St. Francis Hospice appoints new clinical manager

INDIANAPOLIS – Connie L. Seigman-Jones, R.N., has been appointed clinical manager for Franciscan/St. Francis Hospice.

Seigman-Jones, who most recently served as patient care and clinical resource manager, earned her certification as a hospice and palliative care nurse earlier this year. She has been with St. Francis since 2006.

Before her hospice experience, she worked in St. Francis’ intensive care, emergency and surgery departments, and was a development coordinator/educator in an extended-care facility.

Seigman-Jones received her associate and bachelor degrees in nursing at the University of Indianapolis. She’s garnered recognition in her career as a nominee for the Indianapolis Star Spotlight on Nursing nominee; St. Francis Hospital Nurse of the Year (Clinical Excellence) and the hospital’s Family Spirit Award.

To learn more about services at St. Francis Hospice, go to www.stfrancishospitals.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=280.

St. Francis Hospital nurses lauded for going extra mile for their patients

BEECH GROVE, Ind. – Two nurses at Franciscan / St. Francis Hospital & Health have been praised by patients and peers for above-and-beyond the call in caregiving.

That’s why registered nurses Charity Basey and Amy Gillard at the hospital’s Beech Grove campus have been named the latest recipients of the hospital’s DAISY Awards.

Basey was caring for an out-of-town patient – whose spouse was serving in the U.S. military in Afghanistan – admitted for emergency surgery. During that time, Basey made repeated attempts to contact the spouse’s unit and commanding officer and seek his return.

Amy Gillard

“Charity was truly concerned with my well-being and tried everything imaginable to get him back in time,” the patient wrote in a letter to the hospital. “I will never forget her as she made a miserable time so much better for me and my family, and I will always be grateful to her.”

Gillard, who works in the emergency room, was credited for the help she rendered to the family of a seriously ill patient on a ventilator. That patient’s mother was unable to make it the hospital because of her own health issues and being unable to drive.

“Amy was getting off work and called the mother and asked if she could come to her home and bring her to the hospital so that she could be with her son,” a fellow nurse recalled. “That’s an exceptional example of the compassion.”

The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses is a national program that honors the compassionate care and clinical excellence that our St. Francis nurses bring to their patients every day.

The DAISY Award was established by the DAISY Foundation in memory of J. Patrick Barnes who died at 33 an auto-immune disease. His family was so impressed by the clinical skills, caring and compassion of the nurses who cared for him that they created this national award to say “thank you” to nurses everywhere. For more information, go to www.daisyfoundation.org.

To learn more about nursing careers and programs at St. Francis, go to www.stfrancishospitals.org/nursing.

Charity Basey

St. Francis Hospital selects new medical staff president

INDIANAPOLIS – Heidi M. Dunniway, M.D., has been elected president of the medical staff at Franciscan Alliance/St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers for a two-year term.

In that role, she will provide leadership on the clinical activities of physicians practicing at the hospital’s Indianapolis and Beech Grove campuses.

Dunniway, who is affiliated with Otolaryngology Associates of Indianapolis, is a member of the Indianapolis Medical Society’s board of directors and served as that organization’s president (2007-08). She is active in the Indiana State Medical Association and was elected vice speaker of that organization in September 2010.

A member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Dunniway completed her general surgery and otolaryngology residencies at Riverside Hospital and The Ohio State University, respectively, in Columbus.

A board-certified otolaryngologist, Dunniway earned her medical degree at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), where she also pursued graduate studies in biochemistry. She received her undergraduate degree in biochemistry at the University of Iowa.

St. Francis operates hospitals in Mooresville, Indianapolis and Beech Grove, and offers services at its Plainfield Health Center.

St. Francis, LifeBridge span need for assistance during holidays

BEECH GROVE, Ind. – Christmas just got a little brighter for more than 250 families with 625 children on Indianapolis’ south side.

Employees of Franciscan Alliance/St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers boosted their efforts again to help needy families assisted by LifeBridge Community through the annual Operation Bright Christmas program.

In its ninth year, the program serves families during the holidays, benefiting children who live in poverty in Beech Grove and on Indianapolis’ south side.

“It was a huge success with donations pouring in every day up to the Dec. 15 deadline,” said Julia Dearing, who coordinates the program at St. Francis. “We were able to provide each child with three or four gifts and winter apparel donated by various partner organizations.”

Donations included new toys, new or gently used infant clothing and items, wrapping paper, gift bags, tags, ribbon, batteries, DVDs or CDs, video and board games (“G” rating only), twin size bedding, gift cards in small denominations, faith-based items, and sports toys.

Adult family members joined LifeBridge and St. Francis employees at Clinton Young Elementary School Dec. 18 to wrap the gifts.

“They [adults] were so thrilled to have something for their children to open,” Dearing said.

LifeBridge Community is a faith-based ministry that seeks to instill hope in the lives of children, young adults and families through nurturing relationships and supportive services. More information about the organization is at www.lifebridge-community.org.BEECH GROVE, Ind. – Christmas just got a little brighter for more than 250 families with 625 children on Indianapolis’ south side.

Employees of Franciscan Alliance/St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers boosted their efforts again to help needy families assisted by LifeBridge Community through the annual Operation Bright Christmas program.

In its ninth year, the program serves families during the holidays, benefiting children who live in poverty in Beech Grove and on Indianapolis’ south side.

“It was a huge success with donations pouring in every day up to the Dec. 15 deadline,” said Julia Dearing, who coordinates the program at St. Francis. “We were able to provide each child with three or four gifts and winter apparel donated by various partner organizations.”

Donations included new toys, new or gently used infant clothing and items, wrapping paper, gift bags, tags, ribbon, batteries, DVDs or CDs, video and board games (“G” rating only), twin size bedding, gift cards in small denominations, faith-based items, and sports toys.

Adult family members joined LifeBridge and St. Francis employees at Clinton Young Elementary School Dec. 18 to wrap the gifts.

“They [adults] were so thrilled to have something for their children to open,” Dearing said.

LifeBridge Community is a faith-based ministry that seeks to instill hope in the lives of children, young adults and families through nurturing relationships and supportive services. More information about the organization is at www.lifebridge-community.org.

St. Francis Hospital strikes ‘silver’ in treating heart failure patients

INDIANAPOLIS – Franciscan Alliance/St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers has earned the Get With The Guidelines ® -- Heart Failure Silver Performance Award from the American Heart Association (AHA).

This means that St. Francis has reached an “aggressive goal” of treating heart failure patients with an 85 percent compliance rate to core standard levels of care outlined by the AHA/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines for heart failure patients.

The Guidelines program helps St. Francis’ staff develop and implement acute and secondary prevention guideline processes with quality measures such as care maps, discharge protocols, standing orders and measurement tools. Ultimately, AHA officials say, this improves quality of care to heart failure patients, saves lives and reduces health-care costs by lowering the recurrence of heart attacks.

To learn more about the services at the St. Francis Heart Center, go to http://myheartcare.net.