TODAY news - June 6, 2002

Thursday, June 6, 2002 TODAY

Loma Linda University Medical Center news

LLUMC among first hospitals to implant newly-approved pacemaker/defibrillator to reduce risk of heart failure

Ruchir Sehra, MD (center), explains the new CONTAK CD® pacemaker/defibrillator device he implanted into both Jerry Teague (left) and Ralph Bostrom.

On Monday, May 13, both Ralph Bostrom and Jerry Teague underwent heart surgery for the second time.

But for each of these men, their procedure was a proactive step against the risk of heart failure, instead of an emergency reaction to advanced heart failure.

Ruchir Sehra, MD, a cardiac electrophysiologist and associate professor of medicine and pediatrics, implanted a new device combining a pacemaker and defibrillator into the chest of Mr. Bostrom and Mr. Teague. The new device has been under study for two years by numerous cardiologists at Loma Linda University Medical Center.

J. Thomas Heywood, MD, director of the cardiomyopathy and adult heart transplant programs, has lead the study as principal investigator. Dr. Sehra is principal electrophysiology investigator.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the device, the CONTAK CD®, during the second week of May. Manufactured by Guidant, a medical equipment company specializing in the design and development of cardiovascular medical products, the device combines two therapies proven to help people with advanced heart failure. Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), delivered through three insulated wires (called leads) implanted in the heart, is designed to work with every heartbeat to improve the timing between the chambers of the heart and make it pump more effectively. Defibrillation Therapy responds only when an extremely fast, potentially life-threatening heart rhythm is detected, by delivering an electrical shock which restores a normal heart rhythm.

“The biggest difference between this device and previous pacemaker/defibrillator combinations is the synchronization therapy,” explained Dr. Sehra in a press conference held May 23. He added that previous devices only had two wires attached to the right side of the heart, and could only regulate the slow rhythms on the right side. The third wire of the CONTAK CD® allows for a connection to the left side through a vein in the upper heart. This connection gives the device the ability to regulate both sides in coordination.

Mr. Bostrom, 45, experienced a heart attack in 1995 while on duty working for the Moreno Valley sheriff’s department. Stabilized at a local hospital, he was flown to LLUMC for heart surgery. The heart attack severely damaged the left side of his heart.

Since last year, Mr. Bostrom recalls not being able to make a trip from the house to his car without stopping for a rest. The weakness affected his everyday life. He had difficulties in simple tasks like doing laundry.

Mr. Teague’s experience mirrored that of Mr. Bostrom’s. On his visits to the hospital he remembers having to stop four times to rest between the lobby and where his car was parked.

The new CONTAK CD® device has provided a boost of sustained strength for these men since their surgeries. Mr. Teague said that he and his wife made a visit to Costco®, and he was able to comfortably walk the entire store without having to rest.

Mr. Bostrom enjoys the extra energy he feels when he wakes up now. He is happy to be able to do laundry and go to the grocery store without any problems.

Dr. Sehra notes that while this new device is not a proven replacement for heart transplants, it is a viable treatment option for those with advanced heart failure.

The defibrillator decreases the chance of sudden cardiac death by 30 to 40 percent each year. And with an estimated 350,000 to 400,00 people in the Inland Empire who could benefit from this new device, those numbers are significant.

One of the main messages Dr. Sehra promoted was the help this device could provide people. The new cardiac resynchronization therapy is a wonderful new advancement, says Dr. Sehra, but the most beneficial aspect of the new device is the improvement in the daily quality of life it can provide patients.

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Christian Nurses’ Network integrates faith into practice

Donald G. Pursley, DBA, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Loma Linda University Medical Center, presents how to integrate faith into practice for the Christian Nurses’ Network on May 14.

“When people leave Loma Linda, what are they going to remember?” asked Donald G. Pursley, DBA, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Loma Linda University Medical Center, to the 36 staff, mostly nurses, attending the Christian Nurses’ Network luncheon on May 14.

Dr. Pursley’s central theme for his presentation on integrating faith into health-care practice was that actions are more memorable than words. People will remember how they were treated when they leave Loma Linda.

Sponsored by the nursing spiritual care and development department, nurses had the option of attending two seminars with lunch provided (which consisted of a croissant sandwich, potato or macaroni salad, fruit, and cookies). At the second meeting, the nurses listened as Dr. Pursley used stories from his own experience to illustrate two keys to help integrate faith into the workplace.

Dr. Pursley emphasized quality and being concerned about other people as the best ways to actively bring faith into the everyday situations faced on the job.

“One of the ways you can take your faith into the workplace is through the quality of your care,” says Dr. Pursley. He told of his nine-year tenure as a teacher at the Air Force Academy in Colorado and how being an Adventist was going to draw attention to his role. As such, he was determined to be the best teacher possible.

