The New York Times
In the Hospital, a Degrading Shift From Person to Patient
Entering the medical system, whether a hospital, a nursing home or a clinic, is often degrading. ... the small courtesies that help lubricate and dignify civil society are neglected precisely when they are needed most, when people are feeling acutely cut off from others and betrayed by their own bodies. Even when doctors, nurses and nurses' aides take care to treat people more graciously, as they often do, the patient may have a vastly different perception of the service. Ms. Kennedy ... said injury and illness make people more likely to perceive slights than when they are healthy.
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The New York Times
Essential but Uncommon Knowledge: Patients Have Many Rights. Just Ask.
Every hospital has a patient's bill of rights, experts say; these include the right to see your medical records and to stay informed about treatment decisions, as well as other liberties that many people are unaware of. (In psychiatric wards, some rights may be restricted.) ”... people usually have no idea what they can demand, what their rights are” in a hospital, said Jeanne Kennedy...
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Palo Alto Weekly.
Written for the Avenidas Lifetime of Achievement Award.
Kennedy ... developed and implemented the Office of Community and Patient Relations at Stanford Hospital ... The division serves as a link between the hospital and local community, and provides many non-clinical supportive services to patients.
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Stanford Hospital Web Site.
Jeanne Kennedy Celebrates 25 Years of Service with Stanford.
The Community and Patient Relations division of Stanford Hospital was formed to provide practical, spiritual, and emotional support to patients, families, and staff; to extend the institution‚s resources to the community; and to involve the community in support of the institution‚s mission. It encompasses patient representation, interpretation, volunteer programs, spiritual care, Stanford Health Library, community outreach, senior services and others such as music, art, massage and pet therapy. Generous community donors have provided funds that are necessary to support many of these patient and community activities.
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Better Homes and Garden.
Visiting-Hour Etiquette.
There's an art to visiting friends and family in the hospital. With appropriate gifts, time, and conversation, you can offer support to a patient at a time when she feels the most vulnerable. But sometimes even the best friends overstay their welcome.
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Stanford News Service.
Development of a Volunteer Patient Advocate Program in a Hospital Emergency Department.
... a team of dedicated Patient Representative Associates, or PRAs, who volunteer in the hospital's Emergency Department (ED) through a joint project involving the hospital's Patient Representation program and the ED. Hospital officials say PRAs play an important role as patient and family liaisons by answering questions, relaying information, troubleshooting and offering comfort.
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Stanford News Service.
Importance of Non-clinical Support for Patients.
Acting as a resource center for Stanford Hospital and Clinics, the Office of Community and Patient Relations patches together many disparate programs and services – often handling the very human requests that exceed institutional boundaries.
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Stanford News Service.
Implementation of a cost-effective smoking cessation program for hospital patients.
A model program at Stanford Hospital capitalizes on the unique motivations associated with hospitalization to compel patients to stop smoking. The in-patient program is based on more than a decade of research and combines the proven elements of behavioral counseling, pharmacological therapy and follow-up support. ... (T)he program enlists professionals ... who volunteer to provide information and counseling to patients.
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Stanford Hospital's Newsletter for Physicians.
The Importance of Humor in Hospitals.
Kennedy notes that humor, such as that conveyed by Papa the Clown ... is becoming an increasing part of the healing process in hospitals.
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Stanford Medical News.
Hospital outreach project that supplies community members with home medical information kits for emergency personnel.
Before rushing patients to the hospital, paramedics, firefighters and police are being asked to check refrigerator doors for a special sticker indicating that crucial medical information can be found inside.
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