Planetree: Person-Centered Care

Enloe offers several features to make accessing health information easier:

• We have shared medical records to help patients make informed health care decisions. We encourage patients to read their medical records during their stay in the hospital to be active participants in their care plans. Shared medical records also promote two-way dialogue between patients and health care providers, and allow patients to understand and ask questions about their condition or treatment.
• We offer events, classes and support groups to help keep the community well. We also host continuing education classes and symposia for health professionals.
• We host an online and physical library. Our eHealth Library has a large selection of articles, videos and interactive tools on many topics, including diseases, procedures and preventive care. Our walk-in library at the Enloe Health Regional Cancer Center is also available to patients, their families and others in the community.

To honor the powerful role of the arts, Enloe Health enlists volunteer musicians who provide live music to enhance patients’ healing process by creating a pleasing and relaxing environment. Musicians have the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life by doing what they love.

Additionally, Enloe co-sponsors Chico Performances shows, supporting music as a healing art at the medical center and in the community.

The Cancer Center received the national Spirit of Planetree Arts & Entertainment Award in 2008.

At Enloe Health, we believe in empowering patients and their loved ones through:

• Visitation: When family and friends visit their loved one, they are supporting the patient’s emotional and social needs. Most patient rooms at Enloe are private with furnishings that provide comfort and privacy. View our visitation policy.
• The Enloe Health Care Partner Program: Our person-centered approach involves adding a family member or friend to the health care team. It creates a three-way partnership between the patient, health care team and selected care partner. The care partner is invited to participate in care as agreed upon with the patient and the hospital staff. This can be especially important when it comes to education and discharge planning.

Enloe Health regularly refreshes its patient and café menus. We have been recognized for serving R.E.A.L. food that:

• Is robust in flavor
• Has exceptional ingredients
• Avoids additives
• Is loaded with nutrients

Enloe Health prioritizes a healing environment.

• We aim to create a quieter setting, so patients can get health-restoring sleep. Plus, patients can receive a sleep menu to help them get a good night’s sleep and our quiet hospital workgroup continues to seek ways to ensure patients can rest.
• We enlist specially trained dogs that are a part of our Animal Assisted Therapy Program and Pets Assisting With Service (P.A.W.S.) Volunteer Program to offer patients therapeutic support and emotional comfort.
• We’ve created a warm, friendly environment through artwork and interior design. California nature photography is exhibited throughout the hospital. Welcoming family lounges and furniture designed for overnight guests help visitors have a comfortable stay with their loved ones. Plus, our Meditation Room provides a place to reflect and experience a sense of peace.

To promote healthy communities, Enloe Health offers:

• Classes, events and support groups
• Seasonal flu vaccination clinics
• Medical waste disposal information

For more about Enloe’s service to the community, read our Community Benefit Report. Plus, as part of our commitment to community health, Enloe has a committee that has worked to expand the medical center’s recycling and ecologically sustainable practices. It continues to look at practices that are good for people and the environment.

In keeping with a commitment to improve the health care of patients and the community, all of Enloe’s campuses are tobacco-free. Patients who need help are encouraged to request nicotine replacement through their physician before they are admitted to the medical center. For those who are ready to quit smoking, personal support is available through the California Smokers’ Helpline at 1-800-No-Butts.

Enloe Health has many initiatives to create a culture of person-centered care:

• We host staff training retreats. Our discussions focus on the patient’s perspective and the vital role staff play in personalizing care.
• We take a collaborative approach to care. In this model, the patient and their loved one, or care partner, are at the center of a comprehensive, holistic and collaborative approach, supporting optimal care.
• We recognize all Enloe employees, partner employees, volunteers and physicians as caregivers, and we regularly honor caregivers whose actions tell a story of human kindness, quality of clinical care or exceptional customer service. Read our Stories of Excellence.
• We developed a Patient Ambassadors Program to reduce the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual anxiety of patients and their families. These compassionate volunteers receive in-depth training and orientation, visit hospital patients, and offer help.
• We created Enloe Health’s Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) to help the hospital learn about the perspective of patients who received care at Enloe, as well as the experience of their loved ones. This valuable insight has led to improved guidelines for visitation, better communication with families waiting for a patient in surgery and more.

Planetree encourages evidence-based alternative, complementary and integrative modes of healing. Each patient’s wellness needs are approached holistically and in consideration of the person’s expressed health goals and priorities.

Enloe Health offers:

• Aromatherapy — the use of pure essential oils for a therapeutic purpose
• Acupuncture at a weekly, low-cost outpatient clinic in a group setting
• P.A.W.S. (Pets Assisting With Service); ask your nurse if you are interested in a P.A.W.S. visitation while in the hospital
• Symptom Management, which is patient- and family-centered care that optimizes quality of life for patients facing cancer.

Enloe Health partners with leaders of our local faith-based community to meet the needs of patients, visitors and staff. When considering the Planetree criteria of Spirituality and Diversity, hospital and community spiritual leaders saw an opportunity to create a formal program to meet these diverse needs.

Enloe Health’s Spiritual Support Volunteers Program (SSV) began in 2014. These volunteers provide for the spiritual well-being of the patients, families, and Enloe staff, regardless of their faith tradition and for those whose spirituality is experienced away from religious context.

SSVs are available around the clock, either on site or on call. To learn more, call 530-332-5064.

Enloe Health Medical Center also has a Meditation Room furnished by a generous donation and open to all. It is a welcoming and inclusive non-denominational space. This is a place of solace, peace, hope and refuge where expressions of grief and gratitude and healing conversations can occur.