The President’s SAVE Award
As is the case in most hospitals all across the country, medicine that is used in the hospital is not given to patients to be brought home; instead, it is thrown out. “Currently the inpatient medications such as ointments, inhalers, eye drops, and other bulk items are being disposed of upon patient discharge.” Nancy proposes ending this waste and finding a way to allow this medicine to be used by those who need it.
“When Forest Service personnel collect money from the public (e.g. selling a pass or collecting campground fees), we take that money, count it, drive to a bank to convert the cash into a money order, and then turn the paperwork, checks, and money order over to a unit collection officer. The unit collection officer then recounts the receipts, makes two copies the money orders and checks, creates a bill for collection, waits 24 hours for the bill to print, fills out a remittance report, runs two calculator tapes of receipts (one for her and one for the bank) and mails the package (via certified mail) to a bank in San Francisco, CA. … Why can't we just deposit our collections into a local bank?”
“I think it would be cost effective to allow (with stipulations) the public to also schedule appointments online. We set up appointments about two-thirds of the time on the phone. By having access to a schedule online, that would allow us time to assist more people.”
Subsidized housing units all across the country receive funds from many different grant programs. As Huston notes, “The constant in the majority of the developments that I have been involved with is that each of these funding sources requires its own physical inspection of the units as well as calculating incomes in different manners and annual audits. …They report the same information in multiple formats. Countless hours spent recreating information could be used in more productive ways.”