Honors Program 2010

Waiting Room Makeover Contest

We were overwhelmed by the response we received from offices across the country telling us why they deserved to win our Grand Prize Waiting Room Makeover. Hundreds of offices sent us their amazing stories on what they are doing to make a difference in the lives of their patients and in their communities. Picking one winner was almost impossible!

Congratulations to our group of semi-finalists.

Semi-finalists:

  • Central Nassau Guidance and Health Services, Hicksville, New York

  • Princeton Occupational, Hamilton, New Jersey
  • East Area Family Physicians, Roseville, Michigan
  • Women & Children's Health Services, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Mishawaka Osteopathic Clinic, Mishawaka, Indiana
  • TCA Health, Chicago, Illinois

    • Special recognition goes to our top finalists who each received $500 from AccentHealth for a "mini" waiting room makeover. Read their stories and be inspired!

  • Mechanicsville Medical Center, Mechanicville, Virginia
  • Lakeside Internal Medicine Associates, Tavares, Florida

    • Mechanicsville Medical Center:

    I am honored and excited to tell you about the great things that the staff of the Mechanicsville Medical Center are doing for our patients and community. We are the oldest family practice in our area and have been serving our community for over 60 years. We sponsor blood drives in our parking lot twice a year offering an opportunity for our staff, patients and neighbors to donate blood. We have "Jeans Day" once a month on a Friday. To wear jeans you must pay a minimum of $5.00. The collected donations go to various causes and so far we have donated to Breast Cancer Awareness, The American Diabetes Association, The Central Virginia Food Bank, the Hanover County Christmas Mother, Children's Hospital, the American Red Cross, rescue efforts in Haiti, the Helen Keller Deaf and Blind Foundation and the Autism Awareness Foundation. We offer Diabetic seminars in our waiting room every other month which are free and open to our patients and the community. These seminars focus on good nutrition and controlling diabetes and have been a huge success, averaging 30 to 60 people each time. We adopt a needy family from the patient pool every Christmas and Thanksgiving to help make their holiday a little brighter by collecting food, money and clothes for whatever their need may be. This Valentine's Day we donated all of the money that we would have spent on our Secret Pals (within the office) to a patient's family whose house had burned down and two of their four children were killed in the fire. We have also supported a mission in Haiti as one of our physicians goes there twice a year to teach midwives how to deliver babies. We are an extremely busy and family oriented practice, therefore, the waiting room gets lots of wear and tear. We would love to win a makeover and thanks for considering us.

    Submitted by Karen Kirby, RN

    Lakeside Internal Medicine Associates:

    I have worked with the practice for 13.5 years. During this time I have clearly seen that my physicians do what they do for the people and not for the profit. As far as what makes our practice unique, it's anything we can do for our patients. We continually search for programs that offer education, resources, support, etc. to our patients, their families and neighbors to assist them in living a healthier lifestyle. Our physicians don't just diagnose and treat, they educate and prevent. We partner with pharmaceutical companies to offer free ongoing education classes within the office and at the local YMCA open to the public (teaching for diabetes, heart disease, etc.) We have started a walking program that coincides with the American Heart Association "Start!" program. We walk every Wednesday as a staff with patients wanting to "start" and/or continue exercising at least 30 minutes a day to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. We offer many free educational resources to patients such as AccentHealth, cookbooks, pamphlets, website tools, drug assistance programs, etc. We have successfully been able to help reduce or discontinue medications for those participating and sticking with their healthier lifestyle choices. By doing so, it gives them a better quality of life and reduces healthcare costs. We are extremely proud of our programs and our participating patients and will continue to enhance them as often as we can. Improving our lobby would enhance the exposure and experience of our meetings and resources. Our diabetes meetings grew so large that we had to move it to the building lobby which doesn't have good air flow and has constant building traffic, but because of the excellent turnout we put up with it. Thank you for your program and what you do to take part in helping people live healthier lives.

    Submitted by Terri Martinez

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    Our Grand Prize Waiting Room Makeover Winner will be featured in the January 2011 AccentHealth program. Stay tuned to see who won!

    
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