Heart Hospital of Lafayette was presented with the 2009 C.A.R.E.S. Designation Achievement Award by Jeffrey Tully, CEO of Medical Partners International. The acronym stands for Compassion, Attitude, Respect, Environment and Service. C.A.R.E.S. is a structured, people-centered approach to exceeding patient expectations in health care organizations. According to Medical Partners International, organizations that achieve this service excellence are in the top 1 percent of health care organizations in the country. Heart Hospital of Lafayette is an affiliate of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Carl A. Richard has joined the Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center’s leadership team as a physician recruiter for the Lourdes Primary Care Network. Richard was employed by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals for the past seven years and has an additional eight years of pharmaceutical sales and physician relations experience. He also has seven years of physician recruiting experience. He received a bachelor of science in business administration from UL Lafayette.

Lafayette-based LHC Group Inc., one of the largest providers of home nursing services in the U.S., has entered into a home health joint venture with Methodist Hospital to provide home nursing services in Henderson, Ky. The primary service area of this joint venture spans three counties in Kentucky. The estimated population of the service area is 150,000, with almost 14 percent over the age of 65. Net revenue for the Henderson agency during the most recent 12 months was approximately $3 million. Methodist Hospital is a 205-bed regional health care facility located on the banks of the Ohio River in Henderson. It provides general medical and surgical care for inpatient, outpatient and emergency room patients and also operates a critical access hospital located in Morganfield, Ky. Methodist Hospital employs more than 875.

The Louisiana Society for Hospital Public Relations and Marketing held its 28th Annual Gordon and Breaux Pelican Awards Luncheon, recognizing excellence in hospital public relations and marketing. For the third year in a row, Lafayette General Medical Center received the prestigious Jacqueline Leonhard Award for Writing Excellence for the Pavilion “Never Miss a Moment” Brochure, which was written by Leslie Davis. The hospital received one of only four Best of Show awards presented. Additionally, the staff at Pat’s Printing in Lafayette was presented with the Lagniappe Award, given annually to a communications partner (reporter, account representative or vendor) who demonstrates creativity, ingenuity and strong principles in assisting LSHPRM members in furthering communications.

Thanks to the success of the ninth annual “Be a Heart Starter” Bystander CPR Training Event, more than 11,000 people have now been trained through the program since its inception in 2001. This year’s total of 1,045 participants is the sixth time more than 1,000 people participated in this nationally recognized one-day event. “We are very pleased with the continuing interest from the Acadiana community to give up part of their Saturday to come and learn how to help save a life,” says Dr. Charles Wyatt, event founder and medical director. “The survival rate of persons who have collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest has increased dramatically since 2001 from a 1 percent survival rate to 17 percent today. Someone performing bystander CPR is an important part of this increased survival rate.” More than 300 medical and non-medical volunteers help in the training; the event is organized by the medical community and community-minded businesses of Acadiana, among which are 25 sponsors and many of their employees.