publish 90708070217 110404104550 packages 121016185700 package pdf 121016185700

Compiled By: Southeastern Digital Imaging, Ken S.Parker

PO Box 503 Taylors, SC 29687 864.292.0006

Searchable History Archives of Greenville Hospital SystemUniversity Medical Center 1912-2012

ghs.org/100years

100-year scrapbook

Scrapbook: 2000

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Date: January 1, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: Most Influential 22

MOST INFLUENTIAL

FRANK PINCKNEY Terfectionisf says GHS has mission beyond health care By Jeff Bennett STAFF WRITER

I t's hard to tell where Frank Pinckney, the man, stops and where the role of Greenville

Hospital System, president and chief executive officer begins.

The two are virtually inseparable for this Greenville High graduate who once thought he would join the FBI. Because for Pinckney, leading the Upstate's largest health-care provider is a passion that runs beyond hospital walls.

Whether at a luncheon or talking to his employees, Pinckney continually shares his belief that GHS is a community of 7,000 health-care workers who are charged with improving the livelihood of the Upstate.

"I find him to be an extremely energetic person who believes in what he's doing," said Larry Greer, chairman of the GHS Board of Trustees. "He gives the hospiial 60 hours a week of his time."

He added, "I think Frank is a per fectionist He doesn't ever seem to forget anything."

Pinckney explained that GHS has a mission that extends beyond just providing health-care services.

"There is an old Chinese saying, 'If a community wants to prosper for one year then you should grow grain. If it wants to prosper for 10 or 20 years, you should grow trees. If a community wants to prosper 100 years and beyond, grow your people.' I believe part of my role and our responsibility in health care is to help grow our people to a healthier community."

Pinckney, who nine years ago became CEO of the independent public nonprofit system, originally thought his career calling was law enforcement rather than health care.

After graduating from Greenville

Frank Pinckney High and The Citadel, he completed a tour of duty with the U.S. Air Force and the South Carolina Air National Guard as an air traffic controller.

Pinckney said he considered joining the FBI until a classmate interested him in the health-care field and he met Robert E. Toomey, then the director of the Greenville Hospital System.

"The more I learned, the more excited I became about this field of endeavor and was offered a position as assistant manager of the emergency room and clinics at Greenville General Hospital," Pinckney said.

Coincidentally, Pinckney's father,

BART BOATWRIGHT / Staff

John, was an Episcopal clergyman who organized the first chaplain program at Greenville General.

The younger Pinckney would spend the next 36 years learning and directing the growth of GHS. Along the way, he would meet and marry his wife, Carole, who was a registered nurse working at the hospital.

"My best friend is my wife," Pinckney said. "She knows me better than anyone."

Through his work, Pinckney formed the belief that a true leader must lead by example. But as CEO, he wanted to create a vision combin-

2000-1 Continued page 2000-2 [ search engine powered by magazooms.com ]

Continued from page 2000-1 Date: January 1, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: Most Influential 22

ing business and health care. "The role of a CEO is to get the

rocks out of the road so the employees can go down that road and do what they are so well-trained to do," Pinckney said. "I try and position the organization for growth and look at what exists in South Carolina and the Upstate."

Pinckney said he relies on the building blocks of strong financial performance, employee satisfaction, patient satisfaction and clinical excellence to push health care in Greenville to a higher standard.

Greer said Pinckney carries the new charge of increasing patient satisfaction.

"Moving into the turn of the century I think Frank realizes that while GHS is one of the highly technologically advanced hospitals in the state, anybody with-money can buy technology," Greer said. "The only way we are going to subscribe to be the very best in the Southeast is in terms of service excellence."

Pinckney said one of the tools to achieving that will be employee satisfaction.

"You look at every entrepreneur in America today — those individuals invested in their employees," Pinckney said. "I am inspired by our employees who unselfishly give of themselves day in and day out in the service of others."

He added, "Those who experience our services will tell you of their satisfaction and they will tie it back to the employees. Its not this office or this brick and mortar; its the employee."

Looking ahead, Pinckney said he and other health-care players are developing new skills for the future.

"Health care in America today is extremely volatile and competitive, a leader in this profession must search for the balance between the demands of growth and expansion of services with the realities of limited resources," Pinckney said. "The Upstate is becoming more international. A leader must recognize the strength in diversity and be a better consensus builder."

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2000-2 Continued on page 2000-3 [ search engine powered by magazooms.com ]

Continued from page 2000-2 Date: Publication: Page:

January 1, 2000 Greenville News Most Influential 22

We need a coalition to manage growth challenges

expansion.

A t the start of this new millennium, the Upstate is fortunate to be facing

a future filled with many opportunities for growth and

With those opportunities will come an ever-increasing need to manage them within the constraints of our finite natural, financial and human resources.

This will require that community businesses, agencies and organizations come together in new and creative ways to seek solutions to the challenges our growth opportunities present.

As the Upstate continues to grow and diversify, we must determine what role we will play as individuals and as organizations in shaping a future where progress can lead to an increased quality of life for all.

In many ways, the Greenville Hospital System

IN HIS OWN WORDS is a microcosm of our larger community. As the leader in health

care technology, we strive to continually improve our services to meet the area's changing and growing needs.

Research tells us that leading-edge health care resources are one of the most important factors in attracting new businesses to a region.

GHS is committed to providing Upstate residents with the finest medical staff and health care employees, as well as the most advanced medical technology facilities, and equipment close to home.

To achieve these objectives, we are collaborating with others to most efficiently meet the increasing demand for services.

Recently, GHS entered into an expanded partnership with Greenville Technical College that will help them provide some of the additional nurses and other clinicians our growing community needs.

In the same way, area leaders must work to identify the demands that growth opportunities will place on the region's limited resources.

It will then be imperative to create partnerships among businesses, individuals and agencies to meet these challenges.

The Greenville Hospital System recognizes and appreciates the unique opportunity it has to positively influence the health status of Upstate residents.

In the new millennium, we look forward to continuing our collaborative efforts within the larger community to shape a future that results in an improved quality of life.

2000-3 [ search engine powered by magazooms.com ]

Date: January 1, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1B

Oh, baby! 30 seconds into the millennium Greenville welcomes its firstborn

By Stephanie Erickson and Maureen Feighan STAFF WRITERS

Little Mariah Danielle was more than ready for the new millennium.

The 7-pound, 12-ounce baby waited just 30 seconds into the new century before joining shouting relatives and friends in a delivery room at Greenville Memorial Hospital.

"Thirty seconds! Thirty seconds!" yelled the baby's aunt, Bonnie Stone. "I can't believe it."

As Times Square's crystal ball inched toward the ground, relatives of Mariah's mother, Kristi Carter, 20, cheered the countdown. Their eyes were glued to the television in the delivery room, as they briefed the mom-to-be.

Carter was one of two women in labor at Greenville Memorial when midnight struck.

Nika Malone, 22, was still in labor at 1 a.m.

Carter's fiance, Mark Padgett, 20, had paced the hallways as midnight neared.

"She's handling this a lot better than I am," said Padgett, a machine technician for American Wood Works.

Shortly after the delivery, Carter and Padgett, of Berea Heights, wondered if Mariah was the first baby born in 2000 in the state or country.

Earlier in the night, five

OMAR ALI / Staff

Millennium baby: Kristi Carter and her fiance, Mark Padgett, hold their new baby, Mariah Danielle, shortly after she was born in the first seconds of New Year's Day. The baby was the first born in Greenville today.

other women in two Greenville County hospitals also had breathed deeply, gripped others for support and cringed as millennial contractions kicked in.

At St. Francis Women's and Family Hospital, Ron Romano, 40, remembered how he was driving to work one April day when a voice on the radio said, "If you're thinking about having the millennium baby, then today is the last day to do it."

But vying for that honor, he said, wasn't what he and his wife, Melissa, had planned. "It just sort of happened," said Mrs. Romano, 37.

She became one of two women in labor at St. Francis Women's and Family Hospital at 4 p.m. Friday. At 10:09 p.m., their baby girl, Mianna Claire, was born.

Five women had given birth earlier in the day, said Lois Holden, a registered nurse at St. Francis.

And at least one of those couples didn't want to have the first local baby of 2000. "They wanted a '99 because they wanted a tax write-off," Holden said.

• Angelia Davis contributed to this story.


Date: January 3, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1B Page 1 of 1

Move over GHS, sma l l k i d on t h e b lock St. Francis merger to boost services; public system will stay Upstate force

By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER

In one corner of Greenville County health care ' is the Greenville Hospital System — a public institution that operates three full-service hospitals and the area's only teaching hospital.

In the other corner is St. Francis Health System, a private Catholic hospital that offers fewer high-level services than its larger competitor.

Both are in the throes of dramatic changes in health care, and patients undoubtedly will notice those changes as the year 2000 unfolds.

The larger hospital system, like public hospitals nationwide, is being squeezed by shrinking government and managed-care reimbursements that hospital officials say could result in delayed or reduced services.

The Greenville Hospital System's budget sank into the red this summer, and the board cut $15 million from the operating budget as well as some services in the fall.

That didn't stop GHS from opening its oncology research institute and its Eastside medical campus last year. This year will bring the start of a $67.7 million expansion — a three-year construction project designed to improve the hospital system's services for heart patients, children, women and those who need emergency care.

"The hospital system will continue to be1 challenged to balance the tremendous demands for growth and expansion of our services with the realities of limited resources," said spokeswoman Robyn Zimmerman.

St. Francis; kicks off the new year by rderging its operations into the Bon Secours network of Catholic hospitals, giving it the organizational muscle to help; St. Francis expand, add niedical services and technology, and boost its recruitment |and marketing tactics.

The deal with Maryland-based Bon Secours also could bring more competitive pricing to the Upstate and move St. Francis out from behind the 67-year-long shadow of its rival.

"We look forward to identifying and implementing new programs to meet our community's needs," said St. Francis CEO Richard Neugent.

Even before the recently signed deal, Upstate patients were given more choices.

During the summer, St. Francis began performing heart surgery, a service formerly monopolized by Greenville Memorial Hospital. And an October rule change by the state means St. Francis now can treat some of the tiniest and sickest babies — infants Greenville Memorial has treated for years.

2000-5

The Greenville Hospital System is in position to remain a strong force in the Upstate. It controls 75 percent of inpatient services, according to a study by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Studying Health System Change.

But local hospitals, doctors and insurers will increasingly face the same difficult issues that stem from demands that they say lower costs without sacrificing quality.

"Economics, I think, are going to cut into medicine and make a lot of these expensive, state-of-the-art things less available," said Dr. Phil Greig, director of fetal and maternal medicine for the Greenville Hospital System.

"Hospitals can't afford to *buy them any more, and insurance companies aren't paying for them," he said. "I think you'll see limitations on availability."

"As we look to the future, our commitment and our promise to Upstate residents is unwavering," Zimmerman said. "We have for years, and will provide in the future, the most advanced medical technology and first-class customer service."


A, SOUTH CAROLINA WWW.THESTATE.COM

Greenberg ready to start work as MUSC presiden • Former provost preparing to take over medical school from retiring President James Edwards

By CHRISTINE SCHWEICKERT Staff Writer

When Ray Greenberg won the top job at the Medical University of South Carolina, no one felt more surprised than Ray Greenberg.

The school had launched a national search and interviewed several candidates, some of whom were medical school presidents.

When that didn't pan out, it began looking within, mulling the possibilities of promoting longshot provost Greenberg or two venerable MUSC physicians with longtime ties to both the university and state.

So, when trustees announced Greenberg's selection during a meeting last October, the provost didn't recognize his own name for a beat or two.

"I had rehearsed the gracious loser look," Greenberg said in an interview earlier this week, wryly likening the selection to the Academy Awards. "It hadn't even occurred to me to rehearse the winner look."

Greenberg's colleagues and friends, though, say they knew different.

"I'm not really surprised at all," said Michael Ibrahim, a mentor and former dean at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, which Greenberg's father established. "It's something that I expected all along."

Departing MUSC president Jim Edwards also said Greenberg "has all the tickets you can imagine — (he's) a Ph.D., an M.D., a pediatrician, an epidemiologist. ... He ran a school of public health. He's a computer guru.

"And in spite of all of that, he has the humility and a sense of humor.

"We're lucky to have him." Plus, Greenberg is only — let's get

this out of the way — 44. If the term wunderkind leaps to

mind, Greenberg wishes it wouldn't. "It's been a big surprise to me how

people react to that as an issue," Greenberg said of his relative youth. "Everything I've done, I've been younger (than the norm)."

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"I had rehearsed the gracious loser look. It hadn't even occurred to me to rehearse the winner look."

— New MUSC President Ray Greenberg, describing his

reaction to the board's announcement of his appointment

Coates, an epidemiologist at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "He commands attention when he comes into a room (and) when he speaks, people listen very carefully."

Coates calls Greenberg a mentor despite the unusual difference in their

What's ahead. As MUSC president, Greenberg will face hefty tasks in three areas — education, research and service.

"By and large, our programs are in very good shape," Greenberg said.

But he sees opportunities to innovate and to expand the school's programs using technology. He also likes the university's new emphasis on training clinical investigators, people who combine clinical work with research.

Greenberg also wants MUSC to continue strengthening its research niches: cancer, heart disease, hypertension and stroke, substance abuse, and disorders of the brain and nervous system.

The university's biggest challenge probably will be money, he said, citing the "big financial clouds" that loom over medical universities —- clouds that affect how the schools care for the working poor.

During their last session, state legislators created a quasi-public hospital authority to manage MUSC's medical center, an idea they found far more palatable than MUSC's proposal to partner with the for-profit Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.

The new plan exempts MUSC from certain state rules designed to ease its budget pinch while keeping it from going private. For example, MUSC won't have to follow state procurement codes and can join national purchasing cooperatives.

Greenberg was MUSC's negotiator with Columbia/HCA.

The new president also isn't sure how MUSC, USC and Clemson University — the state's three research institutions — will work together.

He wonders why South Carolina can't have its own North Carolina-like "research triangle," although the three institutions don't sit close together.

"We can be more coherent" in pushing a common agenda, he said. "You can think about statewide programs in a way that's just not possible ... in neighboring states" because South Carolina is smaller and less populated.

For example, he said, MUSC and Clemson could work together on biomedical engineering and the medicinal use of plant products. With USC, the medical university could work in community outreach, health promo-


Date: Publication: Page:

January 4, 2000 Greenville News 1A Page 1 of 1

Unlike Y2K bug, flu bug infesting the Upstate By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER

The Upstate population of sniffly and feverish people is growing, and with doctors' offices closed for the holiday weekend, many turned to hospitals for treatment.

"Our volume is up — which is why the waits are longer," said Dr. Marty Lutz, medical director/administrator of emergency services for the Greenville Hospital System. "We're seeing lots of upper respiratory-type symptoms, malaise, chills and headaches — all which go with the flu."

But only blood tests — which are typically done on older people at risk for pneumonia —will reveal if the true culprit of a person's symptoms is really the flu bug. Some people toss around the word "flu" when they're probably just talking about a bad cold.

"There is a lot of confusion out there," said Dr. Stephanie Brundage of Cornerstone Family Medicine in Greenville.

While a cold will go away on its own, the flu can cause secondary infections such as pneumonia, which might be overlooked and create bigger health problems.

Those complications are responsible for the hospitalization of 100,000 people and the deaths of 20,000 people in the U.S. every year.

"Flu symptoms are a lot stronger and come on quicker than the typical cold," Brundage said. "Flu symptoms usually go pretty quickly to high fever with really severe muscle aches."

The common cold is caused by many different viruses, which makes it nearly impossible to create a vaccine — so you just have to suffer through it.

But scientists have identified three specific types of viruses that cause influenza, so annual vaccination and/or antiviral drugs can prevent or lessen the effects of the flu for many people.

"You really need to start

them within the first couple days," Lutz said of the antiviral drugs. "They will certainly make your course shorter and more tolerable."

There have only been a handful of reported flu cases so far in the Greenville-Spartanburg area, the last case reported to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control about two weeks ago, Brundage said.

But only those flu cases in which a blood test has been performed are reported to the state. Most cases of the. flu go, unreported because people take medicine and ride the

Cold or flu?

I S K - , Your symptom checklist hiMM',

• Gradual onset of symptoms m Possible mild fever a Mild to moderate body aches m Mild fatigue * Nasel congestion and sneezing Ik Sore throat n Symptoms can last 2 to 4 days I t Lingering congestion can last 5 to 7 days • Complications include sinus infection and earache

High fever (102 to 104 degrees) that lasts 3 to 4 days

Loss of appetite • Muscle aches • Chills a Severe headache • Severe muscle and body aches • Severe fatigue, weakness, exhaustion • Possible sore throat • Severe dry cough • Symptoms can last 4 to 7 days • Lingering fatigue and weakness can last 2 to 3 weeks • Complications include bronchitis and pneumonia

SOURCES: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health

bug out at home. Roughly 3 percent of doctor vis

its in the United States during the week of Dec. 12-18 were related to flu-like symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate was 6 percent in the Southwest and Pacific states.

In some Phoenix-area emergency rooms, flu patients have had to wait 12 to 18 hours to see a doctor. Emergency rooms in Southern California and Wisconsin also report being flooded with flu patients.

Reporting statewide outbreaks in December were Montana, Utah and Washington.

States reporting concentrated outbreaks were Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.

• Stephanie Erickson covers health issues and can be reached at 298-4422.

SUZIE RIDDLE/Staff


Date: January 5, 2000 Publication: The Greer Citizen Page: 7 Page 1 of 3

Allen Bennett Hospital trace its roots to 1946 'lwo young physicians, Dr.

Frank Woodruff and Dr. Lewis Davis, campaigned successfully for Greer to have its own hospital.

(Editor's note) The following ac-cov.r\' of the birth of Allen Bennett \l.-,^; .rial Hospital was written in 1988 i the late Dr. Lewis M. Davis. Aiito, h he takes no personal credit for securing a hospital for Greer in the following article, Dr. Davis him--•oil" played a major role. He worked untiringly to convince the Greenville Hospital System to build the hospital, (to . the project began, Dr. Davis helped \ .".h the design and planning. After the hospital opened. Dr. Davis served as chief of staff of the facility formass years.)

In I 944, a young physician named Dr. Frank Woodruff moved to Greer to open a practice of medicine. He had completed his training at the Greenville General Hospital and moved to Greer in July, 1944. Along about 1946-1947 the idea struck him that Greer could support a small hospital.

He consulted with some of the leading citizens of Greer at that time, and working through the Chamber of Commerce of which some of the members included: Fred Crow, Jess McClimon, Richard Wood, Sr., and many others of whom I do not remember their names. They, in turn, approached Jack Norman who, at that time, was the superintendent of the Greenville General Hospital, a position which today is titled administrator. He, in turn, consulted with the Board of Trustees which included the

leading citizens of Greenville. All trustees at that time had to reside within the city. Fred Sims and Roger Huntington were movers in this project to get a hospital in Greer. They gave strong support as did the entire Board of Trustees.

It was determined that the city of Greer would have to raise $125,000 in order to match the funds from the Hill Burton, Act. With support of the leadingeittzens, this bond issue was passed for $125,000 without difficulty. Mr. and Mrs. B.A. Bennett gave the property on which Allen Bennett was builtrtlhe name Allen Bennett was given to the hospital in memory of the son, Allen, of Mr. and Mrs. B.A. Bennett who was a U.S. Navy physician who was killed in World War II.

In April, 1952, the new 27-bed



January 5, 2000 The Greer Citizen 7 Page 2 of 3

hospital was opened which provided services, but not all of the rate services which the Greenville General Hospital could provide. This was one of the purposes of having a satellite hospital as we could call on the Greenville General Hospital to provide services not available at the Greer Hospital. These services included sending lab work over to the Greenville General as well as patients for special tests.

During the procedure of securing this hospital, it was learned that we were the only hospital within the United States which was considered to be a satellite of another hospital with only one medical staff, that is one who could be a member of the General Hospital staff and the Allen Bennett staff and was operated by the Greenville General and the Board of the Greenville General's Trustees.

