A prototype design, matching T-shirts, and an energetic pitch helped Reading Hospital employees Kim Madonna and Cassie Mercuri win first place and a $15,000 prize at this year\u2019s \u2018Shark Tank: Tower Health Edition\u2019 competition.<\/p>\n
The duo, known as \u201cThe Perfect Pair,\u201d addressed a common frustration among healthcare workers: reaching into a box for a single glove but pulling out several at once. Their solution is a reusable acrylic insert that dispenses gloves one at a time and aims to reduce waste, save money, and make a frequent task during the workday easier. The team developed a working prototype to demonstrate its effectiveness.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had the vision, and Cassie lit the fire to \u2018do something about it.\u2019 It was a great feeling working on something that everyone agreed was a problem,\u201d Madonna said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Shark Tank: Tower Health Edition\u2019 returned in April, and the popular business pitch competition again made a splash with employees. Created by Tower Health President and CEO Michael Stern, the competition encourages staff to turn challenges or ideas into practical solutions that can enhance operations and patient care.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things I value most about our organization is that innovation is a shared effort,\u201d Stern said. \u201cMany of the best ideas start with everyday frustrations or simple curiosity. What stood out again is how teams took those moments and turned them into tangible ideas that can strengthen how we work and care for patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Perfect Pair\u201d were among the eight finalists who delivered pitches aligned with at least one of Tower Health\u2019s four pillars: Elevate the Tower Experience; Embrace the Community; Lead with Humanity in the Workforce; and Ensure Financial Viability.<\/p>\n
In addition to receiving recognition for their work, Madonna, a nurse, and Mercuri, a patient care technician, also met entrepreneur Robert Herjavec, a judge on ABC\u2019s Shark Tank, who was in Berks County for an event celebrating the 20th anniversary of Reading Area Community College\u2019s Schmidt Training & Technology Center.<\/p>\n
The other winning teams presented ideas focused on improving patient care and increasing day-to-day efficiency across the system.<\/p>\n
Reading Hospital pharmacy clinical specialist Lori Ann Schwalm and nurse Chelsie Shifflett of Team Warm Welcome Preemie Patrol earned second place and a $10,000 prize for their proposal to implement NICU in-line IV warmers. The devices are designed to help maintain body temperature for infants weighing less than three pounds and improve the delivery of fluids.<\/p>\n
Tower Health Information Technology employees Chad DeShazo, Alex Wilhelm, and Nicole DeFuria, known as The Tele Hunters, took third place and a $5,000 prize for their proposal to use RFID asset tracking to reduce equipment loss and time spent locating telemetry packs.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s judges represented a range of business and community leadership backgrounds as they evaluated the finalists\u2019 ideas.<\/p>\n
The panel of \u201csharks\u201d included Eric Burkey, president and CEO of Burkey Construction; Susan McFadden, owner and operating partner of Keller Williams Platinum Realty; Robert Moser, retired chief manufacturing officer of Seakeeper; Mark Ratcliffe, founder of Hard Bean Coffee and former West Reading Main Street manager; and Dr. Rudy Ruth, education strategy advisor with TExpL for Alvernia University and Albright College.<\/p>\n
Shark Tank: Tower Health Edition ideas from the previous year also continue to make an impact across the organization.<\/p>\n
A project led by Reading Hospital pharmacist Rebecca Cofsky improved care by routing rapid blood culture results directly to infectious diseases pharmacists, helping patients receive faster, targeted antibiotic therapy while reducing length of stay and costs. Meanwhile, the \u201cTrash Panda\u201d team at Pottstown Hospital, led by facilities supervisor Tim Speidel, recycled more than 9,200 pounds of metal during the past year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s rewarding to see how last year\u2019s projects have turned into real results,\u201d Stern said. \u201cThey\u2019re helping our patients and our staff every day, and I\u2019m excited to see the next round of projects get underway.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A prototype design, matching T-shirts, and an energetic pitch helped Reading Hospital employees Kim Madonna and Cassie Mercuri…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-184263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}