Saving lives in the church congregation!

I would like to share with you an amazing story from a faith community nurse that really emphasizes the difference a faith community nurse can make in a congregation.

Here is her account:

“Several Sundays ago I was sitting in my official parish nurse pew, when a congregant came rushing into the service, up the aisle and grabbed me by the shoulder. She whispered in my ear.. 'Quick, I need help in the parking lot!' As we left the sanctuary I realized I had nothing with me... No watch, no phone, no blood pressure equipment and I was not sure what I was walking into. Because I had worked with this woman and her husband I knew he had a cardiac history. So, as we rushed passed a minister I said 'please call 911 and have an ambulance sent. I want no sirens.' I figured I could always call and cancel the ambulance but I had a gut feeling that we were walking into a bad situation. I made it to the car in the lot to find a disoriented man babbling on about double vision. I could counted a rapid thready pulse and observed that he was more pale than usual. I assessed for signs and symptoms of a stroke. He was not outwardly demonstrating any signs other than double vision and flat affect. Our other nurse and a paramedic met me in the parking lot. They brought all the necessary equipment AED, blood pressure cuff and phone. The firemen arrived and assessed the man and we agreed he needed to get to a hospital. Final diagnosis.. brain stem stroke! He was in church this Sunday to tell the story! He does remember me talking to him and having trouble with his vision but nothing else. He has a slight hitch in his gait but NO other residual. The doctor says this was amazing and credited his recovery to rapid medical response. Because the other nurse and myself see him in our blood pressure clinic each month, we had the knowledge to project forward and anticipate what could possibly be his problem, even without overt symptoms. The faith community nurse program is a valuable asset to the community.”

Not every faith community nurse will have an experience like this but every one is making a difference in the lives of the people in their congregations and the community. They do this by taking blood pressures, visiting with home bound members, those recently discharged from the hospital, holding the hands of those who are grieving over the loss of a loved one or a member who has just received a diagnosis of a terminal illness. Faith Community nurses are there for all the stages of life.

Faith Community nurses are knowledgeable, caring and able to advice and direct individuals to appropriate health care facilities. They also offer spiritual, emotional, and physical support, if they don’t have the answer, they will pursue the question until they get answers.

If every faith community had a faith community nurse we would indeed see health care reform , because we would be tending body, mind and spirit.

For more information on faith community nursing, please click here

- Paulette Golden, RN, community health manager and faith community nurse coordinator

Emotional Eating and How to Gain Control Over It

First of all, what is it emotional eating?
Emotional eating can be defined as eating in response to feelings rather than to true hunger.

Emotional eating is common in our society. We eat to celebrate, we eat to mourn, we eat when we are tired, happy, sad, anxious and often, when we are bored.

So, what is the solution?

The first step is to determine what causes the triggers of your emotional eating.

Stress is a frequent trigger for out of control eating. If you know you tend to overeat when you are stressed then you can plan for it. Learn from your past experiences. Plan to have healthy snacks available during these stressful times.

Maintaining a balanced diet and healthy life style is a great defense against emotional eating. If you always eat breakfast then you will have the energy and reserves to tackle your job demands. Munching on your favorite comfort food can make you feel better physically and relieve the stress that you are feeling temporarily. If you skip breakfast, then become too hungry during the day, your body will go into survival mode and your food choices may not be as wise as when you have planned ahead.

Another great defense against emotional eating is physical activity. Taking a walk (outside if the weather allows) will help to relieve some stress and get you out of the environment of eating. Exercise can also improve your mood and give you more energy. (This is what emotional eating may be trying to do).

Maybe a specific food or situation is the trigger for your eating. If you identify a certain food that gives you problems, then don’t have that food around. If possible, avoid places where that food is available. Unfortunately you can’t always do this.

One of my favorite solutions (to many different types of nutrition related questions, not just emotional eating) is to keep a food diary. (Yes, I can hear you moaning). Food journals may seem tedious but with just a little work and planning they can provide insight and solutions that, normally, are not obvious. Food journals are great tools. They can be very simple. Keep a record of what you eat, when you eat it, and how you are feeling at that time.

