Tufts Medical Center Named a Center of Excellence for Commitment to Heart Recovery for Acute Patients
Tufts Medical Center was named a “Center of Excellence” for its exceptional results using ventricular assist devices (VADs) to help recover patients’ native hearts, eliminating the need for heart transplants in some cases. As a Center of Excellence, Tufts Medical Center will share best practices related to VAD implantation and patient care with other hospitals and medical centers. This prestigious award, presented by Abiomed, a leading provider of medical technologies, is granted to top institutions in the country for achieving outstanding clinical outcomes with a focus on recovery of the native heart. Tufts Medical Center’s outcomes are among the best in the country.
“This Center of Excellence designation
further exemplifies our commitment to native heart recovery and the total well-being of our patients,” said Afshin Ehsan, MD, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Tufts Medical Center.
“Tufts Medical Center’s continued success in recovering patients’ hearts, evidenced by the recovered patients able to join us at the Center of Excellence event celebration, is due to the clinical excellence and dedication of our entire cardiac team.” Tufts Medical Center has supported more than 20 patients with Abiomed technologies since 2000 and as the only training center in New
England, Tufts Medical Center conducts ongoing certification training for other hospitals.
Former Tufts Medical Center CTU patients and their families attended the ceremony last month. Each one gave a special thanks to everyone involved in their care at Tufts Medical Center for not only saving their lives, but for protecting their quality of life. These individuals continue to enjoy all aspects of being with their families and loved ones.
Floating Hospital Establishes Hospitalist Program
The Floating Hospital’s long tradition of personalized care has just gotten better with the introduction of our new Hospitalist Program.
Hospitalists are physicians who provide care solely for patients in a hospital setting. They oversee hospitalized patients and handle all aspects of their care from admission through discharge. The Floating hospitalist will stay in constant communication with the patient’s referring physician, enabling them to participate in their patient’s care plan.
The hospitalist will call each patient’s primary care physician the day after the admission and will then keep
the flow of communication going every day. At discharge, primary care physicians will receive all the details about the child’s stay and health status.
Easier access and an improved communication system are now available through a single phone call. One call, 24-hours a day, seven days a week connects directly to the Floating’s skilled and caring hospitalists, who will coordinate all the details of a patient’s admission. In addition, once the patient arrives, the hospitalist will organize the care with any needed sub-specialists.
For more information about Floating Hospital for Children’s new Hospitalist Program, call 877-KIDS-FHC.
Craig Williams Joins Medical Center’s Physician Organization as the New Senior Vice President of Medicine/Operations
Craig Williams will be joining PT-NEMC as the new Senior Vice President of Medicine/Operations, beginning Monday, January 7. Williams is a seasoned health care leader who has a vast understanding of the Boston market and will be a great asset to the Medical Center.
Williams was most recently a Senior Health Care Consultant for Feeley & Driscoll, PC. Prior to joining Feeley and Driscoll, he held key administrative roles in Brigham & Women’s Physician Organization, including Administrative Director for Neurology and Neurosurgery and Senior Revenue Analyst. Earlier in his career, he was the Senior Managed Care Analyst for Partners Healthcare System.
The Senior Vice President of Medicine/Operations is a new role for PT-NEMC and is part of the hospital’s recent and important re-organization, including the transition of ambulatory clinics into PT-NEMC’s operations. Williams will be spearheading this important mission.
He will be responsible for leading the hospital-based ambulatory clinics as well as overseeing the Department of Medicine’s product and business lines.
Hope, Faith and Charlie
An Inspiration to others and a mother’s thank you to Floating Hospital
Deirdre Carey, the author of
Hope, Faith and Charlie – an inspirational and powerful true story about her son who was treated for cancer at Floating Hospital – held a book signing for the Medical Center community in the Atrium last month.
Carey read a very touching segment from the book and gave a heart-felt thank you to Cynthia Kretschmar, MD, and the other members of the Floating PediatricHematology/Oncology staff for saving her son Charlie’s life.
Charlie was diagnosed with choroidplexus carcinoma, a rare cancer that attacks the lining of the brain, when he was only eight months old. Only 10 children in the United States per year are diagnosed with this type of cancer. Charlie’s physician Dr. Kretschmar felt that the standard approach to attack the disease with radiation would cause too much damage to Charlie’s healthy brain tissue and leave him impaired. Charlie’s course of treatment at Floating involved several rounds of chemotherapy, which conquered the disease. Today, Charlie is a very active and healthy 8-year-old boy.
