Gwinnett Medical Center
Honored in National Quality Study
Among Top Five Percent in the Nation According to HealthGrades
Gwinnett Hospital System has been named a recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™, based on a study issued by HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent healthcare ratings company.
The study analyzed data from Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville and Joan Glancy Memorial Hospital in Duluth.
“It’s an honor for us to be ranked among the top five percent for clinical quality of all hospitals in the country by an independent source such as HealthGrades,” said J. Thomas Karr, Jr., interim president and CEO of Gwinnett Hospital System and Gwinnett Medical Center. “I’d like to congratulate our physicians and staff for their dedication to quality and the outstanding patient outcomes they provide to this community.
“Quality of care is our top priority at Gwinnett Medical Center. Providing our patients and families with the best care possible is at the heart of our mission. Being named as a top hospital in one of the largest healthcare studies in America validates dedication and hard work from our physicians and staff. We are proud to be one of only two hospitals in the state of Georgia to receive this award.”
In addition to the Distinguished Hospital Award, Gwinnett Medical Center is a recipient of the 2006 HealthGrades Pulmonary Care Excellence Award™, ranking the hospital among the top five percent in the nation for overall pulmonary care. They’ve also received HealthGrades’ five-star rating for the treatment of stroke.
Each year, HealthGrades independently analyzes the clinical quality performance of all nonfederal hospitals across the country in 28 procedures and diagnoses, ranging from bypass surgery to the treatment of heart attacks. Hospitals that receive the HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence are those hospitals that rank in the top five percent when all 28 individual scores are aggregated into an overall score. Out of over 5,000 hospitals graded, only 277 U.S. hospitals qualified for this prestigious award in 2006.
“Our physicians have earned recognition for the high quality care they provide because they have stepped up and taken leadership roles in our System-wide pursuit of clinical excellence,” said Roy E. Gilbreath, MD, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Gwinnett Medical Center. “Their diligence and dedication to excellence means that our patients get the best care available in the nation. We are very proud of the fine work our physicians are doing.”
About Gwinnett Medical Center
Gwinnett Hospital System, anchored by flagship Gwinnett Medical Center, is a not-for-profit healthcare network providing high quality facilities and services to Gwinnett and the surrounding community. With over 4,000 employees and 800 physicians, the system provided care in 2005 to almost 400,000 patients. To learn more, visit www.gwinnettmedicalcenter.org.
About HealthGrades
HealthGrades (Nasdaq:HGRD) is the leading healthcare ratings organization, providing ratings and profiles of hospitals, nursing homes and physicians to consumers, corporations, health plans and hospitals. Millions of consumers and hundreds of the nation’s largest employers, health plans and hospitals rely on HealthGrades’ independent ratings and decision-support resources to make healthcare decisions based on the quality of care. More information on the company can be found at www.healthgrades.com.
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Emory Eastside Medical Center
Emory Eastside Medical Center, located on a dual campus in Snellville, is a combined effort between the impressive medical resources of Emory Healthcare—a leading medical research university and medical care provider, HCA—the nation’s largest hospital corporation. Emory Eastside Medical Center—Gwinnett’s second-largest hospital system--is a 200-bed, full-service, acute-care medical center with almost 1500 employees and 450 affiliated physicians.
In 2004, Emory Eastside’s medical team treated 9,102 in-patients and had over 48,000 emergency visits and 2,381 total obstetrical deliveries. Medical services include general acute care on an inpatient and outpatient basis, in-patient physical rehabilitation, 24-hour emergency care, pediatric urgent care, level III neonatal intensive care, and a host of state-of-the-art outpatient services. In addition to basic diagnostic services are PET scanning, digitized radiology, MRI, CT, and cardiac catheterization—with the newest medical equipment, specialty staff, and state-of-the-art techniques and skills to diagnose disorders and disease. Emory Eastside offers a variety of other specialty services from its newly designed Breast and Diagnostic Center, such as mammography, stereotactic core biopsies, and ultrasound imaging, along with bone densitometry. And, located in the Eastside Physicians Center is an accredited diabetes education program taught by certified diabetic educators who are registered nurses or clinical dietitians.
Many specialized services are available at the Eastside Heritage Center, which is located off Highway 78 on Fountain Drive. The Senior Mental Health Program is the only one of its kind in the county. Psychiatrists, counselors, and medical professionals assist older adults in adapting to the complexities of the aging process. The Mood Disorders Center specializes in the treatment of psychiatric disorders for adults and geriatric patients. The Eastside Heritage Center is also the site of the Pain Management Center, where patients with chronic pain learn to cope with and manage this complex process. At the Wound Clinic patients are treated for long-term, non-healing wounds. The multi-disciplinary approach to treatment has resulted in an 85% healing rate (the national average rate of healing is 25%) and the average cost for this care is 35% less than traditional wound treatment. Patients with sleep disorders may find treatment and solutions at the newly-expanded Sleep Disorder Center. Also located in the Heritage Center is Health Happiness You-H2U, the health and wellness program designed specifically for the 50+ population. The newest addition to the Heritage Center is the beautiful, 20-bed, inpatient physical Rehabilitation Center.
