More than 400 participate in annual Spirit of Women Day of Dance for heart health

Indiana First Lady Cheri Daniels dances the Merengue with Mark Smith, owner of Dance Master Studio. Daniels kicked off the Spirit of Women Day of Dance on Saturday, Feb. 23.

INDIANAPOLIS – Some made it a girls’ day out. Others came alone. While some moms shared the experience with their daughters. More than 400 participants learned the latest dance moves and embraced new ways to get heart-healthy during St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers’ annual Spirit of Women Day of Dance.

The event was held Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Greenwood Municipal Airport to accommodate the largest crowd ever for the event, now in its fifth year.

Indiana First Lady Cheri Daniels kicked off day with a proclamation from Gov. Mitch Daniels, naming the day “Day of Dance.” Cheri Daniels and Marc Gerdisch, M.D., a cardiothoracic surgeon with the St. Francis Heart Center, teamed up with instructors from Dance Master Studio for the first dance – the Merengue. Soon after, participants filled the dance floor to learn dances such as the Merengue, belly dancing, hip hop, party dancing and the latest fitness craze, Zumba.

Although the event, which promotes exercise and healthy living, was targeted to women, men also came to join in on the fun. Along with the dancing, several participants won door prizes from local sponsors.

“This year, participants came out in record numbers to spend the day having fun and learning new ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle,” said Michele Wood, manager of St. Francis’ Spirit of Women program. “The great turnout shows more and more people are seeking ways to improve their overall health. What better way to have fun and stay fit than through dance?”

More than 100 hospitals across the country sponsored Day of Dance in February as part of Spirit of Women, an elite network of hospitals nationwide committed to caring for women. The goal of the event is to offer an exciting and interactive way to get people moving through exercise that is creative, expressive and fun.

St. Francis, Plainfield Chamber open doors for ‘Business After Hours’

PLAINFIELD, Ind. – The St. Francis Occupational Health Center will host health screenings and tours of the medical facility in coordination with the Plainfield Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours program Feb. 28

The event will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the St. Francis Plainfield Health Center, 315 Dan Jones Rd. Door prizes and refreshments also are on tap for visitors.

Chamber members and guests can take advantage of free blood pressure and bone density screenings and experience the stress-reducing benefits of the New Reality Visualization & Relaxation station.

Tours of the facility will give visitors an inside look at a modern physical therapy area, advanced digital mammography technology and other services offered at the medical facility.

The Occupational Health Center provides a wide range of services to the community, including pre-employment and Department of Transportation physicals, drug screening and medical processing and exams for new immigrants.

Opened in 2006, the St. Francis Plainfield Health Center also houses offices for physicians specializing in primary care, obstetrics and gynecology, podiatry, gastroenterology and hepatology. The facility also offers laboratory services.

More information about the St. Francis Plainfield Health Center can be found at www.stfrancishospitals.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=69.

RN selected to manage St. Francis Heart Center progressive care unit

INDIANAPOLIS – Hollynn A. Lobsiger, R.N., has been appointed manager of the progressive care unit at the Heart Center at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers.

From 2006 until her appointment, Lobsiger served in cardiac surgery progressive care unit at St. Francis Hospital-Indianapolis. She had several responsibilities, including that of patient care coordinator, charge nurse and preceptor.

Before coming to St. Francis, she served in the cardiac medical intensive care unit at University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison.

An honors graduate of Ivy Tech State College where she earned an associate degree in nursing, Lobsiger, an Indianapolis resident, is a member of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses and was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society in 2000.

St. Francis, iSALUS healthcare partner to improve discharge process for heart patients

INDIANAPOLIS – St. Francis Heart Center and iSALUS healthcare™ have successfully partnered on a unique Discharge Module that helps nurses and doctors more easily coordinate medicines and other discharge needs for cardiac patients leaving the hospital, reducing paperwork time, providing patient education and improving recovery time.

The Web-based Discharge Module allows physicians and nurses to review medicines the patient was taking before entering the hospital, did take while in the hospital and will need after leaving the hospital. Traditionally, this process is time-intensive and involves health care professionals either reviewing documents in a paper chart or logging into multiple software programs to create discharge medication, education and recovery plans for each patient.

This first-of-its kind service provides all of the information in one software program as a service application. Since it is also Web-based, health-care professionals caring for the patient can securely access the information from any computer with Internet access instead of only those that may be connected to a specific computer network.

It also allows the specialists who treated the patient in the hospital to electronically share this information via a secured Internet connection with the patient’s primary care physician instead of sending it by mail, fax or with the patient.

“We’re excited about this new service iSALUS developed for us because it allows our nurses to spend more time with the patient instead of on paperwork,” said Michael Hertel, executive director, St. Francis Heart Center. “It also allows the attending physicians to securely review the medication and other discharge plans from almost anywhere they might be – which in some cases means patients may be able to go home sooner.”

While more physician practices, clinics and hospitals are adopting electronic medical records, this is the first solution to bridge the gap between inpatient and office-based medical record information systems using the Web. Most hospitals and physicians have separate systems that require login into multiple software tools.

“This is a bold model that could help transform the way a patient’s care is coordinated in and out of the hospital,” said Mark Day, CEO, iSALUS healthcare. “The leaders at St. Francis and their physician colleagues are truly visionary because they saw an opportunity to improve the discharge process for cardiac patients. This is just one of many places in the health care system where different healthcare professionals need secure access to a patient’s information. This service bridges a gap between hospital systems and electronic medical records in physician offices and we look forward to making this available to other hospital systems across the country.”

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.