2013 Community
Pride
Health Care
East Georgia Regional Medical Center's popularity grows
COMMUNITY PRIDE 2013
2 – Statesboro herald — Sunday, February 24, 2013 | statesboroherald.com
Health Care
Regional medical center lives up to name As its popularity grows, East Georgia expands cutting-edge treatments By Al Hackle Herald Writer
After expanding operating rooms and doubling its number of intensive care beds in 2012, East Georgia Regional Medical Center will take further steps in 2013 to deal with its popularity. But the hospital will also continue to develop “centers of excellence” that place its services in high demand, says Bob Bigley, East Georgia’s CEO. These include the region-leading robotic sur-
gery introduced two years ago, a cardiology program that has been growing for several years and – now in the works – a push to become an accredited cancer care center. “We really have grown into a true regional center for this part of Georgia,” Bigley said, explaining why Statesboro’s hospital has growing pains such as wait times in the emergency room. East Georgia has become a hub for cardiac services, gastroenterology, and now cancer surgery, thoracic sur-
gery and robotic surgery. Frequently, the 150-bed hospital receives 50 to 55 patients in a single day. Patients transferred from hospitals in surrounding counties account for 10 to 15 percent of admissions.
Capacity a challenge The E.R., really an emergency suite with 19 treatment rooms, receives both Bulloch County residents and emergency transfers. Bigley described a common scenario
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in which 10 patients are waiting in the E.R. to be admitted to intensive care or regular beds upstairs. This leaves only nine rooms for patients needing E.R. treatment, and soon a bottleneck develops. Hospital personnel begin placing patients on hallway stretchers. “It’s no secret, and quite frankly we’re concerned about the length of time patients have to wait to get into the emergency room sometimes,” he said. “Once they get back into the emergency room, I think we do a good job of taking care of them. We have good diagnosis, they get good care, the nurses are good quality, but sometimes the waiting time to get back is way too long.” The hospital leadership has identified two avenues of relief. First, a shortage of intensive care beds has been part of the problem. Until 2012, there was just one intensive care unit with 12 beds. Last year the hospital added a cardiac care unit, also with 12 beds, as a second ICU. Plans for 2013 call for adding seven more intensive care beds. Second, regular care rooms are often available despite the E.R. logjam, and some patients remain in the E.R. simply because they need to be on a heart monitor, Bigley explained. So the hospital, which previously had 48 heart monitors for patients outside intensive care, recently spent a little over $500,000 to purchase 18 more monitors. “Those two things will help us to improve care and decrease the wait times in the
While RN Sabrina Nordeoff, background, mans a medical surgical unit, Critical Care Specialist Dr. Andrew Cichelli arranges for the transfer of a patient from another hospital to East Georgia Regional Medical Center. SCOTT BRYANT/Staff
emergency room because there won’t be as many people waiting to be admitted upstairs,” Bigley said. Last year, East Georgia also expanded some existing operating rooms by taking in a hallway. This had more to do with types of surgery – such as robotic surgery – that require large amounts of equipment, and so is related to what Bigley means by “centers of excellence.” He noted plans to build four new operating rooms starting late this year or in 2014. Currently the hospital has five regular operating rooms plus one procedure room for urology, one for caesarian sections and three for endoscopies.
