Grand Rounds July on Arkansas Medical News Inc.

Grand Rounds July

Koehn Earns Physician of the Year Recognition at St. Joseph’s

Martin A. Koehn, MD recently earned 2007 Physician of the Year recognition at St. Joseph’s Mercy Health Center.
The St. Joseph’s Physician of the Year honor is a byproduct of the Physician of the Quarter initiative, which determines the three physicians who receive the most Mercy Service Recognition Certificates.
Koehn, a board certified family practice physician, also serves as Medical Director of Inpatient Hospice Service in cooperation with Arkansas Hospice, Inc., an eight-bed unit on the fifth floor of St. Joseph’s. He attended medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, completed his internship at Colorado’s Denver General Hospital and his residency at North Carolina’s Charlotte Memorial Hospital.

Baptist Health Honored by Heart Association

The American Heart Association recently named Baptist Health as one of 153 employers nationwide –– and one of only two companies in Arkansas –– to be recognized as a fit-friendly employer for its efforts in promoting healthy practices in the workplace.
Baptist Health won a gold-level award for offering employees physical activity support, increasing healthy-eating options at work, and promoting a wellness culture.

Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield was the only other employer from Arkansas to be awarded with a fit-friendly designation from the American Heart Association.

The American Heart Association’s company recognition awards are part of the organization’s Start! workplace walking and nutrition campaign, which Baptist Health-Little Rock became a part of when the national initiative kicked off in February.
The staff at the Baptist Health-Little Rock fitness center – Natalie Sanders, Jeremy Ray, and A.D. Abston – plus John Bishop, program line manager at Baptist Health Rehabilitation Institute, and clinical dietitian JoBeth McElhanon have been instrumental in coordinating the Start! program for Baptist Health.

AAHQ Selects St. Joseph’s Gottlieb as First Distinguished Member

Anita Gottlieb, the Director of Performance Improvement for St. Joseph’s Mercy Health Center, was selected as the first distinguished member of the Arkansas Association for Healthcare Quality at its spring meeting.
Gottlieb has served AAHQ as president, communication action team leader and member and education action team member. She has also been a member of the National Association of Healthcare Quality since 1995 and earned fellowship status in 2001.

Holt Named Director of Security for Arkansas Children’s Hospital

Jamie Holt has joined Arkansas Children’s Hospital as director of Security, according to Jeanette Perdue, vice president of Operations at Children’s.

Holt supervises all Children’s security officers and security functions on the 28-block campus in Little Rock. He is responsible for research and development of security strategies and enhancements campus-wide.

Previously, Holt served as security leader for Axciom Corporation, where he had responsibility for Axciom security worldwide including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, China and Australia.

Holt received a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Central Arkansas and a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice from UALR.

AAHE Elects St. Joseph’s Swaim As President

Jack Swaim, Maintenance Manager for St. Joseph’s Mercy Health Center, was elected president of the Arkansas Association for Healthcare Engineering, Inc., during its annual spring banquet at the Clarion Resort on the Lake.

Swaim will serve one year as president of AAHE, which is a chapter of the American Society for Healthcare Engineering. The associations share a vision of engaging stakeholders in the creation of the optimum healing healthcare environment.

North Arkansas Hires Leer

Pete Leer has joined North Arkansas Regional Medical Center as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Leer brings a solid background of administration, financial, and operational experience to NARMC’s Administrative Team. Mr. Leer’s extensive experience in the healthcare field includes executive positions with AHEC Northwest in Fayetteville, Sparks Regional Medical Center in Fort Smith, and SunHealth, Inc. in Charlotte, N.C.

Leer holds a Masters Degree in Healthcare Administration from Duke University, a B.S. in Accounting from the University of the Ozarks, and a B.A. in Anthropology and Pre-Med from Dartmouth College.

Leer is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and served on the ACHE Regent’s Advisory Council for Arkansas, and has previously served as President of the Arkansas Health Executives Forum.

Cornett Named UAMS Vice Chancellor for Research

Lawrence Cornett, Ph.D., has been named vice chancellor for research at UAMS. He previously served as director of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute.

Cornett also holds the title of executive associate dean of the UAMS College of Medicine. He joined UAMS in 1980 as assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. He was promoted to associate professor in 1985 and to professor in 1990. He continues to serve as professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics and the Department of Medicine.

Prior to coming to UAMS, Cornett earned his doctoral degree in physiology from the University of California, Davis, and continued his postdoctoral studies at the University of California, San Francisco. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the Cardiovascular Research Institute and Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Services, at the University of California, San Francisco.

Hopkins Named Local Governor

Robert H. Hopkins Jr., MD, an associate professor of internal medicine and pediatrics in UAMS College of Medicine, recently became governor for the Arkansas chapter of the American College of Physicians.

Hopkins, who is a fellow in the ACP as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics, began a four-year term as governor during the ACP’s annual scientific meeting held in April at San Diego after serving one year as governor-elect. Governors are elected by local ACP members to supervise chapter activities, appoint members to local committees and preside at regional meetings.

Hopkins is program director for the Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Program at UAMS and director of the Internal Medicine Primary Care Elective for fourth-year medical students. A native of Batesville, Hopkins joined the UAMS faculty in 1993 as an instructor in pediatrics after he completed his medical residency at UAMS.

The American College of Physician is the largest medical specialty organization and the second-largest physician group in the United States, with 120,000 members.

UAMS Neurologists Report On Link Between Gastric Bypass Surgery and Neurological Conditions

A decade-long study by neurologists at UAMS in Little Rock has found a link between the increasingly popular weight-loss surgery known as gastric bypass and several serious neurological conditions.

Katalin Juhasz Pocsine, MD, associate professor in the UAMS Department of Neurology, is lead author of the study, which was published online May 22 in the medical journal Neurology.

