WellSpan Health News

“Going through two hip replacements was well worth it.”

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:00:00 AM GMT

WellSpan York Hospital staff member looks forward to returning to work

Physical therapist Eric Semke watches as Glenna Harden descends a flight of stairs during her rehabilitation session at WellSpan Surgery and Rehabilitation Hospital.

Glenna Harden is looking forward to returning to work at WellSpan York Hospital sometime this month.

Harden is eager to work without the sometimes excruciating arthritis pain she experienced before undergoing two hip replacements at WellSpan Surgery and Rehabilitation Hospital.

“I had trouble walking because of the pain in my hip,” said the 61-year-old Harden, a 40-year WellSpan staff member.

“A couple times Security had to take me to my car because the pain was so intense I couldn’t walk that far.”

Now, Harden said she has only occasional pain and is much more mobile.

“Going through the hip replacements was well worth it,” she said.

Hip pain was limiting Harden’s activities and decreasing her quality of life. She had trouble walking, and she frequently used a walker at home or when she went to the mall.

“I was reaching a crossroads of either having hip replacement surgery or getting a scooter. But, I wasn’t ready to be on the sidelines. I wanted to keep working and be active.”

Harden was apprehensive, however, about surgery. Then one day she received a direct mail postcard from WellSpan asking “Is arthritis pain holding you back?” It was just the impetus she needed. She put it on her refrigerator.

“I wanted to get my life back,” said Harden, who made an appointment with Dr. David Whiddon of WellSpan Orthopedics.

Dr. Whiddon examined her hips, reviewed her x-rays and discussed the options. Her arthritis was so advanced that nothing short of a hip replacement would offer her relief.

After seeing Dr. Whiddon, Harden began physical therapy to strengthen her leg muscles and she lost 30 pounds. She also attended pre-op classes.

Went home one day after first hip replacement

She underwent her first hip replacement at WellSpan Surgery and Rehabilitation Hospital on Dec. 3. She went home one day after the surgery.

Dr. Whiddon uses a minimally invasive direct anterior hip replacement technique that allows for a much quicker recovery.

The procedure involves a 3-6-inch surgical incision on the front of the hip. In a regular hip replacement, the incision is 10-12 inches long.

Dr. Whiddon uses special instruments to work through the small incision. Instead of cutting through muscles and detaching them, he works between muscles preserving their function. Because no muscles are detached from the hip, patients have less pain and recover sooner.

The same implants used in regular hip replacements are also used in the minimally invasive procedure.

“I had a wonderful experience at the WellSpan Surgery and Rehabilitation Hospital,” said Harden. “Dr. Whiddon worked with me and I felt like I was in excellent hands the entire time.”

Harden decided to have her second hip replaced on January 22.

“I just wish I hadn’t waited so long to have my first hip replaced,” she said.

Roads to Freedom program combines learning and physical activity

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:00:00 AM GMT

An interactive summer program in Adams County is underway that encourages kids and parents to get active while providing a hands-on way of learning about Civil War history.

Roads to Freedom is a summer-long program that encourages children and parents to get outdoors and be physically active by engaging in an adaptation of letterboxing, a hobby in which participants must follow written clues to locate hidden items.

The program, spearheaded by WellSpan Community Health Improvement, combines elements of physical activity, reading and problem solving to create a fun-filled family adventure – all while teaching participants about the rich history of Adams County.

“Getting families outdoors and physically active this summer is the goal of Roads to Freedom,” said Kevin Alvarnaz, director of community health improvement, WellSpan Health.

“With this year being the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, Roads to Freedom offers a great opportunity for people of all ages to learn about and appreciate our area's rich history."

Interested particpants can visit any Adams County library, the Historic Train Station (35 Carlisle Street) in downtown Gettysburg, or other select community locations to pick up a free Roads to Freedom Civil War journal to get started. The journal provides clues to finding as many characters as possible. The Roads to Freedom program will officially end on Monday, September 2 (Labor Day).