To locate a physician who refers patients to Emory Eastside, call the Eastside Physician Referral Line at 770-972-7570 and for more information, call 770-979-0200 or visit www.emoryeastside.com.
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Gwinnett Medical Center | Duluth
From a three-room cottage that served as Duluth’s Joan Glancy Memorial Clinic built to an 81-bed, all digital state-of-the-art hospital opening this October, healthcare in Duluth has come of age.
For more than 60 years, the Duluth community has received its medical care Glancy-style. That warm, personal-touch care that you’ve experienced at Joan Glancy Memorial Hospital is about to spread to more than 175,000 square feet of fresh, new space in Gwinnett Medical Center-Duluth. It’s a new hospital, but with the same great tradition of care.
Gwinnett Medical Center-Duluth will be located at 3620 Howell Ferry Road in Duluth, between Pleasant Hill Road and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. This campus was home of the Glancy Outpatient Center and the Hudgens Professional Building.
The integration of all of these healthcare resources within a highly accessible campus brings major benefits to patients and physicians alike. The hospital will have 81 private patient rooms and 6 family suites complete with wireless Internet access and room service that includes an extensive restaurant style menu.
The campus will be a state-of-the-art, all-digital facility complete with barcode scanning of patients’ armbands and medications to ensure quick, accurate administration, paperless medical records to provide quick and easy access, instant entry and retrieval of nursing and physician documentation, computerized scheduling system to improve customer service, immediate access to digital radiology imaging, automated surgical information system design to provide consistent high-level support, computer-based order-entry system to eliminate handwriting issues, and an integrated computerized emergency department.
Gwinnett Medical Center-Duluth has been carefully designed to combine a quiet, healing environment of warm colors, focal lighting and natural elements of stone and wood. The end result will be a hospital that caters to patients, family members and visitors, promotes healing and hospitality, and offers the very latest medical technologies for efficient treatment and quick recovery times.
A Lasting Legacy
Healthcare in Gwinnett has a history of heroic community action. It began more than 60 years ago when the Duluth community responded to the tragic death of a local 6-year old because of the lack of available medical care. The community came together to build Joan Glancy Memorial Hospital in 1946.
Since that time, Gwinnett citizens have risen to the challenge whenever opportunities have come along for a better quality of life.
Today, this same community response is needed to ensure that the healthcare needs of Gwinnett are fulfilled. Every dollar generated through the Legacy Campaign goes to the bottom line of funding Gwinnett Medical Center-Duluth.
Together, let us provide the best in healthcare for our citizens, today and tomorrow.
For more information about giving options and naming, contact the Gwinnett Hospital System Foundation at 678-442-4634 or email jriddle@ghsnet.org.
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Blood Line
Heart Attack, Strokes and Blood Pressure
The American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute have launched a new “Act in Time” campaign to increase people’s awareness of heart attack and the importance of calling 9-1-1 immediately at the onset of heart attack symptoms.
Heart attack and stroke are life-and-death emergencies—every second counts. If you see or have any of the listed symptoms, immediately call 9-1-1. Not all these signs occur in every heart attack or stroke. Sometimes they go away and return. If some occur, get help fast! Today heart attack and stroke victims can benefit from new medications and treatments unavailable to patients in years past. For example, clot-busting drugs can stop some heart attacks and strokes in progress, reducing disability and saving lives. But to be effective, these drugs must be given relatively quickly after heart attack or stroke symptoms first appear. So again, don’t delay—get help right away!
Heart Attack Warning Signs
Some heart attacks are sudden and intense—the “movie heart attack,” where no one doubts what’s happening. But most heart attacks start slowly, with mild pain or discomfort. Often people affected aren’t sure what’s wrong and wait too long before getting help. Here are signs that can mean a heart attack is happening:
{ Chest discomfort } Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.
{ Discomfort in other areas of the upper body } Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
{ Shortness of breath } May occur with or without chest discomfort.
{ Other signs } These may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
Stroke Warning Signs
The American Stroke Association says these are the warning signs of stroke:
• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body.
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination.
• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause.
120/70
Do you understand what the numbers in your blood preasure mean?
The first number refers to your systolic blood pressure. Systolic is the maximum pressure, taken right after your heart pumps. The second number refers to your diastolic blood pressure. Diastolic is the lowest pressure you have, measured when your heart is relaxed.
If high blood pressure isn’t treated, your heart may have to work harder and harder to pump enough blood and oxygen to your body’s organs and tissues. A heart forced to work harder for a long time tends to enlarge and weaken. A slightly enlarged heart may work well, but one that’s enlarged a lot has a hard time doing its job.
