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Save the Date to Save a Life!

Join the American Red Cross as we host the Gabrielle Giffords Honorary Save-A-Life Saturday on March 19, 2011.

Just over a month ago, the events that unfolded in Arizona reminded the nation of the importance of being prepared in the event of an emergency. Many of the bystanders knew CPR and first aid and were able to save the lives of several victims, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who received help from her intern Daniel Hernandez.

On March 19th, in more than 150 locations across the nation, the Red Cross will provide fast and easy classes to teach the basics of hands-only CPR, the treatment of shock and how to treat wounds. The non-certification classes will be shortened versions of Red Cross training courses, lasting approximately 30-45 minutes. The Jackson Area Chapter will hold classes from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Old Hickory Mall. Classes will be held in Directory space E-5, across from Abercrombie and Fitch.

The courses are being offered free of charge through the generosity of our sponsors, Safeway and Walgreens.

Please call (731) 427-5543 or email jacksonareachapter@redcrossjac.org.for more information.

Wound Center Doctors Receive Special Certification

Dr. Steve Bergquist and Dr. Maria Antique from the Wound Management Center at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital have been qualified to become Certified Wound Specialist. This honor acknowledges the doctors as being certified experts in the field of wound management.

The American Academy of Wound Management certified Dr. Bergquist and Dr. Antique as Certified Wound Specialist because of their excellence of practice, demonstration of expertise, and quality years of practice in the field. The Certified Wound Specialist credential shows the doctor’s completed a long-term, intensive study and examination dealing with wound care.

The Certified Wound Specialist board certification is a formal recognition of a master level knowledge and specialty practice in wound management. It is the most prestigious and rigorous certification in wound care and demonstrates a distinct and specialized expertise in the practice. West Tennesseans with chronic or diabetic wounds have true experts in wound care to turn to in their time of need.

The Wound Management Center staff specializes in chronic or non-healing wounds caused by diabetes, circulatory problems, and other conditions. For example, some wounds or ulcers caused by diabetes can evolve into very serious matters.

Jackson-Madison County General Hospital

The Tennessee Heart and Vascular Center at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital announces that it has received Chest Pain Center Accreditation from the Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC), an international organization dedicated to eliminating heart disease as the number one cause of death worldwide. The accreditation is ‘with PCI,’ which stands for Percutaneous Coronary Intervention. This means that General Hospital is equipped and qualified to receive patients for stent and balloon procedures that open the artery and either stop or reverse a heart attack, depending on how long they have been having their heart attack according to Steven Albright, administrative director of Tennessee Heart and Vascular Center.

Hospitals that have received SCPC accreditation have achieved a higher level of expertise in dealing with patients who arrive with symptoms of a heart attack. They emphasize the importance of standardized diagnostic and treatment programs that provide more efficient and effective evaluation as well as more appropriate and rapid treatment of patients with chest pain and other heart attack symptoms. They also serve as a point of entry into the healthcare system to evaluate and treat other medical problems and they help to promote a healthier lifestyle in an attempt to reduce the risk factors for heart attack.

To become an Accredited Chest Pain Center, the Tennessee Heart and Vascular Center engaged in rigorous evaluation by SCPC for its ability to assess, diagnose, and treat patients who may be experiencing a heart attack. To the community served by Jackson-Madison County General Hospital, this means that processes are in place that meet strict criteria aimed at:

• Reducing the time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis and treatment

• Treating patients more quickly during the critical window of time when the integrity of the heart muscle can be preserved

• Monitoring patients when it is not certain that they are having a heart attack to ensure that they are not sent home too quickly or needlessly admitted to the hospital

Ayers Children’s Medical Center to Sponsor 5k run/1 Mile FUN Walk

Ayers Children’s Medical Center is holding a 5k run and 1 mile FUN walk to benefit the Pediatric Unit.

The 5k run and walk will be held at the Bell Tower on the campus of Union University on April 30. Registration starts at 8a.m. You can pre-register for $15 before April 18. The cost is $20 after then and on race day. The starting gun will be heard at 9am.

Several different age categories, ranging from kids-65+, will be trotting in competition and fun. Awards will be given to the top three finishers in each age group and the overall Male and Female. All pre-registered students 12 and under will also receive participation medals.

All proceeds will go to the Pediatric Unit in the Ayers Children’s Medical Center.

For more information, call 731-541-4448 or visit them online at www.ayerscmc.org/5krun

Dr. Kluwe Certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine

One of Henry County Medical Center’s Hospitalists, Gena K. Kluwe, MD, FACP, recently passed the exam in Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM) administered by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

HCMC gives credit to Dr. Kluwe for her journey of certification and her desire to care for patients with life-limiting illnesses as well as their families.

