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Lifeblood Cuts Ribbon At Newly Expanded Donor Center In Germantown

In March Germantown Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy joined Lifeblood to celebrate the opening of its newly expanded donor center in Germantown.

Goldsworthy and several Lifeblood representatives held a ribbon cutting ceremony to symbolize the official re-opening of the center, which has been in the community for 25 years. At 3,200 square feet (twice its original size), the facility will allow Lifeblood to better serve a market where more than 22 percent of its total donors live.

Lifeblood invested $65,000 in the expansion of this facility, which was previously 1,600 square feet. AutoZone architect Phil Pecord donated his time and talent to the project, creating the design and blueprints. Pecord is also a 6 1/2-gallon blood donor.



$2M NIH Grant Funds Parkinson’s Research

Dr. Charles Blaha, professor of psychology at the University of Memphis, and research collaborator Dr. Kendall Lee of the Mayo Clinic have been awarded a $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue their research on Parkinson’s disease.

The five-year study will form the basis for the development of “smart” next generation Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) systems that use neurotransmitter release in the brain as feedback to optimize DBS therapeutic efficacy.

DBS, an established therapy for neurological disorders, involves implanting stimulating electrodes into specific areas of the brain. When electrical stimulation is applied to these electrodes, the tremors and other motor symptoms seen in Parkinson’s patients disappear. However, no one knows how it works.



Regional Medical Center at Memphis Named Among the Best Hospitals

The Regional Medical Center at Memphis has been ranked fourth out of 25 hospitals in and near Memphis in U.S. News & World Report’s first-ever Best Hospitals metro area rankings. In addition, the Regional Medical Center was recognized as a high performing organization in the specialty of gynecology. The hospital received high marks in level of nursing staff and in patient safety, demonstrating its commitment to providing quality care throughout the region.

To be ranked in its metro area, a hospital had to score in the top 25 percent among its peers in at least one of 16 medical specialties. The rankings recognize 622 hospitals in or near major cities with a record of high performance in key medical specialties. A hospital’s breadth of expertise is also factored into the rankings.

U.S. News created Best Hospitals more than 20 years ago to identify hospitals exceptionally skilled in handling the most difficult cases. The new metro area rankings are relevant to wide range of healthcare consumers seeking quality care in their city.

For a full list of metro area rankings visit www.usnews.com/hospitals.



Board of Wright Medical Group, Inc. Appoints Chairman David D. Stevens as Interim CEO

Wright Medical Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: WMGI), a global orthopaedic medical device company and a leading provider of surgical solutions for the foot and ankle market, today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Chairman David D. Stevens as interim president and CEO, effective immediately. Mr. Stevens remains Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Stevens replaces Gary D. Henley, who has resigned as President and CEO and as a director of the Company on April 4, 2011. Mr. Henley had served as President and CEO and as a director since 2006. Mr. Henley tendered his resignation prior to a Board meeting called to discuss management’s oversight of the Company’s ongoing compliance program. The Board accepted Mr. Henley’s resignation. Mr. Henley’s resignation is considered to be without “good reason” under the terms of his employment agreement, and he therefore is not entitled to severance.

The Company also announced that the Board has terminated Frank S. Bono, the Company’s Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, for cause for failing to exhibit appropriate regard for the Company’s ongoing compliance program.



Penn Marc Internal Medicine joins Methodist

Penn Marc Internal Medicine has joined the Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare family. The arrangement became official on March 27, 2011.

Located at 6401 Poplar Avenue, Suite 400, the practice includes three internal medicine physicians: Drs. Paul Katz, Avron Slutsky and Carol Mitchell, and nine employees.

The clinic name will not change, and patients and referring physicians can expect a seamless transition.

Physician practices now part of Methodist include: Foundation Medical Group, Lakeland Family Medicine, McGee General Surgery Clinic, Penn Marc Internal Medicine, Sutherland Cardiology Clinic and The CardioVascular Center.



Saint Francis Healthcare Announces Agreement with Blue Cross-S

Saint Francis Healthcare is pleased to announce a new agreement with Blue Cross-S. Effective, April 1, 2011, Saint Francis Hospital-Memphis and Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett are now in-network with Blue Cross-S.

Saint Francis is currently in-network for more 85 health insurance plans. This allows St. Frances to expand hospital services to people in the area who are covered by Blue Cross-S according to David Archer, CEO.



St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital names new senior vice president of public relations

Kimberly Ovitt has been appointed senior vice president of public relations at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Ovitt will oversee public relations and communication strategies for the hospital.

With a strong focus in health care and scientific research, Ovitt has led ambitious public relations, marketing and communication programs for more than 20 years. Her expertise includes developing and implementing multifaceted strategic programs that incorporate brand management, media relations, Web-based communication, employee communication and educational and community outreach.

Ovitt comes to St. Jude from Arizona State University (ASU) where she directed communications for several high-profile research programs. She led launch communications for ASU’s premier multidisciplinary research institute, the Biodesign Institute, serving first as its communication director and then as director of strategic affairs. She also directed strategic communication for ASU’s Complex Adaptive Systems Initiative.

