Rainy Weather Gives Green Roof a Healthy Start

It's not much fun for the rest of us, but the rainy March weather will help the new, "green" roof at Carilion Clinic's new outpatient facility on Reserve Avenue get off to a good start. Crews began lifing platforms of roofing plants onto the top of the building this week.

Green roofs retain rainwater,
minimizing stormwater runoff. They also reduce the surface temperature of the roof by as much as 40 degreees.

The plants, usually species of Sedum, Delosperma, grasses and mosses, also absorb airborn toxins and release oxygen.

When completed later this year, Carilion's outpatient facility will be the largest green building in the Roanoke Valley.

Salem Red Sox (and Mugsy) Visit Carilion Clinic Children's Hospital

A big thanks to the Salem Red Sox for visiting the Carilion Clinic Children's Hospital this week, bringing the 2007 World Series trophy and Mugsy with them. The sports fans loved the trophy, and the rest were wide-eyed when the "giant puppy" walked into the room.

Carilion Clinic Partners with Healing Strides of VA for Pilot Hippotherapy Program

Program supported by grant from Foundation of the Roanoke Valley

Carilion Clinic has partnered with Healing Strides of VA to secure a grant from the Foundation of the Roanoke Valley to provide four pediatric patients with Hippotherapy treatment this spring and four additional patients in the fall as a pilot program.

“This shared treatment opportunity with Healing Strides of VA is extremely exciting for us,” says Lisa Belderes, certified physical therapist at Carilion Clinic. “Hippotherapy has been shown to improve muscle tone, balance, posture, coordination, motor development and emotional well-being, all of which is important for our patients.”

Hippotherapy is a physical, occupational and speech-language therapy treatment that uses the equine movement as part of a program to achieve functional outcomes. The movement of the horse provides a multi-dimensional movement that has an effect on postural control, sensory systems and motor planning that is used to facilitate coordination and timing, grading of responses, respiratory control, sensory integration skills, and attention skills.

Children and adults with mild to severe neuromusculoskeletal dysfunction are candidates for hippotherapy as part of a rehabilitation program. Patients typically respond enthusiastically to this enjoyable rehabilitative experience because it exists in a natural setting.

“We are thrilled to partner with Carilion pediatric therapies to offer hippotherapy as an innovative treatment tool starting this spring,” says Lynda Gray, Healing Strides of VA president. “For over 15 years, our primary goal as a therapeutic riding center has been to provide the community with therapeutic benefits offered by using horses. To now be capable of doing this in partnership with the medical community is very exciting. Our hope is that this is just the beginning of a wonderful relationship where each organization can offer their experience and knowledge to better serve the community.”

Click below for video of a hippotherapy session, a discription of hippotherapy by Carilion Pediatric Physician Therapist Lisa Belderes, and news media coverage of our recent Hippotherapy demonstration

New Issue of Verve Hitting the Stands!

Look for a new issue of Verve hitting the newsstands in the next few days, with an eye-catching green logo and a photograph of Meredith Vieira. The cover story profiles the popular network anchor and game show host, including the challenges she and her husband face in dealing with his MS and colon cancer

This is the first Verve issue produced completely "in house", thanks to our new Publications Editor, Maureen Robb. As Maureen opened the first box, we celebrated with our first Verve cake ( kudos to the Cave Spring Kroger bakery for a near perfect color match on the image and icing!)

Leadership Roanoke Valley visits Carilion Clinic

A "thank you" to the folks at Leadership Roanoke Valley for including Carilion Clinic in their Economic Development curriculum last week. LRV participants came to the hospital for a presentation from Carilion President and CEO Ed Murphy MD, and a virtual tour of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, currently under construction.

LVA was established in 1983 to encourage community leadership in the region. The interactive 10 month program is designed to help participants better understand the issues facing the Roanoke Valley and surrounding areas. It was an excellent session, with great questions from participants. Thanks again for letting be part of this year's program!

Carilion Physician Leadership Academy Graduates First Class

Doctors already Making an Impact on Health Care in the Region

Last week, 22 Carilion Clinic physicians graduated from our first Physician Leadership Academy.

