Baton Rouge – The Innovations section on the website of the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (www.naph.org) highlights the LSU HCSD disease management and population health programs led by the Health Care Effectiveness Team.

This NAPH Featured Innovation was adapted from an article Dr. Michael Kaiser, CMO, HCSD, first wrote for the eQ Health newsletter, "Quality Insider." It discusses the importance of common management and operational structures that have led to significant improvement in the process and outcomes measures at the seven HCSD hospitals. This year, each hospital received an award for quality improvement from eQHealth Solutions. Click here for the article.

Baton Rouge – The new LSU website “Five Years After Katrina and Rita” commemorates the heroism and dedication of LSU Health staff during the 2005 storm season.

In the storm’s aftermath, LSU staff in New Orleans stayed steady, remaining for five days with their patients while conditions rapidly deteriorated. Despite the loss of power, flooded hospitals, and dwindling supplies, staff met the crisis with the highest professional standards.

Outside of New Orleans, LSU hospitals in Bogalusa, Independence, Baton Rouge, Houma, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Alexandria were involved in the response to the catastrophe. They received patients, staff, and residents from New Orleans though the storm inflicted damage in varying degrees to most of these hospitals.

Within a month, Hurricane Rita created its own havoc, inflicting widespread damage and forcing patient evacuations. LSU staff again responded with the utmost professionalism.

Looking back, the website sections “Our Story” and “Our Hospitals” portray the ordeal of that hurricane season. Looking forward, the section “Our Future” links to the website of the new LSU-affiliated University Medical Center (UMC), www.newhospital.org. The design for UMC is nearing completion. Its opening will place UMC among the first rank of academic medical centers.

The University Medical Center Foundation has named Dr. Mark Stellingworth its 2010 Physician of the Year and Francis “Frank” Conde, RN, its 2010 Nurse of the Year. Each year the Foundation honors a member of the medical staff and a member of the nursing staff for outstanding service to UMC.

Baton Rouge -- LSU Health received two first-place awards and one second-place award in the Press Club of New Orleans’ fifty-second annual journalism and public relations awards competition. In the Radio PSA category, Dr. Charles Zewe, LSU System Vice President for Communications and External Affairs, and Marvin McGraw, Director of the LSU Health Care Services Division (HCSD) Office of Communications and Media Relations, received the first place award for “Austin Irwin.” The PSA describes the comprehensive and highly coordinated emergency healthcare and surgery that the Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center in Houma, La., and the Interim LSU Public Hospital (ILH) in New Orleans provided to a twelve-year-old boy after he sustained a traumatic brain injury. Dr. Zewe and McGraw also won the second place award in the same category for “Senator Reggie Dupre.” The PSA highlights the lifesaving emergency surgery and extensive healthcare then Senator Reggie Dupre received at Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center.

Amy Donovan, RN, (left) and Cindy Arabie, C-FNP, adhere to high standards at the CHF Clinic. Click photo to enlarge.

Lake Charles -- The Congestive Heart Failure Clinic at the W.O. Moss Regional Medical Center has received the Gold Plus Award for the Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure (GWTG-HF) Program for 2010. The clinic is under the direction of Cindy Arabie, C-FNP, and Amy Donovan, RN, Clinical Coordinator. The Gold Plus Award is an advanced level recognition presented to hospitals for their compliance with the quality measures of the GWTG HF Program. The GWTG-HF Program addresses in-hospital initiation of the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology guideline-recommended prevention therapies in patients hospitalized with heart failure.