News Release

May 21 , 2008

Media Contact:
Christina Chavira
Communications Specialist
530.332.5589
christina.chavira@enloe.org

Enloe gives its first ‘Spirit of Planetree’ awards

Editor: A photo of the award recipients and award vase are available upon request.

CHICO, Calif., Wednesday, May 21, 2008 – Enloe Medical Center recognized three women with Spirit of Planetree Awards Wednesday, May 14 at the Enloe Foundation’s Honoring the Spirit of Giving event.  The awards, created by the Planetree organization, are intended to promote patient-centered care by recognizing people who personalize and demystify the health care experience as well as programs and services that support extraordinary achievement in patient-centered care.

Planetree is a non-profit organization and a patient-centered approach to care that includes the use of technology, medicine and complementary healing with an emphasis on the human interaction, family and friends, education and information, architectural and interior design, the arts and healthy communities. Enloe became a Planetree affiliate in 2006. This is the first year Enloe has given Spirit of Planetree awards.

Dr. Marcia Nelson, M.D., a family practice physician and Vice President of Medical Affairs at Enloe, received the Physician Champion Award; Judy Sitton, Vice Chair of Enloe Medical Center’s Board of Trustees, received the Caregiver Award; and Nancy Ledoyen, RN, Director of the Enloe Regional Cancer Center, Hospice and Integrative Services, received the Program Award in the Healing Arts category.

Dr. Nelson has served Enloe Medical Center and Chico for more than 19 years. Dr. Nelson has embraced and promoted Planetree since October 2004, when she visited Planetree’s flagship hospital Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn. As former Chief of Staff and in her current position, Dr. Nelson has been instrumental in facilitating Enloe’s adoption of the patient-centered care approach. She is a member of the Enloe’s Planetree Leadership Team and chairs Enloe’s Quiet Hospital Task Force. Dr. Nelson also supports this care approach in her private practice at Mission Ranch Primary Care.

Sitton has fueled local interest in Planetree since 2005, when she visited Griffin Hospital. In her role as Vice Chair and as the Chair of Enloe’s Planetree Leadership Team, Sitton logs many volunteer hours toward Planetree initiatives. “She is a caregiver in every sense, in the way she cares for the hospital, our patients and the community,” said Laura Hennum, Vice President of Strategy, Communications and Marketing, who also oversees the Patient Service Excellence/Planetree department at Enloe.

Under Ledoyen’s direction, the Enloe Regional Cancer Center is leading the medical center in its embrace of Planetree and in particular, the healing arts. Through several programs, including the Enloe Cranes Project, Faces of Hope, Telling Our Stories and Flags of Hope, the Cancer Center uses the arts to support the journey through cancer for patients, their family and staff members.

Each award recipient received a raku vase handcrafted by James Fuhring of Durham, Calif.

At Enloe, the implementation of the Planetree approach to care has begun with staff training retreats, a new approach to nursing and a quiet-hospital initiative. Projects being developed include a health resource center and a book in common group. For more information about Planetree, visit www.planetree.org.

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Enloe Medical Center is a local, nonprofit health care organization. For more information, please call 530/332-7300 or visit us online at http://www.enloe.org.   Enloe Medical Center is located at 1531 Esplanade Chico, Calif.  95926.