There was one other unit in Minnesota which did some purchasing for a smaller hospital, but they had no further control.

Along about this time, the Board of Trustees was enlarged from a city-board to a county-wide board where it is presently operated.

Some time after Allen Bennett was opened, the hospital rooms were not air conditioned and the citizens of the Greer area donated money to buy window units for each room at Allen Bennett. This was a plus, of course, during the hot weather.

A hospital as small as Allen Bennett doesn't have much claim to fame, but we do have two things which we did before anyone else in the state.

Under Hack Botts who was Administrator at that time and Mrs. Virginia Janik who was Operating Room Supervisor, it was suggested by one of the members of the staff that we train our own surgical technicians, which was done, and we had the first surgical technician with on-the-job training in the state of South Carolina. At that time there were no surgical technician schools and now this is a big item in the hospital system to have surgical techs in the operating room.

Also, on all ambulatory admissions lo the hospital, they were sent to the lab to secure their lab work befqre they were put to bed and this improved the efficiency of the lab technicians and reduced wasted time by not requiring the lab techs to go from floor to floor in order to get the lab work done.

Allen Bennett has been added onto three times since it was first constructed and now is in the process of removing some of the old structure and rebuilding. In about a year to a year and a half, we will have a practically new 90-bed institution which will have all of the modern, up-to-date equipment which other new hospitals will have.

I wish to thank all of the members of the Board of Trustees over the years who have been supportive of Allen Bennett which has meant a great deal to the Greer area and to the people of this community and has provided excellent health care at a convenient area.

I think the citizens of this area owe a debt of gratitude to the Greenville Hospital System.

This is how the Greenville Hospital System was born. Later on, Hillcrest Hospital was built in Simpsonville and a Travelers Rest area hospital was also built.

Something which could probably not be done now-in 1952, when Allen Bennett was opened, the Board of Trustees decreed that there would be no patients admitted to the Allen Bennett unless they had insurance or could pay for their admission. This would be difficult to institute under the present conditions.

Lewis M. Davis, M.D.

About the author: Dr. Lewis M. Davis was a native

of Donalds, S.C, where his father was the Postmaster. He obtained an AB degree from Erskine College in 1939,and an MD Degree from the Medical University of South Caro

lina. Dr. Davis did three years of post graduate work in surgery, and served for two years in the Medical Corps in the U.S Army.

Upon completion of his military service, Dr. Davis moved to Greer in 1948 and became a partner with Dr. Woodruff in the Doctor's Clinic. He practiced surgery in Greer for 37 years, retiring in July, 1985.

The following year, Davis as elected a Commissioner of Public Works and was re-elected in 1992. He also was active in the Greer Chamber of Commerce, serving as President in 1972 for two terms.

Dr. Davis was a Deacon and Elder of the First Presbyterian Church, a member of the Board of Visitors of the Medical University of South Carolina, a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons and International College of Surgeons, and served as a director of the Bank of Greer and later United Carolina Bank.

He was married to the former Caroline Westmoreland of Spartanburg,a nd the are the parents of" a son, Dr. Lewis M. Davis Jr. of Atlanta. Ga.



D r e a m COme t r u e - a half century ago, Allen Bennett Memorial Hospital was only a dream of two Greer physicians, Dr. Lewis M. Davis and Dr. Frank Woodruff. Today, it is a 90-bed full service hospital, complete with emergency room and intensive care unit, serving the growing Greer community.



M i l l e n n i u m M a n Little John Robert Fletcher was the first scheduled baby delivered at Allen Bennett Hospital to start the new century. Proud parents Jason Elliot Fletcher and Sarah Melanie Williams of Lyman hold their new born son. John Robert arrived Sunday, January 2 at 6:37 a.m. weighing in at five pounds, 11 ounces.


Date: January 5, 2000 Publication: Tribune Times Page: 12B Page 1 of 2

Hospital director strives for healthy balance

By Anne V. Lutz Tribune-Times Editor

Mark Slyter does a balancing act every day.

As the administrator of the Hillcrest Hospital for the past three years, Slyter works each day to ensure the Golden Strip hospital provides cost-effective quality care for patients.

As part of the Greenville Hospital System, Hillcrest Hospital in Simpsonville — which has served the Golden Strip community since 1963 — is an integral part in the health and well-being of the residents of this area, Slyter said.

Slyter, who received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Kansas, is the youngest hospital administrator in the state.

"I worked with some administrators during college and initially I had thought I would go into medicine," he said. "But after working with the administrators and talking about different issues in health care, I decided to go into hospital administration. It has been a perfect fit."

Slyter said after college he applied for a fellowship with several hospitals and took a position with the Greenville Hospital System. He worked for five months with Bland Burkhardt, the chief operating officer with the Greenville Hospital System.

In 1997, the administrator at Hillcrest Hospital left, and Slyter was asked to fill in until a candidate for the position could be found. After six months as interim administrator, Slyter was named the administrator.

"It is generally unusual for someone that young to be in a position of that much authority, but Mark is a very capable young man and well-educated," Burkhardt said. "He is very good at setting and obtaining goals."

Over the past three years, Slyter has seen much growth in the community as well as changes in the hospital.

Keeping up with the growth can be a taxing job. But by being a part of the community, the hospital is able to know the needs of the community and respond, Slyter said.

Slyter is heavily involved in the community. He is a member of many local Committees and serving on the boards of the Simpsonville Rotary Club, Simpsonville Area Chamber of Commerce, Simpsonville 2001 Committee, Golden Strip YMCA and the Greenville Technical Colleges' Brashier Campus.

"It is critical in a community hospital for the administrator to be very visible and active," he said. "In all the meetings, others rely on me to address issues related to health."

Ed Brashier, president of the Simpsonville Area Chamber of Commerce and who also serves on many of the same committees with Slyter, said Slyter's influence can be felt in the Golden Strip.

"He is involved in many different aspects of the community," Brashier said. "He is tremendously insightful and he has a broad knowledge of the inter-workings of the hospital and what the community needs."

Eric Nelson, executive director of the Golden Strip YMCA, said Slyter is quick to find ways that the hospital can promote health through the*YMCA.

"He is very valuable in helping the hospital and Y work together," Nelson said.

Teamwork plays a major role in Slyter's job and Burkhardt said the staff at Hillcrest is one reason for Slyter's success.

"You are only as good as your staff and Hillcrest Hospital has a dedicated group of employees," Burkhardt said.

Caroline Smith, an administrative assistant at the hospital for 24 years, said many of the more than 200 hospital employees live in the Golden Strip area. • "That allows them to be more in tune with the needs of the area and also helps them add the personal touch," she said.

She said Slyter works hard at encouraging employee morale.

"He makes rounds and makes a point to visit the departments," she said.

Employee relations is a major part of his job, Slyter said.

"Rather than 200 people working for me, I see myself working for

*200 people," he said. "When you get a team behind you that is supportive, there is nothing more rewarding than to see happy employees and physicians."

With the long hours involved in fulfilling the duties as the hospital administrator, Slyter works hard to have a life outside of the hospital.

"My job does not define who I am. I am very involved with my church, family and friends," he said. "I do put in a lot of hours, but at the same time this is not all that is in my life."

A big draw to the area for Slyter is all the activities in and around the Upstate.



January 5, 2000 Tribune Times 12B Page 2 of 2

"Growing up in Kansas, there was not a lot of option for things to do," said Slyter, who likes to travel and play golf. "So when I came down here, I was like a kid in a candy store."

In the future, Slyter plans to lead the hospital's growth.

"We expect to double the amount of emergency care visits," he said.

To handle the growth, the hospital is enlarging the emergency room area. Construction will begin in about a year.

The expansion and growth of services will affect all departments, said Tony Brown, pharmacy manager at the hospital for 20 years.

"As the ER numbers grow, it starts to impact all the other services that supports the ER get impacted," he said.

Slyter sees the growth as a challenge and an opportunity for Hillcrest Hospital to better serve the community. ,

Jeff Richardson, chairman of Simpsonville 2001, said the medical community in Simpsonville is one of the area's biggest enticements and having Slyter's help to plan Simpsonville's growth is a plus.

"He brings with him his keen intellect and his can-do, will-do attitude," Richardson said.

Burkhardt said Slyter is able to get things done because the staff and community like and respect him.

"He is an outstanding young administrator with a very bright future," Burkhardt said.

GWINN DAVIS / Staff-

Mark Slyter has been at the helm of Hillcrest Hospital's expansion and modernization.


Date: January 6, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 8A Page 1 of 1

Cancer center staff deserves recognition

We have recently had a situation with our 2-year-old daughter that warranted several trips to the Pediatric Hematology Oncology Center in the cancer center at Greenville Memorial Hospital. Our situation thankfully turned out to be relatively minor and of no serious consequence. My reason for this letter is to commend all of the doctors, nurses, lab technicians, volunteers and office staff at the cancer center. During each of our visits there, they remained tirelessly upbeat, friendly and truly caring.

After our first visit there, I commented to my doctor that it was the most depressing place I had ever been. He told me that God had blessed me by allowing me to experience such a place. During subsequent visits to the Cancer Center, I

began to believe that I had been truly blessed by being allowed to see God working through all of these wonderful people there. We only have one more visit to the * Cancer Center scheduled and hope it will be our last. But I can truly say that instead of dreading it, I am looking forward to seeing those who have become friends.

Karia L. Littleton Simpsonville


Date: January 6, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1D Page 1 of 1

Area HMO prepares to give up license HealthFirst waits for final audit by S.C. insurance department By Jeff Bennett BUSINESS WRITER

The Upstate's only locally owned and operated health maintenance organization will dissolve in 11 days when it turns in its operating license to the state.

HealthFirst Inc., which once covered 18,000 people, closed its doors on Dec. 31 and is scheduled to undergo an audit by the South Carolina Department of Insurance on Jan. 17.

The company is expected to surrender its license then, said Clayton Ingram, a spokesman for the insurance department.

"The market did not develop as a lot of HMOs expected," Ruth Shuck, HealthFirst president and chief executive officer, said Wednesday. "The market is preferring choice offered in preferred provider organizations and point of service."

A PPO typically has more doctors to choose from and members can see a specialist without a referral. A POS allows members to see a doctor within the network or pay the higher out-of-pocket expenses to see a physician outside the network. Both coverage options are traditionally more expensive than HMOs.

Over the past 15 months, three HMO providers, including HealthFirst, have exited the market, reducing the number to 15. The others were Maxicare North Carolina Inc. and Kanawha Healthcare Inc.

HealthFirst — jointly owned by the Greenville Hospital System, Anderson Area Medical Center and Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System — announced in October it would cease operations after GHS said it would no longer support HealthFirst.

GHS, which had a 46 percent stake in HealthFirst, blamed its decision to drop the HMO on lower Medicare and Medicaid payments.

HealthFirst had failed to post a profit since its incorporation in September 1996 and lost a total of $17.1 million as of Sept. 30, 1999, according to the department of insurance. Industry experts say it historically takes five years for an

HMO to become profitable. Shuck said all HealthFirst mem

bers have found new insurance providers. About 3,000 switched to HMO Blue, the HMO operated by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina.

Another 4,000 are now covered by different health insurers, and the remaining 11,000 were hospital employees who were moved to the

respective hospital's self-funded plan.

Shuck said most of the Health-First's employees have found new jobs and many have moved from the area.

"Local employers were very helpful in providing our employees with on-site interviews," she said. "About six of the 82 we started with have not found new jobs. They tend to be the mid-level and professional types of people who are very selective about their next jobs."



Red alert: Upstate overrun by flu bug Dreaded sick season arrives early By Cindy Landrum STAFF WRITER

ANDERSON — The flu is running rampant in the Upstate, prompting one hospital Thursday to ask people to limit visits to its patients in an effort to curtail the bug's spread.

Anderson Area Medical Center has seen a "significant increase" in the number of patients hospitalized with upper respiratory illnesses, including the flu and pneumonia, said Dr. Roger Ray, vice president of medical affairs.

"We believe that during times like these, fewer visitors to the hospital may be better," he said.

Other Upstate hospitals also are seeing more sniffly and feverish patients, but aren't calling for similar measures.

Greenville Memorial Hospital has seen more patients with flu-like symptoms since the holidays, spokeswoman Inez Hannon said.

The hospital went on "red alert" Thursday morning and was asking that all patients who were likely to need intensive care, coronary care or other monitor beds not be transferred there, she said. She couldn't say whether that was due to the flu.

Tina Jury, chief nursing officer at St. Francis Hospital, said January has been like any other January. If the situation worsens, the hospital "might take a look at something like limiting visitors," she said. "But it isn't much of a prob

lem now." Simpsonville's Joyce Parker

knows just how quickly the flu can spread.

She spent nearly the whole week between Christmas and New Year's in bed doctoring her flu-like symptoms. On Thursday, two young grandchildren in tow, Parker was in an Anderson pharmacy stocking up on medicine for her daughter, Anne, who has it now.

"My husband was the first to get it. Then I got it and we passed it on to my daughter's family," Parker said. "It's rough this year. I don't remember ever being that sick with the flu."

So far, 38 confirmed cases of the flu have been reported in South Carolina, including cases in Greenville, Pickens, Laurens and Greenwood counties, said Thom Berry, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

All have been Influenza A H3N2 — Sydney strain, one of the three strains included in this year's flu vaccine.

Most cases go unreported because people doctor themselves or don't have samples taken to confirm the diagnosis if they do go to the doctor, he said.

Flu season normally peaks in January and February.

There also are a number of upper respiratory illnesses that mimic the flu, said Dixie Roberts, a nurse consultant in the agency's division of epidemiology.

Flu strain is back, hitting hard Many Americans havecaught influenza this season even though they had received the current flu vaccine shot. Normal flu season*

I New vaccine H U . is made each . . . spring to fighUhai year s viruses

Spring: New, mutated : flu viruses appear in

East Asia

October to Reaches

•Western . ^ . slates • > ' flPnl:

November Reaches

sLast cases occur

This year, virus making a rare third appearance

B This year's dominant flu virus originated in 1997 and has caused flu for three seasons W, It's been 25 years since a virus of this type returned a second year

• I Three times as many people got flu shots this year as did 10 years ago

I I The vaccine would normally be very effective against a returning virus, but flu deaths have increased this winter

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0

Flu and pneumonia deaths each week in 122 U.S. cities

Dec. 11-18*: 930

1999-2000

1998-99

July ' Aug. I Sept.

'Latest data available

SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Oct. I Nov. i Dec.

KRT



January 12, 2000 Greenville News City People 1 Page 1 of 2

I t's funny how a new year affects different people in different ways.

For some, this is a time of hope that it will be a good year, and why not? It's too early in the year not to be good, and you know what they say about hope springing eternal. Just so you'll recognize these people if you see them, they're the ones still slapping people on the back and shouting "happy new year" as a greeting to everyone they see.

On the other hand, we tend to forget that for some it is a time of great anxiety. They manage to put their problems on the back burner from Thanksgiving until New Year's Day has passed, and, now that it's over, they are left with the same Worries they had when the holidays started.

A new year can be like that for all of us at one time or another. After all of the hoopla, you look around to see the same old you sitting in the middle of the same old stuff, just doing it in the middle of a brand new year.

Is that you? If so, things are looking up already, because today I am talking to you. Yes, you. And here is what I came to say: Do not give up.

KIM M i n • EHltia IHE 5CENE5

Just get up. You don't have to smile, have spring in your step, or act particularly joyful about it, but I have found it is important that you start by moving forward, just a little bit for today.

Secondly, find comfort in the fact that statistics show that half of the things people worry about won't ever even happen — not in this new year, not in the next. Not to you and not to me and not to those we love. No, not even to the ones you worried about all last night.

So, take heart. Even you have to admit that there is something hopeful about the word "new," and things do always seem to get better given a little time.

Forget all of that other stuff, and put your energies toward not giving up and keeping moving just a little bit today. Think about it this way. If nothing else, it is guaranteed to keep you a

few steps ahead of those baekslappers.

Treasure the Children One thing that never fails

to make me feel more hopeful is to think about how much potential can be found in our children. "An Evening to ... Treasure the Children," is the perfect opportunity to do just that. Keep reading to see how you can help the little treasures in our community.

"An Evening to ... Treasure the Children" is a gala auction Jan. 28 benefiting the Children's Hospital of the

}.

See GkLkonpage 15



January 12, 2000 Greenville News City People 1 Page 2 of 2

Gala will help raise funds to buy equipment

Cont inued f rom Page 1

Greenville Hospital System. Chairmen for the event this

year are Carolina Bryan and Joyce Medlin, backed by a host of committed volunteers.

Mary Pat Minor, chairman of publicity for the event, says, "100 percent of the work is done by volunteers who are willing to give time and talent every two years to this biannual event."

Musette Hunter, donor relations manager for Greenville Hospital System Foundation, is quick to second that vote. "The volunteers make it happen because of their compassion for children at the hospital," says Hunter. "The Children's Hospital has a lot of needs, and our Children's Development Council does a needs assessment and then votes on where the proceeds of this event will go."

This year's funds are designated for a new Neonatal ICU isolette/warmer versette, an incubator with unique features that most fully meet the environmental needs of a premature infant.

The proceeds will also be used for "Touchpoint" books by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton that aim at building infant/parent relationships, to be given to parents of infants who receive care in the pediatric clinic; a new Dual Probe Digitrapper Mark 111, a

state-of-the-art piece of equipment needed by the Infant Apnea Program; and new furnishings for the Breastfeeding Room.

Carolina Bryan, co-chairman, says, "I really believe that children are God's greatest gift and our future. We should all want to make sure that they have a healthy start and that we leave a legacy of positive attitudes."

The evening will include delicious food, fun and an opportunity to acquire artworks, fine jewelry, dinners, services and more through a live auction conducted by Perry Eichor. Late-night dance music will be provided by The Flashbacks.

Salli Alexander, past chairman of the event, says she wouldn't want to miss the evening. "The committee this year has done such a great job. It has grown so much that we have moved to a larger place to accommodate more guests."

That place will be The Poinsett Club, and time will be 7:30 p.m. Reservations are $40 per person and include cocktails and heavy hors d'oeuvres.

For tickets or more information, please call Musette Hunter, GHS Foundation, 455-8318.

• Write to Kim Hassold at City People, c/o The Greenville News, P.O. Box 1688, Greenville, S.C. 29601. The fax number is 298-4395.


Date: January 12, 2000 Publication: The Greer Citizen Page: 1A Page 1 of 1

Flu outbreak (ills all beds at Allen Bennett Hospital

Beds at Allen Bennett Hospital are at a premium as Greer area residents combat the annual flu plague.

"Last week we were actually full and were holding some patients in the Emergency Room waiting on beds to become available," noted Allen Bennett Administrator Mickey Massey. "This week we are close to capacity. We have five or six empty beds in the hospital now."

Each year an estimated 10 to 20 percent of the population suffers from the flu. This year is no exception.

"I think it is somewhat worse than last year," related family practice physician Bill Byars. "It was almost like they all hit as soon as Christmas day was over."

The no vacancy at Allen Bennett is not entirely due to flu patients. The exact percentage of beds occupied by flu patients is not known.

"We are going through the same thing we went through at this time last year," Massey explained. "Usually patients end up in the hospital because of some other health problem and they have flu like symptoms."

With the flu impacting a tenth of the population, it does not take long to fill hospital beds. Dr. Byars ex

plained, "There is only a small percentage of flu patients that have to go in the hospital. If you look at the number of hospital beds'and 20 percent of the population gets the flu, it takes less than one to percent to fill the up the hospital."

This is the third consecutive year the nation has battled the Sydney strain of type a flu. Although this year's flu shots include defense against the Sydney strain, Dr. Byars says the shot only offers about a 70 to 80 percent success rate and is no guarantee of escaping the flu.

The primary symptoms of the flu include cough, fever, body aches, and occasionally soreness of the throat and nausea. "This time of year with what is going around, if you have a fever and ache all over, chances are that you have it even if you don't have much of a cough," Byars stressed.

According to Dr. Byars, the flu is best treated if detected early. "In order to lessen the severity of the flu, it needs to be treated the first day or two that the symptoms appear," he explained.