Centers of Excellence
“We’re a general acutecare hospital, and what we’re focused on is developing centers of excellence in certain key areas,” Bigley said. “We’ve always done major surgery,” he added by way of example. “But we’ve grown to be now one of the leaders in robotic surgery in Southeast Georgia.” As of January 2013, Bigley
said, East Georgia Regional Medical Center is the only hospital in Southeast Georgia with a general surgeon who does robotic surgery and one of the few in Georgia outside Atlanta who does “singlehole surgery.” That general surgeon is Dr. Akram Hassanyeh. Single-hole surgery, currently used just for gallbladder removal, replaces the four small incisions of the older method with a single incision through the navel, reducing or eliminating visible scarring. But it was obstetrician/ gynecologists who first performed robotic surgeries at East Georgia using the hospital’s da Vinci surgical robot. OB/GYNs Dr. Benjamin Oldham, Dr. Lisa Rogers and Dr. James Hiller all learned the techniques. “Dr. Oldham has done probably as many case as anybody in Southeast Georgia,” said Bigley, who credits Oldham and Hassanyeh with more than 200 robotic surgeries thus far. Cardiology is another
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community pride 2013
statesboroherald.com | Statesboro herald — Sunday, February 24, 2013 – 3
Health Care
GSU rural health institute receives $5.1M grant Special to the Herald
Georgia Southern University’s Rural Health Research Institute has been awarded a $5.1 million grant by the National Institutes of Health — one of the largest research grants recently awarded to the university. The grant designates Rural Health Research as a Center of Excellence for the Elimination of Rural Health Disparities. Drs. Bryant Smalley and Jacob Warren, the institute’s co-executive directors, received the grant, the school announced in August 2012. “We are honored to have been entrusted with advanc-
ing rural health by such a prestigious federal agency,” University President Brooks Keel said. “We are eager to enact the opportunities this grant provides to make a difference in the region.” Funding for the new fiveyear project comes from NIH’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and will allow Rural Health Research to enact a comprehensive rural health disparity elimination program spanning research, training and community outreach. The grant’s activities include: and ➤ developing testing new rural-specific
health promotion programs designed to improve diabetes, hypertension and prostate cancer outcomes; ➤ enacting a rural health disparities elimination summer training program for undergraduate and graduate students; ➤ implementing new mentoring programs for faculty wishing to pursue careers in rural health; and ➤ creating a new community capacity-building initiative to improve health outcomes throughout rural southeast Georgia. The grant, which will last through 2017, will also fund 10 new jobs on campus. “We are thrilled that
Georgia Southern and the RHRI have been awarded such a significant grant to bring unprecedented attention to rural health in the region,” said Smalley, a clinical psychologist in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. “This grant will allow Georgia Southern University to make significant advancements in rural health disparities research, and officially designates the university as a national leader in addressing rural health issues.” “Bringing together interdisciplinary teams like the one assembled for this project is a great example of the work we are doing in the
SPECIAL
Rural Health Research Institute,” added Warren, an epidemiologist in the JiannPing Hsu College of Public Health. “By bringing togeth-
Drs. Bryant Smalley (left) and Jacob Warren, the co-executive directors of Georgia Southern University's Rural Health Research Institute, received a $5.1 million National Institutes of Health Grant to further health initiatives in rural southeast Georgia.
er the tremendous expertise present throughout Georgia Southern University, this project will truly make a difference in rural health.”
Regional medical center lives up to name Continued from page 2
continuing focus. Since introducing coronary stent surgery here three years ago, surgeons have performed about 450 procedures to fix blockages in patients’ hearts. “And several times a week now we have people come in with acute heart attacks that we take back to the cath lab and open up their arteries within 30 to 45 minutes so they don’t have to be shipped out and hope to make it to another hospital,” Bigley said. The hospital is continuing to add physicians and technology in cardiology, he said. Two cardiologists are scheduled to arrive this year. In 2012 East Georgia added electrophysiology – treatment of problems with the heart’s electrical system – as an available specialty, with the arrival of Dr. David Nabert. He is board-certified in both electrophysiology and nuclear cardiology.
Cancer care
Winning accreditation by the American College of Surgeons as a cancer care center is not an overnight process. But it’s a goal the hospital is pursuing. Statesboro already has cancer surgeons, oncologists and radiation therapy, Bigley noted. “We’re on our way,” he said. “We meet a lot of the criteria already. But we need two years of data, so we hope to get that accreditation in 2014.” Gastroenterology is another area where Bigley says the hospital became “state of the art” in 2012. “There’s literally nowhere you can go to have more advanced diagnostic procedures in gastroenterology than we do right here,” he said.
Recognition Georgia Trend magazine in its December issue listed
East Georgia Regional Medical Center as one of the state’s top 20 medium-sized hospitals. While ranked 15th, East Georgia was also one of the smallest hospitals in the category, which ranged up to 399 beds. And the Joint Commission, which accredits hospitals nationally, recognized EGRMC again in 2013 as a top performer in Key Quality Measures. Instead of advanced services, this recognition is based on general standards for treatment of things such as heart attacks, pneumonia and surgical infections. Although 620 hospitals were recognized as top performers last year, East Georgia was of only 244 – of about 5,000 U.S. hospitals – listed two consecutive years. “That’s going to be a continued focus for us, to demonstrate that we provide a high level of quality in all the services we provide,” Bigley said.
