Volume 4 | Issue 11 | Through December 14, 2010 Growing pains for new Rx benefit The new price breaks at hospital pharmacies remain a great deal, but the required switches to 90-day prescriptions for "maintenance" medications has Pharmacy dealing with about 200 calls a day to set up employees and answer questions about denials of 30-day refills at retailers. >>More In spinal cord injuries, scar tissue has become enemy number one  And with research suggesting his lab has found a way to resume communication between the brain and the nerves on the other side of a spinal cord injury, Stephen Davies (left) hopes a clinical trial might be in the near future. >>More A self-described "old bas****" keeps his brother's hopes alive His twin brother Floyd lost to a spinal cord injury and medical errors, Lloyd Holman (right, with container holding Floyd's ashes) has turned his grief -- and his money -- into an effort to repair others' spinal cord injuries. >>More Two campus midwifery programs earn best practice recognition One is a medium-sized "boutique"; the other a large practice that frequently serves women with limited resources. Both were cited as top programs by the American College of Nurse Midwives. >>More Infection detectives  On Leprino's 9th floor, it's a trio of nurses against millions of silent organisms that threaten each day's inpatients. Spotting and controlling infections has become crucial for hospital business as well as for patient safety. Pictured, left to right, infection control specialists Teri Hulett, Kathy Schomer and Linda "B" Burton. >>More Turning research into companies The campus's Technology Transfer Office has helped researchers start 34 companies since 2002, earning a nice little income stream for the university, some wealth for the founders and, not least, some brand-new medical products and processes for patients. >>More Next steps on a long road  A joint university/biotech start-up have turned an intense focus on "microRNA," tiny strings of genetic material that no one knew existed 17 years ago and that keep showing up in certain diseases. Researchers hope to turn the material into some novel new treatments for chronic heart failure. Left: miRagen Therapeutics CEO William Marshall, PhD, with scientist Uyen Tran at work in the company's Boulder laboratory. >>More The campus's most famous vet Fifty-five years ago Building 500 was an army hospital that quickly filled with "crazy" reporters, smoking docs, and the anxious attention of the world as President Eisenhower was admitted here for a heart attack. His restored hospital room was rededicated as a historical site Nov. 11. >>More During wartime, the tough assignments also fall to civilians For Compliance Auditor Pam Catlett (left), this Veterans Day again was one of the year's most important days -- for at least four good reasons. >>More Instead of just saying "don't" Middle school students, of course, already know everything. But the hospital's Burn Center found a way to make burn prevention meaningful and perhaps a little scary for an audience with notoriously short attention spans. >>More Around UCH Our regular round-up of goings-on, big and small, in and around the hospital. This issue: employees gobble up hospital turkeys (right); nurse earns "Grateful Patient" award; navigating the cost of cancer care; retirement plan open enrollment; donor wall of fame. >>More Dean Krugman's news The latest about what's going on at the School of Medicine. >>More Free the Phones! A Web-based effort to ease the load on the desktop Help Desk and reduce wait times on the phones has been only a modest success. With an average of 3.3 people still fielding hundreds of calls, IS is upgrading to a new "customer portal." The goals: keep the phones free for staffers' urgent needs. >>Go   Project Executive Tony Ruiz (left) thanked Augie Trujillo for years of help during retirement party November 22.  "Cockroaches You Could Ride On" Augie Trujillo maintained, helped build and confronted everything - including courteous First Ladies, some angry monkeys and big cockroaches - at the old Ninth Avenue buildings. The just-retired UCH Facilities manager reflects on 30 years of adventures. >>Go   What's in a Name? You can find Hamburgers, Fries, presidents, body parts and more in the depths of the campus directory and in This Hospital Life. Plus "What You Read." >>Go   Kathy Oman Joins Some Select Company The research nurse scientist and clinical nurse specialist (above) was tapped as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. There are 3.2 million nurses in the U.S. Fewer than 2,000 are fellows. >>Go UCH in the News Not-so-simple steps to reduce heart disease; new hope for CF patients; ignoring narcissists; more. Mentions: Frank Accurso; Thomas Campbell; Steve Daniels; Robert Eckel; Robert Freedman; Bryan Haugen; Georgeanna Klingensmith; Wells Messersmith; Robert Page; Paul Schadler; Jonathan Shedler. >>Go

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