Winter • 2013
One Construction Project Benefits Two Hospital Departments
Interventional Radiology Department staff, from left: Susan Deal, PA; Kari Gift, RN; Teresa Elliott, LPN; Ellen Otto, RN; Lenna Booth, RN; Interventional Radiologist Farid Thanawalla, MD; Kim Smith, RN; Nina Palomo, RN; Tish Merrills, scheduler; Sarah Houk, RT; Sharon McKinney, Director of Imaging Services. Back row: Interventional Radiologist David Porter, MD; Josh Lively, RT.
Like hospitals everywhere, Regional West is filled with rooms and labs where employees work, but ordinary people only see when they are patients. The latest example is Regional West’s new patient Prep and Recovery area that was added to the Imaging Services Department. Interventional Radiology is a subspecialty of imaging services in which radiologists perform minimally invasive procedures— such as angioplasties and catheter-delivered stents—using real-time images. Because Interventional Radiology patients are sedated for procedures, nurses need a location for
procedure preparation and a place to bring patients to recover afterward. The new Prep and Recovery area, between Imaging Services and the Emergency Department, improves radiologist access to patients before and after interventional procedures, leading to better, more efficient patient care. The Prep and Recovery area also offers greater privacy and efficiency for patients awaiting X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs. A corner is dedicated to serving Interventional Radiology outpatients, functioning like a small clinic. And although the space was designed to improve patient care in Imaging Services, it also improves care when the Emergency Department is filled to overflowing and needs additional space, as it sometime does during flu season. “With careful planning, we were able to add clinical space that serves the needs of two completely different departments,” says Sharon McKinney, director of Imaging Services. “Most importantly, it allows us to provide better care to patients in both areas.”
Lenna Booth, RN, at work in the new Prep and Recovery area.
David Kanar, MD Nephrologist
“How’s my kidney function?” Scottsbluff’s first and only board-certified nephrologist has a word of advice for everyone over age 40—have an annual physical and when you do, ask your primary care provider: “How’s my kidney function?”
“We have a large population of patients in the region with diabetes and high blood pressure, which puts them at greater risk for kidney disease, so we encourage annual check-ups,” says nephrologist David Kanar, MD. “Early intervention is helpful.” Since 2011, Dr. Kanar has teamed up with Eric Wiebe, MD, at Regional West Physicians Clinic-Nephrology to care for patients with kidney disease. “I was very impressed with Dr. Wiebe when I met him, and I quickly discovered there was a definite need for additional nephrology care in the panhandle,” says Dr. Kanar. Dr. Kanar and his wife, hospitalist Erika Gelgand, MD, moved to Scottsbluff from Denver. Here they found “a great medical center” and a quieter, more relaxed location to raise their 4-year-old twins. The family also includes two older children who attend college in Colorado.
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According to Dr. Kanar, many people don’t realize they have kidney disease. “Chronic kidney disease is asymptomatic,” he says. Patients may have a generalized sense of not feeling well, blood in the urine, or swelling in the ankles or near the eyes, but he says they wouldn’t necessarily attribute those symptoms to kidney disease. Blood or urine tests are necessary to determine how well the kidneys are removing waste and excess fluid from the blood. Blood tests such as serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) have long been used to diagnose and monitor kidney dysfunction. Regional West has introduced the use of eGFR, which is a more accurate estimate of kidney function. Dr. Kanar is skilled in evaluating kidney biopsies and so has begun referring patients to Regional West Medical Center for that intervention. Previously, patients had to travel elsewhere when a kidney biopsy was necessary.
Dr. Kanar has also introduced a new option for many dialysis patients called peritoneal dialysis. It involves filling the abdomen with fluid to eliminate waste. It can be done by patients at home, at work, or while traveling. By contrast, hemodialysis, the more common bloodfiltering process, requires a visit to a dialysis clinic. Peritoneal dialysis not only promotes a better, more flexible lifestyle, but may also allow patients to use fewer
medications and eat a less restrictive diet than hemodialysis patients.
dialysis or a transplant, that’s why the peritoneal option is a good one.”
Peritoneal dialysis isn’t an option for everyone with kidney failure, but it is especially nice for those who live active lives and for rural patients who live far from dialysis clinics.
About Dr. Kanar Medical Degree: Finch University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School
“People can live 20 years on dialysis,” says Dr. Kanar. “They never die from kidney disease. Instead, they undergo
Residency: Internal Medicine—Loyola University Medical Center Fellowship: Nephrology—Long Island Jewish Medical Center
Members of the Volunteers and Friends of Regional West are always eager to assist where they are needed around the hospital—whether it’s lending a helping hand or providing much need equipment or services. So when they noticed that regular wheelchairs didn’t fit in the Emergency Department triage rooms, they went shopping for a new wheelchair that would fit. The organization purchased a new Staxi® and several board members joined together to deliver it to the ED.