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4 – Statesboro herald — Sunday, February 24, 2013 | statesboroherald.com
COMMUNITY PRIDE 2013
community pride 2013
statesboroherald.com | Statesboro herald — Sunday, February 24, 2013 – 5
community pride 2013
6 – Statesboro herald — Sunday, February 24, 2013 | statesboroherald.com
Health Care
Willow Pond expanding Facility will add an Alzheimer's, dementia wing with 11 new beds By JAN MOORE jmoore@statesboroherald.com
Georgia Liv ing Management Inc. has announced plans for the construction of a new Alzheimer's wing at its Willow Pond assisted living facility on Country Club Road. The new wing will have 11 resident rooms and a joint activity room that will be shared by both
assisted living residents and Alzheimer's residents. "The new wing will also include a new salon/spa that will service the assisted living residents and the Alzheimer's residents," said Karen Martin, executive director of The Suites at Willow Pond and Willow Pond at Home. "The current activity room in Willow Pond will be converted into a movie theatre."
According to Georgia Living Management's chief operating officer Brill Wright, the new addition will be 7,600 square feet including a dining room, media room, sitting areas, porches and a garden. The current facility is 20,300 square feet with 30 apartments on 4.5 acres. "We currently have 31 residents, and this will give us the ability to add 11 more," Wright said. "We
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recognize a need for specialized care for those with Alzheimer's and other memory care issues. We already have two memory care wings in our Griffin and LaGrange facilities, and they have been very successful." Formed in 1997, Georgia Living Management has a total of six assisted living facilities including one in Thomasville and two in Tifton. They also offer in home companions and caregivers through Georgia Living At Home. Martin has a passion for caring for those with memory care issues. "I have wanted to have a facility to care for those with Alzheimer's and dementia since we opened Willow Pond ten years
ago," she said. "I feel so strongly about this. Someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's every 68 seconds in this country." Statistics provided by the Alzheimer's Association state that 5.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, and one in eight older Americans has Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States, and the only cause of death among the top ten in the United States that cannot be prevented, cured or even slowed. "We are holding a ground breaking ceremony on April 18, and hope to open the wing this fall," Wright said. "We have plans and renderings displayed so that people can
get an idea of what how the new wing is going to look. Martin said the one thing that families need to know when looking for assistance with a loved one is that the person must be ambulatory to live at Willow Pond. "In other words, they need to be able to get around with limited assistance either walking or in a wheel chair," she said. Martin is the Bulloch County chairman of this year's "Walk to End Alzheimer's" slated for October 6 at Bulloch Academy. "All the money raised will go to help with research of this terrible disease," she said. "Raising awareness is the first step."
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community pride 2013
statesboroherald.com | Statesboro herald — Sunday, February 24, 2013 – 7
Health Care
The strength of survival
By HOLLI DEAL BRAGG hbragg@statesboroherald.com
Some held hands. Others held balloons. Every one of the cancer survivors who made the first lap at the April 2012 Bulloch County Relay for Life held hope. People of all ages, races, and all walks of life gathered for the annual fundraiser aimed at helping find a cure for cancer. Money raised through the event, like thousands of others across the world, goes to cancer awareness and research. The track at the Statesboro Kiwanis Fairgrounds was lined with white paper sack luminaries, purchased by citizens in memory of friends or family members who either lost the battle with cancer or who survived. As dark fell, the soft glow of the luminaries pierced the night. Survivors and their caregivers enjoyed a chicken dinner before the festivities. Raina Chance, who learned she had cancer nine years ago when she was a high school junior, spoke during the meal. She told how she had just begin driving, was enjoying varsity softball, when she discovered a bruise on her foot. Blood tests revealed she had leukemia. As she spoke, Nellie Sowell, 98, sat with her daughter. Sowell is a 56-year cancer survivor, having overcome cervical cancer.
