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Our Partnerships

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”

– Booker T. Washington

We Grow Together

We believe in the power of relationships. From our clients to patients and their families to industry thought leaders, some of Wambi’s most indispensable champions serve on our Executive Advisory Council and Patient & Family Advisory Council. By elevating the voices of those impacted by our work through these partnerships, we benefit from their gifts of professional expertise and wisdom, diverse industry knowledge, and personal experiences.

As Executive Champion of these councils, Wambi’s Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Bonnie Clipper, understands the value of their voices: “A leader is not only the people in the C-Suite, its not only the directors and the managers; it’s charge nurses, it’s supervisors, it’s shift leaders…it’s everyone calling out the good work that’s being done. It’s recognizing all that effort.”

These trusted connections springboard Wambi to fly higher, faster.

Executive Advisory Council

The EAC is a council of thought leaders that exchange knowledge and insights on recognition, employee engagement, and patient experience across the healthcare industry. The council also provides feedback on upcoming Wambi platform advancements.

Dr. Fermin Barrueto, Jr.

Dr. Fermin Barrueto, Jr.

Dr. Fermin Barrueto, Jr., MD, MBA

SVP, Chief Medical Officer | University of Maryland/ Upper Chesapeake Health

Dr. Fermin Barrueto has been the Chief Medical Officer at University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health (UM UCH) since July 2016. Prior to this appointment, he had served as the regional director and chair for the Department of Emergency Medicine at UM Upper Chesapeake Health since 2008. In this capacity, he oversaw the emergency departments at UM Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air and UM Harford Memorial Hospital in Havre de Grace.

Double board certified in emergency medicine and medical toxicology, Dr. Barrueto also served as a clinical associate professor for the University of Maryland School of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine, where he taught the toxicology curriculum for emergency medicine residents.

Elizabeth Paskas

Elizabeth Paskas, MBA, MSN, RN, NE-BC, CPXP

Vice President, Human Experience at Hackensack Meridian Health

Elizabeth is a leader with an outstanding record of achievement, who is passionate about quality and patient experience. Her departments have consistently achieved high patient and employee satisfaction. Elizabeth oversees the collection, analysis and translation of consumer qualitative and quantitative intelligence to strategically design deployment programs, policies with standard operating procedures and/or practices that achieve the service excellence strategy of the organization to create exceptional human experiences.

Elizabeth is currently responsible for the research, design and acceleration of adoption of best practices and innovation integrating the science behind the human experience of care across the Network. She oversees a coaching model including the education required to execute and sustain results. Elizabeth oversees the Consumer Services which includes the Advocacy Program, an Experience Call Center, complaint management, service recovery and centralized consumer communication functions.

Donna Ciufo

Donna Ciufo, RN, DNP, MBA, FNP-BC, CCRN, NE-BC

Vice President, Nursing Education, Professional Practice, Leadership Development | Hackensack Meridian Health

Donna Ciufo is the Vice President of Nursing Education, Professional Practice, and Leadership Development at Hackensack Meridian Health. Donna excels at professional development and transition of knowledge into practice for frontline team members. She is a proven leader, dedicated nurse, and passionate champion of advancing the role of nursing in an era of health reform. Donna has experience in various clinical and progressive leadership roles, including nurse manager, senior manager, Director of Nursing Education and CNO. She earned a BSN, MSN and MBA from Monmouth University and her DNP at UMDNJ (now Rutgers University).

Lisa Jennings

Lisa Jennings, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, CPXP

Director of Patient Experience, University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health

Lisa Jennings has been with UM Upper Chesapeake Health for over 25 years. Her nursing background is in acute, critical care, oncology, and behavioral health services. She was in nursing management for 15 years and Director of Nursing for 5 years.She has extensive training in hospital accreditation and is a certified patient experience professional. Lisa is currently the Director of Patient Experience. Lisa’s philosophy for patient experience is to deliver holistic and compassionate care across the continuum that not only meets the patient and family’s expectation, but also allows the caregiver to develop transpersonal caring relationships.

UM Upper Chesapeake Health is a two-hospital organization and part of University of Maryland System. We strive to deliver an exceptional care experience for every person, every encounter, and every day through cultural behaviors of teamwork, compassion, integrity, trust, ownership & excellence. Click here to learn more.

Shane Carter

Shane J. Carter, MSN, RN

Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Administration Aurora Medical Center – Oshkosh

Shane is the Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at Advocate Aurora Health, Aurora Medical Center in Oshkosh Wisconsin. He is a leader, compassionate about building and developing personal and meaningful relationships. Shane is committed to high quality and health outcomes while delivering an exceptional patient experience. He strives to connect the patient and families experience directly to the team member by recognizing and rewarding them, while improving engagement.

Shane is currently responsible for nursing practice, quality, and patient experience outcomes at Aurora Medical Center Oshkosh. In doing so, Shane’s focus is on integration, process improvement and innovation to improve human experiences across the care continuum. He oversees a wide variety of hospital operations beyond nursing, which provides an opportunity to focus on overall improvements of consumerism, changes in the healthcare environment and improve collaboration and teamwork.

Shane graduated from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing with a Nurse Practitioner emphasis. He continues to stay involved in nursing practice as an acting board member and member of the Organization of Nurse Leaders.

Advocate Aurora Health (AAH) is a 28-hospital system in Wisconsin and Illinois with over 22,000 nurses and 77,000 team members in which its Purpose is to “help people live well”. Built on the values of Excellence, Compassion and Respect, AAH does by Engaging, Empowering, Executing, and Transforming. To learn more about AAH, go to Advocate Aurora Health.

Tria Deibert

Tria Deibert, RN

Vice President, Culture, Hackensack Meridian Health

As vice president of culture, Tria Deibert has the unique opportunity, and privilege, to work with 35k+ team members to intentionally design and nurture Hackensack Meridian Health’s shared culture and exceptional team member experience.

