News Around the State

MRHC Welcomes New Foundation Director

Magnolia Regional Health Center Development Foundation’s Board of Directors recently announced that Evie Storey Boyd has been named the Foundation Director. "We are delighted to have a new director who will continue the work of the Foundation. Evie Storey Boyd brings preservation knowledge, experience and enthusiasm to the organization,” says Randy Long, President of the MRHC Foundation Board. "She will build on the work accomplished by our current board and community members to further the mission of the Foundation and expand the Foundation’s outreach."

Magnolia Regional Health Center Development Foundation, Inc. secures and distributes donations for health care programs and services that improve the overall health status of the people in Corinth, Alcorn County and the surrounding regions. Magnolia Regional Health Center Development Foundation, Inc. was organized in 1980 exclusively for the purpose of supporting and benefiting the charitable, educational and scientific efforts of Magnolia Regional Health Center or other similar organizations in Corinth and Alcorn County.

Boyd holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mississippi State University. Previously, she served as Director of Communications/Assistant Director of Finance and Administration with the CREATE Foundation. 

MRHC begins residency program

Magnolia Regional Health Center announced the beginning of an Internal Medicine Osteopathic Medical Residency Program on July 1.

The first three residents may be familiar to some in the community as they have been students here for the past two years and we are honored to have them as our first set of Residents. The first three Resident Physicians are: Aaron Earles, D.O.; Christina Brown, D.O.; and Baron Herford, D.O.

To become a Resident, the former students will have graduated from an accredited school of osteopathic medicine. With the new program underway MRHC is now considered a teaching facility for medical students and now residents.

In hospitals participating in a professional graduate education program, the medical staff provides the supervision for each member in the program in carrying out the management of each patients care, treatment and services.

“We are pleased to have the support of the medical staff, the employees and the Board of Trustees in this advancement of our services. It is an honor for MRHC and this community to have these Physicians choose this region and facility to complete their residency”, stated Rick Napper, CEO.

For more information on MRHC's Residency Program, visit www.mrhc.org/web/resident.

MRHC is one step ahead in treating PAD

Cardiologists at Magnolia Regional Health Center are the first in the Northeast Mississippi region to offer a new treatment option to people suffering from the debilitation effects of Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) – the Diamondback 360 Orbital Atherectomy System. MRHC Cardiologists Dr. John Prather, Dr. Kerry Morgan, Dr. Nanni Pidikiti and Dr. Emad Mohamed have played a pivotal role in demonstrating the potential safety and effectiveness of this new technology and its ability to provide new hope for treating the disease.

Peripheral Arterial Disease is a life-threatening condition where a fatty material called plaque builds up on the inside walls of the blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to legs and arms. The build-up of plaque causes the arteries to harden and narrow – a condition called atherosclerosis – reducing blood flow to the legs and feet, PAD can cause claudication; heavy, tired or painful legs or feet. If allowed to progress, PAD can lead to Critical Limb Ischemia (CLI), which may result in amputation of the leg.

Over 12 million people in the US alone suffer from PAD, which can cause debilitating pain in the legs. It is estimated that less than two million people are actually diagnosed with PAD and less than 700,000 are treated each year.

As the pioneering physicians dedicated to exploring medical advances to improve the odds for patients with PAD, our team believes that the new orbital atherectomy system from Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. (CSI) has come full-circle. The device uses a unique orbital motion with an off-set, diamond coated “crown” to sand away the plaque. As the crown rotates and orbit increases, centrifugal force action presses the crown against the lesion or plaque, removing a small amount of plaque with each orbit. The orbital motion is designed to create a smooth vessel opening or lumen, which may improve blood flow.

By striving to answer the need for a safer, more effective procedure to treat a wider range of disease states including tough, calcified plaque, the Diamondback 360 System optimizes the ability to remove plaque and restore flow for treating the disease – ultimately improving the patient’s quality of life and saving limbs.

To learn more about the Diamondback 360 and how it works, please visit www.mrhc.org/web/heart.   

New physicians coming to MRHC

Pictured Left to Right: Lucinda L. Mundorf, M.D., Don Lloyd, Chief of Physician Operations with MRHC, Chauntay Bradley, M.D. and John W. Cheatham, D.O.

Don Lloyd, Chief of Physician Operations with Magnolia Regional Health Center, has recruited seven physicians since October 2007 to the Corinth area. These physicians included two Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgeons, two Family Medicine Physicians, an Emergency Medicine Physician, an Internal Medicine Physician and an Interventional Cardiologist. Dr. John W. Cheatham and Dr. Chauntay Bradley (pictured above) with the Magnolia Family Medicine Clinic will open their doors on Thursday, May 8th; they both specialize in Family Medicine. Dr. Mundorf (pictured above) will open her clinic, Magnolia Internal Medicine Clinic, in mid June of this year.

