November 16, 2009
Key component of fitness for seniors is preventing falls
by Leah Ward
Yakima Herald-Republic
YAKIMA, Wash. — Yakima now has a small army of fitness instructors who have as their mission nothing less than preventing falls among the elderly, a leading cause of injury-related hospitalizations across the state.
ANDY SAWYER/Yakima Herald-Republic
Celia Young, in pink, leads a training class at North Star Lodge in Yakima, Wash. Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 for people who will be conducting senior fitness classes.
November 13, 2009
October 29, 2009
YAKIMA – This week, the National Research Corporation (NRC) announced Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital as a winner of their 2009/2010 Consumer Choice Award. The award identifies hospitals which healthcare consumers have chosen as having the highest quality and image in over 300 markets throughout the U.S. The winners will be featured in this week’s Modern Healthcare magazine.
“We are honored that our community has selected Memorial as their hospital of Choice,” says Rick Linneweh, President and CEO of Memorial. “With this recognition, we re-dedicate ourselves to the mission of quality care in a safe environment with state-of-the-art medicine. Our community deserves nothing less.”
This is the fourteenth year NRC has awarded hospitals whose consumers have recognized them for providing the highest quality healthcare. Ginny Martin, President of NRC’s Ticker Division, said winners are determined by consumer perceptions on multiple quality and image ratings collected in the company’s Healthcare Market Guide Ticker℠ study. Of the 3,200 hospitals named by consumers in the study, the winning facilities rank highest in their Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs), as defined by the US Census Bureau. The Ticker study surveyed over 250,000 households representing over 450,000 consumers in the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia.
“Healthcare has become an increasingly important issue across the country and empowered consumers are making decisions for themselves and their families when selecting their healthcare facilities and services,” Martin said. “As care options multiply and financial challenges remain strong, consumer perception of quality continues to grow in importance. Dedication to providing high quality healthcare has become essential for all hospitals. In the face of adversity, these Consumer Choice award winners exemplify the dedication it takes to provide quality healthcare to their communities, and we are please to honor them through the eyes of their patients.”
NRC’s Healthcare Market Guide Ticker is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive study of its kind. No other study used to measure hospital performance and preferences contains more consumer responses than NRC’s study.
October 29, 2009
Teaching families to deal with loss
November is national Hospice month. Yakima Valley’s four cooperating hospice agencies; Memorial Hospice, Yakima Regional Home Health & Hospice, Kittitas Valley Home Health & Hospice and Lower Valley Hospice and Palliative Care; again welcome professional speaker and grief counselor Doug Smith for a free public seminar to teach individuals and families how to best deal with loss and grief.
Helping Ourselves and Our Families Heal in the Midst of Grief
Wednesday, November 4 from 6-8 PM
Howard Johnson-Plaza Hotel
9 N. 9th Street
Yakima, WA 98901
Featuring: DOUGLAS C. SMITH, M.A., MS, M.DIV
FREE to the public
Smith presented a hospice seminar entitled “It Takes a Valley to Say Goodbye” in April, 2008 to a combined audience of over 300 people. Those present were very moved and motivated by his thoughtful and meaningful remarks.
With over 25 years experience as a counselor, therapist, and health care administrator, Smith offers guidance from his own personal struggles with grief, having lost to death a brother and two daughters.
“Dying is a topic not spoken of much in our culture, especially to children, because we try to “protect” our children from death,” says Mark Young with Memorial Hospice. “But that is not healthy. This seminar is a way for parents and grandparents to find ways to help their children and grandchildren understand and accept the death of a loved one, a pet, a playmate, a sibling, or a parent or grandparent.”
This seminar is open and free to the public.
October 26, 2009
This editorial appears in the Oct. 25, 2009, Yakima Herald-Republic.
It’s time to end the careless chatter doubting the seriousness of swine flu and the vaccine developed to prevent it. The illness has reached unprecedented virulence for so early in the fall.
October 19, 2009
Helping children with special health care needs, Yakima Children’s Village is currently expanding its building to accommodate more services to help children in the area. This video features Family, Career and Community Leaders of America and their fund raising efforts.