It took Carey five years to finish
Hope, Faith and Charlie, but she never wavered in her determination to finish the book and provide hope to other families facing similar situations. Ten percent of all royalties from the sale of Hope, Faith and Charlie will be donated to Floating Hospital for Children’s Cancer Center.
The Carey’s heart-warming story, including Charlie’s amazing recovery at Floating Hospital, was featured in Adrian Walker’s
Boston Globe column last month and was also covered by Fox 25 news.
Sandy Arabian is January’s Saltonstall Award Winner
Sandy Arabian, Trauma Registrar for the Medical Center’s Department of Surgery Trauma Division, is this month’s recipient of the Saltonstall Employee Excellence Award.
Arabian has worked at the Medical Center since 1999. For the majority of that time she worked for the Emergency Department, supervising ED technicians as well as maintaining a point-of-care testing lab. She was recruited for the position of trauma registrar in June and worked tirelessly, including several out of state trips for training, to ensure that the Medical Center’s trauma registry was accurate and up to date in time for the American College of Surgeons consultation visit in November.
“Sandy’s dedication to the Medical Center, commitment to the trauma service, and constant hard work lead to the completion of the trauma registry in an amazingly short period of time,” said Reuven Rabniovici, Chief of Tufts Medical Center’s Trauma Division. “It was a great achievement that is essential to the accreditation of our trauma program.”
“Throughout the process of updating the registry, Sandy always kept a cheerful outlook and constantly looked for ways to improve the process,” said William Briggs, RN, MSN, Tufts Medical Center’s Trauma Program Manager. “Some evenings I would leave for the night knowing there was an issue with the registry to be ad
dressed the next day, only to find a note from Sandy saying ‘I think I know how we can fix this.’ She was always right.”
The Saltonstall Award honors employees who exhibit the highest standards of service and performance in their work and their interactions with staff members, patients and visitors. To nominate an employee for this award, contact Yolanda Rosero at ext. 5669 for more information.
Kevin M. Kalinsky, MD, Receives 2nd Annual Abby H. Shevitz, MD, Young Physicians Award
Kevin M. Kalinsky, MD, Division of Hematology/Oncology, was presented with the second Annual Abby H. Shevitz, MD, MPH, Young Physicians Award last month by Richard Van Etten, MD, Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, and Ronenn Roubenoff, MD, MHS, husband of the late Dr. Shevitz.
The award, along with the Young Physicians Fund, was established in memory Shevitz, a beloved and respected Tufts Medical Center physician. It honors the great concern that she held as a physician, teacher and patient for young physicians who dedicate their careers to improve treatments, outcomes and the quality of life of patients with cancer. The award is given each year to a Hematology/Oncology physician in their second or third year of fellowship or an attending physician with fewer than three years as an appointed faculty member. The award helps support the educational and careergrowth opportunities for young physicians, such as participation in conferences and funding for patient care and research initiatives that hold promise toward improving the lives of patients with cancer.
“Following the spirit of the award, the Shevitz committee based their decision on which candidate the award would have the most impact on in terms of furthering that individual’s professional development,” said Van Etten. “Kevin emerged as a natural choice.”
Dr. Kalinsky is in the third year of his fellowship at the Medical Center. His clinical interest is treating patients
with solid tumors, specifically breast cancer and melanoma.
“My career goal is to develop novel therapeutic agents and to become a clinical trialist. The hope is that new treatments studied in clinical trials will help change the standard of care for patients with cancer,” said Kalinsky.
“I am planning to use the funds from the Abby Shevitz award to assist in developing an expertise in these areas, and I am considering spending an extra year or two of additional training to develop these skills.”
Wedding Bells at Tufts Medical Center for a Patient Awaiting a Heart Transplant
Serge Carrier had never felt sick a day in his life when he proposed to Nicole Gobeil this past fall. The happy couple, aged 49 and 54 respectively, chose December 29, 2007 as their wedding date.
Two weeks after their engagement, Carrier began having pain in his shoulder, which he chalked up to overextending himself at work. But, when Gobeil came home from picking up her wedding dress, she found Carrier very sick and in pain. She took him to the hospital, and learned that he’d had a massive heart attack and that his heart was severely damaged.
