 Good afternoon. I'm Sharon Lee Parker, director of patient experience hospitality training, cancer coaching, author of two cancer books so far at the beautiful John Thura Cancer Center at Hackensack Meridian Health Network Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. I want to welcome you all to this meeting, and I hope whether you are here in person, or you are seeing this online whether you're in New Jersey or you're in Florida or Vermont or anywhere else, that you know that we really do care about how you are treated as a patient, no matter where you go, and no matter what you have, if we can help you in any way, we are there. I have taken the liberty of sharing my thoughts on hospitality and cancer, with many, many employees both at the John Thura Cancer Center, and at other places as well, and also helped patients get through the trials and tribulations of what it means to have cancer. You might not know, but I did have cancer myself in 2000 and 23. And Dr. Andre Gua, who is one of the leads at Hackensack Meridian Health, certainly in cancer, saved my life at MD Anderson Houston, where I then came to Hackensack to follow him for my checkup and wrote my first book, About Cancer Here I Come, and I'm privileged to say that Dr. Gua, who was of course world famous today in liquid tumors and liquid tumor research, wrote the forward to this first book. What I loved about the way Dr. Gua treated me was that he had a heart and a brain, and I realized that you needed both of those components in huge amounts to really make me feel whole again. And this is 20 years later, and I'm here to say that hopefully I'm as good as new, and I can still continue to teach every day and help someone make their lives a bit better by the knowledge that I have acquired. When you consider a cancer center and where you should go, there are lots of things that are running through people's minds and of course emotion is so high. Why should patients choose the John Thurr Cancer Center? What makes it different and a cut above? How important is each patient? Well, let's stop right there. Why should patients choose the JTCC? I can tell you, because it's among the best in the country, because our staff really does care whether they are the top doc or the person parking your car. They care. They want to make sure that you have a positive experience and that they can put a positive spin on your life at the John Thurr Cancer Center. What makes the JTCC different and a cut above? All the staff does. We make it different. We make it better. I've always known from my grandmother in Danby, Vermont that you could go through life as a C and it would be okay. Or you could go through life as an A plus and trust me, that's the way I'm trying to lead my life and it's a lot better. So what makes the JTCC different and a cut above is our loving, caring, intelligent, skilled staff tries so hard to make every patient feel well. And if you're new on our staff, then that's part of your job description as well. How important is each patient? So important. There's nobody more important. When I say everyone's a VIP at the JTCC, and not only rhymes, but I mean it, everyone who walks through that door is important. How important are you with the contact with the patients? You are very important. I like to think of us as a family. I ask for help all the time when I can't do something that I know someone else can do better. And that's what we do here. We help each other. What makes us stand out? You make us stand out because as soon as patients walk out and say, gee, I had the best time, even though I have cancer, I love going to the JTCC. You make us stand out by your smile, by your warmth, by your caring. And even though we are wearing masks and I wear big glasses, as you can see, to protect my eyes from a previous injury years ago. When I take them off, you can see that even if I'm wearing a mask, when your eyes smile, your whole face lights up. Who is our competition? Everyone. Everyone knows about the John Thorog Cancer Center, certainly in the northeast and southeast and some places in Europe and far west. And what makes our competition concerning is when they want to be as good as we are. But as long as we are the cream, we're the whipped cream, we establish the reputation, there's nothing better. And patients return and send people all of the time. Just yesterday I had a man look for me, whom I hadn't seen in about six years, and he came in and he had never forgotten the way we had treated him years ago. I was so thrilled to see him and he gave me a big hug, and hopefully he will continue to do well. How do we become the best of the best by constantly opening our eyes, our ears, and our brains to all of the new technologies and thoughts that are going on, so that we constantly know that anything that is on the stove now that wasn't there last year. We're learning about, we're sharing, we're asking questions and we're not afraid to jump in and see if we can make something better. Next. Things to consider from the JTCC point of view. I've often said that it's a privilege to live in Boulder, Colorado, where I did for eight years. The Daily newspaper used to remind me of that on a daily basis, and they were right. But now I have changed that to it's a privilege to be on the team at the John Thurrock Cancer Center, whose potential is unlimited because of the vision of those who made it happen. It's truly an exciting time to tweak the JTCC, and we try to do that almost every day and move it right among the very top cancer centers in the world. We can do it. We have the energy. We have determination, the leadership and motivation to bring this to an unparalleled level when it comes to oncology, research, treatment, and skill of the JTCC family. Getting better at what we do by listening, learning, and putting into action whatever it takes to give our patients the most positive outcomes. We already have become a top 50 cancer center and are becoming one of the most significant cancer centers in the United States. And as some of our lead doctors speak around the world, we're getting known everywhere. You know, even in the Caribbean people talk about us. It's because of the quality of life we can offer our cancer patients and their loved ones from the world renowned doctors to the telephone intake nurse who might say, Welcome to the John Thurrock Cancer Center and really mean it. I'm sorry to assist you. My name is Jean. How may I be of service. It's much more than a number or a statistic. You are a real person. Hospitality, why it matters. And hospitality notice are the same word. And I had the privilege of being in the hospitality industry for 40 years, greeting a guest, but really greeting them to do something a little