In addition to WellSpan, organizations involved with planning Roads to Freedom include Adams County Library System, Gettysburg Area School District, Gettysburg Borough, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, Healthy Adams County, Hospitality Lodging Investors, National Park Service - Gettysburg National Military Park, Seminary Ridge Museum, Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve and the YWCA of Gettysburg and Adams County.

In partnership with WellSpan Health, financial support of the program was provided by Adams Electric Cooperative Inc., the Optimist Club of Gettysburg and Gettysburg College.

WellSpan York Hospital nurses earn Kitty Reisinger “Heart of Nursing” Award

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:00:00 AM GMT

Melissa Grove and Lindsey Rankin recognized for their exceptional caring

Mark Reisinger, left, congratulates Melissa Grove, center, and Lindsey Rankin, right, on receiving the Kitty Reisinger Heart of Nursing Award.

WellSpan York Hospital nurses Melissa Grove and Lindsey Rankin believe they are doing jobs they were meant to do.

Grove works on the behavioral health unit, while Rankin works on 7 South with oncology patients.

“Behavioral health is where my heart is,” said Grove. “It’s where I want to be. It’s a very challenging field.”

Rankin said, “Nursing is not a job at all to me. I was meant to do this. My interactions with patients come very naturally.”

Grove considered a career in nursing or teaching, but chose nursing because she thought she could fulfill both roles as a nurse.

Rankin was a pre-med student, but chose nursing when she realized she needed more patient interaction and a greater connection to patients.

Grove and Rankin were recently honored with the Kitty Reisinger Heart of Nursing Award.

“I was ecstatic to hear I had won,” said Grove. “It’s a blessing, and great recognition for behavioral health. It shows that people are aware of the small things you do.”

Rankin said, “I was totally shocked. It’s nice to be honored. I work with an amazing group of people and unbelievable patients.”

Respect among their peers

Their attitudes, care of patients and respect among their peers stood out in their nominations.

Part of Melissa Grove’s nomination read, “Melissa is a kind and caring nurse and is always fully engaged in the care of her patients. When you say ‘heart of nursing,’ Melissa epitomizes it. She is always kind and considerate when speaking with her patients. They could be a well-versed professional or a poorly educated individual and Melissa would not care. She offers everyone the same kindness, compassion and nursing proficiency.

“She is always polite, always offers a smile and always answers their questions to the best of her knowledge without judgment or harsh opinion.”

Lindsey Rankin's nomination read, "She uses her vast clinical knowledge to provide supreme care for patients. But what really makes her an amazing nurse is her compassionate ability to be an extra sensitive hand to hold and her ability to make patients laugh during their hardest struggles.

“Nights can be long and dark in the mind of terminal cancer patients and their families. Ms. Rankin is a shining star, a smiling bright spot of clarity. She truly listens to what a patient wants and needs.

“She truly makes the patient have the ultimate experience in times when their morale is the lowest, she is able to uplift them. Her ability to care is unmatched. She shows patients heart and compassion, and inspires other nurses to do the same.”

Kathyrn “Kitty” Reisinger practiced nursing in York for more than 40 years until her death in 2002. Her son, Mark, and his wife, Tamara, established the award to honor his mother. The winner or winners are selected by members of the Reisinger family.

WellSpan York Hospital Excellence in Caring & Practice Award winners were:

Angela Calvert, Sharon G. Hardy Caring at the End of Life Award; Megan Keeney and Kristine Phillips, Charles T. Spurlock “Care for the Caregiver” Award; Robin McCallister, Glenn and Dorothy Stafford Magnet Nursing Award; Eric Eakins, Deborah K. Lookingbill Patient First Award; Hope Delp, Sandra E. Repman Nursing Legacy Award; Nelson Aegbuniwe, Clinical Nurse III; Heather Rivera, Clinical Nurse II; Joshua Beland, Clinical Nurse; Kristy Glass, Preceptor/Mentor.

