HJNO Jul/Aug 2022

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  JUL / AUG 2022 59 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalNO.com Brian Swaim Terrebonne General Health SystemHosts Ceremony Recognizing Organ Donation On April 27, Terrebonne General Health Sys- tem, with the support of the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency (LOPA) and Southern Eye Bank, hosted a flag raising and butterfly release ceremony. This event honored those who have given the gift of life through organ, tissue, and eye donation. Persons who were organ donors, organ recipients, and living organ donors spoke during the ceremony. The Vandebelles of Vande- bilt Catholic High School performed. Marion Duplantis and his wife spoke on behalf of their son, Derel Duplantis, an organ donor. For more information about donation, visit lopa.org . East Jefferson General Hospital Receives ‘A’ Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade East Jefferson General Hospital (EJGH) received an “A” Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade for Spring 2022. This national distinction recognizes EJGH’s achievements in protecting patients from harm and error in the hospital. Ochsner St. Anne Hospital Designated a 2022 Top 100 Critical Access Ochsner St. Anne Hospital in Raceland, Louisi- ana, announced it has been recognized as a 2022 Top 100 Critical Access Hospital in the United States. Compiled by The Chartis Center for Rural Health, this annual recognition program honors outstanding performance among the nation’s rural hospitals based on the results of the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX. “We are gratified that Chartis has recognized our hospital in the Bayou as one of the top 100 critical rural hospitals,” said Juan Awad, CEO of Ochsner St. Anne Hospital. “We are proud of this recognition especially for our compassionate phy- sicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, and staff, who always put our patients first. We want our community to know they can count on us.” “I’m so proud of the St. Anne team, who truly represent Ochsner values every day, and are build- ing a stronger community through their service,” said Fernis LeBlanc, interim CEO of the Bayou experience to SBPH, previously serving in leader- ship roles in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Most recently, Swaim was the nursing director for the observation, controlled access, and infu- sion units at University Medical Center in New Orleans. During his time in Alabama at Infirmary West Hospital, Swaim initiated the development of the first online Emergency Department sched- uling program in the city of Mobile. Additionally, Swaim was an instructor at Bishop State Commu- nity College in Mobile, Alabama, teaching funda- mentals of nursing, adult health, transition to nurs- ing, and pediatrics. Swaim is a United States Air Force veteran serv- ing in the Gulf War in Operation Desert Storm. Beginning his nursing career with an associate degree, Swaim went on to earn a Bachelor of Sci- ence in Nursing from the University of South Ala- bama and a Master of Science in Executive Nurse Leadership from Chamberlain University. Swaim also holds a Nurse Executive Advanced Board Certification. Study Promotes Treating Mild Chronic Hypertension in Pregnancy A study published this month in the New Eng- land Journal of Medicine proves through a large clinical trial that treating high blood pressure — even mild cases — during pregnancy is safe and beneficial for both mother and developing baby. Ochsner Health was a site since 2014 for the study, which was led by University of Alabama at Birmingham. While medical professionals have long agreed that severe high blood pressure during pregnancy should be treated with medications, the medical community has been divided on how to treat mild forms of chronic hypertension in pregnant women. The groundbreaking results of the chronic hyper- tension and pregnancy trial, or CHAP trial, show evidence-based data that even mild forms of high blood pressure should be treated to improve maternal and fetal health outcomes. “Chronic hypertension causes serious and life- threatening complications for pregnant women and their babies,” said Alan Tita, MD, PhD, pro- fessor of obstetrics and gynecology in the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, principal investigator for the CHAP trial, and lead author of the NEJM paper. “Between 70 and 80 per- cent of pregnant women with chronic hyperten- sion fall into the ‘mild’ category where there is not a medical consensus for treatment. In light of these new data, it is important that we reeval- uate current recommendations, update practice guidelines and begin treating most — if not all — pregnant women with chronic hypertension with medication.” Recommendations are already updating. Within three days of the study’s publication, the Ameri- can College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a statement of intention to update clini- cal guidance via a practice advisory. The Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine also issued a state- ment that they are reviewing the trial results and will issue revised clinical guidance as appropriate. “This study will change the way we’ve been treating pregnant mothers with mild hyperten- sion,” said Sherri Longo, MD, director of research for Women’s Services at Ochsner Health and one of the study authors. “With this publication, the recommendation is that we don’t wait for the severe range before we initiate medical therapy. Mild hypertensive patients should have blood pressures that are controlled.” The study authors recommend that blood pres- sure of 140/90 mmHg be the threshold for initia- tion of medical therapy for chronic hypertension in pregnancy, rather than the previously recom- mended threshold of blood pressure greater than 160/105 mmHg. The trial demonstrated that by treating women with even mild blood pres- sure with medications, there was an almost 20% decrease in pregnancy complications such as severe preeclampsia and preterm births before 35 weeks’ gestation.