HAMPTON ROADS : NEWS BRIEFS
Riverside Regional Medical Center is among the first hospitals in Virginia to use a new cutting-edge tool in treating patients experiencing a stroke. Riverside endovascular surgeons used the Solitaire FR revascularization device to remove a blood clot and restore blood flow to a patient’s brain, saving the patient from what could have been a life-threatening stroke. The Solitaire device received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in March.
Stephanie B. Troy, M.D., an infectious disease specialist at Eastern Virginia Medical School, is receiving research support from a private foundation in her efforts to improve global health by studying the possible risks of polio vaccines and methods to improve them.
Riverside Health System was named among the most wired health systems in the Hospitals & Health Networks Magazine’s 2012 “Most Wired” Survey and Benchmarking Study. The magazine recognizes most-wired hospitals because information technology enables caregivers to deliver improved patient care and enhance health system efficiency. This is the eighth consecutive year Riverside has made the list.
Three Sentara hospitals now offer “smart room technology,” whereby all inpatient treatments or tests (30 minutes or longer) are planned and scheduled through the hospital system’s electronic medical record. Patients at Sentara CarePlex Hospital, Virginia Beach General Hospital and Williamsburg Regional Medical Center can see that schedule and plan their stay. All Sentara Hampton Roads hospitals are expected to have this technology by fall.
Riverside Regional Medical Center (RRMC) jumped to the No. 2 spot in the Hampton Roads region, up from No. 5, in the latest U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Hospitals ranking.
Larger patients or those fearful of small spaces can rest easy: Sentara Norfolk General Hospital has added a new open MRI system.
Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center was recognized by the Critical Care Societies Collaborative and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for avoiding a single case of ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) in the past eight years.
The EVMS Sleep Medicine Center, temporarily displaced from a fire in April, has reopened at the Fort Norfolk Plaza building in downtown Norfolk. The center specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders and sleep-related problems.
Chesapeake Regional ComfortCare Home Health and Hospice, formerly known as Chesapeake Regional Home Care Services, has achieved Partner Level Two status with We Honor Veterans, a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center is offering a new minimally invasive treatment for severe asthma, called bronchial thermoplasty. Sentara Williamsburg is the only hospital in the region and the second hospital in Virginia offering this promising asthma treatment.
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RICHMOND : NEWS BRIEFS
Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing has earned accreditation for its BSN and RN to BSN degree completion program by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. After four years of planning and implementation, the College received a five-year accreditation, the longest duration a new program can receive.
U.S. News and World Report’s Best Hospitals edition ranked the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center the No. 1 hospital in Virginia and in the Richmond metropolitan area, reflecting four programs—nephrology, pulmonology, orthopaedic surgery and urology—in the top 50. Sheldon Retchin, M.D., CEO of the VCU Health System and vice president for VCU Health Sciences, said the No. 1 ranking in the commonwealth “is a fantastic endorsement of our commitment to excellence in patient care.” He added that it also reflects “our goal of bringing the latest and best therapies, treatments and cures to our patients and to the community.”
This month, Richmonder Deborah J. Johnston, R.N., founder of Care Advantage, Inc., will be featured on ABC’s Secret Millionaire, a nationally televised reality show where millionaires around the country are chosen to spend a week in the country’s poorest areas and ultimately reward some unsung community heroes with thousands of dollars of their own money. Johnston and her company have given over $1 million to local charities. Johnston was featured in the January 2012 issue of The Health Journal.
CarMax, Inc., the nation’s largest retailer of used cars, has awarded Sports Backers a $5,000 grant in support of its Kids Run RVA program. Kids Run RVA is the umbrella program for all of Sports Backers youth running programs that are designed to promote a physically active lifestyle to all youth in the Richmond region.
The American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living have selected the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU–Brook Road Campus as a 2012 recipient of the “Silver–Achievement in Quality” award for its outstanding performance in the health care profession. The competitive award highlights select facilities across the nation that serve as models of excellence in providing high-quality long-term care.
Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center is one of approximately 20 institutions taking part in a national clinical trial evaluating a medical device that provides focused stimulation to the brain that may offer an effective therapy for people with severe depression.
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