After a few days, your answer may be obvious.

- Jaime Bass, RD, dietitian for the Bariatric Program at Texas Health Fort Worth

What do the airline industry and health care have in common?

There’s a short video making the rounds that compares health care to the airline industry, looking at data and information sharing. Click here to watch this short video:

It’s humorous, and worth watching. Sadly, it’s also very true. In this time of extreme high-tech capabilities, the ability of health care workers to access or share information about a patient continues to be sorely lacking. Does it matter? Yes it does and it is something our hospitals are working on fixing for you the patient. A few short examples below are scenarios that can be resolved through a meaningful use of the electronic health record and hospitals who are focused on improving coordination of care:

1. A female patient enters your emergency department with abdominal pain. She notes that the symptoms are similar to a spell she had six weeks ago, while she was visiting her mom out of town. At that time, she went to the urgi-center and underwent numerous xrays and blood tests, and was told that she could go home. You, the doctor, cannot access those records, since the urgi-center only uses paper charts. As a result, you will need to perform studies that are potentially unnecessary.

2. A man enters your emergency room after a motor vehicle accident that had occurred the prior day. He had gone to another hospital and underwent numerous CT scans. Now, due to persistent discomfort, he has come to your hospital for a “second opinion.” Your electronic record does not “talk” to the electronic record at the other hospital, so you cannot access the results of the CT scans. Your next step, after your physical exam of the patient, is to duplicate the studies.

3. An elderly patient is admitted with pneumonia. You order a pneumococcal vaccination. Since you cannot access the patient’s office records, you don’t realize that he received the vaccination only four weeks ago.

Cost, excess radiation exposure, pain and suffering, wasted time, delayed diagnoses…yep, it matters. That is one reason our hospital is working to make health care more human again and reducing the pain, waiting and improving coordination of care for our patients.

Hopefully, the national focus on the meaningful use of electronic medical records will reduce the likelihood that the scenarios suggested above will perpetuate into the distant future. It’s about time we got serious over this issue. I hope we have the willpower and the backbone, as a society, to seize the electronic data sharing opportunity and use it to improve the lives in the communities we serve.

- Dr. Joe Prosser, chief quality officer

Welcome to Harrisville!

Some people call Texas Health Fort Worth Harris Hospital a small town since its grown so much. Along with this hospital growth, so do the opportunities for you to explore while you’re here. Click HERE for a map to “Harrisville,” population 4,023 (number of employees) who are here to serve you. Listed below are some places to consider the next time you’re “passing through” our town.

As a town, our picturesque park would be the Morris Meditation Garden. It’s a beautiful place to get away without having to. The park entrance is by the Heart Center entrance. Open every day during daytime hours.

As a town, our family diner is the brand new Cramer Café which offers something for everyone and it’s no “greasy spoon.” Fresh sandwiches, salad bar, Italian, hamburgers, taco bar, soups, and more. The café is located by the Bloxom Tower with the main serving hours between 7:00 AM – 8:00 PM.

Our local place of worship is highlighted by the Castleberry Memorial Chapel. From the Richardson Tower elevator go to the Plaza Level and behind the elevator is the chapel’s entrance.

Our newly renovated library is here to help with medical research and offers internet access. Go up the escalator from the ground floor of the Harris Tower. Keep veering right past the elevator. Open daily Monday – Friday, 817-250-3191.

No town is complete without a general store. The 5th Avenue Gift Shop offers flowers, magazines, gifts, and snacks and is located on the Ground Level of the Richardson Tower. Open daily with a smile, 817-250-3024.

Our “town square” is in the Klabzuba tower, the separate building just a few steps south of our Emergency Department which offers numerous opportunities to improve your health on the ground floor:
• The Cancer Resource Library & Consumer Health Information Center has a large selection of books to consider along with internet access.
• The Healing Arts Center offers 4 types of massages, clinical aromatherapy, and reflexology. 817-820-4839
• Cancer Boutique and Resource Center helps cancer survivors with many specific needs. 817-820-4861

Parking can be an issue for any town so if you’re planning on staying a few days, Standard Parking Company located on the ground floor of the Harris Professional Center offers discounted parking tickets for the visitor’s garages, 5 tickets for $10.00, 817-250-7885.

