Satellite Wellbound
Satellite WellBound of San Mateo Partners with Beauty School to Pamper Patients
In honor of Satellite Healthcare’s 40th anniversary, the organization launched “40 Points of Light,” this year, a program encouraging each of their 70 centers to celebrate 40 years of service with their patients and communities.
Peggy Chavez, a social worker with Satellite WellBound of San Mateo, used the opportunity to partner with a community organization to bring some pampering to the lives of their patients. From noon to 3:00 PM on a recent Friday, ten students from the local Marinello School of Beauty donated their time to give haircuts and manicures to 15 patients and community members– who Peggy was surprised to see were nearly an even split of male and female attendees.
Peggy, who has been with Satellite WellBound of San Mateo for nine years, said she was excited to hear about the initiative and happy that Satellite wanted to provide services outside of medical for the community.
“Some ESRD [End Stage Renal Disease] patients have no resources for self-care, and Marinello’s was in agreement that this was something they wanted to help out on,” Peggy said. “Often times when you’re not feeling well, you don’t have the energy to take care of yourself, but a little pampering goes a long way.”
To help them carry out the routine, a local beauty salon referred Peggy to their distributor, who donated hair care items for a gift basket. One attendee, Peggy recalled, was so excited for the opportunity she used the time to make a drastic change and cut nearly all of her hair off.
Satellite WellBound of San Mateo is the first center to finish their project, with others still brainstorming and turning in ideas. Satellite Healthcare looks for each project to reflect the organization’s mission, vision and values; impact the center’s community; and incorporate creativeness. Many centers are putting on educational programs about kidney-friendly nutrition or hosting health fairs to educate the community about ESRD and dialysis.
Though Satellite Healthcare offered to fund the initiative, the school decided to do the initiative completely free of charge, allowing Peggy the opportunity to keep the relationship going.
“The patients were saying, ‘I feel hopeful, I don’t know what it is, but I feel hopeful,’” she said. “They feel like they’re alive again. They didn’t have this opportunity in the past.”