HJAR Sep/Oct 2025

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  SEP / OCT 2025 49 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalAR.com access to medical and social services and foster- ing positive parenting through education, advo- cacy, and goal-setting. The MIHOW program offers home visits, educa- tion, and support for mothers, spouses/partners, and children under three. Health education top- ics include healthy pregnancy, childbirth prepa- ration, labor stages, postpartum care, newborn care, developmental milestones, and childhood nutrition. Program services encompass referrals for food insecurity and utility assistance, help with public assistance applications, safe sleep educa- tion, lactation support, and monthly in-person and virtual support groups with a perinatal men- tal health specialist. To be eligible for Life360 home-visiting services, adults must: • Be enrolled in ARHOME or Arkansas Med- icaid and have a diagnosis of high-risk preg- nancy (the Life360 assists women in getting assessed for that diagnosis); • Not currently be receiving state- or federally- funded home-visiting services from a pro- vider that covers pregnancy for the first two years of a baby’s life; and • Live in the Life360 service area (Pulaski, Saline or Faulkner counties). CJ Uzick is Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock VP of Hospital Operations CJ Uzick recently joined Baptist Health Medi- cal Center-Little Rock as vice president of hospi- tal operations. Uzick holds a Master of Health Administration from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sci- ences and a Bachelor of Science in biology from the University of Arkansas. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). Prior to joining Baptist Health, Uzick most recently served as Arkansas Heart Hospital strat- egy and operations executive director (2021 to 2025) and interim administrator at Arkansas Heart Hospital Encore Medical Center (2024 to 2025). Uzick's career also includes his tenure as a mar- ket manager at CHI St. Vincent Heart Institute from January 2018 to May 2021 and as operations manager at Jefferson Regional Medical Center from May 2017 to December 2018. He began his professional journey as an administrative fellow at Jefferson Regional Medical Center. Magnolia Regional Medical Center Welcomes WilliamGiles as NewCEO William D. Giles was named the new chief exec- utive officer of Magnolia Regional Medical Cen- ter. Giles brings more than 30 years of experience in healthcare and financial leadership, including a background in improving operations in rural healthcare settings. Throughout his career, Giles has served in both CEO and CFO roles in various healthcare settings across the country. He holds a Bachelor of Busi- ness Administration from Baylor University and is a member of the American College of Health- care Executives. NYITCOM at A-State, Mississippi County Hospital System Announce Partnership New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State Univer- sity (NYITCOM at A-State) and the Mississippi County Hospital System (MCHS) are entering a partnership to discuss potential collaborative proj- ects aimed at supporting healthcare in the Missis- sippi County region. Central to the partnership is the creation of a family medicine residency program sponsored and operated by NYITCOM at MCHS. The pro- gram will place an emphasis on training rural fam- ily physicians who provide maternity, pediatric, adult, and hospital care. NYITCOM’s medical students have conducted clinical rotations at MCHS and its partners since the medical school’s inaugural class reached that phase of their education in 2018. Accord- ing to Shane Speights, DO, dean of NYITCOM at A-State, that portion of the relationship will grow with the new partnership. Additionally, NYIT- COM faculty physicians have obtained privileges to admit and see patients at MCHS, which will help increase patient volume and revenue at the hospital. NYITCOM at A-State and MCHS will collaborate on clinical operations at the hospital, develop a physician recruitment pipeline, and create health outreach and educational programs to benefit Mississippi County residents. NYITCOM’s Delta Population Health Institute, which serves as the medical school’s community engagement arm, has previously hosted Maternal Health Learning and Care Communities programs in Blytheville and will continue to expand its initiatives in the area. CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs Awarded ANCCMagnet with Distinction Honor CHI St. Vincent announces that CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs has received the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet with Dis- tinction Honor. Only 35 hospitals nationwide have received the distinction. The ANCC specifically recognized CHI St. Vin- cent Hot Springs for surpassing benchmarks in RN satisfaction, RN engagement, patient outcomes, patient education, and organizational safety. Baptist Health Treating Arrhythmias Using Robotic Cardiac Ablation Surgery Baptist Health is now treating arrhythmias using robotic cardiac ablation surgery. Pouya Hemmati, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock, utilizes the Intuitive da Vinci robotic system when performing these minimally invasive heart surgeries. Baptist Health also performs robotic cardiac sur- gery with a tandem two-surgeon approach. Hemmati received a robotic surgical training at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and specializes in car- diovascular surgery. n William D. Giles