Monthly Archives: March 2010
Cancer Caregiver Support Network
Are you pouring out all your available time and energy for someone you love who has cancer? As caregivers, you face a unique set of challenges, and you need support too. But chances are you may feel too busy or exhausted to attend the very events that could encourage you.
Even when you feel alone, others are facing similar challenges. Seby B. Jones Cancer Center invites you to a caregiver event for people like you. This first meeting will give you a chance to meet other caregivers, encourage each other, and strategize about how best to meet the needs of busy spouses and caregivers of cancer survivors.
Join us at the Cancer Resource Center at Watauga Medical Center on April 13, 2010, at 4 p.m. This is an opportunity to recharge your own batteries and help map out innovative ways to care for caregivers in the High Country.
Call Melanie Childers, Chaplain, at 828 266 1178, for more information.
Occupational Therapy: Making Life Better for Patients
In recognition of all the ways Occupational Therapy aids in making life better, April has been designated as Occupational Therapy Month by the American Occupational Therapy Association.
Occupational therapy not only treats medical conditions, but it helps people stay engaged in the activities that give them pleasure or a sense of purpose, despite challenges. Occupational therapists enable people to participate in activities of daily life.
Occupational Therapists develop an individualized therapy plan for each patient based on their needs and environment. The therapists help patients overcome disabilities or medical conditions, work toward achievable performance goals and avoid health problems. The ultimate goal is for patients to be able to return to a normal life.
“At Blowing Rock Hospital, Cannon Memorial Hospital, Watauga Medical Center and through Appalachian Regional Healthcare System’s Outpatient Services and Home Health, our talented occupational therapists help children and adults learn or regain skills that allow them to do meaningful things like playing, working, driving, shopping and even preparing a meal,” shared Jeanne Bradshaw, PT, OCS, Director of Rehabilitation for Appalachian Regional Healthcare System. “This type of help can be beneficial to a variety of people – a person with chronic pain, a person recovering from surgery or a traumatic injury or who was injured on the job.”
Occupational therapy has its roots, a century ago, in helping war veterans return to life at home. These days, occupational therapists work in acute care, home health, rehabilitation hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and outpatient practices teaching patients the skills for the job of living.
Today, many occupational therapy programs focus on prevention and wellness to help participants live longer, healthier lives. Occupational therapists work with patients to ensure the highest possible level of functioning. Maintaining or rebuilding independence plays an important role in overall well-being. Occupational therapy works to get beyond disability and create ways for individuals to live life to it’s fullest no matter what.
To find out more about occupational therapy and how it might help you, visit the American Occupational Therapy Association’s Web site, www.aota.org.
Outpatient Occupational Therapy programs available through Appalachian Regional Healthcare System:
- Aquatic Therapy
- Manual Lymph Drainage
- Compression Therapy
- Garment Fitting
- Arthritis & Rheumatic Diseases
- Fractures and Sprains
- Tendonitis
- Work Injuries
- Cerebrovascular Accident
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Spinal Cord Injury
- Multiple Trauma
- Adaptive Devices
- Environmental Adaptations
- Energy Conservation Techniques
- Caregiver Training
For more information, call (828) 268-9043.
Medical Center Pathology and Laboratory Departments Receive Accreditation
Boone, NC (March 17, 2010) – The Watauga Medical Center Pathology and Laboratory Departments have been awarded accreditation by the Accreditation Committee of the College of American Pathologists (CAP), based on the results of a recent onsite inspection.
The laboratory’s director, Brent D. Hall, MD, was advised of this national recognition and congratulated for the excellence of the services being provided. Watauga Medical Center Pathology and Laboratory Departments are among the more than 7,000 CAP-accredited laboratories worldwide.
The CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program, begun in the early 1960s, is recognized by the federal government as being equal to or more stringent than the government’s own inspection program.
During the CAP accreditation process, inspectors examine the laboratory’s records and quality control of procedures for the preceding two years. CAP inspectors also examine laboratory staff qualifications, as well as the laboratory’s equipment, facilities, safety program and record, in addition to the overall management of the laboratory. This stringent inspection program is designed to specifically ensure the highest standard of care for all laboratory patients.