This year patients that detect their flu symptoms early, a being given a new drug that is inhaled, Relenza:

The flu symptoms usually persist for at least a week. Fever associated with the flu is usually gone in two to five days. Fatigue that accompanies the flu can last for several weeksT

Persons wanting to dodge the flu should avoid large crowds, wash their hands often, and keep their hands away from their mouth and nose. •

"It is a little late for flu shots now. The best time for shots is October and November." Dr. Byars added. "People that did not take the shot or those at high risk for complications of the flu can take medications that are given during a flu epidemic. These drugs are probably underutilized and we are trying to make people aware they have this option."

The possibility of catching the flu normally lingers until spring. Massey elaborated, "It depends on how long winter lasts. It usually picks up the end of November every year and we will have this kind of situation through March and sometimes into April depending upon the weather."



January 16, 2000 Greenville News Upstate Business 4 Page 1 of 1

Boards, Associations The Greenville Hospital Sys

tem Foundation has appointed Anthony J. Meyer Jr. its new president; and Andrew B. Cajka Jr., chairman; Grady Wyatt, vice chairman; and Lester A. Hudson Jr., secretary/treasurer.

The foundation serves the community as the fund-raising arm for GHS to develop areas of support for research, patient care and education.

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Meyer Cajka Wyatt Hudson



MUSC p res iden t : Coopera te on hea l th p rob lems He wants to see statewide initiatives By Bruce Smith THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHARLESTON — The new president of the Medical University of South Carolina wants the state's medical community to put aside the turf battles and intense competition and work together to solve the daunting health problems facing South Carolinians.

"We all need to stretch ourselves beyond what our limited expectations were," Dr. Raymond Greenberg said. "We're all in this together."

Greenberg, 44, became head of the 2,300-student school this month, succeeding former Gov. James B. Edwards, as MUSC moves beyond some of the disputes around it in recent years.

A plan to lease three of its hospitals to Columbia-HCA Healthcare Corp. has been abandoned after strong opposition locally and in the General Assembly, and lawmakers last year agreed to create a public authority to operate the hospitals.

The authority, to begin operation July 1, will allow MUSC to trim costs by giving it more flexibility than many other state agencies in scheduling employees arid purchasing. MUSC, one of two medical schools in the state, has about 8,000 employees and an $840 million yearly budget. The other is run by

the Umversity ot South Carolina in Columbia.

"What became clear to us in the process of the discussions about Columbia-HCA were the real sensitivities many people have about a private entity operating a component of a public entity," Greenberg said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

The business end is important, he said, "but I don't think that's the reason any of us went to medical school."

What he would like to see is medical providers around the state working more closely together to solve some of the state's health problems.

South Carolina is in the middle of the so-called stroke belt, eight out of 10 residents do not exercise regularly and the state ranks No. 13 in the nation in the annual rate of new cases of HIV.

Greenberg, who came to the university five years ago as provost and vice president for academic affairs, said he had received several dozen letters from physicians congratulating him.

"Among the physicians there is a great desire to come together for the patients," he said. "With a change in (MUSC) leadership, there is an opportunity to build back some of the bridges that over the events of the last few years have been undercut."

Greenberg, whose back

ground is in public health — he was the founding dean of Emory University's School of Public Health at age 35 — would like to see a statewide initiative to reduce high blood pressure. He says, however, that competition and a false perception that once patients are referred to MUSC they don't return to their doctors can hamper such efforts.

It's not important which group or institution takes the lead, as long as health care providers cooperate, he said.

Indeed, he said, statewide efforts to improve health should ultimately mean fewer sick people and so fewer patients for the state's largest medical school.

"The whole idea is not to bring patients to the medical umversity," he said. "In fact, it could have the opposite impact, if you do it well."


Date: Publication Page:

January 19, 2000 The Greenville News 1A Page 1 of 3

Patients flock to Eastside facility Center in black when red ink was expected By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER

They knew it would be a good move — eventually. Now, bringing in more dollars than expected, they're seeing just how good and how soon.

The Greenville Hospital System last year began offering outpatient medical services on Greenville's Eastside, citing the rapidly growing area as a hot spot for medical care. Officials projected the Eastside Outpatient Center would not do well during the start-up year, which is often the case with new facilities.

But after an up-and-down financial start — the center lost $361,000 during its first five months — business has taken off as area residents tap into its services.

Having a closer outpatient center has been a blessing for people like Allen Ricker, a 69-year-old who had a tumor in his lung and needed 25 consecutive days of radiation treatments as well as chemotherapy three days a month for six months.

Ricker has had to drive home after treatments with a chemotherapy drug flowing through his veins. It's a 15-minute drive to his home in Simpsonville compared with a 30-minute trip he would have had to make from Greenville Memorial. That time adds up.

"It worked out great," Ricker said.

At a time when the hospital system has had to cut services and more than $15 million from its operating budget to offset losses systemwide, the Eastside facility has become a bright spot on the balance sheet.

"It's not so much that we

See PATIENTS on to'i




PATIENTS FROM PAGE 1A

are raking in all this money — we're just seeing a lot more patients than we thought we would," said Robyn Zimmerman, GHS spokeswoman.

It's worked out great for the hospital system, too.

Just two months into the fiscal year that started Oct. 1, the outpatient center off Pelham Road had made $319,000 — or almost $500,000 above an expected loss of $174,000. Among the system's hospitals, clinics and offices, the Eastside facility had the best showing. Its annual budget is $1.2 million.

The hospital's chief financial officer will present December numbers to the board next week but said the trend looks positive.

As mote Eastside services are used, GHS continues adding them, which results in doctors referring an increasing number of patients to the Eastside for procedures such as outpatient plastic surgery and X-rays.

"I think convenience is one of the major issues associated with the growth," Zimmerman said. "People have been finding out about it; they're using the services, and they're telling their friends."

The 58-bed Allen Bennett Hospital in Greer is also off to a good start. In the first two months of the fiscal year, the hospital, with a budget of $1.5 million, brought in $364,000 more than expected during the period.

Hospital officials credit some of the growth there to babies.

Four years ago, doctors did not deliver babies at Allen Bennett. Now the hospital delivers about 400 infants a year.

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Ready for surgery: Nurses Sheila Calvert, left, and Deb Tharpe prepare an operating room at the Eastside Outpatient Center. ; *

The hospital also is expanding its emergency room as well as outpatient surgery and radiology services.

GHS's North Greenville Hospital in Travelers Rest brought in $80,000 more than hospital officials projected in its $1.5 million budget.

Simpsonville's Hillcrest Hospital, however, brought in $155,000 in October and November — $295,000 less than projected in its $4 million budget.

The hospital was "significantly behind budget" for the first two months of the fiscal year, according to Paul Briggs, chief financial officer for the Hospital System.

Hospital officials say they believe the downturn is only temporary and that the figure is uncharacteristic of Hillcrest, which took in $3.6 million last fiscal year — $1.9 million more than projected. They say the 46-bed hospital is now full.

"We have set very high budget projections for Hillcrest because it has been above budget every year," Zimmerman said. "This is not a trend. Hillcrest is still making money and is doing very well."

Zimmerman said flu season's late arrival and the relocation of "several key referring physicians" may have played a role in the patient

volume decline in October and November.

Copher Burns, head of radiology at Hillcrest, said the number of patients seeking treatment is on the upswing. "We're really picking up now," he said.


Date: January 19, 2000 Publication: The Greenville News Page: 1A Page 3 of 3

The hospital system is continuing to invest in Hillcrest. In November, a fourth operating room opened, and the emergency room is being expanded.

The radiology department is installing a new spiral CT scanner, which will allow radiologists to scan patients in half the time and produce better images. "It's the newest equipment and will be one of four in the country," Burns said.

The Eastside's outpatient center that is doing better than expected opened in May to offer cancer

treatment, radiology, outpatient surgery, urgent care, a laboratory and a pharmacy.

The two-story 115,000-square-foot facility attached to the back of a physicians' office building also includes an observation unit where patients can stay for up to 23 hours while recovering from surgery.


Staff Writer Jeff Bennett contributed to this story.




DHEC: We're getting fatter More in state are obese now than 10 years ago, report says By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER

At some restaurants you can chow down on heaping mounds of deep-fried shrimp and hush puppies or dig into slices of pizza with all your favorite toppings until your pants buttons pop — all for one low price.

Alongside some of those all-you-can-eat buffets are fast food restaurants where you can "super size" your order of grease-cooked french fries and wash down the whole cholesterol-packed feast with a bucket-sized cup of sugar-laden soda.

From massive bowls of ice cream to longer-than-a-foot submarine sandwiches, food portions everywhere are getting bigger.

So are we. More than half of adults in

South Carolina are overweight, according to a report being published this month by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Sixty percent of the state's men and 47 percent of the women are overweight or obese, and the number of children and adults combined who are overweight or obese increased from 46 percent in 1987 to 55 percent in 1997, according to a draft of the report presented to the Legislature.

State lawmakers commissioned the DHEC report in July, saying they wanted to know the severity of the obesity problem in South Carolina.

"I think the state bringing these to light and printing these statistics is very important," said Vonda Leonard, a nutrition specialist at the" Greenville Hospital SysteniTs Diabetes Care Center.

DHEC officials say that by identifying obesity as a serious problem and offering solutions they can, encourage people to adopt healthier lifestyles.

"We need to increase the awareness and let more people know this is a problem," said Phyllis Allen, director of DHEC's Office of Public Health Nutrition. "It's an epidemic."

The report offers suggestions on curbing the rising trend of obesity, including reintroducing mandatory physical education classes on' a

See FkTonpage3k




FAT FROM PAGE 1A

frequent basis in high schools and middle schools.

"Kids are not as active and kids are eating a lot of higher fat foods," Allen said. "If you become obese as a child it is very difficult. Generally, that carries on to adulthood."

The DHEC report comes less than a month after a top federal health official declared that yanking Americans out of their sedentary-lifestyle is one of the nation's biggest public-health challenges for the next century.

Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there is increasingly more scientific evidence that relates obesity to serious illnesses, including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis and arthritis.

For Steven Gentry of Easley, being overweight meant lots of restless nights. Extra pounds can result in sleep apnea, which causes a person to stop breathing briefly during sleep due to fatty tissue build up in the throat.

His wife Catty, coincidentally, is the lifestyle counselor at the Southeast Regional Sleep Disorders Center in Greenville. A year ago, weighing in at 404 pounds, Steven joined a "lifestyle change" program there.

A low-fat diet and walking has helped the Greenville CPA shave 110 pounds off his 6-foot-6-inch frame.

Gone are chocolate bars, cakes and sugary sodas.

Gone are hamburger-and-french fry lunches.

When Gentry was losing weight — now he uses a stair machine and tension exercise bands to maintain and tone — he walked during lunch, even if just 15 to 20 minutes.

He parked his car in an Augusta Road parking lot a few blocks away from a Subway restaurant. He then walked there, where he ordered a low-calorie turkey sub.

Every extra little bit of walking helped, said Gentry, 35.

"And during the past year I've learned more about nutrition," he said.

GHQ's Leonard blames obesity in Greenville in part on the high number of restaurants.

"The amount of eating out is incredible," she said. "And usually when you eat out, the foods that are available are higher in calories, higher in fat and higher in sodium."

ARE YOU OBESE?

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control uses the Body Mass Index (BMI), which measures body fat percentage, to determine obesity.

How to calculate your BMI: 1) Multiply your height in inches by itself 2) Divide your weight in pounds by that number 3) Multiply that number by 704.5 Obese: greater than 30 Overweight: 25 to 29 Healthy weight: 19 to 25

Larger and larger food portions don't help.

" 'All you can eat' is not a good thing," she said.

DHEC's Allen said marketers of bigger portion sizes are not solely to blame.

"It's partially consumer demand," she said. "Consumers want more value for their money."

The report, which drew some of its projections from national data, indicates that in South Carolina:

• More men than women are fat. • People ages 50 to 59 are

heavier than all other ages groups. • African-Americans carry more

weight than Caucasians, with two-thirds of African-American women being overweight or obese.

Such obesity raises health care costs.

An October study by the American Medical Association attributed an estimated 280,000 deaths a year to being overweight, but said the figure could be as high as 374,000.

"It's really an epidemic that needs to be curbed through awareness programs and education and doctors referring people to dietitians for individualized meal plans," she said.

Allen wants to see some kind of task force — of researchers, public health experts and people from various communities — established to help tackle obesity.

"We need some sort of body that will look at the problem of obesity and collect more data," she said. "Many people must be involved. People at the community level can help structure programs and initiatives that work in their area."

What works with one group of people may not work /with another group.

"I think we can turn this around," Allen said. "It's just going to take a concentrated effort."




TANYA ACKERMAN/ Staff

Race for life: Drs. Bill Casey, left, Rick Miller and Patrick Culumovic focus on stopping the bleeding inside Bill Nichols, a 79-year-old car accident victim.

Greenville trauma teams pull lives back from brink By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER

The eyes of three surgeons remain fixed on the uncontrolled bleeding inside William "Bill" Worth Nichols.

Time is running out for the father of eight and grandfather of 12.

It's 4:45 p.m., and three pairs of rubber-gloved hands have been working for 21 minutes, but the crash was much earlier, and now it's well past the "golden hour," a limited time for restoring life functions quickly. If that window is missed, fatal brain damage or irreversible shock can occur.

"We have to get out of here," Dr. Rick Miller says

IN DIMENSION • A closer look at the rising demand for trauma care at Greenville Memorial Hospital. Page 1F

through a green surgical mask and clear face shield.

His hands check for tears along the intestines and then swiftly begin to stitch — ignoring layers of muscle and sewing the top layer of skin. Blood trickles through the stitching.

Miller has known his 79-year-old patient for 2 hours, 9 minutes.

The five women pacing a quiet hallway of Greenville Memorial Hospital just two

floors below have known him much longer.

To more than 4,000 patients since 1995, the hospital's three trauma surgeons have become heroes. And for the more than 300 who have died — and for those to come — the surgeons are grief counselors to family and friends.

Miller, 42, is uncertain which role he'll find himself in when it comes time to talk to the five Nichols children who live in the Greenville area.

To those daughters, Bill Nichols is a father in perfect health, a great-grandfather of 10 and a former construction worker who still enjoys planting flowers in his yard.



January 23, 2000 The Greenville News 1B Page 1 of 2

New Upstate procedure makes sterilization safer and faster By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER

Surgical sterilization that leaves scars and can put women at risk of infection could become obsolete thanks to a little metal coil and a research study involving several Upstate women.

Greenville Memorial Hospital is one of two U.S. sites and several worldwide where a woman can visit a doctor and walk out of the office less than an hour later with a titanium coil implanted in her fallopian tubes.

"One day, when my daughter has had her family, and she's done all she wants to in that respect, I can look at her and say. 'Let me tell you what I helped introduce,'" said 40-year-old Diane Barden of Berea, who about four months ago became the seventh U.S. patient to welcome the new contraceptive contraption into her life.

"It made me feel like I would have a very important part in what went down in history," said Barden, who has a 17-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter.

Having a third child would be "too life-altering" for the nursing home administrative assistant and her husband Tom.

With preliminary studies complete, the U.S. biomedical company Conceptus, which designed the device, wants to recruit several dozen more women into the trial, with hopes of approval this year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"I think within 10 years the

OWEN RILEY JR. / Staff

Less wait ing in this room: Dr. Tom Price sits in a procedure room in his Greenville offices where he performs a new kind of sterilization that can be done in twenty minutes under local anesthetic.

majority of all sterilizations will be done in the office using this procedure," said Dr. Tom Price, director of reproductive endocrinology for the Greenville Hospital System.

See SURGERYon page7B

Want to know more?

• If you are age 24 to 42, have had at least one child, and are considering sterilization, call 455-4106 to find out more about the research study involving the Stop coil.


Date: January 23, 2000 Publication: The Greenville News Page: 1B Page 2 of 2

SURGERY FROM PAGE 1B

An estimated 13 million sterilization procedures are performed worldwide on women each year. During surgical fallopian tube sterilization — the most prevalent method of contraception — doctors typically cut through the abdomen and then tie, cut or cauterize the tubes.

The risks associated with surgery, including the risk of general anesthesia, combined with inherent costs and recovery time, make conventional sterilization procedures less than ideal.

Surgical sterilization costs about $2,500 to $3,500.

Although the price of the new procedure hasn't been established, it "will most likely be cheaper," Price said.

The coil, known as Stop, causes a reaction that makes the tubes scar down around the metal and close off, which keeps sperm and eggs from ever meeting — no incisions, no general anesthesia required.

: The doctors uses a small scope to guide the device up into the uterus

and to the entrance of the fallopian tubes.

But unlike surgical sterilization, which can be reversed about 75 percent of the time, the coil is 100 percent permanent, Price said.

"Although there are some very minor medical risks, the greatest risk of the whole thing was that it wouldn't work," Barden said.

But results of the new procedure have so far been good. There have been no reported pregnancies to date and there are few side effects associated with the 20-minute procedure.

Mild cramping during the procedure and for about one week after is one possible side effect.

"I went home, went to sleep that night, got up the next morning and went to work," Barden said.

Women with the -coil must use other forms of contraception for three months. At that time doctors inject dye into the uterus to ensure the tubes are blocked.

Along with Greenville, trials have been under way for several months in Australia, Belgium and Arizona.



Date: January 23, 2000 Publication: The Greenville News Page: 1F Page 1 of 7

Photographs by"

Life-saving team: A team of as many as 12 converges on the trauma bay to treat patients who have been stabbed, shot and injured in car wrecks.



Trauma: Condition critical Number treated has nearly doubled in past five years

I t s t a r t s here : Upstate patients' f ight for life begins when paramedics whisk them through the automatic sliding doors to the trauma bay at Greenville Memorial Hospital.

• The number of trauma patients at Greenville Memorial Hospital has nearly doubled in five years.

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• Of the 5,124 patients admitted from 1995 through August 1999:

68 percent men 32 percent women

40 percent age 21 to 40 22 percent age 41 to 60 '

77 percent white 20 percent black

3 percent hispanic 6 percent died

Breakdown of the injuries

Stabbing 251

Other 810

Total MVA* 2,703

•Motor vehicle accident

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Gunshot wound 360 / Motorcycle

j L . driver 285 toitoto.

Fall 715

Trach: During a tracheostomy, an opening is made in the windpipe (through the neck) and a tube is inserted to maintain an airway.

Intubate: Insert a tube through the mouth into the larynx (the upper end of the windpipe, below the tongue).

Ml: Myocardial infarction (heart attack)

RCP: Roger C. Peace Rehabgatipn. Hospital, the temporary home for some trauma patients.

Greens: The green "scrubs"

(sterile clothing) worn by medical staff.

TS: The 0-12 trauma score is based on factors such as blood pressure and respiratory rate. A trauma patient with a score of 0 is deceased.

ISS: The injury severity score. Each of six body regions is given a degree of severity. The highest score is 75. Patients with a score above 16 are badly injured.

MVA: Motor vehicle accident GSW: Gunshot wound



One man's journey to SUZIE RIDDLE/St

life begins at death's door By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER

In a split second, their lives converge.

A mundane trip to Bi-Lo turns tragic'.for Bill Nichols and his wife, Ruth, when their' 1981 Buick;Collides with another car .add crashes into a brick wall.

At Golden* Lanes across town, Dr. Rick Miller is enjoying cake and pizza at his youngest daughter's birthday party. Eight-year-old Stephanie has only begun opening presents when her daddy's pager echoes through the Simpsonville bowling alley.

Minutes later, Miller and the Nichols — strangers until 2:45 p.m. Jan. 8 — meet in the most unexpected of places.

In the brightly lit trauma bay at Greenville Memorial Hospital, nurses and doctors iff gowns and paper booties Cut off the Nichols' clothes,

. insert tubes and begin diagnosing injuries.

It's a place Miller has been . hundreds of times during his

TRAUMA BAY FACTS

OPENED:March 1995

CAPACITY: Two patients is considered ideal,7 but four can be accommodated.

ON CALL: Specialists in orthopedics, neurology and pediatrics assist the trauma team if needed.