The study concludes that patients who undergo gastric bypass surgery, also known as bariatric surgery, are at risk for long-term vitamin and mineral deficiencies and may develop a variety of neurological symptoms.

More than 150 patients who came to the UAMS Neurology Clinic following gastric bypass were included in the report. In 26 of these patients, a link between the surgery and their neurological condition was found.

All of the patients involved in the study had previously undergone the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure in which a small stomach pouch is created by stapling part of the stomach together and bypassing part of the small bowel, resulting in reduced food intake and a decreased ability to absorb the nutrients in food. The interval between surgery and onset of neurological symptoms ranged from 4 weeks to 18 years.

Kids Kozy Kottages

Kids Kozy Kottages is a creative and kid-friendly fundraising event for the American Lung Association of Arkansas. Designer playhouses were created by local architects, builders and interior designers and auctioned off at a cocktail party in Little Rock.

The proceeds supported the Lung Association and their programs for children such as the “Don’t Start Smoking” Storyboard Coloring Contest, Open Airways for Schools, Healthy Lungs Month and others.

For more information, or to see the playhouse architects, builders, and designers, please visit our website at: http://www.lungark.org/kozy_kottages.htm\

Latourette Joins TerKeurst in Mt. Home Clinic

Dr. John S. TerKeurst, MD, has announced that an additional urologist has joined him in practice at the TerKeurst Urology Clinic. He is Dr. Harry H. Latourette Jr., MD, who is board certified in urology and is semi-retired from a 30-year practice in Florida.

“We are glad to welcome an experienced urologist like Dr. Latourette to our clinic,” said TerKeurst. “Since he is semi-retired, he will not be seeing patients in the clinic full-time, but will work with us part-time.”

Latourette is a native of San Antonio, Texas, who graduated from Arkansas State University and from medical school at UAMS. He completed his internship at St. John’s Hospital at Tulsa, Okla., and his residency at the University of Missouri, at Columbia, Mo.

Latourette has been board certified in urology since 1978.

Latourette’s medical practice in Florida was in Pensacola. While there, he was Chief of Surgery at West Florida Hospital for two terms, 2002-05. He also served as a member of the Medical Center Professional Practices Committee for more than 10 years.

St. Jude and ALSAC Appoint New Chief Communications Officer

Ken Ferber has joined St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and ALSAC to serve as chief communications officer and senior vice president, overseeing public relations and communications staffs at both institutions. ALSAC is the hospital’s fundraising organization.
Ferber comes to St. Jude and ALSAC with extensive experience in health care communications and national expertise in media relations, corporate reputation, branding, crisis communications, as well as policy and issues communications. A graduate of The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., Ferber has been included on PRWeek’s “A-List of Top 20 Corporate Communication Professionals in America.”

Ferber most recently served as the staff vice president of corporate communications at WellPoint, where his department was voted the best large communications department by PRWeek. Ferber also held senior positions for the Los Angeles Police Commission, International Medical Corp., National Center for Health Education and the National Center for Disabilities.

Al Green to Headline ACRC Gala

Nine-time Grammy Award-winning soul and gospel singer Al Green will perform at the Gala for Life, an annual event benefiting the Arkansas Cancer Research Center at UAMS.

The 12th annual ACRC Gala will be held at 6 p.m. Sept. 28 at the Wally Allen Ballroom of the Statehouse Convention Center and will include a cocktail reception, dinner, dancing and entertainment by Green. Organized by the ACRC Foundation’s Board of Directors, the black-tie event will raise funds for cancer research and patient care.

In addition, Little Rock philanthropists Joe and Jo Ellen Ford will be named the second annual Pat and Willard Walker Tribute honorees for their longtime support of the ACRC and other programs at UAMS. Joe Ford is chairman of the board of Little Rock-based Alltel Corp. and a former state senator. Jo Ellen Ford is a founding member of the ACRC Foundation Board of Directors and was the first chairwoman of the ACRC Auxiliary.

Tables of 10 start at $3,000; individual tickets are $300 per person. For information about the event or to make a reservation, contact Jeanette Shack at the ACRC Foundation at (501 526-2277.

A Forrest City native Green earned his first Grammy Award in 1981. His hits include R&B’s greatest-ever song “Let’s Stay Together” and since 1979 Green has served as pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis. Green was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

Vascular Nursing Society Honors Lawson

New is a relative term. Peripheral arterial disease isn’t new to health care professionals employed in vascular-related specialties – those that deal with the health of the body’s blood vessels – but many in general nursing practice don’t know about the simple test that can detect the disease and prevent pain and suffering as well as progression to life-threatening conditions.

That’s why Glenda Lawson, University of Arkansas clinical associate professor of nursing, has spent years educating the public and nurses, both in the field and as part of the curricula of the UA’s Eleanor Mann School of Nursing, about peripheral arterial disease and the ankle-brachial index. She advocates that the index, a diagnostic tool that requires a nurse to compare blood pressure levels taken at the ankle and the arm, be included in the routine practice of taking a patient’s vital signs.

Lawson became the first nationally certified vascular nurse in Arkansas in 1997 and most recently, she was named the winner of the 2007 Jeanne E. Doyle Award, the highest honor given by the Society for Vascular Nursing, an international association dedicated to promoting excellence in the compassionate and comprehensive management of people with vascular disease.

BRMC Programs Receive Komen Funding

Three Baxter Regional Medical Center programs have received funding from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Arkansas Affiliate. The Mobile Mammography Unit, Lymphedema Outreach Program and the Tell Your Mom, Save A Life programs received a total of $143,633.

The largest single gift was to the Mobile Mammography Unit that received $125,500 and in 2006; the unit provided 2,769 free mammograms because of the funding provided by the Komen Foundation and Baxter Regional Hospital Foundation.

July 2007