August WOW Award Winner – Angela Moore, MA, Licensed Social Worker

The WOW Patient Experience Initiative recognizes team members who engage with patients/families, visitors and employees in exceptional ways, providing a superior level of commitment and reflecting the values of Wood County Hospital. Angela Moore, MA, Licensed Social Worker, was selected as the August WOW award winner for going above and beyond for a patient. Recently, after a psychiatric patient with multiple needs was finally able to be stabilized in the WCH ED, the next step was to get them sent to the appropriate facility. The patient was rejected at all the area psychiatric care facilities and could not go back to his long-term care facility. The patient’s daughter, who lives out of state, wanted him to get to a facility in Indiana that would help him and transition him to a long-term care facility. Since the patient’s daughter lived out of state, she was unable to gain legal guardianship. Upon learning of the situation, Angela Moore worked hard to find a solution. She recommended an inpatient psychiatric hospital in Indiana that was able to take the patient’s insurance and accept him into their care facility. The best part of the solution was that the hospital was only 20 minutes away from where his daughter lived.

The news of the facility accepting the patient and being just 20 minutes away from his daughter was shared with the patient on his birthday and brought the daughter to tears when she heard the great news. Angela not only made an impact on the patient’s life by getting him closer to his daughter so she could pursue guardianship, but she also assisted her team in achieving the best and safest discharge outcome for the patient and his family.

Angela has been a Licensed Social Worker with Wood County Hospital for the past 4.5 years. She assists patients and families by connecting them to services and needs in the community. These needs can include mental health, drug and alcohol services, skilled nursing, home health, DME, benefits that they are eligible for, hospice or palliative care, financial resources or shelters. Angela shared the aspect that she enjoys most is the variety of patients and situations presented to her here and being able to utilize a variety of her skill sets to assist people. She also appreciates the opportunity to increase her knowledge about the medical profession and is happy to be a part of the WCH team.