Phelps Memorial Hospital
Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591
Westchester County
914-366-3000

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Home >> About Phelps >> Caring for the Community

Caring for the Community

Caring for Our Community 2011 - 2012

Phelps Memorial Hospital Center
701 North Broadway (Route 9 at Route 117)
Sleepy Hollow, New York 10591
(914) 366-3000 - www.phelpshospital.org

WHO WE ARE

Phelps Memorial Hospital Center (PMHC) is a 238-bed acute care community hospital, located in central Westchester County. Since its beginnings in 1956, Phelps has strived to provide its community with the finest quality healthcare. The extent of services made available to those we serve ranges from emergency services to acute care inpatient services, as well as a host of outpatient services designed to address the needs of those who make up the Phelps service area.

OUR STRUCTURE

Phelps Memorial Hospital Center is one of four members of the Stellaris Health Network along with Lawrence Hospital Center, Northern Westchester Hospital and White Plains Hospital Center. Phelps works collaboratively with Open Door Family Medical Centers to provide prenatal care and has an agreement with Westchester Medical Center to provide care for high-risk mothers and neonates. Cancer care is provided by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center on Phelps’ campus. The hospital maintains an extensive network of outpatient mental health services, outpatient medical diagnostic and treatment facilities, and a home-based hospice program. Oversight is provided by a 30-member board of directors, all of whom volunteer their time and expertise.

OUR MISSION

The mission of Phelps is to:

Improve the health of the community
Offer preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services
Educate the community to achieve optimal quality of life
Provide comprehensive care in a safe, modern environment

OUR ASSESSMENT

Phelps Memorial Hospital Center assesses community health needs by analyzing data collected by the Westchester County Department of Health, the Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health, and the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.

Recognizing the value of feedback from people who live and work in our community, Phelps surveys pre-hospital and post-hospital care providers, including physicians, ambulance corps, clinics, nursing homes and home health agencies. Through ongoing dialogue with schools and churches, community coalitions and key community leaders, we have been able to recognize gaps in community health education. Most importantly, the response of individuals to surveys and focus groups has brought to light the need for new services or improved access.

Based upon our assessment, we defined the following priorities: access to healthcare, behavioral health, chronic disease, healthy mothers/
healthy babies and nutrition. Our goals are in concert with the vision of the New York State Healthiest State initiative, namely:

To increase quality and years of healthy life
To eliminate health disparities, increasing access to prevention and early detection

OUR PERFORMANCE

Priority: Access to Healthcare
Early Diagnosis

There is a concern that there is a lack of early breast cancer diagnosis among the minority population in our community — as many may have limited education on the value of mammography and breast self-exam and may not have health insurance. Informing primary care providers and communitiy agencies of our willingness to provide these services resulted in 851 persons availing themselves of mammography and instruction in self-exam.

In addition, a general surgeon and gynecologist, both bilingual in
English and Spanish, provided no-cost physical examinations at our annual health fair, Dia de Salud, which we held in May 2011 in Tarrytown. Eighty-one families attended to receive screenings which included depression, visual acuity, hearing, blood pressure, blood sugar, BMI and HIV. Education on health maintenance and community resources supplemented these clinical services.

The success of population-oriented health fairs prompted us to do a geriatric health fair and a maternal child health fair. We also continued on-campus screenings for diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and speech and hearing problems, conducting a total of 1,100 screenings.

Emergency Life Support Training

We continue to focus on our core activities, providing instruction to community Emergency Medical Services (EMS) professionals, serving as the hospital's coordinator and provider of the American Heart Association advanced life support training programs, offering emergency education programs to community and corporate clients, and coordinating the hospital's emergency preparedness efforts.

We facilitate and coordinate the collaborative quality assurance efforts of the local EMS provider agencies: Tarrytown, Sleepy Hollow and Ossining Volunteer Ambulance Corps, as well as the Croton-on-Hudson and Briarcliff Manor fire departments and the Tri-Community Fly Car Service.

Emergency Preparedness

The New York State Power Authority and Entergy Corporation have designated Phelps as a receiving hospital for victims of radioactive contamination. Each year, we have joint nuclear preparedness training sessions and drills conducted by experts in the field. Decontamination procedures have been incorporated into the Emergency Department (ED) Disaster Plan. We maintain a separate decontamination facility in the ED and have competent staff to respond to a community disaster.

