April Franciscanfit Mallwalkers offers foot care advice

The April Franciscanfit Mallwalkers program offered advice on foot care from Michael Lacey, DPM, a staff physician at Saint Anthony Medical Center in Crown Point; and blood glucose screenings, sponsored by Saint Anthony Memorial Health Centers in Michigan City.

The monthly event, which is a cooperative effort between Sisters of St. Francis Northern Indiana Region’s four hospitals (which also include Saint Margaret Mercy’s Hammond and Dyer campuses and Franciscan Physicians Hospital in Munster) and Westfield Southlake Mall in Hobart, takes place at the mall on the fourth Wednesday of each month.

Lacey is shown talking with attendees and demonstrating a stretching exercise to help alleviate, or prevent, foot pain, while Sandy Walden, a point of care coordinator at Saint Anthony Memorial, administers a glucose screening.

Brownies help in ‘green’ effort at SAMC

Members of Lowell Brownie Troop 111 made a scheduled trip to the Saint Anthony Medical Center Emergency Department on April 27 to deliver recyclables.

The items were collected as part of a Community Service Project that will be used to benefit a program, implemented by ED physician George Librandi and unit clerk Beth Dziadon (both of whom are not shown), to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Recycled goods are collected and the funds received benefit the foundation. The Brownies and their troop leaders, Dawn Fleming (second row, far right) and Faith Fritts (second row, far left), are shown with troop members and Emergency Department staff members who welcomed them.

Future Doctors, Nurses get a lesson at Saint Anthony

Saint Anthony Medical Center staff members and educators took the time on April 27 to pass on their expertise to 25 Hebron High School Careers Class students who plan to make health care their vocation.

Numerous areas of the medical field were covered, from regulations, radiology and respiratory care to therapy and emergency medical services.

After a pizza-lunch, the students were able to discuss nursing careers one-on-one with representatives from Purdue University Calumet and University St. Francis-Crown Point. Hebron High teacher Nancy Anders, who has been offering the class for five years, said its purpose is the help students understand their areas of interest through hands-on exposure and job-shadowing.

The program also includes some 95 other students who are exploring various career paths.

Donate Life Month observance inspirational at SAMC

Although the stories told often were sad, the mood was one of hope and gratitude for participants in Saint Anthony Medical Center’s National Donor Life Month program on April 22.

The observance began with a Mass in the Corpus Christi Chapel that was followed by testimonies from employees and members of the public who either had been donor recipients, had relatives who had been, or were recipients themselves.

Representatives from Gift of Hope, Indiana Lions Eye and Tissue Transplant Bank, Donor Services of Indiana and New Beginnings Organ and Transplant Support Group told uplifting stories, as did hospital employees and community members. The program culminated with a presentation and raising of the Donate Life Month flag and a balloon release to remember the approximately 106,000 persons in need of transplants nationwide. Donor registration was made available in the hospital lobby.

Saint Anthony in step with Earth Day April 22

Environment, patient welfare inspire ways to better preserve resources

The Earth Day spirit is alive at Saint Anthony Medical Center year-round -- not just during the annual national observance in April.

“We are working more to conserve for the future and to help preserve the environment,” says Cathy Estes, director support services, who oversees food, nutrition, environmental and linen operations. “Everybody is trying to become greener,” she says of the trend, which has become significant to hospitals nationwide in recent years.

Some methods Saint Anthony employs use include:

* Using Green Seal-certified cleaning products, which are packaged in one-use portions that contain a premeasured amount of water to avoid wasting resources. Bottles are reusable and made of 40 percent recycled materials. “The housekeeper is supplied only what is needed for the shift. This limits waste of product, assures the product is mixed properly and limits exposure to the chemicals,” Estes says, adding, “Cardboard and paper used are recycled. Information-sensitive (items) are shredded and recycled.”

* A new dishwasher offers rinse technology that has the ability to cut water and energy costs and use in half compared to the previous machine. Grease used in kitchen fryers is picked up by a local company that recycles it into fuel. Also, the cafeteria recently provided the option of using china drinking mugs to reduce the use of disposable products.

Green in more ways than one
Other things are being done in different areas of the hospital, reports Steve Gyure, director of engineering and maintenance.

Some of those efforts include:

* Use of white, reflective roof coatings on black rubber flat roofs. That practice helps increase the reflectivity of solar radiation to help keep interior temperatures lower in summer months. It also protects the life of the roof system by reducing the stress of significant temperature changes and offering a barrier from ultraviolet light to prolong the system’s life.

* Using synthetic-resilient flooring made of chlorine-free polymer, which contains no volatile organic compounds and is highly resistant to bodily fluids, along with being odor -- and mildew --resistant. It’s 30-year life cycle is approximately one-fourth the cost per square foot of vinyl composition tile.

* Using water-based paints throughout the hospital because their odor is less objectionable and cleanup is with soap and water, avoiding use of hazardous or flammable solvents.

* Compact fluorescent lighting helps reduce energy consumption as much as 75 percent.

* Variable frequency drives are used on fans and pumps to ensure only the required amount of air or water is delivered, reducing wasted energy amounts.

* A portion of the air handling units is equipped with economizers that use free cooling.