On average to recruit a physician, it is a year long process. Magnolia Regional Health Center is proud to have recruited seven new physicians in six months and will continue to identify physicians that are needed in the community.

In continuing in their commitment to the community, Magnolia Regional Health Center’s Rick Napper, CEO, and Don Lloyd, CPO, recently announced a full time Physician Recruiter position has been created to be solely dedicated to the recruitment of quality physicians to the Corinth community.

MRHC, others honor victims of child abuse with a tree planting ceremony

On Tuesday, April 29th, in observance of National Child Abuse Awareness Month, a multi-disciplinary team made up of representatives of Magnolia Regional Health Center, DHS, Alcorn County Sheriff’s Office, Corinth Police Department, Timber Hills and the Alcorn County District Attorney’s Office held a tree planting ceremony on the Magnolia Regional Health Center campus.

The multi-disciplinary team works together to help and protect abused children in Alcorn County. Thirty-six blue ribbons representing the number of sexual abuse cases from April 2007 to April 2008 were placed on the branches of the tree in memory of those victims.

In the spring of 1989 a Chesapeake, Virginia grandmother, Bonnie Finney, began what was to become the Blue Ribbon Campaign. It was a testimonial to her three year old grandson who was murdered by his mother’s abusive boyfriend. Finney stated, “One day I was just thinking about all the bruises I had seen on my grandchildren. I just decided I was going to tie a blue ribbon on my van. Why blue? I intend never to forget the battered, bruised bodies of my grandchildren. Blue serves as a constant reminder to me to fight for protection for our children.”

Among those on-hand for the tree planting were Corinth Mayor Jerry Latch, Jerry Rogers of ACSO, Christy Irvin, Sarah Hall, Rick Napper, CEO of Magnolia Regional Health Center, Sheriff Charles Rinehart, Betsy Wood, Kim Mask and Debbie Gann.

The Mississippi Child Abuse Hotline is 1.800.222.8000.

Crossroads Center for Emotional Care receives award

For over a decade and a half, the Crossroads Center for Emotional Care has been caring for people suffering from mental and emotional problems throughout the region and reaching out to the community through a variety of educational services.

Located on the fifth floor of Magnolia Regional Health Center, Crossroads Center for Emotional Care is a 19-bed adult psychiatric care program and provides a variety of inpatient mental health services. Crossroads proudly celebrates their 16 year partnership with Magnolia Regional Health Center later this year. Recently, Program Director, Gordon Marie Crowe attended the 2007 Horizon Behavioral Health Services Annual Leadership Conference in Forth Worth, Texas. Ms. Crowe was presented with three awards for the Crossroads Center for Emotional Care Program.

Crossroads received awards for National Finalist 2007 for the Chiasson- Schmitt/Partnership Retention Award and the 2007 Regional Winner for this award. An award winning program in this category demonstrates knowledge of the hospital’s values and aligns Horizon resources to meet the needs of the hospital. The Horizon program is seen as an invaluable resource to the hospital and community and demonstrates Horizon values in the way services are delivered. The principles the award is based on are: Performance, Relationship, Integration, Demonstrating and Communicating values and Contract Retention. Crossroads has retained their partnership with Magnolia Regional Health Center since 1992.

The Crossroads program also received an award for being considered a 2007 Regional Finalist in the Community Education Program of the Year. The values that qualifies a program for the award are: Overall excellence in community education strategy and implementation, dynamic and effective referral development process, efficient inquiry/and admissions system, outstanding annual and 90-day marketing plans, a culture of customer service excellence, effective use of available community education resources and a superior calendar of community education events and activities.

Crossroads Center for Emotional Care provides mental health services to patients throughout the region including Northeast Mississippi, Northwest Alabama and Southwest Tennessee. The center provides care to patients who are admitted voluntarily or on an involuntary commitment basis.

A major part of the center’s outreach is focused on providing free in-service programs to the community. The staff at Crossroads makes themselves available to speak with groups in the community on mental health issues as needed.

Gifford awarded Employee of the Year at MRHC

Magnolia Regional Health Center recently announced their 2007 Employee of the Year, Jana Gifford. Jana has worked at MRHC in the Lab Department as a Phlebotomist for three years now and in those three years has not only touched the lives of her patients, but of our over 1100 employees at Magnolia Regional Health Center. The Employee of the Year is chosen from the 12 employees of the month nominated thru the year. These individuals are chosen by their peers as the “star” employee who consistently meets and utilizes the customer service standards of behavior, as well as, promotes MRHC’s Mission, Vision & Values day to day.

