USAMC's Radiology Department Announces Promotions

Missy Smith has been promoted to the position of Radiologic Technologist III. Missy has been employed with USAMC since 2004, first as a student assistant, then as a Diagnostic and CT technologist. Missy has an advanced registry in CT and has expanded her skills to include Nuclear Medicine.

Shawn Ulmer has been promoted to the position of Radiologic Technologist II. Shawn was originally employed with USAMC as a student assistant in Radiology and as a technologist beginning in 2010. He has an advanced registry in CT and is currently working in our Diagnostic and CT departments.

Dustin Bowles has recently passed his advanced registry in CT through the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists. Dustin has been employed with USAMC since 2007, first as a student assistant, then as a Diagnostic and CT technologist.

Holly Wright has been promoted to Radiologic Technologist III. Holly has been employed with USAMC as a Diagnostic and CT technologist since 2004 and has an advanced registry in CT. Her skills in Radiology have expanded to include Nuclear Medicine, recently acquiring her advanced registry in Nuclear Medicine as well.

USAMC Hosts University Board of Trustees

The University of South Alabama Board of Trustees met at USAMC as the Committee of the Whole, on June 8.

The Board meets quarterly to conduct business and meets at different venues on the University's various campuses. This is the first time it has met at USAMC since the University acquired the hospital in 1970.

The Committee of the Whole meets with the 18 members of the Board and several members of the University's administrative team. After considering several meeting spaces in the hospital, it was decided to give the Board a view of Mobile that few get to see: from the 10th floor of the hospital.

The solarium on the east end was converted to a dining room and conference center for one day giving trustees a beautiful view of the downtown skyline. While a team of staff from the University, USA Children's and Women's and USAMC worked on the decorations and the menu for the meal, the bulk of the kudos go to Steve Lancaster, Director of Food and Nutrition at USAMC and Philip Gore of USAC&W, along with Tom Ward of USAMC and Melissa Hoseman of USAC&W. Their final product was a setting to be admired and a meal to be remembered.

Pictured below are Gore and Lancaster, left to right.


Special guests for the lunch was Brad Cox and his son Josh. Cox is a fireman for the City of Mobile and also serves as Chief of the Dauphin Island Volunteer Fire Department. He was severely burned fighting a fire on Dauphin Island and spent several weeks as a patient at USAMC. He spoke of his experience while being treated here and gave a glowing commendation of our physicians and employees.

Following the lunch, trustees and administration officials were given a tour of the hospital with newly renovated areas being the focus. Physicians and departmental managers gave brief presentations to the visitors about our services and successes.

USAMC PRACTICES EVACUATION

Fire trucks and emergency vehicles lined the front drive of USA Medical Center as the hospital, in cooperation with local agencies, conducted a drill of evacuating the hospital.

Mobile Fire Rescue, Mobile County Health Department, the Mobile Police Department, the local office of the American Red Cross, and Life Guard Ambulance Service participated in the drill. Representatives from the University's Environmental Safety Department and USA Children's and Women's Hospital also joined to serve as observers and evaluators.

At 9 a.m, the hospital activated its disaster plan and alerted the staff via various means. Department heads were asked to assemble in the Boardroom where they learned that the hospital had been "flooded" and an evacuation was required.



This drill, which was planned for several months, was conducted to see what would be required to move patients from a tall building without the availability of elevators. Recent events in Joplin Missouri reinforced the notion that evacuation is a very real possibility for hospitals and made the drill take on a more serious note.

In order to make sure no real patients were placed in any danger, an "ICU" was created in the east solarium of the 7th floor using patient simulators borrowed from USA's College of Health Sciences. These mannequins are capable of simulating vital signs, being intubated and producing crisis situations that require intervention.

Patients were moved using two different methods: one was using a Stokes basket, a wire frame basket into which the "patient" is placed and the second, a Med Sled. The Med Sled is a semi-rigid plastic sheet that is placed under the patient then rolls up on the edges to enclose the patient. Web straps secure the patient and serve as handles. Another strap is used to allow one person to safely lower the patient down the stairs.








The Stokes basket was lowered using a rope attached to the top of the stairwell and was performed by members of the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department's Tactical Rescue team. Hospital staff used the Med Sled devices which were recently acquired by hospitals in the Mobile area.