STAFF: Up to 12 per shift; trauma surgeons rotate every third night and every third weekend.

seven years as one of Greenville Memorial's three,trauma surgeons. '•'•.•

Since 1991, when the hospital became a Level 1 trauma center, paramedics have whisked about 8,000 seriously injured people through the automatic sliding doors to the trauma bay.

While some shifts are slow, leaving time to lecture to medical students and check on patients, others are so busy a surgeon must catnap on a twin bed in the trauma services office. The record since

the specialized trauma bay opened in 1995 was 17 during a 24-hour, shift.

The designated room within the emergency department is kept at 95; degrees to help prevent blood loss and is lined with medical equipment so doctors don't have ..to. move patients from room to%o6m. •

Ruth and Bill Nichols ai*e whisked into the room where the trauma team begin evaluating the extent of their injuries.

At the accident scene, Bill appeared pale but OK When two of his daughters, Carolyn Austin and Janice Jones, and son-in-law Frank Watts arrived. The couple were both wearing seat belts at the time of the accident.

But here, X-rays show Ruth has a broken left ankle. Bill, her husband of 53 years, has a broken back, broken neck, cracked sternum and broken ribs.

Broken bones can.be fixfed. But when his belly begins to

tighten and swell, doctors sus-

See nkWhkonpageAF



TRAUMA FROM PAGE 1F

pect internal bleeding. It's about 3:30 p.m., more than an hour after the accident and a critical time when doctors must restore vital functions or risk brain damage and possible death.

Minutes later, the space next to Ruth in the trauma bay is empty and the doors close on an elevator leading to operating room 4.

Bleeding won't stop A dozen nurses and doctors

working beneath three round lights

vainly try to staunch the bleeding. At 4:24 p.m., three surgeons dis

cover more than two liters of blood, a torn spleen and a crushed pancreas.

It's nearly 60 minutes past the-golden hour.

In urgent motions, the surgeons shove wads of white cotton cloth below and above his organs — one after another — while a clear tube suctions blood into a nearby container.

Miller's hands move steadily but swiftly to remove his spleen, an organ that filters and stores blood but isn't essential to live.

"More suture. Big needle," Miller

Rushing to surgery: Dr. Rick Miller and Dr. Patrick Culumovic rush Bill Nichols from the trauma bay to operating room 4.



January 23, 2000 The Greenville News 1F Page 5 of 7

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Race against the clock: Surgeons work to repair damage to Bill Nichols pancreas after removing his spleen during surgery lasting 38 minutes.

says after placing his spleen in a blue plastic container and moving on to the pancreas, an elongated gland that secretes hormones and glucose and regulates the digestive system.

It's 4:33 p.m. when he finds the vital organ's consistency is like wet toilet paper. The surgeons stitch the pancreas, put staples in it and cauterize it with a laser.

The bleeding won' t stop, but Miller knows he must try. "If I have to keep trying to fix this, he'll die on the table," he says.

Surgeons pack eight pieces of cotton cloth inside Nichols' body and sew him up.

It's 4:54 p.m. "We're coming back to the O.R.

tomorrow," Miller says. "If he survives."

Breaking bad news Last year, 78 trauma patients

treated at Greenville Memorial died. That number has held steady over the past five years, despite the fact the number treated has nearly doubled from 889 to 1,600.

Doctors credit faster response times and improved technology for the better odds.

That doesn't make it any easier for Miller, a runner and father of two, to break bad news to the families and friends who hold vigil in nearby waiting rooms.

On this day, Nichols' family is with Ruth in room 249.

Miller heads down a silent stairwell and then pulls aside family members.

At 5:18 p.m., in a quiet, carpeted hallway, the couple's daughters hear that more than bones are broken inside their father. A granddaughter learns her grandfather may not live through the night.

Miller — his surgical mask still dangling from his neck — gives them realistic odds and a glimmer of hope.

"He has a very high risk of not surviving, but he has a chance," he says. "We'll take it one hour at a time."

Tears fall. Back in room 249, Miller faces

the 75-year-old. "Your husband is real sick," he

says softly. He takes her hand. "You take care of him," Ruth

says. Miller must then explain that



.......

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Photographs by TANYA ACKERMAN / Staff

Bad news: Dr. Rick Miller briefs the Nichols' daughter, Carolyn Austin, following surgery as granddaughter Ashley Buckner and daughter Janice Jones listen.



only a few people can visit Nichols in the intensive care unit during these crucial post-surgery hours.

Daughters Kathy Watts and Kandi Ann Nichols, along with grandson Brad Fowler and Watts' husband, Frank, ride an elevator to the fourth floor.

It's 6:04 p.m., and all is quiet in the dimly lit trauma ICU. Like most days, its six beds are full.

Brad, 25, sidesteps a sea of cords and tubes to the left of the bed and leans over his grandfather. The soft whooshing of a ventilator sounds in tandem with the rising and falling of his grandfather's chest.

Kathy, 39, thoughtfully smoothes over her father's soft white hair, and makes a promise to herself that she'll take care of his dogs, a Pekinese named Missy and a poodle named Max.

Family prays The day after the accident, a

drizzly Sunday afternoon, Nichols returned to the operating room.

Earlier that day, just after 3 a.m., Miller's pager beckoned him to the trauma bay to treat two people hurt in a car crash. Police haul one to jail, charging him with drunken driving. Doctors declare the passenger brain-dead and prepare the body for organ donation.

An increasingly tired Miller focuses again on Nichols' internal injuries. He removes the cotton cloth that overnight had acted as a Vise-Grip to stop the bleeding.

"There were a couple more bleeders on the pancreas, and I sewed them up," Miller says. "We put in a feeding tube and got the belly closed." j

Nichols' broken neck is put in traction, and tubes are inserted into his badly bruised lungs to drain fluid.

"He's alive and actually getting better, but still having problems neurologically," Miller says.

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Comfort: After operating on her father, Dr. Rick Miller comforts Carolyn Austin, one of the seven Nichols daughters.

Bill Nichols' family is spending hours by his side.

"I believe he hears us," says Kathy Watts.

She tells her father that when he gets better, she'll be there with two of his favorite treats — hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts and ice cream.

Often, her thoughts travel to childhood days, when her father taught her to push the toothpaste from the bottom of the tube, and how to put chains on tires in the snow.

But mostly, she prays. "I know he hears the prayers,"

she says. "I tell him to pray in his

mind and ask the Lord to heal his body."

A, CAT scan reveals her father's brain is bruised.

Sometimes when patients go into shock, they don't get enough blood to the brain. That, combined with the bruising, may have caused him to go into a coma.

If he escapes infection, he will likely need months of rehabilitation.

Four days after the accident, Nichols opens his eyes in front of his surgeon.

It is a brief moment, but a promising one.




Trauma patient smiles goodbye, dies By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER

William "Bill" Worth Nichols lay in a dimly lit room on the fourth floor of Greenville Memorial Hospital, surrounded by five daughters, two sons-in-law, two grandchildren, his pastor and his wife of 53 years, when his heart stopped.

The 79-year-old father of eight — whose struggle to live was chronicled in The Greenville News — died early Saturday from injuries he sustained in a Jan. 8 wreck.

Despite wearing a seat

belt, Nichols had been raced into the trauma bay at Greenville Memorial with a bruised brain and broken back, neck, sternum and ribs. wife, Ruth,

Nichols

His 75-year-old broke her ankle.

After days of no improvement, Nichols was moved on Friday from the trauma Intensive Care Unit to an observation unit.

Patients who are in poor condition to start and show little improvement face long odds of recovery, said trauma surgeon Dr. Rick Miller.

The former truck driver and construction worker progressively deteriorated Friday, and about 5 p.m. his youngest daughter, Kathy Watts, began telephoning her brother and six sisters.

The family spent their last five hours with Nichols anxiously watching a machine that every 15 minutes flashed his blood pressure. With each passing quarter hour, his children began to accept the in

evitable — that their father's heart was going to stop.

For a brief moment, the machine flashed a glimmer of hope — a normal blood pressure reading. "He moved his lips like he was trying to talk to us," said Watts, 39.

Nichols batted his eyelids and smiled, Watts said.

"That was God healing my daddy," she said. "We believe that even though you don't get to stay here, God heals you on the way to heaven."

At 1:32 a.m., Nichols died. "It was like my daddy waited until all of us were there," Watts said.


Date: January 28-February 3, 2000 Publication: The Greenville Journal Page: C30 Page 1 of 3

Early mornings at the Life Center have a life of their own

By Gary Hyndman Contributing Writer

Are you jaded by life? Seen the movie, read the book, memorized the footnotes? Do you want to be surprised and amazed?

Forget Ripley's Museum in Myrtle Beach - just head down to the Life Center on Faris Road any morning of the week. There, you will see Americans - members of a free society, mind you -standing in line waiting for the opportunity to (are you ready for this?) exercise. That's right, otherwise sane people can be found every morning commenting on the weather (update: it's cold) and when the doors will open (update: 5:30, just like every morning for the past eight years) as they wait outside.

They huddle near the false heat of halogen accent lights while a well-meaning receptionist fumbles with the keys to the front door. I resist the urge to "moo" as I shuffle in near the end, behind a septugenarian wearing a shirt that says, "Kill them all, let God sort 'em out."

Some of these senior citizens have their workout faces on -faces that suggest a firsthand of knowledge of Hoffa's whereabouts. After being pushed out of the way by a grandmother with a Spandex fixation, I meekly present my ID card.

In return, I am given a locker with olfactory essences somewhere between a century-old chicken barn and its original

owner. Cramming the last of my self-esteem into a space designed for Barbie to store her clothes, I stumble toward the gym, a cavernous,, expanse filled with machines that would make an iron maiden look like an air mattress.

When I first started this ritual, I thought that the numbers on the clock between midnight and 7 a.m. existed just for symmetry's sake, like the speedometer numbers above 100 on a Buick. Little did I suspect that people would use this time for some asexual activity. (By the way, if you harbor some picture of the gym as an orgy of hardened bodies in provocative positions, you haven't seen my aunt screaming under the squat bar while her forehead vein pulses in time to "Disco Inferno.")

But I digress, which explains why a schedule of steady workouts has increased my waist size more than my bench press. Simply staring at the crowd, 75 strong (present company excepted) every morning, is like seeing the swallows at Capustrano. The


Date: January 28-February 3, 2000 Publ icat ion: The Greenville Journal Page: C30 Page 2 of 3

wonder lies in the view but the fascination builds more around the "why" of it all.

One morning during a workout, we talked about what motivated us. Talking, as any of the regulars will tell you, is my best activity. My jaws could bite through a titanium dumbbell, not to mention stay attached to one. This particular conversation was attended by a fellow we call, Haley, due to his regular, but well-spiced visits to the Life Center. Haley's idea of weight training is to take his maximum lift capacity, add 50 pounds, and see how much acceleration can build before the bar hits his chest He then says, without panic, "Little help?" while I scout around for a small forklift.

Several theories were proposed, among them the health issue. I'm sure you've read about the benefits of aerobics - something about exercising as many minutes a day as you are past puberty (which is. problematic for some of us). Also, there was some debate about heart rates; the article I read was in favor of having one. Of course, that was right after the piece identifying coffee as a cause of cancer, and just before the article citing coffee as a deterrent for stroke (or was it the other way around?). Let's face it. Advice about health issues is

See Life Page C36 Julie Crawford/StafrPhotograjher

Stella Stall works out on the stair machine at thei i fe Center.



January 28-February 3, 2000 The Greenville Journal C30 Page 3 of 3

Life (from page C30)

confusing enough for people who know enough to stay in bed when it's dark.

Someone else suggested these people might be looking for a break from the ordinary, a way to put zest in their lives. This little engine was disconnected before the train left the station.' These people are not looking for a way out of a rut; they want to get into their rut a full two hours before you get into yours. They thrive on

/neness, hence the jittery stares

anytime someone mentions closing the pool for cleaning (I won't even ask why that's necessary). If we're looking to embrace change, then why are we riding stationary bicycles and walking on a circular track?

"How's it going, Finley?" . . . two minutes, five seconds . . . "How's it going, Finley?" . . . two minutes, five seconds... "How's it go " - you get the idea. Why not run outside? Some people, identifiable by outfits reflecting more

lights than a Christmas tree, do so. I can only surmise that the endorphin rush is worth dogbites, hailstones the size of doorknobs, and motorists who flunked the rookie track at Frankie's. I have it on good authority that one group of runners actually saw a corpse in Cleveland Park during an early morning run, cause of death unknown.

"WTiat did the police say when they arrived?", I asked, horrified.

"Police?", said my friend, bending to stretch a hamstring.

"You know — when you stopped to call them," I answered, feeling a little ill.

"Stopped?", she said, indicating that she had no more thought of stopping-than she would think of eating tofu with ketchup. Seeing my horrified look, she tried to alibi. "We couldn't stop; we were already at 80 percent of our maximum heart rate." ,

Which was about 80 percent more than the "victim, I thought, thinking of the power of routine.

As for finding variety inside the Life Center, I don't think the decor will break the monotony either. There are only so many ways to combine teal and mauve without believing that something went horribly wrong at Sherwin Williams.

Having come up with no theory of our own, and nearly exhausted from the exercycle, we turned to Haley, who was lifting weights beside us. When someone asked what motivated him, Haley answered simply, "This may be the last thing I do today that I have a choice about; when I do show up, I'm just exercising that choice."

"How about on the days you don't come?" I couldn't resist asking.

He just grinned. "Well, on those, days," he said with a grin, "I'm choosing not to exercise."-whoosh-"Little help?" I would have saved him, but my heart rate had just reached 80 percent.

Ronald McDonald House has new director The Ronald McDonald House

board of directors has named a Volunteer of the Decade, Robyn Gillis, as its first executive director.

Gillis has been involved with Ronald McDonald House for many years. She has served on the board, rotated off the board and was asked to return.

After a year long search, Gillis, a former Peace Corps volunteer in the late '70s and a graduate of the Umversity of North Carolina, was selected to fill the position.

The Ronald McDonald House also elected new board members. Elected to the board are Alicia Goecker, Mary Hassett, Andre LaCroix and Judy Nabers.

Goecker is co-owner of several area McDonalds restaurants. Has-. sett is a partner and chief strategist with Brains on Fire, a local advertising and public relations firm.

LaCroix is manager of creative services of GHS, while Nabers is owner of Software Support Services, specializing in accounting soft

ware. Frank Landgraff has been named

honorary vice-president of the board in recognition of his volunteer service.

The Ronald McDonald House serves as a home away from home for families of children hospitalized at The Children's Hospital of Greenville Hospital System and Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children. The facility serves children from a 10-county Upstate area.


Date: January 25, 2000 Publication: The Greenville News Page: 6B Page 1 of 1

Greenville Hospital System losing financial executive By Jeff Bennett BUSINESS WRITER

After helping guide the Greenville Hospital System through some of its toughest belt-tightening years, Paul M. Briggs is leaving the healthcare provider to pursue career opportunities in the West or Midwest.

Briggs, senior vice president of financial and information services, said Monday he will leave his job effective Feb. 18.

"I thought over the holidays that it is time for a change," said Briggs, 46. "I think I have made some significant contributions, and I have enjoyed my time here."

Briggs said he will make a decision within the next couple of weeks about where he will go next. He plans to stay in the health-care field.

Frank Pinckney, GHS president and chief executive officer, said he asked Briggs to "rethink his decision," but was

disappointed when Briggs decided he would leave.

"I am going to miss the clear advice he has given not only to me but also to the organization," Pinckney said. "He provided a lot of leadership in financially handling managed care."

Briggs, who grew up in the Washington area, was hired in 1995 and handled the system's day-to-day finances. Through job reductions and cutbacks, the system managed to post a surplus of $7.6 million despite major decreases in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement payments.

In October, it slashed its 2000 operating budget by $15 million to $550 million by eliminating some programs and combining others.

"The continued challenge for GHS will be dealing with reductions from the government and managed care," he said. "That exists wherever

you go in the U.S." Roy Abercrombie, a mem

ber of the GHS board of trustees and chairman of the finance and audit committee, applauded Briggs' work.

"You have kept us on the tracks, and you were always very precise," Abercrombie told Briggs.

Pinckney said a nationwide search will be conducted with the goal of filling the position within three to four months.

Briggs, who holds bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting from Brigham Young University in Utah, formerly was regional vice president of the Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound in Washington, a statewide health maintenance organization. * -

He also served as director of finance for health plans in Virginia and Washington states and spent several years on the audit staff of an accounting firm.


Date: January 30, 2000 Publication: The Greenville News Page: Upstate Business Page 1 of 1

The Greenville Hospital System donated less than an acre of land to the Urban League of the Upstate last week.

GHS last week gave the Urban League a tract of land at Dunbar and South Memminger streets valued at $30,000. The hospital had offered to sell the land to the organization for $12,500, but system trustees decided instead to opt for the donation.

The land will be used for the construction of 20 senior housing units.

• • •


Date: Jan. 31 Publication: GSA Business Page: 22 Page 1 of 1

The Greenville Hospital System Foundation has announced the appointment of Anthony J. Meyer Jr. as its new president. He was formerly vice president of development and estate planning. Other officers elected for 2000 were: Andrew B. Cajka Jr., chairman; Grady Wyatt, vice chairman; and Lester A. Hudson Jr., secretary/treasurer. Announced: 12/7


Date: Publication: Paae:


GHS hopes to exceed customer expectations in new o Hospital system dedicated to higher standards, patient satisfaction.

:entury

By Larry Greer

I n 1995, I was pleased to be appointed as a member of the Greenville Hospital System Board of Trustees. This appointment has given me the opportunity to offer direction and guidance to the management of the system. Last October, when my fellow trustees asked me to assume the board's chairmanship, I was honored to do so.

Members of the board believe GHS is an important community resource. That is why we have been working closely with management over the past several months to help set the direction for the system in the coming years. Together, we have identified a need to begin a multi-faceted, aggressive campaign that wifi allow GHS to take "health care to a higher standard." At the start of this new century, we have committed to make this not only our motto but also our organizational philosophy.

Through my participation on the GHS board, I have had a unique opportunity to learn more about the many advanced technologies and services our hospital system offers. Coupled with the highly skilled staff at GHS, these technologies ensure that our patients can receive the highest quality health care close to home. Our GHS physicians and employees are committed to meeting the medical needs of our community with respect and compassion.

Recently, 1 had the opportunity to attend several customer service seminars. I came away from them with a critical imperative I believe will improve customer satisfaction — to exceed customer expectations. At GHS, we believe that when you come to us for

ANOTHER VIEW

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leading-edge health-care services, you expect to receive them with respect and kindness. Therefore, in addition to the Stellar Service Standards already being implemented at GHS, management and our employees are committed to exceeding customer expectations.

As a part of the initiatives we are currently undertaking, the management and board of GHS are embarking on a community awareness campaign that will highlight the level of health-care services available at GHS. We will tell this story through television, radio and newspaper spots that will feature our own GHS physicians and employees.

Research conducted among those in our community, as well as with GHS employees, supports the board's directive to management to better inform area residents about the high level of our health-care

services. We believe providing these facts is a responsibility we have to our community, as it will help area residents make informed decisions about their health care.

We are fortunate to be living in the "information age" where we can learn about the latest health-care treatments and technologies being developed around the world. We naturally want to have access to as many of these advancements as possible right here in our community, and we want to receive them in a warm, compassionate and user-friendly facility.

Along with progress in technology and information sharing, the Upstate also is enjoying a period of unprecedented growth and expansion. To keep pace with the increased need for health-care services resulting from such growth, the Greenville Hospital System is undertaking a major capacity expansion initiative.

This important investment in the future of our community will expand and further improve many of the services the Greenville Hospital System provides, including those of the Heart Institute, The Children's Hospital, the Center for Women, Allen Bennett Memorial Hospital, Hillcrest Hospital and North Greenville Hospital. Also included in this expansion will be the conversion of our semi-private rooms to private rooms. This all-private setting will help GHS to better care for today's more intensely ill patients and will allow more room for the sophisticated medical equipment they may require.

