CCE team members give back to community

Dozens of families throughout the St. Louis area celebrated a happier holiday season in 2018 — thanks in part to the efforts of one of the BJC Center for Clinical Excellence’s volunteer committees.

Throughout 2018, the CCE Community Outreach and Champions of Health (COACH) committee hosted events that benefited community members in need.

The most recent event focused on families served by Raising St. Louis, a St. Louis Children’s Hospital program that provides, at no cost, educational services, community resources and health care for families from pregnancy through a child’s early development.

The goal of the COACH event, which took place Nov. 21, was to provide 30 baskets filled with canned and packaged food, recipes and a gift for the families participating in the Raising St. Louis’ Family Connections theme for November – Family Style Dining.

“Thanks to the generosity of the many kind-hearted people who make up the CCE team, not only were we able to meet our goal of providing for the families and children expected at the November Raising St. Louis meeting, but we greatly exceeded that goal,” says Joan Zoll, CCE transformation support office manager. “We were able to add a second $5 gift card to each basket, get coloring books for all of the kids, provide a fun and healthy snack for all, and surprise the Raising St. Louis group with a hefty cash donation of $216!”

In all, CCE team members at the BJC Learning Institute, Barnes-Jewish Hospital and SLCH clinical information services raised $970 for the event. “We thank all CCE team members for making the holiday season a little brighter and less stressed for those in need in the communities we serve,” Zoll says.

Bringing together CCE team members

COACH is one of four CCE committees that were developed in late 2017 to bring together various CCE employees and teams at different locations within the organization. (See more about the committees below.)

The committees were formed in response to CCE team members’ requests to contribute to the community outside of their regular job responsibilities and connect with other CCE colleagues, teams and leaders.

The COACH committee’s executive sponsors are Eric Warnhoff, CCE transformation support director, and Jill Skyles, CCE senior strategy consultant.

In addition to this recent event, the COACH committee spearheaded two other department-wide activities during 2018:

• “Spring it On” with Operation Food Search — CCE team members sorted and packaged 53 boxes of food (30 cans of food per box) and packed grocery bags for a food event at area grocery stores.
• “Take the Heat off the Homeless” — Team members collected and packaged summer items (such as sunscreen, bottled water and aloe) in gallon-size plastic bags for 150 homeless individuals distributed at St. Patrick’s Center and Hope Recovery Center.

“It’s for the good of the community, but we’ve had a lot of fun with these events, too,” says Zoll. “The idea is to connect.”

“It’s not just people donating money,” adds Calencia Mitchell, CCE associate administrator. “It’s giving the gift of time — working together, planning events and connecting with local organizations to help people. It’s about giving in other ways.”

Warnhoff says the teamwork generated through the activities carries over into the department’s other work as well. “It’s easy to become siloed in the department, so there’s something to be said for working together on projects,” he says. “When this team is working to help the underserved, it’s that much more powerful.”

LaShonda Griffin, CCE transformation support PI/PM manager, agrees. “When all of CCE comes together, it provides an opportunity to work together as a team. It’s great to see the camaraderie,” she says. “We don’t provide direct patient care, but this is another way we can help carry out BJC’s mission of serving 
our communities.”

In 2018, the COACH team supported 118 individuals, 30 families, and unknown numbers of people with the distribution of boxed canned goods. The core team of eight committee members invested 240 hours and an additional four or so volunteers per event added another 120 hours.

Committee members are excited about this year — and there’s no shortage of ideas for future activities. “Everyone brings forward great ideas,” says Mitchell. “The hard part is narrowing down and prioritizing those ideas to make our activities meaningful and impactful.”

In the end, the effort is definitely worth it to the team members who take part.

“It makes us feel good to help others,” says Zoll.

“It’s humbling,” adds Emily Berdy, CCE senior project manager. “It’s very cool to be a part of this.”

More about the CCE’s employee committees

• Event planning — oversees and manages planning of CCE events, such as the annual picnic and holiday party
• Health and wellness — coordinates activities that promote positive mental and physical health for CCE employees
• Community outreach (COACH) — chooses projects for department to participate in and promotes corporate social responsibility of giving back to the populations BJC serves; creates awareness of service opportunities and selects CCE-wide projects to participate in
• Newsletter — coordinates CCE-wide communications, including CCE and departmental newsletters