A native of South Africa, where he received his MD and PhD degrees, Dr. David Lipschitz is one of the best known geriatricians in the United States. Consistently ranked as one of the ‘best doctors in America’, Dr. Lipschitz is affectionately known by his patients and on television as Dr. David. He is currently the medical director and practices in the Healthy Aging and Memory Centers at Saline Memorial Hospital in Benton, Arkansas

Dr. David aims to educate people about aging, empowering people with the tools to live longer, happier, and healthier lives. As Dr. David will tell you “There is nothing an older person cannot do.”

As part of his ongoing mission to empower the public, Dr. David has a nationally syndicated column, “Life Long Health.” and a 26-part award-winning program on the PBS network entitled “Aging Successfully with Dr. David.”  He has also written two books, “Breaking The Rules of Aging” and “Dr. David’s First Health Book of More (Not Less),” both of which have been widely acclaimed.

You can watch Dr. David on his own TV program, the Dr. David Show on Fridays at 12:30 PM on KARK, Channel 4, where he answers questions from the viewers. Additionally Dr. David is also featured on a Health News segment on the 5PM news on Fridays and has appeared on national television including the TODAY Show and CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood. As if that wasn’t enough, Dr. Lipschitz also has a weekly medical radio show on KARN-AM called “ReCenter Your Life”, which is broadcast live on 102.9FM from KARN.

Can’t wait until Friday? Watch his series of Healthy Aging guidance videos now on Saline Memorial’s YouTube Channel.

Last year’s National Hospital Week

Saline Memorial Hospital has one team of 1,020 co-workers providing excellent care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for over 58 years. In order to appreciate our hard-working and dedicated team, Saline Memorial is celebrating National Hospital Week, May 12-18, 2013.

Come and join us in the celebration!

Sunday, May 12: Sundaes on Sunday – There will be ice cream sundaes available for our weekend co-workers from 5pm-7pm in the SMH cafeteria.

Tuesday, May 14: Popcorn and Coke – Take a break and come enjoy an afternoon snack of popcorn and coke in the HEC Atrium from 2pm-3pm. You will also be able to pick up Hospital Week T-shirts at this time.

Thursday, May 16: Picnic provided by Everett Buick GMC – Thank you to Everett Buick GMC who will be providing us with grilled burgers and hot dogs in the Ambulance Bay. There will also be a photo booth as well as karaoke at the lunchtime picnic from 11am-1pm and a live band at the evening picnic from 5pm-7pm.

Friday, May 17: Wear Your T-shirt Day – Wear your Hospital Week T-shirt to work all day.

There will also be the following discounts for co-workers for National Hospital week, May 13-18:

• 25% off at Larry’s Pizza.
• 20% off freezer items at Just Leave It To Liz. Open Tuesday-Friday, 3-6pm.
• 20% off purchase at Tropical Smoothie Cafe.
• 20% off purchase at Moe’s Southwest Grill.
• 20% off purchase at Rib Crib.
• 20% off purchase at Blush Boutique. Extended hours on Thursday, May 16th, 9am-9pm.
• 10% off purchase at Whole Hog Cafe. Cannot be combined with any other offers.
  

  Last year’s National Hospital Week

Saline Memorial Hospital: Sherry Jensen, Quality and Risk Manager and Debbie Burrow, Chief Nursing Officer

Saline Memorial Hospital (SMH) and three local physician clinics were recently awarded for their efforts to enhance quality for patients. Bryant Medical Clinic, Saline Med-Pedes, Main Street Medical Clinic and SMH were recognized at the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care’s (AFMC) quality conference on April 5th at Embassy Suites in Little Rock.

The Quality Awards are designed to recognize improvement in individual health care organizations’ performance in AFMC’s quality improvement projects.
SMH received the CAUTI Reduction Award which recognizes hospitals that have committed to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). These hospitals have either reduced their CAUTI standardized infection rate below 1, which means they are better than the national average, or reduced CAUTI’s by 25% during a six-month period.

