Tufts Medical Center News Headlines
Week of March 12, 2007 - March 19, 2007
The following headline stories are re-printed from the Tufts Medical Center News, Tufts Medical Center's weekly publication.
Floating Recertified as Level I Pediatric Trauma Center
The Floating Hospital for Children, home to the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute (KPTI), was recently re-certified as a Level I Regional Pediatric Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons (ACS). The designation follows completion of a recent ACS site survey.
“When a child’s life is at stake, seconds matter,” said Brian Gilchrist, MD, Pediatric Surgeon-in-Chief and Director of the KPTI at Floating Hospital. “I’m proud to work with a team that is personally dedicated to providing around the clock expert care and that responds with compassion regardless of the intensity of each situation. The ACS designation reflects this hard work and commitment.”
The Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute opened its doors at the Floating Hospital in 1981, as the nation’s first regional trauma center devoted exclusively to children. Since the program’s launch, the Floating Hospital’s model for treating seriously injured children has gained worldwide recognition.
Thousands of children from throughout New England have benefited from the Medical Center’s pediatric trauma expertise. The Floating has demonstrated its ability to meet the needs of critically injured children quickly, competently and at any hour of the day or night, whether transferred from a community hospital or transported via Boston MedFlight or ambulance directly from the scene of an accident.
The Floating’s trauma response team is a multidisciplinary group of physicians, nurses and technicians from pediatric general surgery, orthopaedics, neurosurgery, emergency medicine, critical care, radiology and rehabilitation medicine. Led by Gilchrist, the trauma team works together to coordinate a child’s care following a traumatic injury, from the time the patient is transported by paramedics to the Emergency Department through the patient’s hospitalization and subsequent rehabilitation and recovery.
“The team-building needed to meet the Level I certification requires tremendous skill and passion that is infectious to all members of the team,” said Larry Wolfe, MD, Chief of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. “Dr. Gilchrist has galvanized the Floating into the perfect place for an injured child to be.”A Level I rating certifies that the Floating Pediatric Trauma Center meets essential criteria for trauma care capability and institutional performance as outlined by the ACS’s Committee on Trauma. ACS verification also confirms the Floating/KPTI Trauma Center’s commitment to providing the highest quality trauma care.
Tufts Medical Center Performs 200th Heart Transplant
Tufts Medical Center’s Cardiac Transplant Center recently conducted its 200th successful heart transplant procedure.
“This milestone is especially gratifying because it reflects the dedication of an experienced, specialized team of transplant experts at Tufts Medical Center, including surgeons, physicians, and nurses,” said David DeNofrio, MD, Medical Director of the Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation Program.
The recipient of the 200th heart, 32-year-old Wayne Sargent, suffered from cardiomyopathy, a type of heart disease in which the heart becomes abnormally enlarged. As a result, the heart muscle’s ability to pump blood is impaired.
“Everyone from the surgeons to the nurses have been amazing,” said Sargent. “The waiting hasn’t been easy, but I’m proof that miracles do happen. Now, I can walk around and I can breathe better.”
Sargent was admitted to Tufts Medical Center’s Cardiomyopathy Center toward the end of December and in February underwent surgery to implant a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, as he waited for a new heart.
The Tufts Medical Center team accesses the best treatment for patients with heart failure including: new drug therapies, surgical options such as mechanical assist devices (LVAD) and eventually, heart transplantation. Hassan Rastegar, MD, led the team of surgeons conducting the heart transplant.
“The demand for hearts far exceeds the supply, so patients must often wait for months or years for a donor,” said Linda Ordway, Nurse Practitioner for the Cardiomyopathy Center. “But now we can do more than ever to help transplant candidates stay alive and healthy as they await surgery. In this case, Wayne received an LVAD that helped his heart pump blood and ensured that he would be stable enough to undergo surgery once a donor heart became available.”
Sargent, who resides in Hudson, Mass., was married last year and is looking forward to going home and starting a new life.
“I now have the chance to do so many things, including starting a new life with my wife Melissa and having a family,” said Sargent. “I had to wait a bit, but I’m leaving here 100 percent healthy.”
Since 1985 Tufts Medical Center has performed cardiac transplantation and has pioneered innovative inpatient and outpatient therapies for patients with heart failure. In addition, Tufts Medical Center researchers continue to investigate novel approaches to treating patients with the entire range of cardiac problems, from asymptomatic cardiac dysfunction to end-stage heart failure.
Deeb Salem, MD, To Receive American Heart Association’s Paul Dudley White Award
Deeb Salem, MD, Physician-in-Chief at Tufts Medical Center, has been named the 2007 recipient of the American Heart Association’s Paul Dudley White Award. Named in honor of one of Boston’s most revered cardiologists and a founding father of the AHA, the award is given annually to medical professionals who have made a distinguished contribution to the reduction of disability and death from cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
“It is an honor for me to receive this prestigious award from the American Heart Association for my work in cardiology,” said Salem, who is also the Sheldon M. Wolff Professor and Chairman of Tufts University School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine. “It is especially gratifying to be the recipient of an honor named after the father of modern cardiology in New England, in whose steps I humbly follow. It is a tribute to my colleagues at the medical school and medical center and their loyal support of quality care and life-saving research.”
Salem is recognized as a national expert in coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Boston University School of Medicine in 1998, and the Distinguished Faculty Award from Tufts University School of Medicine in the same year. He serves on the Executive Board of the Board of Trustees of Tufts Medical Center, as well as the boards of the Wang Chinatown YMCA, the Asian American Civic Association, the New England Quality Care Alliance, the Physicians of Tufts Medical Center, the Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation and the Tufts Managed Care Institute.
He was elected to the Publications Committee of the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003 and received the Massachusetts Physician Health Service Distinguished Service Award in 2003. Salem has repeatedly been listed in Boston Magazine as one of “Boston’s Best” physicians, most recently in February 2006.
Salem will be presented with the Paul Dudley White Award at this year’s Boston Heart Ball on Saturday, May 12. The annual gala, themed “Young at Heart,” will highlight the AHA’s community involvement and research funding in Boston. The event will include a live auction, dinner, dancing, and a special appeal to generate funding for children’s health, research and education. For more information contact Steve Perna in the Development Office at 617-636-5219.
Tufts Medical Center Celebrates National Social Work Month
The Tufts Medical Center Social Work Services Department, established in the early 1900s and one of the oldest hospital social work departments in the country, is celebrating National Social Work Month. This year’s theme is “Hope and Health: Help Starts Here.”
On Thursday, March 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Social Work Services Department will host an information and resources table in the Atrium Lobby.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, social work is one of the fastest growing careers in the United States. The profession is expected to grow by 30 percent by 2010; currently, nearly 600,000 people hold social work degrees.
There are 110,000 social workers who practice in health care settings across the United States, where they offer a range of psychosocial services, including individual and family counseling, education, crisis intervention, support groups, resource information, and staff consultation.
For more information about Tufts Medical Center’s Social Work Services Department or to make a referral, please call ext. 5136. To find comprehensive information about the role of social work in health care and other settings go to www.HelpStartsHere.org.