Dr. Kluwe explains that hospice is more than just pain management. Almost any doctor should be able to control most pain. Training in Hospice and Palliative Medicine is about palliation of all those other symptoms that may arise and navigating the murky waters at end-of-life as well as non-abandonment with the terminally ill. It’s about having those tough conversations: delivering the bad news, referring for hospice and palliative care appropriately, asking tough questions. Not being afraid and sticking with the patients and their families.

Dr. Kluwe has been a Hospitalist at HCMC for two years.

Jesse Sandlin, MD, Joins Henry County Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine

Henry County Medical Center is pleased to welcome our newest physician to the neighborhood: Jesse Sandlin, MD, Orthopedic Surgery. He and his wife, Dr. Reneé Sandlin, come to us from Colonial Heights, VA, where he was in practice at Southside Orthopedic Specialists.

Dr. Sandlin received his medical degree from Northwestern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and performed his residency at the Medical University of Ohio in Toledo. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. He is board certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery.

Henry County Medical Center Expands Telemetry Measures

Telemetry monitoring is often a necessary step in patient diagnosis and recovery. Through telemetry, doctors can pinpoint the moment heart rhythm changes occur, such as when and how the heart reacts to the initiation of or change in medication, ambulation, surgery or any number of activities or interventions.

Telemetry is typically used on cardiac patients. But it can also be used for a variety of other reasons. For example, telemetry can help monitor patients who may potentially develop complications, whether from illness, injury or post-operative procedures. If patients have symptoms that occur during activity, telemetry is a safe, noninvasive way to monitor them.

Henry County Medical Center has offered telemetry monitoring to patients located on second east and CCU, but now can monitor patients throughout the hospital without having to move locations thanks to the addition of telemetry care for surgical patients on the third tower medical/surgical unit.

HCMC’s third tower began utilizing this new service over the past week, with nurses and staff being trained on the equipment prior to its availability.

High Performance Standards for Henry County Medical Center

At Henry County Medical Center, the patient is the number one focus and providing the highest quality to every patient every time is the goal. HCMC, like other hospitals across the country, are monitoring quality core measures set forth by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to ensure the highest care to patients.

These quality measures are used to gauge how well we provide care to our patients and currently, HCMC is in the top 25 percent of all hospitals nationally for treatment of heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, pneumonia and surgical infection.

The reason for our quality measure success is in huge part due to our outstanding physicians, ancillary and nursing staff.

We have achieved 100% compliance on all of the inpatient care measures for heart failure and pneumonia - both in the same month. One hundred percent of our heart failure patients received all of the required heart failure discharge instructions and accurate medication reconciliation and all applicable pneumonia patients received needed flu and/or pneumococcal vaccines.

With such improvement and great strides, HCMC decided to recognize the 2 East nursing staff because they care for the majority of the heart failure patients as well as most of the pneumonia patients.

Our performance on the Surgical Care Measures was at the superior level on eight of nine key measures, ranking our hospital in the top two percent of hospitals nationally. Third tower serves most of our surgical patients and HCMC thanks the staff members who work so diligently to make our hospital the best!

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Receives Nearly $3 Million Grant from BlueCross to Promote Patient Safety

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) has been awarded a $2,912,751 grant from the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation to fund its “Promoting Patient Safety Through Teamwork-Focused Interdisciplinary Simulations Program.” Vicky Gregg, CEO for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, provided UTHSC Chancellor Steve J. Schwab with the first installment of the grant at a January check presentation.

The nearly $3 million grant, running through 2013, will support the purchase of new medical simulators, computers and software for training students from five UTHSC colleges – Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. Use of simulators allows students from different colleges to work together as an interdisciplinary team and respond to simulated patient care crises and address real-world health problems.

The grant supports recruitment of three staff members to administer the program, including a director. It will also fund the installation of equipment and software to record, analyze and evaluate the performance of the teams.

Hershel P. Wall, MD, special assistant to the UT President in support of Development and Alumni Affairs, organized and submitted the grant to BCBST Health Foundation.

In keeping with the essence of the program, Dr. Wall observed that producing the grant proposal was an interdisciplinary effort. A critical team from nursing, medicine, pharmacy and the development office share credit for writing the grant proposal he explained.

Michael C. Jones, M.D., of The Jones Clinic, presents at T-Cell Lymphoma Forum

Michael C. Jones, M.D., F.A.C.P., of The Jones Clinic presented at the T-Cell Lymphoma Forum in San Francisco, California, in January. This forum provided a platform for a discussion about the classification, epidemiology, prognosis and pathogenesis of several T-cell lymphoma subtypes. Hematologists, oncologists and other clinicians and scientists met to discuss novel agents and treatment approaches for T-cell lymphoma.

