News Briefs for July 26, 2019
News reports from Adventist HealthCare, Shenandoah Valley Adventist Elementary, Porter Adventist Hospital and Loma Linda University Health:
From a joint news release: Adventist HealthCare and Nexus Health/Fort Washington Medical Center announced today that they have signed a definitive agreement to have Fort Washington Medical Center, an acute-care hospital in Prince George’s County, Maryland, become part of Adventist HealthCare. The transition should be complete this fall, pending state review.
Fort Washington Medical Center is a 37-bed hospital located just south of National Harbor in a growing section of the region. It cares for close to 40,000 patients a year in its emergency department and, like Adventist HealthCare, has a strong commitment to serving the needs of their community.
Given the changes in healthcare both nationally and in Maryland, joining Adventist HealthCare will allow Fort Washington Medical Center to expand its high-quality healthcare services in Prince George’s County and overcome the challenges of operating as a standalone community hospital. Adventist HealthCare will invest $35 million over five years to help the Medical Center continue to meet the needs of the community.
“Bringing Fort Washington Medical Center into the Adventist HealthCare family provides opportunities to combine our shared missions of improving the health of Maryland residents,” said Terry Forde, President & CEO of Adventist HealthCare. “Our organization has a long tradition of serving Prince George’s County, and we look forward to strengthening the Medical Center’s presence in that part of the region through outpatient services, as well as expanded physician practices.”
Seven months of intense work and preparation culminated into 37-and-a-half minutes of careful execution, ultimately ending in victory. Students and faculty from the Shenandoah Valley Adventist Elementary (SVAE) school in New Market, Va., recently participated in their 12th annual Adventist Robotics League competition, this time bringing home the gold from the national competition held in Florida, along with the Astro Falcon team from the Linda Vista Adventist Elementary School (Calif.). The team—comprised of five eighth-graders—scored first in robot design and programming, core values/teamwork and for their project on space, the tournament’s theme.
This competition requires teams to design, build, program and operate robots to compete in a head-to-head challenge. “As coaches, we don’t do any of the programming or building,” explained Gordon Miller, SVAE’s teacher and robotics coach. “Our biggest role is to encourage students on the team, help them with goal sets and learn time management. While working together, students develop skills and practice engineering principles, while thinking innovatively and sharing ideas.”
The Denver Post reported that after suspending its transplant program last year due to the discovery of contaminated instruments, Porter Adventist Hospital is now close to restarting the program by late summer or early fall. The discovery triggered a lawsuit from over 60 patients who claim the sterilization breach led to major infections and at least one death. New medical staff have been recruited and the hospital has partnered with Florida Hospital Transplant Institute to re-engineer the program.
“In addition to a highly specialized medical expertise, we combined a cultural element that further refined the requisite qualification to join our team,” hospital spokesman Joel Malecka said in a prepared statement. “While this process has taken longer than we anticipated, we are excited to be fully staffed and are in the final stages of opening our program.”
Finally, to combat the effects of the scorching summer sun, Loma Linda University Health has been posting social media updates about proper use of sunscreen. Here’s one of the important reminders posted on the LLUH Facebook account and aimed at the time-strapped crowd (everybody): “If you just spray it and go, you’re really not getting enough. You have to be diligent in getting a good layer on,” said Loma Linda University Health dermatologist Betsy Furukawa, MD. She also recommended use of a cream-based sunscreen.
