Franciscan Alliance hospitals offer latest, greatest services

FRANCISCAN ST. ANTHONY HEALTH-MICHIGAN CITY

Hospital nets national safety honor

Franciscan St. Anthony Health-Michigan City has received the National Patient Safety Foundation's Stand Up for Patient Safety Management Award.

The honor was in recognition of the hospital improving its sentinel lymph node procedure for patients undergoing breast cancer treatment.

The Nuclear Medicine Department designed a process improvement project to study the hospital's lymph node visualization rates and found that by reducing the length of the needles used to inject the radioactive tracer, visualization rates improved to 100 percent.

"I continue to be tremendously proud of our staff and physicians, as they continue to give compassionate, expert and innovative care that has repeatedly garnered national and state health care awards," says Dr. James Callaghan, hospital president.

New Emergency Department will focus on customer service

A new Franciscan St. Anthony Health-Chesterton Health Center is scheduled to open in January 2012.

A free-standing Emergency Department will be the cornerstone of the new center, which also will include an onsite laboratory, Magnetic Resonance Imaging and CT, along with primary care and specialty physician suites. There also will be a community room for educational events. The Emergency Department will be staffed around-the-clock with board-certified emergency medicine physicians.

Unlike many hospital emergency departments, a free-standing emergency center tends to offer shorter wait times, with expedited lab and imaging services.

The center will be located on Indian Boundary Road, between Council Drive and Roberts Road.

New Cancer Treatment Center scheduled to open next spring

The Cancer Treatment Center of Franciscan St. Anthony Health-Michigan City will be 20,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, scheduled to open in April 2012.

Services will include a state-of-the-art Linear Accelerator, PET/CT Scan, and Diagnostic CT, along with 14 infusion bays, lab and pharmacy. There likewise will be a patient and family education center and a community room. Treatment of all types of cancer will be consolidated into the facility, making the process more accessible and comfortable for patients and their families.

FRANCISCAN ST. ANTHONY HEALTH-CROWN POINT

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit provides new resource for local parents

A long-awaited Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is open for business at Franciscan St. Anthony Health-Crown Point. The unit opened on March 7 and saw its first patient that day and its second on the following day.

Construction on the 12-bed, 4,210-square-foot, $2.5 million facility began in October and was completed in February. The unit, located in The Birth Place on the hospital's seventh floor, will reduce the number of infant transfers to other hospitals and help reduce parental anxiety in the process.

Medical director is Sudhish Chandra, MD, a neonatalogist. Staff includes another neonatalogist, two periantologists and 27 specially trained registered nurses.

The unit is overseen by Kathy Podorsek, who is clinical director of The Birth Place, and Jillian Hanger, NICU manager.

New outpatient surgery center will answer demand

Franciscan St. Anthony Health-Crown Point is planning an early 2012 opening for a 27,000-square-foot outpatient surgery center at its Franciscan Point Health Complex. Construction began last fall.

The estimated $11.6 million project will include four surgical suites and two endoscopy/procedure rooms that will be added to the Franciscan Point outpatient treatment complex, which offers a host of services, including urgent care, sports medicine/athletic development, orthopedics, physician offices, diagnostic imaging, physical, occupational and speech therapy and occupational health services.

Outpatient surgery services will include:

* Orthopedics

* Gastrointestinal

* Hand and plastic

* General

* Podiatry

* Ear, nose and throat

* Colo-rectal

* Urology

* Ophthalmology

* Pain management

FRANCISCAN ST. MARGARET HEALTH-DYER AND HAMMOND

New and expanding plans are in the offing

The Family Birthing Center, a 15-bed obstetrics unit which includes plans for a special care nursery, is scheduled to open shortly at the Dyer Campus, in addition to a four-bed unit that will remain at the Hammond Campus.

Also soon, a podiatric residency program will be offered at the Hammond Campus, in an effort to provide podiatric surgical training and to enhance the ability to meet community needs.

"We are establishing this program in conjunction with Arizona-based Midwestern University and it should be one of the first in this area,'' says Tom Gryzbek, hospital president, adding he likewise was pleased to announce Franciscan St. Margaret Health's continued commitment to both the Hammond and Dyer communities by offering award-winning open heart services at each campus.

"Ongoing evaluation showed that community needs would be better served by keeping the program at each location," Gryzbek says

Hospital sees advances, innovations in interventional radiology

Efforts to reduce the length of hospital stays and the amount of pain patients experience, along with decreased medical costs, help Franciscan Alliance St. Margaret Health-Dyer and Hammond provide the best possible outcomes.

One way that is accomplished is through interventional radiology services that offer patients the convenience of state-of-the-art practices that far surpass conventional treatments. Interventional radiologists are doctors who use x-rays and other imaging techniques that allow them to "see'' inside the body during a procedure.

As a result, patients experience less trauma and pain, infection rates are reduced, recovery time is faster and hospital stays generally are much shorter than with conventional surgery.

Dr. Jay Patel, a leading interventional radiologist at Franciscan St. Margaret Health-Dyer and Hammond and at Franciscan Physicians Hospital in Munster who has been in practice seven years, is among the physicians who offer the latest in interventional radiology care.

FRANCISCAN PHYSICIANS HOSPITAL

New glaucoma treatment a first at FPH

Franciscan Physicians Hospital in Munster is the first hospital in Indiana to purchase the Trabectome minimally invasive glaucoma treatment, according to its manufacturer, California-based NeoMedix Inc.

Trabectome is a device that removes glaucoma-causing tissue, improves natural drainage pathways of the eye and eliminates pressure safely, without the aid of mechanical implants or shunts.

Trabectome surgery is performed through a small incision and does not leave a permanent hole or pocket in the eye wall, allowing patients to return home the same day. The procedure, which takes approximately 20 minutes, maintains a high success rate in reducing intraocular pressure, with minimal side effects.

Trabectome procedures at Franciscan Physicians Hospital will be performed by Karen Briggs, DO, and Aurabind Balagani, DO.

New catheterization lab enhances hospital's services

Franciscan Physicians Hospital recently opened a new catheterization lab, which will provide state-of-the-art equipment for interventional cardiology and endovascular procedures when it opens in the near future.

The lab, a Philips Allura Xper FD20, provides a spectrum of advantages, including a large field of view, a high-resolution flat panel detector and advanced diagnostic and 3D interventional tools.

For patients, it means more options to help bring better results. The advanced catheter-based procedures performed in conjunction with the Philips FD20 will give patients more-effective, less-invasive treatment options. Patients will receive the benefit of lower risks, shorter recovery time and being close to home.