Education Program takes home prize for innovation
Lisa Northrop, Melissa Thompson, Amy Lytle (Hands On), and Becky Wright accepted the High Five Award on November 18.
For immediate release: Winston-Salem, N.C., November 23, 2015 – The SECU Family House’s Education Program was awarded HandsOn Northwest North Carolina’s sixth annual High Five Award on Wednesday, November 18. The High Five award is designed to recognize and honor a nonprofit within Forsyth, Davidson, Davie, Stokes, Surry or Yadkin County that has demonstrated an imaginative or creative way to improve program and/ or service delivery, create a new program, or develop a unique or inventive method to address a particular problem or challenge. The winner is selected through a competitive process from local nominations, and the award comes with a $5,000 cash prize that can be used at the winner’s discretion.
The Education Program was created in 2012 by a physician who noticed several problems throughout his experience in the medical profession. He was concerned about the failure to incorporate caregivers into medical discussions and treatment plans, a lack of appreciation for the skills and perspectives of those working in various health care disciplines, and a lack of medical student interaction with caregivers. With that need in mind, the SECU Family House developed and piloted the Education Program, which involves a collaboration between health care students—nursing, medical, physician assistant, and chaplain students—and the guests who stay at the Family House.
“After a short classroom session focused on family and caregiver needs, students meet directly with Family House guests. That is where they connect with caregivers on a personal and emotional level that they don’t get out of a lecture,” says Dottye Law Currin, director of educational services. The education program is offered at the Family House each Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
The program also provides enhanced care and individualized services to the guests of the SECU Family House; a unique community-based teaching environment for health care students in various fields of study; and, an innovative learning strategy which better trains health care providers and ultimately results in improved patient satisfaction and health outcomes. It’s a model that can be easily replicated by other hospitality house organizations across the country.
“The selection committee was impressed by the collaboration represented by the Education Program, that it was developed to meet a unique need, and that it was a relatively simple idea that could be easily replicated throughout the Hospitality House network nationwide. It is exactly these kinds of new ideas—simple on the surface, but transformative to the organization and the community—that the High Five Award is designed to highlight,” says Amy Lytle, HandsOn NWNC’s Executive Director, which oversees the nomination process and convenes the volunteers who serve on the committee. “While all of the nominees were doing great work, the committee truly felt that SECU Family House’s Education Program best embodied the spirit of innovation.”
For more information on the Education Program, please contact Dottye Law Currin at dottye.currin@familyhousews.org.