The Lion's Roundtable (Guest: Stacy Arsenault )
Download MP3Good day, this is Amber Narro on ninety point nine FM the Lion. I'm here at the Lion's Roundtable with my friend Stacy Arsenault. We're going to talk a little bit about what's happening here at North Oaks and volunteer services I'm sure, as well as foundation services I'm sure. Welcome!
Stacy Arsenault:Thank you for having me.
Dr. Amber Narro:Indeed! All right, so you are the Executive Director of the North Oaks Foundation, but you're also over volunteer services here as well as like medical explorers and all kinds of other things. What's happening?
Stacy Arsenault:Oh, it's I have, the privilege of, being the director of our foundation where we're able to raise money and, raise funds to support the North Oaks Health System and to help with things like patient assistance, employee assistance, and, helping the health system acquire equipment and technology that may not otherwise be in the budget. And then I also, am our volunteer director here, which means I get to work with the lovely folks that give up their time and their talents and their smiles to help us just make the patient experience even better. They support our staff in a lot of ways, but they're just, you know, their presence, I tell them that all the time. I'm like, just by you being here, when people walk in and see you and they know that you're a volunteer and that you don't have to be here, but you're here because you wanna be, it just automatically kind of dials up the experience, I think. And so that's we're really lucky to have those folks.
Stacy Arsenault:And then we also have our high school programs, are summer volunteer, junior volunteer program. We'll be sending out some information about that in a couple weeks. And then we have a medical shadower program where high school students that are interested in the medical field can come and shadow during their school holidays and get kind of a firsthand, like up close look at various surgical units, nursing units, departments. You know, it's a good way to see what it's like early on before you start college and make sure that's something that you're interested in. Indeed.
Stacy Arsenault:So, yeah. So a lot of great things going on. My volunteer manager is Melissa Gonzales. You know Melissa, and she does a great job with students. Oh, yeah.
Stacy Arsenault:She's a good soul, but she she does a really great job. And then, of course, we also have college students that are constantly coming through to do observation hours and, so that they can apply for, master's programs and different other specialty programs. So it's it's a it's a busy department. We're always got something going on.
Dr. Amber Narro:It is. Another thing that I wanted to just kind of throw in there that may I was thinking while you were talking was just a few weeks ago, we celebrated some of the longevity of people here, and a lot of those volunteers were on there. You've got volunteers who've been here for decades.
Stacy Arsenault:I have volunteers that have been here for nearly thirty years. Mhmm. We had before before Katrina, before COVID, we had a lot more volunteers and we had over a 100 volunteers and they're you know, I would say the average years of service was about fifteen years with that big group, you know, fifteen, twenty years. I always, I try to, you know, brag a little bit and say, well, that's obviously a testament to how well we treat them because they stay for so long but they love it you know they love being here and they love helping and we love having them. Yes and they have
Dr. Amber Narro:a little community here where they can come and socialize and hang out and they they get little perks for being volunteers here at North Oaks.
Stacy Arsenault:They get a free meal every shift they work and then in April, April is National Volunteer Appreciation Month and so every April, we take a whole week and we do a really nice banquet where we, honor, you know, we recognize them for their hours of service. We, honor the volunteer of the year. And then during that same week, we do a bingo. We give out a bunch of prizes and food. And this year, we're also doing a brunch for the volunteers doing volunteer week.
Stacy Arsenault:So, you know, we try to show them our appreciation year round, but during that week in in April, that's when we really, like, you know, smother them with love and affection. And, you know, we kinda spread the word around the hospital and tell everyone, you know, if you walk past any of our volunteers, make sure you say thank you and Indeed. Wish them happy volunteer appreciation week.
Dr. Amber Narro:Love that. Another thing that falls underneath you right now is a gift shop. And let me tell you, that is adorable. I've I've walked through there a couple of times in the last several months while I've been here for different reasons. I've had some family members in the hospital and things like that.
Dr. Amber Narro:But it was so super cute, Christmas time, Mardi Gras, they shake it up a little bit. We try
Stacy Arsenault:to cover all the seasons. Katrinka Schexniner is the gift shop manager. She does a great job with purchasing, and we have, you know, two part time clerks that work with us, and they do a good job putting all the, you know, setting the displays up and the staff really gets excited, you know, especially when it's holiday time and we have new holiday things. And then, of course, we also sell a ton of North Oaks wearables, logoed items that you know the staff can wear sweatshirts, t shirts, jackets, but you know the gauntlet of scrubs, whatever you might need. So that's really convenient to have that on-site for the staff as well.
