System News: January 2024
Atrium Medical Center
Atrium Medical Center hosted the 25th annual HEAL Memory Tree Lighting at Berachah Church in Middletown on Dec. 7. This poignant event memorialized 230 children and highlighted the innovative Help Endure a Loss program. HEAL provides caring, appropriate, and accessible services to families in crisis due to an unanticipated outcome for their baby. Thanks to Atrium Medical Center Foundation donors, all HEAL services are free of charge and available to any family.
Atrium’s Chief Operating Officer/Chief Nursing Officer Kim Hensley and Chief Medical Officer Scott Kanagy, MD, welcomed State Senator Steve Wilson for a tour of the hospital on Dec. 21. Sen. Wilson is serving his second term in the Ohio Senate, representing Senate District 7, which comprises all or part of Warren and Hamilton counties. Sen. Wilson toured Atrium’s renovated emergency department, the senior emergency department, and the Level II cardiac catheterization lab.
Atrium employees organize an Adopt-a-Family program annually during the holidays to help fellow employees and nominated patients. Through proceeds from Highway to Help and other donations to the Atrium Medical Center Foundation, the program funded $5,500 in gifts this year to help four employees and 24 patients, for a total of 28 families and 79 children.
In other community outreach activities, Atrium’s volunteer services manager shared information with the Middletown Kiwanis Club about opportunities for service at the hospital for both teens and adults; Atrium representatives volunteered to ring Salvation Army donation bells in Middletown; and a Solvita blood drive at Atrium collected 39 donations, affecting 111 lives. Monthly blood drives, open to the community, will continue in 2024 at Atrium.
Miami Valley Hospital
Ohio Rep. Rodney Creech visited Miami Valley Hospital to congratulate the CareFlight team on its 40th anniversary.
Miami Valley Foundation held its annual funding priorities meeting on Dec. 4. This meeting hosts system and hospital leaders who propose particular projects, services, and devices to be funded by the Foundation in the upcoming year. This year, the Foundation board approved more than $897,000 for the purchase of additional Hercules Patient Repositioners; patient recliners for oncology; a replacement camera for cardiac nuclear medicine; a fiber optic endoscopic evaluation of swallow (FEES) tower at Miami Valley Hospital South; process improvement training for Premier Health employees; and completed a three-year commitment to the QGenda on-call scheduling software for physicians. Funding for these devices and services comes from the Foundation’s Greatest Needs Fund and 1890 Society, which are unrestricted dollars contributed by donors.
Miami Valley Hospital Foundation hosted the Miami Valley Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association luncheon at Miami Valley Hospital South on Dec. 12. More than 50 nursing alumni guests heard the latest hospital nursing achievements from Christie Gray, chief nursing officer, Miami Valley Hospital and learned about the new CareFlight advancements from Amanda McClure, system vice president of emergency and trauma services.
Fundraising for the Good Samaritan Chapel project continues at the North Campus. Good Samaritan Foundation-Dayton received a $50,000 gift from a private donor, sponsoring the rosette window for the chapel. This interfaith chapel is a tribute to the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Chapel at the former Good Samaritan Hospital that will feature cherished original artifacts, including the chapel’s pews, intricate woodwork, doors, chandeliers, and stained-glass windows. The new Good Samaritan Chapel is scheduled to open in mid-2024.
The Emmett’s Place event committee presented Miami Valley Hospital with $130,000 raised through the Discovering Gems of Dayton event in September 2023. Funds from the annual event will support Emmett’s Place, just steps away from the Miami Valley Hospital Neonatal ICU. The space, which is 100% donor-funded, is an area of respite and hospitality for the immediate family members of newborn infants who are hospitalized in the NICU and for hospitalized pregnant women and their families experiencing a longer than usual hospitalization.
Xenia High School students donated “Baskets for Battles” to Miami Valley Hospital South cancer patients. The baskets contain items to support the patients throughout the holidays.
In celebration of the 40th Anniversary of CareFlight, CareFlight Air and Mobile representatives were acknowledged on the court during halftime of a University of Dayton men’s basketball game. The CareFlight team presented leaders from the university with a special commemorative CareFlight 40th anniversary coin. Additionally, the digital graphics in UD Arena, featuring Premier Health, were transformed to showcase messaging in honor of the CareFlight 40th Anniversary.
Premier Health hosted the latest Dayton Public Schools Student Senate in the corporate board room. The student senate comprises student leaders from each of the high schools; the guest speaker was Mikaa Veal, manager of academic partnerships for Premier Health.
Upper Valley Medical Center
New visitor restrictions for respiratory illness season were posted in December at UVMC and all other GDAHA hospitals.
Two UVMC Excellence in Trauma Care awards were presented in the community in December – one to Troy firefighters on Dec. 4 and one to Bushnell Towing in Piqua on Dec. 19. Both were in recognition of outstanding actions above and beyond normal duties to assist the UVMC Trauma Team in life-saving measures.
The first Miami County baby of the New Year was delivered at UVMC to a Troy couple early on Jan. 1 and was featured in local and Dayton news coverage.
Upper Valley Medical Center’s Tracy Schneider, RN,diabetes educator, was interviewed on Troy Power 107.1 and WPTW radio stations on Dec. 4 to discuss tips for healthy eating during the holiday season.
The UVMC Foundation, with support from the Miami County, Piqua Community and Troy foundations, will continue to host free monthly health screenings in 2024 at sites throughout Miami County. Also being offered free to the community will be monthly Managing Your Diabetes classes at the hospital on the third Monday of the month. Flyers listing times, dates, and locations for these programs were sent to community sites and were communicated internally.
UVMC’s Parkinson’s Wellness Program is being provided at a special discounted price in 2024 (and free to Tipp City residents) through the generosity of the Tim Drake Family Fund. Flyers about the program were delivered to community sites and were communicated internally.
Premier Physician Network
Two Cincinnati publications named PPN physicians among their Best of Cincy picks. What makes this a significant honor is that the doctors were chosen as top picks by the readers of these publications and not by the magazines’ publishers.
In Cincy Magazine’s recently released issue titled “Cincy Best Docs 2023,” readers chose John Miller, MD, of Greater Dayton Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons, as their top pick in the Cardiac Surgery category.
Cincinnati Magazinealso recently released their forward-looking issue, Top Doctor’s List 2024, and Heather Adkins, MD, of Premier Health, Roosevelt Surgical, was chosen by readers as their favorite in the Allergy and Immunology category. Congratulations to Dr. Miller and Dr. Adkins on their well-deserved recognition! Thank you for the positive impact you are having on our patients and our communities.
Indresh Venkatarayappa, MD, of Premier Orthopedics recently became a United States citizen! Congratulations, Dr. Venkatarayappa!
Back to the January 2024 issue of Premier Pulse
