‘Emotional Eating’ support on menu at St. Francis Weight Loss Center

INDIANAPOLIS – Occasional “emotional eating” isn't a problem for most people. After all, that's what makes comfort food so appealing. But turning to food every time a person has unpleasant feelings – or even positive ones – can lead to weight gain.

The holidays provide additional opportunities and temptations for emotionally-charged eating, which is why the St. Francis Weight Loss Center will offer its six-week Emotional Eating Support Group beginning Nov. 15.

The Emotional Eating Support Group at the St. Francis Weight Loss Center is for anyone trying to lose weight and struggling with emotional overeating, also known as compulsive overeating or binge eating. This group offers support to patients struggling with emotional eating, or using food for reasons other than physical hunger and feeling unable to stop the behavior.

The latest session gets under way 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, with each session held Tuesdays at the St. Francis Weight Loss Center, 5230-A E. Stop 11 Road, across Stop 11 Road from the Franciscan St. Francis Health-Indianapolis campus. Cost is $60 for the six-week program.

The groups will be led by Cheryl A. Moore, LCSW, a therapist at the St. Francis Weight Loss Center. Moore has extensive experience providing individual, couples, family and group therapy to patients with eating, mental health, addiction and PTSD issues.

There is a fee for those registering for the program. Call 317-528-7525 or visit StFrancisHospitals.org/weightloss for additional information.

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

BEECH GROVE, Ind. – Two registered nurses at Franciscan St. Francis Health have been praised by patients and peers for above-and-beyond the call in care-giving.

Registered nurses Margie Hensley and Heather Sebastiani have been named recent recipients of the hospital’s DAISY Awards.

The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses is a national program that honors the compassionate care and clinical excellence. Franciscan St. Francis localized the program in 2010 to recognize its nurses for their achievements.

Hensley, who works in the the adult inpatient rehabilitation unit, was nominated for work with a patient and his family. Spending a lot of time with the patient and family, she got him comfortable and settled allowing the patient to one of the most peaceful nights he had his entire visit.

“Margie went more than the extra mile to support her patient,” said a co-worker. “Margie always provides tender, gentle and compassionate care.”

Sebastiani was caring for a congestive heart failure patient at the Indianapolis hospital, helping both the patient and her spouse through the ordeal and to understand terms and medicines.

“Heather is a wonderful nurse and truly care about her patient,” wrote the patient who nominated her for the award. “Heather is awesome. She truly cared for me and took wonderful care of me.”

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 Franciscan St. Francis, go to www.stfrancishospitals.org/nursing.

St. Francis Health surgeon explains orthopedic therapies Nov. 9

GREENWOOD, Ind. – You can overcome hip and knee pain and get back to leading an active and rewarding life — and Franciscan St. Francis Health wants to show you how.

Franciscan St. Francis Health will present an arthritis and hip and knee replacement seminar at 6:30 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Nov. 9, at Jonathan Byrd’s, 100 Byrd Way, Greenwood. Light refreshments will be served, beginning at 6 p.m.

Michael E. Berend, M.D., will explain the latest procedures in joint replacement and arthritis treatments. He is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in adult reconstructive surgery and joint replacement.

Berend is a surgeon with Joint Replacement Surgeons, a practice group affiliated with the Center for Hip & Knee Surgery at Franciscan St. Francis Health–Mooresville.

The Center has been ranked No. 1 in Indiana for joint surgery five years in a row by HealthGrades, one of the nation’s premier health care rating companies.

To register for this seminar, call toll-free at 1-877-888-1777. Or register online at http://www.stfrancishospitals.org/Ortho/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=39.

More information about the Center for Hip & Knee Surgery is at www.centerforhipandkneesurgery.org

Medical honor society welcomes St. Francis Health surgeon into its fold

INDIANAPOLIS – Bridget Sanders, M.D., a member of St. Francis Medical Group, has been elected to membership into the Indiana chapter of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.

A colorectal cancer surgeon with Kendrick Colon and Rectal Center, Sanders will be inducted into the group at a ceremony and banquet at the Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis next spring. She was nominated by members of the Indiana chapter.

Sanders joined the Kendrick practice in 2005. She specializes in the treatment of pelvic floor disorders, as well as laparoscopic colon and rectal surgery. She treats patients at Franciscan St. Francis Health hospitals in Indianapolis, Beech Grove and Mooresville.

Certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, she is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.

Sanders earned her medical degree at the IU School of Medicine where she later completed a surgical residency. Following the residency, she completed a colon and rectal surgery fellowship at Cleveland clinic before joining Kendrick.

Heart tests guide your family doc, cardiologist to appropriate treatments

INDIANAPOLIS – So what does an EKG, stress test, echocardiogram, cardiac CT scan or MRI reveal to doctors? Plenty or sometimes nothing at all.

Cardiac tests might be ordered by a family physician or cardiologist to check heart function and allow them to develop the best course of therapy for patients.

The public has the opportunity to learn what these tests mean at a Franciscan St. Francis Heart Center-sponsored seminar led by cardiologist Sree Paleru, M.D., of St. Francis Medical Group Indiana Heart Physicians.

The class, which is free to the public, begins at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 13 at the Heart Center, 8111 S. Emerson Ave.

To register, call 317-782-4422 or register on-line at MyHeartCare.net and click on the “education” link.

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