Participating in Relay for Life “makes me happy to see so many people enjoying life after becoming a survivor,” she said. She left the dining area to sit in a rocking chair underneath the survivor’s tent, next to the track. As she watched, others strolled by. Some were obvious survivors, with no hair due to chemotherapy, or being pushed in wheelchairs. Most survivors could only be identified by the purple shirts they were given; the front read “Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back.” The back read “I am Hope.” One of the fund raising activities had Relay teams decorating their campsites, where members would rest through the night as the event went on. Some grilled, others sold a variety of refreshments and everyone enjoyed the carnival atmosphere. Judges would later decide which camp was best. Children enjoyed train rides and an air jump house. Tammy Letbetter, 23, Savannah, smiled as she watched the fun. She was with the Zeta Phi Beta sorority from Georg ia Southern University. “We’re here to help in the survivor tent, pass out tee shirts, give directions and help where needed,” she said.”I had a grandfather who didn’t survive cancer, and whatever I can do to give back is good.” Dan Bryant helped his wife Marjorie into chair underneath the tent. As an
attentive caregiver, he talked about their brush with cancer while she socialized with a friend. “She is a one-year survivor … renal clear cell cancer and sarcomatoid (bone) cancer,” he said. He said he and his wife have been supporting fund raising for cancer research since the late 1970’s, before Relay for Life was formed in 1985. “It gives people a chance,” he said. “It’s a terrible thing when a doctor says ‘we don’t have a cure.’ They have help, but not a cure.” Some survivors are young. Stacy Waters, 26, watched her two young sons play as she shared her experience with cervical cancer. She discovered it after the birth of son Zachary, now five. “I was upset, sad, and didn’t really know what to do,” she said. “I don’t know what I would have done if it wasn’t for my mama. I’d have freaked.” Her mother, Latrelle Hardy, walked with her as she made the survivor’s lap. Team members took turns throughout the night walking around the track, raising money in several different ways to support the fight to find a cure for cancer. This year there will be two Relays in Statesboro. One will be at Georgia Southern on April 12. The other will be at Kiwanis Ogeechee Fairgrounds on April 19. For more information, go to relayforlife. org.
Robert Paxson, right, and wife Amy respond to the applause from a supporting crowd as they participate in the Survivors Lap to kick off the 2012 Relay for Life at the Kiwainis Ogeechee Fairgrounds. Amy is a 10-year cancer survivor and Robert a threeyear survivor.
SCOTT BRYANTHerald file
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community pride 2013
8 – Statesboro herald — Sunday, February 24, 2013 | statesboroherald.com
Health Care
City health plan saves time, $$$ Statesboro-based company offering primary care for city employees, their families By JAN MOORE jmoore@statesboroherald.com
Statesboro-based TransformHealthRX was named one of the 50 fastest growing women-owned/led companies in North America by The Women Presidents’ Organization, in partnership with American Express OPEN. And the local company is changing the way city and county governments provide health care services for their employees. Founded in Bulloch County in 2006 by registered nurse Allison Judge, TransformHealthRX provides clinical case management services through established centers for employees and their dependents that are part of a self-insured health insurance plan. In 2012, the city of Statesboro held a ribbon cutting ceremony for its new employee Health and Wellness Center founded and operated by TransformHealthRX. "The first meeting that I had with the company was almost two years ago," said Jeff Grant, human resources director for the city of Statesboro. "We have a selfinsured health plan which means we have a pool of money dedicated to pay for primary care for our employees, before re-insurance kicks in. Containing primary care and chronic care costs are important." Grant said employee/
dependent use of the center for primary care such as regular office visits, physiGrant cals, pharmaceuticals, and labs is designed to capture about 50 percent of the primary costs of health care for those enrolled in the city's plan, which equates to 25 percent of total claims. "In other words, TransformHealthRX will oversee the employee's health care through the center, managing what services they may need outside of the center, such as x-rays, mammograms, or care from a specialist," he said. "Instead of employees managing their own care, TransformHealthRX does it, which cuts down on unnecessary visits, as well as lower costs contractually with specialty providers and pharmacists. Employees can visit the center without paying anything, and generic drugs and lab work are only $5." The program begins with a complete risk assessment for each employee. With good program communications, the program typically achieves 90+ percent participation rates. Each risk assessment is evaluated by one of the company's provider teams, and a wellness plan is developed based on each
