DAILY LOBO new mexico
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The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
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wednesday September 18, 2013
FAITH GROUPS GATHER TO PRAY FOR SYRIA Photo and story by Steve “Mo” Fye news@dailylobo.com
About 30 members of the UNM community collected near the Duck Pond Tuesday night for a gathering called “Spread the Light: A Candlelight Vigil for Syria.” The vigil, hosted by the Canterbury Campus Ministry, was intended to bring together community members of all faiths to pray for peace in Syria and for the Syrians who have been killed, injured or displaced during the civil war. Reverend Dr. Lin Lilley, interim priest at St. Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church, said that the students at the campus ministry felt strongly about the unrest in Syria and wanted to pray for the victims of the turmoil in the Middle East. “They were tired of just listening to bad news, and wanted to do something,” Lilley said. “We just came out and asked others to join in prayer.” Maddie Carrell, the organizer of the vigil, said she wanted to make sure anyone, of any faith, felt welcome to join in prayer. Erin Watson, from the UNM Pagan Students Group, made a short presentation and prayer for peace, and representatives from other campus groups spoke as well. A number of religious groups from the community could not send representatives, but sent statements
that were read to the group. Father John Barton, a retired Episcopal priest, quoted Don Quixote and the song “The Impossible Dream” from the musical “Man of La Mancha.” He then asked those gathered to pray silently and “dream in your mind what Syria would look like
if there was peace.” He said that “this hope is bigger than one religion; It’s as big as humanity.” Nursing student Steven Russell was one of the participants at the vigil. He said he simply wanted to lend his prayers in hopes for peace. Rev. Lilley reminded the crowd
that Saturday, Sept. 21 is the United Nations Day of Peace, instituted in 1982. In 2002, the World Council of Churches declared that day the Annual Day of Peace, she said. She invited everyone to take a moment of personal prayer on that day and convince others to do the same.
Other groups represented at the vigil, whether by a speaker or by a message read to the group, included the Catholic Apologetics, Wesleyan House, the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and Mission of Maitreya: Eternal Divine Path.
UNMH recognized for joint care, education by Chloe Henson
news@dailylobo.com @ChloeHenson5
After years of replacing hip bones and patellas, the UNM Hospital has finally gained recognition for its work. The Joint Commission, a not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies more
than 20,000 health care organizations and programs in the country, awarded a certification to UNMH for its hip and knee replacement programs at the end of July. Rachel Landavazo, program director for the UNMH Total Joint Replacement Program, said the Joint Commission awarded UNMH a “disease-specific
certification,” which recognizes a certain standard of care. “It basically states that our hospital has put forth the effort and the time to make sure that all of our total joints receive a certain standard of care, a gold standard, and they’re certain it’s all evidence-based medicine,” she said. “It’s recognizing that we have
Matthew Brown / Daily Lobo Richard Tingley looks out the window in his room at UNMH. He required surgery after having an accident on his bike Sunday. Tingley had just recovered from a knee replacement back in April.
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excellence of care in our joints.” Landavazo said the commission assessed UNMH on different factors such as performance improvement measures and standardized protocols. She said the certification is important because it helps to standardize care and develop patient education. “There wasn’t a lot of patient education before we took on this endeavor, and now we offer a total joint class,” she said. “Before you come in to have your knee replaced or your hip replaced you have an education class on what to expect, what you should be doing, and then you often meet with physical therapy and occupational therapy.” Rachael Brown, a unit-based educator at UNMH, said the class played an important role in obtaining the certification. “I think that to be able to achieve the certification, we have to show that we’re educating the patients,” she said. “I think actually it’s the education that helps the certification.” Brown said the classes at UNMH have “definitely” been effective in educating patients. “The patients are much more aware of what they’re about to go through and the rehab efforts and the part that they need to take,” she said. “Working with physical therapy, how to manage their own pain — they’re learning all of that from the education class.”
Brown said the certification shows UNMH has credibility. “It shows the public that the quality of care that we provide is justified by an outside source,” she said. “It’s not just us saying ‘We’re great, we’re qualified to take care of these patients.’ It’s the Joint Commission.” Landavazo said the Joint Commission also requires the hospital to select performance areas for improvement. “That’s what the certification looks at, too,” she said. “You pick this, you think this is important, you have to explain why you think that it’s important and then you need to maintain improving it over the course of two years.” The four areas UNMH focuses on for the certification are pain management, length of stay, education and surgical practices such as use of antibiotics, she said. Landavazo said the hospital needs to maintain its standards and improve on its practice to keep its certification. “TJC will come back in two years and make sure we’re maintaining everything that we claimed to maintain at the beginning and that we’re continuing to improve,” she said. “We can’t get the certification and say ‘OK, we got it, we’re done.’ … If you don’t show improvement, then you could lose the certification.”
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