North Arkansas Regional Medical Center hosted NARMC Spotlight on Tuesday, September, 26. This quarterly reception celebrated staff members, awards and accreditations.
Here is a recap of the what was announced at NARMC Spotlight:
NARMC Spotlight, September 26, 2017
Acknowledgement of New Staff/New Staff Responsibilities:
We have had three physicians join the NARMC recently: Dr. Ross Halsted joined the Family Medicine Clinic, Dr. Brent Rosson joined the Internal Medicine Clinic and in Berryville, Dr. Kevin Richter has joined the NARMC team and leads our efforts at the Physician Clinic in Berryville where APRN Regina Jeffrey is also providing services on Tuesday’s and Friday’s for that community.
In addition, we have added three APRN healthcare provides to our team: they are Rana Burnside who is practicing at the Women’s Health and Family Center, Skipper McCormick who is at the Family Medicine Clinic and Amanda Cope who sees patients at the Internal Medicine Clinic.
We know, often times, the best talent is right here within our hospital and we have been pleased to promote Lacy Sharp, Director Surgical Services; Jessica Gass, Manager CCU; Jenny Harmon, Med/Surg Nurse Manager; Josh Maloney, Clinical Pharmacy Coordinator; Dawn Shoemake, Manager of Behavioral Health and Debi Arnold, Director Food and Nutrition Services.
In our Pharmacy Department Brandy Cooper and Jeremy Hanner have joined our team and Ted Borchers has joined NARMC as an Occupational Therapist.
NARMC has a commitment to our community clinics and two physicians, which practice at the Family Medicine Clinic, are now traveling outside of Harrison to see patients. Dr. Joanne Holliman is seeing patients on Thursday at our Berryville clinic and Dr. Heather Bridges travels to Lead Hill each Wednesday to provide services in the Claude Parrish Community Health Center.
Progress Connected To Baby Friendly Designation
Dawn Brown and her team have been working tirelessly on a Baby Friendly Designation for NARMC. The corner stone of this efforts focuses on the optimal level of care for infant feeding and mother/baby bonding. Baby Friendly USA will be here on November 13th & 14th for their Baby Friendly site visit. NARMC has a long history of supporting this approach and in fact, The Lactation Club, which we call TLC, will be celebrating their 5th anniversary on October 11th.
Governor’s Quality Achievement Award
You may have seen in the front page of today’s Harrison Daily Times the announcement of the GQA award. Twenty-eight organizations from around the state were presented Arkansas Governor’s Quality Awards during the 23rd Annual Awards Celebration and I am proud to say NARMC received the Achievement Level Award which was the highest-level award presented during the event. This is the second consecutive year that we have received this honor.
Pharmacy Update
Josh Bright, our Director of Pharmacy, is speaking to a group in Newton County this evening and is not here but he is leading some exciting efforts here at NARMC. Although he is not here, I would like to mention he was selected by the Arkansas Pharmacists Association to receive the Distinguished Young Pharmacist Award. The NARMC team of pharmacist are working on a Medication Reconciliation program, which improves patient safety and quality of care. They are currently in the process of presenting their findings to institutional review boards. And, finally, we are pleased to have UAMS students Sera Snow who is currently on Ambulatory Care Rotation with Brandy Cooper and Erin Jeffrey currently on Pharmacy Management and Leadership rotation with Josh Bright with us at NARMC. Both Sera and Erin are fourth year pharmacy students at UAMS College of Pharmacy.
Man of Distinction Honor
Jon Burnside, Director of the Claude Parrish Cancer Center, is extremely involved in our community. He is on the School Board and an active member of the Goblin Nation. We were pleased, although not surprised, that Jon has been recognized as a Harrison Man of Distinction.
Strategic Marketing and Communications
The Healing Power of Art and the NARMC Proud campaign are two programs launched recently by our new Strategic Marketing Team. These programs are in addition to the new NARMC website, which I hope you have seen. The Healing Power of Art is an art competition for area students. We recognize hospitals are inherently stressful, and this project allows area students to help brighten the walls of NARMC while we are able to encourage the art students in the process. And, if you will walk thru the halls toward our cafeteria, you will see the beginnings of our new NARMC Proud Campaign featuring one of our most valuable assets we have, our employees. We look forward to having both of these efforts grow and expand in the future.
AR SAVES
AR Saves is the Arkansas Stroke Assistance program and Erin Berry and her team are leading this effort. Statistics show Arkansans are at a higher risk of death from stroke than residents of most other states. The AR SAVES program works to ensure patients can receive the time-sensitive care required for good outcomes. NARMC has been awarded the Site Excellence Award and was one of four hospitals in Arkansas to receive this prestigious award out of the 51 AR SAVES eligible hospitals. This recognition is highly valued because it exemplifies commitment, teamwork, skills, and knowledge.
Community Outreach
NARMC is part of a number of community outreach programs and we work to provide information for patients to manage their chronic disease. The Diabetes Community Outreach Program is one such program and NARMC members often speak at the monthly meetings. Recently Dr. Heather Bridges, Brandy Cooper and Debi Arnold have been featured speakers at this valuable community outreach.
Another community program we have begun to work on is COPD. We are seeing this chronic condition increase hospital readmissions of patients. The NARMC team, Sammie Cribbs, Dr. John Leslie, Brenda Hartsell, Gloria Starnes, our case managers, Brandy Cooper, Jeremy Hanner and Josh Bright, is doing incredible work to reduce the number of readmissions. The team’s short-range goal is to reduce admissions the long-range goal is to work with patients so they can begin to manage their health with earlier diagnosis and intervention.
Employees who have anniversaries this quarter with long-term employment:
Cathy Cluff 46 years Vascular Lab Tec, Vascular Lab
Linda Brown 44 years Inventory Analyst, FANS
Cecilia Feroe 42 years RN, CCU
Donna Rhodes 33 years Administrative Assistant, Rehab Services
Kimberly Pemberton 28 years Manager Clinical Services
Betty Reynolds 28 years RN, GI Lab
Dan Humes 27 years Director, Engineering
Kara Tramell 27 years Clerk, HIM
Thiel Bradley 27 years RN, Surgery
Trent Jean 26 years Radiology Tech I, Imaging
Jon Burnside 25 years Director, Claude Parrish Cancer Center
Please join us next time!
Our next Spotlight is scheduled for Thursday, December 28th and we look forward to telling you more about our accomplishments including this year’s Healthgrades ratings which will be announced in mid-October and honoring one of our pharmacists for his upcoming recognition by the Arkansas Association of Health System Pharmacists on October 6th.