HJNO Nov/Dec 2021

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  NOV / DEC 2021 33 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalNO.com Denise Bottcher, state director, AARP, and co-lead of the Louisiana Action Coalition. “LACANE is excited to have this opportunity to lead an established coalition that has a proven record of improved healthcare delivery in Loui- siana by strengthening the nursing profession,” said Hawthorne. “We must continue to look to the future — beyond our current healthcare emer- gency — and examine the capacity of the pro- fession to meet the anticipated health and social care demands. Working to advance proven, solu- tion-oriented ways to address the nursing and nurse faculty shortage in Louisiana will be a top priority.” The coalition is a diverse group of stakehold- ers and professionals from both nursing and non-nursing organizations, working together to ensure that Louisianans have access to high- quality, patient-centered care in which nurses contribute as essential partners in system-wide transformation. The coalition operates the Nurse Leader Insti- tute, hosts the annual Culture of Health Summit and educates students about careers in nursing across the state. The Louisiana State Board of Nursing, through the Center for Nursing, founded and led the coalition for 10 years and will continue to serve in a leadership capacity with the coalition. Organizations also involved in the coalition include the Louisiana State Nurses Association, Louisiana Nurse Practitioners Association, Louisi- ana Hospital Association, Louisiana Nurses Foun- dation, Louisiana Association of Nurse Anesthe- tists, Louisiana Department of Health as well as several nurse leaders from across the state. It’s OK to Not Be OK: Office of Behavioral Health Provides Crisis Resources Louisiana is experiencing multiple crises that may be leaving residents with feelings of grief, fear, anxiety, depression or anger. From the ongo- ing recovery from Hurricane Laura, to COVID-19, to Hurricane Ida, emotions are strong, and it may be helpful to talk to someone. The Office of Behavioral Health is providing this list of resources for anyone experiencing a crisis. Trained and compassionate individuals are avail- able to support Louisianans with a listening ear, provide information and connect to confidential mental health and substance abuse services. Louisiana resources: • Keep Calm Line , call 866-310-7977. Avail- able 24 hours a day, seven days a week. • Behavioral Health Recovery Outreach Line , call 833-333-1132. Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for healthcare pro- fessionals and individuals in recovery. • Louisiana Spirit Crisis Counseling Pro- gram , visit the website at http://ldh.la.gov/ LouisianaSpirit or email the program at LouisianaSpiritInfo@la.gov . • Louisiana 211 , call 2-1-1 or visit the web- site at https://www.louisiana211.org . Free, 24/7 referral and information line that con- nects people to a wide range of health and human services. • National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Louisiana , visit the website at https://namilouisiana.org . • Local Human Services Distr.icts/Authori- ties , visit the website at https://ldh.la.gov/ index.cfm/directory/category/321. Grayson Terral, MD, Joins AVALA Physician Network AVALA announced that board-certified surgeon Grayson Terral, MD, has joined the AVALA Phy- sician Network – AVALA Ortho. Terral specializes in the diagnosis, treatment and management of hand and wrist conditions. Terral completed a fellowship in hand surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center-Jack- son. As part of the fellowship, he received exten- sive training in all aspects of the hand, including nerves, tendons, bone, and blood vessels. Prior to the fellowship, he completed a general sur- gery residency at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans. Terral received a medical degree from LSUHSC-Shreveport and graduated from Louisi- ana State University. Tulane University Researchers Develop Inhaled Vaccine Against Bacterial Pneumonia Researchers at Tulane University School of Medicine have developed an inhaled vaccine against Klebsiella pneumoniae, a bacterium that can cause pneumonia in hospital settings. The vaccine was able to protect mice against several strains of the bacteria, according to a new study published in Science Immunology. There are currently no FDA-licensed vaccines for the prevention or treatment of the infec- tion, and a drug-resistant strain of the bacteria is responsible for at least 7,900 cases and 520 deaths each year in the United States. The World Health Organization has listed these antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria on their critical prior- ity list for new treatments. Tulane researchers used an outer membrane protein X from K. pneumoniae and paired it with LTA1, a vaccine adjuvant they developed from E. coli bacteria, to provoke an immune response. They tested efficacy of the inhaled vaccine using a mouse model where vaccinated mice were chal- lenged with three different strains of the bacteria to determine the breadth of vaccine coverage. A single-cell mRNA analysis of the mouse model showed that CD4+ T-cells elicited by the inhaled vaccine were similar to those elicited by a vaccine based on weakened whole bacteria that the group had used in a prior research study. The current study also shows that protection can be achieved independent of surface sugars on bac- teria, and thus has the potential to cover many more bacterial strains and species compared to current pneumonia vaccines. Among other findings, researchers discovered the vaccine led to two distinct immune responses in the lung, including B cells that produce anti- body as well as a population of T-cells that secrete IL-17, also known as Th17 cells. “These T-cells mechanically signal to structural cells in the airway, augmenting their ability to call in additional white blood cells to combat the infection,” said study corresponding author Jay Knolls, MD, John W. Deming Endowed Chair in Internal Medicine. The work lays the foundation for respiratory- targeted vaccines that induce broadly protective lung T-cells against related Gram-negative bac- teria, including a number of multi-drug-resistant species. “The major cause of pneumonia in the world is Streptococcus pneumoniae, and there’s no rea- son why this technology theoretically couldn’t be used for that pathogen as well,” Knolls said. “I think this opens up a platform for really revisiting