CFFC representatives recently met with the staff of the Rochester CF pediatric center to explore ways our organization could lend a hand to clinic staff. One major topic of discussion was the transitions taking place within the clinic.
A key aspect in this discussion was that the clinic is maintaining the same level of service despite the departure of key staff members. One of the staff noted that Dr. Karen Voter has earned a red cape for her attention to assuring consistent care. Aside from Dr. Voter’s super powers, credit was also given to the efforts of the two nurse practitioners (Bridget Platania, NP and Pat Lamarche, NP), Mary Platt, RN and the addition of Holly Torkington Wood, RN to help support the clinic staff and manage phone calls.
While the staff is handling the clinic workload, there are a couple of things CF families can do to ease the strain on the staff:
- With reduced staff levels, time slots on clinic days are hard to come by. Anyone who cannot make their scheduled appointment should notify the clinic as soon as possible so their time slot can be freed up for someone needing more immediate attention.
- Short turnaround time on prescriptions is proving difficult; therefore, providing advanced notice for prescription refills will help avoid gaps in important treatments.
- Medical letters and other such requests may require more time to prepare, so providing advanced notice for such requests would also be helpful.
Dr. Voter also shared the date of the next Kit Taylor Memorial Lecture. See our news post on this topic for more details.
We appreciated the opportunity to meet with the pediatric staff and look forward to other opportunities to assist in their support for the Rochester/Finger Lakes CF community.