SCOTT BRYANT/Herald file
Transform Health RX medical Assistant Cayla Wilson is one of the health professionals serving City of Statesboro employees. employee's individual needs. The clinic providers schedule consultations with employees to discuss starting a pro-active plan to reduce their controllable risk factors. "Our employees do not have to take a half of a day off to get medical care," Grant said. "They can go for free to the center without
having to take any time off, and get seen, and leave with the prescription that they need. I cannot tell you the difference in moral and productivity that we have seen in just two months. It is tremendous." Judge said her idea for the company came from her experience as a clinical case manager for Iraq/ Afghanistan war veterans at Fort Stewart in Hinesville. "In 2003, the Army had over 1,500 soldiers requiring
treatment upon their return from the Middle East, and they needed a process to fast track these soldiers back to health," she said. "Several of us were hired to do that, to case manage their care. The Army realized over $20 million in savings in a very short period of time, because the nurses were local, and were familiar with all of the medical providers in the region. I felt that I could translate that same type of service to a different population – worksite health care and correctional health care." Judge said it is typical to have 15 percent of employees responsible for over 80 percent of an employer's health care costs. "We have learned 'bootson-the-ground,' face to face health care delivery is the best way to connect with those patients and get results," Judge said. "The Team One Program uses the worksite clinic to engage, encourage, educate and reward participating patients for progress in managing their conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension." Judge said that people want to be compliant with their diagnosis, in other words, they want to do what is necessary to treat whatever condition they may have, however, there are barriers for many in the workforce that keep them from being compliant. "If you have someone making $10 an hour, they may have to decide between paying rent or filling a prescription," she said.
"Typically, they are going to pay rent which means their health care suffers, and they end up at the hospital. If they owe a bill to their primary care physician, then they just won't go, yielding the same result. If we remove those barriers, the cost of medication, and the cost of a doctor's visit, then they become compliant, and their overall medical costs are greatly reduced as in-patient admissions are drastically reduced." The city of Cordele has had TransformHealthRX in place since least September. "We have a self-funded plan for our employees which was paying about $1.5 million in claims every year, and the wellness programs that we had in place really weren't working," said David Wade, human resources director for the city. "After the initial startup we are seeing $12,000 to $15,000 a month in savings." Wade said it has been a "good news project" for the city as it has been the single most effective program implemented in recent memory resulting in improved employee relations, as well as tremendous cost savings to the city, and ultimately the taxpayers. "Our employees can go to the doctor, come out with whatever medications they may need, and be back to the worksite in one hour," he said. "If we did away with this today, I would be out of a job, because this has been so well received. Just the savings in our pharmacy and lab costs would knock your socks off."
A program worth smiling about Local orthodontist offers scholarships for free braces By JEFF HARRISON jharrison@statesboroherald.com
A Statesboro orthodontist and his staff hope to make a difference in the lives of young people by giving them a reason to smile. An endeavor being undertaken by Dr. Michael Wall, of Wall Orthodontics, will provide middle and high school-aged children throughout Bulloch and surrounding counties with dental scholarships to receive care their families otherwise could not afford. Wall has founded a regional chapter of Smiles for a Lifetime, a nonprofit organization with the mission of making braces available for children in
need. The program will offer free braces and follow-up dental care to at least six Wall children during the next year, said Missy Mills, the treatment coordinator for Wall Orthodontics and executive director of the local Smiles for a Lifetime chapter. For Wall, the program is an opportunity to give back and “pay it forward.” “The mission is to create self-confidence, inspire hope and change the lives of children in our community who are unable to afford braces,” Wall said.