Volunteers and Friends of Regional West Donate Wheelchair
“Volunteers and Friends are very happy to be able to provide this new wheelchair to the Emergency Department. This is the purpose of Volunteers and Friends: to help Regional West when and where we can,” said Volunteers and Friends of Regional West President Kay Gabel.
The Village has been honored year after year—nationall statewide—by the National Center for Assisted Living an Nebraska Assisted Living Association. The Village has been yeartour! after year—nationally and Call today for honored a personal statewide—by the National Center for Assisted Living honored year after year—nationally andand Nebraska Assisted Living Association.
The Village has been statewide—by the National Center for Assisted Living and Call today for a personal tour! Nebraska Assisted Living Association. Call today for a personal tour! Award-Winning Assisted Living
320 East 42nd Street 320 East Scottsbluff, NE42nd 69361 Street, Scottsbluff 308.630.2010 ▪ villageregionalwest.com 308.630.2010
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320 East 42nd Street Scottsbluff, NE 69361 308.630.2010 ▪ villageregionalwest.com
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“A Venetian Carnival” Raises $28,000 for Regional West Foundation Regional West Foundation’s third annual gala, “A Venetian Carnival,” held October 11 at the Gering Civic Center, was a rousing success; raising over $28,000 for the Foundation’s 2013 Campaign for Continuing Excellence. More than 300 people participated in an evening of “Venetian” fun, feasting, and dancing, in support of the Foundation and to pay tribute to guests of honor, retired physician William Packard, MD, and his wife Shari. “It was a wonderful event…very special for us and very humbling,” said Shari Packard. Dr. Packard, a board-certified internal medicine physician, assumed primary responsibility for treating cancer patients after joining Scottsbluff Internal Medicine Group in 1977. He was instrumental in development of the Medical Center’s cancer program as well as its original emergency department. Regional West Foundation Executive Director Shelley Knutson said she and her board of directors were delighted with the wonderful community response to the formal affair.
“The gala is our major annual fundraising event and it’s made possible by our corporate sponsors and a team of dedicated volunteers who plan the entire evening. We are very grateful to Valley Bank and Trust Company, 21st Century Equipment, LLC, and Ideal Linen who returned as major gala sponsors, and we were excited to welcome Baker & Associates/Studio 120 Architecture this year as a major sponsor,” she said. “I’d also like to thank our volunteer gala chairmen Andrea Margheim and Christy Walsh, for their wonderful ideas, hard work, and dedication to the Foundation.” Funds raised at the 2013 gala were earmarked for the Foundation’s $4.2 million Campaign for Continuing Excellence. The key project of the campaign is the construction of an education center at Regional West. The planned state-of-the-art facility will allow Regional West to provide on-site continuing education classes for employees and medical staff. In addition, the campaign will fund the purchase and installation of a large-bore CT simulator at the Cancer Treatment Center; the purchase and installation of new cardiac catheterization equipment in the Heart Center; and support the Medical Center’s renewal project.
Shari and William Packard, MD
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and statewide—by the National Center for Assisted Living and Nebraska Assisted Living Association.
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Giving More Than $61 Million Back To The Community Regional West strives to fill voids in health care, promote wellness, and offer services that will help build healthier communities. We provide care to all people, regardless of their ability to pay. We offer services that often cost more than they generate in income, such as neonatal intensive care. We do it because we’re committed to caring—24 hours a day, seven days a week. In 2012, Regional West Medical Center invested $61,750,678 in people and programs to improve the quality of life and health in western Nebraska. Among our investments:
$810,730
Subsidized Health Services Emergency and trauma care
Women’s and children’s services
$344,640
Community Benefits Services
Community-based clinical services
Health care support services
Community health education and outreach
Donations Cash contributions to local organizations In-kind contributions of supplies, equipment, meals, employee time, and more
$16,629,581
$1,417,694
Health Professions Education Clinical training for medical residents, student nurses, and other health professionals
$5,650,234
Charity Care Free or discounted health services provided to persons who cannot afford to pay
$35,451,985
$1,309,088
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Unpaid Costs of Public Programs Cost of public health care programs including Medicare and Medicaid that exceed government reimbursement
Community Building Activities Workforce development
St. Mary Plaza Remodeling Completed The former St. Mary Hospital is now a newly renovated business center for vital but non-clinical health care services and its name is officially “St. Mary Plaza.”
