BIDMC News and Notes
9/1/2010 (10:22:53am)Tags: noneComments: (0)
BIDMC has said farewell to 35 area students who are headed back to school this fall a little wiser.
The summer interns who took positions throughout the hospital now have their own insight into what it really takes to run a hospital.
For more, click here.
Or hear them in their own words.
8/25/2010 (11:20:45am)Tags: nutrition diet youth community healthComments: (0)
For those of you following the saga of the Healthy Champions program at the Bowdoin Street Health Center, here's an update featuring the first fruits (OK, vegetables) of their harvest.
8/12/2010 (11:48:50am)Tags: volunteers high schoolComments: (0)
"I know that I'm making a difference in a patient's life in some way," says Hannah Zack, a Summer Health Corps volunteer in BIDMC's hematology/oncology department.
The program gives teenagers ages 14-17 the opportunity to volunteer at BIDMC in various departments from cardiology to social work to public safety.
"Over 70 students applied this year," says volunteer services program coordinator Terry Morgan, "We wish we could take them all."
The lucky 30 students accepted this year will volunteer for more than 100 hours this summer. Throughout the program the students tour different departments, and gain greater insights into hospital workings.
Lindsey Shanck, a student at Hingham High School, said the emergency department was her favorite tour. "It was so fast paced!"
Other tours include radiology, where some excited students had an ultrasound for the first time. Students also tour the Spine Center, and participated in an emergency labor pool activation drill.
"The program is a great learning opportunity for the students," says Amanda Iwunze, a program mentor, in volunteer services. Students do administrative work, assist nurses, make phone calls and act as patient greeters. "I've seen them grow as a group, work well together and solidify their goals."
And solidify their goals they do. After the emergency department tour, Nick Bolden, a student at Boston College High School, knew he wanted to become a trauma surgeon. "I love the patient contact," he says.
Jane Richardson, a volunteer in nursing, knew she wanted a job in the medical field, but now wants to be an immunologist. "I've learned a lot."
The program enables high school students to ignite their interest in the medical field. Students say they love the patient contact and the hospital experience. Daniel Genkin, volunteer in cardiology, said, "The best part is really just being inside the hospital."
8/11/2010 (2:26:44pm)Tags: nutrition diet youth community healthComments: (0)
The Boston Foundation has awarded the Bowdoin Street Health Center a three-year, $270,000 grant to support its efforts to improve access to fresh produce and other healthy food choices for residents of Dorchester's Bowdoin/Geneva section.
The grant supports the health center's Healthy Food Access Project, which links a community farmers' market with corner stores and area restaurants, consumers and Dorchester youth and helps local store owners revamp their merchandising in order to make the sale of fresh produce and other healthy foods a good business proposition.
Additionally, the center was one of 11 organizations in 10 different states to receive funding as part of the inaugural ConAgra Foods Foundation Community Impact Grants program, receiving $24,985 for the same project. More than 325 non-profit organizations from across the country responded to the new ConAgra grant program.
"We are pleased that The Boston Foundation and the ConAgra Foods Foundation have made such a significant commitment to our community," said Bowdoin Street Health Center Executive Director Adela Margules. "We are very excited to be able to partner with our community residents and local businesses to create permanent opportunities to provide healthy food choices in the Bowdoin/Geneva neighborhood."
The Boston Foundation President and CEO Paul S. Grogan said, "We are particularly pleased to invest in an organization whose important work is so closely aligned with the Foundation's commitment to encourage healthy behaviors among Boston residents and increase access to healthy food and opportunities for physical activity."
"Nearly 17 million children in the United States struggle with hunger throughout the year. That's almost one in four kids. There are hundreds of groups doing their part to help children in need, and we're focusing our funding on identifying and funding groups that are using innovative solutions. We'll study their successes and share them with others so that we can move closer to ending child hunger," said Kori Reed, executive director, ConAgra Foods Foundation.
The Healthy Food Access Project takes a multi-pronged approach to address the important public health issue of ensuring inner city families have access to healthy food choices. Over the next three years, the project aims to establish the economic sustainability of an existing farmers' market, support and educate local merchants to expand healthy food offerings and realize the profitability of such adaptations, and foster healthier purchasing patterns among residents through consumer education.
For more, click here.
8/9/2010 (4:46:34pm)Tags: geriatrics elderly medical errorComments: (0)
BIDMC researchers say a specially programmed computer warning system can significantly reduce doctors' orders for drugs that pose a danger to older patients.
The findings, reported in the new edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine, are especially helpful for doctors who have not been trained in geriatric medicine.
Adverse drug events, such as dizziness or confusion occur in an estimated 40 percent of all hospital patients and can be the result of inappropriate medications being ordered. Not surprisingly, elderly individuals are particularly vulnerable to these adverse events, which not only result in longer hospitalizations, but can also pose a threat of serious complications and even death.
Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) enables physicians to electronically order medications and treatments for hospital inpatients and was developed, in part, to help prevent errors in prescribing medications (such as drug allergies or drug-drug interactions). CPOE systems can be programmed to issue a computerized "warning message" that alerts physicians to possible problems and conflicts. BIDMC first started using a CPOE system approximately 10 years ago.
A specialized version of CPOE developed by Dr. Melissa Mattison, a pharmacist and computer information specialist in 2004 helps doctors in prescribing medications for elderly patients. The new system uses components of the Beers List, which was developed by physician Mark Beers in 1993 to draw attention to dozens of common drugs that should be prescribed "with caution" to elderly patients.
To learn more, click here.
8/2/2010 (1:21:25pm)Tags: ALS muscular dystrophyComments: (0)
A BIDMC neurologist has invented a device that charts the progression of muscle loss in patients more accurately and without pain.
Seward Rutkove, MD, chief of the Division of Neuromuscular Disease, is in the process of testing his muscle probe in patients with degenerative nerve and muscle ailments such as Lou Gehrig's disease and muscular dystrophy. Currently, charting a patient's muscle loss is done with a variety of tests that are slow, often not very reproducible, or require painful placement of a needle in a muscle as the patient is asked to contract.
Click here to watch a video of Rutkove explaining how his muscle probe works.
Rutkove's probe is non-invasive and functions similar to an ultrasound, except that it applies a very minute electrical current rather than sound waves. Using this handheld device, muscle loss is assessed through electric impedance myography or EIM. Muscle condition is measured by passing a painless electrical current through the muscle using two electrodes and measured by a second set of electrodes. In less than a minute, the device sends information about the muscle's electrical properties to a nearby laptop. Rutkove hopes his probe will be used to test a patient's response to drugs in clinical trials.
"The device is based on similar principles to the scale-like devices at some gyms that tell you how much lean body mass you have," Rutkove said. "However, here we are measuring the integrity of the membranes of the muscles over very small areas. In addition to helping diagnose conditions, it may also be a good way to see if someone is responding to a drug therapy in someone already being treated."
Upon completion of this early testing, Rutkove hopes to commercialize his device and begin bigger clinical trials with it. But for now, he is happy with what he has achieved thus far.
"Having this data coming in is a gratifying event in and of itself," Rutkove said.
For more information about his research, visit his lab's website.
7/27/2010 (10:04:24am)Tags: liability medical error apologyComments: (0)
BOSTON - With high quality care at lower cost a centerpiece of federal health care reform efforts, BIDMC and the Massachusetts Medical Society are joining forces to develop a "road map" to help avoid medical errors while making it easier to compensate patients who have been harmed.