“Saline Memorial Hospital is committed to enhancing care for patients and our staff is constantly looking for new avenues to improve outcomes,” said Debbie Burrow, chief nursing officer at SMH. “The most important risk factor for developing a catheter associated UTI is prolonged use of the urinary catheter. We have a great group of co-workers, who together as a team, have developed a process to decrease urinary catheter use resulting in reduced infection rates for our patients.”

The three physician clinics all received awards for meeting criteria related to implementing electronic health records.

Bryant Medical Clinic: Stephanie Farmer, APN and Dr. Tyler Nelson. Not pictured, Dr. Chris Skelley.

Saline Med-Peds: Mark Martindale, Joe Martindale and Dr. Beth Milligan. Not pictured, Dr. Janna Jennings.

Main Street Medical Clinic: Dr. Clay Brashears and Dr. Brewer

Dr. David Lipschitz of the Healthy Aging Center at Saline Memorial Hospital talks back pain and how we can relieve the pain in this short video.

Back pain is one of the most common problems affecting people over the age of 50. With two categories of back pain, chronic back pain and acute back pain, physical therapy is one of the best ways to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life.

A common cause for back pain? Poor posture. Just changing your posture can dramatically reduce back pain. Research also shows that doing regular exercise and cardiovascular exercise three to five days a week can improve back pain.

Dr. David talks with a physical therapist about physical therapy benefits and surgery alternatives.

On Friday, April 26, Saline Memorial Hospital‘s Relay For Life team raised over $2,400 for the American Cancer Society.

The American Cancer Society hosts a series of Relay For Life events all over the country each year. Relay teams camp out at a local high school, park, or fairground and take turns walking or running around a track or path. During a Relay for Life event, cancer survivors and their family and friends stand together to fight for cancer research, celebrate what they’ve overcome as well as remember those lost to cancer.

Saline Memorial Hospital would like to thank everyone who came out to walk for the Relay For Life team on Friday. With our neon shirts, slap bracelets, side ponytails and shades, we rocked the 80’s look.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a group of diseases characterized by high blood glucose levels that result from defects in the body’s ability to produce and/or use insulin.

Type 1 diabetes is when the body does not produce insulin, the hormone needed to convert sugars, starches and other food in to energy needed for daily life. This is usually diagnosed in children and young adults. Type 1 diabetes affects around 5% of those with diabetes.

With type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin. Type 2 is the most common type and is prevalent in millions of Americans.

Diabetes Facts:

• 25.8 million people in United States have diabetes. That is 8.3% of the population.
• 7 million people are living with diabetes undiagnosed.
• 79 million people are prediabetic.
• 1 in 400 under 20 years of age have diabetes.
• 11.3% of those 20 years and older have diabetes.
• 26.9% of those 65 years and older have diabetes.
• In 2007, diabetes was a contributing factor to 231,404 deaths.
• Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults aged 20–74 years.
• Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, accounting for 44% of new cases in 2008.
• The risk for stroke is 2 to 4 times higher among people with diabetes.
• About 60% to 70% of people with diabetes have mild to severe forms of nervous system damage.
• More than 60% of nontraumatic lower-limb amputations occur in people with diabetes.
• $245 billion: Total costs of diagnosed diabetes in the United States in 2012

What can you do to lower risk of diabetes?

• Eat healthy.
• Lose weight to maintain a healthy weight and BMI.
• Improve your cholesterol numbers.
• Maintain a physically active life.
• Lower your blood pressure.
• Lower blood glucose levels.
• Quit smoking.

CVS Pharmacy are donating $1, up to $25,000, for every photo uploaded to the American Diabetes Association’s Facebook page which captures what living with diabetes means.

Join Dr. David Lipschitz next Tuesday, April 23rd for his breakfast seminar on Alzheimer’s.

Why should you attend? To educate yourself on the disease that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior.

Here are some facts about Alzheimer’s to consider:

• Alzheimer’s is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States.
• More than 5 million Americans are living with the disease.
• 1 in 3 seniors die with Alzheimer’s or another dementia.
• In 2013, Alzheimer’s will cost the nation $203 billion. This number is expected to rise to $1.2 trillion by 2050.
• In 2012, 15.4 million caregivers provided more than 17.5 billion hours of unpaid care valued at $216 billion.
• Nearly 15% of caregivers for people with Alzheimer’s or another dementia are long-distance caregivers.

