Heart Center classes can win their hearts and waistlines

INDIANAPOLIS – St. Francis Heart Center is offering a series of free “Change of Heart” classes for the public to learn new ways to be more heart healthy and introduce them to great lifelong habits.

Classes are taught by St. Francis dietitians and exercise specialists. Attendees receive free booklets for each class chock-full of hints, ideas and recipes.

The classes are 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and run from March 3 to May 27. Most are held at the St. Francis Heart Center, 8111 S. Emerson Ave., Entrance 1. March classes include:

Good Health Starts Here
March 3, St. Francis Heart Center
March 23, St. Francis Hospital—Mooresville, 1201 Hadley Road
Learn the basics about nutrition and how fats, carbs and protein affect your body. Other topics include the benefits of fiber and the importance of limiting salt in your diet.

Heart Smart Dining
March 10, St. Francis Heart Center
How many meals do you eat away from home? Here are some hints about making good choices at your favorite restaurants.

Cooking for Your Heart
March 25, St. Francis Heart Center
March 29, St. Francis Hospital—Mooresville, 1201 Hadley Road
Learn how changing just one or two ingredients in your favorite recipes can boost nutrition and cut fat, sodium and calories.

Creative Cuisine
March 31, St. Francis Heart Center
Surprise your family with new recipes that are fun to make and nutritious. Taste samples during the class.

Reduce Stress
March 9, April 7, May 13, St. Francis Heart Center
This three-session class goes in-depth on how to manage stress in your life and reduce its effects on your physical health. Attend one or all three! Classes are taught by James Nicolai, M.D.

Super Shopping
March 16, Kroger, 8850 S. Emerson Ave., Indianapolis
This class begins and ends in a local supermarket where our dietitian leads the tour through the aisles. Find new products and learn how to read food labels for nutritional information.

For more information about class offerings and services available at the St. Francis Heart Center, go to www.stfrancishospitals.org/heart.

St. Francis physician encourages colorectal cancer testing as first line of defense

INDIANAPOLIS – Colorectal cancer may not be on your short list of great conversation topics. But in the end, discussing how to screen for the disease with your family doctor could be a lifesaving decision.

That’s because testing can find precancerous growths, or polyps, which doctors can remove. And testing can detect cancer before any of is symptoms emerge.

“Colon cancer screening with colonoscopy is a safe, mostly painless, and potentially lifesaving procedure that should be performed on any person age 50 or older, regardless of whether or not they have symptoms or problems,” said Michael Morelli, M.D., director of the St. Francis Colorectal Center of Excellence. “This should be done at a younger age if there is a significant family history of colon polyps or cancer in the family especially first degree relatives.”

Screenings usually are not painful. In some cases, sedation may be given to make you more comfortable during the procedure. A gastroenterologist, a physician who specializes in diagnosing and treating problems of the digestive
system, or a specially trained colorectal surgeon should perform the tests.

Recent news reports have highlighted in-home stool testing kits that can be mailed to a lab for results. Morelli described these as “second-line recommendation to be used only for those who absolutely will not or cannot have a colonoscopy.”

He added that screening in any fashion is important, but emphasized that colonoscopy is the preferred method of screening.

March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. The American Cancer Society estimates that as many as 146,000 new cases will emerge in 2010.

“Tens of thousands of lives could be saved each year if every American were tested as recommended,” said Morelli.

For more information about colorectal cancer prevention, screening and treatment at St. Francis, call 317-782-7145, or visit www.StFrancisHospitals.org/cancer.

St. Francis Hospital COO goes on-line to chat about Indy campus project

INDIANAPOLIS – Even though the winter weather might conceal it, there is a flurry of construction activity at the St. Francis Hospital-Indianapolis campus. And the public soon will have the opportunity to learn more about what’s going on.

St. Francis Chief Operating Officer Keith Jewell will host a live blog chat from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, to answer questions about the ongoing construction project and what it means to the communities of south-central Indiana.

Jewell also will field questions about the possible future use of St. Francis Hospital-Beech Grove after medical services are consolidated at the Indianapolis campus in early 2012.

Those unable to participate in the chat session can e-mail questions in advance to the St. Francis Community Relations team by 10 a.m., March 2, at http://stfrancis-Indianapolis.blogspot.com.

This chat session is “real “conversation. For this reason participants should observe the same etiquette when participating in the chat session as they would in day-to-day conversation.

Those who would like to post comments should observe some simple conversational guidelines below. St. Francis reserves the right to delete comments it thinks may be offensive to the audience at large.

Visit the St. Francis Hospital-Indianapolis construction blog at http://stfrancis-Indianapolis.blogspot to post questions to Jewell.

St. Francis pharmacy manager honored as ‘Hero’ by Patient Safety Coalition

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis Patient Safety Coalition has recognized Alan Alfrey, pharmacy manager at St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville, for his software program that ensures proper and safe medications are provided to patients.

Alfrey received the Coalition’s Patient Safety Hero Award for developing and implementing the RxVerify software to prevent medication restocking errors.

The software uses the medication barcode to verify that pharmacy technicians properly restock medications in anesthesia and labor and delivery trays, medication kits, emergency drug boxes, and other specialty kits. The program also prevents restocking with medications that are expired or near expiration.

In the past, verifying that the right drug is in the right slot with the right concentration in hospital trays was done manually. Now, on-screen color coding and audio alerts indicate a match or mismatch.

This innovative application is used at St. Francis’ Mooresville, Indianapolis and Beech Grove hospitals.

St. Francis Chief Medical Officer Alan Gillespie, M.D. (left), congratulates Alan Alfrey on his Patient Safety Hero Award, honoring his development of an innovative pharmacy software.

St. Francis Cancer Research Foundation appoints new manager

INDIANAPOLIS – Kathryn LaPrees has been appointed manager of the St. Francis Cancer Research Foundation.

LaPrees, who has been at St. Francis since 2008, previously was research billing and contracts manager for the foundation. In her new role, she serves as department liaison for cancer investigators, coordinators, management, sponsors and the St. Francis Institutional Review Board.

A certified clinical research professional and pharmacy technician, LaPrees was a regulatory affairs project coordinator for a regional cancer research organization.

LaPrees earned a bachelor’s degree in health administration at Indiana University.

The St. Francis Cancer Research Foundation offers patients local participation in nearly 100 FDA-approved investigational trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and various pharmaceutical companies.

To learn more about the foundation and ongoing trials, go to http://stfrancishospitals.org/Cancer/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=95.