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Video still of National Union Of Eritrean Women of Eritrean-Americans honoring UWMC healthcare workers.
National Union Of Eritrean Women honoring UWMC healthcare workers

Patient, Family, and Community

Our local Seattle community recognized the high-quality work of our staff early in 2020 and we were flooded with donations. At each campus, we were able to distribute items from food to socks to flowers and more. There were many strong signs of encouragement, and even full meals. Our staff lit up with delight in receiving these special tokens of appreciation.

One highlight was on June 17, 2020, when the National Union Of Eritrean Women of Eritrean-Americans honored our nursing staff with song and dance at the main entrance, an event organized by retired UWMC nurse Abeba Abraha. We can’t begin to list all of the generous donations that came our way, but we want to thank everyone sincerely.

UW Medicine branded sign reading the following: Visitors - once you enter a patient's room, you must stay there for the entire visit. if you want snacks or drinks, please stop by the espresso stand on the third floor or the plaza cafe on the first floor before visiting your loved one. Thank you for helping us keep our patients, visitors, and staff safe during the coronavirus outbreak.

Patient & Family Centered Care Councils During COVID

Patient & Family Centered Care (PFCC) is at the heart of nursing practice at UWMC. PFCC is a culture that values and promotes equality in relationships, collaboration, respect, information-sharing, and clear communication.

We are proud to have six Patient Advisory Councils and the PFCC Steering Committee, with advisors, nurses and other disciplines working together to improve the patient & family experience at UWMC.

With COVID taking front stage in 2020, some of our PFCC work had to change. Our council and steering committee went online-only, and Zoom conferencing was highly effective in facilitating our work. Many advisors believe that this mode of interaction should be here to stay.

To keep our patients, staff and faculty safe during the pandemic, UW Medicine instituted visitor restrictions during 2020 in accordance with the CDC. Our PFCC councils were helpful in fine-tuning messaging to our patients about these changes. For example, our advisors reviewed signage such as the one at right.

The partnership we have with patients, families and our advisors improves outcomes for our patients, and was an important part of our response to COVID.

UWMC CARE4U Wellbeing and Resilience Program
(Care Assistance Encouragement for You)

Over the past two years, the Wellbeing and Resilience program, CARE4U, has been able to grow significantly for staff and providers. CARE4U continues to offer a robust menu of support options and make 24/7 emotional support available at both campuses. The main supports that we continue to invest and improve include: