HJNO May/Jun 2020

62 MAY / JUN 2020  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS Hospital Rounds St. Charles Parish Hospital Names NewChief Executive Officer St. Charles Parish Hospital has named Terrell Neal, RN, BSN, MBA, as chief executive officer, effective immediately. Neal most recently served as interim CEO, while continuing to serve as the hospital’s chief nursing officer and chief operat- ing officer. Neal joined Ochsner Health System in 2015, serving as vice president of patient care services at Ochsner Medical Center and in 2017 transferred to St. Charles Parish Hospital as CNO/COO. Dur- ing his tenure at St. Charles Parish Hospital, Neal has led improvements in quality, experience, and safety culture. He has also been responsible for supporting new services at St. Charles Parish Hos- pital and oversees capital improvements. Most recently, he was the hospital’s interim CEO after former CEO, Austin Reeder, was named vice pres- ident of hospital operations at Ochsner Medical Center in September of 2019. “The St. Charles Parish Hospital Board is excited to continue working with Terrell as the new CEO,” said Karen Raymond, chairwoman, St. Charles Par- ish Board of Commissioners. “Terrell’s operational, management, and clinical expertise will be invalu- able to St. Charles Parish Hospital as we work to build upon the success we’ve experienced over the last few years. On behalf of the board and myself, we look forward to working with Terrell in meeting the healthcare needs of St. Charles Parish.” Neal holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Southern Mississippi, as well as a Master of Business of Administration from the University of Phoenix. “I am grateful to Terrell Neal for serving in the interim CEO role for St. Charles Parish Hospital and ensuring the organization maintained a focus on critical projects, which included recent open- ings of several East St. Charles Parish locations,” said Stephen Robinson, chief executive officer, Ochsner Medical Center- Kenner and the River Region. “With his experience working in hospital operations and nursing leadership, Terrell Neal has the expertise to lead St. Charles Parish Hos- pital in providing the best patient care possible in the River Region.” Better Than Ezra’s Kevin Griffin Joins Musicians On Call to Serve Area Patients Musicians On Call (MOC), a nonprofit that brings live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities, welcomed Bet- ter Than Ezra singer and New Orleans native Kevin Griffin to Ochsner Medical Center for a special launch celebration of its local Bedside Perfor- mance Program. Griffin gave an exclusive perfor- mance in the Visitor’s Garden and sang some of his best known hits, including Better Than Ezra’s “Good” and Sugarland’s “Stuck Like Glue,” which he co-wrote. Afterward, he spent time with patients for a song at their bedsides. Musicians On Call began piloting its Bedside Performance Program in New Orleans-area facili- ties in 2018. To date, volunteers have performed for more than 2,300 patients, families, and care- givers locally. MOC was able to bring its programs to New Orleans thanks to generous support from its first local champion and benefactor Tim Goux. Volunteers regularly visit patients at Ochsner Med- ical Center and MOC recently started programs at New Orleans VA Medical Center. “As an organization Musicians On Call has the honor of using music to help patients heal and enjoy some moments of relief during a very trying time in their lives. It’s only because of our incred- ible ambassador Tim Goux that we are able to bring these healing benefits to New Orleans, and we are thrilled to be regularly visiting patients, their family members and caregivers here in town. I can’t thank Tim enough for being a champion of our mission and connecting us with the area’s rich history of music and philanthropy,” said Musicians On Call President and CEO Pete Griffin. “Today was an unforgettable day celebrating the impact our volunteers have already had with our great friend Kevin Griffin. We look forward to creating more moments like this in New Orleans in the coming years.” “From the moment I read about Musicians on Call, I knew the program would thrive in New Orleans. And it is. MOC has successfully tapped into our musical community lifting the spirits of patients at Ochsner and this is just the begin- ning,” said Goux, founder of CareRise Holdings and Inspire Risk Investments. “It has been fulfilling to watch the MOC team in action, from building the New Orleans chapter from the ground up to coordinating performances for thousands so far, with many more to come.” For more than 20 years, MOC has used music to promote and complement the healing process through its flagship Bedside Performance Pro- gram, making it the nation’s leading provider of live music in hospitals. MOC volunteers have per- formed for more than 800,000 individuals across 21 markets nationwide, including New York, Nash- ville, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, Washington, DC, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. For more information, visit www.musi- ciansoncall.org/volunteer. Meet the COVID-19 Terminators, STHS’s NewGerm-Killing Robots Yes, R2-D2 and C-3P0 are more famous. So are WALL-E, Gort and even Johnny 5. But they’ve got nothing on The Twins, the nick- name given to a pair of germ-zapping robots recently deployed in St. Tammany Health System’s ongoing fight against the COVID-19 coronavirus. These, it turns out, are the droids you’re look- ing for – if, that is, you’re interested in saving lives. “Once we found out about the outbreak of COVID-19, we started really focusing on how we could take extra steps to create a safer environ- ment for our patients and staff,” STHS Environ- mental Services Director David Synakiewicz said. “We have been looking at this technology for a year or two years now.” The Twins -- formally Solaris Lytbots -- don’t look like much at first glance. Each is about the size of a large trashcan with an orange-and-white color Terrell Neal, RN, BSN, MBA