Wednesday, February 08, 2012 – Special Beginnings Family Center, located at LSU Bogalusa Medical Center (LSU BMC), celebrates the 500th baby born in the facility. On Friday, February 3, 2012, at around midnight, Brandon Michael Fortado was born to proud parents Timmy and Holly Fortado, of Angie.

 This historical birth is important to not only LSU BMC, but also the community that this hospital serves. It is yet another example of how LSU Bogalusa Medical Center continues to provide award winning primary and specialty care to each patient.

 In 2008, the doors of Special Beginnings Family Center opened the first completely modernized birthing center in the area in ten years. The labor and delivery suites provide comfort, compassion, safety and support to families of the Washington and St. Tammany parish region. Patsy Welch, Registered Nurse Supervisor over the Labor and Delivery Unit recalls:

 “Right from the start we delivered a mother that had an obstetrical emergency called an abruption.  If the mother had not chosen to stop at our facility, I do not know if the baby or perhaps the mother would have lived.  At that moment I knew, that this unit was meant to be even if all we ever accomplished was to save the life of that one mother and baby.”

 Dr. Maria Buenaflor was the first to welcome eight pound and twenty-one inch Brandon to the world. Doctors Rojina Jasani, D. Spence Texada and Nurse Practitioner, Monica Smith, join Dr. Buenaflor as they lead the labor and delivery team at LSU BMC. This group of Women’s Health Professionals provides each patient with specialized care for every stage of life.

Prior to heading home, LSU BMC presented the Fortado family with a gift basket full of donations from the hospital, the Ladies Auxillary, and Mr. Merlin Duke, LSU BMC Patient Advocate. As LSU BMC celebrates this milestone 500th birth, they continue the tradition of treating the community as family.

Superior Avenue Elementary School, Bogalusa La. - On the afternoon of Wednesday, February 1, 2012, Alfreda Carter, of the LSU BMC Social Services Department, visited with the teaching staff of Superior Avenue Elementary School. The topic of discussion was stress relief and covered information for relieving stress in the work environment and also at home once their busy day of educating local students was completed.

LSU Bogalusa Medical Center - Department of Disease Management received funding to increase Breast Cancer awareness and prevention in rural populations, in the amount of $3,000.00. The funding will come from the Louisiana Breast Cancer Task Force, grassroots activists targeting the eradication of Breast Cancer. In the letter received from the Louisiana Breast Cancer Task Force, Adrienne C. Tervalon, Co-Chair, Grants and Proposals Committee stated, “We are pleased that we can partner with you in your goals to educate and serve the target population in your community and support those affected by breast cancer.” This funding will aid in the unending endeavor to distribute information on the prevention and treatment of Breast Cancer, for women and families in the Washington Parish region.

LSU Bogalusa Medical Center - Intensive Care Unit (LSU BMC ICU) was awarded a certificate of achievement by the Louisiana Hospital Association, for the elimination of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI). From April to September of 2011, the LSU BMC ICU was successful in a groundbreaking Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) that is changing the way that patients are cared for in the hospital environment. The goals of the CUSP are to eliminate or reduce CLABSI rates to no more than one infection per 1,000 days at the end of two years, and to improve safety culture on hospital units.

Pictured above (left to right): Pam Scott, RN; M. David East, DO, FACOI; Debra Rushing, Executive Director of eQHealth Solutions; Ken Alexander, Vice President of Quality & Regulatory Activities at Louisiana Hospital Assoctiation; Jill Breazeale RN, BC; Janice Augustine, RN, MSN, CIC; Tren Garbo, RN Supervisor

Pictured above (left to right): Gayle Passman, HAT; Debra Ann Powell, LPN; Denyse Galloway, LPN; Tracy Stogner, RN; Joy Stephenson, RN Supervisor; Annette Stuart, LPN; and Janet Bush, HAT.sh, HAT.