Dr. Amber Narro:Very cool. Well you are here to talk about the North Oaks Medical Center Baby and Family Expo. I am. Bill Hood Auto Group, thank you very much. They're sponsoring this.
Dr. Amber Narro:And you're gonna tell us a little detail on how local businesses can also get involved.
Stacy Arsenault:Yes? Yeah. So this the baby and family expo is gonna take place on Saturday, March 21 here on our main campus.
Dr. Amber Narro:Oh, We're getting into busy season here in Tampa Parish. Lots of stuff going on.
Stacy Arsenault:Lots of stuff. But it Love be in our in our diagnostic center, is Building 1 on our main campus. And it is basically just a space where families can learn and connect and explore resources that support them through pregnancy, childbirth, and early parenthood. So it's kind of like a one stop, know, come one, come all. It's free admission and we will have tons of opportunities and people there to share information about all the things you might need to know if you're thinking of starting a family, if you're pregnant, if you've just had a baby, or you have young children.
Dr. Amber Narro:Indeed. Now, obviously, there's lots of resources and I always tell the story that every parent thinks this. I remember thinking it when I was going home with my child and any parent anywhere thinks the same thing. When you're on the way home, you literally look at this child and you're like, they're gonna let me leave with this? What am I gonna what am
Stacy Arsenault:gonna do with it? Test or anything to make sure
Dr. Amber Narro:you can,
Stacy Arsenault:like, handle it. You you
Dr. Amber Narro:think back and you go and get your license and they give you a test and you gotta go through all these things, and then you gotta get the a to pass the class and the whole nine yards. But yet you are letting me walk out of this facility where there are experts who could take care of this child should something go wrong, and you're giving it to me.
Stacy Arsenault:Oh, yeah. It can be very scary.
Dr. Amber Narro:It can be scary. I am here to testify.
Stacy Arsenault:And, you know, that's why we wanted to do this. And, you know, we have a wonderful our Magnolia OB GYN clinic. We have, you know, physicians, OB GYNs, nurse practitioners, midwives. We have lactation consultants.
Dr. Amber Narro:Yes. Big place full of experts. Yeah. Full of experts. And they're
Stacy Arsenault:all gonna be on hand at the expo to talk to the attendees, answer questions, you know, give information that, you know, that they need to know that's kind of pertinent, or maybe you're pregnant and you haven't chosen a pediatrician yet. Our pediatricians, some of our pediatricians will be there, we'll have information about all of our pediatrics clinics to help you make those kinds of decisions. So I would highly recommend anyone that is pregnant or thinking about it, you know, it's definitely something you wanna attend, because it it will it will provide you a lot of information, probably more than you even realize you didn't know.
Dr. Amber Narro:Yeah. Yeah. I don't know a lot still to this day. You know, Shane has a new baby. We've got the new baby, and we've got Alex has got her baby and the whole nine years.
Dr. Amber Narro:And the the things that they have, Stacy, now are just amazing. Shane's not that old. You know, I don't feel like I'm anxious or anything, But, like, they got the automatic baby baby bottle maker and the and now that when the babies go to sleep, they sit they sleep in this, like, this, like, straight jacket
Stacy Arsenault:or wrestler suit is
Dr. Amber Narro:what they
Stacy Arsenault:call it.
Dr. Amber Narro:Yeah. They and then when you swaddle them, it's super nice and tight so that they don't, like, wake up and scare themselves or whatever. I never would have thought about these things. And look. When I was in the hospital, it was hilarious when when the baby was still in the hospital.
Dr. Amber Narro:I went to see the baby, and mom and dad weren't in the room or anything. And little Brooks was all tightened up and in his little swaddle. And I just looked at the nurse, I said, you know, you I I know y'all know what you're doing, but could you just loosen it while I'm here? You know? And she did.
Dr. Amber Narro:She walked over there. She loosened it a little bit. I'm sure when I walked out, were like, that crazy lady, and they wrapped him right right back up. But it's like, it felt like it was tight. You know?
Dr. Amber Narro:So Yeah. Experts.
Stacy Arsenault:You know, they may be able to even teach you how to swaddle at the baby expo.
Dr. Amber Narro:They'll be demonstrating your shins. The grandmas in all of us, you know, we talk about this and we're like, well, they just, you know, they look like they're in straight jackets. It's terrible.
Stacy Arsenault:But they supposedly like it. It's amazing They do. How
Dr. Amber Narro:And they sleep much better than Shane did when he was a baby. So I think it works, but it just makes us feel all weird. You know, we feel like they should be free or something, but they tell us no. So, okay, work it out.
