BIDMC News and Notes
11/20/2009 (10:33:51am)Tags: violence recovery Arab-Israeli conflictComments: (0)
Robi Damelin lives in Tel Aviv and lost her son to a sniper while he was on military reserve duty in March, 2002. Mazen Faraj lives in Bethlehem and lost his father in April 2002 when a member of the Israeli Defense Force mistook the bag of groceries for something else.
Damelin and Fraj channeled their grief into the Parents Circle-Families Forum, created in 1995 as a way to spearhead a reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.
Damelin and Faraj will tell their stories -- and their efforts to stop violence and bloodshed -- in a special forum sponsored by BIDMC's Center for Violence Prevention and Recovery on Wednesday, Dec. 16.
The event is free and open to the public who RSVP by Dec. 11. For more information or to reserve a spot, contact Margaret Brevig
11/20/2009 (9:43:22am)Tags: noneComments: (0)
Amy Ship, a primary care physician at BIDMC, has been named this year's "Compassionate Caregiver" by the Kenneth B. Schwartz Center.
Ship's personal and professional story was highlighted at last night's annual awards gala in Boston and in a story on NECN.
11/18/2009 (4:14:13pm)Tags: noneComments: (0)
BIDMC neurologists Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MD, PhD, and Daniel Tarsy, MD, have been awarded grants totaling more than $1.5 million from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) to conduct investigations aimed at improving the quality of life for patients with Parkinson's disease.
Pascual-Leone, Director of BIDMC's Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, will oversee a three-year $1.498 million grant to investigate the use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) therapy to control symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
Tarsy, Director of BIDMC's Parkinson's Disease Center, will lead a study comparing two types of speech and voice therapy to determine which is more effective in treating the decreased voice volume experienced by many Parkinson's patients.
For more, click here.
11/17/2009 (9:57:13am)Tags: breast cancer mammographyComments: (0)
BIDMC oncology social worker Hester Hill offers her observations on U.S. Preventive Service Task Force's new recommendations to woman about mammography and breast self-examinations.
A quick summary:
"This is clearly very different from what we have all been told for years. It is, however, not so different from what doctors have known and what the evidence has demonstrated. Mammograms are not as good a screening test in younger women as they are for post-menopausal women. The reason for this is the difference in breast tissue; dense tissue makes it more difficult to read the scans."
11/16/2009 (3:06:04pm)Tags: cardiovascular care Thomson ReutersComments: (0)
BIDMC has earned a spot in the Thomson Reuters annual study identifying the 100 U.S. hospitals that set the nation's benchmarks for inpatient cardiovascular care.
The study examined the performance of 971 hospitals by analyzing outcomes for patients diagnosed with heart failure and heart attacks and for those who received coronary bypass surgery or percutaneous cardiovascular interventions (PCI) such as angioplasties.
The study, in its 11th year, found the top performing hospitals perform over 50 percent more cardiac surgeries than peer hospitals.
For more details, click here.
11/12/2009 (3:23:11pm)Tags: quality top hospital patient safetyComments: (0)
Atrius Health and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are expanding their relationship to establish a new model of health care delivery between a large ambulatory multi-specialty practice and a leading academic medical center, according to Gene Lindsey, MD, president and CEO of Atrius Health.
The boards of directors from Atrius and BIDMC both voted Wednesday evening to build the expanded relationship.
For more details on what this will mean, click here.
11/9/2009 (1:10:25pm)Tags: noneComments: (0)
Emergency preparedness is the watchword at all health care facilities these days.
Go behind the scenes with the BIDMC Emergency Management Team as it held its first full-scale decontamination drill at night, simulating the Emergency Department response to a "dirty bomb" explosion at a nearby college campus.
11/9/2009 (12:44:44pm)Tags: archives Ruth FreimanComments: (0)
Long before BIDMC was born in 1996, Beth Israel and New England Deaconess hospitals were leaders in health care with a long history of personalized patient care and community service.
That history has been carefully preserved in an archives maintained by one of the hospital's longest serving staff members. Archivist Ruth Freiman has held the job for 30 years, following 20 years of service as a volunteer.
The BIDMC Board of Directors recently honored her commitment by designating the Ruth and David Freiman Archives at BIDMC. Dr. David Freiman was the former Chief of Pathology at Beth Israel Hospital and assisted with the development of the archives during his retirement.
Take a tour of the archives with this remarkable woman.
11/4/2009 (1:33:14pm)Tags: noneComments: (0)
BIDMC has instituted new patient and visitor guidelines and restrictions to help protect the medical center's most vulnerable patients - and everyone - now that the flu has become widespread.
Visitors with symptoms of the flu are asked to delay their visits until they are well. Areas of the hospital that care for patients most vulnerable to the flu have instituted the most stringent guidelines. For example, on many of our floors, children under 12 are no longer allowed to visit.
Visit the Flu Facts page on bidmc.org for updated guidelines and restrictions as well as tips on fighting the flu, caring for someone with the flu and when to call a doctor.
11/4/2009 (1:31:29pm)Tags: noneComments: (0)
Here's a moving story about a young auto accident victim and a remarkable recovery, made possible in part by the trauma team at BIDMC.