As the Greenville Hospital System begins a new century of service to residents of the Upstate, all of us — management, physicians, staff and board — pledge to take health care to a higher standard for those we are privileged to serve, and we will do so through our renewed commitment to advanced technology, improved access and customer satisfaction.


Date: Feb. 1 Publication: Greenville News Page: 6B (Business front) Page 1 of 1

Similar promotion scrapped last year By Jeff Bennett BUSINESS WRITER

The Greenville Hospital System is launching a $500,000 advertising campaign despite shelving a similar promotion a year ago, then cutting $15 million from its operating budget.

Larry Greer, chairman of the Greenville Hospital System Board of Trustees, said the Upstate's largest healthcare provider is now in a position to do a campaign.

"We are doing this to save jobs," lie said. "A business

can't shrink itself into success. You have to promote yourself to bring in new business. It's not a great deal of money to do that. Others have spent a far greater amount."

The community awareness campaign features a "refinement" of the system's logo that will be added to — and in front of — the names of the individual GHS hospitals and the Eastside Medical Campus.

The campaign includes television advertisements, which began airing Monday, and newspaper ads to start in the next two \veeks.

Last year, GHS proposed creating a new logo that would be used to identify all of the system's subsidiaries and services. The plan was scrapped, however, after some community leaders and employees objected to a full-page ad that featured GHS:

President and Chief Executive Officer Frank Pinckney.- The ad ran in Sports Illustrated and other national magazines.

GHS officials said feedback from public and patient groups, and not the advertisement controversy, caused them lo drop the branding idea. Pinckney later publicly apologized for authorizing the

advertising. "We did catch flack on that

and it was something we would not have done if we would have known the outcome," Greer said. "Our new approach focuses on actual employees. They won't be actors."

The new campaign comes after St. Francis Health System, GHS' chief rival, announced that it will begin using the Bon Secours name and logo on all of its facilities and services.

The Franciscan Partnership for Health, a New York-based nonprofit organization that owned St. Francis Health System, transferred ownership of the hospital and some other properties to Marriotsville, Md.-based Bon Secours last year.

Spokeswoman Margaret Clark said St. Francis will spend "significantly less than $500,000" on rebranding the system.

"We are changing signs and logos, but we think people recognize us, and there is no reason" to use TV and print ads, Clark said.

Greer said GHS' move had nothing to do with St. Francis' move.

"That never enteued the picture," he said. "We recognize the validity that all of our facilities need to be recognized as part of a whole."

G R E E N V I L L E H O S P TAL SYSTEM Memorial Hospital



Feb. 2 Greenville News 8 City people Page 1 of 2

Teen pregnancy battle starts with education, volunteer says

Pat Dillow Guest Columnist

As a nurse practitioner caring for pregnant girls ages 11 to 17, I see daily the heartbreaking difficulties an unintended pregnancy can bring.

For the past six years, I have volunteered with the Greenville Council for the Prevention of Teen Pregnancy, Inc. (GCPTP) and now serve on the board because the council's objectives are the same as mine.

We must educate parents, teachers, clergy and other youth-serving professionals to serve as teachers of healthy sexuality to children. We adults must become trusted authorities to whom children can come for truthful answers to their questions.

In addition to worrying about pregnancy, this community needs to be concerned about sexually transmitted diseases (STD's), because many of the young girls who come to the Teen Pregnancy Pro-

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

• Pat Dillow is an OB/GYN nurse practitioner in the teen pregnancy program at the OB/GYN Clinic of Greenville Hospital System. A Florida native, Dillow has two children and four grandchildren.

gram at the OB/GYN Clinic of the Greenville Hospital System, also have one or more STD's.

Greenville has epidemic rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea, infectious diseases that usually do not have symptoms in young women.

As a member of the GCPTP Answer Team, I enjoy talking with preteens and adolescents, hopefully correcting misinformation and offering assurances about the changes puberty brings to their bodies.

Visiting churches and recreation centers with the Answer Team bolsters my morale - I might be able to influence a child to delay having that first sexual experience. Work-

"Working on subjects such as puberty,

self- esteem, decision- making skills,

coping with peer pressure, sexually

transmitted diseases, and parent-

child communication are important

parts of teen pregnancy prevention

education."

ing with other professionals with the same goals is wonderful!

Our GHS Teen Pregnancy Program finds the resources at the GCPTP Teen Issues Resource Library invaluable for our prenatal classes. Not only our clinic, but also individual staff members borrow information for their children or groups.

Working on subjects such as puberty, self-esteem, decision-making skills, coping with peer pressure, sexually transmitted diseases, and parent-child communication are important parts of teen pregnancy prevention education.

And anyone can borrow the materials at no charge. What a valuable resource for our community!

I am convinced that there is no one answer to this problem of teen pregnancy. But the whole community is affected by the results of children having chuJren - poor socioeconomic conditions, domestic and child abuse, behavioral problems, etc.

With Joyce Fishman Klein, GCPTP executive director and the Greenville Council for the Prevention of Teen Pregnancy, Inc., I have found an organization truly committed to helping Greenville work together toward a solution.

PAT DILLOW


Date: Feb. 2 Publication: Greenville News Page: 8 City people Page 2 of 2

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Nurse practitioner Pat Dillow in front of the bulletin board that has photos of her patients.

KEN OSBURN / Staff



Photographs by ALAN DfVOR

The Greenville Hospital System's Buddy Bear stands with, from left, Musette Hunter, Joyce Medlin and Caroline Bryan.

Children's Hospital holds fund-raiser

The Children's Hospital of the Greenville Hospital System will benefit from "An Evening ... To Treasure the Children," that was held Friday at the Poinsett Club.

A live auction was sandwiched between dinner and dancing, all to raise money for new equipment, including a state of the art incubator, for Neonatal Intensive Care of the Children's Hospital.



Items to be auctioned were looked over by patrons of "An Eve ning ... To Treasure the Children." Above, Mary Jane Freeman Pam Boiter, Rick and Beth Phillips get a preview while, at right Andrew Gilbert, Joye and Bland Burkhardt do the same. Below Craig Carver, left, and Tom Whitted chat at the fund-raiser.

Manning the registration desk for the auction are, from left, Angela Freeman, Valerie Dickson and Kathryn Greenwell.


Date: February 4, 2000 Publication: The Greenville News Page: 12B Page 1 of 1

Jerry Youkey, M.D., a vascular surgeon, is vice president for Academic Services of Greenville Hospital System

At the beginning of each year, people often make resolutions to change the way they treat their bodies. People commonly declare that they will:

• Eat healthier • Start exercising • Lose 10 pounds (and never find them again) • Quit smoking • Work fewer than 50 hours a week • Reduce stress • Spend more time with the children

Such resolutions usually are made in hopes of lessening the chances of serious health problems. Many of us know that obesity can lead to heart attacks, that advancing age leads to a various maladies, that poor nutrition can cause brittle bones, and that smoking can cause cancer. But we also know that exercise can improve cardiovascular function, that a healthy diet can increase bone density, and that quitting smoking reduces the risk of cancer.

That's why the Greenville Hospital System is beginning the new millennium by focusing on education and prevention issues. We want to share with you the many medical services and procedures available right here in Greenville, and provide helpful hints about how to prevent and treat everything from cancer to infertility, and from accidents to % heart attacks.

GHS is home to many world-class physicians who are leaders in their fields. They are called on to lecture across the nation, and some throughout the world. Greenville Memorial Hospital is a teaching hospital with more than 800 physicians and a clinical staff of over 4,000; the hospital operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide outstanding healthcare to a growing region. Many of our physicians and staff members are active researchers; more than 400 research projects are being conducted at GHS every day, providing patients with the latest treatments for many serious conditions, including cancer, infertility, and cardiac and vascular problems.

Our physicians specialize and sub-specialize in more than 100 fields of medicine and research. In the Center for Women, physicians sub-specialize in infertility, incontinence, high-risk pregnancies, and menopause. The Cancer Center is home to one of the nations only

G R E E N VI I

community hospital-based basic science research facilities. The Heart Institute is the busiest and most successful in the state, with an accompanying rehabilitation program that is among the most successful in the nation. The Children's Hospital provides more than 80 specialists who provide the most comprehensive pediatric care in the region. And therapy at Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Hospital is delivered here, close to home.

Although healthcare is advancing technologically at an astounding rate, enabling physicians to successfully treat many conditions and diseases, a healthy lifestyle and early detection remain crucial. Living a healthy lifestyle can help prevent some conditions, while being educated about your body and regularly visiting your family doctor can help detect health issues early - which greatly increases the chances of successful treatment for many conditions.

Throughout this year, GHS physicians will be sharing information with you each week about prevention as well as new treatments. We'll write about things as general as the flu, which probably has affected many of you already, as well as specific treatments for infertility, cardiovascular disease, stroke, sickle cell, and cancer. We'll address issues that affect children and adults, and conditions that are congenital and contagious.

We hope to provide information that will help you make smart healthcare choices. We want you and your family to be healthy, but also to know that when illness strikes, we are prepared with the latest treatments and the most knowledgeable staff to help you and your family thrive in the new millennium,

If you have any questions, please call GHS at 455-5924.

A. H O S P I T A L S Y S T I I Healthcare to a Higher Stamdm


Date: Feb. 4 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: 3A Page 1 of 2

Greenville Tech receives $250,000 hospital gift

GREENVILLE TECH

By Terry Posey Community Editor

A quarter-million-dollar gift to the Greenville Tech Foundation by the Greenville Hospital System (GHS) will provide scholarships for deserving students while it alleviates a shortage of nurses and other health care workers for the hospital.

The scholarship fund will ment after graduation, if offered by the hospital system, for a period of one year for each academic year the student received the scholarship. If the recipient does not accept employment with GHS, he or she will be responsible for repaying the scholarship award.

The scholarship program continues a long-standing working

support approximately 15 academic scholarships at Greenville Tech for students who major in areas determined to be critical needs by the hospital. Presently, critical need areas include nursing and radiologic technology. These areas will change annually to correspond with employment needs at GHS. Students who accept the scholarship agree to take full-time employ-

partnership between GHS and Greenville Tech.

In 1972, GHS phased out its School of Nursing and endorsed the nursing and other medical technology educational programs at Greenville Tech. Since that time, GHS has supported the nursing and health programs at the school in many ways,

See Tech Page A 1 3 1

Greenville Tech President Dr. Tom Barton receives a check from Frank Pinckney of the Greenville Hospital System. The gift will create scholarships for nursing and radiologic technology students.



Feb. 4 Greenville Journal 3A Page 2 of 2

including a contribution to the construction of the college's Ruth A. Nicholson Nursing and Science Building.

According to school officials, a large number of hospital employees are trained at Greenville Tech, and a high percentage are involved in retraining and continuing education programs at the college.

Students interested in the Greenville Hospital System Endowed Scholarship should contact the Financial Aid Office at 250-8128. Applications should be received by April 1 for the fall semester.

Nominations for alumni awards sought

The Greenville Tech Alumni Association is seeking nominations for "Alumni of the Year" and "Honorary Alumni of the Year" awards, which are presented annually at the college's

graduation exercises in May. Those nominated for alumni

of the year should be graduates of Greenville Tech who have brought honor to the college through achievements, exemplary community or civic service, or outstanding career performance. Honorary alumni are people who did not graduate from Greenville Tech but have provided outstanding service and/or made significant contributions to the college,, •>

Nominations should be submitted in writing to Alumni Affairs, Greenville Technical College, P.O. Box 5616, Greenville, S.C 29606-5616 or e-mailed to [email protected]. Nominations should include nominee's name, home address, home and work phone number, place of employment along with the nominator's name and phone number, and the name and phone number of someone

who can verify the information submitted. The deadline for nominations is March 1.

College to host History Day competition

The Humanities Department at Greenville Tech will host the South Carolina District Four History Day competition on Friday, March 10, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The contest is open to middle, junior and senior high school students. Competition categories include individual research papers and individual and group displays, documentaries, and performances.

This year's contest theme is "Turning Points in History." District winners in each category will advance to state competition in April. State winners go to national competition in May.


Date: Feb. 4 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: 30C Page 1 of 1

The Treasure the Children Gala

Frank Pinckney, president of the Greenville Hospital System, talks with his wife, Carole, over cocktails while attending the Treasure the Children Gala last Friday night.

L-R: Co-chairpersons Carolina Bryan and Joyce Medlin pose with Musette Hunter of the Greenville Hospital System Foundation during the Treasure the Children Gala.



Feb. 9 Greenville News 1 City People Page 1 of 4

ALAN-DEVORSEY/Staff

Dr. David Wells attends to an infant in the neonatal intesive care unit at Greenville Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Feelgood A warm personality and easy demeanor put

neonatologist Dr. David Wells in good standing with his patients and their families

Jimmy Cornelison City People Writer

At first it is difficult to pinpoint what it is about Dr. David Wells that is somewhat surprising, perhaps unusual.

As corporate medical director of the Children's Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Greenville Hospital System, Wells' job is to save the lives of newborns.

Some are born prematurely, others with illnesses or disabilities. In caring for them, Wells and his department also play an important role in the lives of concerned parents.

So/it would seem natural for Wells to offer a staid, serious demeanor. Instead, he possesses an outgoing enthu

siasm, lighthearted and good-natured. This is true when he talks about his work, perhaps inspired by its success, but even more so when he talks about his life outside work.

On the job, the warmth of his personality puts worried parents at ease and instills a confidence. Away from the hospital, his warmth reveals a person who truly enjoys life.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you about my trains," he says, much like a child who forgot to mention the best of all presents he received for Christmas.

Or, he jumps to another priority with little transition, "My wife would never forgive me if I didn't mention our

See WELLS' on page 16

PRiFILE

• Though shots are an everyday part of his life as a doctor, as a child and young man, Dr. David Wells feared receiving them. "I had to be drug in for shots; I don't know why."

• Wells was involved in the organization of the South Carolina Perinatal Association. • During Wells' 22 years at the Greenville Hospital System's NICU, the staff has grown to five neonatologists, with facilities for treating 42 infants. In an average year 600 to 700 babies are treated there for an average three weeks.

More, Page 16


Date: Feb. 9 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1 City People Page 2 of 4

Wells' sense of humor serves everyone well

Continued from Page 1

foster children," he says, extending a photograph across his desk.

"He is unpretentious," says Robin Gillis, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House of Greenville. "I have seen both sides working here and when I worked at the hospital. He can come across as very professional when he needs to, but he has a good sense of humor on both sides. I think that plays an important role in coping with the pressures of his job."

"He can be firm when he needs to be firm, but he can also be very soft and supporting," says Dr. Jerry Ferlauto, director of Neonatal ICU at the Children's Hospital, who shared this title with Wells until the recent purchase of the unit by Pediatrix, a national neonatal care organization.

Now they have different titles, but the same goal — saving the lives of newborns.

Wells was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, one of four children. Because his father, a West Point graduate, was a career Army officer, his family moved often.

"I went to three high schools," muses Wells. "When people ask me where I went to high school, I have to ask what year?"

However, "Moving around made me a gregarious type person," he

PROFILE

• Wells says he learned to play the piano as a child because "My dear mother kept prodding me." • His favorite time to play is at Christmas, playing carols for holiday gatherings. • Wells and his wife feel that even though most of the foster children they care for are infants, their time with each child gives that child a "feeling of security, of being loved and is a positive stimulus" the child will carry through life.

• Wells, in describing his wife's work with foster children, says, "She can do miracles with babies."

says. "I was always having to make new friends to fit in. It was a blessing all my life to be able to go to new places and do that."

Out of high school, Wells entered the University of California at Davis, where he earned his undergraduate degree. He followed that with the University of California at Irvine for medical school and residency at the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.

He completed his training at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he studied on a fellowship in neonatology.

Neonatology was in its infancy, having its early beginnings as a medical specialty in the '60s. It was born partly, says Wells, be

cause of the death of President John F. Kennedy's newborn son.

That Kennedy baby likely would have survived its respiratory problems if it had been born today, Wells believes.

Following his fellowship in 1974, Wells had a military obligation to fulfill, but it was a year before the Navy had a place for a doctor with his specialty. During that year, Wells served as the South Dakota state director of perinatal care.

"For a young man just off fellowship, South Dakota was an eye-opening experience," he says. "I saw things I had only read about in textbooks, tools and ideas that were so primitive. It was my job to change these old habits, and I found out how difficult change was."

Following South Dakota and service in the Navy, Wells was discharged in San Diego.

"There was nothing there for me in my specialty," he remembers. "When I began looking around, most of the jobs were in the South."

It came down to two offers, one in Indianapolis, the other in Greenville. His wife, Vicki, was a Mid-westerner, and neither had lived in the South.

"But this job had much more potential," Wells explains of the Greenville position. "The program here was in its infancy. The pro-




gram in the state was in its infancy."

In 1977, Wells and his family moved to Greenville, and the Greenville Hospital System's Neonatal ICU became his baby.

Sitting there recently, he shared stories of his early experiences as a neonatologist and creating the tools he needed to work with.

In a hospital where he once worked, a van used to transport sick infants contained primitive incubators that he and his co-workers lined with aluminum foil to reflect light and help warm the babies.

"We are tinkerers," Wells says of doctors specializing in neonatal care. "We are good with our hands, gadget people. We had to be in the early days, when we had to jerry-rig and create things, equipment, that wasn't out there."

Neonatology has come a long way, baby.

Wells points to a "large percentage" of deaths when he began practicing 22 years ago, and the advances he wouldn't have envisioned.

Td say 95 percent of the babies

we have upstairs (in NICU) will survive. A decade ago, it would have been half that," he says.

Wells confesses that his area of medicine can be "emotionally draining at times .... All babies' deaths affect us. It's a personal loss for all of us. I've done my share of crying. I don't see that as bad. I'm human."

Not surprisingly, Wells says neonatologists need "mental breaks."

And he finds those in his wife and two children, his electric trains, a bit of golf and boating, and playing the piano and organ. A couple of times a year he fills in for the organist at his church, Church of the Redeemer.

In the last 10 years, Wells has also been an active foster parent.

"Most of them are infants, and he gets up at night to feed them," Ferlauto says. "He shares all the responsibilities with his wife. He has such a very broad commitment, to children."

This commitment to children, in ways, dictates the time Wells spends with the March of Dimes, where he served three years as chairman of the board, and Ronald McDonald House.

For Ronald McDonald House he began recycling Christmas trees in the Chanticleer community where he lives.

"It started as a mechanism to raise money for the house," Wells explains. "I get volunteers to go around to houses and pick up trees for a donation, and then we take them to the landfill for Grinding of the Greens. We've raised $11,000 so far."

"I think his work with us and the March of Dimes is because he feels a part of the community, and those two organizations are so much a part of the fabric of the community," says Gillis. "If he's got something more to give, he's going to give it. He probably gets more from it than we get from him. He's a different breed almost."

Though at first it's a bit difficult to pinpoint what it is about Wells that grabs your attention, it becomes clear after a short time in his company. It's his love of his profession and his commitment to children, all rolled into a W e of life, that his manner warmly conveys.

• City People writer Jimmy Cornelison may be reached at 298-4279.



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Dr. David Wells and Sandra Berryhill, RN, check one of their charges at Greenville Hospital System's neonatal unit.


Date: Feb. 11 Publ icat ion: Greenville Journal Page: 1A Page 1 of 3

The cost of conception Area clinics offer hope to infertile couples


Procreation is one of the most instinctual of all responses among living creatures. When a man and woman of childbearing age wed, it is nearly always presumed they will have a family.

Yet for many couples (10 to 15 percent), a childless union looms as an unhappy scenario. There is some evidence to suggest infertility rates may be climbing, probably due to the fact that women are delaying pregnancy until later in life.

However, for those fortunate enough to either have insurance

coverage or resources, infertility is not necessarily the death of their dreams of parenthood.

Since 1979, when the first live birth was delivered through the process of in vitro fertilization, 300 clinics specializing in fertility treatments have opened around the country.

Greenville Hospital System's Center for Women operates one of these. Staffed by Drs. Paul Miller, _ John Nichols and Tom Price, their practice represents an elite corps of reproductive endocrinolo- JBk gists in the area.