In addition to her bioscience public relations knowledge, Ovitt served for nine years as communication director for Phoenix Children’s Hospital, one of the 10 largest children’s hospitals in the nation.



Southwind Medical Specialists Welcomes Jason Barrett, PhD, as Practice Administrator

Southwind Medical Specialists, PC, has announced the addition of Dr. Jason Barrett as its new Practice Administrator.

Prior to joining Southwind, Dr. Barrett was employed as Ambulatory Services Practice Director for the Regional Medical Center at Memphis (The Med). He served in this role for five years, overseeing operations, strategic planning, and financial viability for off-campus services.

Dr. Barrett’s experience also includes two years as Faculty Practice Manager for the UCONN Health Center, and eight years of directing optometry and primary care clinics for the United States Navy in Okinawa, Japan.

Dr. Barrett holds a BS in Healthcare Management from Southern Illinois University, an MS in Operations Management from the University of Arkansas, and a Doctorate in Healthcare Administration from Capella University.







Dr. Porterfield Named Medical Director Of Electrophysiology Laboratories at MUH

James Porterfield, M.D., F.A.C.C. has been named medical director of the electrophysiology laboratories at University Hospital. Dr. Porterfield is well recognized nationally and internationally for his work. He attended medical school and did his internal medicine residency at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Porterfield then did a fellowship in cardiology and electrophysiology at Harvard University (Peter Bent Brigham Hospital). He then returned to Memphis where he opened the first cardiac electrophysiology laboratory in the country. Dr. Porterfield is the first private practice electrophysiologist in the United States.

He has been listed in Best Doctors in America, and is credited for inserting the first internal cardiac defibrillator in Memphis. He performed the first radiofrequency ablation procedure in the region and invented an electrophysiologic catheter aptly named the Porterfield Catheter that is used worldwide. He also developed an award-winning program -- the first educational computer program in the world for patients to answer questions about implantable defibrillators. Dr. Porterfield has made this program available to all patients worldwide free of charge.



Saint Francis Medical Partners Opens New Location

Saint Francis Medical Partners has opened up a third primary care clinic in the Memphis area. The new clinic is located at 1144 N. Houston Levee Rd. in Cordova, one half mile south of Macon Rd.

The internal medicine practice will be staffed by Detra Tisdale, M.D. Dr. Tisdale is Board Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is a member of the Society of General Internal Medicine.

Saint Francis Medical Partners is a growing network of employed and affiliated primary care physicians that will strengthen the alignment between Saint Francis Healthcare and its physician partners said Kem Mullins, Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett CEO.



Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital Names Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Patient Care

Diane Ridgway rejoins Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital as chief operating officer and vice president of patient care.

Ridgway previously served as chief operating officer of WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, Ga.

Ridgway graduated from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in Nursing and later earned an MBA from the University of Memphis.



St Jude Ching-Hon Pui, M.D., Recognized with AACR Award

Ching-Hon Pui, M.D., a world renowned leukemia physician and researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, is the recipient of the 2011 Joseph H. Burchenal Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Research from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

The AACR Joseph H. Burchenal Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Research is presented to a scientist who has made exceptional achievements in clinical cancer research. Pui accepted the award during the 102nd AACR Annual Meeting, in Orlando, Fla.

Pui is chair of the Department of Oncology at St. Jude and an American Cancer Society Professor. Additionally, he is co-leader of the hospital’s Hematological Malignancies Program; medical director of the St. Jude International Outreach China Program; and holder of the Fahad Nassar Al-Rashid Chair of Leukemia Research.

Pui has played a key role in a series of treatment protocols responsible for raising cure rates of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common childhood cancer, from about 70 percent in the early 1980s to an unprecedented 90 percent at St. Jude today. His work has shown that cranial irradiation, once regarded as a standard treatment for childhood ALL, can be omitted altogether, thus sparing patients from devastating side effects and enhancing their quality of life.

More recently, his treatment approach resulted in a remarkably high cure rate approaching 90 percent in older adolescents with ALL. Pui’s team pioneered the use of pharmacodynamics and pharmacogenetics to individualize chemotherapy and to optimize the use of existing drugs; and used genome-wide analyses to accurately classify leukemias, to identify cooperative genetic mutations of leukemic cells and molecular targets for therapy, and to disclose host genes associated with the development of leukemia.



Foundation Exceeds $20 Million in Assets

The West Tennessee Healthcare Foundation has announced that it exceeded $20 million in assets for the first time in its 26-year history of service to the West Tennessee community.

The West Tennessee Healthcare Foundation was established in 1985 and has grown tremendously in the past ten years. By 2001 total assets had grown to $5.3 million with charitable gifts of $1.2 million for the year. Five years ago the assets had grown to $8.2 million with charitable gifts that year of $2.5 million. The Foundation ended 2010 with charitable gifts of $4.3 million and assets of $19.7 million.

