she graduated from SUNY Downstate’s College of Nursing and she has worked continuously at University Hospital at Downstate for the past 41 years.

Betty’s career at Downstate started immediately after graduation, beginning as a medical-surgical nurse. After eight and half years, she joined the Patient Education Department and Center for Community Health Promotion and Wellness, where she has worked ever since.  

Betty has been a mainstay of this department. She has held a variety of roles and supported many community health initiatives over many years. Throughout Brooklyn, she is affectionately known as “Nurse Betty,” having worked in the field on health fairs with countless community partners, providing basic health screening, educational/counseling services, and sharing healthcare resources.

Betty has always included Downstate departments and programs in these projects, including Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Dermatology, STAR Clinic, Audiology, Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease, Brooklyn Initiative to Develop Geriatrics Education, Division of Hematology/ Oncology, THEO, and The Brooklyn Free Clinic, to name a few.

Students have also benefited from Betty’s commitment to the community that Downstate serves. She has included students from all of Downstate’s colleges and schools and all degree levels in her projects, giving students the experience of volunteering in culturally diverse urban community settings.

In 2014, Betty was named coordinator of the NYS Cancer Services Program for Downstate. In this capacity, she works with multiple Downstate services to provide financial assistance for those with little or no health insurance to receive preventive breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screenings. In 2020, during the height of the COVID pandemic, Betty assisted the Family Call Center and helped screen visitors at all entrances of the hospital and – once the vaccine became available – was part of the COVID Vaccination Team.

In 2021, she yet again took on additional roles in support of Downstate’s service to patients.  Betty became an Independent Living Donor Advocate for the Transplant Team and then began providing post-discharge follow-up phone calls for Obstetrics, Pediatrics, and adult patients discharged from inpatient areas as part of the Patient Safety P.I. project.

Betty has been the recipient of numerous awards, most notably the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Service Excellence. In 2021, the Borough President’s Office named her a “Brooklyn COVID Hero.” Most recently, in 2022, Betty won first place for her work on the Patient Safety and Quality Fair P.I. project, “Post Discharge Follow-up Phone Calls.

Highlighting our Fantastic Summer Youth Program for 2022

University Hospital at Downstate successfully on-boarded 124 Summer Youth Employment Program participants. They were welcomed by David Berger, M.D., MHCM, FACS, Patricia A. Winston, DNP, MS, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, and Wren Lester, Ph.D., CPXP, CPHQ, during orientation.

The Summer Youth Employment Program participants had the opportunity to work at Downstate for six weeks and were assigned to numerous departments throughout the institution. Their contributions made an exceptional impact in some departments.

One supervisor wrote, “With gratitude and respect, the Summer Youths' help in Perioperative Services was tremendous. Every one of them seems to have a bright future ahead of them. Some are very shy, but it is expected. Many stood out and went beyond the call of duty. Some significant examples are Kendall Acheampong, a young star in the making, Emily Lu, a great help in the Booking Office, and Ethan Lee. The OR staff will miss his contributions.”

The Star Program has scheduled an interview for two participants and if chosen, they will be hired as Project Aides for the THEO Program. Several Summer Youth Employment Program participants have expressed their desire to continue their service to Downstate as a volunteer.

The participants also had the opportunity to rate their experience at Downstate. Here are some of the comments:

“My experience was very educational and helpful. This is something that I’ve been trying to do for 2 years, especially since it helped with my field. I would love to work here full time, if possible.”

“I was surrounded by great intelligent ladies, who taught me certain aspects and I will be taking that with me. I would like to see more of the medical side as I explained in the beginning of the program. But overall, I had fun being in Admitting; I felt I was a part of the team.”

“I enjoyed my time at Downstate learning how different workplaces function. Be on time and be ready to experience new challenges!”

The Department of Volunteer Services will continue to be supportive to our community and we commend them for helping shape our young community and the bright future that lies ahead for them.

Thank you to Gem McCalman-Oxley, Volunteer Services Coordinator, for orchestrating the Summer Youth Program.

Summer Employees of the Month

Linda Tompkins, RN

Ms. Linda Tompkins, RN, has been an employee at University Hospital at Downstate for 25 years. She has worked in the Radiology Department, Emergency Room, and most recently in Case Management.

In the Case Management Department, Ms. Tompkins has been an excellent employee and team player, highly respected by her colleagues. She has repeatedly demonstrated her skillset in troubleshooting technological issues and offers that develop fast solutions to assist in the Case Management daily workflow.

Ms. Tompkins has a passion for patient and family advocacy as evidenced in her collaboration with the Medical Teams, Social Work, Insurance Companies, and our Community Partners.

On any given day, you might hear Ms. Tompkins advocating for a disposition that might not be popular, but her forceful advocacy reflects her interaction with either a family or patient and her knowledge of when special considerations might be needed.

Ms. Tompkins is a valued member of our Care Management Team and the Employee Excellence Award is well deserved. We are proud to have her as a valued teammate.

Carl Roberts, Patient Advocate

Mr. Roberts has worked as a Patient Representative and Patient Advocate for the past four years at University Hospital at Downstate, providing an exceptional patient experience with each patient interaction. Carl is best known for his kind and gentle communication in challenging situations. He can remain calm when tensions are high and de-escalate challenging situations with patience.

Many patients and families return to visit Carl and thank him for his assistance. Mr. Roberts is equally popular with the nursing staff, constantly demonstrating our values as he provides support to the units. In addition, Mr. Roberts develops and provides service excellence training for new employees and current staff.

Mr. Roberts lives and breathes our vision and values by welcoming all and through his contributions, making UHD “the best place to get care and the best place to give care.” Thank you Carl, for being an example of who we are.

Update on Construction Projects at UHD

Major projects currently underway are as follows.  As you can see below, most of the projects on this list are scheduled to be completed and turned over to us in 2023.

Bi Plane

The Bi Plane Room, which we requested in 2016, is projected to be turned back over to us in February of 2023.

Computed Tomography (CT)

Our mobile CT will be in place in November 2022 to support the design and build of our two CT Machines.  The second floor CT will be turned over to us in February 2023 and the first floor CT will be turned over to us in April 2023.

Operating Room Upgrade Project

This project includes the upgrade of the Labor and Delivery operating rooms, which is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2023.

Isolation Room Upgrades

The first phase of the isolation room upgrades has been approved for occupancy and are in use.  We are preparing to upgrade the isolation rooms in the ED as well as the other half in the bed tower within the next few weeks.

Dialysis Unit Update

The inpatient dialysis unit upgrade is ongoing and will be turned over to us by September 30, 2022.

IV Compounding Room

The new room is scheduled to be completed by February 2023.

Postpartum Project

We are beginning in the next month on the showers and bathrooms on postpartum.  The work is scheduled to take 5 months.  This should be completed in the 1st quarter of 2023.

Electrical Segregation

This is a large project to ensure that we have the correct electrical circuits for all critical, life safety, and equipment.  This project is currently scheduled to be completed in 2025.

These are the major projects underway and there are many other upgrades currently in process at the hospital. We would like to thank you all for your patience during this time, as we continue to complete these necessary projects at UHD.