What's Happening @ Alleghany

When you're open 24/7, there's always something going on! Check out what's happening around the halls!

ARH Announces 2008 Frist Humanitarian Award Recipients

Congratulations to Sally Putnam and Charlotte Smith for being named the 2009 Frist Humanitarian Award Winners at Alleghany Regional Hospital!

The Frist Award, named after the late Dr. Thomas F. Frist, Sr., a founder of HCA, is given in recognition of individuals who demonstrate a level of commitment to community service above and beyond their daily work and contribution to patient care. Through extraordinary acts of kindness, they demonstrate remarkable concern for the welfare and happiness of others, and their contributions are often overshadowed due to their personal modesty and genuine humility. And above all, they make the world a better place, inspiring others to get involved by caring for the community and others in need.

Sally Putnam is a social worker in the case management department; her nomination cited her tireless volunteer work serving with the local Community Services Board to meet the needs of those with mental health and substance abuse problems, her work with the state legislature, and her heavy involvement in educating the public through various speaking engagements and health fairs. One highlight from the nomination reads, "Sally is the community face of our hospital and her name is synonymous with Alleghany Regional Hospital."

This year's volunteer honoree, Charlotte Smith, was cited for her numerous volunteer activities in her church and with agencies such as the Leukemia Society, the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society Relay for Life, the Roanoke Memorial Mended Hearts Association, and more. To quote comments from her nomination, "Charlotte is a very modest and humble person. She always has a smile on her face and is truly a 'Lady of Grace'."

Both of these deserving ladies received a framed award certificate, a check for $250 and a $250 donation made in their name to the charity of their choice.

Even though only one person was awarded in each category, it is an extreme honor to be nominated in that it shows that the nominee is held in high esteem by their peers. Other nominees for the award included Catherine Simpson (a past Frist Award winner), Zina Brown, Barbara Wolfe, Diane Kouns, and Alice Tucker.

ARH Honors Volunteers

The ARH Volunteers were recently honored at the Thirty-Seventh Annual Volunteer Recognition Luncheon & Awards Ceremony during National Volunteer week. The volunteer of the year award was presented to Jack Knighton. Jack volunteers four days every week and has accumulated over 1200 hours of service in the past year alone.

Overall in 2008, 37 volunteers provided 12,844 hours to the hospital. In addition to hours of service, the auxiliary donated $17,000 to local civic groups for community projects, to the teen volunteers for scholarships and to ARH patients in need.

The hospital volunteers provide a number of indispensable services for ARH — over 22,000 newspapers are provided by the volunteers each year to hospital patients and their families; money and supplies are given for patients and their families needing any variety of things including prescriptions, cab fare, shower seats, and medical equipment; and proceeds from special sales and sales in the Cottage Window Gift Shop are used by the for a variety of community needs including the Christmas Mother, Salvation Army, Alleghany and Covington High Schools' After Prom Parties, a Teen Volunteer Scholarship, and the Alleghany Highlands Free Clinic.

ARH Partners with WVSOM and VCOM

ARH is pleased to announce a renewed relationship with the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM); the hospital will again be offering clinical rotations for the school's third year medical students. ARH has been accepting third and fourth year students from the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) for the last four years. The hospital is excited to offer these area students the ability to gain the practical experience they need to become the clinicians of tomorrow.

Upcoming Community Programs

Alleghany Regional will be holding two free community programs over the next few weeks. On Wednesday, March 18, Dr. Paul LaBrie will present a program on the prevention of colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer diagnosed in men and women in the U.S. The program will be followed by a question-and-answer session about the signs, symptoms and prevention of colorectal cancer

On Wednesday, April 1, Dr. Ziyad Al-Ola and Dr. Dina Dabaj will present a similar program and question-and-answer session on the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension.

Both programs will be held at the Alleghany Highlands YMCA and will begin at 11:30 a.m. Both are also free and open to the public; to ensure adequate seating, please reserve your seat by calling 877-2HCA-DOCS (877-242-2362).

Pulmonary Rehab Added to ARH's Services

On February 17, ARH added pulmonary rehabilitation to their list of services. Patients suffering with COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis, and lung cancer, to name a few, can receive services once they are referred by a physician. Services include exercise training, oxygen systems, medications, smoking cessation, medications, education and more. Cindy Berry, Director of Respiratory Services, says that "success in this program is measured one patient at a time with outcomes including a reduction in respiratory symptoms, enhanced daily activities, increased knowledge and improved quality of life."

AHA Donation Honors PCU Staff

Joy Weeks from the Alleghany Heart Unit of the American Heart Association passed along a note to the hospital reading, "A Contribution has been made to The American Heart Association in honor of Dr. Simanis and the 6th Floor PCU Staff. A generous donation was received from a recent patient. She indicated that her care was truly superb during her extended stay in January. She expressed her sincere gratitude." Way to go, PCU team!