As of March 1, 2011 the Foundation’s total assets surpassed the $20 million mark and charitable gifts for the first eight months of the fiscal year had exceeded $5.2 million with allocations back to the community that exceeded $1.4 million.

The charitable funds of the Foundation have grown to exceed 400 in number. Each fund is established by community leaders to meet charitable needs. Among the community funds are Special Needs Athletics, to serve the activity needs of special needs children; NeuroStar Fund that funded the addition of NeuroStar equipment to meet the needs of the clinically depressed and Hands Up, a newly established early childhood preschool for disadvantaged children. Recent endowments established by estate gifts include the Loretta and Tiger Jones Endowments and the Dera and Robert Ashby Endowment.

The Foundation achieved national attention in the support of Dianne Odell, the oldest iron lung patient. For nearly ten years Dianne’s care was provided by the goodwill and love of the people of Jackson. Fundraising efforts brought the attention of the world to Jackson as gifts came in monthly to provide for her care. Celebrities included Jane Seymour, James Keach, Gary Morris, Al Gore, and Christopher Reeve that came to her aid and provided assistance. Her fiftieth and sixtieth birthday celebrations as well as her death received international attention.

For more information, check out the website at www.wthfoundation.org.



Two Henry County Medical Center Partners Write for Publications

The partners at Henry County Medical Center have outstanding skills and utilize them every day to better the health of our patients. Two partners have recently been recognized for their knowledge and skills related to healthcare and have been published.

Sonya Clark, BSN RN, WOCN was recently published in the first quarter of the 2011 issue of the WOCNews, the national professional organization’s newsletter. Clark serves as the wound ostomy continence nurse for HCMC. The title of her article, Thinking Outside of the Box, utilizes a questionnaire designed by Clark when she is assessing patients and their ostomies.

In November, 2010, when Katherine Pakieser-Reed, PhD, RN, Director of the Center for Nursing Professional Practice and Research contacted Henry County Medical Center’s Staff Development Coordinator, Tammie Holcomb, MSN RN, and requested a story about her most interesting assignment, class or experience, Holcomb responded with the story of teaching CPR at the Henry County Sheriff’s Department.

Reed loved Holcomb’s story and decided to publish it in the Daybook for Nurse Educators for the March 23 edition.

The Day Book for Nurse Educators is available via Amazon.com.



Medtronic Introduces The Marrowmax™ Bone Marrow Aspiration Needle Kit

Expanding its leading bone grafting portfolio, Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) announced the U.S. launch of the MARROWMAX™ Bone Marrow Aspiration Needle Kit.

The MARROWMAX™ Bone Marrow Aspiration Needle Kit provides a simple technique for aspirating marrow from patients by using a syringe. The marrow is then used to hydrate a synthetic bone graft, such as Medtronic’s MASTERGRAFT® ceramics and PLEXUR P® Preformed Biocomposites, eliminating the need for a painful second surgery to harvest bone.

The bone marrow aspiration technique collects marrow and/or autologous blood from a marrow‐rich site of the surgeon’s choice. It involves inserting a hollow needle through a skin incision and into the bone marrow cavity. A syringe is then used to draw a sample of the liquid portion of the bone marrow into the hollow needle.



AMA Introduces Amagine, Health IT Solutions Platform For Physicians

Amagine, Inc., a subsidiary of the American Medical Association (AMA), today announced that its health information technology solutions platform, AMAGINE, is available to physicians nationwide. The unique platform provides physicians with a single point of access to more than 20 health information technology (health IT) solutions, knowledge and communication tools and consulting resources to help improve practice efficiency and patient care. Subscriptions to the AMAGINE platform vary in price and can start from $20 per month per physician for electronic prescribing solutions to $300 per physician per month for electronic medical records systems.

The AMAGINE physician platform brings a plethora of health IT solutions to physicians, including three electronic medical record products, electronic prescribing software, claims management solutions, and clinical decision support and reference tools. Dr. First, Allscripts, DocSite, WellCentive, CareTracker, Quest Care360 and NextGen are just some of the top solutions providers available through the AMAGINE platform. The AMAGINE team continually reviews new services and solutions to ensure its products fit physicians’ needs. AMAGINE consultants provide physicians with a free practice assessment to determine their readiness to adopt health IT and then make tailored recommendations for the individual practice.

The free AMAGINE practice assessment is an invaluable resource for physician practices. By having physicians answer a few simple questions, AMAGINE consultants are able to help them identify their unique needs and make specific recommendations on how they can best incorporate health IT into their practice.



HCMC Welcomes New Director of Women’s Center

HCMC, is dedicated to personalized care for the women and their families who utilize the services of their Women’s Center, either for maternal care or for gynecological care.

Sandra York, RN BSN, served HCMC as Women’s Center Director for over 30 years, coming back after retirement to fill in as needed, including as an interim director of the unit. Finally, York is turning the reins over to Rhonda Carnell, MSN RN. Carnell took over as director on April 18.

Carnell has worked for HCMC for 15 years, working in the Women’s Center and she completed her Masters in Nursing degree, with a focus in Administration, in 2008.

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