UFCW 400 Members Show Off Successful Strategies at Kaiser

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)UFCW Local 400 members Elisabeth Christakis and Angela Edwards are hard-working nurses at Kaiser – and their work isn’t going unnoticed. Christakis (second from left in pink) is an advice nurse at the Clinical Contact Center in Silver Spring, MD where she and her coworkers manage hundreds of calls a day from anxious people seeking medical advice. Christakis and the other call center employees were highlighted by the Labor Management Partnership for their success developing a series of fun and healthy diversions including crazy hat day, ’70s costume contest, and lunch-time karaoke that “boost morale by injecting a little fun into their daily routine.” Click here to check out the downloadable poster the Labor Management Partnership made about their work. Edwards (at left), a lead nurse at Kaiser, was the union co-lead on a project to control hypertension through patient outreach. The team's work increased the percentage of diabetes patients with whose blood pressure was under control well ahead of deadline. Last month’s Labor Management Partnership e-newsletter highlighted Edwards’ success. In the newsletter Edwards describes the team’s winning strategy of reaching out to patients: “We called them personally, made them feel like their health was important, and offered to set up an appointment for them. That worked really well. People tended to do it on the spot.” Click here for UFCW Local 400’s report on Christakis and Edwards.