Being a tight knit group here at Hospice, it was no surprise that when we asked Dawn, Tina and Kelly if we could feature them in our upcoming newsletter, they asked to be interviewed together. This group of ladies ensure our patients and families have what they need and help to keep everything running smoothly on a day to day basis.
We asked Dawn Brizzi who is the Team Assistant for Team 2, which serves from East Syracuse down to the Cortland border over to the Hamilton border and all of the towns in between, what she does on a daily basis. “I help to provide the families what they need so that they can care for their loved one. The family members or LPN’s can call me and tell me what they need whether it’s a hospital bed, shower chairs, commodes, etc. and my job is to work with our supplier and get the items ordered and out to the patient’s home.” For items such as adult briefs, mouth swabs, and dressings supplies, Dawn works with our nurses, aides or Hospice volunteers to get these items out to the home as well.
Dawn shares that the most challenging part of her job is “not getting to know the patients as much as I’d like to as I am mostly talking to the family member. But I still feel the loss of the patient when it is their time as I spend a lot of time on the phone with the family member talking about the patient and their needs.”
Dawn can’t believe how much she accomplishes and how many people she helps in just a day’s work and it makes her feel good. She reflects, “The outcome is always going to be the same, but at least on that journey, knowing that we have provided for our patients and helped their families, makes it all worth it.”
Kelly Blumer is our Team Assistant for Team 1, whose territory covers all the way
from North Syracuse to Baldwinsville, over to Central Square, Pulaski, and up to the Oswego/Fulton border.
“My favorite part is the patients and the families but it’s also my coworkers and what they do for people within their communities to keep people safe within their home.” Kelly reflects that the most challenging part of of her job is, if there is a delay to getting items to a patient’s home. Sometimes there could be a storm or other factors preventing the item that the family needs from getting to the home as fast as they we’d like. It can be a challenge on your heart because the issue is out of Hospice’s hands but still pressing on our mind.”
Like Dawn, Kelly acts as a liaison for the patients and the family. If the family has a request for something Hospice doesn’t have keep in inventory, such as hair washing stations or neck pillows, they will work with the the Development Department to add the items to the Hospice Wish List or utilize Amazon gift cards that have been donated to get the items needed within reason.
Tina Rozner, is Hospice’s scheduler for LPN’s and Home Health Aides. Tina works intricately with dawn and Kelly, and covers all areas that Hospice serves.
Her role is a dynamic one – from receiving calls and requests from Dawn and Kelly, the patient’s social worker, and the family, to requests for nurse or home health aide care. A call to Tina could be for a one-time visit, a request for supplies, or something more involved. Tina tries to get to know the family’s needs and helps schedule all aspects of care covered in addition to the care the patient’s family is providing. Tina loves talking to people and her favorite part of the job is getting to know the patient and their families. Tina will move schedules around as much as possible to accommodate the needs of patients and families as they come up. She said the girls she works with are always helpful when someone is in need of an LPN or an Aide and they work with Tina to the best of their abilities.
Tina made the move to work with Hospice after her dad went through the program. She said, “The care they provided for my father and the support they provided for myself, my brothers, and my mother were invaluable. They never made us feel like a question was stupid, they were there for whatever we needed.”
To read the Winter Newsletter in full, please click here.