PRESS RELEASES

Ambassador Program Connects With Community 

Ambassador Program at Northeast Health System Connects Healthcare Workers with the Community

Beverly, Mass. [July 28, 2010] — The Ambassador Program at Northeast Health System connects doctors, nurses and other staff  with local people and organizations in Beverly and across the North Shore.  They have dedicated their lives to helping others, but now a group of doctors and nurses are giving back to their community in an even bigger way.

The Ambassador Program is the newest initiative aimed to give health care workers a greater presence in the area. Officially started last October, the Ambassadors Program helps hospital staff become familiar faces around town.

“There was an open call for those who were involved in their communities in some sort of way to come forward on their own will, and to volunteer and represent the hospital,” said Gerald MacKillop, community relations manager at NHS. “Right off the bat, we identified about 30 people who definitely fit this role of what we call an ‘ambassador.’”

The program now has upwards of 70 participants across NHS, with four teams — Cape Ann, Tri-Town Danvers and Greater Beverly. Each team is composed of local residents working in the hospital system who donate their time to organizations for the greater benefit of the community. The Greater Beverly team has 20 team members and has put in 103 hours of service since the program began; in total, the Ambassador program has donated over 500 hours of community service to the North Shore.

“We identify events, organizations and causes that we really want to get involved with and make a difference with,” MacKillop said. “People always ask me about it when I’m trying to talk about the program in the community, and I say, ‘we’re a community hospital, the majority of our employees live in our service area.’”

The program is currently involved in helping the victims of the May fire on Manor Road, and Team Greater Beverly was able to donate 35 boxes of clothing to Beverly Bootstraps. The Ambassadors held a canned food drive for BevCam 2010, building a large Etch-a-Sketch with the cans in the hospital lobby, and the team’s float in the Beverly Holiday Parade won first place for the non-profit division.

Althea Lyons, vice president of human resources and development at Beverly Hospital, said the senior leadership personnel wanted to not only focus on community outreach, but also on informing employees about other departments and opportunities within the hospital system.

“We needed to educate the workforce about the breadth and scope of services,” Lyons said. “But of course, the second piece was to inform and educate the community. When we started to promote the concept, we figured out workforce was the first place to start.”

The Ambassadors have been trained extensively in different areas of Beverly Hospital and NHS so they are able to help answer questions citizens ask them when they are out in the community. They are visible at events small and large, ranging from Senior Day in the Park to town meetings to the Arthritis Walk.

“We’re really kind of all over the place, which is good, because our ambassadors live here so they really have a pulse for what’s going on,” MacKillop said.

Jane Karaman, manager of volunteer services at Northeast Hospital Corporation, said a steering committee spent over two years ironing out the details of the Ambassador Program. The idea came from another health care organization, which had implemented a similar concept with its employees, but it took fine-tuning to make the program NHS’s own.

“We spent some time developing the idea, and once it took root, it just really started taking off,” Karaman said. "I think it’s great. It’s been so successful; someone from a team will send out a request for an event, and people will respond right away and want to help.”

MacKillop and Karaman said the summer would be the busiest time for the program, with so many outdoor events occurring around the area. The whole group meets quarterly to talk about potential projects, and each team meets individually often. MacKillop said the participants are able to get feedback from the community when volunteering in their communities, which is normally a rare occurrence in the health care profession.

“It’s an interaction thing. It’s a face-to-face thing; people are comfortable coming over and talking to us on a different level now,” he said. “When we’re out doing this and working with people, it goes back to the education of the community. The Ambassadors have the channels to be able to go out and assist people in a whole new way. They are able to be more visible.”

Katie Remare-Johnson, who works at the hospital’s support services response center, said being a lifelong resident of Beverly makes participating in the program that much more meaningful.

“When I got this job, it was just the perfect fit, and this was a great opportunity to support the hospital and help the community that I live in,” she said.

Remare-Johnson said that aside from the community outreach, she enjoys making connections with other NHS employees, who are spread out on multiple campuses and don’t often find reason to interact outside of their work as Ambassadors.

“I get to meet people from all different departments, different levels of the organization, and different campuses,” she said. “Meeting other Ambassadors is a wonderful part of the program.”

But, Remare-Johnson said the most rewarding part of the program is seeing the results of their work. At Endicott Park Day in Danvers recently, attended by Team Greater Beverly, Remare-Johnson said people came up to the Ambassadors to talk about memories and experiences they have had at Beverly Hospital; many told her their children were born there and that they were happy to meet a group of active employees at the event.

“I have such a feeling of pride hearing those stories,” she said. “This place is my second home."

Northeast Health System, Inc. (NHS) is an integrated healthcare system comprised of a network of hospitals, behavioral health, senior health and human service affiliates offering North Shore residents general and specialized medical care.  Along with Beverly, Addison Gilbert and BayRidge hospitals and the Beverly Hospital at Danvers Medical and Day Surgery Center – NHS’s four acute care facilities – behavioral health services are provided through Health & Education Services, Inc., while substance abuse and preventative services are available through CAB Health & Recovery Services, Inc. In addition, NHS offers senior health services through a continuum of care including skilled nursing and assisted living centers and community based programs.