In her role, Tria is responsible for building a culture of transformation with a specific focus on strategy, team member engagement, voice of the team, storytelling, recognition and partnering to co-design peak experiences and meaningful moments all along the team member journey.

Though she leads the culture work, Tria credits the adoption of Hackensack Meridian Health’s shared culture to the 600+ culture circle members leading by example across the frontline of the network. They are the Creative, Courageous, Compassionate, Collaborative and Connected individuals who have shaped a team member experience that makes Hackensack Meridian Health a Certified Great Place to Work.

Tria has been with Hackensack Meridian Health since 2005, when she joined as marketing manager for Riverview Medical Center. She has held various leadership roles, including director of marketing and customer experience and vice president, experience marketing. Prior to working in health care, Tria was a marketing executive in b-to-b publishing at Ziff Davis, Crain Communications and Advanstar. She is thrilled to be pursuing her master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Rider University.

“Harvesting feedback and recognition from patients and their families is a novel way to demonstrate the value of 'moments', even in the most difficult situations. We value the input that our Patient & Family and Executive Advisory Councils share with us because they are our experts and their experiences are what drive us. We are honored to amplify their voice to enhance human experiences in healthcare."

Dr. Bonnie Clipper, DNP, MA, MBA, RN, CENP, FACHE

Chief Clinical Officer | Wambi

Patient & Family Advisory Council

The Wambi PFAC serves to look at patient and family experiences in healthcare organizations “through the patient’s eyes.” Collectively, we use personal experiences and first-hand knowledge to improve how healthcare is delivered, how communication is handled and the overall patient/ provider relationship. The council members consist of patients, patient’s family members and is supported by the Clinical Team at Wambi.

Ray Columbo

Ray has been a volunteer for 13 years. His first 6 years were as a patient advocate, where he spoke to many diverse patients about their issues and experiences, then providing input for potential actions to improve patient well-being. For the last 7 years he has worked in our distribution center delivering supplies to all areas of the hospital, exposing him to many policies and procedures throughout the complex. Ray also volunteers at several other non-healthcare activities.

He has 5 children and 8 grandchildren with his wife of 58 years, Sandy. Sandy has been hospitalized many times over the years, giving Ray exposure to procedures and policies good and bad, and what could be done more efficiently.

John Drucker

With a background in project management and construction code enforcement, John currently works in municipal government in Red Bank, NJ, home to Hackensack Meridian Health’s, Riverview Medical Center (RMC).

“On March 5, 2018 I arrived at RMCs Emergency Department in serious condition with Bacterial Meningitis Type B, Septic and with Pneumonia. Shortly thereafter I was admitted to ICU in Critical Condition and placed on a ventilator for the next 4-5 days. The caregivers worked around the clock to save my life. On the fifth day I was extubated and awoke for the first time and moved to the 5 South Telemetry Unit. There I spent the next six days on my way to recovery. I lost 30 pounds in five days. There I would take my first exhaustive few steps, walk ten feet, and earn my way to 5 North Rehabilitation. For the next two weeks, I willed myself to endure intensive physical and speech therapy to not only survive but to thrive! Riverview Medical Center saved my life. I returned to work with only correctable hearing loss due to the meningitis.”

That’s his story, that centers around the caregivers who worked tirelessly. Wambi inspired him to discover just how important it is to recognize our health care providers.

Dave Thomsen

Dave Thomsen is a semi-retired independent consultant offering clients coaching in the areas of performance excellence, leadership, strategic planning, understanding customers and leveraging data to drive improvement in process design and key results. Dave considers himself an “impact strategist” and founded Third Gate Consulting to leverage his expertise and unique systems perspective to help increase individual and organizational impact. With over four decades of healthcare industry experience, including as a navy medic, he acquired skills in process improvement and served in senior leadership roles in quality, organizational development, and service delivery in Arizona and Texas. His efforts helped the 8-hospital system achieve both Top 100 and Top 15 Health System recognition nationally.

He is a volunteer senior examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and was responsible for leading St. David’s HealthCare’s 12-year effort in achieving the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 2014. Dave also enjoys serving on non-profit boards as time allows, lending his perspectives to envision innovative approaches to serve the community.

Dave’s keen sense of empathy for individuals needing care to deal with acute or chronic conditions they’re facing stems from his own personal and family experience with cancer. He has been married for over 36 years, has four grown children, enjoys time outdoors, and connecting with people on a spiritual level in this journey of life.

Deborah Petrucelli

Deborah Petrucelli, CPXP has spent the majority of her 20-year career in healthcare in search of the secret sauce for patient experience excellence. As a certified patient experience professional, Deborah has been on a mission to transform healthcare by touching the hearts of many through moments of human connection. Prior to her current role, she was the Manager of Patient Experience at Hackensack Meridian Health Raritan Bay Medical Center Perth Amboy and Old Bridge NJ where she was instrumental in the launch of the Patient and Family Advisory Council and successfully supported leaders and colleagues to improve the overall patient experience as measured through the HCAHPS survey. A personal battle with cancer led Deborah to a profound understanding of resilience and the important role healthcare professionals play in a patient’s healthcare journey, and led her to become an active member of the Network Patient and Family Advisory Council. Deborah has been praised by healthcare professionals as “possessing a gift for storytelling” that leaves her audiences “inspired and motivated.” As Regional Educator and Coach for the Office of Human Experience for Hackensack Meridian Health, Deborah supports the Central Region to reconnect to purpose and develop a better understanding of what matters most in the world of patient experience.

Our Partnerships

We Grow Together

Executive Advisory Council

Patient & Family Advisory Council

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