Carrier was transferred to Tufts Medical Center, where he was initially treated with medicines and a balloon pump. However, his condition continued to deteriorate and he was placed a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) to allow his failing heart to rest, and to keep Carrier alive while waiting for a heart transplant.
“When he woke up in the hospital, he asked if I still wanted to marry him,” Gobeil said. “I told him ‘Of
course I do. I won’t let you go.’”
Carrier, now near the top of the transplant list, was too sick to leave the hospital for their planned wedding date, so the Medical Center brought the wedding to him. On Saturday, December 29, Carrier and Gobeil held
their wedding ceremony in the Tufts Medical Center Executive Offices surrounded by family and friends, as well as some of the nurses and doctors who have become like family members in recent months.
“He didn’t want to wait,” said Gobeil. “He told me that if he dies he still wants to be able to say that he married the woman he loves.”
Be sure to pick up next month’s issue of
Tufts Medical Center News to see some wonderful pictures from Serge and Nicole's wedding.
Jean McCorry, RN and Alice Martin, RN Recognized by The National Kidney Foundation
The National Kidney Foundation of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont will honor Jean McCorry, RN and Alice Martin, RN at its 2008 Gift of Life Awards Dinner on Thursday, January 31.
McCorry will receive the Outstanding Nephrology Nursing Award and Martin will receive the Volunteer of the Year Award. Both have participated actively in Tufts Medical Center’s kidney disease treatment program for more than 30 years.
McCorry managed the Tufts Medical Center dialysis program in the 1970s and remains an active member of the nursing staff at Dialysis Clinic Inc.’s 35 Kneeland Street unit.
Martin helped establish the Medical Center’s excellent reputation in kidney disease clinical research by coordinating major kidney disease trials at Tufts Medical Center sites. She now coordinates co-morbidity assessment for Dialysis Clinic Inc.’s national outcomes management program and also organizes Tufts Medical Center’s Nephrology Division’s participation in community screening and education programs.
“Jean and Alice exemplify the dedication and ability of our nephrology and dialysis nursing staff,” said Andrew Levey, MD, Tufts Medical Center’s Division of Nephrology Chief. “We are proud to work with them, and we congratulate them.”
Boston Wine Expo Supports Floating’s Summer Camp Program
Floating Hospital for Children’s “Summer Camp Program for Children with Disabilities” will once again be
the major beneficiary of proceeds from the Boston Wine Expo this year. The 17th Annual Boston Wine Expo will take place Saturday and Sunday, February 9 and 10 at the Seaport World Trade Center and Seaport Hotel.
Floating’s “Summer Camp Program” provides funding for children battling chronic diseases and learning
disabilities, as well as those dealing with the difficulties of family dysfunction and urban violence, to attend summer camp.
The Boston Wine Expo is the largest consumer wine event in the country, featuring over 1,800 wines from around the world. Since its inception the Boston Wine Expo has donated more than $600,000 to the charity.
Tufts Medical Center employees who purchase tickets before Friday, February 1 can receive a $15 discount off the
already discounted ‘advance’ price of admission for either the entire two-day event or for a single-day admission on Sunday, February 10. To take advantage of the ticket discount use TUFTS as the promotion code upon purchase.
For more information, visit the Boston Wine Expo website at www.wineexpoboston.com
Praise from Our Patients
The following are excerpts from letters of recognition about Tufts Medical Center staff members. Patient names have been omitted to protect privacy. Submissions should be sent to Nancy Miller, Project Manager and Patient Liaison in the Department of Performance Improvement, at NMiller2@tufts-nemc.org, Tufts Medical Center Box #412 or at fax ext. 8574. A copy should also be sent to Human Resources to be placed in the employee’s permanent file.
In a letter sent to Tufts Medical Center President and
Chief Executive Officer Ellen Zane:
I am writing to thank you for the wonderful service and care my husband has received
during his first six weeks of radiation treatments at Tufts Medical Center.
I don’t know how we could have done it without the help and support of your transportation services. I was unable to drive him everyday and he is unable to drive himself, so it was extremely comforting knowing that someone would be at the house each morning to pick him up and then drive him home after his appointment. We cannot say enough about how friendly, prompt and courteous your staff was and what an absolute blessing this service was during a time when our world was being turned upside down.