Costs of infertility And these are servieHj

for which prospective parents must pay dearly. A single cycle of in vitro fertilization costs between $9,000 and $12,000. Historically, insurance companies have deemed the procedure elective and refused

See Conception Page A8 T

See related stories WH8f ,E i? , ©SS,031,

to reimburse their policyholders. "We have problems with insur

ance companies," Nichols admits. "They don't like to pay for it. They don't feel that [infertility] is a problem; it is not a sickness. Patients will live without children.

You don't die from this condition."

But don't tell infertile couples that. Nichols cites embarrassment and inadequacy among the emotions most commonly expressed in his office.

"It's a difficult thing to be walking around and noticing all your friends who are successful," he acknowledges. Some are just desperate enough to bear the expense as well as the trouble in pursuit of

a medical solution to the unhappi-ness of an empty nest.

Anne and Gary Poliakoff of Spartanburg are one such couple. After enduring two tubal pregnancies she describes as "devastating," the Poliakoffs decided to see a specialist for help. Causes of infertility

While reproductive diseases in women do account for a fair number of fertility problems nationwide, Nichols says a number of factors bear consideration. Women may fail to produce eggs on a regular cycle (ovulate), or they may suffer from damaged fallopian tubes.

Then there is a range of sperm-related factors that can contribute



Feb. 11 Greenville Journal 1A Page 2 of 3

to infertility. From low or no sperm count, to abnormally shaped or sluggish sperm, it is purely a numbers game for men. And anything which diminishes the number of sperm swimming to the egg also will likely diminish a woman's capacity to conceive.

Treatments for infertility If the diagnosis confirms a

problem with the sperm, Nichols generally recommends artificial insemination. The procedure requires the doctor to use a fine catheter to implant a specimen of the man's semen directly into the woman's uterus at the time of her monthly ovulation.

If, instead, the problem is tubal in nature, it calls for the. more complicated in vitro fertilization, by which eggs are retrieved from the tubes and mixed with semen in a test tube. The procedure is now so refined that embryologists can inject an individual sperm directly into the egg.

After several days, the fertilized embryos are transplanted to the woman's uterus.

To increase the probability of pregnancy, 12 to 30 eggs are harvested at one time. The patient receives daily injections of fertility drugs eight to 10 days prior to harvesting to encourage the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. These naturally occurring hormones are expensive. Patients report spending as much as $125 per injection ($1,000 to $2,000 total per treatment cycle).

Once the multiple eggs appear

on the follicles of the ovaries, another medication is administered to accelerate their maturing process. This is followed by retrieval, fertilization in the laboratory and implantation of the embryos into the uterus.

Inherent risks While success rates have

improved, the delicate procedure comes with no guarantee. Women may subject themselves to numerous cycles of in vitro without ever experiencing a pregnancy.

After an unsuccessful round of artificial insemination followed by a failed in vitro procedure, the Poliakoffs had to reassess. "I was pretty discouraged," Anne recalls. "My husband was the only person who believed it was going to work."

The woman's age is crucial in pregnancy, since her eggs are as old as she is. The optimal period for conception falls between late teens to late 20s. After that, birth rates decline steadily as women age.

For that reason, some patients choose to be implanted with donor eggs from a younger woman, who may be a relative or a stranger.

To enhance a woman's chances of pregnancy, doctors implant multiple embryos. The actual number is in direct relationship to the female's age. Younger women may receive as few as two embryos and older women as many as four or five.

Even after a successful conception, there remains the threat of

losing the pregnancy. Nichols maintains he has seen patients miscarry seven or eight times, often for no apparent reason.

"I think the most difficult couples to work for are those who get pregnant and then continue to miscarry," he says.

"I am certain," says Nichols, "that there are couples who come through who are not successful, and that relationship in the end may not be successful. That could be a make-or-break problem for a couple."

Anne Poliakoffs odyssey began at the age of 35 with an artificial insemination. Three years and many thousands of dollars later, it finally ended in the birth of her son. "I think it's worth every bit of it," she reflects. "I can't imagine what I would have missed without Matthew."


Date: Feb. 11 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: 1A Page 3 of 3

Causes of Infertility 29% - Tubal factor

| 25% - Male factor

16% - Endometriosis

12% - Ovulatory dysfunct

8% - Unexplained

8% - Other causes

M 2% - Uterine factor Source: Report from Center for Disease Control ba on 1996 data

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Ages 40-44 - 20%

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Jane Johnson, M.T., performs an intracytoplasmic sperm injection, in which sperm is forced into the center of an egg at the Reproductive Endocrinology Center at Greenville Memorial Hospital.



Feb. 11 Greenville Journal 32C Page 1 of 1

The day the doctor became the patient Dr. Darrell Jervey recalls unexpected encounter with heart disease


Ophthalmologist Darrell Jervey was accustomed to being the man with the medical answers. But in December 1990, at age 54, he suddenly found himself on the unfamiliar turf of the patient.

After admitting he "just didn't feel real good over the holidays," Jervey paid a visit to his own physician. A heart catheterization procedure revealed that three of his coronary arteries were 70 percent to 90 percent blocked with plaque.

Jervey recalls that the diagnosis was "a little bit surprising to say the least." After all, he had none of the classic symptoms of angina and did not smoke. But what he did have going against him was substantial stress ("I'm a pretty good A [type] personality, like most doctors.") and a family history of heart disease. Both his parents were afflicted with it.

Disquieted by the encounter with his silent pathology, Jervey agreed to bypass surgery in early January 1991. On the day before his operation, as he relaxed in his hospital bed after eating lunch, he experienced chest pains. His surgeon, Dr. Carl Anderson, determined he was having a mild heart attack and decided to proceed with his surgery that same afternoon. "It was a good thing I was at the hospital and not at Myrtle Beach," Jervey acknowledges.

Following successful bypass surgery, he spent two days in intensive care.

By the second day, nurses had him up and walking, and by the fifth day he was discharged. He

returned to his ophthalmology practice within a mere six weeks of having his chest opened and his coronary arteries bypassed.

He attributes his rapid recovery to his colleague, Anderson. "I had the utmost confidence in him," says Jervey. And to his belief system: "I also had a good bit of religious faith."

Still, the physician acknowledges that the discovery of his disease was a wake-up call. "It makes you realize the value of every day," he reflects. "It gives you awareness of our tenuous journey in this world."

Besides a new lease on life, Jervey effected some practical changes over the last decade which have since become second nature to him. At the Life Center he walks, rides a stationary bike and lifts light weights for 30 to 40 minutes each day. And he tries to limit his intake of fats to 20 grams a day, though he admits, "I'm not always successful."

Perhaps the most profound change, however, was the decision eight years ago to give up performing eye surgery, a practice he describes as "pretty stressful." Now, he sees patients, but avoids the operating room.

Yet he manages to be philosophical. "I miss surgery a great deal," he says. "That's a little bit of a disappointment, but I'll take that for some longevity."

Jervey encourages others to concentrate on the controllable risk factors, which have helped restore him to good health: diet, exercise and stress management. "You can make some inroads into recurrence," he contends, "by paying attention to those factors."


Date: Feb. 11 Publ icat ion: Greenville Journal Page: 27C Page 1 of 3


Pat Jansen (left), administrator for the Heart Institute at GHS, reviews films of a cardiocatheterization procedure with Dr. Barry Davis. Leading the way

Offering the best in technology, area hospitals out to overcome No. 1 killer - heart disease


February: American

Heart Month

When cardiothoracic surgeon Carl Anderson moved to Greenville "from Spartanburg in 1988, 600 surgical procedures were being done locally. Last year, that number grew to 1,400.

''I think it's generated by growth in the area, by more awareness of heart dis

ease and somewhat because of more surgeons," Anderson explains. Indeed.

Where only three heart surgeons practiced in Greenville 12 years ago, today there are eight. Together, they serve a population base of nearly 1 million people, with patients coming from across the Upstate, western North Carolina and northwest Georgia.

to i m

See Heart Page C32


Carol Winckler, with over 20 years experience in heart medicine, is the new administrator of the William L. Carpenter Heart Center at Bon Secours St. Francis.


Date: Feb. 11 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: 27C Page 2 of 3

Growth translates into a wider range of services and state-of-the-art technology for local heart patients. The only treatment not presently available in Greenville is the option of last resort - heart transplantation.

Leading the charge are the community's two hospitals. Bon Secours St. Francis opened the William L. Carpenter Heart Center last June. Thanks in part to a Si-million contribution from the Carpenter family, St. Francis added two operating rooms for heart surgery, a four-bed recovery room, an 18-bed telemetry unit for post-op patients, and doubled the size of its heart catheterization lab. What's more, most of its services are on the same floor, which can make a critical difference in emergency situations.

Carol Winckler, with over 20 years in heart medicine, is the new administrator of the program. Winckler reports she was attracted to her post because of the hospital's commitment to excellence. "The administration of St. Francis has been willing to do whatever is

necessary to have an excellent program," she says.

But Winckler, whose father died suddenly of a heart attack while she was a student in nursing school, also was drawn here because she spied a rare opportunity to build a program from scratch. While holding nothing against the Greenville Hospital System ("They have a fine program"), she contends a metropolitan area of 350,000 is distinctly underserved by only on a single facility specializing in coronary care. The Carpenter Heart Center provides "the opportunity for access and choice for the people of Greenville County," she says.

Anderson, who practices at both hospitals, agrees. "There was a need for it," he contends. "It's beneficial to patients and the community to have another place to go."

With heart disease remaining the number-one killer nationally (476,124 deaths in 1996) and South Carolina maintaining its high ranking for reported cases, it appears there areplenty of patients to go around.

Pat Jansen, administrator for the Heart Institute at the Greenville Hospital System, reports that his facility does more heart procedures than any in South Carolina. He ticks off a laundry list of cutting-edge protocols being pioneered at the Heart Institute, which can be customized to suit the individual needs of the patient. "All of these are adding tools to the tool box of the interventional cardiologist," he says.

Yet Jansen is perhaps most impressed with the collection of talent represented among local cardiologists and heart surgeons. "We've got these folks here in Greenville," he observes. "They've got 15-plus years of post-graduate training."

But for all their expertise and the wondrous technology at then-disposal, there is still no substitute for prevention. Atherosclerosis, the, condition of fatty plaque which" builds up on the walls of coronary arteries and slowly starves the heart of its oxygen supply, can be; lowered as never before ;wffi cholesterol reducing



Feb. 11 Greenville Journal 27C Page 3 of 3

drugs. However, Winckler would like

to see the public pay more attention to controllable risk factors. Even individuals with a family history of heart disease can lessen their risk by not smoking, maintaining their proper body weight and regular exercise.

She also encourages people experiencing chest pains to pay attention to early warning signs

and seek proper medical attention. A heart attack is a continuous process, and often unfolds over a four- to six-hour period.

Clot-busting drugs can be administered at the emergency room early in that process whichre-store blood supply and prevent unnecessary damage to the heart.

"Once that heart muscle is damaged," warns Winckler, "it's gone; it doesn't rejuvenate."



Feb. 14 Greenville News 1B Page 1 of 1

Hospital CEO Pinckney has heart operation By Andy Paras STAFF WRITER

Frank Pinckney, the president and chief executive officer of the Greenville Hospital System, is in stable condition at Greenville Memorial after undergoing surgery that prevented a major heart attack, officials said Sunday.

Spokeswoman Robyn Zimmerman said Pinckney went to his regular doctor on Friday because he "just didn't feel good." He was referred to a cardiologist, Dr. John Cebe, who found significant, blockage in his coronary artery, she said.

At the Catheterization Laboratory, Pinckney avoided a major heart attack after he underwent an angioplasty procedure where the blockage was removed with the inser-

tion of a stent, according to a memo sent to executive members of the hospital staff.

The memo

Pinckney

said Pinckney didn't sustain any significant heart damage and is expected to recover fully. He will remain at the hospital for an undetermined num

ber of days and then return home for two weeks of recuperation, Zimmerman said.

"Out of respect for-Mr. Pinckney and his family, we chose not to release this information this weekend so he could get some much-needed rest," Zimmerman said.



Children's Hospital started program in '94

The Children's Hospital of the Greenville Hospital System signed a contract with National SAFE KIDS in May 1994 to create a coalition to fight unintentional injuries.

Linda Brees was hired as program manager of Children's Advocacy. Early supporters included members from the business community, insurance companies, service organizations, law enforcement, education, human services, fire department, emergency medicine, recreational, retail, media and community volunteers.

General Motors representatives also became involved.

The first official celebration was for National SAFE KIDS Week in May 1995.

Greenville SAFE KIDS received a Greenville Hospital System Foundation grant for $385,000 for 1998-2001. It has also received over $5,000 in grants from National SAFE KIDS for initiatives including Buckle-Up events, home safety training, bike safety and others.

Other grants have come from Greenville Spinners Foundation (a coalition partner), National Fire Prevention Association, Amika Insurance (a coalition partner), State Farm Insurance (a coalition partner), Log a Load Association, Children's Miracle Network Telethon, Nicholas Camerida Memorial Fund, First Alert, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Babies R Us and the Greenville-Pickens Speedway.

SAFE KIDS works to prevent injuries in the area of care safety as well as water safety, sports and playground.



Preventative care the biggest goal of SAFE KIDS

Sonia Chopra Contributing Writer

At the end of the day, Linda Brees wants to go home believing that she made Greenville safer for one more child.

After 25 years of working in child development issues, Brees, program coordinator for Children's Advocacy of The Children's Hospital, believes, "My goal is to see every kid safe and healthy."

Almost six years ago, she was recruited by The Children's Hospital, where she is also the coalition leader for Greenville SAFE KIDS.

"My primary goal at the hospital is keeping children out of the hospital by developing programs that focus on preventive care, and I do that by reaching out into the community," said Brees, who reports directly to the medical director of the hospital and works closely with advocacy and pediatric specialists.

One of the most important components of her job is to lead Greenville SAFE KIDS, a coalition of community agencies and organizations that are working to reduce unintentional injuries to children and is funded through national SAFE KIDS, Washington D.C., a national organization dedicated to the prevention of unintentional childhood injury - the number one killer of children 14 and under.

"I take a great deal of pride in being associated with a hospital, which I believe is one of the best in the country. They pull together to save lives and prevent future accidents," Breeze said.

"If any child comes into our emergency room and has been in an accident involving bicycles or car seats, we do not let them walk out without a new helmet or a new car seat."

Brees uses her position to make life better for Greenville kids by collaborating with the school district, health department, law enforcement and the media. She also joins hands with corporate partners to get grants to create centers like the NorthWest Crescent Child and Family Services, where parents get heath care education and have day care facilities at no charge.

"I love what I do. I reach out and touch lives. I make a difference in the lives of young women, and I save children. It's very rewarding," Brees said.

Fund-raisers and events are a big part of Brees' job. She often helps distribute free car seats and bike helmets to promote safety for children.

She also coordinates car seat checks to allow parents to determine if their children's car seats are installed correctly.

"I have distributed at least 1,000 car seats, 10,000 bike helmets and thousands of smoke detectors and reached 38,000 teachers, and I still know there are more people out there to reach," said Brees, who also helped to launch the Buddy Bear's House project which won a

PROFILE • Name: Linda Brees • Family: Husband, Gene; two children, Leslie and Jordan • Education: East Carolina University, B.S. and master's in social work • Awards: 1997 Order of the Jessamine

HOW TO HELP • To volunteer for Greenville SAFE KIDS, call (864) 455-4402. Here are some volunteer opportunities: Buddy's Home Improvement House; SAFE KIDS Fest at Haywood Mall May 4-6; SAFE KIDS Buckle-Up Events.



national award in 1997. Being a mother of two children,

Brees know how precious each child is: "The very hardest thing in the world for a parent is to lose a child, especially when it could be prevented," said Brees.

She stresses the importance of home safety, pointing out that parents need to be alert at home to the dangers of poisons, firearms, bleaches, electric wires and doors.

Brees has been involved as an advocate in raising awareness that resulted in improved laws for bike helmets, smoke detectors and child safety. Of these, car seats cause her the most concern.

"Despite public awareness campaigns during the past few years emphasizing motor vehicle safety and more people becoming certified as child passenger safety technicians, we are still seeing about 30 percent of children riding completely unrestrained, and 85 percent of car seats continue to be used wrong," Brees said.

Her parents always showed her by example how families have to look out for each other.

Brees calls herself "an army brat." She was born in St. Paul, Minn., and lived there for six weeks before moving to various towns in the southern and mid-west parts of the country. Her father Richard Kiel, 73, is a retired colonel.

Brees went to Radford High School in Hawaii for awhile, but completed her last year of high school in Kansas where she met her future husband.

They dated for seven years and after graduation, while Brees worked at the Department of Corrections in Rocky Mount, N.C, evaluating troubled teens, her husband taught woodworking to deaf

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ALAN DEVORSEY / Staff

Fund-raisers and events are a large part of Linda Brees' job.

children in Morgantown. "I saw a wide range of teens, who

had experienced many things like truancy, rape, robbery, grand larceny and even murder," said Brees, who decided after a year that the job wasn't for her.

After working in two developmental evaluation centers for the next five years, Brees moved to Greenville. She began teaching at Greenville Tech, where she became department head for Early Childhood Development.

She helped develop curriculum and start Tech's child development center.

"I really had the opportunity to not only set the standard for the state right from scratch from the drawing board with the architects, but to take that and make it into a nationally recognized child development center," said Brees.

She taught about 60 students a year, and said, "I often see these past graduates in the community, and I always feel overwhelmed with the gratitude they show," Brees said.

"It is very rewarding to think that I have influenced others to take great pride in caring for young children."



'SAFE KIDS saved our son great harm'

Stephanie Ashley Guest Columnist

My husband, like most, installed our car seats just before we came home from the hospital. He followed the manufacturer's instructions to the letter.

On Feb. 14, 1998, my husband Arnie, our son Will, then 6 months old, and I spent our Saturday at the Saturn dealership for the Greenville SAFE KIDS car seat check to make sure that our car seats were properly installed.

It was a very long day; but volunteers for the SAFE KIDS Coalition,




Children's Hospital and the Saturn gang did everything they could to make everyone as comfortable as possible. They had a playroom for the kids, with a clown, games, snacks and all kinds of things to do as we waited for our seats to be checked by trained technicians. They even made lunch for everyone.

When it was finally our turn we were so thankful that we knew everything would be OK. Arnie had followed the directions, and how hard could it be to put in a car seat?

Well, am I glad that we donated that Saturday. Our seat was not tight enough. Our seat was in the middle of the back seat, usually the safest place in the car, right? But we learned that day that a car seat should be in the middle of the back seat UNLESS you have an armrest, and we did.

The inspectors also told us if you have an infant car seat/carrier that the handle must always be in the down position if the car is in motion. If you are in an accident, and the infant is thrown forward, with the handle up it can cause a head trauma.

None of this information was in the directions that my husband had so carefully followed to make sure that our son would be safe.

On May 14, 1998, Will and I were on our way to get a baby gift

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

• Stephanie Ashley was formerly director of education for Upper State Apartment Association. She and her husband, Arnold, an attorney, have a son Will, with whom Stephanie participates in the Parents as Teachers program.

for a dear friend when we were rear-ended. The gentleman desperately tried to stop but just couldn't.

Will let out a blood-curdling scream. I was so scared. I called 911, and then I went to calm down Will in his car seat. I was afraid to move him. I called my husband, and then I cried. I was on Haywood Road on a Friday afternoon and traffic was dreadful. I thought someone was going to run into the man's car that had hit us.

When the police came, the policeman let Arnie take Will to the pediatrician. We know that if his car seat had not been installed correctly, he could have been seriously injured.

We must have all had guardian angels around us that day. Will nipped his tongue on his new top two teeth, and it seems that was all.

When Will turned 1 year old and it was time to turn his seat around to face forward, Arnie said, "Let's wait until the next car seat check. I am NOT touching it!" So, we went

to another Greenville SAFE KIDS car seat check to have his seat turned around.