Croton-on-Hudson and Briarcliff Manor fire departments and the Tri-Community Fly Car Service.

Warm Line

By calling 914-366-3111, patients can get answers to questions or concerns following their hospitalization at Phelps. Many callers have had questions concerning their medications or need help scheduling follow-up appointments.

PRIORITY: BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

Mental Health of our Community

Phelps Memorial Hospital Center's Behavioral Health Services has four outpatient mental health clinics certified by New York State. Located in Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown, Ossining and Hastings, the programs provide services to children, adolescents, adults and families of every social and economic level. The programs are staffed by social workers and psychiatrists and/or psychologists. The site in Tarrytown provides treatment in Spanish and English. Phelps’ behavioral health referral line, which is available to the public, may be called 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. This year, the Counseling Service responded to needs expressed within the community and developed several new therapy groups. Our counseling services provided 17,110 patient visits for 2011.

Functioning for Productive Living

As part of our continuum of care, Phelps Memorial Hospital Center's Behavioral Health Services offers a New York State-certified community-based Continuing Day Treatment (CDT) program in Briarcliff Manor. The CDT program is open five days per week, and people who require intensive treatment may attend all five days. A psychiatrist is located on-site, and social workers, a nurse, a vocational counselor and paraprofessional staff are also available to work with the patients. This program assists people in their recovery from mental illness and helps them remain out of a hospital inpatient psychiatric setting. The program had 18,782 patient visits in 2011.

Case Management

People who have serious and persistent mental health issues may utilize our Case Management Program, which offers both supportive and intensive case management services. Covering Northern Westchester County, the services are provided within the community. Because of the high degree of need presented by these patients, each Supportive Case Manager works with at least 20 patients at any given time and each Intensive Case Manager works with 12 patients at any given time, offering in-depth and intensive services. Case Management offers assistance in many areas of the patient's life including: mental health, medical, housing, financial, psychosocial, educational and vocational.

Reduced Dependency on Alcohol & Drugs

As our community continues to see the deleterious effects of chemical dependency continue within our community, we have developed services to engage individuals, adolescents and their families in an effective recovery program. Individual and group counseling services are offered six days per week, with both day and evening hours available. Our programs are geared to work effectively with chemical dependency issues through treatment and education. Many individuals successfully complete treatment and are able to engage in productive activities, including employment. Our Chemical Dependence Services provided 14,168 visits in 2011.

PRIORITY: CHRONIC DISEASE

Reducing Stroke Mortality

To address stroke mortality, we created a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, including local first responders, to direct the implemetation of evidence-based protocols for prompt assessment and treatment of stroke. This team provided a broad scope of information and educational activities for both the lay community and professional providers. We used the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association “Get With the Guidelines” program to evaluate the effectiveness of our efforts. We are pleased to report that we are a designated Sroke Center that progressed from bronze to silver to gold-plus, status, the highest level. With lay community, first responders and clinical providers aligned on protocol-driven care, there is the potential to reduce stroke mortality.

PRIORITY: HEALTHY MOTHERS/HEALTHY BABIES

Perinatal Services

We continue to provide prenatal services in collaboration with Open Door Family Medical Centers in Ossining, Tarrytown and Port Chester and provided 1,001 visits for the year. Three hundred and twenty couples participated in Lamaze classes. Lactation consultants saw all maternity patients to promote breastfeeding and provided post-partum follow-up. Consultant services were offered in both English and Spanish.

With parents' consent, all babies born at Phelps are offered their first Hepatitis B vaccine, and many of our parents have taken advantage of this protective measure for their babies. Hearing screenings are provided for all babies before discharge, and if there is a problem, these babies are referred to our Speech and Hearing Center.

We maintained an "ABC Hotline" for parents to have an immediate source of information about their new baby. One hundred percent of parents received education concerning post-partum depression and shaken-baby syndrome.

The World Health Organization has demonstrated the positive impact of successful breastfeeding on reducing infant mortality and morbidity. Anecdotally, breastfeeding supports the regional objective to eliminate baby bottle tooth decay. Our target was for 80% of mothers who deliver at Phelps to still be breastfeeding three months post delivery. We achieved 81% and received special recognition from New York State.

