P age A 9
T he P ortland O bserver • N ovember 9, 1 9 9 4
Kaiser Permanente Hospitals Gain National Planetree Affiliation
Imagine staying in a hospital
where the entire staff considers meet­
ing your needs as a person just as
important as treating your medical
problem. Instead o f boring game
shows and stark walls, imagine be­
ing offered a choice o f music on
headphones and a selection of pleas­
ant pictures to decorate your room.
R ather than rigid visiting hours,
imagine having your family - as
defined by you - free to visit and stay
as long as you want, even overnight.
Such patient-friendly hospitals
are the dream of a national non-profit
o rg a n iz a tio n c a lle d P la n e tre e .
Planetree earlier this year designated
Bess Kaiser and Kaiser Sunnyside
medical centers as the first Planetree-
affiliated hospitals in the Portland
area. The two Kaiser Permanente
hospitals join 21 other Planetree hos­
pitals nationwide - including only
three others in the Northwest (The
Dalles, Springfield and Seattle).
Tom Janisse, MD, is medical direc­
tor of the 36-bed Planetree unit as Kaiser
Sunnyside. "Planetree's founders felt that
hospitals treated disease effectively but
made patients and their families into
bystanders. They named their new orga­
nization Planetree after the tree under
which the ancient Greek physician
Hippocrates taught,” says Dr. Janisse.
"In those days, patients were prescribed
not only medicine but music. Planetree is
reviving that idea of treating the whole
person -- not just the disease.”
Mary Wade is the Health Care
Alliance Director with Planetree’s
national headquarters in San Fran­
cisco. "W e think Kaiser Permanente,
with its emphasis on wellness, health
education and preventing illness,
makes a natural partner for introduc­
ing the Planetree model to Portland.”
Wade says each hospital is tak­
ing a different approach to adopting
Planetree. Staff at Kaiser Sunnyside
are piloting Planetree practices on
one unit, while Bess K aiser is incor­
porating many Planetree concepts
throughout the hospital.
At Bess Kaiser, Associate Ad­
m in istrato r C onnie H uber says,
“Planetree is patient-centered medi­
cine. T he goal as w e phase in
Planetree practices over the coming
months and years is to educate pa­
tients about their condition and treat­
ment, and involve them and their
families as much as possible in the
care experience. That includes pa­
tients being familiar with their own
m edical records.” Huber says all
1,500 staff at Bess Kaiser will re­
ceive four hours o f orientation to
Planetree by early December.
Under this philosophy, staff will try
tohonorpatients’ own routines, allowing
them tosleeplate, forexample. "We want
coming to the hospital not to be a big
jump from home,” says Leslie Carveth,
RN, coordinator on Kaiser Sunnyside’s
Planetree unit. Once Planetree is fully in
place, Carveth says family and friends
will be welcomed in the unit with flexible
visiting hours and a homey lounge. A
patient’s spouse or support person will
even be able to stay overnight or become
a care partner under the model. Care
partners can be trained todo simple tasks,
such as keeping fresh water by the bed­
side.
Does all this “high touch” care
actually help patients get better? Dr.
Janisse thinks it will. “Data from
other Planetree hospitals show that
patients sleep better, report less
stress, use less pain medication and
are discharged sooner. W e’ll be
m onitoring to see if our patients
benefit sim ilarly.”
Adopting the patient-centered Planetree philosophy at Bess Kaiser Medical Center means making
hospital stays more pleasant. A Nintendo computer console does just that for Joe Njoku of Portland.
Irene Washington, Joe’s foster mother says his game playing has improved during his stay despite a
broken wrist. Biomed engineer Eric Thomas (at left) helped arrange for the console's donation by the
Starlight Foundation and Toys R Us.
Photo by Carole Archer
Greeting Cards Helps Local
Disaster Victims
Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala (center) and former Olympic track star
Florence Griffith Joyner (left) talk with tennis star Zina Garrison-Jackson at a House ceremony. Joyner
is co-chair of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Photo by Chris Smith
Give a holiday gift to local di­
saster victims through the American
Red Cross. Instead of giving family
and friends fruitcake or wreathes,
you can give a local fire victim a
blanket or clothes by sending a Red
Cross holiday greeting card.
For a minimum $2 donation,
you can send this attractive card
with the season’s greetings and a
note that says, “A donation has been
made in your name to the American
Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.”
