Carilion Clinic Home Care Makes Elite List in Radford and Tazewell

RADFORD, Va. (January 30, 2009) Carilion Clinic Home Care today announced that its Radford and Tazewell operations have been named to the 2008 HomeCare Elite, a compilation of the most successful Medicare-certified home health care providers in the United States. The annual review honors providers in the top 25 percent, ranked by quality outcomes, quality improvement and financial performance. Carilion Clinic Home Care in Radford and Tazewell are included in this elite list.

“The 2008 HomeCare Elite winners exemplify a commitment to providing their patients with optimum care while performing at the highest level,” said Nancy Buller, senior Director of Marketing Communications at OCS, Inc. “We congratulate Carilion Clinic Home Care on being one of the Top home care agencies in the country.”

“Carilion Clinic Home Care Radford has made the top 25% for the past three years, and we’re proud of our Tazewell County team, ranking in the top 25% in their first year with us,” said Carilion Clinic Home Care Director, Lisa Sprinkel. “We credit their success to the hard work and efforts of the entire home care team.”

The 2008 HomeCare Elite is the only performance recognition of its kind in the home health industry. The entire list of the 2008 HomeCare Elite agencies can be viewed by visiting the OCS web site at www.ocsys.com/HCE

Who Counts on Carilion?

Do you count on us?

Found out more about people who Count on Carilion by visiting http://www.countoncarilion.org/, and hear from employees and volunteers who say you can count on them.

Protecting Children During a Disaster

Carilion Clinic Hosts Conference to Improve Planning, Readiness

Carilion Clinic hosted a regional conference at the Hotel Roanoke today aimed at improving Virginia's ability to meet the needs of children during a disaster situation. Protecting children during a natural or man-made disaster can be challenging, particularly if the event occurs while children are at school or on school buses, separated from their families.

Conference speakers included Terry Adirim, MD, MPH, acting Associate Chief Medical Officer with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Alice Ackerman, MD, Chair of Pediatrics for Carilion Clinic, Joan E. Shook, MD, Chief of Emergency Medicine with Texas Children's Hospital and Lisa Uherick, MD, Medical Director for Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Carilion Clinic.

The day-long conference ended with work groups addressing the roles of; community hospitals, EMS/first responders and schools/daycare centers. Organizers hope the conference will lead to improved coordination between all agencies involved and ensure that future disaster plans take the needs of children into account.

Welcome to 2009!

Happy New Year to Carrie Vanesa DelCid, the first baby born at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital in 2009! Carrie was born at 2:11 a.m. and tipped the scale at 7 pounds, 14.5 ounces.

Mom and dad, Deisy and Jose' of Roanoke, are also doing well.

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In the New River Valley, Carilion New River Valley Medical Center welcomed Gracie Earley, daughter of Deana and Walter Earley of Christiansburg. Gracie was born at 5:51 a.m., weighing 8 pounds, 12 ounces.

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.