April-June, 2003

News in Brief

St. John’s expands Ethics Program with new director

Dan Dwyer, Ph.D., joined St. John's Ethics Program as director Feb. 17.
Dwyer, who has three daughters and two grandchildren, came to St. John's from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., and has served in institutional ethics roles since 1984. He served as vice president of St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee with responsibilities for the ethics program there and taught professional ethics seminars at Loyola University Medical School, the Medical College of Wisconsin, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
As a consultant, Dwyer has also facilitated seminars and spirituality and ethics retreats for medical staffs at Catholic hospitals throughout the Midwest. He has a doctoral degree in the sociology and history of medicine and a master's degree in social work.
Former director Tobias Meeker, M.Div., who began the program in 1987, left St. John's in August 2002 to become the new chief executive officer of The Kitchen, Inc. Staff Ethicist Jerry Haynes joined St. John's Ethics Program in September 2002.


Parking garage opens on St. John’s campus

St. John’s new 1,000-car parking garage, located north of St. John’s Hammons Heart Institute, opened in February. The first floor is designated for Hammons Heart Institute patients and includes reserved spaces for physicians, the handicapped and expectant mothers. Levels 2 through 6 of the garage each have four handicap reserved spaces. Level 2 also has reserved motorcycle parking spaces. Elevator access to each level is located on the southwest corner of the garage. There are stairwells on this corner as well as on the northeast and northwest corners of the garage. Each stairwell is equipped with emergency phones. The garage also has a security dispatch office and 89 cameras in the facility to ensure the safety of patients, visitors and staff.


St. John’s Children’s Clinic recognized for pediatric immunizations

St. John’s Children’s Clinic, located in St. John’s Whiteside Medical Building, was recognized in the Winter 2002 issue of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Peds Lines publication for its 90 percent or higher patient immunization rate. The recognition was for the 4-3-1 series (4 DTP, 3 polio, and 1 MMR) for 2-year-olds during June-October 2002.
Children’s Clinic pediatricians Elizabeth Andrews MD, FAAP, John Burson, MD, FAAP, John Meyer, MD, FAAP, and Robert Steele, MD, FAAP were also commended in the article.
“This recognition shows that we have been successful in getting the children in to be immunized as well as educating parents of the need for immunization,” Meyer says.


St. John’s echocardiography labs achieve national accreditation

The Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories has accredited St. John’s Health System’s echocardiography laboratories in all three accreditation categories, making St. John’s the only health system in southern Missouri to achieve such an accreditation.
St. John’s has echocardiography labs at St. John’s Regional Health Center, St. John’s Cardiovascular Specialists, St. John’s Cardiovascular Specialists-Branson and Smith-Glynn-Callaway Medical Building.
Echocardiography is a versatile noninvasive procedure that utilizes ultrasound waves to detect abnormalities of cardiac structure, function and circulation.
“Echocardiograms are used to assist the physician in diagnosing certain types of heart problems that involve the heart valve and the pumping chamber of the heart,” says St. John’s cardiologist Kelvin Van Osdol, M.D.
The ICAEL accredited St. John’s echo labs in all three accreditation areas – adult transthoracic echocardiography testing, adult stress echocardiography testing and adult transesophogeal echocardiography testing.
Participation in the ICAEL accreditation process is voluntary. Accreditation status signifies that the echo labs have been reviewed by an independent agency that recognizes their commitment to quality testing for the diagnosis of heart disease. St. John’s staff prepared for the ICAEL accreditation process for approximately a year.

St. Francis Hospital now a Top 100 Hospital

St. John’s St. Francis Hospital in Mountain View has been selected as one of the Top 100 Hospitals in the U.S. by Solucient, an Evanston, Ill.-based health care information company.
The study, Solucient’s ninth “100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks for Success,” is based solely on objective quantitative performance data that are consistent across all U.S. hospitals, such as patient complications following procedures, average length of patient stay and outpatient revenues. Data are analyzed in groups based on hospital size and teaching status.
“This recognition further illustrates what we already know about St. Francis Hospital – that our niche is providing cost-effective, quality health care to our community,” St. Francis President Gary Jordan says.
St. Francis was originally built in 1948, but temporarily shut down because of financial problems in the mid-1950s. Sister Mary Cornelia Blasko, DFS, and five other Franciscan nuns arrived in Mountain View in the summer of 1956 to reopen the hospital. Sister Cornelia continues to serve as St. Francis’ mission integration coordinator.
St. Francis joined St. John’s in 1998 and now employs 121 people.
The hospital is licensed for 42 beds and has been accredited by the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Health Care Organizations since 1962.