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SALUTE TO CASE MANAGERS... SALUTE TO CASE MANAGERS... SALUTE TO CA

PALM BEACH GARDENS MEDICAL CENTER WEST BOCA MEDICAL CENTER

Suzanne Gaumer Kristen Cherkis

Suzanne Gaumer is the manager of case management Kristen Cherkis is a social worker on staff at West Boca
for Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center. Gaumer’s Medical Center. In her role, Cherkis works in conjunction
responsibilities include facilitating and coordinating with the case management team at the hospital to provide
assistance for patients who are undergoing treatment at support in the planning and evaluation of patients who are
the hospital, helping with access to care and using appro- treated at West Boca. In addition, Cherkis educates patients
priate utilization of resources. This includes, denial pre- and their families about discharge planning opportunities,
vention, transition management, promoting appropriate and develops short-term treatment plans in accordance
length of stay and providing education to physicians, with patients and their family’s needs. Prior to her time at
patients, families and caregivers. Gaumer is a registered West Boca, Cherkis worked in a similar role at sister hospi-
nurse and has over 40 years of nursing experience as an tal, Delray Medical Center. Cherkis has over 25 years of
RN in various roles at several healthcare facilities, including sister hospital, St. Mary’s experience in social work, spending time with both children and adults. She is a gradu-
Medical Center, where she served as the assistant director of the operating room. ate of SUNY-Albany earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology, and then graduated
Gaumer received her degree in nursing from Middlesex County College. from SUNY-Stony Brook with a Master’s degree in social work. Cherkis is a licensed clin-
ical social worker in both the state of New York and Florida.
ST. MARY’S MEDICAL CENTER
GOOD SAMARITAN MEDICAL CENTER
Melissa Christopher
Jennifer Agostino
Melissa Christopher is the Director of Case Management
for St. Mary’s Medical Center & the Palm Beach Children’s Jennifer Agostino is part of the case management team at
Hospital. In her role, Christopher is responsible for the tran- Good Samaritan Medical Center. Agostino has been work-
sition-of-care/discharge planning at the hospital. ing at the hospital for nearly a year, however, she has
Christopher has over 10 years of hands-on case management worked to earn praise from her team. The Director of Case
experience in the healthcare sector. Before she worked at St. Management at the hospital says Agostino is an asset to the
Mary’s, Christopher served as a manager in the case manage- department, and her work ethic is “amazing.” In her role,
ment department at another South Florida hospital. While Agostino works to identify patient care needs and collabo-
there, she would manage the day-to-day operations of case rate with the interdisciplinary team, patients, and families to
management, develop monthly reports and presentations facilitate the appropriate level of care and discharge plans.
while contributing to the safety and efficiency practices at the hospital. Christopher Prior to her time at Good Samaritan Medical Center,
received her bachelor’s degree in social work from Florida Atlantic University, in Boca Agostino worked as an RN at another area hospital in the stepdown and telemetry unit.
Raton, and went on to get her masters in clinical social work at Florida International Agostino received her Associate’s degree in nursing from Palm Beach State College, and
University in Miami. Christopher is a licensed social worker in the state of Florida.
went on to get her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Florida Atlantic University. She
is a member of the American Nurses Association, and Case Manager Society of America.
DELRAY MEDICAL CENTER

Kelly Johnston

Kelly Johnston is the director of case management for
Delray Medical Center and the Palm Beach Health
Network. As the director, Johnston is responsible for
staying abreast of changes affecting case management,
and utilization review. In addition, she manages the
budget, focusing on productivity and controllable
expenses. Johnston’s focus is also to work on reducing
length of stay, readmissions, assuring utilization review is
timely and remaining up to date on billing practices to
reduce denials. Prior to her time at Delray Medical
Center, Johnston was the director of case management for Mississippi Baptist Health
Systems. She also has experience working as the director of nursing for Maricopa
Integrated Health Systems. Johnston has a bachelor’s of science degree in nursing
from the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. She then earned her
Masters of Science in nursing from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona.

South Florida Hospital News southfloridahospitalnews.com October 2020 25