ARH Sponsors Three Teams in Local Triathlon

In May, ARH will be sponsoring up to three teams in the First Annual Recreational Alleghany Highlands Triathlon, an event sponsored by Magic In the Mountains. The three legs of the event, happening on May 16, will include a 5.2-mile run, paddling 6 flat-river miles, and a 9.5-mile bike race. CEO Greg Madsen, CFO Tim Prestridge, associate administrator Matt Mathias and HR director Mac Campbell have already formed one of the teams, and they're challenging all the staff to join them for some friendly competition in the event.

Share Your Love on the Lights of Love Tree

This month, for the second year in a row, ARH's Volunteer Auxiliary will be sponsoring a Lights of Love tree to help raise money for the Alleghany Highlands Free Clinic.

Located in the front of the hospital, the Lights of Love tree will be decorated with snowflake ornaments that can be hung by anyone in honor or in memory of loved ones for just $5. The honoree's name will appear on a ribbon attached to a snowflake.

On Monday, Dec. 15, Alleghany Regional will hold a special tree-lighting ceremony during which the names of those honored on the snowflakes will be read aloud; there will be a reception following. Everyone's invited to be part of the lighting ceremony and celebration.

Donation forms are available at the volunteer desks in the lobbies of the hospital and in the hospital gift shop; stop by to fill one out and be sure to come back for the lighting and celebration!

Christmas Bake Sale and Basket Raffle

With tremendous outpouring of interest and support coming from all departments of the hospital, this year's bake sale raised over $3,000! The money will be split even between the Covington and Clifton Forge Food Pantries, with each one receiving a total of $1,556.11.

Congrats to Nuclear Medicine!

The ARH Nuclear Medicine Department recently underwent an unannounced inspection from the state. Congratulations to Gail Tucker, Bonnie Bush and Kathy Carson on an excellent report with no violations!

ARH Gets High Marks for Joint Replacement

In October, HealthGrades released its eleventh annual Hospital Quality Study. As part of the Hospital Report Card component of the study, Alleghany Regional received a five-star rating in the area of Joint Replacement.

HealthGrades looks at data over a three-year period to determine a hospital's ratings. They also weigh the level of patient acuity that a hospital generally accepts, so the ratings are risk-adjusted and all hospitals on equal footing.

The five-star rating means not simply that ARH's Joint Replacement performance was better than expected, but also that the positive difference between the average and actual performance was statistically significant. That goes to show that ARH didn't just beat the odds by chance but by skill and effort.

FDA Gives Breast Imaging Center Highest Rating

On October 7, 2008, the Alleghany Regional Breast Imaging Center was evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration to determine the Center's compliance with the Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA). The Center received the absolute highest rating possible of "All Items in Compliance".

During the annual evaluation, inspectors look at six major items: equipment performance, technologist QC, medical physicist surveys, personnel qualifications, medical reports and outcome audits. The ARH Breast Imaging Center met or exceeded standards in each area.

Connie Salyards, R.T.-R., Team Leader of Radiology, states, “The Mammography technologists, Alice Tucker, Kathy Anderson, Kathy Lee and Dianne Loving, are to be commended for their dedication and also the effort and attention placed into developing an exceptional Breast Imaging Center for our patients.” Mary E. Zelenik, M.D. , supervising Radiologist of the Breast Imaging Center, and Dr. Bruce Banning are the interpreting Radiologists.

The philosophy behind the MQSA and its implementation is to support continuous improvement in mammography services through standards and inspections.

Pam Hall Named Pillar of Excellence

Pam Hall, Case Management Team Leader, is the most recent recipient of ARH's "Pillar of Excellence Award", which was designed to recognize staff members who distinguish themselves by providing exceptional levels of service and quality work, exemplifying the spirit of teamwork, achieving consistently high levels of job performance, and demonstrating exceptional levels of reliability and dependability.

Pam’s nomination reads: “It has been my pleasure to work with Pam on several task forces which she chaired as well as being a member. When given a task she ensures that all parties involved have a clear understanding of what’s expected from their designated departments as well as continual follow-up to ensure we remain on target after implementation.

"She has high standards for herself which are shown each day in the way she conducts herself in a professional manner, supervises those directly under her and goes the extra mile to ensure patients have the quality of care which they desire as well as ensuring the facility receives all reimbursement we’re entitled to through the appeals process. Whenever I’ve contacted her for assistance she eagerly listens and offers her input to resolve coding/billing/appeal issues with me. Pam is a great asset not only to the facility but for the patients as well."

Joan McCrae Named Nurse of the Year

Joan McCrae, ICU, has been named 2008 Nurse of the Year. Joan graduated from Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in 2005 and then accepted a position in ARH's ICU/PCU, where she has remained since. She previously worked in the nursing field in Scotland from 1983 to 1990. In her nominations, her peers described her as a delight to work with and noted that she is well thought of by the physicians and her coworkers. "If she doesn't know how to do something," read one nomination, "she finds out how to do it and shares it with others."