High blood pressure also hurts arteries and arterioles, the very small arteries that connect larger arteries to the tiny capillaries. They eventually become scarred, hardened and less elastic. This may happen as you get older, but high blood pressure speeds up the process, probably because it damages the artery wall and speeds atherosclerosis.
Arterial damage is bad because hardened or narrowed arteries may not be able to supply enough blood to your body’s organs. And if your organs don’t get enough oxygen and nutrients, they can’t work properly. Another risk is that atherosclerotic plaques may rupture. Then a blood clot forms, shutting off normal blood supply to part of your body.
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CANCER 5 life-saving screening tests
|
SCREENING
| RECOMMENDATIONS*
| MAMMOGRAPHY
Breast Cancer
| Every year for women age 40 and older, in addition to an annual clinical breast exam. Beginning at age 20, women should have clinical breast exams about every three years. | PAP SMEAR
Cervical cancer
| Starting three years after a woman first has a vaginal intercourse of no later than 21. Yearly with standard Pap or every two years with liquid Pap. Every two to three years at age 30 if you have had three normal Paps in a row. | MANUAL EXAM & PSA BLOOD TEST
Prostate cancer
| For all men every year beginning at age 50. Aferican-American men and others at higher risk for prostate cancer should begin Prostate cancer annual screening at age 45. | COLONOSCOPY
Colorectal cancer
| At age 50, or earlier if you have other risk factors. The colonoscopy can find and remove polyps before they become cancerous. | ABCDE SKIN CHECK
Skin Cancer
| Self-check moles and spots monthly and see your doctor if you find changes in Asymmetry, Borders, Color, Diameter, and Evolution (or other changes). | | |
*Recommendations can vary depending upon your overall health and family history. Talk to your
doctor about what would be the best schedule for you.
Source: American Cancer Society | |
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Blood Line
Heart Attack, Strokes and Blood Pressure
The flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. The best way to prevent the flu is by getting a flu vaccination each fall.
Every year in the United States, on average 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu; more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications; and about 36,000 people die from the flu. Some people, such as older people, young children, and people with certain health conditions, are at high risk for serious flu complications.
Symptoms
- fever (usually high)
- headache
- extreme tiredness
- dry cough
- sore throat—runny or stuffy nose
- muscle aches
- Stomach symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, also can occur but are more common in children than adults
How Flu Spreads
Flu viruses spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing by people with influenza. Most healthy adults may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 5 days after becoming sick. That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick.
Preventing the Flu
The single best way to prevent the flu is to get a flu vaccination each fall. There are two types of vaccines:
- The “flu shot” — an inactivated vaccine (containing killed virus) that is given with a needle. The flu shot is approved for use in people 6 months of age and older, including healthy people and people with chronic medical conditions.
- The nasal-spray flu vaccine — a vaccine made with live, weakened flu viruses that do not cause the flu (sometimes called LAIV for “Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine”). LAIV is approved for use in healthy people 5 years to 49 years of age who are not pregnant.
About two weeks after vaccination, antibodies develop that protect against influenza virus infection. Flu vaccines will not protect against flu-like illnesses caused by non-influenza viruses.
When to Get Vaccinated
October or November is the best time to get vaccinated, but getting vaccinated in December or even later can still be beneficial since most influenza activity occurs in January or later in most years. Though it varies, flu season can last as late as May.
The flu vaccination is not for everyone. Please consult your physician for more information.
Source: www.cdc.gov
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October: National Breast Cancer Month
Significant progress in mammography technology continues to help physicians diagnose breast cancer in its earlier stages. When coupled with new treatment options, early diagnosis through mammography screening can significantly improve a woman’s chances of survival. That’s good news because in the United States more than 200,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer are diagnosed each year.
Mammography screening is the single most effective method of early detection. That’s why an annual mammogram is recommended for women over 40. A clinical breast examination by a health care professional should also be done on a regular basis. Additionally, women can take charge of their own breast health by understanding their personal risks of the disease, performing a breast self exam every month and reporting any breast change promptly to their health care provider.
Unfortunately, studies have indicated that a significant number of women over 40 years of age fail to get a mammogram, and of those who do, many never follow up with a second mammogram. Women cite a number of reasons for their nonparticipation, including lack of finances and lack of time. It is important that women know that there are resources available to help address these issues. For example, throughout the year, low-cost or free mammography screening is available to many women who are over 40 and underinsured or uninsured. Additionally, many mammography centers offer extended hours and some even provide child care for moms having mammograms.
In an effort to encourage women to have an annual mammography screening, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) sponsors recommend making every day National Mammography Day. Whether it means scheduling an appointment on a 40th birthday, or if it means reminding a friend to make an appointment, every step counts.
For information on low or no cost mammography screening, contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at 888-842-6355 or visit their website at www.cdc.gov. Women seeking mammograms at a reduced rate are urged to make their appointment early in the year, as space may be limited. To find a breast-imaging facility, contact the National Cancer Institute at 800-4-CANCER. For more information, visit www.nbcam.org.