Backed by a $273,782 grant from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, researchers will fan out across Massachusetts to interview physicians, insurers, hospital executives, patient advocacy groups, consumers, attorneys and representatives of other stakeholders to better understand what is needed to transform the system from its current focus on harm and litigation to one based on the concept of "disclose and offer."
For more, click here.
7/26/2010 (3:47:49pm)Tags: transparency OpenNotesComments: (0)
The OpenNotes trial has received a fair amount of media attention since publication in the Annals of Internal Medicine last week.
The New York Times' Dr. Pauline Chen was the latest to weigh in -- following the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press and Reuters. For a dull list of clips, click here.
We've also posted an expanded video, with comments from focus group members at BIDMC, Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and at Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania. That's in addition to the video offered to media outlets last week.
7/22/2010 (11:18:52am)Tags: nutrition diet youth community health centersComments: (1)
Bowdoin Street Health Center's Jen French reports members of the Healthy Champions program got a pleasant surprise on Tuesday morning when they went out for their usual routine of "weeding, watering and trying to revive our strawberry plant.
"So you can imagine our surprise when instead of finding the normal menacing plant life, we found six different types of vegetables ready to be picked! Red and yellow tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, and two kinds of bell peppers were the first "market ready" items to grace the Healthy Champions' produce basket.
"And although we are waiting for a slightly larger crop to start our regular sales at the market, I am happy to report that our harvesting festivities quickly turned into a taste testing adventure, and we have nothing but rave reviews to report to our potential market customers!"
The Stonehurt/Norton Community Garden will supply produce later this summer for the Bowdoin Geneva Farmers Market.
Surveying the fruits (and vegetables) of their first harvest are, from left, Damara, Daizy, Ricardo, Adan and Jemiah.
7/19/2010 (4:12:15pm)Tags: OpenNotes transparencyComments: (0)
Technology has placed vast amounts of medical information literally a mouse click away. Yet what often may be central - a doctor's notes about a patient visit - has traditionally not been part of the discussion. In effect, such records have long been out of bounds.
In "Open Notes: Doctors and Patients Signing On," published in the July 20 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers speculate about the risks and rewards of making clinicians' notes transparent to patients.
"Opening documents that are often both highly personal and highly technical is anything but simple," write ten investigators, led by Tom Delbanco MD and Jan Walker RN, MBA of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. They document what they have learned from preparing their ‘OpenNotes' study, in which more than 100 primary care doctors are inviting about 25,000 patients to read their notes. The 12-month trial involves doctors and patients associated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, and Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
For more, click here.
7/15/2010 (4:36:33pm)Tags: stroke alcoholComments: (0)
DALLAS - Call it the not-so-happy hour. The risk of stroke appears to double in the hour after consuming just one drink - be it wine, beer or hard liquor - according to a small multi-center study reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
"The impact of alcohol on your risk of ischemic stroke appears to depend on how much and how often you drink," said Murray A. Mittleman, M.D., Dr.P.H., senior author of the Stroke Onset Study (SOS) and director of the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the Harvard Medical School.
To learn more, click here.
7/15/2010 (2:50:27pm)Tags: noneComments: (0)
BOSTON – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has been recognized as one of the nation’s top hospitals in the US News & World Report “Best Hospitals” edition, placing among the leaders in seven clinical specialty categories.
According to the magazine, BIDMC is among an elite group of 152 hospitals nationally – only 3 percent of the nation’s 4,852 hospitals – to rank in at least one of 16 specialties.
BIDMC ranked in the Top 50 among the nation’s hospitals in the care and treatment of heart and heart surgery; cancer; gastroenterology; pulmonology; kidney diseases; geriatrics; and diabetes (in conjunction with the Joslin Clinic).
7/15/2010 (2:32:26pm)Tags: kidney disease geneticsComments: (0)
Kidney disease is a growing public health problem, with approximately half a million individuals in the United States requiring dialysis treatments to replace the function of their failed kidneys.
The problem is particularly acute among African Americans, whose rates of kidney disease are four times higher than those of European Americans.
Now, a scientific team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, has discovered a genetic explanation for the higher incidence of kidney disease among African Americans.
As reported in the July 15 online issue of the journal Science, the study found that patients with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and hypertension-attributed end-stage kidney disease (H-ESKD) harbored variants in the APOL1 gene that changed the APOL1 protein sequence. These variants are commonly found in individuals of recent African ancestry.
Furthermore, in a twist of evolutionary medicine, the disease-causing variants may have protected Africans against a lethal parasite, explaining why these genetic variants are so common in the population today.
To learn more, click here.
7/14/2010 (2:50:56pm)Tags: urgent care community health centerComments: (0)
Summer sun and fun can often bring less pleasant side effects like sun burns, lacerations and an occasional broken bone. While non-life-threatening, these injuries can create anxiety when the nearest hospital emergency room is miles away through sometimes packed roadways.
But thanks to a long-standing relationship between Outer Cape Health Services and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, urgent care is now available seven evenings a week from 5-9 p.m. at Outer Cape's Provincetown center.
The program, now in its second season, brings emergency room physicians from BIDMC to the outer cape to help handle a massive influx of summer residents, tourists and seasonal workers. OCHS, with a second clinic in Wellfleet, sees its normal volume of 7,000 patients swell by up to 4,000 additional people during the summer.
"The visitors are literally from all over the world as well as all over the United States and they're coming here mostly for a good time, a summer vacation. They may also be visitors who are coming to work in the summer resort areas or a function of making the Cape a great place to visit," says Sally Deane, the executive director.
"Often they don't have local insurance. They don't anticipate, whether they're visitors or locals, they might get a fish hook, they might step on some broken glass, they might have a health episode and they need readily available care."
In the past, patients would need to drive up to 90 minutes to Hyannis or upward of three hours to Boston.
"Now we have the benefit of the same emergency room physicians locally," she says.
"You expect anything you'd see at any emergency department, anything from a tick bite to a sunburn to a fracture to potentially a very low level trauma," says Maura Kennedy, MD, a BIDMC emergency physician. "It's the first place that a patient comes to, whether it's someone who lives in the town or whether it's someone who's visiting who has any sort of a medical need. It's where they can easily get health care. And I think it's unique in this area because there's not a nearby emergency room."
Outer Cape Health Services is a member of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's Community Care Alliance of health centers, including The Dimock Center in Roxbury; South Cove Community Health Center in Chinatown and Quincy; the Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center of Allston and Waltham; Fenway Health; the Sidney Borum Jr. Health Center of Boston and Bowdoin Street Health Center in Dorchester.
7/12/2010 (3:53:58pm)Tags: nutrition diet youthComments: (0)
Tomatoes, lettuce and beans have begun to sprout in the Stonehurst/Norton Community Garden, located down the street from the Bowdoin Street Health Center in Dorchester. In a few weeks, produce from that garden will be for sale at the Bowdoin Geneva Farmers Market.
The third annual farmers market launched last Thursday with produce from area farms - as well as music, dance, face painting and a Tae Kwan Do demonstration. The market will run Thursday afternoons from 3-6:30 p.m. until October.
Last April, hand-selected youth became caretakers for their own plot of land at the garden, says Healthy Champions program coordinator Jen French, who works with the neighborhood youth to help them plant, grow and harvesting their own produce.
"The garden teaches them about the vast benefits of incorporating healthy and affordable foods into their daily lives," she says. "At the same time, they will help educate their peers in how these foods will serve to reduce prevalent health issues such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and asthma in their neighborhood."