Health Summit to address key mental health issues

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:00:00 AM GMT

Variety of workshops available to attendees

Gina Calhoun will be the keynote speaker at this year's Adams County Community Health Summit.

From recognizing the signs of depression experienced by today’s youth to understanding post traumatic stress disorders, the upcoming sixth annual Adams County Community Health Summit will focus on addressing key mental health issues facing people of all ages in our local communities.

This year’s summit will be held 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, June 18 at Harrisburg Area Community College-Gettysburg Campus (HACC). Co-sponsored by Healthy Adams County, WellSpan Health, Gettysburg Hospital Auxiliary and HACC, the free, daylong event is designed to give participants the chance to learn about local health issues.

“We’re looking forward to a day of sharing valuable mental health information specific to issues people are facing in Adams County,” said Kathy Gaskin, executive director, Healthy Adams County.

“We have an outstanding keynote speaker lined up who will really engage the audience followed by workshop sessions that address key topics that will educate as well as show efforts underway to address these issues.”

This summit’s keynote speaker will be Gina Calhoun, national director of wellness and recovery education, Copeland Center for Wellness and Recovery in Brattleboro, Vermont (www.copelandcenter.com).

Calhoun’s address will focus on her personal story and journey of recovery from mental illness as it relates to hope-inspiring relationships, housing and employment. The goal of her presentation is to offer the facts that given the right environment mental health recovery is not only possible, it is probable.

In addition to the keynote address, summit attendees will have the opportunity to choose from workshop sessions scheduled throughout the day.

This year’s summit workshop topics include:

WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Planning) – a selfhelp tool for people moving toward a healthier lifestyle.
Community Crisis Intervention – understanding crisis intervention and how crisis intervention has changed in the past 20 years.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – highlighting what trauma and stress are as well as their impact in people’s lives.
Youth and Depression – how to recognize signs of depression among youth and treatment for it.
The Crisis Intervention Team Model – understand how collaborations between law enforcement, mental health and advocacy groups can benefit the community.
Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care – a look at the relationship between mental health and primary care.
Treating Anxiety and Mood Disorders – an examination of the various medications used to treat mood and anxiety disorders.
Practices to Reduce Chronic Stress – an introduction to the use of mind/body connection to reduce suffering from chronic stress.
Exploring Anxiety Disorders – a look at how anxiety interferes with our lives and descriptions of the treatment techniques for different anxiety disorders.
How the Brain Processes Traumatic Stress: Working with Children & Families within the Child Welfare System – provides professionals working with children within the child welfare system with a foundational understanding of trauma’s impact upon child development and behavior.

A continental breakfast and a buffet lunch will be provided to attendees. The summit is aimed at health and human service professionals, community leaders as well as anyone interested in learning more about these important issues.

To register or obtain additional information on the event, call Healthy Adams County at 337-4137.

$1 million grant to help improve health care in York and Adams counties

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:00:00 AM GMT

Aligning Forces for Quality—South Central PA (AF4Q-SCPA) has been awarded a grant of $1 million over the next two years for the final phase of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Aligning Forces for Quality initiative, a national effort to lift the quality and value of health care in communities across America.

AF4Q-SCPA is one of 16 organizations across the country designated as an AF4Q community. It has been participating since 2007.

The Aligning Forces for Quality program was originally launched by the Foundation in 2006. It remains the largest effort of its kind ever undertaken by a United States philanthropy.

Through the program, AF4Q-SCPA works to improve health care in Adams and York counties by engaging patients in their care, publicly reporting on the quality of care provided by local physicians and hospitals, implementing quality improvement programs in doctors’ offices and hospitals and exploring new payment methods to promote high-quality care.

In the fourth and final phase of the program, AF4Q-SCPA will accelerate its work, leveraging processes in these focus areas and striving for sustainable progress in meeting the goals of a reformed health care system: better value, greater transparency and improved care coordination.