I am so excited to see that so many companies are getting involved with this important safety effort. I am thankful that the Saturn dealership, as well as the Children's Hospital of the Greenville Hospital System, WYFF News Channel 4, Easter Seals, Arnica Insurance, the School System of Greenville County and the many other supporters of Greenville SAFE KIDS have dedicated their time to the SAFE KIDS Buckle Up project.

If your car seat has been recalled or it is not up to standard, they will GIVE you a new seat. The people that are involved with Greenville SAFE KIDS are angels here on earth. I know that there are many more stories that are more worthy to print than mine, but there is not a parent more grateful for all that Greenville SAFE KIDS has done for me.

We, the Ashleys, are still so grateful for all that the volunteers have done and continue to do. I hope everyone who reads this will encourage others who have a car seat to have it checked. We learned that following the instructions in the owner's manual is not enough.

Our children are worth the small amount of time spent on a Saturday to have your seat checked. If it's not checked, nothing will bring them back.



Feb. 22 Greenville News 1A Page 1 of 2

S.C. women have more heart disease State among lO worst for such deaths among women age 35 and older

By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER

In the worst cases, the arteries close completely — creating a dam that cuts off blood from the heart — and the muscular pump abruptly stops beating.

It's a heart attack that Betty Fishburn wants to lvoid. The Greenville woman las hopped onto treadmills md begun eating fish and fat-ree foods during the past

year to help lower the odds of getting heart disease.

A year ago, she was a self-professed couch potato. She could barely catch her breath walking through her West Greenville neighborhood and got many of her vegetable servings from the ketchup she put on hamburgers.

Chest pains led to doctor visits in October, which revealed partially blocked arteries. That's when Fishburn joined the Greenville Hosnir?! System's Hearrpft., nrrwam Less than a year later; door tors have given the 61-year-old a clean bill of health.

Other South Carolina women aren't so lucky, according to a new federal report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and West Virginia University.

The report, aimed at helping health professionals target women at risk, ranks South Carolina among the worst 10 states for heart disease deaths of women age 35 and older. South Carolina's annual death rate of 438 per 100,000 women was 9 percent higher than the national average.

Nationwide, about 373,000 women die of heart disease every year — more than all forms of cancer combined, according to the CDC. The report was based on heart disease death rates between 1991 and 1995.

"Heart disease has primarily been regarded as a man's disease," said Ann Lockwood, manager of the cardiovascular disease program for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. "But almost 5,000 South Carolina women died from heart disease in 1997."

Only recently have women been identified as an at-risk population for heart disease. Women are often diagnosed with the disease in its advanced stages when treatment is less effective, according to the CDC.

The study found that the death rates from heart disease were generally highest in the impoverished, rural areas of Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta and elsewhere in rural Southern states.

But the study also found pockets of high death rates elsewhere, particularly in four densely populated cities: Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans and New York.

The report also found that black women are at far greater risk than any other group.

According to the American Heart Association, African Americans in the Southeast are more likely to have high blood pressure and higher death rates from stroke than those from other regions around the country.

S.C. heart disease death rate 10th highest The first national study of heart disease in women by region, race and ethnic origin from 1991 -1995 revealed black women are more likely to die from the disease.

Average annual deaths per 100,000 women 35 and older...

• By race to211438: All women

Black women White women

I By county

J 388-417 II418-433 Ii 434-453 m 454-479 Wt 480-522

SOURCES: Centers for Disease Contrc Prevention, West Virginia University

562

GEORGE TUGQLE/Staff




OWEN RILEY

For her health: Betty Fishburn works out on a rowing machine in the Greenville Hospital System's Life Center, to help fend off heart disease.

South Carolina, where heart disease and stroke are leading causes of death among African-American females, is no exception.

Possible reasons for varying heart disease death rates include genetic variations heavily concentrated in a particular region, amount of exercise, smoking habits, ethnic diets and other social or cultural traditions.

Social isolation and limited mobility also may be part of the problem in some high-risk areas, researchers concluded.

Gardenia Ruff, director of DHEC's Office of Minority Health,

said state officials need to develop more strategies targeting African Americans, particularly women.

Strategies should include the identification of affordable and accessible quality care statewide, she said.

"Dialogue involving health-care providers and community members is essential to develop culturally appropriate, community-based prevention strategies to reduce the risk of heart disease," she added.

The Office of Minority Health will work with DHEC's Women's Health Program to address disparities related to women and heart disease, according to Julie Lump

kin, manager of the Women's Health Program.

In people with heart disease, the arteries narrow and can become blocked by plaques, or patches of cholesterol-rich fat. The blockages reduce or stop blood supply to the heart. The first symptom is usually pain in the chest or a full-blown heart attack.

Certain drugs can help improve blood flow or help the heart work better. In more severe cases, blood flow may be improved by bypass surgery in which a vein graft is used to skip over the bad part of the artery, or angioplasty, in which the narrowed artery is stretched.

Improvements in lifestyle are necessary to keep more blockages from forming. Patients diagnosed with heart disease usually enroll in a cardiac rehabilitation program.

Fishburn started early. After her first chest pains, she signed up for HeartLife. She completed a 36-week exercise program and has continued walking and working out with weights and on stationary bikes and rowing machines at least three times a week.

Her cholesterol has dropped from 282 to*166, and she has lost nearly 10 pounds.

Fishburn has begun working again — part-time as a house cleaner — and is excited she'll be able to rake leaves in the fall.

But it's not always easy. Once in a while she craves a "good ol' hamburger.



Feb. 22 Greenville News 1D Page 1 of 1

Kathy Spencer-Mention Columnist

Health-care internship opens doors to minorities

The entrepreneurial spirit took hold of Denophilas Ad-kins when he was too little to care. Adkins' dad runs a moving company in Atlanta, and his mom heads a business of her own. The boy couldn't escape the itch to manage somebody when he grew older.

"I guess, it was kind of instilled in me," the 20-year-old Furman University student said. He credits his mother with feeding the spirit. "My dad always believed in me, but Mom has always said 'Never settle for less.'"

The path to administration was laid early for Adkins, but direction came last year in a seven-week summer internship, provided through Greenville Area Health Education Center (AHEC).

The Students Exploring and Researching Careers in Health (SEARCH) summer internship program is one of several designed to increase the quality of and access to health care. It also aims to attract more minorities into health-care professions.

Adkins' internship placed him under the wings of a hospital administrator and physician at Greenville Memorial Hospital. "I actually got to go into the operating ropm to see open heart surgeries. That was great," said ^Adkins, whose long-term goal is to go into health-care management.

AHEC's office of Student Development and Diversity is giving Adkins and other minorities a chance to sample what's involved in health-care careers. The program is supported by the Minority Advisory Council of Greenville, a volunteer group of educators, both practicing and retired, health-care professionals and concerned citizens.

Since 1990, AHEC has given out more than $47,000 in scholarships, helping to cover the rising cost of higher education for minorities pursing health-related majors.

The organization also sponsors SEARCH club meetings for high school and middle school students, held monthly at locations such as Greenville Memorial Medical Center^L len Bennett Memorial Hospi-tal and Furman University.

Some 97 students are taking advantage of the clubs, according to Angelica , Williams, coordinator of AHEC's Student Development and Diversity office.

"Next month, the students will be working with the So-roptomist International at their Women's Celebration at Greenville Mall," Williams. said.

"We do a lot of things in the community," she said, because in addition to encouraging students in their goals, "we also want to try to instill in them a very strong sense of community."

Members also hear speakers at meetings. And the program helps them develop mentors.

Through such exposure, some students discover health care isn't really the career they want. "For others, it exposes them to careers that maybe they had not thought about," Williams said.

The SEARCH internship opened doors for Adkins.

"I've had several internships," he said, "but this one, by far, was the most meaningful. Networking was very important, so it was definitely a plus. In fact, I still keep in touch with the doctors. That was a big encouragement, they take interest. I think that's the key. I think AHEC did a very good job with that."

Call 455-6120 for more information.



Photographs by ALAN DEVORSEY / Staff

Big Apple Circus clown Dr. Silly hands a clacker to patient Sabrina House, left, as Reginald Zercher and his son Reggie look on during a'visit to the pediatric oncology center at the Children's Hospital of the Greenville Hospital System.



Kids get kick out of clowns

Two clowns from the Big Apple Circus Stage Show, which appeared at the Peace Center Feb. 20, visited the Children's Hospital of the Greenville Hospital System Feb. 15.

The clowns entertained young hospital patients as well as those undergoing treatment at the hospital's pediatric oncology center.

Jessica Wood, right, gets a humorous break from schoolwork as Dr. Meatball, left, and Dr. Silly have some fun.




Common sleep disorders

Insomnia: Difficulty falling or staying asleep. Typical causes: stress, tension, shift-work, poor sleep habits. Sleep Apnea: Brief pauses of breathing during sleep. Often associated with loud snoring, snorting and gasping for breath. Can result in daytime sleepiness, depression, cardiovascular

problems. -

r v . uieep attacks; sudden muscular weakness in response to strong emotion; brief paralysis upon falling asleep or waking up. Restless Leg Syndrome: Uncomfortable sensations in the legs near sleep time. Legs and arms may move or jerk involuntarily

during sleep.

KRISTISHERRARD/Staff

More in Upstate have trouble getting to sleep Many suffer, few seek help in solving catalyst to further health problems By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER

Like many salesmen, Tom Whittemore spends his work week cruising back roads and highways — about 60,000 miles a year.

And like a growing number of working travelers, the 57-year-old Williamston man often grew weary-eyed behind the wheel. Catnaps of 15 to 20 minutes in his parked car had become an almost daily occurrence.

In November, Whittemore headed to a Greenville sleep disorder center where he discovered he has sleep apnea, a common problem that causes sleepers to stop breathing and wake up several times during the night. Now, with the help of an air compressor mask, he's sleeping much better.

The number of people seeking such shut-eye relief at Upstate sleep disorder centers is

soaring. The center at Greenville

Memorial Hospital, which serves about 800 people annually, added a fourth bed about a year ago and has a six-week waiting list. Patient volume at the sleep center at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center has more than doubled in the past four years.

The Southeast Regional Sleep Disorders Center, where Whittemore sought help, moved in March from Pelham Road to Roper Mountain Road in order to add two beds to the four they already had.

Sleep experts say a growing population and increased awareness about sleep disorders are sending more people to Upstate sleep centers.

While some people can sleep better by changing their

2000-76

behavior, such as reducing catteme intake and adhering to a consistent sleep schedule, others must seek medical help.

About one-third of a person's life is spent sleeping and about 50 million Americans suffer from sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome and insomnia, according to the National Sleep Foundation. About 95 percent of sleep disorders can be treated.

In the Upstate in particular, many people work rotating shifts or suffer from allergies, two factors that can disrupt sleep patterns, said Shari Angel Newman, manager of the Spartanburg center and a registered sleep therapist.

Often, it takes just one visit to a sleep disorders center to diagnose a patient and create a treatment plan. Others need more extensive testing.

All-night sleep studies are performed in sleep laboratories, where patients snuggle into bed with multiple sensors attached to their body.

The sensors and belts around the chest and abdomen monitor brain waves, eye movement, air exchange, heartbeat, muscle activity and oxygen levels. A small microphone attached to the throat records sounds.

Hundreds of pages of data are collected during the course of the night.

The Greenville Hospital System opened a sleep lab at Simpsonville's Hillcrest Hospital about a year ago. The two-bed center serves about 400 people annually. Hospital officials are thinking about opening a four-bed center on Greenville's fast-growing Eastside.

The Spartanburg center, which treats about 1,100 patients a year, expanded in recent months by one bed and two nurses to serve four patients six nights a week.

"There's better awareness, and people are seeking treatment," said Don McMahan, manager of the center at Greenville Memorial.

More people also are willing to admit they're having trouble nodding off.

"It's like a badge of honor for workaholics to say how little sleep they get by on," McMahan said. "But then they find out that they're not enjoying the rest of their lives."


Date: Feb. 24 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1A Page 2 of 2

JNewman said evidence of sleep trouble abounds.

"Look at how many folks are online at midnight," she said. "Our kids are sleepy in school. We have so many folks on the highway who are falling asleep."

Americans sleep 25 percent less today than they did 25 years ago, Newman said.

In the worst cases, people get suspended from jobs for excessive sleepiness, McMahan said. Truck drivers who are clients sometimes must prove they're receiving treatment, he said.

At the 1995 National Truck Safety Summit, driver fatigue was designated the No. 1 priority for truck safety.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that about 100,000 police-reported crashes annually — about 1.5 percent of all crashes — are caused in part by fatigue. At least 71,000 people are injured in fall-asleep crashes each year, the group estimates.

A 1999 poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that 62 percent of 1,014 adults surveyed reported driving a vehicle during the past year while feeling drowsy. Twenty-seven percent reported that they had, at some time, dozed off while driving.

The same survey found that 40 percent of adults say they are so sleepy during the day that it interferes with their daily activities. The poll also found that daytime sleepiness is high among children at school.

Despite the fact that 70 percent of adults surveyed said they are aware that most sleep problems don't go away without treatment, only a small fraction — 4 percent •— who experience frequent sleep problems are seeing a; doctor or health-care provider for advice or treatment.

"What we are doing is really just the tip of the iceberg," said Dr. Ti-raq Ansari, a Greenville Memorial

pulmonologist who is board certified in sleep medicine. "If we were actually treating all the people who have a sleep disorder, we'd need a lot more facilities."

Newman said sleep problems in South Carolina are worsened by high obesity rates. Being overweight, for example, is a common cause of sleep apnea because sagging muscles and fatty tissue build up in the throat.

Sleep apnea "feels kind of like someone puts a pillow over your face 200 to 300 times a night,"

Newman said. Whittemore has joined a weight-

loss program at the Southeast Regional Sleep Disorders Center to shave off extra pounds.

He said sleeping with a mask, which forces air into the nasal passages, "is nothing to write home about." But it's a big improvement from his sleepless days, he said.

"I was tired all the time," he recalled. "It was frustrating."


Sleepy work: Dr. Tariq Ansari, whp is board certified in sleep medicine, works in the sleep disorders center at Greenville Memorial Hospital.



Date: Feb. 27 Publication: Greenville News Page: 2F Page 1 of 1

Hospital displays care for woman, family

I have heard many comments in the past of poor service and rude people that have been involved in the patient's care at Greenville Memorial Hospital.

Un Feb. 11,1 was called at work around 10:30 a.m. saying that my mother-in-law had been rushed to the hospital by EMS with a possible heart attack. I left the office and went directly to Greenville Hospital Emergency Center. I asked the front emergency desk for directions to where she was and was immediately shown where to find the family. They were in the waiting area and had already been taken back to another waiting room closest to the emergency center.

Within 15 minutes, the emergency room physician came back and explained the situation to us and what the procedure would be. He had an excellent bedside manr ner and was so reassuring to us. After the procedure was performed, the doctor again talked to us and explained what had been done. My mother-in-law was taken to CCU, and up-to-date reports were always given to us by nurses on duty.

Another point that impressed us all was the EMS technician came by-while we were waiting on the procedure to take place and inquired as to my mother-in-law's condition. He said he would pray for her. Also, a comment that the condition of the patient comes from the Great Physician working through him was from the attending emergency-room physician. I wanted to share this with our Greenville readers.

Sue A. Finley Greenvilie



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Drug moms face scrutiny of top court Privacy advocates question S.C. policy of testing pregnant patients STAFF, WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, tackling a dispute over women's privacy, said Monday it will decide whether public hospitals can test pregnant patients for drug use and tell police who tested positive.

The court must determine whether a South Carolina hospital's policy aimed at detecting pregnant women who use crack cocaine violates the Constitution's protections against unreasonable searches.

"On one level, the question before the court is whether pregnant women have lesser constitutional rights than other Americans," said Simon Heller of the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, one of the lawyers representing 10 women who tested positive.

Some of the women were arrested "right out of their hospital beds," he said, as the state used its child-endanger-

ment law to prosecute women who use illegal drugs while pregnant.

South Carolina . Attorney General Charlie Condon said the case will not deter the state's efforts. "South Carolina's policy of protecting unborn children from their mother's cocaine abuse will continue even at public hospitals," he said. "There is no constitutional right for a pregnant mother to use drugs. The unborn child has a constitutional right to protection from its mother's drug abuse."

At the Greenville Hospital System, women are tested only if they have a complication that could be related to substance abuse, said Dr. Robert Cummings, medical director of the Center for Women. If the test is positive, the woman is reported.

"Our policy complies with what state law requires," spokeswoman Erika Spinelli said.


Date: March 1 Publication: Greenville News Page: 2B Page 1 of 2

Free clinic seeks doctors to help staff satellite office

Additional physicians could permit Greenville site to open more often By Angelia Davis STAFF WRITER

BEREA — The older he gets, Dr. Steve Parks finds he's happier "giving my expertise away than selling it."

That's exactly what the Greenville Hospital System emergency-room physician does as a volunteer at the Greenville Free Medical Clinic's first satellite office at the Northwest Crescent Center on Franklin Road.

"It goes back to what Jesus said, 'Do this for the least of my brethren, and you've done it for me.' I take that seriously," he said. "If I can help the least of these, then I feel I've done it for Christ."

Parks, who worked ..for nearly two years to help get the clinic started for the area's less fortunate, would like more physicians to give away some of their free time to help the clinic deal with im

pending growth. "We opened Jan. 6 and have

been increasing the numbers (of patients) and activities since then," said Suzie Foley, executive director of the Greenville Free Medical Clinic.

"As more people get the word that we're here, we're going to need to recruit some additional help or we're going to be swamped or burned out."

Additional doctors could help the clinic open its doors more than one day a week. They also might allow the clinic to offer pediatric services. Now, the clinic offers



services primarily to 18- to 64-year-olds.

The clinic has six doctors who rotate a Thursday shift. Parks would like a core of 20 to 25 doctors to each give at least two hours every two or three months.

Ed Marshall, project director of Northwest Crescent, said the need for more physicians is "almost critical," particularly because of the population being served.

A United Way study released in the summer of 1998 showed 37 percent of residents in the 29611 ZIP code and 27 percent in the 29617 ZIP code are medically under-

ro HELP? The Greenville Free Medical Clinic is seeking doctors to volunteer at its new satellite office at the Northwest Crescent Center on North Franklin Road. For information, call 232-1470.

served. That means they either

have no health insurance or they have insurance but put off treatment because of cost, lack of transportation, or because health-care facilities aren't open when they can go.

"The thing I've noticed in

the patients I've seen so far is they're all working, but they don't make enough money to buy this expensive health insurance," Parks slid.

"They make too much to qualify for Medicaid, and they're too young to get on Medicare, so they're falling right through the cracks."

A 1998 informal analysis by the Greenville Hospital System showed residents in the 29611 ZIP area represent a "pretty high percentage" of emergency-room visits for primary-care treatment.

Parks said it would be helpful if more primary-care physicians volunteer, "but any

doctor is helpful." The clinic is housed in two

former classrooms in the old Arrington Elementary School building. Its pharmacy, which provides patients served there with free medications, is in an approved converted janitor's closet. No narcotics or controlled substances that can be abused are kept on the premises, officials said.

The clinic, which focuses mainly on chronic, long-term illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure, sees an average of 10 to 12 patients each day it is open. Most of those are Hispanics, Foley said.


Date: March 1 Publication: Tribune Times Page: 1A Page 1 of 1

Pop tops no cure for cancer treatment costs By Sara Harvey Tribune-Times Writer

A misunderstood TV news reporter may have spawned one of the area's most durable myths, said Erica Spinelli, Greenville Hospital System spokeswoman.

One thousand pop-top tabs from soda cans don't buy a

child a chemotherapy treatment, Spinelli said.

Redeem aluminum cans and contribute the proceeds to cancer patients within the Greenville Hospital System, but don't plop a bag of pop tops on the hospital's front desk, she said.

"It's just not true," Spinelli said. "It's been about a year

Need fund-raising ideas? Call Erica Spinelli of the Greenville Hospital System at 455-5924.

now that we've been fighting this. We think that there was a news show somewhere where some kids recycled pop tops and the reporter compared how many pop tops

they would need to raise to pay for a single doctor's visit."