This collaboration among youth, staff, The Food Project, the Boston Natural Areas Network and community residents comes together in the farmers market, which operates out of the health center's parking lot.
The Bowdoin Geneva Farmers Market was launched in response to community concern about a lack of access to healthy food. Every Thursday afternoon from July through October fresh, local produce is available at affordable prices. EBT, WIC and Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Coupons are accepted. The market also participates in Mayor Menino's Bounty Bucks program, providing a 50 percent discount to shoppers paying with their EBT card.
The Bowdoin Street Health Center is a member of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's Community Care Alliance of health centers, including The Dimock Center in Roxbury; South Cove Community Health Center in Chinatown and Quincy; the Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center of Allston and Waltham; Fenway Health; the Sidney Borum Jr. Health Center of Boston and Outer Cape Health Services of Wellfleet and Provincetown.
7/12/2010 (12:53:14pm)Tags: technology electronic medical recordsComments: (0)
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has been recognized as one of the nation's Most Wired hospitals according to the results of the 2010 Most Wired Survey released in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine.
Hospitals understand the importance of health information technology and the benefits of its widespread adoption, yet as a field still face significant barriers to implementation according to a newly released survey of America's Most Wired hospitals and health systems.
"BIDMC continues to work to enhance the safety and quality of healthcare through the use of advanced IT applications," says chief information officer John Halamka, MD, who noted all hospital-based clinicians at BIDMC already use electronic health records.
"By 2011, all community clinicians affiliated with BIDMC will be using a centrally hosted, interoperable, certified electronic health record, empowering them to achieve meaningful use. BIDMC's early adoption of healthcare information exchange and personal health records ensures data can be shared with patient consent for coordination of care, quality measurement, and population health.
"Our stakeholders demand increasingly sophisticated applications, requiring constant innovation. We're proud to receive this recognition."
For more, click here.
7/6/2010 (12:39:53pm)Tags: noneComments: (0)
The Sidney Borum, Jr. Health Center and Fenway Health have joined forces effective July 1.
The Sidney Borum, Jr. Health Center will operate as part of Fenway Health and continue its mission of serving marginalized and disenfranchised young people, including those who are LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender); homeless or living on the streets; struggling with substance use or abuse; sex workers; or living with HIV/AIDS.
Both centers are part of the Community Care Alliance at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which also includes the Bowdoin Street Health Center in Dorchester; the Dimock Center in Roxbury; Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center in Allston and Waltham; South Cove Community Health Center in Chinatown and Outer Cape Health Services in Provincetown and Wellfleet.
For more than 10 years, Fenway Health has shared medical staff with the Borum and the two organizations share complimentary missions and goals. The Sidney Borum, Jr. Health Center will continue to operate the programs and services offered at its 130 Boylston Street location in Boston and at drop-in centers for homeless youth in Cambridge and LGBT youth in Boston. Patients at the Borum will now have access to expanded services at Fenway, including dentistry, optometry and The Fenway Pharmacy.
The merger comes after a year of study and consideration and will ensure the sustainability of the Borum and allow for expanded collaborations among staff at both organizations. Fenway Health and Justice Resource Institute, the Borum's current parent organization, hope to explore new areas of collaboration moving forward.
"The Sidney Borum, Jr. Health Center and its sensitive approach to caring for a very vulnerable population that often is not served effectively in other settings is well aligned with the mission of Fenway Health," said Dr. Stephen Boswell, Fenway Health President & CEO. "We can help the Borum to not only thrive but to reach even more people in need of its services. The merger will enable their patients to access all of the services provided by Fenway while continuing to receive the quality care they are accustomed to. It will allow us to expand research on health disparities in populations of vulnerable young people, including LGBT youth, and help us better address their needs."
"We believe that the clinical orientation and comprehensive care approach of Fenway Health makes it the right home for the Borum," said Douglas Brooks, Senior Vice President for Health Services at Justice Resource Institute and the Executive Director of JRI Health. "Our entire organization is proud of founding, nurturing, and growing The Sidney Borum, Jr. Health Center, and we know that Fenway will, with certainty, continue to grow and build this vital health center."
The Sidney Borum Jr. Health Center is dedicated to providing the best quality health care for youth and young adults ages 12 to 29 who may not feel comfortable going anywhere else, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or just figuring things out; homeless or living on the streets; struggling with substance use or abuse; sex workers; or living with HIV/AIDS.
Since 1991, JRI Health has pursued social justice by providing underserved individuals and communities with opportunities to develop the tools and skills essential in creating strength, well-being and autonomy. It does this through compassionate support, constant innovation and community leadership.
For nearly 40 years, Fenway Health has been working to make life healthier for the people in its neighborhood, the LGBT community, people living with HIV/AIDS and the broader population. The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health is an interdisciplinary center for research, training, education and policy development focusing on national and international health issues.
7/2/2010 (8:19:15am)Tags: workforce development jobsComments: (0)
BIDMC was one of three employers honored as a Workforce Solutions Group Champion at the Massachusetts Jobs and Workforce Summit, which convened 300 business, education and labor leaders from around the state, with Gov. Deval Patrick the featured speaker.
BIDMC was nominated for the award by the Boston Private Industry Council and the Mayor's Office of Jobs and Community Services.
To learn more, click here.
Caption: Joanne Pokaski, BIDMC's director of workforce development, accepted the award from Worcester Mayor Joseph O'Brien and Workforce Solutions Group Director Sue Parsons.
7/1/2010 (12:36:03pm)Tags: cancer researchComments: (0)
Akash Patnaik, MD, PhD, a physician-scientist in the Hematology/Oncology Division at BIDMC has received a Young Investigator Award from The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF).
The three-year $225,000 award, one of 21 made to young scientists from across the U.S. and Canada, is designed to encourage the most innovative minds in cancer research to focus their careers on prostate cancer.
To learn more about Patnaik's research, click here.
6/29/2010 (3:17:22pm)Tags: research clinical residencyComments: (0)
Does drinking red wine regularly reduce the risk factors of cardiovascular disease for patients with high cholesterol? Does the brain try to rewire itself after a stroke? How does the brain process and place into a hierarchy the information it receives from your five senses?
These were just three of the seven questions that were posed and subsequently answered - at least in part - during Resident Research Day presentations made as part of Education Week at BIDMC.
The day's judges had a tough task ahead of them. Richard Schwartzstein, MD, Vice President of Medical Education; Gordon Strewler, MD, Vice Chair, Department of Medical Education; Sean Kelly, MD, Director, Graduate Medical Education (GME); and Carrie Tibbles, MD, Associate Director, GME; chose two runners up and one winner.
"This was a tough decision as these were all high quality presentations," Kelly said.
Matthew Hansen, MD, Anesthesia, tied for second place. He proved that the drug dexamethasone could be administered to ambulatory arthroscopic knee patients, reducing their level of post-operative pain and minimizing the number of pain medications they consumed after surgery.
The second runner up was Kathryn Volz, MD, Emergency Medicine. Volz, who rushed to the review from jury duty, argued that only Troponin, not Troponin and CK MB, was needed for the initial screening of a patient at risk of or suspected of having a heart attack. CK MB stands for the enzyme Creatine Kinase, which can have subunits that are Muscle type or Brain type.
Volz proved that screening solely for the heart attack indicator Troponin positively identified which patients were at risk for acute myocardial infarction. Based on her study, BIDMC's Emergency Department no longer gives physicians the option to screen a suspected heart attack patient for CK MB. Eliminating the CK MB tests saves the medical center $39 a patient or about $700,000 a year, Volz said.
