Christine Lyall

VITAS employees brave dangerous weather conditions to tend to their patients during and after Hurricane Sandy. Also, VITAS therapy dogs in Ohio get "their day" at a spa retreat, while a patient in California gets a "room of her own."

In her role as a primary care nurse for home care and assisted living facility (ALF) patients, Helen K. serves as caregiver and comforter, but also shopper, chief brownie baker and Santa Claus. Helen regularly purchases food and other necessities for patients who have limited family involvement and keeps long-term care facility staff steeped in home-baked brownies and other goodies. This just scratches the surface of the many wonderful stories about VITAS Healthcare's exemplary employees for 2010.

The VITAS Values are hardwired into VITAS Nurse Jocelyn C.'s DNA. She enhances those four values, however, with a fifth: "I am always thinking, 'If it were me or my family member needing care, what would I want?'" That question constantly ran through Jocelyn's mind as she tended to a 44-year-old patient with cancer who lived under poor conditions and had abused drugs. That is just one of many touching stories about VITAS Healthcare's employee recognition award winners in 2011.

It was summer, and it was hot. CNA Pramila D. and her husband used their own money to buy a ceiling fan for a patient who lived in a poorly ventilated house. "The patient's son had left his job to care for the patient, and he couldn't afford to buy a fan. Pramila also bought food and clothing for the family," notes Patient Care Administrator Patty Perry, RN. "She has done similar acts of kindness for other families." This is just one of many stories about VITAS Healthcare's outstanding employees for 2009.

When a devastating earthquake in Haiti left millions without food, water, shelter or medical care, a number of VITAS nurses and doctors—including one originally from Haiti—traveled there to provide relief. Also, VITAS develops a program to train hospice physicians of the future.

This issue features a story that examines how, for the first time in history, the American workplace must adjust to accommodate employees from four generations — the Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers and Millennials. This trend is especially prevalent in healthcare and most notably among nurses.

Few people know that Tracy C., a social worker in the Chicagoland Northwest program, has a license to drive a "big rig" (an 18-wheeler) in her native New Zealand. She used the license to drive a milk truck to support herself during college. But once people get to know Tracy, they wouldn't be surprised to learn about this aspect of her past; the tough-yet-tenderhearted Tracy thrives on tackling big challenges and delivering the goods. The inspiring profiles of the winners of the company's national employee recognition awards will introduce readers to Tracy, who helped clean a patient's home, where "the dirt on the floor was inches deep—thick with dust, dog hair, food and garbage."

Dr. Rakesh C., medical director at VITAS' Chicagoland South program, has a story he likes to tell about Dr. Muhammad L., MD. "I once walked into the room of an elderly mentally challenged patient at a long term care facility and found Dr. L. coloring with her in a coloring book," explains Dr. C. "He smiled somewhat sheepishly and said, 'We always color first.'" This issue of VITAS' Vital Signs celebrates its winners of the national employee recognition awards.

A hospice patient in California who suffers from end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease picked up knitting to make holiday scarves for her VITAS caregivers. Along the way, she discovered an added benefit—reduced stress and anxiety. "It relaxes me, especially if I'm having difficulty breathing," she said. "Within minutes I feel better, because when I'm counting and concentrating on the stitches, it takes my mind off my health problems."

For Gladis P., weight loss is in the palm of her hand — literally. "The size of your palm is supposed to be about the size of your food portions, so I use that as my gauge," says Gladis, a patient care secretary at VITAS in Dade-Monroe, Florida, who lost the greatest percentage of her body weight in a year, making her the top winner in the Keep It Moving (KIM) Challenge.

There was no question whether Business Manager Karen B. of VITAS' Inland Empire program in California would sign up for the "Keep It Moving" (KIM) Challenge. "I've participated in all of VITAS' weight-loss challenges and have done well. I figured I would keep it up," says Karen, who lost 15 pounds in the first six weeks of the KIM challenge. This is just the tip of the iceberg for this issue of VITAS Healthcare's Employee Wellness newsletter.

For years, VITAS Chaplain Jerome W. in Cincinnati, lived with diabetes by just "taking two pills a day, not exercising and eating whatever, whenever I wanted." Then his father died—at 58. "I was mad at my dad," says Jerome. "He knew he had diabetes yet he did nothing about it. Instead, he ate ice cream at 2 a.m." He died because of complications due to diabetes, including congestive heart and kidney failure. This issue of the VITAS Wellness newsletter includes more stories about how employees successfully beat the odds against diabetes.