Dr. Jones presented his research on LGL leukemia and pentostatin-campath combined modality therapy.

New Director Heads Up Cardiovascular Services at Methodist University Hospital

Scott Hardin has joined Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare as Director of Cardiovascular Services at Methodist University Hospital. Hardin has 25 years of experience in health care, including more than 12 years in management.

Hardin earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Health Care Leadership from the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Ill. He received his Associate Degree in Radiology Technology from Prince George’s Community College, Largo, Md., and completed his cardiovascular training at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md.

Methodist Healthcare Develops Free iPhone App

Methodist Healthcare has created its first app to help Mid-South residents determine which Methodist Hospital emergency room has the shortest wait time. This free iPhone app is available in the Apple App Store immedicately. It will provide the approximate time it will take to see a medical profession such as a doctor or nurse practitioner. To get to the ER even faster, the app uses Google Maps to show you the quickest route. In case of a life-threatening emergency, patients should call 911 or go to the closest emergency room where they will be seen immediately.

The iPhone app will make it easier to schedule a yearly mammogram by allowing women to view the next available appointment times for a screening mammogram along with the number to call to make an appointment. Additionally, it will provide location details for Methodist’s five adult hospitals.

Methodist has also developed an Android version of this app, which is also free for people to download from the Android Market.

The Memphis Medical Society Announces New Board Chairman And Board Members

In January The Memphis Medical Society installed newly elected officers and three new individuals to its Board of Directors. Jerome W. Thompson, M.D., MBA a pediatric otolaryngologist at UT Le Bonheur Pediatric Specialists will replace James K. Ensor, Jr., M.D. as the 134th President of the Society.

Additional officers that will be installed are President-elect - Robert H. Miller, III, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Campbell Clinic; Vice-President - Alim Khandekar, M.D., a cardiovascular surgeon at UT Medical Group; Secretary – O. Lee Berkenstock, M.D., a family practitioner at the Primary Care Specialists and Treasurer - Charles N. Larkin, M.D., a pediatrician at Pediatrics East.

Incoming new board members are Tommy J. Campbell, M.D.; Gary W. Kimzey, M.D. and Justin Monroe, M.D. Returning board members are Nancy A. Chase, M.D.; Thomas J. O’Donnell, M.D.; Autry J. Parker, M.D.; Claudette J. Shephard, M.D.; Stacy C. Smith, M.D. and Melanie L. Woodall, M.D.

President of The Memphis Medical Society, Jerome W. Thompson, M.D., MBA is a native Memphian. He received his medical degree from the University of California – Los Angeles. He completed his internship and residency at UCLA School of Medicine. He did a fellowship in pediatric otolaryngology at Los Angeles Children’s Hospital. He earned his MBA from the Anderson School of Business at UCLA.

President-elect, Robert H. Miller, III, M.D. received his medical degree from Vanderbilt University. He did an internship and a general surgery residency at Vanderbilt. He completed his residency in orthopedics at Campbell Clinic. He did his fellowship in sports medicine at Hughston Clinic. He is an orthopedic surgeon with Campbell Clinic.

Vice-President, Alim Khandekar, M.D. was born in Burdwan, India. He received his medical degree from Dacca Medical College. He completed a general surgery residency at Bridgeport Hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He did his fellowship in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at the University of Tennessee, Memphis.

Secretary, O. Lee Berkenstock, M.D., Dr. Berkenstock received his medical degree from the University of Tennessee – Memphis, where he also completed his internship and residency. He is a 2009 graduate of the Tennessee Medical Association’s Physician Leadership College. Dr. Berkenstock is a family practitioner at the Primary Care Specialists.

Treasurer, Charles N. Larkin, M.D. received his medical degree from the University of Tennessee – Memphis. He completed his internship and residency at Navy Regional Medical Center in San Diego.

American Hospital Association Promotes HCMC

Recently, Tory Daughrity, Director of Public Relations and Marketing at Henry County Medical Center (HCMC) submitted one of HCMC’s innovations to help our community. The American Hospital Association published the entry in their “Community Connections; Ideas & Innovations for Hospital Leaders; Case Examples.”

Henry County Medical Center and the Paris and Henry County Healthcare Foundation along with many, many other groups within the community, have supported a program that began in 2007 known as Save a Heart Day at Grove. This program is dedicated to teaching all 9th graders in Henry County healthy living skills and provides each one with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training and certification. This training is vital to our youth and because of our statistics as a state and nation for deaths due to heart disease (Henry County ranks 5th in the state), HCMC is proud to be a part of this great program that is held yearly.

LuJan Meketi, RN in HCMC’s Cardiac Rehab, was the brainchild of the program, and has been the driving force for its success. Meketi’s passion for healthy living, especially with a heart focus, is what has helped to develop and expand the program in its fourth year.