Volz and Hansen received $100 each, as the main award and prize money of $200 went to Brett Young, MD, OB/GYN. Young hypothesized that rapid strep tests given to women while they were in labor were more accurate at screening women for Group B streptococcus (GBS) than the current test give three weeks before the anticipated delivery date. She said two-thirds of babies in BIDMC's NICU were born to GBS negative mothers under the old means of testing. The rapid test provided quicker results and can reveal which mother's have GBS at the most crucial point in pregnancy - their delivery. GBS early onset sepsis of the newborn is the leading cause of infection and mortality for newborns, Young said.
"I am so pleased and honored to get this award," she said. "It was wonderful to participate in Resident Research Day and see a cross section of the research being done by my colleagues in different departments at the medical center."
The remaining residents who presented received $50 each.
6/29/2010 (1:10:54pm)Tags: noneComments: (0)
Commonwealth Hematology-Oncology, PC, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have joined forces to create a new model for cancer care in eastern Massachusetts that combines community-based practices with the advanced cancer care resources of an academic medical center.
The affiliation combines CHO, the largest community-based private cancer practice in New England, with BIDMC Cancer Center's renowned hematology/oncology, radiation oncology, surgical and research programs in Boston.
To learn more about the affiliation, click here. To read Boston Globe columnist Steve Syre's analysis, click here. And for the Patriot-Ledger story, click here.
6/24/2010 (4:36:43pm)Tags: Bowdoin Street Health Center Boston MarathonComments: (0)
With BIDMC's Team Grateful Nation raised $37,649.40 to support Healthy Champions at the Bowdoin Street Health Center. Representatives of Team Grateful Nation, including runner Julia Lindenberg, MD, John Hancock Financial's Yasmin Cruz, and retired Vice Chairman for John Hancock Life Insurance Company and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Trustee, Foster Aborn, presented a check to Bowdoin Street staff this week and toured the facility and community garden.
Grateful Nation, a new BIDMC Development program that brings together patients, family, staff and friends in support of the medical center's mission, organized a team of five runners. Team Grateful Nation was inspired to support the hospital's Dorchester community health center.
"Bowdoin Street has a very strong reputation for providing excellent care to the community in Dorchester," said Aborn, who began serving on the New England Deaconess Hospital board of trustees more than 30 years ago. "There is a positive aura associated with Bowdoin Street throughout the BIDMC community."
Bowdoin Street Executive Director Adela Margules detailed the health center's 38-year history and the long list of services it provides to its 11,000 patients. "We are extremely grateful for the support of Team Grateful Nation to help us care for our patients and families."
Cruz, a corporate social responsibility official for John Hancock, which sponsors the Boston Marathon, said marathon efforts this year raised more than $4 million for many area charities and non-profits. "Team Grateful Nation and Bowdoin Street serve as a great example of the marathon's impact. John Hancock is a strong community partner, and we are proud to leverage our sponsorship of the Boston Marathon to support Beth Israel and the Bowdoin Street Health Center," she said.
Healthy Champions has a busy summer planned with:
• Community Garden: Staff and volunteers will work with local children and youth to maintain a flower and vegetable garden and even sell their produce at a farmer's market.
• Neighborhood Nutrition: By working with local stores and business, Healthy Champions aims to improve healthy eating options for the community.
Bowdoin Street Health Center has been an active participant in the Dorchester community for nearly 40 years, offering care for infants, children, teens, adults and seniors. Its multicultural staff of physicians and nurse practitioners specialize in each of these areas to meet the needs of all age groups. Health center staff often team up with Dorchester residents, local businesses and other community-based agencies to identify and design programs that address community health concerns.
The Health Center is a member of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School. BIDMC consistently ranks among the top four in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org
A program of the BIDMC Development Office, Grateful Nation brings together patients, families, friends, and staff of BIDMC to support the quality care and groundbreaking research at the Medical Center. Through new and traditional media, members of Grateful Nation share experiences, thank our caregivers and researchers, participate in sweepstakes, and gather to sponsor and host events and much more. There are more than 8,000 people actively involved with Grateful Nation. Visit www.GratefulNation.org
John Hancock Financial is a unit of Manulife Financial, a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 22 countries and territories worldwide. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia, and primarily through John Hancock in the United States, the Company offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. For more information, visit http://www.johnhancock.com/
6/22/2010 (12:51:04pm)Tags: workforce employerComments: (0)
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has been honored by the Boston Center for Community and Justice (BCCJ) with the 2010 Business Leadership Award at its Opening Boston Awards held at the Boston Harbor Hotel.
BIDMC was recognized for its commitment to personalized, excellent care for its patients; a workforce committed to individual accountability, mutual respect and collaboration; and a commitment to maintaining the institution's financial health.
"This is an award that goes to the entire institution," said Lisa Zankman, Senior Vice President of Human Resources. "It shows what people are willing to do for the greater good."
The recognition stems from BIDMC's handling of a financial crisis through an open management style. Employees participated in decision making that lead to wage and benefit freezes, allowing the hospital to retain several hundred employees otherwise slated for layoffs. One year later, with renewed financial stability, many of the benefits have already been restored.
As noted in the BCCJ awards program, "This situation highlighted that BIDMC's strong values of reliability, safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness and equity are reinforced throughout the organization."
The BCCJ awards are given annually to honor individuals and businesses exemplifying socially responsible leadership that advances social justice throughout Greater Boston.
6/22/2010 (11:19:34am)Tags: diet nutritionComments: (0)
Remember when you took too much food to eat your mother often said your eyes were bigger than your plate? There's evidence that today it's the plate which is growing. And waist lines as well.
BIDMC nutritionist Elisabeth Moore was interviewed for an NBC Nightly News story about the growth in plates and portions -- and the impact that has had on Americans health and wellbeing.
6/16/2010 (3:48:24pm)Tags: noneComments: (0)
A new class of 5th graders was inducted into the Red Sox Scholars program on Sunday at Fenway Park, as the initiative's first class prepares for college in the fall.
Since 2003, BIDMC has been the "presenting sponsor" of the Red Sox Scholars program. Each year the program selects - through a competitive essay and interview process - 25 academically talented and economically disadvantaged 5th graders from the Boston Public Schools to participate in the program. Upon graduating from high school, the scholars will receive a $10,000 college scholarship from the Red Sox Foundation. BIDMC staff are matched with scholars and serve as Medical Champions, exposing the scholars to their jobs at the medical center.
For more, click here.
Caption: Sam Chen, 18, a senior at Boston Latin Academy and a member of the Red Sox Scholars Class of 2003, will be heading to Boston University in the fall.
6/16/2010 (10:29:49am)Tags: workforce development Comments: (0)
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has graduated 10 new Patient Care Technicians from the hospital's PCT Pipeline Program.
The June graduation marks the second time the PCT Pipeline Program has been offered at BIDMC. The course, taught by unit educators, Liz Carvelli, RN and Joanne Burke, RN, was developed to fill vital roles and help employees at the hospital develop new career paths. The participants came from various departments throughout the hospital with the shared goal of becoming involved in direct patient care at BIDMC.
To learn more about the program, click here. To watch a video, click here.
6/15/2010 (1:23:29pm)Tags: interpreter services palliative careComments: (0)
Internal Medicine Resident Mary LaSalvia, MD, confesses that there is a message she will never delete from her pager.
