GE Healthcare names Saint Luke's Neuroscience Institute as its first healthymagination Stroke Solution Site

 

Validation process shows Saint Luke's outperforms peer group in several stroke treatment benchmarks

 

Saint Luke's Neuroscience Institute (SLNI) has earned GE Healthcare's healthymagination first-ever validation of a stroke program based on a rigorous third-party review by Oxford Analytica. The review showed that the program's coordinated use of people, process, and technology yields better outcomes for people with strokes. 

Today, interventional neurologists from Australia, China, and the UK toured SLNI.

 

"Stroke statistics are staggering," said Gabrielle Silver, M.D., head of Neuroscience Global Marketing at GE Healthcare. "One in six people will have a stroke in their lifetime and stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability globally. Our healthymagination initiative seeks to identify and recognize world-class centers of excellence like Saint Luke's Neuroscience Institute. Finding innovative and replicable models of health care delivery will help us reach the healthymagination goal to increase access, improve quality, and lower cost of health care by 15 percent by 2015."

 

The validation process from Oxford Analytica surfaced a number of findings about Saint Luke's outcomes, including:

• Improved treatment with stroke therapy IV-tPA (clot-busting intravenous therapy), with treatment rates of 25 percent compared to national rates of 2-5 percent.
• Better patient outcomes, including a nearly 50 percent increased likelihood of going home after discharge compared to programs submitting data to the Merci registry representing the best interventional stroke centers in the U.S.
• 27 percent shorter lengths of hospitalization compared to the Merci registry sites
• More frequent use of diagnostic technologies, with 99 percent of patients undergoing CT scanning compared with 60 percent of patients at other U.S. hospitals

"We have been working with GE and Oxford Analytica for more than a year to provide data and background information and are honored to receive the GE validation designation as part of their innovative healthymagination program," Marilyn Rymer, M.D., medical director, Saint Luke's Neuroscience Institute, said. "We are proud to be the first stroke solution site in the world and our hope is that the partnership with GE will facilitate replication of our success around the globe."

 

GE made this announcement in conjunction with its first-ever Global Stroke Forum and Advisory Board in Crotonville, N.Y. on June 18-19. Saint Luke's clinicians made presentations and help advise the Global Forum along with an audience of stroke experts from around the world. Today, some of the international delegates have reconvened at Saint Luke's Hospital for a personal look at how Saint Luke's operates and the journey stroke patients take upon arrival.

 

"Our process, people, and technology are what allow us to achieve such strong outcomes," Dr. Rymer said. "We look forward to hosting our international colleagues and sharing with them a view of how we treat patients and really follow the journey patients take as we work toward stroke recovery."

 

While in Kansas City, neurology specialists from the United Kingdom, China, and Australia are touring Saint Luke's emergency room, interventional radiology labs, and other areas of Saint Luke's Neuroscience Institute and are meeting with clinical staff at the institute and regional partners during their time in Kansas City.

 

Saint Luke's Neuroscience Institute is a global leader in utilizing both drug and mechanical interventions to block and reverse the permanent and debilitating effects of acute strokes. Its legacy of innovation began in its 1993 inaugural year when doctors performed one of the world's first intra-arterial stroke reversal procedures. Since then, Saint Luke's specialists have continued to pioneer new stroke therapies and reverse stroke's debilitating effects for thousands of patients, and is one of the world's most experienced and prolific leaders in the use of tPA, an acute clot-busting medication for treatment of ischemic stroke. The institute's Code NEURO team is on call 24/7 to respond immediately to patients presenting with acute stroke. A commitment to extending those capabilities is reinforced through partnerships with referring physicians, a network of more than 80 outlying hospitals, first responders, and telemedicine.

 

  

New CV video vignettes

 

New videos about our cardiovascular services show why Saint Luke's is a world leader for cardiovascular care and research. 

 

Learn about Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute.

These short vignettes, featuring several of our cardiologists, critical care anesthesiologists, and cardiovascular surgeons, will help patients and referring physicians understand why they should choose Saint Luke's for comprehensive, innovative heart and vascular care.

 

Click on the videos to the right to watch the consumer-oriented and clinical videos. 

Learn about the latest in peripheral arterial disease treatment.

 

 

 

 

 

Citizenship celebration

 

On May 17, Laura Alba, M.D., took the oath of allegiance and was sworn in as a United States citizen. On May 18, the Digestive Disease Center staff at Saint Luke's Hospital regaled Dr. Alba with patriotic song, décor, and an all-American patriotic picnic lunch.

 

Dr. Alba earned her medical degree at Autonomous University,  San Luis Potosi, Mexico, with residency at UMKC and fellowship at UMKC and Mayo School of Graduate Education, Rochester, Minn. She is board certified in internal medicine, gastroenterology, and transplant hepatology. 

 

For the past nine years she has been a member of the gastroenterology staff at Saint Luke's Hospital. She is also the assistant program director for the gastroenterology fellowship through the UMKC School of Medicine. She brings a wealth of experience and insight to the Saint Luke's hepatology program. Congratulations, Dr. Alba!

