Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Sacred Heart Opens High-Risk Obstetrics Clinic in Fairhope
Sacred Heart Women's Hospital in Pensacola recently extended its expertise in managing high-risk pregnancies into southwest Alabama by opening a satellite office in Fairhope. The new office is located at 150 South Ingleside Dr., Suite 6. A Sacred Heart Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialist and staff from Sacred Heart's Regional Perinatal Center have started patients at the satellite office, and plans call for the physician and staff to visit twice a month. Patients must be referred by their obstetrician.
This new office will allow pregnant women in and around the Fairhope area to receive expert care from Sacred Heart's Regional Perinatal Center staff without having to travel to Pensacola. Sacred Heart is one of 11 hospitals in Florida designated by the state as a Regional Perinatal Intensive Care Center (RPICC). "We wanted to expand the regional availability of our services and improve birth outcomes in southwest Alabama, while allowing high-risk women to get expert prenatal care closer to home," said Dr. James Thorp, a specialist in Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Medical Director of the Regional Perinatal Center.
The community will reap great benefits from this clinic, too, according to Elizabeth Allerellie, Perinatal Outreach Coordinator at Sacred Heart. "The number of sick and low-birth-weight babies who would then require neonatal intensive care services will decrease," said Allerellie. "The community will see an increase in the number of high-risk pregnant women receiving prenatal care and this will support other hospitals in southwest Alabama where these patients eventually will deliver their babies." Studies have found that outcomes for high-risk pregnancies can be improved through continuous specialized care to pregnant women with major medical or maternal conditions that puts their pregnancy at risk or their newborn at risk for disease, death or disability. Since 1974, the state's RPICC program has improved outcomes for women with high-risk pregnancies and improved care to sick or pre-term newborns by providing a full range of specialized services and ongoing care. At Sacred Heart, RPICC services include specialized prenatal care in a high-risk pregnancy clinic and at Sacred Heart Women's Hospital, where obstetricians and nurses with specialized training in maternal-fetal medicine manage the pregnancies and deliveries of high-risk mothers. The second component of the program - neonatal care for very sick or premature newborns - is provided by Sacred Heart's Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery. For more information on Sacred Heart's Regional Perinatal Center, please visit www.sacred-heart.org or call (850) 416-2477 or toll-free at 1-866-904-8738.
Sacred Heart Hospital Receives American Stroke Association's Get With the Guidelines Silver Performance Achievement Award
PENSACOLA, FLA. - The American Stroke Association recently awarded Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola its Get With The GuidelinesSM-Stroke Silver Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes Sacred Heart's continued success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment and education according to nationally accepted standards and recommendations. Sacred Heart's Regional Stroke Center is Northwest Florida's top-rated stroke program that features a diagnostic and treatment team dedicated to saving lives and minimizing damage caused by stroke. Led by a specially trained critical care neurologist, our team of radiologists, neurologists, interventional radiologists and vascular surgeons works together to rapidly diagnose and administer life-saving treatment. To receive the Stroke Silver Performance Achievement Award, Sacred Heart consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the Get With The Guidelines program for 12 consecutive months. These include aggressive use of clot-busting medications and clot prevention, cholesterol reducing drugs, and smoking cessation. The 12 -month evaluation period is the second stage in an ongoing self-evaluation by the hospital to continually reach the 85 percent compliance level needed to sustain this award. "The American Stroke Association commends Sacred Heart Hospital for its success in implementing standards of care and protocols," said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee Member and director of the acute stroke services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "The full implementation of acute care and secondary prevention recommendations and guidelines is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of stroke patients." According to the American Stroke Association, each year approximately 780,000 people suffer a stroke - 600,000 are first attacks and 180,000 are recurrent. Of stroke survivors aged 49 and older, 21 percent of men and 24 percent of women die within a year. For those aged 70 and older, the percentages are even higher. For more information, please call (850) 416-7000 or visit www.sacred-heart.org.
Pediatric Palliative Care Support Begins at Diagnosis
Receiving the diagnosis of a serious or life-threatening disorder can be overwhelming. When such an event involves an infant or child, it can be devastating. The idea of numerous doctor visits, trips to the hospital, missed school and other activities, time away from family members, perhaps time away from work for the parents and caregivers, bills and on and on ... Even for those children who eventually recover and get well, this can be and often is a life changing event for those involved. For those children and their families who do not get better or for those who pass away, it can be an overwhelming tragedy. "The recognition of the magnitude of the impact that these events have on children and their loved ones that led doctors at the Nemours Children's Clinic and others practicing at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital to develop additional and expanded support for those served by them," said Dr. Rex Northup, chief of pediatric critical care at Nemours Children's Clinic and co-medical director of Sacred Heart Children's Hospital. "It is intended that this model will evolve to better meet the needs of those served and will eventually expand throughout the region in order to be available to all those needing these services." The pediatric palliative care program is more than simply hospice or end-of-life care. The program is based on service models developed and promoted by the Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care and other organizations. The service at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital will partner with Nemours Children's Clinic, Florida Department of Health Children's Medical Services, Partners In Care/Together For Kids and other organizations as needed to help serve these families. It is intended to minimize the impact of any potentially life-threatening disorder by providing increased and expanded support for children and families as they contend with the demands of coping with and adapting to life with a seriously ill child. The intent is to realistically deal with the disease and its impact on the child and the entire family but to do so in a way that maximizes life beyond the boundaries of that illness. In short, to celebrate life to the fullest extent possible in spite of the limitations of whatever burdens placed by the disease and its management. Unlike hospice, this service will be initiated early at the time a potentially life-threatening diagnosis is made. The service at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital includes full-time, specially trained pediatric palliative care nurses, nurse practitioners, social workers, therapists, physicians and others who will work with the children, their families and loved ones. According to one of the participating physicians, Dr. Jeff Schwartz, a pediatric cancer specialist, "It is actually hoped that the majority of patients (such as those with childhood cancers) will be cured and will 'graduate' from the program. The reality is that not all children will be cured or even stabilized in their disease process and some children will eventually pass away. Even then, the palliative care service will continue to work with those children, their families, their doctors, hospice and others as appropriate during the time of end of life care and beyond to help provide support through this ordeal." For more information on the Pediatric Palliative Care Program, contact Randal Hamilton at Sacred Heart Hospital, 416-2895, or Jeff Schwartz, MD, at Nemours Children's Clinic Pensacola, 505-4790.
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