HJNO Nov/Dec 2020

32 NOV / DEC 2020  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS   Healthcare Briefs of our physicians. Ochsner is proud to partner with Xavier and LSU Health Shreveport to help train more physicians for Louisiana that are repre- sentative of the communities we serve. We stand together in making an investment to improve the health of our state,” said Leonardo Seoane, MD, chief academic officer, Ochsner Health. Access Health Louisiana Ranks in Top 10 % of All Community Health Centers in the United States for Excellence in Patient Care The Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) recognizes Access Health Louisiana (AHL) for out-performing more than 1,200 community health centers nationwide. AHL ranks in the top 10% of all community health centers in the United States and achieved the highest quality award in the state of Louisiana. “At Access Health Louisi- ana, our mission is simple--to improve the health of the people we serve,” said Chatrian Kanger, vice president of population health, “and thanks to our collective hard work and dedication, we have consistently year after year, accomplished just that.” HRSA is the federal agency that over- sees Community Health Centers across the coun- try. HRSA reviews and ranks health center perfor- mance each year on a suite of categories that are inherent to federally qualified health centers, such as expanding access to services, delivering high quality care, reducing disparities, and lowering medical costs for patients. Access Health Louisiana operates 32 commu- nity health centers and school-based health cen- ters in southeast Louisiana. No patient is ever turned away for care due to an inability to pay. For appointments, call toll-free (866) 530-6111 or visit accesshealthla.org. LakeviewRegional Physician GroupWelcomes Omer Iftikhar, MD Lakeview Regional Medical Center, a campus of Tulane Medical Center, has announced the addition of Omer Iftikhar, MD, a board-certified and fellowship-trained invasive cardiologist, to Lakeview Regional Physician Group in Slidell. Iftikhar is board-certified in general cardiology and was trained in echocardiography, nuclear stress testing, vascular imaging, cardiac CT, and interventional cardiology. Iftikhar earned a medical degree at King Edward Medical University in 2010. After moving to the United States, he completed a residency at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. He served as chief cardiology fellow at the University of Chicago (Northshore) and com- pleted a general cardiology fellowship in 2019. He also completed a fellowship in interventional car- diology at Temple University in 2020. LSUHealth NO School of Nursing Ranked # 1 in LA NursingProcess.org, an online one-stop shop for information about state nursing education for those considering nursing careers, has ranked LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing the #1 accredited nursing school in Louisiana. LSUHealth NO Faculty Take Top State Nursing Honors The Louisiana State Nurses Association (LSNA) has recognized three members of the faculty of LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing with prestigious 2020 Nightingale Awards. Deborah Garbee, PhD, APRN, ACNS-BC, FCNS, associate dean for professional practice, community service and advanced nursing practice; program director, adult gerontology clinical nurse specialist concen- tration; and professor of clinical nursing, is the Nursing School Administrator of the Year. Linda Ledet, DNS, APRN, PMHCNS-BC, assistant pro- fessor of clinical nursing, has been named Nurse Educator of the Year. Benita N. Chatmon, PhD, MSN, RN, CNE, assistant dean for clinical nurs- ing education and assistant professor of clinical nursing, received the Registered Nurse Mentor of the Year award. Thibodaux Regional Welcomes Katie Flower, MD, toMedical Staff Thibodaux Regional Health System announced the addition of Katie Flower, MD, to the active medical staff. Flower is available to care for patients at Thibodaux Regional Urology Clinic located 504 North Acadia Road in Thibodaux. Flower received a medical degree from Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medi- cine in Dayton, Ohio, and completed a resi- dency at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, S. C. She is a member of the Ameri- can Urological Association and the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Society. Flower specializes in the diagnosis and treat- ment of genitourinary problems in men and women as well as conditions involving the male reproductive system. LSUHealth NORadiologists Find Chest X-Rays Highly Predictive of COVID-19 A team of LSU Health New Orleans radiolo- gists investigated the usefulness of chest x-rays in COVID-19 and found they could aid in a rapid diagnosis of the disease, especially in areas with limited testing capacity or delayed test results. Their findings are published in Radiology: Car- diothoracic Imaging. “In mid to late March of this year, when COVID- 19 cases were spiking in New Orleans, we rec- ognized an unusual pattern on chest x-rays that seemed to correlate with COVID positivity,” noted David Smith, MD, associate professor of clinical radiology at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine. The radiologists conducted a retrospective study of nearly 400 persons under investiga- tion (PUI) for COVID-19 in New Orleans. They reviewed the patients’ chest X-rays along with concurrent reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) virus tests. Using well- documented COVID-19 imaging patterns, two experienced radiologists categorized each chest x-ray as characteristic, nonspecific, or negative in appearance for COVID-19. The radiologists found a characteristic chest Katie Flower, MD