St. Mary Plaza Office Directory Ground Floor The plaza has been under construction for several years. Regional West is now in Central Billing the final stages of relocating several departments from the main Medical Center Cheyenne Meeting Room campus to St. Mary Plaza. The resulting vacant space at the main campus will be Community Health used for clinical and patient care services. Marketing & Public Relations Project Management The building was constructed between 1947 and 1949 by the Catholic Sisters School of Radiologic Technology of St. Francis, who moved to Scottsbluff from Denver in 1945. The Sisters first purchased Scottsbluff’s 35-bed Fairacres Hospital (located at 24th and Avenue First Floor F) and renamed it St. Mary Hospital. Within a year, they had outgrown the small Inn Touch hospital so plans were made to build a new facility. Library The new, modern 115-bed St. Mary Hospital opened on September 12, 1949 Lifeline at 36th Street and Avenue D. For more than 25 years, the Sisters of St. Francis Morrill Meeting Room ministered to the sick and suffering and helped to deliver and care for hundreds Scheduling Services of babies born there. The terra cotta entrance facing the Scotts Bluff National Monument features both religious and medical symbols that reflect the Sisters’ Second Floor dedication to the practice of spiritual and physical works of mercy. Banner Meeting Room The hospital thrived during the 1950s and 60s; providing coronary, maternity, pediatric, and neonatal intensive care, as well as 24-hour emergency services. Physical therapy was added for polio patients during the 1950s polio epidemic. In 1952, a psychiatric unit was opened in cooperation with the University of Nebraska College of Medicine.
Finance Home Care Information Systems Kimball Meeting Room Patient Financial Services Prairie Haven Hospice
The Franciscan Sisters managed all hospital functions until 1958, when a lay advisory board was organized. In 1969, the governing board added laymen and in 1972 a lay administrator was hired, but the financial difficulties it faced were impossible to reverse. On November 30, 1977, St. Mary Hospital was purchased by West Nebraska General Hospital for $1.5 million. Since then, the building has provided space for medical care, physician offices, and hospital departments.
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Healthy Times is published as a community
Emma’s Closet A Salon for Hair Loss
service for friends and patrons of: Regional West Medical Center 4021 Avenue B Scottsbluff, NE 69361 308.635.3711 | rwhs.org Information published in Healthy Times is not intended as personal medical
Emma’s Closet is a salon dedicated to helping women who experience hair loss. The little shop located at Regional West’s Cancer Treatment Center offers new and gently used wigs, scarves, hats, and turbans to help women look good and feel better. It’s special because it’s run on a free or donation only basis. Contributions are donated to the Festival of Hope. Hair loss is one of the most distressing things a woman may experience. According to one study, cancer patients ranked hair loss as the second most severe side effect from chemotherapy. As sociologist Rose Weitz, author of Rapunzel’s Daughters: What Women’s Hair Tells Us about Women’s Lives explains: “We use our hair to project our identity and others see our hair as a reflection of our identity.” But cancer treatment isn’t the only cause of hair loss in women. Lupus, alopecia, medications, thyroid disorder, and other
conditions may cause hair loss. Emma’s Closet helps women of all income levels cope with their hair loss. Emma’s Closet was established through a generous donation from a retired store owner who wished to remain anonymous. Approximately 40 to 50 wigs in different colors, styles, and lengths are displayed at any one time, with more awaiting their turn at styling. Volunteer cosmetologists wash, dry, and style each donated wig before putting it on display.
advice. Please consult your health care provider regarding specific or personal health concerns or questions. Comments, questions? Email kriegjo@rwmc.net. Todd S. Sorensen, MD, MS, President & CEO Julie Franklin, Director of
Marketing & Public Relations
Joanne Krieg, Writer/Editor Kaitlynn Sova, Graphic Designer
Any woman experiencing hair loss for medical reasons can shop at Emma’s Closet; there are no income limitations and referrals are not required. Emma’s Closet is open MondayFriday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call the Cancer Treatment Center at 308.630.1348.
Cancer Program Accredited by American College of Surgeons
Find us on Facebook/RegionalWest!
The American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer has accredited the Regional West Medical Center cancer program. Accreditation is the Hallmark of Excellence and is awarded to cancer care programs that have made a commitment to providing high quality, comprehensive, multidisciplinary patient-centered care as demonstrated through compliance with the Commission on Cancer Accreditation Standards. Regional West’s cancer program is a three-time winner of the Commission’s “Outstanding Achievement Award.”
4021 Avenue B | Scottsbluff, NE 69361 | rwhs.org