How you treat people is the most important key of living your faith, says Dr. Pursley. While starting to get involved with crossword puzzles, Dr. Pursley noticed a common clue for a five letter word. “TLC Provider,” says Dr. Purlsey. “A-D-M-I-N,” he jokes. He revealed the true answer to the clue as “nurse,” and he emphasizes that if crossword creators recognize that nurses provide tender-loving care, patients will even more, if the quality of care is high and they are treated well as people.

Dr. Pursley commented that the key to improving quality and becoming more concerned about people is to work on a relationship with Jesus Christ. A living relationship with Him will flow into both quality and behavior, influencing how you interact with others. And through that interaction people will see your faith integrated into practice.

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Loma Linda University Medical Center administrators walk in nurses’ footsteps

Liz Dickinson (second from left), RN, executive director of perioperative services, gives a certificate of achievement to Donald G. Pursley, DBA, executive vice president and CFO for LLUMC, who shadowed Sunder Nambiar, RN, nurse educator for the operating room, and Ellen McCarville, RN, clinical educator for the operating room, during the morning of May 9.

For a few hours on the morning of May 9, several hospital administrators slipped out of their suits and into some scrubs. Their mission; shadow a nurse and find out what it’s like to walk in their shoes.

The pediatric acute and rehabilitation units on the 5th and 6th floors heard new footsteps in their hallways as Gerald Ellis, MBA, senior vice president and COO for LLUMC, walked alongside Mona Marinel, RN, circulating nurse for units 5100, 5200, 5300, and 6200.

Ms. Marinel showed Mr. Ellis the numerous and various tasks nurses perform in the care of their patients. Mr. Ellis experienced treatment in an isolation unit, picking up an insulin prescription from the pharmacy, and even the joy of discharging a patient.

“It bumped me,” says Austin Lamarche of the motorcycle which accidently hit him and left him with a broken femur and laid up in a bed on 5200 for three weeks. While riding with his own motorcycle around with his brother, 2-year-old Austin didn’t want to come in when it was time to go. Wanting to be picked up by his brother, he walked too close to the motorcycle.

Ms. Marinel and Mr. Ellis rigged up a safety harness for Austin and his mother, Brenda, to keep him safe in the car on the drive home. Riding down the elevator and out to the parking lot in one of the red wagons, Austin gave a thumbs up just before Mr. Ellis transferred him into his mother’s car and Ms. Marinel strapped him in securely.

Meanwhile, back in the operating room, Donald G. Pursley, DBA, executive vice president and CFO for LLUMC, shadowed Sunder Nambiar, RN, a nurse educator for the operating room, and Ellen McCarville, RN, clinical educator for the operating room. Dr. Pursley learned the “ins and outs” of surgical patient care. After completing rounds, Liz Dickinson, RN, executive director of perioperative services, presented a certificate of achievement to Dr. Pursley, officially inducting him into the perioperative services department.

W. Augustus Cheatham, MSW, vice president for public affairs and marketing, LLUMC, found his visit to the emergency room not the “typical day at the office.” Here he poses with (from left) Davey Ellison, RN, MICN, night charge nurse, and Susie Smith, RN.

W. Augustus Cheatham, MSW, vice president for public affairs and marketing, LLUMC, spent the morning in the emergnecy department. Davey Ellison, RN, a charge nurse for the emergency department, showed Mr. Cheatham the routine of the ER; to expect the unexpected.

During his short tenure in scrubs, Mr. Cheatham witnessed nurses care for a patient with a traumatic head injury. A little different than the typical day at the office.

That was what the whole “walk in my shoes” program was intended to do—show administration how nurses really are the “frontline of healthcare,” as Dr. Pursley puts it. And the Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center administration says a big thank you to all their nurses for the outstanding job they do each day.

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Memorial service planned for long-time LLUMC employee

On June 13, the Loma Linda University Medical Center’s department of home care services will honor long-time employee Ruth Bailey, a respiratory therapist for the Medical Center for 22 years. Ms. Bailey passed away from cancer on November 25, 2001. She was almost 70.

“She personified home-care services,” says Duane Gordon, director of Loma Linda Medical Supply and respiratory home care. “She would arrive in in the morning, and would do what I call her ‘rounds.’ Every day she went to everybody and gave them a hug and some praise.”

“Ruth seemed to know when you were having a difficult day and would say ‘I think you need a hug,’” remembers Mattie Wren, executive director of home care services.

Ms. Bailey was a dedicated therapist, touching the lives of thousands throughout the course of her career. She wished to work her entire life and asked God to help her fulfill that wish. And even though her body was wracked with cancer during the last year of her life, she was able to work until two weeks before her death.

“She worked up to the very last,” comments Brian Summerville, warehouse manager for Loma Linda Medical Supply. “And she never complained.”

The memorial service will be held at 1:00 p.m. in the courtyard of home-care services on 11255 Mountain View Ave. The memorial will be a 17-foot diameter planter with a trumpet tree and flowers of her favorite color, purple. B. Lyn Behrens, MBBS, president and CEO of Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center will give the memorial address.

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