Stacy Arsenault:So, you know, and this will have, you know, obviously I mentioned the physicians and the nurses, but there'll be some educational sessions. We'll have an interactive demonstration on car seat safety, which that in itself, they have some new car seats that are really fancy that have the little seat belt things attached. So you just like clip it you clip the car seat directly into the seat belt, locks. So that's pretty cool.
Dr. Amber Narro:Do you have the do you have to mess with the hooks now and all?
Stacy Arsenault:I think so. I don't even think there's a base anymore. I think that, yeah, they they have these two really fancy ones. So
Dr. Amber Narro:March 21. I'm coming for that.
Stacy Arsenault:First. We'll have you know, now in this day and age, dads are much more involved in the birth and the whole pregnancy process. And so we'll have a dad zone. There'll be some stuff for dads to do if they wanna join. But also if they wanna, you know, walk around and we'll be giving tours of our labor and delivery suites and the clinic, the Magnolia OB GYN clinic.
Stacy Arsenault:So, you know, dads can kinda take a look at what that room looks like. It really kinda just looks like a little living room. You know, it's very comfortable, these labor and delivery suites that we have. But, you know, there'll be a ton of things going on, and we also have some outside vendors that are joining us to participate. And we have a photographer, we have a four d ultrasound imaging vendor that's gonna be joining us, we have a physical therapist that's gonna be joining us, We have some other outside sources, but we still have vendor space.
Stacy Arsenault:And so one of the things I wanted to talk with you about and, you know, get the word out there is that if you're interested in joining us as a vendor for this expo, you will have in one room, we're expecting a couple 100 people. And I'm talking about retailers that things like home builders or realtors. Maybe people need to get a bigger home because their family is growing. Mhmm. You know, Bill Hood Automotive Group is our presenting sponsor.
Stacy Arsenault:Obviously, gotta upgrade to a bigger car or to a van, whatever that case may be. Anybody who does financial planning, insurance agents, you know, your family dynamic's changing. You need to start looking at starting to save for college now. Venues, people who have venues for birthday parties and baby showers, things like that, doulas, day cares. Any, you know, any anyone who has a business that kinda targets that that group that we attend, families and babies, you know, we would love to have as many vendors there as we can possibly fit in the room.
Stacy Arsenault:Wonderful. If anyone is interested, anyone listening is interested, you know, they can certainly give me a call or go on our website. We have a vendor application on the website.
Dr. Amber Narro:Love that. Thank you so much.
Stacy Arsenault:You're welcome.
Dr. Amber Narro:I think the whole thing, you talked about all your vendors and they're wonderful and I can't wait. The car situation is important to me though. Okay? Because I can remember this being definitely part of the reason why I didn't have any additional children. You know, the car seat is very stressful and the car situation is very stressful.
Dr. Amber Narro:Like what car do you get? How do you get the seat in there? Do you have to be a contortionist to install the seat? Did you put it in right? The stress of seeing the baby behind you and the
Stacy Arsenault:whole nine yards. Well, you know, we have a friend who bought a new v a bigger vehicle to fit three car seats because she has three grandchildren that are all in car seats. And
Dr. Amber Narro:I know that friend.
Stacy Arsenault:Uh-huh. And she can only have one passenger if you go anywhere with her because she's like, I don't take the seats out. She can only fit one person in the front seat because I don't remove those car seats because they're too difficult to get back in. But we'll have somebody there at the expo to show you exactly how Yeah. To do it and make it easier for you and give you all the do's
Dr. Amber Narro:and go see I'm I wanna go see that car seat seat clip situation. I need to see this this thing. That's fantastic. Alright. What can families expect other than educational sections sessions?
Dr. Amber Narro:Sorry. Interactive demonstrations like the car seat safety. What else do we have going on?
Stacy Arsenault:There's also gonna be a, little kid zone. One of the local daycares is going to provide some activities for kids who might come with their parents, give them this you know, I think there'll be some coloring and things just to kinda keep them occupied. So it's a it's truly a family event. You can bring your children.
Dr. Amber Narro:So 250 attendees. That's what we're looking at?
Stacy Arsenault:So Yeah. This previous events like this, we we drew about 200 to 250 people. So and it's a three hour event. It's from nine to twelve. So I would suggest, you know, come early, to make sure that you have the you know, enough time to go all the way through the the convention center.
Stacy Arsenault:Then if you're interested, there are going be some breakout educational sessions that you can sit in on. And then of course, we will have some of our staff taking people to tour the Labor And Delivery Suites as well as the clinic.
