Helping Hands: Making Spirits Bright

Cape Cod Healthcare employees give back to the community by organizing a variety of fundraising drives to help the homeless and local families in need.

Spirit of Giving: The Cuda Giving Tree

A Christmas tree adorned with dozens of gift tags for six children in the local community could be spotted as you walked down the hallway toward the back of Cuda Breast Care Center. Their wish lists included Marvel Action figures, a Squeakee Dino, a Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes, a sweatshirt and a flying orb ball. Stephanie Ellis, NP, says she started the giving tree last year as a way to give back to our community and to pull together the entire Cuda staff, both from surgery and imaging. Employees chose a tag from the tree, wrapped the gift and placed the present under the tree. On Dec. 19, 2022, the team delivered the wrapped gifts to a local elementary school, which then was distributed to the families. “I have seen first-hand the needs of our community and I have adopted local school families for many years around the holidays,” says Ellis, who served on the Barnstable School Committee for 12 years.

Back row, left to right: Jill Oxley, MD; Elaine Cocozza, RN; Rebecca West, Breast Care Center Float; Kaitlin Waterhouse, Breast Care Center Float; Stephanie Ellis, NP; Ann Coggeshall, patient navigator; Naomi Kalliath, DO; Sarah York Clarke, manager; Cassie Dombrowski, manager.
Front row, left to right: Kyla Atherton, LPN; Stephanie Andrade, LPN; and Nicole Salter, NP.

Canned Food Drive Yields Special Delivery

From Nov. 28 through Dec. 15, the Revenue Cycle team on North Street and the Medical Records staff on Communication Way teamed up for a canned food drive to help the Hyannis Food Pantry/Salvation Army. Employees from the two Cape Cod Healthcare locations donated between 600 and 700 items, filling more than a dozen boxes in the lobbies of their buildings with a variety of dry and canned goods, from cans of soup and boxes of macaroni to cereal and applesauce packs. Rebecca Dayton, Director, HIM/Coding and Physician Revenue Cycle, inspired both teams to participate in the canned food drive this year to celebrate the season of gratitude and giving. Last year, the departments collaborated on a successful toy drive.

“To me, donating is something that’s in all of us, and you just have to draw it out of people,” says Frances Kienzle, Administrative Assistant in Revenue Cycle. “They are so happy they donate, and it makes people feel good.”

In addition to canned and dry items, some employees also donated Tupperware containers—a smart and useful idea for food storage. “People are very giving,” says Kienzle, who created flyers to promote the drive.

Pictured: Dorie Haggerty of the Salvation Army, far left, accepts boxes of canned and dry goods from Cape Cod Healthcare employees Rebecca Dayton, Frances Kienzle, Cinthia Decker and Kyle Price at the Food Pantry/Salvation Army on North Street on Dec. 16.

Share the Warmth: Helping the Homeless Through the Holidays

When a colleague approached Kelly Mason to organize a homeless-for-the-holidays drive at Cape Cod Hospital, she loved the idea and decided to run with it. The patient benefits specialist in the psych department at CCH rounded up a group of coworkers to help decorate large donation boxes with Helping the Homeless signs for not only the hospital, but also Cuda Women’s Health Center, the Psych Center and local hangout spots like the BBC and Old King’s Coffeehouse. Rosetta Nunes (Torrie), a Unit Secretary in Mugar 3; Heidi Burchell, a Specialist Scheduler at the Cardiovascular Center; and Bobbie Bowman, a Vascular Sonographer at the Vascular Center, were more than willing to help out. Burchell’s son, a student at Cape Cod Regional Technical School, got into the giving spirit and placed a box at school; and Nunes’s mother, Teresia Fitzgerald, also assisted with the holiday drive.

“It takes a village,” says Mason.

Mason said they are seeking donations of new hats, gloves, scarves and hand warmers. They also welcome personal care donations of body wipes, toothbrushes, toothpaste and deodorant. The group will be accepting donations through Dec. 31, 2022, and will then deliver the donated items to local shelters for distribution to those in need.

Pictured: Kelly Mason, Rosetta Nunes and Heidi Burchell in the Mugar Lobby at Cape Cod Hospital.

Dress a Live Doll Program

“She gets us all together. She’s the coordinator of it all,” says Diane Butler, Unit Clerk in the ICU at Cape Cod Hospital, referring to Nina Murphy.

For the past four years, Unit Clerk Murphy has inspired the ICU staff to participate in the annual Dress a Live Doll program through the Salvation Army. Murphy says she reaches out to the organization every year and they provide her with a list of first names, sizes and their likes. She then puts up the list, and staff members choose what they want to buy and wraps the items. For an extra personal touch, Bonnie Lincoln, RN, knits festive monogrammed stockings. This year, the ICU staff helped outfit four children in new clothing, from head to toe, including socks, pants, shirts, sweaters, winter coats, jackets, hats and gloves.

Murphy said the items were delivered on Dec. 3, 2022, to the Salvation Army on North Street.

“It is a comfort to know these kiddos will be nice and warm this winter and have some nice new clothes to wear as well,” says Murphy. “A special shout out to our staff, and thank you to Bonnie who made all their stockings!”

Pictured, left to right: Lisa Pearson, RN (clinical leader); Margaret Moses, RN; Hala Karnib, MD (intensivist), Nina Murphy, Unit Clerk; Diane Butler, Unit Clerk; Allison Roose, RN; Sarah Harling, RN; and Denise McDowell, RN (clinical leader).

Bottom photo: Bonnie Lincoln, RN, knits festive monogrammed stockings for the children her team sponsors every year.

Adopt a Family for the Holidays

During November and December, you may have noticed Intranet banners, TV screens and screensavers encouraging CCHC departments to sign up to help a local family in need. Susan Aalto in Human Resources organized the Adopt a Family for the Holidays program, which helps Family Continuity, an organization that advocates for the less fortunate.

Joan Serverson, Administrative Assistant in the finance department (pictured), was inspired to help after she saw the screensaver pop up on her computer. She soon presented the idea to her coworkers at a staff meeting, and her team immediately hopped on board. Aalto paired the finance department with a family of four and Severson got to work.

She created a small poster decorated with gift tags featuring the children’s wants and needs, including tablets, boots, shoes and complete outfits with their sizes, and hung it outside her cubicle. “We are non-clinical, so we don’t get that community interaction as much as the hospital staff does,” says Serverson, adding her 10-year-old granddaughter helped her shop and pick out the clothes. “This is a way for us to reach out to the community. We care—and we want to help.” Serverson said everyone was very generous, and she delivered the wrapped items to the Family Continuity offices in Hyannis on Dec. 16, 2022.

Kudos to the following Cape Cod Healthcare departments that participated in the Adopt a Family for the Holidays program this season:

There were also individuals, not signed up with a department, that participated:

• Kellie Oliveira, Emily Donovan (took a family)
• Liz Prescott
• Jayme Foster

Other departments that reached out indicated that they donate through other organizations: