Celebrating our team members and their bundle of joy with new Baby Gift Program
December 2020
Northwell Health’s new Baby Gift Program offers team members who have welcomed a new family member by birth or adoption a one-time delivery of gift items for both baby and parents.
Their delivery is celebrated with a delivery of our own – a care package that includes hand-picked items for baby and parents, including a Northwell-branded onesie, bib and tumbler. To further support our team members, a packet of information is included with related Northwell benefits and other well-being resources offered to our new parents.
On top of being an adorable gift, the Baby Gift Program also serves to help connect team members on leave of absence or paid family leave with their team members throughout their leave. And with Northwell feeling like one big family, it’s a fun way to celebrate our newest little team members.
“It felt great receiving a care package for my newborn and myself,” says Elena Popovski, marketing specialist on the Candidate Engagement & Experience team in Talent Acquisition. “Throughout my whole pregnancy, I felt support from my fellow coworkers and a special bond was created during that time. To receive this after delivery made it feel like he was being welcomed into my Northwell family too.”
This feeling of connection is more important than ever throughout the COVID pandemic when many new parents are celebrating their newest arrival in isolated and socially distant ways. By sending our team members a token of celebration, Northwell is able to promote our value of being Truly Together.
The Baby Gift Program is just one of the unique benefits that Northwell offers our new parent team members, on top of other offerings such as Baby Café, a free drop-in breastfeeding support group that has gone virtual to continue to offer support through the pandemic.
Join an organization committed to celebrating you throughout all your personal and professional milestones. Apply today!
*Please note that benefits for our union team members may differ and team members should reference their CBA for benefit information.
First cohort of Advanced Clinical Provider Mentorship Program celebrates with virtual graduation
December 2020
At Northwell Health, we are committed to helping our team members to develop their skills and gain a foundation for a lifelong career journey. With that in mind, Northwell Health’s Advanced Clinical Provider (ACP) team launched a one-year mentorship program to support ACPs who are new to our health system.
Our first cohort, a mix of 20 Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and Physician Assistants (PAs), recently celebrated their graduation from the program with a virtual ceremony. Each of our NPs and PAs had been matched with an experienced ACP mentor who worked with them throughout the year to develop essential clinical and non-clinical skills for a successful career.
Throughout the program, ACP mentees were able to enhance skills beyond their clinical knowledge by learning about our organization and self-awareness. By connecting mentors and mentees, the program fostered relationships that will create a support system for all ACP team members beyond their specialty and site.
A mentor can be especially helpful for NPs and PAs coming into a health system as large as Northwell Health, with 74,000+ team members, 23 hospitals and 800+ ambulatory locations. “Mentorship is extremely valuable for any new hire, regardless of clinical experience, into a large system,” says Jennifer Laffey DNP, FNP-BC, AVP, Advanced Clinical Providers. “Having a mentor can help navigate any non-clinical challenges as well as provide direction for clinical aspects as well. Mentees gain organizational awareness from their mentors and direct insight to all the opportunities the health system has to offer.”
The virtual graduation celebrated the relationships that had been built throughout the successful program, highlighting testimonials from both mentors and mentees on the impact they had on each other. Mentors and mentees shared stories of how they were able to learn from each other throughout the year-long program, encouraging each other to grow and see things differently.
“No matter what role you are in it is always helpful to have a guide, a coach, or a cheerleader to help navigate day-to-day personal or professional activities,” says Sheila Davies DNP, ANP-BC, senior administrative director, Advanced Clinical Providers. “Two areas that resonate with me when discussing mentorship programs are the value of friendship and nurturing that mentorship can provide. Thoughtful guidance and support can often inspire an individual’s trajectory and the relationship that was developed will often be everlasting.”
Congratulations to all of our NPs and PAs on graduating from this exciting new program!
Start your ACP career at Northwell Health. Apply today.
Turning a passion for wellness into an impactful career at Northwell Health
December 2020
An integral part of our success as an organization, especially as it relates to providing our patients with care that empowers them to lead healthier lives, are the healthcare professionals on our teams that lead healthy lives themselves. One person in particular who has been extremely impactful in this regard during her time at Northwell Health is Mystique Haynes, PTA, AAS, a physical therapist assistant at ORZAC Center for Rehabilitation.
Thirteen years ago, Mystique received her license as a physical therapy assistant (PTA), a move that would direct her steps on a path toward a rewarding career. Driven by her passion for health and wellness, she soon discovered incredible opportunities for growth at Northwell Health. “As a PTA in the sub-acute rehabilitation setting I work closely with nursing and medical staff to follow the patients’ prescribed treatment plans,” says Mystique. “I have had the opportunity to rehabilitate patients recovering from strokes, traumatic brain injuries, joint replacements, fractures, amputations and much more.”
Now, as she approaches a decade as a dedicated and valued member of our staff, Mystique has found even more ways to bring her passion and purpose together though Northwell’s commitment to team member well-being. In 2018, Mystique was chosen by the Human Resources department to be on the wellness committee, and after only a few months in the role, she became the Lead Wellness liaison and spearheaded the facility’s program.
Encouraged to bring her own passion to her work, Mystique leveraged what motivates her to be at her personal best to drive impactful change within our company culture and her department at the ORZAC Center for Rehabilitation. With her hands-on approach and eagerness to help the lives of others, she began to introduce programming at Northwell that further pushed both her goal and ours of promoting healthier lifestyles. By educating on wellness and providing resources that team members can use to improve their overall health, Mystique believes it all comes down to one word: consistency. “Consistency is the key to longevity of the heart,” says Mystique, and her heart for the health of those around her couldn’t be more evident in her day-to-day.
As the lead wellness liaison, Mystique has developed and hosted activities like health and wellness fairs, walking trails, weight training, Zumba classes, line dancing, and self-defense training. Her work has helped encourage and incorporate a healthy lifestyle into the work culture of Northwell Health and lead our team members to a better version of themselves. And as a result, our patients also benefit as our team members are then able to pass that knowledge on. As Mystique explains, “We only get one body and wellness is a major source of determining our quality of life.”
Additionally, Mystique has created a space for team members at ORZAC to benefit from organic health produce through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). CSA is an upfront investment in a local farm, which then provides weekly “shares” of the farm harvest. This promotes farm to healthy table eating by delivering a variety of seasonal vegetables, herbs and some fruit directly to ORZAC.
The work she does in wellness goes far beyond our facilities and overflows into the communities and lives of people she interacts with in her personal life too. “I try to pass along health tips, credible information, and encourage everyone around me to start where they are and to just keep moving depending on each individual person and what their needs are,” she says. “Being a wellness liaison is my opportunity to give back to Northwell to say thank you for investing in me, my co-workers and my family.”
Discover a career that invests in your passions at Northwell Health. Apply today!
Making the transition from clinical care to healthcare administration
December 2020
Christian Jocelyn always knew he wanted to work in the healthcare industry so he could help others. He was uncertain which career path to take, so he became an emergency medical technician (EMT) after college, which provided him with his first healthcare career opportunity delivering frontline care. His career journey at Northwell over the years brought Christian to his current role as director of operations in the Department of Neurosurgery at North Shore University Hospital (NSUH).
A few years after starting his career journey as an EMT, Christian became a paramedic and began to get involved in performance improvement projects. These projects not only helped leadership realize Christian’s potential and that lead him to be promoted to paramedic supervisor. This also helped Christian discover where he wanted his Northwell career to go.
“In my role as a supervisor, I was responsible for the day-to-day field operations for one of the largest hospital-based EMS departments in the country. I had the opportunity to view the health system through a unique lens,” says Christian. “I came to understand the importance of caring for patients across all care settings and the strength of an integrated healthcare delivery system. This experience motivated me to go back to school and obtain my Masters in Health Administration and to begin the transition from clinician to administrator.”
While working toward his master’s degree, Christian transitioned out of EMS into a role as a manger of Financial and Operations Management at NSUH. It was this administrative foundation along with his education that enabled Christian to develop the skills he needed for his current role as director.
At Northwell, Christian has been able to build a rewarding career that utilizes his skills on the frontline to impact patient care through operations. Christian enjoys being able to take his experience and understanding of care outside of the hospital into designing programs within the hospitals. It is an opportunity he feels he was able to reach thanks in part to the mentors who supported his transition from clinical care to the administrative side of healthcare by removing barriers and helping him tap into his potential.
“One of the most important factors in my growth at Northwell has been my good fortune to have excellent mentors and sponsors along the way,” says Christian. “These individuals invested time, effort, and energy in me. They have set the example of what it means to be a leader and have provided the foundation I continue to build my career on. I would not be in the role or the person I am now without the expectational guidance and support by my mentors at Northwell.”
And for those looking to make a similar transition as Christian, he offers the advice of focusing on developing meaningful relationships in the organization and to not be afraid of taking risks. “Make it a point to collaborate with folks in other departments, step outside of your comfort zone and learn about a part of the organization that is unfamiliar to you,” he advises. “The beauty of Northwell is that we touch the entire continuum of care and with that comes an unparalleled learning opportunity.”
Discover a career well cared for at Northwell Health. Apply today!
