St. E's Staff Receive Two Awards for Handwashing Video

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and St. Elizabeth Medical Center (SEMC) have recognized the employees who developed the Flu Fighters handwashing video this spring. View the video here.

Two members of Excellus BlueCross BlueShield’s Hospital Performance Improvement Department presented a "BOZcar" (Bordering On Zero) award to the stars of the St. Elizabeth Medical Center Flu Fighters video in June for their creativity, hard work and dedication to improving the quality of care of all of St. Elizabeth’s patients.

Mike Slade, RN, manager and Michelle Vielhauer, RN, consultant for Hospital Performance Improvement at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, presented the award to Leah Boek, Nadine Larson, Raena Perrota and Christian Scaccia. Erika Bailey, the SEMC coach with the Bordering on Zero initiative, and Georgianna O’Rourke, RN, nurse manager, were also congratulated for their part in the video creation. The Flu Fighters video contains original music and lyrics presented in a rap style to encourage physicians and staff members to all wash their hands before each patient encounter. Hand hygiene is of primary importance in preventing infection.

“St Elizabeth Medical Center is participating in an Excellus BlueCross BlueShield-sponsored quality improvement project called “Bordering on Zero” (BOZ). Developed in Canada (over the BORDER), it encourages front-line staff to creatively improve healthcare delivery to reach ZERO defects. The Flu Fighters video so epitomized the spirit of BOZ, involving staff from throughout the hospital and making quality improvement fun, that the first annual BOZcar award was created to recognize their excellence in execution,” said Dr. Frank Dubeck, chief medical officer for Medical Policy for Excellus BlueCross BlueShield.

In addition, the Medical Center Administration presented a “St. E’s Way” trophy to these employees at the monthly managers’ meeting. The St. E’s Way Initiative is an opportunity for employees to be recognized for their ideas and efforts in improving the SEMC patient, customer or employee experience. The Medical Center’s Customer Service Design Team selected this project from submissions for the award. The winning participants received a $100 prize to share and were presented with a trophy.

“The St. Elizabeth community is proud of these employees and what they created as a team,” said Richard Ketcham, President/CEO. “They wrote music and lyrics, involved many departments and conveyed the handwashing message in an engaging, light-hearted way. That benefits our facility and our community.”