3DPO and Snow Days!

It wasn’t until mid January that it really started to feel like winter to 3DPO. In the time since then, there has been bitter cold, with ice and snow in many parts of the USA. At Dankmeyer’s Central Maryland office in Linthicum, there was enough snow on the ground so that 3DPO, 3D-Too and Digit could go outside to play with Amy Smith, Administrative Assistant, during their lunch break.

The three friends took a few minutes to find a spot so that 3D-Too could slide down a little slope in his adaptive snow sled, while Digit sported his new green Therapy Dog blanket. There wasn’t enough time to build a 3DPO-Snowman or make snow angels or have a snowball fight. Amy had shared some pictures of Dankmeyer staff making snowballs the previous winter and it sure looked fun!

3DPO thought it was a good time to review Dankmeyer’s weather policy, so that he would know if any Dankmeyer office was closed due to poor weather. The weather in Lavale, MD (where Dankmeyer’s Western Maryland office was located) can be very different from the weather 192 miles away on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where the Dankmeyer office is in Easton, MD. (Kristin Boswell, Director of Patient Services and Billing, addresses the question of weather closures in a Q&A posted on the Dankmeyer website just days after 3DPO and his friends played in the snow.)

Also in the Q&A, from the previous winter, is a question about winter adaptive sports that is interesting and can be read by clicking here. 3DPO looked forward to some future snow that would give them a chance to make snowballs and he could practice his pitch, but maybe that should happen on a weekend when the snow had a chance to melt before patients needed to come on Monday!

3DPO and the Dankmeyer Cookie Challenge

It’s that festive holiday time of year again! As the Dankmeyer offices are getting decked out for the holidays, the staff starts thinking about getting creative with cookies! This year marks the 5th Annual Dankmeyer Cookie Challenge. While there is a winner every year, there are no losers as we all get to sample cookies made by someone else and get new recipes to try!

Mary Reedy, CP, coordinates the blind taste test contest every year. Each participant brings in cookies for trying and each staff member chooses which cookie they think is best and they vote for that cookie. Sharon Idleman, Accounting Assistant, always counts the votes. 3DPO was a little confused when he was offered a bite of a cookie, the only bytes he knew about were terabytes! As always, our favorite 3D intern persevered and voted for his favorite. No, he’s not telling us who he voted for.

Art Ross, Fabrication Technician, crafted this year’s trophy as he has in years past and 3DPO just had to have his photo taken with it. He hopes to participate next year, if he can reach the dials on the oven. Maybe he can get help from some of our previous winners, Jed Newhardt, CPO, Toni Robinson, Bryan Day, Fabrication Technician, or Jamie Dean, Patient Services Representative. Or maybe he will talk to our most recent winner, Mary Reedy. Congratulations on those Lemon Cookies, Mary! (As he was very busy tasting cookies, 3DPO collaborated on this story with Amy Smith, Administrative Assistant.)

3DPO and Trick or Treat

3DPO loves the fall - the temperatures have cooled off, the leaves change to beautiful colors, and it means that three different holidays come one right after the other! Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all come within the space of about two months! It means a busy time, often associated with special foods and clothing. Like costumes and candy corn!!!

3DPO loves hats - he has quite a collection. And he likes wearing them as part of his Halloween costumes. Some of these he thinks he has shown off before. However, there are two that haven’t been seen. One is the costume he wore last Halloween. The Headless Norseman. 3DPO heard someone talking about the story of Sleepy Hollow. He understood the part about the pumpkin for a head but misheard “horseman” and thought they were talking about a Viking, thus the horns. 

This year, his friends at Dankmeyer were reminiscing about watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” when they were kids, so 3DPO watched it one night. It inspired him to dress up as Charlie Brown. He thought about dressing Digit as Snoopy, but Digit declined. Since he didn’t want to get rocks in his trick or treat bag like Charlie Brown, he thought he might stay at home this year and just watch scary movies with Digit.

Other times 3DPO has used some of the stuff Art made him as costumes. Once to be a cowboy, a construction worker, a rock star, and a bunny rabbit. Happy Halloween!

3DPO and the Sinai Office Renovation

As many of you know, Dankmeyer has several offices across the state of Maryland, one of which is our office at Sinai Hospital. Sheryl Nathanson, CPO and Jeanne Smith, Patient Services Representative, are the primary on site staff for that office. They, along with famous Dankmeyer intern, 3DPO, have been working on plans for renovation for that office. It is a very big undertaking and we are very excited as we are happy to announce that plan is finally under way! Our Sinai office will be closed through October 9, while skilled contractors (overseen by our very own 3DPO) work to make the space more modern and help create a better experience for our patients and our referral sources.

 3DPO admitted early on, he was not going to be a great help with color selection, he always chooses his favorite shade of green, but would be happy to help with the demolition and construction. Art Ross, Fabrication Technician, made sure 3DPO had his hard hat and safety glasses before he headed off to Sinai. 

Sheryl notes that we can expect a whole new look when complete. “Pretty much every space will be different.  New colors on the walls, new carpet, no carpet, larger waiting room, etc.  We will let the details be a surprise!” As a teaser, she said, “We have a picture in our office now with different scenes from the beach and ocean.  We have used that as our inspiration.”

We cannot wait for you to see the final result! Reopening October 9th!

In the meantime, 3DPO is well underway with the project. Glad he is wearing a hard hat!

3DPO and the Exam Room Cart

As much as 3DPO loves to travel, (check out May's 3DPO post by clicking here!), he prefers to stay at the office and help his fellow employees. 

Our patients may not have noticed, but recently our practitioners have streamlined the patient rooms in our Linthicum office. Each room has the same supplies in the same location. This makes finding what the practitioners need during an appointment quick and easy, which makes appointments a bit easier for both the practitioner and the patient. 

At the end of each day, we restock the patient rooms from a supply cart. Our students (3DPO interviewed them in his June post - click here) were pitching in, but since they have wrapped up their project and are headed back to school, 3DPO and his friend 3D TOO stepped in to help. Much like the rest of our staff, 3DPO is always up for a challenge!

As you can see, they needed a little help pushing the cart room to room from Rochelle Dumm, our newest resident.  Hmmm, if 3DPO is going to continue to help restocking, he is going to ask Art Ross, Fabrication Technician, to use the 3D printer to print a ladder to help him reach the items on the top shelf! 

Since he is still an intern, 3DPO has a lot to learn. What better time to ask questions than when restocking the supplies we use daily to help our patients?  Teamwork is something we pride ourselves on here at Dankmeyer, and as always 3DPO is happy to be part of this team.