St. Francis Hospital to open Breast Clinic Feb. 3

INDIANAPOLIS – The Breast Cancer Center of Excellence at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers will soon see patients in a new multidisciplinary clinic.

The Breast Clinic allows patients to be evaluated in one visit by physicians in specialties such as breast and reconstructive surgery, medical oncology and radiation oncology. These physicians also will consult with radiologists and pathologists to evaluate imaging exams, biopsies and surgical pathology reports.

“The goal of the breast clinic is to provide an easily accessible and streamlined avenue for evaluating patients with suspicious exam results or symptoms and, if necessary, develop a concise treatment plan for patients diagnosed with breast cancer,” said Kent Brumbaugh, executive director of St. Francis Cancer Center.

The clinic, which opens February 3, will be located at the offices of Denise Johnson Miller, M.D., director of the St. Francis Breast Surgery Program at 5255 E. Stop 11 Rd, Suite 250, and is open Wednesdays from 8 to 11:30 a.m. for scheduled appointments.

Nurse navigator Janice Leak, M.S.N., will coordinate patients’ schedules and consult with physicians to develop treatment plans. Patients and families seen in the clinic are an important part of developing an individual plan of care during their visit.

For scheduling information, contact Leak at 317-782-6704, or via e-mail at Janice.Leak @ssfhs.org.

More information about the St. Francis Cancer Center is at www.stfrancishospitals.org/cancer.

St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville opens Emergency Department Oct. 1

Hospital meets a critical need for residents in Mooresville and the surrounding areas

MOORESVILLE, Ind. – Whether it’s a sick child in the middle of the night, a serious sports injury or a sudden severe health issue, it’s important that high-quality emergency care is available nearby.

For residents in Mooresville and the surrounding areas, that service is now offered at the St. Francis Hospital – Mooresville Emergency Department, open Wednesday, at 8 a.m. Oct. 1.

The new Emergency Department is located near the campus’ main entrance at 1201 Hadley Road, adjacent to the hospital’s PromptMed urgent care facility, which treats about 20,000 patients a year.

The Emergency Department is staffed by 22 board-certified emergency physicians from Emergency Physicians of Indianapolis, several specialty physicians, three in-house hospitalists who facilitate patient admissions, and nurses trained in acute care and trauma situations. The new department features state-of-the-art equipment and includes 14 treatment rooms, two acute care rooms and a community room for emergency medical services professionals.

Emergency Department physicians and medical staff have access to wireless communication technology and bedside charting for improved caregiver communication and efficiency. The department is conveniently located near Radiology Services and the Intensive Care Unit.

The new Emergency Department also is an access point for St. Francis’ renowned Emergency Heart Attack Response Team (EHART) approach to cardiac care. The more quickly a patient showing signs of a heart attack is admitted into the hospital’s cardiac catheterization lab for treatment, the better the chances are for survival. EHART dramatically improves the hospital’s door-to- intervention time, which can mean a significant improvement in heart attack outcomes.

The opening of the Emergency Department is perhaps the community’s most highly anticipated element of the hospital’s recent $42 million expansion. In April of this year, the hospital opened:

• A new 34-bed orthopaedic inpatient unit;
• A 26-bed adult medical-surgical inpatient unit;
• An eight-bed Intensive Care Unit;
• Six new operating rooms with the latest in surgical technology, including a high-tech video and photography system in every operating room and laminar airflow and ultraviolet light technology for sterilization, which is critical in preventing infection;
• A new laboratory;
• An on-site office for Indiana Heart Physicians for expanded cardiac services; and
• An expanded main lobby gallery, which offers a coffee bar and gift shop.

With the expansion, the hospital grew from 258,000 square feet to nearly 400,000 square feet.

“The opening of the Emergency Department, which completes our recent major expansion, is the continuation of an eight-year investment in this hospital to address the health care needs of the growing northern Morgan, Hendricks and southwestern Marion counties,” said Robert J. Brody, president and chief executive officer, St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers. “It is our goal and mission to offer the best health care available right in this community, so the large number of area residents who have been leaving Morgan County to receive medical services get the care they need close to home.”

The Emergency Department is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. PromptMed hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

‘Medical and SurgicalWeight Loss’ information session scheduled in Lafayette

Lafayette, Ind. -- Physicians and staff representatives from the St. Francis Weight Loss Center will present two community education programs on “Medical and Surgical Weight Loss” on Wednesday, June 18, at St. Elizabeth's Katherine Weil Education Center.

The first session will start at noon and include lunch. The evening session will start at 6:30 p.m.