"It says ‘Hi Mary, it's Ernestina. The patient made it home and until her last breath she will pray for all of us at BIDMC," LaSalvia shares.
This brief but professionally and emotionally meaningful page came after many days of uncertainty as three women from different departments fought time, volcanic ash and strict flight regulations to fulfill the wish of a terminally ill elderly patient who wanted nothing more than to die peacefully in her native Cape Verde.
LaSalvia had been caring for the patient when she expressed her desire to go home - some 3,400 miles away.
"It was refreshing for us because she was so sure of her decision. From a medical and personal standpoint, it was the best decision for her," LaSalvia says. "But day-to-day travel would be difficult for her and we had no supplies to get her to Cape Verde. Timing was a big factor, too. There was an urgency to get her home. Luckily, our staff helped get her through those barriers."
The first line of offense was interpreter Ernestina Damoura-Moreira. The lead of the Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole interpreter team, Damoura-Moreira was familiar with the airline carriers that brought patients to that region of the world. She felt confident she could get this elderly woman and the son that would be accompanying her on a flight to Cape Verde on TACV Cabo Verde Airlines.
Yet, there were still foreseen and unforeseen obstacles to overcome. Ensuring two tickets quickly, securing an ambulance to drive the pair to the airport and finding an airline approved oxygen appliance were all issues racing through Damoura-Moreira's mind. Then throw into the mix the Icelandic volcanic ash and the impact this natural disaster was having on the frequency of international flights.
Damoura-Moreira knew a mechanic in Cape Verde who agreed to put extra oxygen concentrators on a plane bound to Boston from Cape Verde. The concentrator is run by a battery with a three- to four-hour life before recharging is needed. It filters room air and concentrates the oxygen in the machine to deliver medical grade oxygen to a patient.
But by the time the details were set, the plane had left. Knowing time was running out and that each airline carries an emergency supply of oxygen, Damoura-Moreira tried to see if a plane at Logan would be willing to take the woman to Cape Verde using the emergency supply to keep her alive. The airline manager left the decision up to the crew because if there was an emergency during the flight, there would be no other source of oxygen. The crew declined saying it was too risky.
Enter case manager Pam Chagnon. She called several companies that specialize in renting airline approved oxygen appliances. Not only was finding an available unit on such short notice a problem, but the concentrators cost $4,000 each to purchase. She said the companies who do provide the concentrator will provide for most domestic flights, but few provide for international flights.
"The patient had no insurance and our fiscal services department said there was nothing it could do," Chagnon said. "All of the services had to be donated."
Five days after the patient's original request and countless phone calls later, everything fell into place on April 20. Because of the relationship between Prompt Care, a provider of airline approved oxygen appliances, and BIDMC, the company felt comfortable lending a concentrator to the patient and even more so when company representatives met the family and Damoura-Moreira who gave her word on making sure the concentrator would be returned.
"Not many companies will do business on a handshake these days!" Chagnon said. "Prompt Care delivered within hours of receiving the call."
North Atlantic Medical donated a wheelchair and a walker. Armstrong Ambulance agreed to provide transportation from BIDMC to Logan International Airport and to keep the patient on oxygen until she was to board her flight, Chagnon said.
With the help of the palliative care service, LaSilvia and her team carefully planned all of the medications they would send the patient home with to keep her comfortable. They also had all of the paperwork ready to ensure she could have adequate communication about her care here with her doctors in Cape Verde.
In the meantime, Damoura-Moreira called the airline to book two emergency seats for the patient and her son. She was told there were no emergency seats available, but that there are always several passengers who book tickets and then do not show up for the flight. Damoura-Moreira crossed her fingers and accompanied the pair to the airport. The airline manager's prediction came true and the patient and her son boarded an 11 p.m. flight for Cape Verde.
"I woke up at 4:30 a.m. the next morning and my first thought was ‘I wonder if they made it,'" Chagnon says. "The family was very gracious and it became a mission to get them home. The vendors were so generous. They wanted to help us out as much as we wanted to get this patient home. When I heard they made it, it gave me such a sense of fulfillment about my job here at BIDMC."
6/14/2010 (2:57:16pm)Tags: noneComments: (0)
Dr. Carroll Eastman of the Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center was honored with the Outstanding Massachusetts Community Health Center Physician Award at the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers' annual Awards Gala on June 11.
The center is a member of BIDMC's Community Care Alliance.
The award was established to give recognition to a physician who has demonstrated consistent support of, and devotion to, the delivery of community health-care services through clinical practice.
"I came to the health center in large part because of the leadership of Dr. Eastman and her ability to tackle the challenges faced by community health centers," said Dr. Kamau Karanja, associate medical director of the health center. "Open access, patient satisfaction and staff satisfaction are just a few examples of the many problems that have been essentially ‘solved' under her leadership."
A graduate of New York University Medical School, Eastman began practicing medicine in 1990 and has been committed to the patients served by health center for more than 15 years. With an accessible and inclusive style of leadership, Eastman utilizes a team approach to involve staff in improving health-care delivery to the center's patients, a substantial number of whom are uninsured or underinsured.
"Dr. Eastman is a teacher and researcher, but most importantly, a compassionate clinician who champions those without ‘voice,'" said Dr. Alex Gonzalez, medical director, Fenway Health. "Her advocacy for these patients at the center and its affiliated hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is yet another dimension of her stellar leadership."
This year alone, Eastman oversaw the implementation of a 340B pharmacy through which eligible patients may purchase prescription medications at significantly reduced prices. She worked with IT staff to devise an open access scheduling model giving patients better access to the services they need and cutting the center's no-show rate by 50 percent. And she was instrumental in establishing primary care teams as the health center moves to a Medical Home model of care providing patients with improved comprehensive care coordination.
"Carroll is the rock that our primary care providers, support staff and all other staff look to and rely on for information, support and energy," said Liz Browne, executive director of the health center. "Her dedication to her patients is a shining example of why community health centers are such special places to receive care."
Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center has been providing primary health-care services and selected specialties to families and individuals in Allston-Brighton, Waltham and surrounding communities since 1974. The center provides health care to children and adults; the insured and uninsured; the employed and unemployed; and to all who dwell within its communities, including long- and short-term residents and recently arrived immigrants.
Established in 1972, the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers is a nonprofit, statewide association representing and serving the needs of the state's 52 community health centers. The league serves as an information source on community-based health care to policymakers, opinion leaders and the media and provides a wide range of technical assistance to its members and communities.
6/10/2010 (2:58:17pm)Tags: OpenNotes transparency genomeComments: (0)
What do BIDMC's Tom Delbanco and comedian Stephen Colbert have in common? An interest in having patients learn more about themselves.
Colbert is one of a number of Americans tracing their genetic information as part of a new PBS show "Faces of America."
Delbanco is a principal investigator in the OpenNotes trial at BIDMC, Geisinger Health System and Harborview Medical Center that will enable physicians to share their notes with patients.
They were brought together in this Newsweek story.
6/10/2010 (1:41:16pm)Tags: LGBT AIDS agingComments: (0)
Michael Wong, MD, medical director of transplant infection diseases, and Bay Windows, New England's largest LGBT newspaper, have been honored at BIDMC's annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Achievement Awards Ceremony for their outstanding contributions of individuals and groups who support and advance LGBT issues in the workplace and community.