Every hospital CEO receives a letter from AHA president Rich Umbdenstock along with the book which covers four topics related to community connections:

• Social and Basic Needs

• Health Promotion

• Access and Coverage

• Quality of Life

Faith-Based Methodist Health System In Memphis Opens New Center Of Excellence In Faith And Health

The future of healthcare may be under dispute in Washington, but it is under construction in Memphis. You can see it through the glass doors of the new Center of Excellence in Faith and Health at the heart of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare’s largest hospital and on the web at www.methodisthealth.org/faithandhealth. The big news is in hundreds of new relationships all over the community Methodist Healthcare serves with 329 congregations who share the mission of health and healing.

Mara Vanderslice, acting director, Health and Human Services’ Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships led a significant delegation of public policy leaders from Washington, D.C. that recently saw first-hand the work of the Center.

The Memphis model of healthcare rests on trusted community relationships and on generous support from donors. Dr. Ralph and Barbara Hamilton provided the initial $1 million for the Center and additional donors include local foundations and individuals contributed over $1.5M to complete the funding of the construction and renovation.

Working with partners both locally and all over the world, the center has a multi-tiered approach including: identifying and linking local community faith resources; providing support and resources to clergy; enhancing the patient experience within the walls of the hospital; and collaborative research with international experts on faith and health – all with the goal of improving the wellbeing of the patient before, during and after the hospital experience.

Even before the Center opened, early evidence showed the novel strategy is beginning to work and the Congregational Health Network is making a difference. Electronic medical record data from the first two years suggests that those members in our network (vs. those not in network, but matched on age, gender, race and diagnoses) demonstrated 20 percent fewer readmissions, used over $8,000 per capita less in terms of hospital charges and had half the crude mortality rate.

Baptist Foundation creates nurse leadership coach position

Reynae Bennett, who was most recently director of women’s services at Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto, was chosen as the system’s first nurse leadership coach, a position created and funded by the Baptist Memorial Health Care Foundation.

In her new role, Bennett will provide resources and mentoring to nurse managers and emerging nurse leaders, facilitate appropriate training for nurse managers, coordinate nurse manager orientation, and collaborate with hospital leaders to identify and meet educational and leadership needs.

Baptist Memorial Health Care executive receives award from American College of Healthcare Executives

Jason Little, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Baptist Memorial Health Care, recently received the Early Career Healthcare Executive Award from the American College of Healthcare Executives.

The award is presented to an individual younger than 40 who has shown active participation and support of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Little has been with Baptist since 2002 and was recently promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer. Previously, he served as vice president and metro market leader, where he oversaw Baptist’s seven metro-Memphis hospitals and NEA Baptist Hospital in Jonesboro, Ark.

He received his bachelor’s degree in health administration from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and his master’s degree in business administration and health care administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He studied medical ethics and the history of health care at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and Medical College in London. Little was an operations administrator for the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., before coming to Baptist.

Ben Zarzaur, MD, Assistant Professor at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center Receives $300,000 Grant from National Trauma Institute

Ben Zarzaur, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of Surgery in the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, is the recipient of a $300,000 research grant from the National Trauma Institute (NTI). Dr. Zarzaur’s study is one of nine awarded grants this year by NTI, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding trauma research in the United States in an effort to reduce death and disability, and the associated costs, related to trauma injury.

Dr. Zarzaur will study blunt splenic injury (BSI), which affects nearly 39,000 adults in the United States each year due to traumatic incidents such as car crashes and falls. Dr. Zarzaur seeks to fill a gap in medical knowledge regarding the risk of sudden spleen rupture for BSI patients after they have been discharged from the hospital.

Zarzaur’s team will follow 1,000 patients with BSI from 11 trauma centers across the country for six months in order to obtain an accurate estimate of the six-month risk of spleen rupture after BSI. His team will also seek to enumerate the factors associated with delayed splenic rupture and determine which of several treatments are best for patients with a BSI. The American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) is providing coordinating support for the study and served as the source through which the participating trauma centers were recruited.

This research will be significant because it is expected to lead to the development of strategies to reduce risks for adults with BSI while preserving the most spleens according to Dr. Zarzaur.

NTI is committed to facilitating translational research — that is, research whose results may affect the practice of medicine and patient outcomes in the near-term. Dr. Zarzaur’s study and the other eight funded by NTI in this cycle will get under way this year and may be completed within one year. Preliminary results from the principal investigators may be presented at the NTI’s Annual Trauma Symposium in 2012.

To sign up to receive announcements related to research funding opportunities, visit the NTI website at www.nationaltraumainstitute.org and go to the Research page.

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