HJNO Mar/Apr 2020

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  MAR / APR 2020 59 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalNO.com forming strategic partnerships to provide com- prehensive care close to home, Ochsner is a sys- tem that delivers health to its patients each day. We remain committed to innovative solutions and will continue to work hard to change the lives of those across the country.” LakeviewRegional Hosts Speech Rehabilitation Class forPatients with Parkinson’s Lakeview Regional Medical Center is hosting an exercise class entitled LOUD for LIFE® for people who have previously completed the LSVT LOUD® treatment protocol with a speech lan- guage pathologist. The one-hour class takes place at 11 a.m. in the hospital’s rehabilitation and sports medicine facility. Classes occur each week through March 24. This specific class is designed for patients that have already gone through the LSVT LOUD® classes and are looking for further vocal treat- ment,” said Heather Rietschel, a Lakev- iew Regional speech-language pathologist. “This therapy can be life changing for people who are suffering with Parkinson’s, vastly improving their quality of life.” LSVT Loud™ is a Parkinson’s-specific speech therapy designed to improve vocal loudness, speech intelligibility, and facial expression through the same premise of intensity and repe- tition. LSVT Loud™ therapy consists of four one- hour treatment sessions a week for four weeks, plus daily homework. Therapy includes increas- ing intensity, increasing breath support, increas- ing pitch range, and improving vocal quality. Addi- tional improvements noted include improvement in swallowing and the masked facial expression which often accompanies Parkinson’s disease. For more information or to participate, contact Heather Rietschel at (985) 867-4054 or heather. rietschel@hcahealthcare.com. The cost is $10 a class, and patients may be required to provide a medical release to exercise from a physician. These classes are the latest addition to Lakev- iew Regional’s “Seniority Matters” programming. Lakeview Regional has also recently made sev- eral enhancements and modifications to its emer- gency department. As part of its commitment to offer a senior-friendly facility, the exam rooms now offer more safety features, such as additional railings on the walls and non-skid flooring to pre- vent falls. Older adults are treated by a team that has been specially trained in geriatric medi- cine, which has shown to improve outcomes and reduce the need for inpatient admissions. Tulane Health Promotes Childress to Nursing, Operations Leadership Role Tulane Health System has promoted nursing veteran Ron Childress to serve as the vice pres- ident of operations and associate chief nursing officer at its Tulane Lakeside Hospital campus in Metairie. There, Childress will provide both clin- ical and operational oversight and lead the hos- pital’s patient care, quality, and service initiatives. “Ron is an accomplished nursing leader who has already proven his ability to provide strate- gic leadership at Tulane Medical Center in the areas of quality care, process improvement, and patient satisfaction,” said Ruth Kain, Tulane Health System’s chief nursing officer. “We are thrilled to elevate his involvement to the next level, and we look forward to what he will accomplish at Tulane Lakeside.” Childress has served as the associate chief nurs- ing officer at Tulane Medical Center in down- town New Orleans since January of this year. He recently completed the prestigious HCA Health- care Executive Development Program, and this new role will provide additional leadership oppor- tunities for him, Kain said. Tulane Health System is operated by HCA Healthcare. Tulane Lakeside Hospital has recently expanded many of its adult services, adding in recent months an adult intensive care unit, a renovated medi- cal-surgical unit, and a new, computer-guided personalized surgery system to increase the accu- racy of shoulder replacement surgeries. Joining Tulane in 2003 as a medical-surgical unit nurse, Childress was promoted to a clinical supervisor role in 2005. He quickly rose through the ranks to become a clinical nurse manager and director of medical surgical nursing. In his previous roles, Childress achieved significant goals related to nursing engagement, quality, and patient safety, and he served as the lead for the rollout of a new nursing clinical documentation system. Childress earned an associate degree in nursing from Pearl River Community College in Poplarville, Miss., and a master’s in nursing from Loyola Uni- versity, New Orleans. He is also a certified Team- STEPPS master trainer and a member of the Lou- isiana State Nursing Association.  Thibodaux Regional Medical Center Recognized by LOPA Thibodaux Regional Health System was among a select group of hospitals nationwide recognized for promoting enrollment in state organ donor registries in a national campaign sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Ser- vices’ Health Resources and Services Administra- tion (HRSA). Thibodaux Regional was awarded Silver Rec- ognition from the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency (LOPA) for its efforts and participation in the Workplace Partnership for Life (WPFL) Initia- tive. This campaign is a special effort of HRSA’s Workplace Partnership for Life to mobilize the nation’s hospitals to increase the number of peo- ple in the country who are registered organ, eye, and tissue donors and ultimately, the number of organs available for transplant. The shared goal is promoting “a donation friendly America” by fos- tering organ, tissue, and eye donation and creat- ing opportunities for individuals to register. The year’s initiative ran Oct. 1, 2018 through April of 2019. More than 1,500 hospitals par- ticipated in the national campaign including Thibodaux Regional Health System. During that time period, 48,000 people were added to the registry nationwide. With LOPA and the full support of Thibodaux Regional’s Administration and staff, the hospital conducted awareness and registry campaigns to educate staff, patients, visitors, and community Ron Childress