Our “bank” (which means ATM machines) are located in the Jones Tower lobby by the west entrance doors and also in the Emergency Department lobby.

These are just a few things to see in our “town.” Like any town, what makes it special are the people who are here to welcome you during your stay.

- Craig Pomykal, patient advocate

Meet Mr. Nichols

Mr. Michael Nichols, senior vice president of Freese and Nichols, was making one of many bi-monthly trips to the company’s corporate office in Fort Worth, Texas. Since he’d been trying to get back in shape, he thought it would be a good idea to visit the Executive Health Program at Texas Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth while in town.

He knew he needed to make some changes in his diet, so he decided to end his habit of drinking Mountain Dew two months before his appointment. Boy, did that decision change his life!! After going through the first screening, Mr. Nichols returned for a second appointment and doctors discovered he had a very low heart rate. The caffeine he had been drinking made it appear that he had a normal heart rate.

After learning of his naturally low heart rate, Mr. Nichols was immediately referred to a cardiologist and within 30 minutes had made the decision to have a pacemaker implanted. He had this done only three days later!!! Thanks to Texas Health Fort Worth’s Executive Health Program, he has returned to his home in Austin, Texas and has returned to his normal life (now a healthier life) with his family and friends!

- Nikki Hall-Branch and the staff at the Executive Health Program

Out with the Old…Rejuvenate with the New!

Cleaning Out the Kitchen

It’s a New Year…time for a new, fresh and healthy you! This year as you clean out the closet, pack up the holiday decorations and clean your house, don’t forget to clean out your kitchen and replace old foods with new, fresh, whole foods that are nutrient-rich. Nutrient rich foods are those that have more vitamins, minerals and nutrients per bite.

So where do you start? Let’s start with the pantry. Throw away canned foods, vegetables and fruits that are out of date or are loaded with sodium and sugar. Replace with fresh or frozen vegetables that are less processed and thus higher in fiber. Next, throw out all the open bags of chips and snack foods. Replace these snacks with 100% whole wheat crackers and pretzels, nuts and dried fruit. Finally take a look at your cereal selection. Do you have boxes of rainbow-colored or frosted cereals? If so, throw those away and replace with whole grain cereals like Kashi®, All Bran®, Total® and Wheaties®. Also, make sure to add some hot cereal like oatmeal to your morning ritual. Oatmeal is full of fiber and B vitamins which is a nutrient-rich breakfast choice!

Next take a look at the refrigerator. Start by removing all foods that are out of date. Take a look at your dairy selection. Do you have choices like low-fat milk, 2% cheese and yogurt? Dairy foods are rich in calcium, potassium and a great source of protein. Throw out your sugary yogurts and try low-fat Greek yogurt; it is much higher in protein and has no added sugar. Next look at your snack choices. If your refrigerator and freezer are full of pudding, ice cream and frozen desserts, replace them with fresh fruit, 100% fruit bars and yogurt smoothies. The replacement choices are full of vitamins and minerals. Finally make sure your refrigerator has a rainbow of vegetable colors. Vegetables are great snacks with hummus or avocado which can quickly be mixed in salads or casseroles or added to sandwiches and wraps.

It is important that you don’t waste food. If you have unopened, non-perishable goods, consider donating them to a local food pantry. Make a New Year’s resolution to rejuvenate your kitchen with fresh, nutrient-rich foods!

If you have a question for the dietitian, visit www.texashealth.org/askamy

Amy Goodson, MS, RD, CSSD, LD
Registered Dietitian
Ben Hogan Sports Therapy Institute
Executive Health Program

RSV-three very scary letters for parents of premature infants.