Wong, a highly respected physician, researcher and educator, was recognized for his lifetime of accomplishments in promoting health for the individuals for whom he has cared, and his leadership in the public health policy arena. Wong's clinical practice includes his work in the division of infectious disease, and for almost a decade, he has also held a weekly clinic at The Dimock Center in Roxbury, bringing expertise in HIV/AIDS to a vulnerable community.
He serves as the Board President of AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts and as a gubernatorial appointee to the Massachusetts Public Health Council where he brings his clinical perspective and the voice of underserved patients to developing public health strategies and policies.
For more than two decades, Bay Windows has been providing its readers with award-winning articles and editorials on issues critical to LGBT communities. Co-publishers Sue O'Connell and Jeff Coakley accepted the award and commented that "Bay Windows is not a newspaper we own. It is a community that we serve."
Keynote speaker Lisa Krinsky, director of the LGBT Aging Project, spoke of the challenges facing an aging LGBT population including a distrust of main-stream healthcare providers and other institutions.
"This is a population that is more likely to age alone," she said. "Our mission is to assure equal access to resources and care with dignity." As part of her presentation, attendees were given a preview of "Gen Silent," a documentary about the LGBT elderly and their fears of abuse in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other institutions.
6/10/2010 (10:09:56am)Tags: primary care distracted drivingComments: (0)
A New England Journal of Medicine Perspective by BIDMC primary care physician Amy Ship has been getting a lot of attention today.
Ship writes about her belief that distracted driving -- talking or texting -- is a significant enough health danger that doctors should talk to their patients about the potential hazards.
And for anyone who may be inclined to dismiss the problem, Ship has a ready reply:
“How would you feel if the surgeon removing your appendix talked on the phone – hands-free of course – while operating?”
You can hear her discuss the article with WBZ-AM or read various accounts with Reuters, CNN, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.
Only don't read them while you are behind the wheel.
6/9/2010 (8:30:30am)Tags: quality top hospital patient safetyComments: (0)
For the third consecutive year, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has been recognized by the Premier healthcare alliance as a winner of the Premier Award for Quality (AFQ), one of 21 hospital winners and three healthcare systems nationwide ranked in the top 1 percent in the nation for patient care.
The award recognizes leading healthcare organizations that efficiently provide outstanding patient care and consistently set the standard in clinical excellence. The AFQ's performance-based criteria, including clinical quality outcomes, resource utilization, and clinical process indicators measures top performers at the overall hospital level. There were 3,788 hospitals and 346 healthcare systems eligible to receive the AFQ.
To learn more, click here.
6/7/2010 (2:13:22pm)Tags: OpenNotes transparencyComments: (0)
With patients across the country voicing a growing desire for greater engagement in and control over their medical care, a new study involving patients in Boston, Pennsylvania and Seattle will examine the impact of adding a new layer of openness to a traditionally one-sided element of the doctor-patient relationship - the notes that doctors record during and after patients' visits.
Funded through a $1.4 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Pioneer Portfolio - which supports innovative ideas and projects that may lead to important breakthroughs in health and health care - the 12-month OpenNotes© Project will evaluate the impact on both patients and physicians of sharing, through online medical record portals, the comments and observations made by physicians after each patient encounter.
Approximately 100 primary care physicians and 25,000 patients at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, and Harborview Medical Center in Seattle will participate in the 12-month trial.
To learn more, click here.
6/7/2010 (10:59:12am)Tags: noneComments: (0)
More than a decade after their twin sons were delivered and cared for at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Don and Christine Sweeney continue to hold a special place in their hearts for the medical center.
After playing for the Boston Bruins for 15 years, Don now serves in the team's front office as an assistant general manager. Christine, an Olympic figure skater for Team Canada, last season starred on "Battle of the Blades," a Canadian television series that pairs figure skaters and hockey players similar to "Dancing with the Stars."
In this Grateful Nation spotlight series video, they tell us why they're grateful for the remarkable efforts of the doctors, nurses, and staff of BIDMC's labor and delivery unit and NICU.
6/4/2010 (10:22:12am)Tags: LGBT AIDS agingComments: (0)
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center will honor Michael T. Wong, MD, a physician and researcher in its Division of Infectious Disease and Boston's Bay Windows newspaper at the 18th annual Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) Awards.
Lisa Krinsky, LICSW, Director of the LGBT Aging Project, will be the featured speaker at June 7 event which will kick off Pride Week activities. BIDMC will also sponsor a team in the Saturday June 12 PRIDE Parade.
Wong, who in addition to his BIDMC duties is board chairman of the AIDS Action Committee and a member of the state's Public Health Council, is being recognized for a lifetime of accomplishments promoting health not only for the individuals for whom he has cared, but for his leadership in the health policy arena.
For almost a decade, Wong has held a weekly clinic at The Dimock Center, bringing expertise in HIV/AIDS to a most vulnerable community. An assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Wong builds bridges with the community by nurturing public health initiatives that leverage HMS students' passion and skills.
Bay Windows is New England's largest publication for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered readers. For more than two decades, it has brought its readers award-winning articles and editorials on everything from the AIDS crisis to the Vermont civil union and Massachusetts marriage battles. Established in 1983 by founding publisher Sasha Alyson, Bay Windows was sold in 1985 to James Hover and purchased by its current co-publishers Jeff Coakley and Sue O'Connell in 2003.
Under Krinsky, who has spent 20 years in community-based elder services, LGBT Aging Project's Open Door Program has successfully collaborated with policy makers, community groups, and elders to ensure that services and programs within the commonwealth are ‘open and affirming' for LGBT elders.
6/3/2010 (3:37:55pm)Tags: surgery vascular surgeryComments: (0)
Elliot L. Chaikof, MD, PhD, the chief of vascular surgery at Emory University in Atlanta and a leader in the development of minimally invasive endovascular therapies for aortic aneurysms, carotid disease and peripheral vascular disease, has been named chair of the Roberta and Stephen R. Weiner Department of Surgery and surgeon-in-chief at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Chaikof will join the medical center on Aug. 1. He succeeds James Hurst, MD, who has been acting chief of the department since December 2007.
"Elliot Chaikof is a gifted surgeon and scientist who brings great leadership skills to BIDMC's already renowned surgery department," said Paul Levy, BIDMC's President and CEO. "He has a track record of bringing together the engineering and medical communities, enabling the development of clinically beneficial, cost-effective therapies that use evidence-based guidelines and practice standards in his field. That philosophy and expertise are critical in today's health care environment.
"On behalf of the board and the entire medical center, I also extend our enormous thanks to Jim Hurst, MD for his leadership of the surgery department over the past few years."
"I am proud to assume a leadership role in a hospital that has long been at the forefront of high-quality surgical care and research," said Chaikof. "When I look at the history of contributions made by members of this department, past and current, and the legacy of compassionate care at BIDMC, I feel very honored to become part of it."
"Among the important qualities Dr. Chaikof brings to BIDMC is that he is an outstanding teacher and mentor," said Stuart Rosenberg, MD, President & CEO of Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "He has helped develop the careers of residents, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty engaged in efforts to provide surgical care of the highest quality as well to excel in research, innovation and discovery."
To learn more aboout Chaikof, click here.
6/1/2010 (2:32:56pm)Tags: Boston Public Schools emergency trauma neonatalComments: (0)
BIDMC recently hosted a medical field trip for students from the Community Academy of Science and Health (CASH), a science and health themed public high school in Hyde Park.
Alden Landry, MD, MPH, and Jessica Klausmeier, MD, MPH both of the Emergency Department put together a program that took the students on a tour of BIDMC's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the Trauma Intensive Care Unit, the Emergency Department and Internal Medicine.