different than our patients are doing, but with the same warmth, the same care, the same charm, and the same a hospital's reputation is created and maintained through a central focus on patient care and on superior patient service practices results in improvement of the patient experience equals patients satisfaction. We like to have rapid turnaround responsiveness whenever possible, and the patient use of technology today, which can enhance the experience, whether it's touchscreen TV voice recognition, spoken mem use key entry on telephones, etc. I must always remember that there is still a large group of patients, especially older ones who don't necessarily have the access to the computers that we do. It's often why I give so many patients my cell phone number. And no matter what time it is, if they're having difficulty, I'm going to try to help them. People helping people. There's nothing more important. Why does patient satisfaction matter. It matters for a lot of reasons, but the concept in healthcare called pay for performance or value based reimbursement and Medicare has started an initiative that will significantly reduce payments to hospitals. If they fall below the 50th percentile on nationally ranked quality and patient experience services, patient satisfaction, that's what's important surveys are important. As you know, as staff people, every week, we have hundreds of patients answering questions about us. And we want to be at the very top level so that we know not only are we going to get reimbursed at the highest levels, but that our patients are getting reimbursed inside by feeling I made the right decision. This means in some cases that how paid hospitals are paid will be determined based on how hospitals rank in surveys such as U.S. News and World Report. It's always fun to be in the top drawer of new U.S. News and World Report because they are really looking at hospitals and comparing them. And as long as we can stay at the top, we want to be a top cancer center in the nation. Why does patient satisfaction matter. Most importantly, we need to be better communicators because doing so helps patients improve their clinical outcome. Simply put, they get better. The National Cancer Institute has published research that demonstrates that when faced with a cancer diagnosis, patients often experience significant emotional distress. And as you know right now with the COVID going on, and all of the negativity in the Ukraine patients who are home and watching television often are getting very depressed. On top of the cancer, feelings of uncertainty about their future lay in front of them. They have to deal with complex medical information as well and make difficult life altering treatment decisions. And so patients with cancer and their family members hope to receive care within a health care system that will provide them with an environment of unfailing support and focus on meeting their needs as best as possible, as I said in the beginning. To achieve this, the National Cancer Institute says the focus is on optimizing communication processes between patients, family and health care delivery systems, and not just the patient position diet. Bottom line, every person, every person who makes contact with a patient is an important part of our care team, and our job is to help patients overcome their fears and any uncertainties that they may have. When I look at the celebration of life and liberty that we have established as part of our legacy at the John Thera Cancer Center for more than 10 years, although we've had to stop through the COVID. We had it first at the Statue of Liberty, and then at Giant Stadium. And I had the privilege to welcome patients each and every year with celebrities, Dr. Gua, the best doctors that we've got, others, Dr. Quora, the chiefs of the hospital, and then some musical stars with a beautiful luncheon. What a happy day we have dancing and singing and having an orchestra and forgetting for the few moments or the few hours actually that cancer is even around. We're one wonderful, happy, loving family, and that's what's so important. Make sure, as you can see in this picture, that we have contact with every patient. If you are a staff member, put yourself in the patient's shoes for a moment. Roll play. Make each patient feel that he or she is the most important person because, you know what? At that moment, they are the most important. Listen carefully to the patient. Each patient has a story, and it is the most important one of their lives. And don't be afraid to jump in even if the water is hot. Make yourself the patient and their caregivers a part of the healing team. Go beyond what is expected. This is much more than a job. This is a passion. The importance of personal contact with every patient. The spirit to serve gives us the ability to change the mood and improve a patient day. I often say, up, down, smile, frown, positive, negative, the choice is yours. What's your choice? Up, positive, smile. Always be the best we can be. When we're on here, we're on stage. It's not like we're home. It's not like we have an opportunity to be miserable. When we're here, other patients and other staff members, part of our family are watching us. So try to be as positive as you can be every day. Everyone at the JTCC has an important role. When it comes to our patients, I think, and we often think of the Ritz Carlton or the Waldorf Astoria, hospitality at its best. It's our determination, desire and dedication to help our patients become the best that they can be. It's you, our wonderful staff, you, the people that make the Cancer Center along with our terrific patients. In our brainstorming session, you can think about what you have observed in the Cancer Center that we can do better. If you see something that you think needs to be improved, by all means, share it. You can always share it with me. I was with a different department today because I walked into an area that really didn't look up to par, and so called the people who were in charge and they came to take a look and readily agreed. Examples of great hospitality you think we might consider at JTCC. What might you think? Should we have more private parties? Should we have more opportunities for patient discussion? Should we have more classes for the patients? I believe in an open door policy whenever possible. I'm not the doctor. I don't have 50 patients waiting to see me. I do give out my phone number, as I mentioned earlier, because I think it's important that people feel that they can speak to someone here. And if they can't get their doctor or their nurse, that someone can lead them so that they don't get frustrated. We want them to continue to have the most positive, forward-looking attitude.