T he c a rd also fe a tu re s d e ­
lig h tfu l c h ild r e n ’s a rtw o rk c re ­
a te d d u rin g R ed C r o s s ’ 1994
S chool E n ro llm e n t D rive. T he
w in n in g d e sig n was d raw n by
A u d re y U m b e r, age 9, o f
H a y h u rst S ch o o l, P o rtla n d .
D o n a tio n s w ill go d ire c tly
Ktxi Crons
This year's winning holiday gift
card design is by Audrey
Umber, age 9, of Hayhurst
School.
University Awarded
Grant For Research
Governor Releases Teen Pregnancy Prevention Action Plan
G overnor Roberts has released
a teen pregnancy prevention action
plan calling it, “The most com pre­
hensive. bold and thoughtful blue­
print on teen pregnancy prevention
in O regon’s history.”
The Oregon plan, "STO P" (Sex,
Teens & O regon’s Plan) was devel­
oped by a task force headed by the
governor's Senior Policy Advisor,
Allie Stickney. “STOP” is the cul­
m ination of months of meetings and
discussions across Oregon with thou­
sands o f teenagers, parents, civic,
business and religious leaders.
“In January I said my office
would lead a crusade to help Oregon
reach its goal of reducing the rate of
teen pregnancy in half by the year
2000,” Governor Roberts said, "This
action plan takes clear and decisive
steps in this crusade.”
The teen pregnancy rate in O r­
egon, among 10-to-17 year old fe­
males is currently 17.9 per 1,000.
The state has set a goal o f cutting the
rate to 8-pregnancies per 1,000 by
the end o f this century.
A recent research study by the
University ofO regon found the 1992
pregnancy among 10-to-17 year old
females cost Oregonians $76-mil-
lion in direct costs for m edical care
and public assistance.
The rate of teen pregnancies
nationally isestimated tocost Ameri­
can taxpayers $30-billion annually
in public assistance and m edical
costs. Roberts says “STO P” is a long
term, broad based approach to reach
young people before they are sexu­
ally active; to address the connec­
tions between sexual abuse and teen
pregnancy and to speak frankly to
teens w ho are already sexually ac­
tive.
“If we are to make progress in
reducing the rate of teen pregnancy,
our actions must be grounded in love
and anchored in reality,” Roberts
said. “This plan is about the future of
the young people o f Oregon. We
can ’t give them the future we want if
we refuse to deal openly and hon­
estly with the issues o f sex and sexu­
ality.”
The program promotes responsi­
bility by teens, parents, schools, com­
munities and government. Roberts
said parents will play a critical role in
helping to cut teen pregnancy rates.
“M ost teens we talked to, and
we talked and listened to thousands
o f them, told us overw helm ingly
that they want their parents to pro­
vide them with information and guid­
ance about sex and sexuality," Rob­
erts said.
The action plan also proposes
production o f a video to help instruct
parents about how to talk to their
children about sex and other diffi­
cult issues. “We will work to make
this video available in every public
library and video store in O regon,”
Roberts said.
An important part o f the re­
sponsibility will rest with the teen­
agers to help Oregon stem the rate of
teen pregnancies. "W e’re going to
give kids the tools to say, “N o” to sex
and help them understand the im­
portance of delaying parenthood,”
Roberts said, “At the same time we
m ust give teens who choose to be
sexually active the information, ac­
cess and support they need to obtain
and use birth control services.”
The governor’s proposed 1995-
97 budget includes $12-million in
general fund monies for the STOP
plan. Funds will be used to finance
public awareness campaigns, peer
group education, parent training
teacher education and School-Based
Health Centers.
Health Information
Network Planned
Oregon Health Division has re­
ceived a 3-year grant to implement a
statewide public health information
network.
The com puter network will as­
sure public and private health care
providers, policy makers and other
interested parties access to timely
and accurate data.
The D istributed O regon On-
Line Public Health Information Net­
work (DOLPHIN), will provide the
technical means for county health
departm ents and other statew ide
THE
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WE
GET
THERE.
THE
MORE
UVES
WE
SAVE!
HELP SPEED THE SEARCH
FOR CURES FOR MUSCULAR
DYSTROPHY!
MDK
1-800-572-1717
users to directly access public health
information. For the first time, these
providers will be able to retrieve on­
line computer information such as
vital statistics, immunization records
and com m unicable disease reports.
By the end of the first year, users
will be able to community with pub­
lic health officials and one another
via a statewide electronic mail sys­
tem.