The Academy is a 10 month program aimed at helping doctors develop leadership skills as Carilion continues transforming itself into a physician-led organization. Areas of study include; the business of medicine, applied finance, using technology to lead, business planning and mentoring.

Each doctor develops and implements a project as part of the program.

On Sunday, March 8, the Roanoke Times published a feature article about the Academy, and profiled some of the graduates and their projects, including Dr. Amanda Murchison and her Hispanic OB Clinic, and Dr's Tony Stavola and Michael Jeremiah, who developed a program to proactively improve the health of asthma patients using the Clinic's new electronic medical record.

The Academy is expanding as it begins its second year, offering classes to physicians in Roanoke and the New River Valley.

Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute Launches New Projects

UPDATE - Read the Roanoke Times article about the research project announcement.

Interesting projects, and exciting progress as this new relationship develops! Read the release below, written by Virginia Tech Research Division Communications Manager Susan Trulove.



Virginia Tech Carilion launches five new research projects
By Susan Trulove

BLACKSBURG, Va., March 5, 2009 -- The Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute has awarded five $30,000 seed grants to support collaborative research between Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic researchers on medical challenges that include heart care, cancer, infectious disease, obesity, and technology.

"As the Virginia Tech Carilion enterprise grows, these joint efforts will become very important to the success of our educational and research efforts," said Tom Campbell, assistant director for research and operations for the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute.

"This is a great time to support the Virginia Tech Carilion partnership," said Daniel Harrington M.D., vice president for academic affairs for Carilion Clinic and associate dean for clinic and regional integration for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine.

Carilion Clinic also provides Research Acceleration Project grants and Harrington reports there have been several where Virginia Tech faculty members were partners. "We are starting to see increased interest and activity, with both Carilion physicians and Virginia Tech researchers seeing value in the Virginia Tech Carilion enterprise," said Harrington.
The projects and research teams are:

• "Back to the Future: Using the mouse to model the molecules and physiological impacts of medical supervised water-only fasting in hypertensive, obese adults," Deborah Good, associate professor of human nutrition, food, and exercise in Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; Roderick Jensen, professor of biological sciences at Virginia Tech; and Richard Seidel, director of research and education at Carilion Clinic.



• "Screening for, and intervening to, reduce cardiovascular and material obstetrical care risk during pregnancy," Paul Estabrooks, human nutrition, food, and exercise associate professor at Virginia Tech, and L. Wayne Hess M.D., OB/GYN department chair at Carilion Clinic.



• "Characterization of Early Defects in Immunosurveillance Mechanisms during Ovarian Cancer Progression," P. Chris Roberts, associate professor of biomedical sciences and pathobiology in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine; Eva Schmelz, human nutrition, food, and exercise associate professor at Virginia Tech; and Dennis Scribner M.D, gynecological oncology section chief, Carilion Clinic.



• "Development of nanoscale optical fiber biosensor assays to detect and differentiate Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin-Resistant S. aureus (MRSA)," Thomas Inzana, the Tyler J. and Frances F. Young Chair of Bacteriology, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine; Tom Kerkering M.D, infectious disease section chief, Carilion Clinic; J.R. Heflin, professor of physics in the College of Science, Virginia Tech; and A.B. Bandara, research assistant professor of biomedical sciences and pathobiology, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine.



• "Applying and Validating Sophisticated Industrial Technology to Improve Healthcare Quality in the ER," Tony Slonim M.D., vice president of medical affairs, Carilion Clinic; and Ebru Bish, associate professor of industrial and systems engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech.

During the recent round of funding 14 projects were submitted for consideration.

The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute comprise a unique partnership to establish a new generation of health care professionals and leaders in their chosen fields. Originating from the Carilion Clinic, one of Virginia's largest health care providers, and Virginia Tech, the commonwealth's leading research university, the school and institute will occupy the nexus of modern results-driven medical training with applications-oriented research.

Learn more about the research by some of the individuals who received seed grants.
Paul Estabrooks, “Healthy Behaviors Translate into a Healthy Workplace”
Thomas J. Inzana, “Veterinary College Researcher Awarded $1 Million Military Grant To Develop Bioterror Vaccine”

Contact Susan Trulove at strulove@vt.edu or (540) 231-5646.