Dr. Amber Narro:So vendors, like you said, you're looking for vendors still and they can display their products and services, build brand awareness. This is for them to get connected with their potential clients or customers. It's gonna be at the Ebrint Do Fresh Conference Center, and there is a swag bag option for businesses as well who wanna, take part but maybe not be able to participate.
Stacy Arsenault:Yeah. Put some sort of little promotional item in the bag that all of the attendees are gonna receive when they come through. Right. And if you're interested in being a vendor, on our website, www.northoaks.org/expovendor. Excellent.
Stacy Arsenault:That's where you go.
Dr. Amber Narro:So this is gonna be a win win for families and local businesses alike.
Stacy Arsenault:It really is. And the reason that I'm involved, that the foundation is involved, is because, the proceeds from this event, will benefit the foundation. So, the vendor fees and the that that we're, collecting from those who participate, all that money is going to the foundation, which then helps us turn around and support North Oaks to facilitate these types of events and, you know, things to help our patients and our employees and and the and the the need for, you know, new equipment, new technology, things that come up that that there's a need for.
Dr. Amber Narro:Absolutely. You talked about just a second ago that this is an event that's obviously obviously gonna support the families and the babies and and the people in our area that wanna stay here and keep them in Taintsburg Parish, obviously, and that this is also gonna be a win win for businesses. This is also a win win for the foundation. Tell me about some of those technology and and service purchases that the foundation has done so far.
Stacy Arsenault:Well, one of the things I'm the most proud of is that we established a emergency benevolent fund for our employees when we started the foundation, and we have a strong employee giving campaign. Our employees really last year, our employees contributed a $140,000, you know, throughout the year for the employee giving campaign. So we fund the benevolent fund with employee giving, is just kind of full circle. But if an employee has some sort of emergency or something catastrophic that happens, a house fire, car theft, they're diagnosed with a serious illness, their child's diagnosed with a serious illness, they have a sudden change in family dynamic, they can apply for grants through this benevolent fund. So we're able to take care of our own using this mechanism and it comes from the foundation.
Stacy Arsenault:So that's really important.
Dr. Amber Narro:I love that. And the reason that I do is it's not just the message of the employee about quote unquote North Oaks helping the employees. It's about the North Oaks family truly feeling like they want to donate back to their that's a big gift of love.
Stacy Arsenault:It is. And then the money that they contribute, can also we use for other things as well. In December 2024, we opened the first hospital based food pantry in the state. We call it the feeding our own food pantry. And last year, total for the whole year, we gave out almost 700 food bags.
Stacy Arsenault:And those bags are given to our patients who indicate that they are food insecure. When we discharge them, we offer them a bag with three days worth of food and recipes and a list of resources, to just kind of, you know, help them transition from the hospital back home. We also provide, that opportunity for our employees and we've been able to help a lot of our employees with food from the food pantry as well. So the foundation, you know, we've been able to apply for grants to support that effort. We did a big, community wide food drive in September.
Stacy Arsenault:The school board got involved in local grocery stores. Our employees, was very successful. So we're that's that's an ongoing thing. I I think that's just gonna continue to grow, and that's another, initiative that the foundation supports. So that falls in the patient, you know, support, assistance bucket.
Stacy Arsenault:And then as far as equipment and technology goes, I think, the biggest, most visible, piece of equipment that we bought a couple years ago, the foundation purchased the mobile clinic. It's a $400,000 mobile bus, two exam rooms on board, wheelchair lift. We are able to now take healthcare and health screenings out into the community closer to where people live, because we knew that a lot of people weren't coming to us until they were really sick because they couldn't get here. Maybe it was because of transportation or whatever the case was. So, we recognize that that was a need and we have a department that's our population health department.
Stacy Arsenault:They, publish a monthly schedule so that we know where the bus is gonna be during the month, grocery store parking lots, church parking lots, places in areas where it's visible and easy to get to, and we're doing health screenings and some primary care visits and someone may not even realize that they have hypertension or that they're pre diabetic or that they are diabetic, we have staff on-site that's able to help connect them with a physician, let's make you an appointment, kind of, you know, walk them through it instead of them just calling the hospital out of the blue and say, okay, need to see a endocrinologist. Or, you know, it's kind of bridges the gap between the patient out there in the far, you know, far areas out in the north of the parish. You know, they're not exactly close to us. And some just, you know, they don't it's not easy to facilitate. And it's and, you know, to navigate the whole, like, making an appointment and Or trying get there.
Stacy Arsenault:Transportation. Right. I mean, transportation is real. So that was a big investment and but, you know, we're doing great things with the mobile clinic. And so, again, that's just another example of something that the foundation was able to help with the purchase of so that we can take care of our community better.