Oregon was one of 12 states to
receive funding following a com ­
petitive selection process.
(The ^lo rtla n b ODbscrucr
welcomes health articles from
the community.
(If possible, please include photos.)
fo r local d isa ste r re lie f in C la c k a ­
m a s , C o lu m b ia , M u ltn o m a h ,
W a sh in g to n , and Y am hill c o u n ­
tie s. D uring the h o lid a y s, house
and a p a rtm e n t fire s o c c u r d aily
due to in c re a se d e le c tric ity and
heat u sage. R ed C ro ss a s sists in
r e p la c in g lo s t c lo th in g , fo o d ,
sh e lte r and o th e r n eeded ite m s.
L o c a lly , the O reg o n T rail C h a p ­
ter re sp o n d s to a d isa ste r e v e ry
32 h o u rs.
The cards were made possible
through the generous donations of
Block Graphics, Inform Graphics,
Inc., Rapid Blind, W estern Paper
C o., W y ’E ast C olor, and local
graphic artist Diane Schneider.
For more information, or to or­
der the cards, call the Red Cross at
284-1234, ext. 297.
T he F o g a rty In te rn a tio n a l
C enter of the N ational Institutes of
Health has aw arded a three-year,
$968,000 grant to H ow ard U niver­
sity to support m inority students
and faculty to conduct research at
seven prem ier universities in Ja­
pan and Europe.
The grant is a Minority Inter­
national Research Training grant,
which is part o f a program in which
Howard and 23 other universities
in a Leadership Alliance promote
international biomedical research
opportunities for minority students
and scientists.
The $322,656 per year awarded
to Howard will support 14 U.S.
minority faculty, predoctoral fel­
lo w s and u n d e rg ra d u a te s at
Karolinska University in Sweden,
University of Lausanne in Switzer­
land, and C hiba University in Ja­
pan.
T h e u n d e r g r a d u a te s w ill
w ork in d is c ip lin e -b a s e d team s
-
o f tw o to fo u r m e m b e rs le d by a
fa c u lty m e m b e r and w ill c o n ­
d u c t re se a rc h fo r a fo u r- to 12-
w eek p e rio d . G ra d u a te stu d e n ts
w ill p u r s u e in d e p e n d e n t o r
g u id e d re se a rc h , an d d a ta d e ­
riv e d from th is re se a rc h m ay be
u tiliz e d as p a rt o f the s tu d e n ts '
d isse rta tio n s. F a c u lty w ill e n ­
gage in c o lla b o ra tiv e b io m e d i­
cal re se a rc h p ro g ra m s w ith in ­
te rn a tio n a l s c ie n tis ts fo r p e r i­
od s up to six m o n th s, w ith in ­
te ra c tio n s c o n tin u in g a fte r
c o m p le tio n o f th e se m in is a b ­
b a tic a ls.
Dr. W inston A. A nderson, pro­
fessor of biology at Howard, is prin­
cipal investigator o f the grant. A c­
cording to Dr. A nderson, "The pro­
gram is a win-win form ula for both
the student and faculty, and it should
enhance the undergraduate transi­
tion and prepare m ore minorities
for leadership roles in the biom edi­
cal sciences.”
—
Blue Jeans For Babies
Help Fight
Companies this month are par­
ticipating in a Blue Jeans for Ba­
bies fundraiser sponsored by the
Portland area chapter of M arch of
Dimes and Kelly Temporary Ser­
vices.
V olunteers are selling Blue
Jeans for Babies buttons to em ploy­
ees o f the participating businesses
for a $3 donation to the Campaign
for Healthier Babies. This entitles
employees to wear blue jeans or
“casual dress” to work on a desig­
nated day.
“Even the most conservative
corporate managers are admitting
that casual dress in the office, even
if only occasionally, can increase
employee productivity and morale.”
said Laurel W erhane, district m an­
ager for Kelly Temporary Services.
The M arch of Dimes is a na­
tional voluntary health agency
whose mission is to improve the
health o f babies by preventing birth
defects and infant mortality.
Through its campaign, it funds
programs of research, community
service, education and advocacy.
Program s such as Outside In, Par­
e n ts S u p p o rtin g P a re n ts, and
N eighborhood Health Clinics, all
benefit locally from the Lew is and
Clark Chapter o f M arch o f Dimes
which serves northern Oregon and
southwest W ashington.