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COMMUNITY PRIDE 2013
statesboroherald.com | Statesboro herald — Sunday, February 24, 2013 – 9
Health Care
Hearts & Hands clinic celebrates move
By AL HACKLE Herald Writer
The Hearts & Hands Clinic made its move to a larger, more advanced facility in June 2012. To celebrate, the nonprofit clinic held a fundraising gala in the Southern Ballroom at Georgia Southern University’s Nessmith-Lane Conference Center. Calling the move a “leap of faith,” Andres Montes, the founder and CEO of Hearts & Hands, challenged the community to continue its support to provide a safety net for people in need. “Here in Bulloch County, we show that success comes from citizen helping citizen, from neighbor assisting neighbor and from a stranger lending a helping hand and a heart to another stranger,” said Montes, 24. Hearts & Hands moved from its Son’s Light Fellowship Baptist Church on U.S. Highway 301 South to a leased facility at 127 N. College St. More than double the size of the former clinic area at the church, the new facility includes five exam rooms — instead of the previous two — and a dental chair. Hearts & Hands already provided dental care and eye care, as well as medical care, but previously the dental work had to be done by dentists volunteering their time in their own offices. Montes said that clinic personnel hoped to expand services in the new location. “One of the big things for we’re hoping for, especially in the new facility, is the ability to be open more days, and too, involving more nurse practitioners to actually see patients during the daytime instead of
Want to help? The Hearts & Hands Clinic relies on donations and grants to provide health services to people in need. To contribute, visit theheartsandhandsclinic.org or call (912) 681-9519.
only at night, and therefore seeing more patients,” he said. The move meant greater financial responsibilities, he acknowledged, but he added that Hearts & Hands may be able to qualify for more grants, particularly to pay nurse practitioners. When Jessie Burns first heard that the clinic was opening in fall 2010, her husband had been laid off from his longtime job. Medical insurance available through her own job, she said, was very expensive because the group is so small. She works as a house parent at Joseph’s Home for Boys. Burns knew she had high blood pressure but hadn’t taken her medication in at least six months. She had been unable to afford a doctor’s visit for a prescription, she said, and had been turned down by other clinics. When Hearts & Hands accepted Burns among its first patients, she signed up for all three available services — medical, dental and vision. At the clinic, she was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, got a new prescription for her hypertension and was referred to a nutritionist for diet advice. “I’ve got a lot of good things to say about Heart & Hands,” she said. “Without them, I’d probably be in worse condition than ever, not having taken my medication and developing other illnesses along with being a Type 2 diabetic and having high
912-764-3724 915 E. Inman St. Statesboro, GA
blood pressure.” The new location, she said, will make the clinic accessible to people who had difficulty getting to the former site south of town. “It’s bigger and it’s close to a lot of low-income places that people can walk if they don’t have a ride, and I say that’s great,” Burns said. Pastor John Long, who in addition to being the minister at Son’s Light Fellowship is the current Hearts & Hands board president, said the clinic’s new location is “leaps and bounds forward” from the space the church has provided. Long, who wore his black cowboy hat to the gala, sometimes calls people “partner.” “Partner, I tell you, it’s a blessing,” he said. “I’m excited about the building. It’s just all coming together, and it’s going to enable us to expand our other ministries.” In particular, Son’s Light Fellowship plans to use the freed-up space to expand its thrift store and remodel its food pantry. Montes and Long presented an appreciation award Saturday to Dennis Nelson, the president of American General Maintenance, who built the original clinic in the church and, Montes said, has done some remodeling at the new location. They presented another award to Tim Durden, who is renting Hearts & Hands the North College Street building at a discounted rate. Executive Director Alvie Coes III credited Clifton with putting in 2,000 hours of volunteer work at the clinic, and Long spoke of the continuing work of GSU student volunteers. As keynote speaker at the gala, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, the
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commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health, said her department and volunteer clinics such as Hearts & Hands share a mission of providing a health-care safety net for Georgians. Her agency oversees local health departments in all 159 Georgia counties. But free clinics play a vital role, she said, especially in counties such as Bulloch, where many residents have no health insurance. “The whole notion of having a true safety net, a safety net that is founded by people Photos by Jeremy Wilburn/special who believe and who understand the real problems here, Andres Montes, right, is commended for his work in forming is phenomenal and absolutely the Hearts & Hands clinic by Pastor John Long at the Hearts wonderful,” Fitzgerald said. & Hands Gala in June 2012.
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