Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center recently received full Cycle II accreditation status as a Chest Pain Center from a review committee of the Society of Chest Pain Centers. This three-year accreditation certifies that Lourdes demonstrated its competency against national standards and meets or exceeds quality-of-care measures in acute cardiac medicine. This has been a year-long process for the Lourdes medical staff. CPC Director Dr. Joseph Pearson and CPC coordinator Melissa Magie organized a multi-disciplinary committee to access and improve many ER processes and core measures for cardiac care. This committee continues to meet on a regular basis to review cases and report outcomes.
Lafayette General Medical Center was identified as one of the recipients of the 2009 HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award. The top 5 percent of all hospitals in the U.S. — 242 — were recognized with this award in a report issued by the leading independent health care ratings organization. According to the HealthGrades study, patients at top-performing hospitals are 43 percent less likely to experience a medical error. If all hospitals performed at the level of Patient Safety Excellence Award facilities, approximately 211,697 patient safety events and 22,771 Medicare deaths could have been avoided while saving the U.S. approximately $2 billion from 2005 through 2007. “We have put together many patient safety initiatives, and it is so exciting to receive this award as confirmation of our employees’ commitment and hard work,” says David Callecod, LGMC’s president and CEO. “We constantly stress that patient safety is the responsibility of all employees.”
The Lafayette Parish Medical Society honored 23 local physicians for their years of medical service to the community with a celebration dinner Thursday, April 02, at Fezzo’s III in Scott. For 40 years of medicine: Drs. Louis C Blanda, Ewing C Cook Jr., Lewis C. Cummings, Robert Greene, F. Michael Hindelang, James Ingram Jr., James S. Maddux, Joan G. Marshak, Henry McLemore II, Louis B. Mes, Donald Mickal Sr., Richard Miers, Robert L. Morrow Jr., Vasanth K. Nalam, Robert W. Romero, and Robert R. Theard. Celebrating 50 years of medicine: Drs. Larry E. Baker, Martin J. “Zeke” Ducote, Darrell L. Henderson, James T. Kountoupis, and Verne L. Thibodeaux. Honored for more than 60 years of medicine was Dr. Wilfrid G. Dolan and for 70 years was Dr. Ralph L. Bourgeois (who passed away two days after the event).
Lafayette General Medical Center has opened Family Health Plaza South, which provides primary care and urgent medical services. Located in Sugar Mill Pond at 2810 Bonin Road, the 3,000-square-foot facility is staffed by Drs. Farha Kahn, internal medicine, and André Viator, family practice, seven days a week. Hours of operation are 8 a.m.-7 p.m., Monday through Friday; 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday; and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. Family Health Plaza South treats adults and children for minor emergencies and illnesses, such as respiratory infections, flu, fever, upset stomach, and minor cuts and burns. It also offers X-ray services, a lab draw station, corporate and school physicals, and worker’s compensation evaluations — providing a lower cost alternative to the emergency room for medical needs that are not life-threatening.
Remaining active and free of joint discomfort is the goal of millions. To help them achieve that, The Balancing Act, a half-hour series on Lifetime Television, has introduced its viewers to an innovative solution to ease the symptoms of osteoarthritis. The show features Dr. Barbara T. Brierre of Lafayette, president and founder of Panacea Cream Products, who created a non-prescription medication that uses critical minerals and vitamins to remedy pain. The show aired April 28 and will air again May 14 and May 28; it can also be viewed at www.thebalancingact.com/osmoflex. Brierre’s first venture into pain management was when she searched for a pain reliever and found only smelly creams or harsh pills. “This inspired me to dedicate my time to balance the body’s deficiencies with effective and easy-to-administer solutions,” she says. Brierre created an anti-inflammatory cream called Osmoflex. “There were no other over-the-counter products derived from natural ingredients found in your own body,” she says. A medical doctor who specialized in internal medicine and women’s health issues, Brierre now works full time “helping women stay active, healthy and pain-free with the help of dermal vitamin and mineral products.” Osmoflex, she says, uses a lipsomal delivery system — meaning the cream is absorbed and provides relief to the point of pain versus topical applications which remain on the skin.
In rendering his ruling, District Judge John Trahan all but called the real estate developer a liar for inconsistencies in his accounts of what prompted him to punch a school teacher unconscious.
Frank’s Casing Crew, now doing business as Frank’s International, will make its final appearance on ABiz’s list of the Top 50 Privately Held Companies in Acadiana this year, and once again, it will likely be at the top with more than $1 billion in annual revenues. The 75-year-old company specializing in tubular fabrication and installation services to the oil and gas industry plans to go public this year.
The defeat, or rather highjacking of House Bill 420 in the final days of this year's Legislative Session, say Reps. Vincent Pierre and Terry Landry, is the result of the propaganda spread by one unidentified local media outlet and an unnamed former state Representative, but nothing to do with the original legislation's lack of checks, balances or details.
City-Parish Council Chairman Brandon Shelvin heaped steady doses of condescending ire on a Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana executive while failing to reveal his financial ties to a BC/BS rival.
Abbeville native David Primeaux was a popular professor until his death late last year, and while he was successful at camouflaging a dark past, he couldn’t outlive it.
Tehmi Chassion’s failure to recuse himself in the school board’s selection of a group health benefits provider raises ‘serious questions’ on whether he violated state ethics law.
He’s a singer. A songwriter. A piano man. A family man. He’s even got his own Wikipedia entry. He’s David Egan. And he knows ancient secrets about the monolithic stones of Stonehenge that he’s not willing to share.
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