What is RSV?
RSV stands for respiratory syncitial virus. It is a very common virus in the community from November through March of every year. In most people, infection with RSV results in annoying, but not life-threatening cold. In infants and small children, especially those who were born prematurely, infection with RSV can be much more serious.
Is RSV different in premies?
When RSV infects a premature infant, the virus has a tendency to settle in the small air passages in the lungs called bronchioles. The result is bronchiolitis, characterized by lots of swelling and mucous production in the air passages. This inflammatory process can cause severe coughing, wheezing, and trouble breathing. In infants in the first few months of life, RSV can also cause apnea or cessation of breathing. This is an extremely serious complication that can result in death if not detected.
What can you do to protect yourself and your family?
As with most viruses that cause colds and coughs, RSV is found in nasal secretions. It is easily spread from person to person. When an infected person coughs or sneezes, they send virus containing droplets into the air. These droplets can infect others if they are inhaled or come in contact with the mouth, nose, or eyes. Transmission can also result from direct contact with nasal secretions, kissing the face of a child with RSV for example; or indirect contact with the virus on an environmental surface like a doorknob. If an uninfected person touches the doorknob, then rubs his eyes or nose, he can easily become infected.
How can RSV be prevented?
There is no effective vaccine to prevent RSV, but there are some simple, cheap, and effective ways that people with cold symptoms can keep from spreading RSV.
1. Cover your mouth and nose when you cough
2. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for 15-20 seconds.
3. Avoid sharing cups and eating utensils with others
4. Refrain from kissing others when you have cold-like symptoms
Frequent cleaning of contaminated surfaces like doorknobs, computer keyboards and telephone handsets can also reduce transmission.
There is a drug call palivizumab (Synagis) that can help prevent severe RSV infection in those at highest risk for complication including very premature babies, babies with serious heart disease, children with weakened immune systems. Palivizumab consists of antibodies against the RSV virus. It is given as a shot once a month during RSV season. Your health care provider can tell you if your child would benefit from this drug.

- Dr. Fran Lynch, MD, Neonatologist

MRI help...

Hi Yvonne,

Saw your comment and thought I would give you my personal email and I would help navigate your journey.

Please email me at: whitneyjodry@texashealth.org

I would be happy to help you and get your questions answered.

Sorry for your troubles.

- Whitney Jodry

Brand New Hospital in North Tarrant County!

Live in or near North Tarrant County? If so, listen up! Texas Health Resources has purchased land at I-35W and Golden Triangle Boulevard with plans to build a full-service hospital.

If you live in or near this area, you know how fast this area. You may also be familiar with how long it takes to get to the nearest hospital. On a good day with limited traffic, it might take 20 minutes to get to a hospital. If you have a loved one in a hospital in downtown Fort Worth, it might take 45 minutes to an hour with traffic!

So, this new hospital will not only be convenient but also provide inpatient and outpatient services close to home.

You may wonder what services are coming to the new hospital? Well, Texas Health is currently in the early designing and planning stages of the hospital, which will include an emergency room, outpatient and surgical services, physician offices and acute-care inpatient beds.

We do anticipate having a groundbreaking for the new hospital in the fall of 2010, with hopes to begin offering services in late 2011. We anticipate the entire hospital will be completed in late 2012.

For more information about the north Tarrant County project, please visit www.texashealth.org/northtarrant

Understood Brushstrokes

For the past few weeks I have been painting a mural at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Ft. Worth. It has been far more of a blessing than I had ever expected. The nurses, doctors and chaplains are all so supportive and cheering me on, but the most wonderful part of this experience are the people I have been meeting. They are the families of patients who are going through some of the hardest transitions we all have to go through at some point in life.

Yesterday, as my shoulder was about to give out, one of the nurses wheeled a patient into the small dining room where I was painting. He was a feeble man who was obviously frustrated that he could not communicate verbally what turned out to possibly be one of his last requests. He waved his arms around to show what he wanted until one of his family understood. He wanted to paint.

This man had once been an artist of many southwestern paintings and he just wanted to stroke the brush one last time. So we put some paint on a a paper plate, the nurse grabbed several blank sheets of paper and I gave him one of my brushes.