Dr. Amber Narro:One of my favorite things about that mobile clinic is that not only does it give awesome opportunities for people to access healthcare, it's also a fantastic facility for data collection. And you mentioned Population Health, that's not only about the services we provide as part of Population Health, it's about collecting that data as well so that we can say okay there were certain amount of these number of people who had who exhibited this sort certain symptom while we were in this area so maybe we need to send resources there right so and it's not an individual collection right and obviously you know you do that through your my chart and all of the other things as a patient but it's about seeing if there is a specific health care need in an area and that population health statistical data is very helpful. And
Stacy Arsenault:you know data is important because we look at the data that the state and the federal government put out and there's a report card and you know we could see the numbers don't lie that our parish was like highest in occurrences, I think of heart disease and skin cancer, cancers. So we kind of looked to see, okay, well, look at our report card. We know that we need What to put on do the bus? Yeah. We need to be screening for these things.
Stacy Arsenault:We need to be, you know, people for heart disease and diabetes and things like that because we have high occurrences up here.
Dr. Amber Narro:I heard there's a man shack run coming back to town.
Stacy Arsenault:There is. We're excited about that. It was way back. Swamp ramp. Yeah.
Stacy Arsenault:There was a
Dr. Amber Narro:I remember the time.
Stacy Arsenault:Yeah. There was a small ramp that North Oaks was involved in. And then some years later, the restaurant did a five ten ks. Yeah. And I think they selected a different charity every year to give the proceeds to.
Stacy Arsenault:And then the race kind of went away because whatever the reason. And I'm excited to share that we, the North Oaks Foundation, we are partnering with Mendndorf's Man Shack. Of course you are. And we are bringing back the Mendndorf's Man Shack run. And even more excited to share, the bridge is back.
Stacy Arsenault:So the bridge was part of the route at one time, and then they took it away, and we're putting the bridge back into the run and I'm hearing tons of excitement about that. I personally am not a runner. Neither am I. I wouldn't be excited about a bridge that I had to run up, but people are. So we're making sure everybody knows that, but the race is gonna be on Saturday, November 7.
Stacy Arsenault:Mhmm. And we are registration is already open. You can register now, and it'll be a 5 k, 10 k, and a 10 mile course. And of course, the post race party will be at Middendorf where they'll be serving their famous thin fried catfish and coleslaw, and we'll have refreshments and probably music and just lots of fun. So we're really excited about this, about, you know, bringing this event back that was so popular with the runners and and partnering with the restaurant to raise more money for the foundation.
Dr. Amber Narro:Love that. I absolutely am excited about that. I knew people were gonna recall and and be excited about it. I know that you have some just nostalgia surrounding this event as well. So I'm I'm really hoping for good things on the other side of it.
Dr. Amber Narro:I'll be cheering people on because I, like you, do not run, so I'm not interested in that. And I I walk. Yeah. You can walk. You can walk.
Stacy Arsenault:You you don't have to run. You can walk the course if you Mhmm. Prefer. So walker's welcome. I I
Dr. Amber Narro:could walk. Could Jake and I walk all the time. You can do it. I could walk. That sounds great.
Dr. Amber Narro:So let's remember some of the things that are coming up. March 21 is definitely our baby and family expo that's gonna be here at North Oaks at the E Brett Dufresch diagnostic center at the North Oaks diagnostic center. Sorry. Building 1. And then we're also going to be sponsored by Bill Hood Auto Group, so thanks.
Dr. Amber Narro:Go out to them, on the North Oaks Medical Center campus here in Hammond. So that's the main campus. Vendors interested in participating should complete the registration form at northoaks.org. You can certainly search that or call Stacy Arseneaux at (985) 230-6674 for more information. Obviously, can't wait to
Stacy Arsenault:see everybody. Great. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. It was Indeed.
Stacy Arsenault:Good to chat with
Dr. Amber Narro:And thank you for being here. I appreciate you and all of the things that you do to help the foundation and make it wonderful for not only North Oaks employees, but also the people who are gonna benefit from all of the wonderful technology that y'all put in place. We appreciate you.
Stacy Arsenault:Thank you.
Dr. Amber Narro:Alright. And thank you for listening here on Thursdays and Fridays at 09:00. This is Amber Nero. I'm one ninety point nine FM. The Lion.
Dr. Amber Narro:We've been at the Lion's Roundtable with Stacy Arsenault. She is the executive director of North Oaks Foundation among many, many other things. So we appreciate her for joining us today and thank you for listening. Join us again. Have a great day.