October 2, 2009
Learn more about Cottage in the Meadow.
October 2, 2009
Leran more about how many are affected by flu annually and Memorial’s efforts to ensure the safety of staff and patients with their staff vaccination program.
September 24, 2009
New Pediatric Hospitalist Service
Effective September 1, Community Health Of Central Washington (CHCW) and Memorial Hospital are collaborating to offer a new service in Yakima– a Pediatric Hospitalist Service (PH Svc). This is important information about how services will be delivered to newborn and pediatric patients admitted to Memorial Hospital. We are excited to bring this innovation to patients and providers in our community, and look forward to improvements in care and service for all of the people in our community.
Why We Have Started the Service
- Recruitment: Many pediatricians today prefer to limit practice to the outpatient setting. They need hospitalists to support their practice.
- Patient care: Pediatricians devoted to the care of hospitalized patients are able to bring a higher level of experience and expertise to the care of those patients.
- Service to Patients and Families: Today, many patients and families from Yakima and surrounding communities are directed to Seattle or Spokane because of limited capacity or expertise in Yakima. A dedicated Pediatric Hospitalist Service will serve them better, and use local resources more efficiently.
- Education: For 16 years, the CWFM Residency has been sending residents to Seattle Childrens Hospital for pediatric training. Now that will be provided right here in Yakima. Residents from Seattle Childrens will also rotate on the service.
How Does The Service Work
The PH Svc is staffed 24/7, every day of the year, by a pediatrician at Memorial Hospital.
Our pediatric hospitalists are:
- Dr. Benjamin Barsotti: “Benj” was recruited by CHCW to be a full time pediatric hospitalist, and is new to Yakima. He is from Portland, OR. He completed his MD at Thomas Jefferson Univ., and his pediatric residency at A.I. duPont Children’s Hospital.
- Dr. Kerry Harthcock: Dr. Harthcock has been the acting director for the PH Svc for the past year. He will be taking a leave from his practice at YPA for a few months and serve as a full time pediatric hospitalist while he is recruiting for two or three additional pediatricians to join the PH Svc.
- Community Pediatricians: Pediatricians from YPA and from Yakima Neighborhood Health Services have joined forces to help get the PH Svc started. Together, they will rotate on the service until additional full time hospitalists are recruited. They include: Dr. Simms, Dr. Bartlett, Dr. Cazorla-Lancaster, Dr. Carlson, Dr. Jabile, and Dr. Prier.
The PH Svc physicians will admit and provide care for a wide variety of pediatric patients. Local pediatricians and family doctors can ask the service to routinely admit their newborn and pediatric patients, or to provide consultation. Specialists with pediatric patients can consult them. Physicians up and down the Valley can call them to arrange for transfer and care of their patients at Memorial.
How will the PH Svc effect the care of CHCW patients?
Effective September 1, all of our pediatric admissions to Memorial Hospital will be cared for by the PH Svc. To discuss admission of a pediatric patient, please call the Pediatric Hospitalist at 509-388-5321. When children from our practice present to the Memorial ER and need admission, the ER doctor will contact the PH Svc directly. The PH Svc has access to Chart Connect, and will message providers about the care of their patients.
The situation with newborn patients is a bit more complicated. YPA physicians will continue to care for newborns destined for their practice. At CWFM, a resident and FM attending are assigned to care for the mother and baby when the prenatal care was provided by a CWFM resident or faculty physician. All other newborns will be cared for by the PH Svc.
Questions?
If you have any questions, contact Michael, Maples, MD. , CEP, Community Health of Central Washington at 509-574-6117
September 23, 2009
View Children’s Village Construction Progress, Aug-Sep 2009.
Children sitting in the dental chairs at Children’s Village watch in awe out the windows as dump
trucks come and go and workers busily prepare the building for expansion. Foundations are laid,
beams have been lifted into place and framing has begun; the smell of progress hangs sweetly
in the air.
Construction is in full swing at Children’s Village with the foundation being laid on the south side
of the building making room for additional speech, occupational and physical therapy rooms.
The north side of the building, which will house additional pediatric
medical specialty exam areas and pediatric dental treatment rooms,
is also under construction.