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Download the Fall 2009 Bear Facts Newsletter here. |
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 Mandy Skinner conserves energy every single day.
A resident of the Voorhees Pediatric Facility, in Voorhees, New Jersey, 19-year-old Mandy is wheelchair-bound and depends on a ventilator to help her breathe. “We use a large rechargeable battery instead of plugging the ventilator into the wall all the time, and that saves energy,” says Mandy. “I think that’s pretty cool.”
Mandy discovered Project Porchlight at the recent Halloween Festival in Voorhees. Project Porchlight was there to educate folks about energy efficiency and the energy savings offered by compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. A total of 450 CFL bulbs were distributed, part of Project Porchlight New Jersey’s campaign to distribute energy-efficient light bulbs to residents across the state. Project Porchlight is an initiative of One Change, and the campaign is made possible thanks to funding by the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) and New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program (NJCEP).
“I learned a lot about Project Porchlight and the CFL bulbs that save energy,” says Mandy. When she returned home that evening, she learned even more by visiting the Project Porchlight website. “I think Project Porchlight is really a great idea,” she says. “It helps people understand that simple actions like changing to CFL bulbs are really important.”
At the Halloween Festival, Mandy, who is a huge “Twilight” fan, was dressed as a vampire. She made a great impression on Project Porchlight Volunteer Outreach Coordinator Suzy Sherbine, who invited Mandy to help Project Porchlight at the event by serving as “Countess Incandessa, Energy Vampire.”
Mandy explains: “Regular incandescent light bulbs are like vampires because they suck and waste energy.”
At the festival, Countess Incandessa—oops, we mean Mandy-- enjoyed a hayride and listening to music. And since connecting with Project Porchlight, she has learned more about saving energy. For example, Mandy now knows all about the solar panels on the roof of the Voorhees Pediatric Facility that help to generate energy for the televisions in the lobby. “I think that’s pretty cool,” says Mandy.
In many ways, Mandy is just like so many other teens. She enjoys visiting her favorite websites. She loves chocolate and pizza, not necessarily in that order. She listens to music by Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, and the Black Eyed Peas. And now, thanks to a chance meeting with Project Porchlight, Mandy is thinking about the future of our planet.
“I’m getting a new power wheelchair soon, and I’ll be able to charge my ventilator off the power wheelchair,” she says proudly. “It is important to protect the environment and save the world.” |
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A teen gets her fondest wish: A visit to a country radio station.
By Ed Moorhouse, Staff Writer
 BALA CYNWYD, Pa -- Ricki Lee Sharp is an early riser.
She has to be if she wants to catch every minute of her favorite radio show, "Andie and Kris in the Morning" on country music station WXTU-FM 92.5.
The 14 year old said she wakes up every morning at 5 so she doesn't miss it. The radio hosts are such an important part of Ricki Lee's routine, she decided to tell them herself.
On Tuesday, she got her wish.
Ricki Lee is a resident at Voorhees Pediatric Facility, which provides long-term care to medically fragile children. Her family lives in Southampton.
She recently reach out to WXTU through e-mail and was invited to tour the station on City Avenue in Bala Cynwyd.
When Andie Summers and Kris Stevens walked out of an office adjacent to a radio studio to meet their biggest fan, Ricki Lee greeted them with a big smile.
"Oh, my God," Ricki Lee said when she met the morning show hosts. "You get my day started. This is the only station I liston to. I'm in heaven."
Ricki Lee, a student at the Burlington County Special Services School in Westampton, told Summers that she listens to the show all morning.
"I'm flattered that you wake up early to listen to us," Summers said, kneeling beside Ricki Lee's wheelchair.
"I wouldn't have it any other way, Andie. You keep me going," Ricki Lee said, smiling again.
Ricki Lee, who will turn 15 next week, was joined on the tour by three staff members from Voorhees Pediatric and another resident, 9 year old Gena Moore.
"This, to (Ricki Lee), means the world," said Lucy Orr Tomczynski, a recreation and child life specialists at Voorhees Pediatric. "Being at the facility, she does need things to help get her through the day. She uses (the radio show) to cope with, to laugh with, and she uses it as a friend."
Tomczynski said Gena, who is available for adoption, also was excited to spend the day at the station.
"For Gena, it's instantaneous, and it's a chance to meet and communicate with people," Tomczynski said.
The two girls also observed radio personality Leigh Richards while she was on the air, and met the station's promotions and production teams.
They were surprised when country star jack Ingram walked down the long hallway at the station to meet them and sign autographs.
Country artists Kate and Kacey Coppola also posed for pictures and signed autographs for the girsl before singing "Happy Birthday" to Ricki Lee.
"This has really been a fun day," Ricki Lee said after meeting the singers.
For more information about Voorhees Pediatric Facility, or to inquire about adopting Gena, please contact the facility at 856-346-3300 and ask to speak to a social worker. |
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Bernadette Brennan is National Heroine of Infection Prevention
by Ken Roberts
Bernadette "Bernie" Brennan of Haddon Township has been selected as a 2009 heroine of infection prevention for her work at Voorhees Pediatric Facility.
Hero or heroine is defined as "a fiction or historical character who, in the face of danger or adversity, displays courage and the will for self-sacrifice." Bernie Brennan wages a quieter battle against unseen germs that threaten the young residents, most of whom live on ventilators and with tracheotomies, at the 119-bed Voorhees Pediatric Facility.
Brennan, a registered nurse, has served as a Certified Infection Control Practitioner at VPF since 2000. One of her major achievements has been the establishment of a Skin Integrity Program.
In addition, she developed a Skin Integrity and Wound Management Manual and provided complete instructions for the staff, which includes doctors, nurses and specialists. Thisprogram has been in place for 4 years and, since its inception, skin-relation infection rates have dropped from 14% to 1%.
Brennan presented this program at the APIC Builing Bridges Conference in Kentucky in September, 2006.
APIC (Association for Practitioners in Infection Control) is a national organization representing over 8,000 infection control practitioners, now referrred to as Infection Preventionists. It has been a tremendous honor to have been selected from this talented group. Bernie will receive the award at the 2009 APIC National Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, in June.
She has been a nurse since 1969, when she graduated from the the Hahnemann Hospital School of Nursing. She had been a medical/surgical nurse, nursing supervisor and a nurse educator at Hahnemann and Graduate Hospitals in Philadelphia. She had also worked at Mediplex, Camden and Marlton and the VNA of Southern New Jersey as an infection control practitioner prior to her appointment as Infection Control Practitioner at VPF.
"The staff at VPF does amazing work and it's been a very rewarding and enlightening job," said Brennan, "We accept residents from all over the country who are medically fragile and technology dependent.
"We have children from birth to age 21 and we try to provide them with a normal life, within their limitations. We have six Bancroft Neuro-Health classrooms and bedside tutoring, and we have buses that transport some of our residents to various public and private schools.
We have a summer program called "WAVE" (Wonderful Adolescent Ventilator Excursion) in which the children spend a week housed at Stockton State College and are transported to Ocean City, including the beach and boardwalk. Doctors and nurses accompany them and it's a wonderful and meaningful experience for everyone. The children really look forward to this experience."
She said that VPF has many success stories.
Bernie's husband, Tony, is now retired. She was considering retirement this coming sommer, but she has now decided to continue to work a little longer because "I enjoy what I do so much."
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Voorhees Pediatric Facility | 1304 Laurel Oak Road, Voorhees, NJ
08043 | Toll Free: 888-VPF-KIDS |
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