HJNO Jan/Feb 2021

30 JAN / FEB 2021  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS   Healthcare Briefs DePaul Community Health Centers Supports Hurricane Laura Evacuees Staff members at DePaul Community Health Centers (DCHC) donated items for Hurricane Laura evacuees such as clothing, toiletries, and diapers. Sister Bonnie Hoffman, vice president for mission integration, coordinates DCHC’s dona- tion efforts. “Many of our staff were very generous in donat- ing clean, casual wear clothing for the evacuees— infants and toddlers, children, teens, adult, male, female. The DCHC team expressed compassion and love for those going through such a difficult situation, being away from their homes and feel- ing overwhelmed and helpless,” said Hoffman. “Some of our employees gathered and sorted more than 40 large boxes of clothing and toilet- ries, labeling boxes by size, and delivering them to United Way. Diapers, formula and adult protec- tion donations are funneled through the Junior League of New Orleans.” A partner in this effort was Impact Ministries of New Orleans, whose pastor is the infectious dis- ease specialist for DCHC, Stacy Greene, MD. DCHC providers Sara Darensbourg, Timothy Irizarry, Anna Villanueva, and Freya Zork, in early September, joined a community-wide effort along with other local healthcare agencies to assist evacuees by staffing a table daily for two weeks at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and gave blood pressure and glucose screenings to more than 400 evacuees. Additionally, DCHC’s Women, Infants and Chil- dren (WIC) staff fulfilled supply requests from evacuees, and then shuttled the items to the vari- ous hotels where they resided. DCHC’s Executive Director Stephenie Marshall coordinated DCHC’s participation in these activities. Thibodaux Regional Welcomes Ashley Peairs, MD, Pain Management Specialist, to the Medical Staff Thibodaux Regional Health System announced the addition of Ashley Peairs, MD, interventional pain management specialist, to the active medi- cal staff. Peairs is available to care for patients at Thibodaux Regional Pain Clinic located 726 North Acadia Road, Suite 2400 in Thibodaux. Peairs earned a medical degree from Louisi- ana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport. She completed a residency in anes- thesiology and an internship in internal medicine at Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans. Additionally, Peairs completed a fellowship in interventional pain medicine at Wake Forest Bap- tist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. She is a member of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the North Ameri- can Neuromodulation Society, and the American Medical Association. Peairs specializes in treating various pain con- ditions including low back pain, neck pain, joint pain, peripheral neuropathy, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, complex regional pain syndromes, post-herpetic neuralgia, and chronic post-oper- ative pain. She has special interests in spinal ste- nosis, cervical radiculopathy, lumbar radiculopa- thy, and chronic stable angina. Ochsner Community Health Brees Family Center Now Open in NewOrleans East The Ochsner Community Health Brees Family Center is now open and serving patients at 5950 Bullard Avenue in New Orleans East. Designed to deliver primary and specialty care to under- served communities with the goal of promoting health equity for all, the new facility served more than 20 primary care patients within its first two days of opening. Ochsner has committed more than $10 million to open and operate this site with support from Brittany and Drew Brees and their Brees Dream Foundation. The newly constructed facility on Bullard Ave- nue is approximately 9500 square feet and fea- tures 17 exam rooms. Onsite services include primary care as well as cardiology, diabetes man- agement and education, podiatry and smoking cessation. Convenient parking is available in a surface lot adjacent to the building, which is located a short walk from two bus stops on Bul- lard Avenue. The New Orleans East location was funded in part by a $5 million gift from the Brees Dream Foundation announced earlier this summer. A second location is projected to open in Baton Rouge in early 2021. Funds from the Brees Dream Foundation will support startup and operational costs for these facilities. The Ochsner Community Health Brees Family Center is connected to the entire Ochsner Health network of facilities and physicians through Epic – Ochsner’s integrated electronic health record system, which enables Ochsner physicians to securely share patient information, resulting in a higher level of coordinated care across the sys- tem. Patients can also use personalized MyOch- sner accounts to access tests results and sched- ule appointments online. The Ochsner Community Health Brees Family Center will bring approximately 25 new jobs to New Orleans East in the coming months. In antici- pation of the opening, Ochsner held a virtual job fair, which was attended by more than 160 candi- dates interested in learning about opportunities available at the new facility as well as other Och- sner locations in the region. Ochsner Community Health Brees Family Cen- ter is open Monday – Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. with plans for extended hours. For more infor- mation, call (504) 354 - 4189 or visit ochsner.org/ communityhealthnola. LSUHealth NO, LDH to Create LA Cancer-COVID-19 Registry The National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health has awarded LSU Health New Orleans Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center a $147,000 supplement to its NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) grant to create the Louisiana Cancer-COVID-19 Registry with the Louisiana Department of Health. “Because cancer patients are at increased risk Ashley Peairs, MD