Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s Healthcare System Names New Officers and Directors
LITTLE ROCK — The board of directors of Children’s Healthcare System, Inc. (CHCS) at Arkansas Children’s Hospital recently elected new officers and two new board members. New officers serving a two-year term are:
Timothy Martin, M.D., president – Martin is the chief of Pediatric Anesthesiology at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
John Bale – vice president – Bale is a member of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital board of directors.
Gena Wingfield – treasurer – Wingfield is a senior vice president and the chief financial officer of Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
Christopher Smith, M.D. – secretary – Smith is an associate medical director of Arkansas Children’s Hospital and medical director of the hospital’s new PULSE (Pediatric Understanding and Learning through Simulation Education) Center.
Elected to the board as new directors are Evan Kokoska, M.D., and R. Wayne Herbert, M.D., who were nominated by fellow members and will serve three-year terms.
Arkansas Methodist Medical Center Earns International Health Care Honors
PARAGOULD — Arkansas Methodist Medical Center (AMMC) recently hosted a special Celebration of Excellence event to recognize staff members who received a number of prestigious awards from the HealthCare Service Excellence Association (HCSEA), The international association recognized members of the AMMC staff and the medical center for exceptional customer service achievements in health care and initiatives for improving the quality of service for patients/customers; the quality of work life for health care professionals; and the performance of health care organizations.
The organization’s top awards for the United States and Canada were presented on Oct. 26, in conjunction with HCSEA’s annual conference in Nashville, Tenn. At the celebration event held in the medical center’s atrium recently, staff members honored and celebrated their peers for their achievements.
Thomas Hancock, a maintenance engineer at AMMC also received top honors with a Summit Award for his work as a Service Excellence Advisor teaching staff orientation classes and counseling staff on being effective leaders and role models for new hires.
Four members of the AMMC staff also were recognized as Pinnacle Achievers, one of the top three in North America and Canada, by HCSEA for their commitment to service excellence. AMMC staffers recognized with Pinnacle Awards included:
- Christi Foust, RN, honored for her work as a Service Excellence Mentor
- Dr. Ron Schechter, honored as a customer-focused physician
- Brenda McKinney, RN, BSN, and patient liaison, honored for her work as a program director for AMMC Excellence Service Provider program.
- Debra Vassar, RN, BSN, CNO, honored for her work as a Service Excellence Executive Sponsor
AMMC’s Service Excellence Council also was honored with a Pinnacle Award and the medical center as a whole was recognized with a Pinnacle Award as a Hospital Provider of Choice
UAMS Receives $2 Million Dollar Gift From Sharpe Charitable Trust
LITTLE ROCK — After his wife Edna died of cancer in 1969, family and friends say Buren Sharpe wanted to support cancer research somehow. That’s why he designated a $2 million gift to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) from the Buren and Edna Sharpe Charitable Remainder Trust.
Sharpe, who died in 1986, was a longtime building contractor, civic leader and owner of Buren Sharpe Building Material Company in McGehee. His trust became payable to UAMS upon the 2006 death of his second wife, Mildred P. Sharpe, who had been a lifetime beneficiary.
The Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute directs all cancer research at UAMS.
The Cancer Institute recently broke ground on a 12-floor, more than 300,000-square-foot expansion to its existing facility. The expansion, expected to open in 2010, will allow the institute to treat more patients and host more research into new treatments.
United Health Foundation: Arkansas Ranks as 48th Healthiest State
A recent report from the United Health Foundation ranked Arkansas 48th in the nation when it comes to health and health care. Despite the ranking, the state has seen improvements in care, and some health care experts believe several factors should be considered.
- The greatest deterioration in Arkansas’ ranking from 2006 was in the number of children in poverty. While not directly a health system issue, the increase in poverty illustrates how the socioeconomics of a community (violent crime, high school education, children in poverty) impact health.
- The report showed low ratings for occupational injury, which benefits employers and the health care system as a whole.
- Arkansas Medicaid data continue to show improvement in immunizations for children on ARKids First.
- The future of the nation’s SCHIP program is still in jeopardy. Elimination of this program would place many of our state’s children at increased risk for disease and illness.
Tim Hudson Named UAMS Director of Development for Northwest Arkansas Region
LITTLE ROCK — Tim W. Hudson has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Department of Development and Alumni Affairs as director of development for the northwest Arkansas region.
From 1996-2007, Hudson was employed by the Ozark Guidance Center in Springdale, first as development director and later as executive vice president of the Ozark Guidance Foundation. Prior to that position, Hudson served as marketing director at Corporate Property Investors in Atlanta, Ga.
Employees Recognized for 35 Years of Service
MORRILTON — St. Anthony’s Medical Center (SAMC) recently recognized two employees for their extensive years of service: Barbara Mallett and Verna Wilson have been with SAMC for 35 years each.
Barbara Mallett joined St. Anthony’s in June of 1972 in the Health Information Management (HIM) Department and is now the full-time supervisor of the HIM Department. Verna Wilson began at St. Anthony’s as an LPN in the Medical Surgical Unit of the hospital in January of 1972. Wilson initially wanted to work in obstetrics, and was thrilled when she was offered the position of Labor and Delivery Nurse two and a half years later – a position she has maintained for the past 33 years.
St. Vincent Topping Out Ceremony Marks Highest Construction Point in $47 Million Expansion Project at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center
LITTLE ROCK — St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center Topping Out Ceremony was held Nov. 16 at 10 a.m. from the vantage point of University Mall Parking lot east. St. Vincent board members, physicians, staff and employees watched as a steel beam was placed at the highest construction point in the $47 million expansion and growth project at the corner of University Ave. and Markham St. in Little Rock.
Community leaders and supporters of the St. Vincent project signed the 14-foot beam before a truck moved it across the street from University Mall parking lot to the St. Vincent construction site.The beam was welded into place and will be a permanent part of the structure. Among those in attendance, and who signed the beam were Arkansas Senator Irma Hunter Brown, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, St. Vincent Board Chairman elect, Gus Blass, Rev. Msgr. J. Gaston Hebert, Catholic Diocese of Little Rock and board members, physicians, nurses, staff and the general public.
Ten million dollars of the project’s funding is earmarked for expanding emergency and critical care capacity in line with the increasing national demand for emergency care. Medical director of the St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center emergency department, Dr. Chuck M
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