What a sacred moment for all of us...a memory none of us will soon forget. His shaky hands could barely hold the brush, but he painted as far as he could go. Then he lowered his head from weakness and pain and let the brush drop.

I don't know how long that man's heart will continue to beat on this earth, but he certainly made an impression on my artistic motives. Art is a God-given, God -driven language that anyone can understand. He understood my art and I understood his.

One eternal day, we will paint together with all the other God-loving artists in a studio built by Jesus Himself. Our hands won't be shaky and our shoulders won't ache.
Until then, I will remember that man and humbly paint what God inspires in my heart.

- Karen Kennedy-Chatham
Local Artist

Reflecting in the New Year!

Each New Year brings an opportunity for reflection and visioning, looking back and anticipating what might be ahead. Through the mind’s functioning we are able to remember past events and through the presence of the spirit we can hope for the future. Both are important because through past events one can learn and through hope one can envision and strive for newness. Yet it is in the present that each person has life, and breath, and being. So as this year begins may you be in the moment, aware that every breath is a gift of life.

Taking time to pray or meditate each day is one way to be centered and aware of the present. It is helpful to have a specific time each day for prayer or meditation. If you do not already pray or meditate on a regular basis then consider making this a spiritual practice. It is helpful to establish a specific time each day for this practice. You might take 10 or 15 minutes before you leave the house in the morning or designate time in the evening without the interruption of television, telephone, emails or texting.

Prayer and meditation is different for each person. Some folks find it helpful to have sacred text as a focus. Others read a devotion, chant a mantra, focus on an object, or even sing a song. As you consider ways to be healthy spiritually I encourage you to have prayer or meditation as part of every day. Following is a prayer for the New Year to help you get started:

Ever-present God,
You create us and call us on a journey of life to unknown places.
We are not where we have started.
We have not reached our destination.
Every day (every hour, every minute, every breath) offers us a new experience at life.
There is so much unknown ahead. If we trust in ourselves our anxiety and fear can escalate and shield us from your love and light.
So God we trust in you. Calm our fears, save us from discouragement.

Open our hearts to your guidance so that our journey ahead continues with you – shining a light in the unknown, reminding us that we are not alone, that we are your beloved. Amen

- Rev. Denise Hill
Supervisor Candidate/Chaplain in Pastoral Care Department

Best Place to Have a Baby - 16 Years and Running!

What makes a hospital the "Best Place to have a baby?"

Texas Health Fort Worth recently received this honor and see why:

THE STAFF makes this hospital stand out above the rest. Not just nurses or doctors ALL staff. From the moment you pre-register with the admissions staff to the time the transporter takes you to your car you are treated with dignity and respect. Everyone involved in your care feels as though it is a privilege to be part of your team.

One mom stated “I have had all 3 of my children at this hospital and I would never go anywhere else. I recommend this hospital to everyone I know and I trust all the staff with me and my family.”

Another patient stated “My experience with Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital exceeded my expectations. Your HR department is to be commended on their hiring of staff ability. Staff Outstanding”

Another commented, “The dietary aid was EXTREMELY pleasant. She does and excellent job!”

As you can see the staff and the quality of care is the driving force of this hospital. A hospital is not about the bricks and mortar it is about the outstanding staff that provides individual care with clinical expertise. Choosing a health care provider that is part of the team here offers a rewarding experience as well.

Here is what a few patients have said; “Midwife was great… Will use again and recommend to others the Midwife Group.”
“Dr Barber from the NICU and Dr Williams made the stay much easier and relaxing.”
“My doctor is great – stayed later than he intended to just to deliver our baby.”

Being a staff member at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital is an honor. One patient even stated “Staff all very nice. Would like to come work for you guys.” Several of our employees have come to work here because of the great care they received while they were patients here. Some employees have even made career changes in order to do so.

Not only is Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth the Best Place to Have a Baby it is also the only Baby Friendly Hospital in Fort Worth. For more information on a healthcare provider call 1-877-847-9355.

- Becky Law
Manager, Childbirth Education