Grant allows collaboration to continue

“This grant allows us to continue to collaborate with community leaders, patients, doctors, nurses, employers and insurers so everyone in Adams and York counties can receive the right care at the right time,” said Chris Amy, project director of AF4Q-SCPA. “We are committed to finding new ways to improve our health care system so we can have a healthier community.”

In the next two years, AF4Q-SCPA will expand on the cutting-edge changes already underway to achieve sustainable improvements in the quality of health care that local hospitals, practices and doctors deliver, while continuing to focus on developing and testing models that encourage highquality care and use dollars more wisely.

“The final phase of this program is not so much an end as a beginning,” said Anne F. Weiss, MPP, team director and senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“Our goal is not just lasting change in these 16 communities, but also to provide models of reform for the rest of the country to follow.”

In the past year, AF4Q-SCPA has continued to achieve great results through its patient-centered community initiatives.

Its Patient Partner program has enrolled 56 patients who have provided insightful feedback regarding provider communication, how patients think and ways to teach patients to self-manage their care.

Additionally, AF4Q-SCPA’s I Can! Challenge program, a 12-week series focusing on improving the health of residents with chronic diseases through healthy eating, exercise and stress management, has graduated more than 100 participants since 2009. Participants have achieved significant weight loss, medication reduction and lower A1C levels.

For more information about AF4Q-SCPA and its work, visit www.aligning4healthpa.org.

U.S. Military Employer Patriot Awards

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:00:00 AM GMT

From left to right, Jim Astor, south central area representative for the Pa. Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, presents U.S. Military Employer Patriot Awards to Dr. Matthew Howie, medical director, York Hospital Community Health Center, and Marc van Eik, senior practice manager, York Hospital Community Health Center, while Geraldine Greany-Hudson, CRNP and an active reservist in the U.S. Army, looks on. The award recognizes supervisors for outstanding support given to the nominator’s service in the military.

Dr. Gordon Zubrod named Exemplary Teacher of the Year

Wed, 29 May 2013 12:00:00 AM GMT

Serves as a role model for his students and colleagues

Gordon Zubrod, MD, assistant residency program director for the WellSpan York Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program, has been named “Exemplary Teacher of the Year” by the Pennsylvania Association of Family Physicians (PAFP).

“I didn’t have any idea that I had been nominated for the award, so I was shocked when I found out I had won. It was a very humbling experience,” said Zubrod.

“I love teaching. I learn a lot, and I enjoy developing relationships with the residents and watching them grow,” he said. “Combining medicine and teaching is the most enjoyable work I could ever do.

“We have a great faculty here, and they have been so helpful to me.”

Andre Lijoi, MD, associate residency program director for Family Practice and 2008 Family Physician of the Year, said, “Dr. Zubrod serves as a role model for his students and his colleagues.

“He is an expert at what he does. He has deep compassion for his patients. He is able to meet them at the root of their humanity with self-effacement and self-donation. His integrity is impeccable and his enthusiasm to serve those overlooked by others virtuous.”

Robert Fawcett, MD, associate residency program director for Family Practice and the 2012 Physician of the Year, said, “Dr. Zubrod is a bright, motivated and innovative educator who has been a leader for our residents in his assigned areas of curricular development, which have flourished through his nuture.

“More than that, he has gained the trust and affection of his learners for this quiet style, his steadfast faith and his rigorous knowledge, unselfishly imparted.”

Andrew Farabaugh, MD, outgoing chair of the PAFP’s Resident Assembly, added, “Whether we are in the office, rounding in the hospital or seeing patients in the nursing home, Dr. Zubrod continually finds ways to encourage us to become better physicians.

“His patience with learners is unparalleled. He is so good at guiding us through deliveries without ever making us feel rushed or insecure in our abilities.”

Members of the WellSpan York Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program praise Zubrod’s calming demeanor and welcoming presence. He is always willing to make himself available to residents and provides guidance to them not only in medicine, but in life.