The CASH school offers internship opportunities and support, like this hospital field trip, for students interested in the medical field. "I'm thinking about emergency medicine," said CASH Senior Asma Abdul. "I had a lot on my mind when I came today and I actually had personal one-on-ones with a couple of doctors. It helped me feel more confident."
To learn more, click here.
6/1/2010 (2:20:50pm)Tags: cardiac nutritionComments: (0)
The CardioVascular Institute (CVI) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) launched the first edition of Heart Mail, a bimonthly electronic newsletter packed with useful information about heart and vascular health.
Heart Mail will be distributed every two months, alternating with BIDMC's existing Your Health @ BIDMC e-newsletter covering a wide range of health topics.
In contrast, Heart Mail will maintain a tight focus on cardiovascular health. Each issue will include general interest stories along with articles on cardiovascular wellness and disease, the latest therapies and research, and heart-healthy recipes. The free newsletter is written in collaboration with physicians and cardiologists at the CVI's three divisions: Cardiovascular Medicine, Cardiac Surgery and Vascular and Endovascular Surgery.
The first issue will explore, among other questions, whether chocolate is good for your heart. You will probably like the answer!
To learn more, click here.
5/28/2010 (1:05:49pm)Tags: transplant immune cellComments: (0)
A group of "color-coded" laboratory mice are providing researchers with a novel way of tracking T-cells, enabling them to visualize and monitor the cellular immune responses of transplanted tissue in real time.
The new imaging system is described in the June issue of Nature Medicine, which appears on-line this week.
"These immune responses are a key consideration in developing strategies to improve transplant outcomes," says, co-senior author Terry Strom, MD, Co-director of the Transplant Institute at BIDMC.
To learn more, click here.
5/28/2010 (12:12:36pm)Tags: bicycles BostonComments: (0)
When BIDMC's Bill Burley, showed up on City Hall Plaza to receive the Mayor's Gold 2010 Bike Friendly Businesses Award, he was in for a surprise. Not only did BIDMC take home the gold this year, but the hospital was honored with Mayor Menino's Boston's Most Bike Friendly Business Award as well.
"We looked at ways to reduce our carbon footprint and it was clear that bike transportation was a winner," said Burley, manager of real estate and transportation programs. "With the support of our CEO on down we were able to promote all of the major city and state bike programs and enhance our bike infrastructure at the hospital. We are thrilled that the sum of all of this activity made BIDMC Boston's Most Bike Friendly Business for 2010."
To be eligible for an award businesses rack up points in categories like bike rack convenience, on site shower facilities, access to biking materials like maps, tools and pumps, and employee training sessions. This is the third year Boston has given out Bike Friendly Business Awards.
To learn more, click here.
5/27/2010 (2:15:18pm)Tags: medical humanities art poetryComments: (0)
The first annual Medical Humanities Week Celebration sponsored by the Katherine Swan Ginsburg Humanism in Medicine Program kicks off next week with lectures, a film screening and a house staff art exhibit.
Katherine Swan Ginsburg was a house officer at BIDMC who died of cancer at the age of 34, not long after completing her training. While her mastery of medical knowledge and technical competence were outstanding, she was also widely admired for her extraordinary compassion and selfless dedication in caring for her patients.
Thanks to a gift from her family and loved ones, BIDMC continues to celebrate her life, by recognizing a graduating senior resident who, as selected by his or her peers, best exemplifies her inspiring personal attributes, and by convening a Grand Rounds lecture by a prominent speaker on a theme relating to humanism in medicine.
This year's speaker is physician-poet Rafael Campo, MD, director of the program and BIDMC's Office of Multicultural Affairs. Activities will also include a Medical Humanities Journal Club, with Tony Breu, MD, the current Katherine Swan Ginsburg Humanism in Medicine fellow and the screening of Wit, starring Emma Thompson.
House staff art work will be on display on both east and west campuses throughout the week.
For more information, contact Campo.
5/26/2010 (10:43:29am)Tags: transplant geneticsComments: (0)
Researchers have identified a distinct pattern of gene expression in the largest reported group of kidney transplant recipients who have not rejected the transplant kidneys even though they stopped taking anti-rejection drugs.
This finding may help identify other transplant recipients who could safely reduce or end use of immunosuppressive therapy. In 2008, more than 80,000 people in the United States were living with a kidney transplant. The report appears online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
The findings come from the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN), an international research consortium supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, of the National Institutes of Health, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. The research team included Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) investigator Laurence Turka, MD, together with Kenneth Newell, MD, PhD, of Emory University in Atlanta; and Vicki Seyfert-Margolis, PhD, of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
To learn more, click here.
5/25/2010 (4:09:48pm)Tags: cancer survivorsComments: (0)
Hundreds of cancer survivors and their families flocked to BIDMC's Celebration of Life on the Harvard Medical School quad Sunday, for a day filled with workshops, inspirational stories of survival and overwhelming support from family and friends.
"Your courage and your hope is an inspiration to us all," said Lowell E. Schnipper, MD, Chief, Hematology/Oncology, in welcoming approximately 1,000 guests to the 17th annual Celebration of Life.
In addition to 25 different workshops that covered specific cancers, family roles in coping with cancer and using yoga as a recovery tool, cancer survivors, their families and medical center staff were treated to a special keynote speaker and panel discussion with cancer survivors.
New York Times best-selling author Bruce Feiler delivered the keynote address at the invitation of Grateful Nation, which combines new and traditional media to bring together the patients, families, friends, and staff of BIDMC to support the quality care and groundbreaking research at the Medical Center.
Grateful Nation - a program of BIDMC's Development Office - offers a place to share experiences, thank caregivers and researchers, participate in sweepstakes, sponsor and host events and much more.
Feiler has gained national acclaim for "The Council of Dads," his 10th book in which he details his journey through diagnosis and treatment of bone cancer. His idea of enlisting a team of six men from different stages of his life to serve as a "council of dads" for his twin daughters - who were 3 years-old when he was diagnosed - is testament to the values, bonds and support family and friends can provide.
"This may have started as something for the girls, but I'm the one who really needed it," Feiler said.
Feiler received a standing ovation following his remarks, which were in turn followed by the survivors' panel featuring Jaquelyn Anderson, Kimberly Kenney, Howard Lipsky, Robert O'Brien and Kevin Pitt.
"The care at BIDMC," is what Margaret Jeddry, a breast cancer survivor, proclaimed on her gratitude placard. Jeddry, a BIDMC employee for 38 years, raved about the event and the care she received on the ninth floor of the Shapiro Clinical Center.
Hester Hill Schnipper, LICSW, program manager for Oncology Social Work and lead organizer of the event, thanked the many members of the Celebration of Life planning committee, as well as the medical center clinical staff and volunteers who care for cancer patients and families.
Hill, a cancer survivor herself, proclaimed, "The inconvenience and complications (that come with having cancer) must be trumped by joy."
5/25/2010 (12:28:33pm)Tags: workforce development AIMComments: (0)
BIDMC's Senior Vice President of Human Resources Lisa Zankman (center) accepts the 13th Annual John Gould Education & Workforce Development Award from Associated Industries of Massachusetts President & CEO Rick Lord and Linda Noonan, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education.
BIDMC was honored for "working collaboratively with the Massachusetts and Greater Boston workforce systems in sharing best practices to better align local resources to connect jobseekers and employers, and for the comprehensive and strategic nature of their several pipeline programs designed to attract, train, enhance and to retain a talented technical and professional workforce."