The breakfast seminar will begin at 8am in Classroom 1 at Saline Memorial Hospital. Refreshments will be provided. Please call us on 776-6746 to RSVP in advance as space is limited.

This year’s National RX Take Back Day is April 27th. Why should you turn in your old medications?

• Every day more than 2,500 teenagers begin abusing prescription drugs.
• 12-17 year olds abuse prescription drugs more than ecstasy, heroin, crack/cocaine and methamphetamines combined.
• More than 70% of people 12 and older who abuse prescription drugs say they get them from a friend or relative.
• In 2008, more than 36,000 people died from drug overdoses, and most of these deaths were caused by prescription drugs.
• Accidental drug overdose deaths in Arkansas rose 195% in the most recently studied four year period, reflecting the 4th highest increase in the United States.
  
• In the U.S in 2008, parents of children under the age of 5 were forced to make over 99,000 trips to the emergency room due to their children accidentally ingesting prescription drugs.

In order to help protect your family from prescription drug abuse and misuse, Saline Memorial Hospital will be hosting drives where you can exchange your old medications for gift cards or coupons. There will be no questions asked at the drives.

You can drop your old medications off on April 27th 10am-2pm at either of these locations:

By Dr. Scott Archer

High volumes in the Emergency Department can lead to overcrowding and frustrated and dissatisfied patients. Our goal as physicians and as an organization is to provide the highest quality of care in the shortest amount of time. Unfortunately, those with non-emergent situations have longer wait times. We treat patients by severity and will treat critical patients first. That is important for our patients and community to understand. Patients are triaged by the severity of the illness and the likelihood that they will need admission-most critical first, non-urgent last. That’s the catalyst of the ED wait times. We also have critical patients coming in by ambulance that need immediate treatment. This is something patients in the waiting room don’t see.

As a hospital, we are increasingly challenged to reduce wait times and delays in moving patients into and out of inpatient beds. In an effort to combat this problem, SMH recently implemented a “fast-track” process for patients with medical conditions that can be treated quickly. As part of the process, we have remodeled a section of our ED to quickly triage the non-urgent patients and see them faster.

Not all ED patients need a bed to lie down on. Instead of unnecessarily occupying patient beds, we use exam chairs when appropriate. This gives us more space to treat patients quicker. Physicians can multitask by treating a fast-track patient while waiting for results for a more seriously ill or injured patient. This new process has already proven to be a positive change and it has helped us reduce our ED wait times.

Afterhours clinics are a smart alternative to the emergency room or other times when you are not able to see your primary care provider. The ED is one of the most costly sources of health care for the insurance companies, the hospital and most importantly, for the patient. A significant percent of ED visits are preventable through timely access to care.

Saline Memorial Hospital (SMH) and Bryant Medical Clinic offer an afterhours clinic open until 8:00pm Monday-Friday. They provide access to non-emergent care after hours. The Bryant Medical Afterhours Clinic does not require an appointment and is covered like a typical office appointment with co-pay due at the time of your visit. The Clinic is open late to accommodate working families who can’t get in to see their primary care physician by 5:00pm.

April is National Donate Life Month and Saline Memorial Hospital is asking you to do just that.

As part of our partnership with ARORA (Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency) we will be educating our hospital community on the critical need for organ donation and providing opportunities for people to sign up as organ, eye, and tissue donors.

As part of this initiative, we will host an employee registration drive on Wednesday April 10, 2013, in the main lobby of the Hospital, from 11:00AM-1:00PM. You too can register as an organ donor by clicking here.

The Facts:

111,000: Approximate number of people on the national transplant waiting list

18: Average number of people on the waiting list who will die today

8: Number of lives one organ donor could save

14: Every 14 minutes someone new is added to the national waiting list

25,000: Number of people who die of a brain death each year (and could donate organs)

5,500: Of the 25,000 brain deaths, only 5,500 donate

100 million: More than 100 million people in the United States have registered their decision to donate.

For event information and details on ways you can become actively involved, contact Megan at 776-6746, megan.elms@salinememorial.org or visit www.organdonor.gov. Please join us in supporting our involvement and spreading this message that helps us to literally save lives.