Beaumont Health to Accept Walk-Ins at Vaccine Clinic on Thursday, April 22, Hour Detroit Top Docs voting, The Update with John Fox, Celebrating Volunteer Week: Helping with heart, Watch last week’s Beaumont Outpatient Campus — Lenox Teams event recording, Mobile Heartbeat shared device update starts April 26
From the Beaumont Newsroom
Beaumont Health to Accept Walk-Ins at Vaccine Clinic on Thursday, April 22
To help stop the spread of COVID-19 and address Michigan’s third surge, Beaumont is conducting a two-hour trial program to make it even easier for people to get vaccinated. On Thursday, April 22, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., anyone age 16 and up is invited to come to the Beaumont Service Center to receive a vaccine. No appointment is necessary. A myBeaumontChart account is not required.
Read more
Hour Detroit Top Docs voting
Online balloting for Hour Detroit magazine’s 2021 Top Doctors survey has begun at https://hourtopdocs.com/login. The voting period will continue through midnight on June 15.
Once again, Hour Detroit is looking for ways to recognize those in the medical community who deserve recognition for their outstanding and heroic work battling COVID-19. When you visit the website, you will have an opportunity to recognize other individuals along with your fellow physicians, including nurses, technicians, administrative staff, environmental workers or anyone else you feel is deserving of special recognition.
To vote, please visit the secure site, where the structure permits one-time voting by state-licensed M.D.s and D.O.s in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw and Livingston counties. Doctors may sign up as new users using their state I.D. number to register.
As always, doctors are encouraged to vote for respected, qualified, and talented medical professionals — doctors to whom they would refer a loved one. The resulting list will be published in the October 2021 issue of Hour Detroit.
The Update with John Fox
In this week’s update, John talks about the high volume of patients with COVID-19, how staffing is being impacted and what Beaumont is doing to help support teams systemwide. Additionally, he encourages everyone to get vaccinated. If you're unable to view this video on Vimeo, please try it on Microsoft Stream.
Watch now
Celebrating Volunteer Week: Helping with heart
This week, we celebrate and thank the volunteers who make Beaumont Health a better place. Compassionate, extraordinary care is something that can be expressed in many ways, and these volunteers help every day by making calls, devoting their time to veterans and creating a place of peace and healing through music.
Caring Calls
Caring Calls started when volunteers began making phone calls to COVID-19 patients throughout the hospitals. During a time when visitation is restricted and loneliness is rampant, these calls brighten patients’ days and help connect them to someone if they feel up to it.
Chuck and Jeannie Piotrowski volunteer their time making Caring Calls at Beaumont, Trenton.
“We’re assigned to the 4th floor,” said Chuck. “Every day we call all 38 rooms on the floor. We give a brief introduction that we’re calling from Spiritual Support. During COVID-19, we were sitting at home watching too much TV, so we were thrilled when this opportunity came up so we could give back to the community.”
Talking to patients, the couple connects on a wide range of topics.
“It’s a small world,” Jeannie said. “I’ve spoken to patients I taught when I was a teacher. Sometimes it’s hard and other times it’s very uplifting because we feel bad that they’re in the hospital and they’re praising the hospital regarding the wonderful care they’re receiving and support they’ve been given. When we say we’ll call them tomorrow, they get excited.”
It's bad enough when you don’t feel well, but not being able to have visitors is a void the couple helps fill with their love, compassion and time. In a year’s time, Chuck estimates the couple made over 19,000 calls to patients.
Dennis and Shirley Wallace, volunteers at Beaumont, Wayne, also call patients together.
“We remain very sensitive to the situation wherein we are calling patients in the hospital,” said Dennis. “We are guided by the tone of our initial contact with each patient. Our mission is to provide a warm, friendly and prayerful personal contact that fits each individual’s needs.”
Dennis and Shirley even made calls on holidays and on vacation and may call anywhere between five and 18 patients each day.
“A patient's warm response is a personal reward for us,” said Dennis. “After an extended call with one patient who would soon be discharged, she offered her personal phone number and asked if we could continue calling her at home.”
Piano player strikes heartwarming chord at Dearborn
Tom Moylan’s undying love for his late wife shines through the music he plays at Beaumont, Dearborn. You’ll often find him at one of the two pianos on the first floor of the hospital, although the decision to play in public wasn’t an easy one for him.
“My initial reaction to their invitation to perform was - no way,” Tom said. “I’d never played in public before, so I told them I’d have to think about it.”
When Tom’s wife, Theresa, was ill he stopped playing for a while, focusing all of his attention on caring for his wife. Since his wife’s passing in 2015, he started playing again, sharing his talent and warm presence with staff, patients and visitors at Dearborn. “Music helped bring light back into my life at a time when I wasn’t sure that would be possible. I always carry my wife’s picture with me to help keep me from getting too nervous,” he said. “She’s my guardian angel always watching over me.”
Recognizing Veterans
Lori DeClerqe, a volunteer at Beaumont, Trenton, is helping patients who are military veterans through her Veteran Recognition Committee, a cause near and dear to her heart.
“My dad is a veteran, and I saw the interactions he had with the care team he has at the VA hospital,” said Lori. “I wanted to bring something to Beaumont for our veterans. I wanted to let them know we appreciate all they have done for us.”
She started asking if patients were vets, and if so, she would thank them for their service, tell them how much she appreciates them and shake their hand. “They would get a huge smile and their demeanor would soften,” she said.
But Lori wanted to do more.
“I went to my manager and asked if I could make flags for patient room doors for our vets, hoping everyone would see it and thank them,” Lori said. The idea was a huge success and opened a line of communication and comfort to those touched by the gesture.
“They’ve told me stories about their time in the service and really opened up to me,” she said. We ask them if they mind if we put a flag on the outside of their door because we like to recognize our vets. They are very happy and say yes that would be great.”
The response has been huge, makes veterans feel appreciated, helps them smile more and benefits in helping in their care and healing. “It makes my heart happy to see the changes it makes,” said Lori. “If I can do something to make a change in just one person’s life, I will do all I can to make that happen.”
A special thanks for all the volunteers who help on these projects!
Watch last week’s Beaumont Outpatient Campus — Lenox Teams event recording
Last week all Beaumont Health team members were invited to a Teams event to learn about job opportunities at the new Beaumont Outpatient Campus – Lenox. If you were not able to attend, or would like to watch again, you may view the recorded session. Please skip ahead to the 1 minute and 50 second mark, as that is when the session began.
Watch now
Mobile Heartbeat shared device update starts April 26
Starting Monday, April 26, Mobile Heartbeat shared devices will start prompting users to update to iOS 14.4. Once the update completes, be sure the phone is connected to the BHvoice network by going to Settings, WiFi, then select BHvoice. Shared devices do not work when connected to BHguest. If you have any questions, please contact the Service Desk at 888-481-2448.