Get Healthy

From the Get Healthy Inbox—We’re committed to keeping you informed on health care news and ideas throughout the region and nation. Here’s today’s recommendation, submitted by Community Hospital:

Community Hospital Sleep Diagnostics Center invites the public to an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 17 to view the expanded, state-of-the-art facility at its new location, 10110 Donald S. Powers Drive, Suite 201B in Munster.

Offering advanced medical equipment and qualified professionals to assist with the proper diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders, the new Sleep Diagnostics Center has expanded its evaluation capabilities to a 10-bed facility. Each evaluation bedroom mimics a more relaxing, home-like environment and has been designed to provide ultimate comfort with amenities; including an adjustable mattress, flat screen television, nightstand, desk, reclining lounge chair and private bathroom.
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St. John family reaches out to others at hospital

Members of the Splant family, from left, Nathan, Kimberly and Phillip, present Community Hospital neonatal intensive care unit nurse Lora Brands, RN, center, with DVD players and a basket full of educational viewing materials regarding preterm infants that can be shared with other parents of premature babies while at the hospital. (Photograph courtesy of Community Hospital.)

They say good things come in small packages.

When Nathan C. Splant, son of Phillip and Kimberly Splant, of St. John, was born 15 weeks prematurely Jan. 10, 2004, he weighed less than 2 lbs. and was only 12 inches long. He spent 108 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Community Hospital in before being discharged in April with an oxygen tank and heart monitor.

Good things have continued to happen ever since. Today, Nathan is a healthy, happy 5-year-old. The Splant family recently made a return trip to Community Hospital to make a special delivery on behalf of the Nathan C. Splant Foundation, an organization the family founded to honor their son and give back to others.

The donation of DVD players and educational viewing materials regarding preterm babies from the Nathan C. Splant Foundation will provide the parents of other premature babies born at Community Hospital’s NICU and Special Care Nursery, with the education and support necessary for a healthier start.
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Methodist working toward Level 2 status

With the help of Dr. Nick Johnson and physician assistant Al Vega, Dr. Matt Lazio covers a wound in the trauma area of the Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus in Gary.
(Photograph by Jessica A. Woolf.)

“Trauma alert, plus one,” a muffled voice says over the intercom at 9:30 p.m. “Trauma alert, plus one.”

Emergency room doctors, residents, nurses and other medical staff briskly pull on gloves and blue medical gowns and gather in the trauma bay at the Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus in Gary. EMS workers wheel in a young man who was shot in the abdomen.

About 20 minutes later, he’s taken from the trauma bay to get CAT scans.
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Local doctors debated the pros and cons of a public option for health care reform Thursday in front of a crowd of about 200 at Indiana University Northwest’s Savannah Auditorium.

“The intent of this was to talk about one part of the health care reform bill, and it just spilled over to problems in the economy and wider issues because they’re inextricably tied,” said Samuel Flint, IUN professor and moderator of the event.

The local debate precedes the U.S. House of Representatives vote on its health care reform bill, which includes a public option. The vote is expected to take place at the end of the week or early next week.
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While the general rule at one time was “once a cesarean, always a cesarean,” that way of thinking isn’t true anymore. With the option of Vaginal Birth after Cesarean (VBAC), women who have had a c-section aren’t destined to have another. However, VBACs have been on the decline in recent years.

“It’s been more discussed in the last 25 years, but the number has gone down,” said Dr. Karl Schwartz, a Munster Obstetrician/Gynecologist. “It’s not as commonly seen as it was 10 years ago and 15 years ago.” It’s a change he said has resulted from the liability involved. While uterine rupture is rare, it is a risk that comes with the procedure that can involve fetal brain damage and even death.

Those woman who have a successful VBAC have the advantage of a quicker recovery, less bleeding and a faster return to normal activities, said Schwartz.
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It doesn’t get easier as you age

Changing physicians can be wrenching for older patients. My mother never got over it when her longtime doctor retired. The “new” doctor took care of Mom for more than 15 years, but she would still tell him what she thought he wanted to hear. Ironically, the frailer Mom grew, the less forthright she became.

Now, my 70-something aunt, who has diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, is going through a similar change. Her longtime physician is shifting to an endocrinology-only practice and has asked patients to find another primary care doctor.

As is widely recommended, she brought to her first appointment a list of all the medications she’s taking. But she also brought a sheet of paper on which she briefly described her youth, marriage, motherhood and other seminal life events, things essential to her personhood that she wanted her new physician to know.
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Community Hospital is among only 121 hospitals nationwide to receive the American College of Cardiology Foundation’s 2009 Gold Performance Achievement Award for the outstanding treatment of heart attack patients, according to a news release from the hospital.

The outcomes-based quality improvement award, presented by the National Cardiovascular Data Registry ACTION Registry and the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines-CAD programs, acknowledges Community Hospital’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients. It also signifies that the hospital has reached an aggressive goal of treating coronary artery disease patients with 85 percent compliance to core standard levels of care, as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/AHA clinical guidelines and recommendations.

“Our focus has always been to bring the best health care to our community,” said Don Fesko, CEO of Community Hospital. “This award serves as a confirmation of that commitment to provide outstanding cardiovascular care through implementation of the latest evidence-based practices, such as ACTION Registry-GWTG, which is known to improve patient outcomes.”

There was a time Gavin Matusak’s family wasn’t sure he’d survive the day, much less be able to travel to Florida for a Disney vacation.

But then, the little guy has beaten some incredible odds.

With the support of family, doctors and a new technology at the Cardiac Critical Care Unit at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Matusak was healthy enough to make the trip. And with a gift in June from the Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors of Northwest Indiana, under the auspices of its “Make a Dream” program, the cost of the vacation was covered.

Matusak, who turned 3 on July 8, was born with a combination of four related heart defects that commonly occur together, called Tetralogy of Fallot. He also has pulmonary atresia, where his pulmonary valve was completely obstructed.
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Hammond Clinic resumes operations in style

One of the area’s longstanding health venues is being flooded with business once again.

The Hammond Clinic’s Specialty Center in Munster, ravaged by last year’s flood, celebrated its new look with an open house Sept. 14.

“We had just finished a big renovation (which began in October 2007) and then the big flood hit last September,” said Rob Jensen, executive director of business, communications and facilities development for the Hammond Clinic. The horrendous event, which damaged scores of local homes and businesses, left the clinic standing in more than 7 feet of water. Two months prior to that, a flood poured more than 2 feet of water into the health care facility.
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Children only allowed in Porter Health System facilities if they are a patient

Porter hospital has announced it has changed its visitation guidelines to help protect patients, staff and other visitors from exposure to the flu virus.

Visitors younger than 18 are not permitted to visit patients, and visitors are asked not to bring anyone younger than 18 into any Porter waiting areas unless that person is there for treatment. Also, all patients will be limited to two visitors.

Taffy Arias, Porter’s chief nursing officer, said only immediate family and friends who are invited by the patient will be allowed.
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