 

No One Dies Alone

 

Phone coordinators needed

 

Unfortunately, some people have neither family nor close friends with them as they near the end of life. No One Dies Alone (NODA) is an end-of-life initiative supported by Saint Luke's Health System and the Spiritual Wellness Department to provide the reassuring presence of a volunteer companion to hospital patients who would otherwise die alone.

 

People in their last hours of life can feel tremendous comfort and peace when someone is by their side. Just sitting quietly, perhaps reading or holding hands, helps people feel valued. The knowledge that they are not alone as they make their final journey can help them feel safe and hopeful. We believe everyone deserves this soothing presence.

 

The phone coordinators for No One Dies Alone play a vital role in connecting those patients dying alone with volunteers willing to make a difference.

 

The phone coordinator commits to carrying a pager and making calls to start a vigil. Without phone coordinators, the NODA program could not be successful. Currently, there are opportunities to assist in the vital role of a phone coordinator. For more information about NODA and how you can help, contact Helen Lewis, NODA program coordinator, at ext. 22180 or Kay Weir, director of volunteer services, at ext. 22448.

 

Compliance corner

 

Know and do the right thing!

 

You are having lunch in the cafeteria and your co-worker, Mary, tells an off-color joke at the table. You can tell by the reaction of the other staff members that they did not appreciate her attempt at humor. After lunch, as you walk back to your department with your friend, you say, "Wow, Mary's joke really did not go over well with everyone." Your friend says, "Oh, that is just Mary; she loves to tell jokes to see what reactions she can get." 

 

Based on that information, what is the right thing to do?

 

A. Let it go. Mary is an okay worker and her joke did not hurt anyone.

B. Pull Mary to the side and tell her that the joke was inappropriate.

C. Report the situation and your feeling of being uncomfortable to your manager.

D. Make a report to your facility's ethics and compliance officer.

 

If you chose C and D you did the right thing! Reporting to your manager or ethics and compliance officer (ECO) is an appropriate method to report ethics and compliance issues. Response A is not appropriate, since people felt uncomfortable because of Mary's inappropriate joke, which may be a form of harassment. Response B would appear to be an option; however, she may continue with her behavior, contributing to an uncomfortable working environment for others.

 

Integrity (doing the right thing) is everyone's responsibility. Each one of us demonstrates our integrity everyday through our behavior including being punctual, responsible, and professional.

 

It is our responsibility as a Saint Luke's employee to:

• Be familiar with the Code of Conduct
• Be sensitive to legal and ethical issues
• Ask questions if you are uncertain about any given situation
• Report concerns you may have about the conduct of others

When reporting ethics and compliance issues, there may be fear of retaliation for making the report. There can be no retaliation against anyone for making a good faith report of inappropriate conduct, even if it turns out the report was not a compliance issue.

 

The system has many options for reporting (besides reporting to your manager, supervisor, or ECO):

• Contact the System Ethics & Compliance Office at 816-932-6858 (ext. 26858)
• Leave a message on the Compliance Hot Line (voicemail only) at 816-932-3053 (ext. 23053)
• Leave a message on the toll free hot line - 888-660-6277
• Report to your entity risk manager
• Enter incident into RiskMaster program (found on Citrix) - can be anonymous also
• Send email to compliance@saint-lukes.org  

You may make your report via phone, written letter, or computer. Notes have been left under a door as well! You may rest assured there is no wrong way to report a concern. What is important is for you to ask questions and make reports that can then be investigated and managed by your entity ECO. Always remember when you report in good faith, you are doing the right thing, which is an expectation for all employees.

 

To find a listing of current entity ECOs, click the Compliance & Privacy link at the bottom left corner of any SLHS webpage.  

 

Introducing your new retirement planning website

 

Your resource for retirement planning guidance and services

 

As announced during the recent Retirement Readiness meetings, Saint Luke's Health System and Diversified are launching a new program for SLHS employees who are planning for retirement or just want to make sure they are on the right path for financial wellness.

 

During the early years of our career, we are focused on accumulating assets for retirement, but as we get closer to when we will retire, we start thinking about the steps we can take to turn our savings into a source of income.

 

Saint Luke's understands that this can be challenging and that everyone will have questions. That is why we are making this program available.

 

This new web-based resource has five modules with information about the critical factors and decisions that one needs to consider in preparing for this important transition into retirement. Each of the modules is designed to be short enough to finish in one sitting and in-depth enough to help you understand the issues and find the resources you need in order to take action.

 

The five modules are:

1. Planning for retirement income and expenses
2. Social Security and health care
3. Estate planning
4. Retiring from Saint Luke's Health System
5. Taking a distribution from SLHS retirement plans

And, in the future, we are planning to include the ability to sign up for individual one-to-one meetings on this site so you can build a plan for a successful retirement with the help of an experienced retirement planner by your side. Check it out at slhsretirement.divinvest.com.

 

Securities offered through Diversified Investors Securities Corp. (DISC), 440 Mamaroneck Avenue, Harrison, NY 10528. Diversified and DISC are affiliated companies, but are not affiliated with Saint Luke's Health System.