Hospital Newsmakers

Jerry Mabry, former Arkansas market president and CEO of National Park Medical Center in Hot Springs, passed away in early May. We extend our condolences to his wife, Mary, his son, his daughter, and to his hospital family.

Chambers Memorial Hospital in Danville and White River Medical Center in Batesville have both been named to The Chartis Center for Rural Health’s Top 100 Rural and Community Hospitals for 2021. Compiled by The Chartis Center for Rural Health, the Top 100 list honors outstanding performance among the nation’s rural hospitals. This is the eleventh year for the program.

The Arkansas Neuroscience Institute at CHI St. Vincent North in Sherwood has opened a new Epilepsy Monitoring Unit in partnership with Advanced Monitoring Services. The new unit provides epilepsy patients and their physicians a suite of advanced neurodiagnostic resources including long-term seizure monitoring and ambulatory monitoring so patients can be monitored in the home setting.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

(UAMS) held its fourth annual Day of Giving this spring to support education, clinical care, and research across the institution. Since 2017, the Day of Giving event has been the organization’s largest single-day philanthropic effort. This year, the event raised $352,933. Donations of nonperishable food items and heartfelt, handwritten notes for UAMS’s front-line health care heroes were also collected. The donations of food go to the Stocked & Reddie food pantry sponsored by UAMS.

A new Epilepsy Monitoring Unit recently opened at the Arkansas Neuroscience Institute located at CHI St. Vincent North in Sherwood. Lori House is the newly selected first CEO/Administrator for the Sevier County Medical Center being built in DeQueen. The new hospital is under construction on an 18acre site north of the community. House formerly served as Director of Revenue Cycle at Healthy Connections in Mena.

The Arkansas Hospital Association is now accepting entries for the 2021 Diamond Awards. The open nominations are co-sponsored by the AHA and the Arkansas Society for Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations. Last year, 15 hospitals received the highly distinguished Diamond Award. This year’s recipients will receive their awards during the October 7 Awards Luncheon at the Little Rock Marriott. The Diamond Awards recognize excellence and encourage improvement in the quality, effectiveness, and impact of health care marketing and public relations in the state of Arkansas. Awards are presented in several categories and across hospital divisions including Critical Access Hospitals, hospitals with 26-99 beds, hospitals with 100-249 beds, and those with 250 or more beds. Nominations and entries accompanied by the appropriate documentation must arrive at AHA headquarters no later than 4:00 p.m. July 16, 2021. For more information, go to arkhospitals.org.

With the goal of dramatically improving responses for patients suffering heart attack, stroke, or other trauma, CHI St. Vincent has adopted an advanced communication system called Pulsara. Pulsara is a telehealth and communication platform that enables HIPAA-compliant, dynamic networked communications between EMS, hospitals, and other health care providers for any patient event.

The new podcast "Speaking of Grief" has been launched by Arkansas Hospice.

Arkansas Hospice recently launched a new podcast, “Speaking of Grief,” as an expansion of its communitybased grief support during the COVID-19 pandemic. New episodes launch on the first of every month.