In addition Lord said, "The variety and number of training and professional development programs that BIDMC offers range from classes designed to advance the careers of medical technicians and professionals, to offering class on for non-native English speakers, to providing career and academic counseling, and is an excellent effort to help area residents and current employees gain new skills and to connect the medical center to the community.
The Gould Award was created by AIM to annually recognize the contributions of individuals, employers, and institutions for their efforts to improve public education and advancement, employability, and productivity of the residents of the Commonwealth. In 2000, the award was named for John Gould, upon his retirement as President and CEO of AIM, to recognize his many contributions to improve the quality of public education and workforce training activities in Massachusetts.\
Past recipients of the Gould Award include John Rennie, founder of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education; Middlesex Community College; NYPRO Inc; William Edgerly, Chairman Emeritus, State Street Corporation; Northeastern University; The Davis Family Foundation; Intel Massachusetts; EMC Corporation; IBM Corporation; David Driscoll, former Commissioner of the State Department of Education, and Raytheon Corporation's MathMovesU program, and State Street Corporation and Year Up Boston.
AIM is a nonprofit, nonpartisan employer association of 6,000 Bay State businesses and institutions chartered to maintain and improve the Commonwealth's economic climate in order to make Massachusetts a good place to live and work.
5/24/2010 (2:05:21pm)Tags: noneComments: (0)
BIDMC was honored with the President's Award for Outstanding Program Development by the New England Association Directors Healthcare Volunteer Services. The award, accepted by Stephanie Harriston-Diggs, Director of Volunteer Services, recognized the BIDMC Volunteer Program, The Parent Connection in the category of High Impact Volunteer Service.
"It is an honor to be recognized by your peers for what our hospital strives to do," said Harriston-Diggs. "Our hospital volunteers provide excellent customer service helping the hospital meet its mission of providing extraordinary care, where the patient comes first."
The Parent Connection is a free service for first-time parents who deliver at BIDMC. Since the program began in 1999, over 300 volunteers have been trained as mentoring moms. Volunteer mentors are experienced moms who provide weekly phone call support to new parents through the first twelve weeks after leaving the hospital with their newborn. Several mentors have been with the program over 10 years and even more have returned to mentoring after taking their own maternity leave.
Also present to accept this recognition were Terry Morgan, Program Coordinator, Volunteer Services, Christine Sweeney, Manager, The Parent Connection and Riki Mackillop, Administrative Manager, OB/GYN.
5/21/2010 (11:24:51am)Tags: breast cancer researchComments: (0)
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center investigators received a $300,000 grant from the Avon Foundation at the eighth annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Boston. The award was part of the $2.6 million in grants from the Avon Foundation to several local organizations.
The grant -- BIDMC's first from the Avon Foundation -- supports the research of Gerburg Wulf, MD, of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, and Joyce Fingeroth, MD, of the Division of Infectious Disease. The researchers are trying determine if acute infectious mononucleosis (AIM) or EBV-infection is a risk factor for breast cancer.
The Avon Walk Boston, the third of nine Avon walks this year, attracted more than 2,500 participants from 47 states, France and Bermuda, including 228 breast cancer survivors, who joined together to raise lifesaving funds and awareness for breast cancer.
Suze Orman, financial expert and special ambassador for the Avon Foundation, was on hand to announce the grants. She said, "They represent facilities that are doing cutting-edge research to find a cure and that offer services to patients regardless of their ability to pay. The new grants we present today will help them continue to save lives."
Caption: BIDMC investigators received a $300,000 grant from Avon Foundation at the annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Boston. From left are, Suze Orman, BIDMC investigators Joyce Fingeroth and Gerburg Wulf, and Carol Kurzig, president of Avon Foundation.
5/21/2010 (10:22:37am)Tags: noneComments: (0)
Amy Lipman, BIDMC's Environmental Sustainability Coordinator received a Stephanie Davis Waste Reduction Award and Scholarship. Lipman received the award at the CleanMed annual conference in Baltimore for her work in setting goals for a number of programs, including water, hazardous chemicals, energy reduction, solid waste and fuel use for hospital-owned vehicles. She was acknowledged for expanding programs already in place, such as furniture redistribution, drink refills in reusable containers, and making progress in reducing blue wrap, plastic water bottles and solid waste. Her goals include reducing Styrofoam specimen containers, replacing disposables with re-washables, building a web-based carpooling program and developing a chemical pharmacy.
The award is given in the honor of Stephanie C. Davis, well-known waste reduction expert in the health care field who died of cancer in 2003. The award and CleanMed scholarship were established in memoriam by Davis's colleagues, friends and family to honor her passion and recognize and support those in healthcare organizations who struggle to "green" the industry.
Lipman was one of four awardees chosen nationally.
5/19/2010 (4:36:02pm)Tags: noneComments: (0)
Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport and BIDMC have agreed to a new clinical affiliation that will add new medical services not currently available in the AJH community. The agreement will also draw on the expertise of the Boston academic medical center for locally based quality improvement efforts.
The agreement signed today, which also includes Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, ensures that Anna Jaques Hospital will remain an independent non-profit hospital, while offering services including specialty cardiovascular and high-risk pregnancy care for area residents without the need to travel to Boston.
To learn more, click here.
5/19/2010 (2:34:02pm)Tags: noneComments: (0)
If one word could sum up the sentiment of the annual BIDMC Nursing Awards celebration at Fenway Park Monday night May 17, that word would be support.
Echoed again and again during private conversations, award introductions and nomination letters was the feeling that nurses at BIDMC support physicians, patients and each other. And that without this support, the medical center would not run as smoothly nor be as successful.
The ceremony was the culmination of the medical center's activities honoring BIDMC's exemplary professional nursing staff as part of National Nurses Week.
For a complete list of this year's scholarship and award winners, click here.
Held in the State Street Pavilion at Fenway Park, the evening honored 116 nurses and included 29 awards for a total of $105,000 in nursing scholarships. This year's nursing gift will be a donation of $5,000, on behalf of all nurses at BIDMC, to the Greater Boston Food Bank.
5/19/2010 (2:26:42pm)Tags: noneComments: (0)
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has been awarded a 2010 Practice Greenhealth Partner for Change Award. The award, given at the CleanMed conference in Baltimore, honors facilities that have made significant and sustainable progress toward reducing waste, preventing pollution, and eliminating mercury. Recipients of this award reduce, reuse, and/or recycle at least 10 percent of their total waste, and have initiated comprehensive waste minimization and pollution prevention programs.
BIDMC was honored with the Partner for Change Award for sustainability initiatives throughout the hospital including aggressive waste reduction and conservation goals, green purchasing efforts, hazardous waste recycling and an assessment that will lead to the hospital becoming mercury free.
Some of the hospital's most successful efforts to reduce waste include an exam table reupholstering project that will divert 20.6 tons from land fills and save the the hospital $126,000. BIDMC also created a formal equipment and supplies donations program. Over 27 tons were donated this year, diverting the weight from landfills and providing useful medical equipment and furniture to local schools and non-profits as well as hospitals in other countries. The hospital put several successful recycling programs in place this year as well with a stand out being the OR program, which was a grassroots initiative led by a team of nurses. The team wanted to include plastic as well as cardboard recycling and this has sped up the hospital's plan to move to single stream recycling in the coming months.
Congratulations to all the efforts that helped make BIDMC eligible for this prestigious award!