The St. Francis Weight Loss Center, located on the south side of Indianapolis, provides surgical and physician-monitored weight loss solutions, including Sleeve Gastrectomy, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery and Lap-Band surgery and fills, as well as nutrition and behavioral counseling.

Since 2002, the center and its staff have helped more than 1,000 Hoosiers achieve a healthier weight and life through its weight management services.

The St. Francis Weight Loss Center was named a Center of Excellence by the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery in 2007. This recognizes the safety, efficiency and overall positive surgical results of the bariatric surgical program at St. Francis. The ASMBS Center of Excellence designation is awarded to surgical programs with a demonstrated track record of favorable outcomes in bariatric surgery.

For more information on the services, please visit www.stfrancishospitals.org/weightloss.

The program will be held at the Kathryn Weil Center for Education located inside the Medical Arts Building at 415 N. 26th St., Suite 400 in Lafayette. For your convenience, reserved parking will be available on the second level of the Home Hospital parking garage.

These programs are free, but registration is required. To register or for more information, call the Kathryn Weil Center for Education at (765) 449-5133.

Surgeons on deck to see patients at St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville

MOORESVILLE, Ind. – Indy Southside Surgical will soon move into a new office suite at St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville.

The office will be opened Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will serve as the primary office for Mark Edwards, M.D.; David Mandelbaum, M.D.; and Mathew Libke, M.D., will see patients there part-time. They will be located in the Professional Center at the hospital, 1203 Hadley Rd., Mooresville.

The general surgeons perform digestive tract, colon and rectum, breast and gall bladder procedures. Also, they remove skin and subcutaneous lesions and repair all types of hernias. Many of the procedures are minimally invasive, using laparoscopic techniques.

Plans call for the surgeons to begin seeing patients in Mooresville in late February.

The new surgical practice comes at a time as the Mooresville hospital nears completion of a $42 million expansion. The project is expected to be completed in mid-April and includes more private patient rooms, new surgery suites, an intensive care unit and expanded laboratory services.

The Mooresville hospital also will offer a new emergency department and a new medical office building for the Center for Hip & Knee Surgery, scheduled for opening in the second half of 2008.

Indy Southside Surgical also maintains an office on the St. Francis Hospital-Indianapolis campus at 5255 E. Stop 11 Rd., Suite 450.

RN selected manager of St. Francis Hospital post-surgical unit

INDIANAPOLIS – Lisa K. Peters, R.N., has been appointed manager of the post-surgical unit at St. Francis Hospital-Beech Grove.

She comes to St. Francis from Indiana University Hospital where she was clinical manager of a multi-specialty unit and seizure unit. Peters held a variety of other roles at the IU medical facility including managing the pre-operative and post-operative recovery units and nursing resource pool.

Peters, a resident of Greenwood, Ind., earned a master’s in nursing administration and bachelor’s of science in nursing from IU.

A former adjunct faculty member of the IU School of Nursing, she is board-certified in nursing administration by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

###

‘Sleeve’ procedure offers unique option in weight-loss surgery

INDIANAPOLIS – Some patients seeking a surgical solution to weight loss have another alternative to consider now offered at the St. Francis Weight Loss Center.

It’s called the sleeve gastrectomy, an operation that removes part of the stomach and resizes it roughly to the shape and size of a banana. The smaller stomach helps patients become full faster when eating and decreases the appetite sensation.

“The sleeve gastrectomy doesn’t involve rerouting or reconnecting of intestines and is a simpler procedure than the gastric bypass or the duodenal switch,” said Jonathan Mandelbaum, M.D., the center’s surgical co-director. “Unlike the Lap-Band, the sleeve gastroectomy doesn’t require implanting an artificial device inside the abdomen.”

Sleeve gastretcomies are recognized as a first and single procedure for weight loss because it can achieve more than 50 percent excess weight loss in as little as 18 months.

For certain patients, in particular those with a body mass index greater than 60, the sleeve gastrectomy may be the first part of a two-stage operation. Patients may safely lose up to 100 to 150 pounds in a six-to-12 month period, at which point the weight loss may plateau and other procedures become less risky.

Both stages of the surgery can be performed laparoscopically – minimally invasive surgery – and offers the advantages of shorter recovery time, shorter incisions, and fewer incision-related problems and less pain.

Within one to two years after a sleeve gastrectomy, patients in medical studies have shown resolution for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and sleep apnea.

St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers is a nationally recognized as a Center of Excellence for bariatric surgery by the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery. This honor recognizes quality surgical programs around the country.

More information about the St. Francis Weight Loss Center and surgical procedures is at www.stfrancishospitals.org/Weightloss.