PRIORITY: NUTRITION SUPPORT FOR THE COMMUNITY

Westchester's Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and School Lunch programs have addressed the nutritional needs of school children. Our findings show the need to educate adults about nutrition and to provide meal assistance to seniors and the disabled. We coordinated both group and individual nutrition counseling. Our Food and Nutrition Services Department prepares meals for the local Meals-on-Wheels program and provided 6,665 meals in 2011. Our free lunch program funded $36,445 in meals and snacks for local seniors who perform volunteer services at the hospital. For the Celiac Sprue Support Group that meets at Phelps four times per year, we provide dietary service support for cooking demonstrations.

Reducing Sodium Intake

We implemented a three-phase program to promote reduction of sodium intake in a target population.

Survey
Dates: 4/7/11 - 6/30/11
Sites: Ossining Food Pantry at Trinity Church, Ossining, NY; Phelps Memorial Hospital Center Prenatal Clinic, Sleepy Hollow, NY; Family Health Day, Tarrytown, NY
Participants: 67 adults from Ossining, Tarrytown, Sleepy Hollow, NY; Ages 20-72 received $15 grocery gift cards for participating.

The goal of the program was to identify members of the Phelps community who are interested in learning how to recognize sources of sodium in their diets and lower their sodium intake by choosing salt-free and low-sodium alternatives.

In phase one of the program, we chose to partner with the Ossining Food Pantry located at the Trinity Church to identify potential program participants. Additionally, we surveyed patients of the Phelps Prenatal Clinic and participants from the Family Health Day held at John Paulding Elementary School in Tarrytown on May 1, 2011.

Supermarket Tours
Dates: 5/20/11 - 6/28/11
Site: Stop & Shop Supermarket, Ossining, NY
Participants: 37 adults, ages 24-71
7 small group tours: 2 English, 5 Spanish

Program included:

30-minute shopping tour on ways to lower dietary sodium
Instructions on understanding nutrition facts labels
Recipes for low-sodium seasoning mixes and marinades
$15 gift cards to purchase fresh produce at the end of each tour

As phase two of this three-phase program, the goals of the tour were
1) to provide access to free nutrition education to area residents, 2) to facilitate understanding of the importance of lowering dietary sodium intake for heart health, and 3) to encourage the selection of healthy, low-sodium foods.

Participants were attentive and interested during the supermarket tours, asking many questions related to the subject matter. Many stated that they had never been offered nor received nutrition education and were glad the shopping tours were available to them. They also expressed positive results on the post-shopping tour evaluation. 97% of participants indicated that they learned how to determine the sodium content on food labels and would like to learn more about healthy eating. 89% reported they learned to choose healthier foods and would like to participate in future tours.

Phase three of the program involved reinforcement of the information presented during the shopping tour. Culturally sensitive, heart-healthy cooking classes were conducted offering low-sodium food preparation tips and emphasizing the importance of nutrition in reducing heart disease. Participants were invited to sample heart-healthy, low-sodium recipes.

WE CARE ABOUT YOU

Phelps is committed to providing quality care to all who need it, regardless of their ability to pay.

Phelps offers extensive counseling services for those who have difficulty paying their medical bills. Help is available in a variety of different forms for those without insurance, those with high co-payments and/or deductibles, those with temporary lapses in employer-sponsored coverage, and those who are eligible but not enrolled in government-sponsored health plans.

We routinely establish payment plans that allow patients to pay their bills over time. We assist numerous patients each year establish their eligibility for Medicaid, Medicare, Child Health Plus and Family Health Plus. We also offer charity care, including sliding scale discounts, for those who qualify under our generous Community Benefit Guidelines.

With medical costs increasing and many family incomes stagnant, the need for charity care and sliding scale discounts has grown in Westchester County. Phelps continues to lead the way, approving the vast majority (over 82%) of the applications received.

Phelps representatives are happy to assist patients in many languages. For more information, call: (914) 366-3199.

TO LEARN MORE

To learn more about Phelps, visit our website: www.phelpshospital.org.

Phelps is located at the intersection of Route 9 and Route 117 in Sleepy Hollow. For directions, visit our website or call (914) 366-1200.