2010

Southern Ohio Medical Center celebrated Veteran’s Day Nov. 11 with a program honoring those who have served and continue to serve our country, in particular veterans employed by SOMC.

Randy Arnett, SOMC President and CEO presented opening remarks and Jason Coriell of SOMC Pastoral Care, gave the invocation. The Boy Scouts of America, Troup 12 chartered to the Cornerstone United Methodist Church, presented the flag. Pictured is Emily Gollihue from the West High School Choir, leading the crowd with the Star Spangled Banner.

Bobby Blanton, RN of the SOMC Rehab Care Unit sang two patriotic songs and veteran Dr. John Kasper was the keynote speaker. Following Dr. Kasper in the program was the West High School Choir and Chuck Kurtz from SOMC Biomedical Engineering, performing Taps.

A special thanks to the more than 100 people in attendance, the West High School Choir, the Boy Scouts of America and most of all, the veterans.

In honor of Veteran’s Day, SOMC has created a video tribute. To watch the video, please visit the SOMC YouTube channel.

Southern Ohio Medical Center, the Emergency Management Agency, southeast regional hospitals and area public health agencies participated in a BLU-MED training exercise, Nov. 5 at the Athens County Fairgrounds. Southern Ohio Medical Center sent 20 Code Orange team members to the event. Shown above is the group assembling the BLU-MED mobile hospital. The BLU-MED Response System is a portable unit that can offer disaster medical facilities or mobile shelter solutions. BLU-MED’s facilities include state-of-the-industry portable fabric shelters, which enable communities to rapidly respond to large-scale disasters with facilities when and where they are needed. Southeast Ohio has two, 12-bed BLU-MED facilities and two, 25-bed BLU-MED facilities to support incident response needs. If available, they may be loaned to hospitals for medical use. These units can be used to serve as patient care areas or mobile command units. The funding for the BLU-MED facilities was provided from the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response Grant through the Ohio Department of Health, Healthcare Preparedness Program.

Southern Ohio Medical Center’s Lucasville Family Practice recently received a $3,500 grant entitled the “Office Champions Smoking Cessation Pilot Program” from the Pfizer and American Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Shelia Whiteley, chief resident, applied for the grant through an application and essay summarizing the need for education and a smoking cessation program in the Scioto County area. Lucasville Family Practice was one of 50 medical offices across the country selected to participate. “In the essay, I pointed out the fact that our program could impact residents in their formative years with new smoking cessation protocols,” Whiteley explained. “I also shared my belief that early and consistent smoking cessation messages, along with medication, have had some impact with my patients.” Dr. Whiteley will use the grant money to implement office-wide, systemic change to impact smoking cessation rates. She will also attend smoking cessation education and collaborate with colleagues to implement the program. The grant program will run from November 2010 through June 2011 and will include pre and post chart reviews to collect data. For more information about the Smoking Cessation Pilot Program, please call the Lucasville Family Practice at 740-259-5699.

Southern Ohio Medical Center’s Riverview Retirement Center offers a variety of activities year-round for its residents. The community offers a coffee shop, grocery store, walking club, beauty salon and gardening club, just to name a few. The coffee shop is open 8-10 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. Monday- Friday for residents and is ran by volunteers. They offer regular and decaf coffee, pastries, fellowship and games. The volunteers of the coffee shop recently gathered together for an outing to Applebee’s. Standing (l to r) is Opal Dialis, Lovella Litz, Kay Werner, Pat Gallaher and Charolette Bice. Seated ( l to r) is Kathey Moller and Akla Galloway. Riverview welcomes those 62 years of age or handicapped to become residents. The SOMC Riverview Retirement Center consists of two beautifully restored historic hotels, The Biggs House and the Washington House, both turn-of-the-century buildings overlook the scenic Ohio river and are joined by a magnificently landscaped courtyard with a beautiful back drop of the infamous floodwall murals. “Riverview is very affordable,” Tim Graham, administrator for Riverview, said. “The rent is based on your annual income. All apartments are furnished with a stove, refrigerator, central heat and air and the units have a variety of floor plan layouts, with rental fees including utilities and a reduced rate for cable television.” At the SOMC Riverview Retirement Center, you can make new friends, live in a secure environment and participate in scheduled monthly activities. For more information, please visit the Riverview Retirement Center, 500 Second St. in Portsmouth or call at 740-353-1128.

Southern Ohio Medical Center recently hosted its Third Annual Nursing Research Symposium. More than 60 nurses, faculty and nursing students attend the event, Oct. 25. SOMC partnered with Shawnee State University, Marshall University and Riverside Methodist Hospital to educate attendees on various research topics, including minimal lift environment, resilience, childhood obesity and heart failure. Shown above speaking about “Prevalence and Perception of Obesity in a Group of Children In An After School Program is Mary Kathryn Gould, EdD, RD, LD-MSU.

Southern Ohio Medical Center recently received notification from Press Ganey Associates, Inc. that the organization has received the 2010 Distinctive Workplace Award.

“This is a great honor for our organization,” said President and CEO Randy Arnett. “This award recognizes that our employees love what they do and take pride in practicing their gifts right here at SOMC.”