Jana has been described by her co-workers as, “A bright, cheerful person that cares for her patients, always has a very positive attitude and is a pleasure to be around. Jana creates the ultimate health care experience for her patients. You can always count on her to put a smile on their face.” Jana resides in Kossuth, MS, with her husband, Jason Gifford, and their two wonderful children, Jenna Eden, 7, and John Micah, 3. Jana is also a Cosmetologist and works part-time in her mother’s, Johnnie Ann Null, shop in Kossuth. She has been practicing cosmetology for 10 years. Jana is an active member of Wheeler Grove Baptist Church and enjoys helping with the Awanna Classes for the children.

When asked how it made her feel to be chosen as Employee of the Year out of over 1000 employees, Jana said, “I was very surprised that I received the Employee of the Year award. I would like to thank all of the people who voted for me. There were many great people deserving of this award, thank you!”

MRHC would like to congratulate Jana for this honored award of Employee of the Year. Magnolia Regional Health Center would also like to recognize our other exceptional employee of the month award winners for 2007 and thank them for their hard work and commitment to Magnolia Regional Health Center: Michelle Gifford, Lee McDuffy, Vicki Privett, Karen Michael, Glenda Harwood, Mary Damron, Brenda Brown, Danielle Taylor, Sharon Hawkins, Matt Gray, and Tony Bradley.

Magnolia Regional Health Center Launches New Website to Provide Community Health Education

Magnolia Regional Health Center recently launched a new website and the addition of Discovery Hospital, an online health content service. Discovery Hospital provides hospitals with online health information (consisting of over 7,500 pages of healthrelated articles and interactive tools) specifically designed to assist individuals in managing their own personal health.

“We are focused on providing the highest standard of care through our facility as a whole, which includes our website,” said Heather H. Boyd, Director of Marketing and Public Relations. “As we strive to be the preferred healthcare provider and the employer of choice in the region, we know the Internet plays an ever important role in the decision making process of patients. We believe these health tools provided by Magnolia Regional Health Center and Discovery have allowed us to take yet another step in technical advancement while providing our community with a tool to assist them in better understanding healthcare. In the latest Pew Internet study, 80% of adult Internet users report they have used the Internet to look up health information. We are building our health toolbox to make it easier and faster for our community to find the answers they need to manage the health of their families 24 hours a day.”

The new website at www.mrhc.org features a directory of the hospital’s services, a career center, physician directory, medical library, web nursery, a monthly health newsletter with health tips that everyone can use in their daily lives and much more! "Using digital assets from across our services on cable as well as the Internet, we are able to leverage the content to provide an important educational service to both hospitals and patients across the country." said Mark Irwin, vice president operations, Discovery Interactive Media. "Now we can deliver Discovery's health information to consumers through local hospitals, provide reliable health information to the communities they serve and provide patients with a much greater understanding of the challenges they confront." “The comprehensive content on Discovery Hospital includes a wealth of information to help patients manage their health”, said J. Tod Fetherling, Chief Product Officer of ConnectivHealth, the firm who markets and promotes Discovery Hospital. “Among the thousands of pages of useful information patients can access, topics include: Disease and Condition Information, Self-Management of Symptoms, Health Risk Assessments, Behavioral Change tools, Drug Reference Database, Parenting Information, Diet and Fitness, Pediatrics and much more.”

MRHC Auxiliary awards scholarships

The Magnolia Regional Health Center Auxiliary of Corinth has yearly scholarship awards for students who reside in the area served by their center. The chosen field of study must be related to physical health.

Nineteen students were awarded $32,000 in scholarships for the 2006-2007 year of study. Twelve of the students will be attending Mississippi colleges.

The Auxiliary has hosted the scholarships for over 10 years and many of the students have returned to serve at MRHC.

Canavan Named NMSH Employee of the Year

Pictured are Paul Callens; Joe Canavan; Joye Steen, Ph.D.; and Wanda Armstrong, Ph.D., Assistant Director of NMSH.

Joseph Canavan has been chosen as North Mississippi State Hospital's (NMSH) 2006 Employee of the Year. Canavan is a psychologist at NMSH's Crisis Intervention Center in Corinth. He has been an employee of NMSH for two years and during that time received the licensed mental health therapist designation by the Department of Mental Health. In addition, he recently achieved the status of Licensed Professional Counselor, a designation which requires 3500 hours of supervised counseling in a clinical setting and successful completion of the National Counselor Examination for Licensure and Certification published by the National Board for Certified Counselors.

Canavan holds both a B.A. in Philosophy and a Master's of Divinity from St. John's Seminary in Boston. In addition he has achieved a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Massachusetts-Boston. He has worked in Hispanic ministries prior to coming to work for NMSH.

In making the presentation, NMSH Director Paul A. Callens said, "Joe models the values of our organization every day. He has deservedly earned the respect of his fellow employees." Joye Steen, Ph.D., Director of the Corinth Crisis Intervention Center had this to say about Canavan, "He is a delight to work with and he does a wonderful job with our patients. We are very proud of him."