VTC Construction Continues

Construction on the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine continues moving forward, though much of the progress isn't visible above ground. You may have noticed what appears to be a large funnel appearing in various places on the site. Workers are creating "Geopiers" - drilling holes and filling them with a stone aggregate material to create solid foundation columns that go down through loose soil to rest on firmer layers.


The other buildings in the Riverside Center, Riverside 1 and the Carilion Clinic outpatient facility, also rest on Geopiers.

Carilion Clinic Publishes Community Benefit Report

Carilion Clinic has published its first "Community Benefit Report". The report was distributed as in insert in the December 11 edition of the Roanoke Times. It is also available online. You can download the report as a PDF file here.

The Internal Revenue Service has defined "community benefit" for not-for-profit hospitals to include

• Charity Care (the actual cost of providing the service)
• Health professions education - training doctors, nurses and other health professionals who will provide care in our communities
• Critical Community Services - what the health care organization spends to underwrite vital health services that lose money, and would not otherwise be available. Examples include trauma care, medical helicopters, pediatric cancer care, etc.
• Grants and Contributions to support health-related initiatives in the community.
• Community Outreach - educational programs, health fairs, free health screenings, etc. provided to the public.
  

Dr. Jeffrey George and his daughter, Hannah

Dr. Jeffrey George and his daughter Hannah, died in a traffic accident on the afternoon of December 3rd. Dr. George joined Carilion Clinic as a cardiothoracic surgeon almost two years ago. We are stunned and devastated by this loss and share the sorrow of their family and friends.

Dr. George's co-workers remember his love for his family, his commitment to his patients and the community, his humor and his friendship.

Dr. Joseph Rowe, who works with Dr. George at Carilion Cardiothoracic Surgery said, "If I were to make a list of a handful of people that I thought were really living their life as the best person that they could possibly be, from a spiritual standpoint, from a family standpoint, from a community standpoint, from an intellectual standpoint, Jeff would be on the short list of people that I would name and I think that he was a guy who could honestly say that he had no regrets about anything that he'd ever done or said.... there aren't that many people you could say that about."

Family, friends and colleagues can express their condolences here.