Zubrod graduated from Penn State University and attended medical school at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, where he served as community service coordinator for the Family Practice Interest Group. He interned at the Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton, where he won the Pediatric Humanitarian Award.

He has extensive international medicine experience, having traveled to Uganda, East Africa, for a medical mission and research; Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan for community medicine rotations; Philippines, Mexico and Haiti for medical relief projects; Kurdistan for an academic teaching trip; and Mexico for international medicine leadership training.

WellSpan receives $125,000 grant for learning collaborative

Wed, 29 May 2013 12:00:00 AM GMT

WellSpan recently received a $125,000 grant from the Highmark Foundation to form a regional learning collaborative around “super utilizers” of health care.

Super utilizers are people who are medically sick, but for many other reasons, use a very high rate of medical services. WellSpan will work with physicians throughout the region on the project.

“Many patients have challenges in addition to their illness,” said Chris Echterling, MD, associate medical director for quality and innovation, WellSpan Medical Group.

“It could be poverty, mental health issues or, for example, they may have transportation issues or challenges in their home environment. We also need to collectively do a better job when patients go from one part of the health system to another.”

Echterling said the term “super utilizers” gives the sense that it’s a patient problem, but it isn’t. Instead the problem stems from a series of complicated issues that are often outside the patient’s control.

Many times the problem is a system problem.

About half of health care costs are produced by just five percent of the population, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Echterling said that figure is shocking, even for physicians. In fact, he said the first time he heard it, he didn't think it was correct. But it is.

There is interest in sharing best practices and in devising solutions to common challenges such as data mining, data analysis and medication adherence.

“We decided to fund this, in part, because of the collaborative nature of the project,” said Rosemary Browne, program officer, Highmark Foundation.

“Ultimately, with health systems working together and sharing best practices, there is a much greater chance for success.”

The overall objectives of the project, which will occur under the regional efforts of Aligning Forces for Quality, include improving the patient experience and care for the patient, while lowering overall health care costs.

“We think this project can make a difference because a number of health systems are involved,” said Echterling.

“We need to communicate more often and more effectively so when patients are transitioning between systems there is more coordination.”

Echterling and his colleagues will be working closely with the Highmark Foundation to share the results of the collaborative during the next several years.

MyWellSpan hits 35,000

Wed, 29 May 2013 12:00:00 AM GMT

MyWellSpan reached 35,000 enrollees in mid-May.

MyWellSpan helps make managing your health care as easy as possible.

The online patient portal gives you access to your personal health care information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It makes it easier than ever to communicate with your health care provider and become more involved in your care.

WellSpan is working to provide more enhancements and new features in the future to improve this already valuable tool.

To learn more about MyWellSpan or for a list of participating locations, go to www.wellspan.org. Or you can call MyWellSpan Customer Service at 1-866-638-1842 with any questions. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Current MyWellSpan features the ability to view general lab results, medication instructions, immunizations, conditions and allergies.

It also allows you to ask non-urgent questions and/or request non-urgent appointments with participating WellSpan Medical Group practices.

MyWellSpan also allows you to request prescription refills at a WellSpan pharmacy and submit a pre-registration for an upcoming test, procedure or inpatient stay.

One Apple Hill entrance to be closed for 45 days

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:00:00 AM GMT

While WellSpan Health completes construction of a new campus road that will improve traffic flow and wayfinding on the campus, it has become necessary to close one entrance to the campus off of Monument Road. The closed entrance is the one closest to Grantley Road). A fence line has been erected around the construction site and will remain in place during this phase of the project. Signage has been put in place to direct traffic around the area.

During the construction the Rabbit shuttle stop has been relocated temporarily from Entrance A to Entrance E at Apple Hill Medical Center.

Please check back for updates on access to the Apple Hill Health Campus. Construction of the new road will be completed in three phases. We anticipate the project will be completed before the end of the year.