Community

We may be small but we are mighty and our physician board and 1 staff works hard to grow exposure and put on these events as fundraisers for programs which help support the ECMS members.

• blood pressure cuffs • go senior transportation • Medical student scholarships • physician wellness plus more...

And if you missed our great Easter event yesterday at the Gulf Breeze Zoo we made a big announcement

The ECMS Foundation is working on a joint project with the UWF Historic Society: Pensacola Children’s Museum. A children’s hospital display with the ECMS Foundation name right on the front!

As we enter the early stages of this event please reach out with questions about

• fundraising

•sponsorship

• planning

• design

We would love for YOU and your family to be a part of this exciting project with us!

Baptist Health Care Partners with Catalyst for Development of Medical Office Building on New Campus Baptist Health Care announced earlier this spring that Catalyst Healthcare Real Estate, a full-service health care real estate investment firm, is developing an 80,000-square-foot medical office building on the new Baptist Hospital campus under construction at the intersection of Brent Lane and I-110 in Pensacola. The MOB is adjacent to the 10-story, 264-bed Baptist Hospital and the sixstory Bear Family Foundation Health Center. The MOB will offer health care professionals the opportunity to lease and custom design medical offices and clinical spaces. For more information, contact Brandon McFarren at Catalyst at bmcfarren@catalysthre.com or 850.607.6069, ext.106.

Baptist Health Care Finalizes Plans for Behavioral Health Unit Baptist Health Care has finalized plans for its behavioral health unit on the new Baptist Hospital campus being built at the intersection of Brent Lane and I-110. The BHU will provide inpatient behavioral health care for adults and children. It will have 72 beds with 36 allocated for adult patients, 10 for geriatric patients, 14 for adolescents and 12 for children. The design of the BHU provides efficiency, comfort and safety for patients and staff, and incorporates features such as numerous outdoor spaces and an abundance of natural light that have been shown to play a crucial role in healing. Learn more at https://ebaptisthealthcare.org/Transforming-Baptist/ new-campus. General Surgeon Seth A. Vernon, M.D., FACS, RPVI, Joins Baptist Medical Group Baptist Medical Group recently welcomed general surgeon Seth Vernon, M.D., FACS, RPVI, to its multispecialty physician network. Dr. Vernon earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas, where he graduated summa cum laude. He earned his medical degree at University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, Kansas, and completed a general surgery residency at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita, Kansas. He is a fellow with the American College of Surgeons and is board certified by the American Board of Surgery. His office is located at 1717 North E St., Suite 205, in Pensacola. Learn more at baptistmedicalgroup.org or call 850.437.8810.

Virtual technology assists in management of Parkinson’s disease Patients with Parkinson’s disease and Essential Tremor are finding relief for their symptoms through a surgical procedure called deep brain stimulation (DBS) in which electrodes are surgically inserted into a targeted area of the brain.

People who have DBS devices usually have to see their neurologists every three-to-six months after the surgery to recalibrate the stimulation from the electrodes. Now Ascension Sacred Heart’s Neurology and Neurosurgical Institute is the first center in Northwest Florida to offer a telemedicine advance that allows people with a DBS device to remain at home while physicians talk with them and adjust the stimulation settings remotely.

“These are such exciting times due to the fast advancing medical technology we now have available to us,” said Dr. Deborah Boland, an Ascension Sacred Heart neurologist who specializes in movement disorders. “Over the past 10 years that I have been programming DBS devices, the new virtual programming capability is one of the greatest advances in regards to patients receiving the therapy and access to care.”

There are two separate procedures that are part of DBS surgery. Electrodes are implanted in the brain and then connected to a small battery, also referred to as an implantable pulse generator. The device is implanted under the collarbone or in the abdomen and sends electrical impulses to the electrodes. The signals work to block abnormal impulses from targeted areas in the brain that are causing tremors or other movement disorders. and how the therapy is affected by a patient’s medications. To allow DBS patients to remain at home for follow-up treatments, Boland uses technology developed last year by Abbott Labs. The technology gives patients access to remote programming over the internet so patients don’t have to travel to the clinic for routine evaluations, basic troubleshooting or adjustments to their DBS therapy.

Ascension Medical Group adds pediatrics group Five board-certified pediatricians of Pediatric Associates, a group that has cared for generations of Pensacola area children, are joining Ascension Medical Group Sacred Heart and its large regional system of healthcare providers.

The pediatricians are Dr. Mary Lou O’Grady, Dr. Jennifer Thompson, Dr. Ulrike Benny, Dr. Sarah Waite and Dr. Jeneile Cordell. Three of the group – Drs. Cordell, Waite and Benny – performed their residency training in Pensacola at Ascension Sacred Heart and Studer Family Children’s Hospital. The care team also includes two nurse practitioners, Malorie McKinnon and Tavi Slevinski.

As the newest members of Ascension Medical Group Pediatrics, the five physicians will continue to operate in their three area locations: 5190 Bayou Blvd. in Pensacola 4591 Santa Villa Drive in Pace 12385 Sorrento Road in southwest Escambia County.