* The hospital’s high-pressure steam boiler is being replaced by a unit that will reduce natural gas consumption by 3 to 5 percent. Its controls will be equipped with a system that will optimize the air/fuel ratio used for combustion.

Future efforts will continue to help reduce the hospital’s waste stream and implement energy conservation measures, Gyure says.

Paperless adds to greenness
Deb Halton, director of health information management and the medical staff office, estimates her departments save about $35,000 annually through “green initiative’’ methods.

Some of those measures, she says, “have saved lots of money and lots of trees” since implementation began in 2004-05.

Those include:
* Document Imaging, which consists of scanning medical records at patient discharge, which has reduced paper consumption.

* The elimination of chart folders.

* Document imaging systems on the corporate level to allow scanning and online viewing of physician files needed for credentialing.

* Implementation of the Indiana Health Information Exchange Doc for Doc Messaging System. Patient results that were printed on paper and filed in doctors’ mailboxes now are delivered electronically to offices, via fax or e-mail.

Future efforts include studying more ways to save on resources and supplies, including redesigning of forms, eliminating copies and getting more doctors involved in systems applications.

Technology helps the cause

Jackie Katz, director of imaging, says technology changes, which began about six years ago, are helping to reduce the amount of paper and x-ray film the hospital uses.

Another change is the move away from use of cassettes in x-ray imaging equipment.
“The side benefit is that the exams are faster because we aren’t handling cassettes. As the cost goes down, we’d like to add more of these units in the future,” Katz says.

Other improvements have been the implementation of full, digital mammography services. Saint Anthony also has installed an all-digital cardiovascular imaging system used to conduct a successful biventricular pacemaker procedure.

Saint Anthony honors its volunteers

Volunteers are credited with much of the day-to-day and overall successes realized by Saint Anthony Medical Center.

Their efforts will be remembered and highlighted during National Volunteer Week April 18 to 24.

The hospital has 208 volunteers in its Auxiliary, along with numerous other health professionals, who offer services at St. Clare Health Clinic and other programs.

“Our volunteers’ efforts are invaluable,’’ hospital President David Ruskowski said. “The Auxiliary members have raised more than $2 million, through various fund-raisers conducted throughout the year and through the gift shop, since Saint Anthony opened 36 years ago.’’
They not only raise money, they also save the hospital money.
“Our volunteers, who range in age from young adults to senior citizens, donated 54,000 hours to the hospital in 2009; volunteer hours free up financing to hire 15 to 20 full-time-equivalent staff members,’’ Ruskowski said.

Some of those duties include providing wheelchair services and assisting in various hospital departments.

Auxiliary President Doris Paluszak, who has been with the organization for 10 years, said she decided to offer her services after seeing the excellent care offered to her mother at the Burrell Cancer Institute and Breast Care Center at Saint Anthony. “They were very good to her; she was treated as a person, not just a number, as she was at the previous hospital that treated her.’’

Cancer registrars billed as ‘recording artists’

SAMC appreciates its own during national, state observances

The role of cancer registrars may be a mystery to many, but it is important enough to be recognized nationally and by Indiana’s governor.

The Virginia-based National Cancer Registrars Association, chartered in 1974, calls those in its field “recording artists’’ and has designated April 12 to 16 National Cancer Registrars Week. Locally, Gov. Mitch Daniels has proclaimed that period Cancer Registrars Week.

Rosemarie Taylor and Stacy Whaley, who hold registrar positions at Saint Anthony Medical Center, are pleased with the recognition, although they believe that job title could use clarification. At Saint Anthony, their titles are charge data coordinator and data coordinator, respectively.

“Some people think we just make appointments and register people for care,’’ said Whaley, who has been in her position since last year. “We maintain and interpret a database of diagnostic and treatment information that provides clinicians with measurable outcomes of treatment, survival and quality improvement opportunities.’’

Taylor, who has been a registrar since 1994, and also is a nationally certified tumor registrar, agrees. “A better title might be cancer data management coordinator. We work with physicians to make sure patients are getting the correct treatment to assure quality of life and improve their care.’’

Taylor and Whaley have college degrees as Registered Health Information Technicians.

Saint Anthony’s registrars also provide support for the hospital’s Cancer Services Committee, made up of physicians and others in the field, to ensure compliance with standards for the hospital’s Commission on Cancer nationally accredited program.

“We meet at monthly tumor conferences to present newly diagnosed cases and discuss findings and treatment options with pathologists, surgeons, radiologists and oncologists. We verify they are following treatment prescribed by National Comprehensive Cancer Care Network guidelines,’’ Taylor said, adding, “We collect data and submit it to the state board of health and national cancer databases. We can prove that our doctors are meeting required standards of care.’’

Taylor, who has held various positions in the health care field since 1978, said Saint Anthony annually treats approximately 600 newly diagnosed cancer cases.
“It’s extremely detailed work and the standards change annually, but we are blessed to have a great team of professionals to work with at Saint Anthony,’’ she added.

Becky Grove, manager of the Breast Care Center and Burrell Cancer Institute on the Saint Anthony campus, said the registrars play a key role in the hospital’s efforts.
“With the current climate of quality on everyone’s mind, their work becomes even more important. It’s a pleasure to recognize such a talented staff. They are the unsung heroes of our cancer program,’’ she added.