“This accreditation affirms the hard work and strict lab standards we adhere to every day. I am so proud of the exemplary lab and pathology staff as they work tirelessly each day to meet and exceed CAP’s standards” states Beth Miller, Director of Laboratory Services for Appalachian Regional Healthcare System.
Learn more about Watauga Medical Center.
To learn more about the CAP process, visit www.cap.org.
Emergency Agencies Receive Award
The Watauga Medical Center Emergency Department and Watauga Medics received the Gracen Brooke Oglesby Endowment Fund Award and $300 each from the Emergency Nurses Association on March 8, 2010.
The award was given as a thank you to the staffs of Watauga Medical Center’s Emergency Department and Watauga Medics for the care and compassion shown to the Oglesby family on February 14, 2009.
The endowment was established with the purpose of helping improve pediatric emergency care and promoting pediatric emergency care education in North Carolina. Awards will be made annually.
Gracen Brooke Oglesby was born in 2007 with Down Syndrome and two serious congenital heart defects, an A-V canal malformation and tetrology of fallot. She endured three extensive open heart surgeries over a period of four months in 2008 at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Upon having her heart fully repaired, she returned home and progressed well. On February 14, 2009, Gracen died unexpectedly at Watauga Medical Center. The Oglesby family considers it a privilege to share Gracen’s life with all those who may have benefitted from her short time here on Earth.
Gloria Oglesby (grandmother), Bob Oglesby (grandfather), Ryan Oglesby (uncle), Carolyn Moser (RN in the ER at WMC), Claire Wilkie (VP of Patient Care Services at WMC), Cindy Hinshaw (Director of the WMC Emergency Department), Richard Sparks (President/CEO of ARHS) and Craig Sullivan (Watauga Medics).
For more information about the Gracen Brooke Oglesby Endowment Fund, visit www.nc-ena.com
For more information about Watauga Medical Center, visit www.apprhs.org/watauga-medical-center
Home Tour Benefits Hospital
For four days in April, the public is invited to tour the 2010 Designer Showcase Home and help a worthy cause, Blowing Rock Hospital.
Located at 1732 Main Street in Blowing Rock, the Designer Showcase Home will feature designs by Northern Parker Designs, Knoll Interiors, Blowing Rock Interiors, Hartley Interiors, Dianne Davant and Associates, Tatum Galleries, Mark J. Crowell Interior Design Services, Sandra Mallonee Interiors and Finley House Antiques and Carriage Trade Antiques.
The house will be open to the public the following days and times:
- Thursday, April 15th 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm
- Friday, April 16th 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
- Saturday, April 17th 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
- Sunday, April 18th 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
A free shuttle will be available from Food Lion (Blowing Rock) to the home.
Tickets are $20 per person, fully tax deductible and can be purchased by contacting Megan Lynch Ellis at 828-262-9564 or mellis@apprhs.org.
Proceeds from the four day event will be used to purchase new patient beds at Blowing Rock Hospital.
For more information about this event, contact Megan Lynch Ellis at 828-262-9564 or mellis@apprhs.org.
Crutches, Canes and Walkers
Blue Ridge Physical Therapy is accepting donations of crutches, canes and walkers to help the earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile.
Blue Ridge Physical Therapy will be accepting crutches, canes and walkers from now until March 31, 2010 at two locations – the Blue Ridge Physical Therapy office located at 232 Boone Heights Drive in Boone and at the Cannon Memorial Hospital Outpatient Therapy office, located in the Sloop Medical Office Plaza at 434 Hospital Drive in Linville.
The items will be delivered to Samaritan’s Purse, who will then transport them to Haiti and Chile and ensure delivery to those in need.
If you have crutches, canes or walkers and no longer need for them, please consider donating them to this effort. Blue Ridge Physical Therapy is open from 8 am until 5 pm, Monday through Friday.
If you’d like more information, call (828) 268-9043.
Blue Ridge Physical Therapy is part of the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System.