HJAR May/Jun 2021

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  MAY / JUN 2021 61 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalAR.com sickle cell disease. Jackson attended medical school at Johns Hop- kins University in Baltimore, Maryland, interned at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and completed a residency in anesthe- siology and chronic pain medicine fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. CHI St. Vincent Infirmary Designated as Center of Excellence for TAVR, Mitraclip Heart Procedures CommonSpirit Health designated CHI St. Vin- cent Infirmary as a Center of Excellence for both Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) and Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair (Mitra- Clip) (TEER) heart procedures. CHI St. Vincent joins Mercy One in Des Moines, Iowa, as the only two hospitals in the 142-hospital and 21-state CommonSpirit Health system to be recognized as a Center of Excellence in both of these com- plex heart procedures. “We at the CHI St. Vincent Heart Institute are truly honored by this recognition, not only because it reflects our physicians’ commitment to excellence, but because it clearly demonstrates how we put our patients first,” said Marcia Atkin- son, president of the CHI St. Vincent Heart Insti- tute. “These minimally invasive heart procedures provide faster recovery times, excellent outcomes, and help limit the need for patients to undergo open heart surgery.” TAVR procedures allow interventional cardiolo- gists and cardiovascular surgeons to replace the aortic valve of patients suffering from aortic valve stenosis without open heart surgery, resulting in improved quality of life and extended lifespans. Similarly, TEER or MitraClip procedures offer a less-invasive option for patients who are not able to undergo traditional mitral valve surgery. Doc- tors access the mitral valve using a thin tube called a catheter through a vein in the patient’s leg to reach the heart instead of requiring them to open the chest and temporarily stop the heart during surgery. “The CommonSpirit Health TAVR and TEER Center of Excellence programs were developed to establish minimum standards and to distinguish centers that exceed these nationally recognized performance standards and practices as centers of excellence,” wrote Nezar Falluji, MD, Common- Spirit Health, system physician vice president car- diovascular service, in announcing the honor. Arkansas Surgical Hospital Expands Operating RoomCapabilities Arkansas Surgical Hospital announced a con- struction project that will add two additional oper- ating rooms to the hospital’s facility. The project will add 4,590 square feet to the cur- rent campus and bring the total number of oper- ating rooms to 13. Additionally, renovations will be made in the post anesthesia care unit, adding three more recovery beds. This project which began in February should be completed by the end of 2021. “This expansion will allow more patients to access the specialty care provided at Arkansas Surgical Hospital,” said Brian Fowler, CEO of Arkansas Surgical Hospital. “With the addition of five surgeons in 2020, more operating and recov- ery space was needed and this growth allows us to continue to serve the communities through- out Arkansas.” Arkansas Children’s Joins Coalition to Address Pediatric Drug Shortages Arkansas Children’s joined a coalition bringing together some of the nation’s top children’s hos- pitals, in collaboration with Phlow, to provide cer- tainty in availability and access for key medicines necessary to sustain life and conquer disease. The Children’s Hospital Coalition, powered by Phlow (CHC) will address the nation’s broken essential medicines supply chain. “As the only pediatric health system in our state, Arkansas Children’s is committed to fulfill- ing Our Promise: Unprecedented Child Health. Defined and Delivered,” said Marcy Doderer, FACHE, Arkansas Children’s president and CEO. “Together with Phlow, and other children’s hos- pitals across the country, we will work to ensure a reliable and affordable supply of high-quality essential medicines. Arkansas Children’s is hon- ored to participate in this initiative and looks for- ward to collaborating with others to assess the medicine shortage and supply chain management issues experienced throughout the country.” Shortages of essential medicines for children are a persistent problem plaguing hospitals across the United States. A 2019 survey of 330 U.S. hospitals, including 29 pediatric hospitals, demonstrated that medicine shortages disproportionately and uniquely impact children’s hospitals. (Vizient, 2020) The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed fur- ther vulnerabilities in the overall U.S. hospital sup- ply chain, particularly regarding essential inject- able medications. To address this issue, the CHC is charged with a mission to deliver on the prom- ise of ensuring a reliable supply of high-quality, affordable, essential medicines to treat children. “The care of America’s children is unnecessarily impacted by essential medicine shortages, which often leads to compromised patient care, clini- cian frustration, and increased hospital pharmacy costs and inefficiencies,” said Eric Edwards, MD, PhD, co-founder, president and CEO of Phlow. “By empowering an innovative and unique coali- tion of the top children’s hospitals in the country, we will be able to work with visionary leaders to solve this chronic and vexing problem.” The 11 founding hospital members of the CHC are Arkansas Children’s, Boston Children’s Hos- pital, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, Children’s National, Children’s Wisconsin, Cincinnati Children’s, Cook Children’s, Intermountain Primary Children’s Hos- pital, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and Nationwide Children’s. The coalition is working together to further esca- late this issue on the national agenda, to encour- age children’s hospitals to join in this cause, and educate other hospitals on how this coalition will aid in ending shortages of essential medicines. Ultimately, the goal of the CHC is to increase the resiliency and reliability of the pediatric pharma- ceutical supply chain. The founding members of the CHC, including Phlow, recognize that essential medicine supply is a critical problem nationwide and welcome new children’s hospital members to join in this bold ini- tiative. Please visit www.childrenshospitalcoalition. com for more information on how to join the CHC. Mercy Dietitian Talks Healthy Eating Amid COVID Changes Working from home may be the “new normal,” but that doesn’t mean unhealthy eating has to be.