Leading the effort by the MFRD was District Chief Leann Tacon. Tacon expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the exercise, citing the lessons learned by the event. She also pointed out that USAMC is the only hospital in the area which has conducted such a drill.

Scott Taylor, USAMC's disaster preparedness coordinator also commented on the success of the event. "We learned many valuable lessons today. We had participation by every department in the hospital. Especially noteworthy is the involvement of the nurses from the critical care units. They were responsible for setting up the "patients" and they are the ones who actually moved them down the stairs."

Hospitals are required by accreditation standards to conduct at least two drills per year and to include other agencies in at least one drill.

For more pictures of the events, go to HERE.

Stroke Award Received

Amy Beasley, USA Medical Center Nursing Project Coordinator for Accreditation and Stroke, accepts the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Gold Plus Award from Dr. Mat Reeves at the recent International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles. The Medical Center won this quality achievement award for meeting AHA/ASA Get With The Guidelines performance excellence protocols for two or more consecutive years. Congratulations to the entire USA Stroke Team!

USA MEDICAL CENTER EMPLOYEE RECEIVES "CITIZEN VALOR" AWARD

– Officials with Mobile Fire-Rescue recently presented a Citizen Valor Award to University of South Alabama Medical Center employee Travis Williams because of his actions in helping another citizen who was in medical distress.

On Sept. 2, Mobile Fire-Rescue firemedics responded to the report of “a man down” on board a Mobile WAVE transit bus at Bel Air Mall. Upon arrival, firemedics found an approximately 40-year-old male unconscious seated in the rear of the bus. There was a young man standing behind him, later identified as Williams, who was physically supporting the victim so that he would not fall over onto the bus floor.

Williams advised the firemedics that he recognized the man had something wrong with him and had the bus driver stop and call 911. Williams also told them he had a relative that was a diabetic and the victim showed signs of having the same problem.

Firemedics checked the victim's blood sugar and it turned out Williams was correct; he had low blood sugar. The victim was transported to the hospital, treated and released. The firemedics reported that Williams was “extremely helpful.”

Williams is employed as a Custodial Worker II at USAMC.

Pictured above is Williams, front row center, being presented with the award in ceremonies in front of the hospital. Flanking Williams are Warren Greene, director of Environmental Services and Beth Anderson, hospital administrator. Back row, from left, are Elmer Sellers, assistant administrator; Michael Peterson, associate director of environmental services; Billy Pappas, Mobile Fire-Rescue assistant chief; and Porsha Black, Mobile Fire-Rescue firemedic.

USAMC Employees Honored

USAMC employees Ruby Adams of Enviromental Services and Manuel X. Green, III, have received awards as a part of the University's annual Christie Miree USA National Alumni Association Outstanding Employee Service Awards. they are divisional nomimees for the awards.

Pictured at left is President V. Gordon Moulton presenting Manuel X. Green III with a certificate.

Hospital staff were asked to nominate employees for the six-categories of awards, Service, Technical, Clerical, Administrative, Crafts/Trades and Professional. These nominations are then reviewed by committees for each of the Univiersity's major divisions. These compirse the US"A" team. Each member receives a certificate and is recognized by President V. Gordon Moulton at the annual service awards ceremony at the Mitchell Center.

These nominees are then reviewed by a University committee which selects six-indiviuals, one from each catefory, as the outstanding employee. Each receives a plaque and a cash award.

Adams represented the Health Systems in the Service category while Green was in the Professional Category.Pictured at right is President Mouton and Ruby Adams.

While both are members of the US"A" team, Adams as selected as a recipient of the Christie Miree USA National Alumni Association Outstanding Employee Award.

Cancer Program Receives Accreditation with Commendation

The Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons has granted Three-Year Accreditation with Commendation to the Cancer of Program at University of South Alabama Medical Center.

A facility receives a Three-Year Accreditation with commendation following the on-site evaluation by a physician surveyor during which the facility demonstrates a Commendation level of complaince with one or more standards that represent the full scope of the cancer program (cancer committee leadership, cancer cetner date management, clinical services, research, community outreach, and qulaity improvement). In addition a facility receives a complaine rating for all other standards.

Congratulations to all our staff involved in this program and thanks for the hard work that made this award possible!