Press Ganey currently partners with more than 10,000 health care facilities (including more than 40 percent of U.S. hospitals) to measure and improve the quality of their care. The company’s databases are the largest in the industry and allow facilities nationwide to benchmark their results against peer organizations.

The award is given based on Press Ganey clients who have reached and maintained the 95th percentile or better in employee satisfaction. Southern Ohio Medical Center currently stands at the 98th percentile for overall employee satisfaction.

SOMC has been recognized nationally and statewide for employee satisfaction. SOMC has been named to the FORTUNE Great Places to Work list three years in a row and is ranked number one the Ohio’s Best Employer list. SOMC was most recently ranked 6th in the nation of Best Places to Work in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare magazine.

“Without the dedication and high-level of quality our staff provide every day, we would not be considered for such designations. We are proud of our team of experts at SOMC and are proud to offer the best to our community in quality care,” Arnett said.

“Without the dedication and high-level of quality our staff provide every day, we would not be considered for such designations. We are proud of our team of experts at SOMC and are proud to offer the best to our community in quality care,” Arnett said.

Southern Ohio Medical Center is ready to kick-start the holiday season with its second annual Winter Wonderland fundraiser celebration. All events will take place at the SOMC Friends Community Center, 1202 18th St., Portsmouth.

The weeklong event will begin Friday, Nov. 19 with the elegant Winter Wonderland Ball. The formal, black-tie affair will feature a catered, sit-down dinner with live entertainment. “The ball is our biggest and most well-attended event during Winter Wonderland,” said Jennifer Schackart, manager of the Friends Community Center. “The event is comprised of various levels of sponsorships with the proceeds benefitting the SOMC Endowment Fund.”

Schackart said rather than the many decorated trees of celebrations past, the event will feature four professionally decorated trees up for raffle and a variety of auction items including autographed sports memorabilia, trips and many other surprises. On Tuesday, Nov. 23 at 11:30 a.m., attendees can enjoy a served meal, live entertainment and a chance at valuable door prizes during the Winter Wonderland Tea.

“We are very excited about this event,” said Shawn Jordan, administrative director of Community Relations, Volunteers and the Friends Community Center. “We will have wonderful catered food and entertainment in a ‘tea-party’ atmosphere which will feature fine teas from the Jackson Tea Caddy.” Jordan said tickets are already going quickly.

The cost is $15 per person and can be purchased at the Friends Community Center. Only 400 seats will be available and open seating is on a first come, first serve basis. The Train and Merchant Expo will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 27 and 12 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 28 at the SOMC Friends Community Center.

Tickets are $2 per person and children five and under are free. The Winter Wonderland celebration ends with the Polar Express Pajama Party from 6 to 9 p.m., Monday, Nov. 29. Children of all ages are encouraged to jump into their pajamas and enjoy an evening of food, games, hot chocolate and the classic holiday film, The Polar Express.

The SOMC Coterie Guild will host this year’s Polar Express Party. Santa will also make a special appearance. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $2 per person, or free to children one year and under.

Activity tickets are $.25 each or five for $1. For additional information, please call the Friends Community Center at 740-356-7101.

Nursing leaders at Southern Ohio Medical Center recently presented “The Transformational Practice of Strategic Value Leadership” to a crowd of more than 500 people during the 2010 American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) National Magnet Conference Oct. 13-15 in Phoenix, Ariz.

“Since January 2008, SOMC has been a Magnet designated hospital, one of only six percent in the country,” Claudia Burchett, vice president of SOMC Patient Services and chief nursing officer, said. “We strive to create an atmosphere of excellence using our five strategic values: safety, service, quality, performance and relationships. At the conference we spoke about these values and were met with an enthusiastic response.”

ANCC is the world’s largest and most prestigious nurse credentialing organization and a subsidiary of the American Nurses Association (ANA). More than 6,000 nurses representing all 50 states and countries around the world annually attended the conference, which explores nursing excellence in clinical practice, leadership and research through educational sessions and poster presentations.

Those who presented included (l to r) Karen Thompson, RN, MS, CNS, director of SOMC Home Care and Wound Healing Services; Mary Kate Dilts Skaggs, RN, MSN, NE-BC, director of SOMC Emergency, Outpatient and Pediatric Services; Valerie DeCamp, RN, MHA, NEA-BC, director of SOMC Inpatient Nursing Services; and Claudia Burchett, RN, MBA, FACHE, NEA-BC, vice president of SOMC Patient Services and chief nursing officer.

“This is the third year we have presented and hope to do so again in the future,” Burchett added. “We look forward to attending next year’s conference and continuing our organization’s journey toward excellence.”

Man to Man® is an American Cancer Society support program for men with prostate cancer. The support group will meet at 5 p.m., Nov. 2 at the SOMC Cancer Center located at 1121 Kinneys Lane in Portsmouth. Dr. Paul Crabtree, a licensed professional clinical counselor, will be the guest speaker. For more information or to register please call the ACS Cancer Resource Center at 740-356-7606 or 740-497-9436.

The SOMC Cancer Center’s breast cancer support group recently celebrated National Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a luncheon, door prizes, giveaways and a special guest speaker, Stephanie Schaefer. Shown above is the support group and employees of the SOMC Cancer Center. SOMC offers two breast cancer support groups that meet monthly. For more information please call 740-356-7496.