The hospital has received about a dozen calls from those who collected pop tops to help children suffering from cancer, and wanted to bring them by the hospital.

"We can't take pop tops for treatment," Spinelli said.

"It just doesn't work that way."

ALAN DEVORSEYJ Staff

Not just for patients: Patients' visitors and employees aren't the only people who dine at Greenville Memorial Hospital. At lunchtime, workers from nearby businesses often stop in tor a bite.

PlITO 2000-83 [ search engine powered by magazooms.com ]

Date: March 3 Publication: Community Informer Page: 12 Page 1 of 1

GHS Foundation Gives $354,945 In Community Health Partnership Grants

Five area programs will receive their third and final installment of seed money from the Greenville Hospital System Foundation's Community Health Partnership Grants Program this winter. The Foundation, in conjunction with the hospital system's mission to "improve the health of people in our communities in a caring, cost-effective manner," committed three years of funding to help establish health-oriented programs in the community.

•Alliance for Quality Education: This program establishes faculty wellness programs in five Greenville Countv schools. Winter 2000

grant, $26,000; total grant, $75,000.

•Greenville County Disabilities and Special Needs. This grant will help hire a community traumatic brain injury coordinator, who will work to increase program participants' physical, cognitive and emotional abilities as well as increase living skills, employability and independent living ability. Winter 2000 grant, $42,00Q; total grant, $126,000. '"--• *

•School District of Greenville County: This money will increase school readiness and health of children by addressing children's health and development by pro

viding learning resources for parents and children. Winter 2000 grant, $208,000; total grant, $624,000.

•United Way, Success by 6: This money will allow pediatric residents at GHS's Pediatric Medical Clinic to distribute children's books to patients. Winter 2000 grant, $45,125; total grant, $135,375.

•Within Reach: This money will provide an outreach worker to go door-to-door in neighborhoods to offer health information and initiate resident and service provider group meetings to increase accessibility to health care. Winter 2000 grant, $34,820; total grant, $104,460.



GHS grant will send health staffer door to door By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER

In some parts of Greenville County, accessibility to health care comes mainly in one form — the E.R.

"One of the primary things you find in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods is that people wait until they are so sick that they go to the emergency room," said Al Chiles, executive director of Within Reach.

But with a third grant on its way from the Greenville Hospital System foundation, an outreach worker will be going door-to-door in neighborhoods to offer health information and initiate meetings between residents and health care providers.

"We can help citizens understand how to access health care by using a primary care physician — without burdening the emergency room," Chiles said.

Within Reach, an organization that aims to "build neighborhoods from within" will receive $34,820, bringing its total received to $104,460.

Within Reach is one of five programs that will receive a third and final installment of money this winter from the foundation's Community Health Partnership Grants Program.

The grants, which this year total $354,945, are part of the hospital's effort to work more with community groups.

To be selected, projects must move people into economic independence, ensure the growth and development of children, increase transportation to medical care facilities, improve primary care to under-served people or enhance the response to alcohol and drug abuse.

So far, the foundation has given away $3.5 million.

The other recently announced grants include:

• $25,000 to the Alliance for Quality Education to promote healthy behaviors among faculty members in Greenville County schools.

• $42,000 to Greenville County Disabilities and Special Needs to help hire a community traumatic brain injury coordinator, who will help people with traumatic brain injuries enter the work force and live independently.

• $208,000 to the Greenville County School District to buy health books and other health learning resources for parents and children.

• $45,125 to United Way, Success by 6, to help pediatric residents at" the Greenville Hospital System's pediatric medical clinic buy.books for pediatric patients.

"We can help citizens

understand how to access health care by using a primary care physician — without burdening

the emergency room."

— Al Chiles, executive director of Within Reach


Date: March 5 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1A Page 1 of 2

Surgery on cutting edge of hospital growth

. . . • Photographs by OWEN RILEY JR./Staff

Surgery ground zero: The central area in Greenville Memorial Hospital's surgical suite bustles with doctors, nurses and staff who track scheduled surgeries on a computer and large board that can be seen through the glass.

Expanding may ease surgical bottleneck By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER

Their lifeline is a 4-foot-high white board that stretches 16 feet along the wall.

The nurses, doctors and surgical technicians who bustle around it use the board to track which doctors are operating on which patients, and where and when the operations are scheduled.

Dr. Rob Nelson likens the

surgical hub at Greenville Memorial Hospital to an air traffic control tower.

For good reason. The number of Upstate residents going under the knife in one of the 30 operating rooms at Greenville's largest surgery center is soaring as surgeons and staff grapple with how to accommodate them.

The doctors last year scrubbed with pink or brown surgical soap 22,000 times

Camera-assisted operation: Dr. Jim DeCou uses a video camera to help remove a child's ruptured appendix.

— 7,000 years ago.

They

more than five 483,410 disposable green

went through See SURGERY on page 15A



and blue surgical masks and 212,876 pairs of rubber gloves.

About 80 operations are performed each day. On busier days, that number climbs to 100. Elective procedures are scheduled weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., but the surgery center is open 24 hours a day. Operating room 4 is reserved for emergency trauma cases — victims of gunshots, stabbings and car wrecks.

By midnight, "mountains" of scalpels and other medical instruments collect in the bowels of Greenville Memorial, awaiting sterilization and a return trip into the hands of one of 350 surgeons.

To accommodate the crush, doctors have changed the hours they work to help move patients in and out of operating rooms faster. Even so, doctors and nurses work in increasingly tight quarters, and because of growth throughout the hospital patients must often wait hours to move to a hospital room after surgery.

Expansions that are planned will help but won't come for at least three more years, and by then, the Upstate's population will have grown even more.

"Greenville has just exploded, and our ability to keep up with growth has been difficult," said Nelson, medical director of perioperative services at Greenville Memorial.

Nelson, a general surgeon who came to Greenville in 1996, has a master's degree in business administration and runs the show in the surgery area that's become a $140 mMon-a-year moneymaker.

"I have two customers — the patient and the surgeon," the 49-year-old said. "They are always competing for my attention."

On a busy Wednesday in the operating rooms — some dimly lit and quiet, others bright with music playing — doctors begin cutting bones in an operation that could last more than seven hours. Nearby, Dr. Jim DeGou carefully wiggles a 14-year-old's ruptured appendix through a tiny hole in the abdomen.

Dr. Burton West peers through a videoscope to remove part of an elderly man's prostate gland; Dr. Ted Littlepage removes bone spurs to relieve the pressure on a woman's spinal cord, and in room 12,

Dr. Michael Stamm works on a hernia.

In C suite, home to vascular and heart surgeries, Dr. David Cull cleans plaque out of the main blood vessel to a man's brain, and Dr. Jerry Acosta works through a cracked chest to repair a woman's heart valve. Her blood flows through a maze of plastic tubes hooked to a heart-lung bypass machine.

Down the hall, varicose veins are stripped in the ambulatory center, a section that staff "carved out" last year and reserved for cases that require less anesthesia. There, operating rooms are left vacant for just 15 minutes, compared with a 45-minute turnaround time in the other rooms.

"Surgeons want that time as short as possible because when they're not operating, they're wasting their time," Nelson said.

When Nelson arrived in 1996, patients were in the operating rooms just 61 percent of the time. The national benchmark is 80 percent.

So late last year, Nelson introduced block scheduling. Physician groups have set times to operate, and if they don't use those time slots within 72 hours, the operating rooms are fair game to any surgeon.

Now, patients are in the operating rooms 82 percent of the time.

The problem now is space. Sponges, sutures and other medical supplies are stacked ceiling-high in some places. A small room of anesthesia supplies is jam-packed. In some hallways, staff must walk single-file from one surgery suite to another.

The pre-op holding area where patients wait before surgery shares space with those who are recovering from an operation.

Tf there is no room in the hospital, here is where it gets backed up," Nelson said of the recovery area.

As part of the Greenville Hospital System's $67 million expansion plan, a new four-story Heart Institute will have its own recovery beds, relieving the surgery center of recovering heart patients.

"The real challenge will be keeping the O.R. going during construction," Nelson said.

Lockers and staff lounges in the surgery center will be moved to another floor to make room for a 20-bed pre-op area. The recovery room will be doubled to 30 beds.

One day last week, four patients had to stay overnight in the recovery area.

Dr. Abe Arrillaga, a trauma surgeon, deals with backups in the emergency room but can offer ^ different perspective for those who complain about the growth.

Before coming to Greenville five years ago, the trauma surgeon trained in burgeoning New York City and Miami.

"In one of the hospitals in New York, there were so many people that stayed in the E.R. in stretchers that you literally had to move the stretchers out of your way if you wanted to cross the E.R. from one side to the other."

Greenville Memorial has been on red alert for much of the past few months, meaning all computer-monitored beds are full and physicians are alerted to the capacity situation.

"When I first came here, it was a

seasonal crunch," Nelson said. "Now it's all the time."




March 8 Greenville News 1A Page 1 of 2

Upstate women waiting weeks for mammograms

Growth helping to overload medical centers By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER

Peering through a magnifying glass, Dr. Steve Milam scrutinizes a black and white image of breast tissue on a large sheet of film.

A growing number of such images are coming his way. Radiological centers across the Upstate are backed up weeks for routine mammograms, the X-ray procedures used to detect breast cancer.

"We've really had a concern about this," said Julie Eggert, clinical nurse specialist at the Greenville Hospital System's Breast Health Center, where since last fall some women have had to wait as long as three months for a mammogram.

Waits are a little shorter — typically one month to 6 weeks — at St. Francis Hospital near downtown Green-

TANYAACKERMAN/ Staff

Early detection specialist: Dr. Steve Milam examines mammograms at Eastside Radiology at the Greenville Hospital System's Eastside Medical Campus.

ville or at St. Francis Women's and Family Hospital on the Eastside.

Contributing to the crunch is Upstate growth and a 1997 vote by the American Cancer Society Board of Directors. The vote changed the society's breast cancer detection guidelines to include yearly mammograms for all women 40 and older.

Guidelines had previously recommended that women between 40 and 50 get a mammogram every other year.

"That's why there's a big overload," said Allie Eriksson, mammography supervisor for St. Francis Hospital and St. Francis Women's and Family Hospital. "No one took that into consideration."

There about 10 places in Greenville that women can go for a mammogram and at each of those, women who suspect cancer are given earlier appointments than those who need routine, screenings




"If you have a lump in your breast, we get you in much sooner," Eriksson said.

Waits for other routine procedures, including teeth cleanings and pap smears, have become more common across the Upstate in all areas of medicine as more people move to the area.

"With my own gynecologist, I am having to make an appointment a year in advance," Eriksson said.

But the Upstate's mammography backlog has developed largely in the past year, experts say.

Eggert said that's because more women are learning about the importance of mammograms. The number of women calling for appointments rose in October, which was breast cancer awareness month, she said.

About 2,600 women in South Carolina were diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997, according to state health statistics. Nationally, the disease strikes about 200,000 people each year.

The goal of mammography is to detect cancer when it is still too small to be felt by the woman or her physician. Early detection of small breast cancers by mammography greatly improves a women's chances for successful treatment.

According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for localized breast cancer has increased from 72 percent in the 1940s to 96 percent today. If the cancer has spread regionally, however, the rate is 77 percent, and for women whose cancer has spread even further, the rate is 21 percent.

Mammograms are interpreted by a radiologist, a physician who specializes in diagnosing diseases by examining images of the inside of the body. The entire procedure takes about 20 minutes.

Radiologists for the Greenville Hospital System perform about 15,000 mammograms a year.

Radiologists at the St. Francis hospitals read about 650 mammogram X-rays each month. The hospitals have begun offering mammograms on Tuesday evenings and some Saturdays, and are working to hire more people so they can offer more mammography appointments.

The Greenville Hospital System also is adding some Saturdays to its schedule.

"Some sites in Greenville are also trying to figure out ways to offer mammography for uninsured women because it's even more difficult to get them in," Eggert said.

One of those sites is the YMCA's ENCOREplus on Augusta Road, which has been bringing in a mammography van from Spartanburg Regional Medical Center to screen people with no insurance. Grants help cover the costs.

The van has been going to ENCOREplus several times a year since 1994 and has so far provided more than 600 mammograms.

"We still don't have the best transportation system in Greenville County, but once you get in a location where there is a bus route or women can walk to those services, it allows them to feel more comfortable about coming," said LaV-

erne Thompson, program manager for ENCOREplus.

Some centers are also scrambling to meet recent changes in guidelines made by the federal Food and Drug Administration to ensure that mammography was being practiced at uniformly high standards.

Facilities must comply with standards covering radiological equipment and personnel qualifications for the technicians who perform mammography and the physicians who interpret the mammograms.

"Some facilities didn't meet the new standards," Eriksson said.

Eggert said she wasn't sure the new requirements have played a role n the backlog or not, but said "I know we've had to shuffle some things at the hospital system."



Date: March 17 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: A14 Page 1 of 1

Hospital summer program seeks teens

Applications for teen volunteers for the summer program at Allen Bennett Memorial Hospital and Roger Huntington Center are being accepted until April 7.

For more information or to receive an application, please call Cheryl Moore at 848-8146.

Allen Bennett to host annual Kids' Fair Children of all ages arc invited to the Allen Bennett Hospital Kids'

Fair, hosted each year at the Greer hospital. The fair is set for March 23, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the cafeteria.

Interactive activities will teach children about health, wellness and safety. Kids will team aboat home safety as they tour Buddy's House, the Children Hospital's traveling safe house exhibit. Greer fireman and Greer police officers will be on hand to talk about fire safety and safety and the law. There will be tests to see how much air a child's lungs hold, how much each child weighs and how tall they stand. Children also will get to experience "casting," the fine art of setting the repair of a broken bone, and they may be fingerprinted for identification cards.



March 19 Greenville News 3F Page 1 of 1

Developmental center grows out of 'can-do' spirit Organizations collaborate to provide Upstate residents with central facility where children can be diagnosed, treated.

i l o p e now resides in a once-abandoned warehouse in downtown Greenville.

Last week, medical specialists, therapists and office workers began moving into the new Center for Developmental Services (CDS) off Academy Street. The center is expected each year to serve more than 7,000 young children suffering from mental and physical disabilities. : For the first time, CDS will provide Upstate residents with a central facility where all children, regardless of their particular needs, can be diagnosed and treated. The center will assist infants and children suffering from a variety of mental and physical problems, from dyslexia and cerebral palsy to Down's syndrome and deafness.

CDS will offer hope and aid to parents who don't know why their 5-year-old is having trouble interacting with other children at kindergarten, or why their 18-month-old isn't walking.

Until this year, anguished parents seeking answers to their child's developmental problems had to visit several facilities spread throughout the Greenville area. They often had to wait weeks for an appointment, only to be referred to another agency by the examining physician. As a result, children

frequently visited several centers before their problem was identified and a treatment prescribed. This fragmented and time-consuming process left parents feeling frustrated and demoralized.

In 1993, the Community Planning Council of the United Way recognized the need for better coordination of children's services and created a 15-member task force to devise ways to enhance the services available to the families of children suffering from developmental disorders. The task force also sought to reduce administrative costs by eliminating redundant services and reducing paperwork.

The group first studied how other cities addressed similar problems. They soon fastened on the concept of a centralized "collaborative" facility modeled after the Child Study Center in Fort Worth, Texas. The task force report called for all relevant

Greenville agencies to work together to diagnose and treat children with developmental disorders — at the same facility.

But the planning group had no money and no building, and it faced the challenging task of convincing separate agencies to exchange their autonomy for collaboration under one roof.

The project languished for months. Then, something remarkable happened. Greenville's First Presbyterian Church offered to donate the old Textile Hall Annex as a center to treat developmental disorders. The church attached one major condition to their generous offer: The human service agencies would have to work together at the center.

The idea suddenly took hold and gained momentum. Both Greenville Memorial and Bon Secours St. Francis hospitals made sizable donations to the CDS. A $5.7 million capital campaign was launched to renovate the abandoned warehouse, and philanthropic organizations such as The Duke Endowment and the Daniel-Mickel and F. W. Symmes foundations provided substantial donations. Many Greenville businesses and individuals also contributed generously.

At the same time, the various service agencies began working as a team to make the center a reality. Seven organizations agreed to collaborate for the common good. BabyNet of the Department of Health and Environmental Control,

the Children's Hospital. Family Connection, the Greenville County Disabilities and Special Needs Board, Pediatric Rehabilitation Services of Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, the Preschool Special Education Program of the county school district, and The Speech, Hearing and Learning Center are all now housed together at the new CDS.

The two-story, 43,000-square-foot center features many therapy rooms and a processing and screening area where children are evaluated and referred to the appropriate agency within the building.

"It's quick, streamlined and convenient," says Jenny Sharpe, an associate director of CDS.

The Center for Developmental Services represents a remarkable cooperative endeavor and another shining example of the "can-do" spirit evident in the Greenville community. A partnership of churches, businesses, medical-care agencies and volunteers worked together to make the center a reality. CDS reveals Greenville for what it is at its best — a caring and generous community that is willing to work together for a cause that matters.

David Shi is a historian, writer and president of Furman University. His campus address is 3300 Poinsett Highway, Greenville, SC 29613, or send e-mail to [email protected].


Date: March 19 Publication: Greenville News Page: IB Page 1 of 2

Faces of Greenville's trivia expert

• • . Photographs by BART BOATWRIGHT /Staff

Down, bu t not ou t : Dr. Paul Miller of Simpsonville reacts to missing a question, left, and then winning Greenville's Ultimate TV Fan contest on the first leg of TV Land's 19-city competit ion Saturday at Haywood Mall.



Doctor answers TV Land call 'Ultimate Fan' captures first leg of network's nationwide contest By Deb Richardson-Moore STAFF WRITER dmoore @ greenvilienews.com

T hough he'd just as soon his three children never knew this, Dr.

Paul Miller once watched TV with breakfast and during homework.

Another time, he intentionally misspelled a word in a regional spelling bee in order to get home and watch a televised basketball game.

And at Johns Hopkins University, he joined fellow students in petitioning for a 1:15 p.m. class so they

• wouldn't miss the ending of the noon airing of "The Big Valley."

Such are the guilty secrets of Greenville's Ultimate TV Fan, crowned with a baseball cap Saturday at Haywood Mall by producers of TV Land and Charter Communi

cations. Greenville was the first

stop on the network's 19-city tour to find TV Land's Ultimate Fan, a person whose knowledge of TV trivia will win him the right to place his favorite shows on the air.

Should Miller ultimately win, expect to see "Wild, Wild West" and "Get Smart."

Miller, a 36-vear-old reproductive endocrinologist at Greenville Memorial Hospi-tal, actually had no designs on TV programming when he went to the mall with his wife and three children. But when wife Rosemarie saw the game show set, she knew the trivia buff she married was a shoo-in.

He, in turn, knew the psychiatrist's name on "M*A*S*H" was Sidney Freedman and Major Nelson

on "I Dream of Jeannie" lived in Cocoa Beach, Fla. He knew the words to the "Green Acres" theme song, and he knew Charlie was the Star-Kist spokestuna.

Easy, you say? OK. He knew Dick Van

Dyke's brother on'The Dick Van Dyke Show" was played by Jerry Van Dyke, and Pee-Wee Herman's chair was named Chairy.

And then in the final lightning round that sent contestant Bret Zaher home to Easley, Miller knew the name of the Smurfs' enemy's cat was Azriel.

With that, he stood undefeated, the rather sheepish king of TV who knew he was in for some big-time ribbing at the hospital come Monday morning.

No matter. His two young sons were

thrilled with the three-foot $500 check and the impending trip to Orlando, where Dad will compete in the Tournament of Champions to

HIS FAVORITES

Some favorites of Dr. Paul Miller, Greenville's Ultimate TV Fan, include:

• The actor he most identifies with: Robert Young of "Marcus Welby, M.D."

• The classic TV star he'd most like to be stuck in an elevator with: Adam West

• Favorite TV theme song: "Gidget"

• Recent shows he feels will be classics: "The Drew Carey Show," "Seinfeld," "ER"

• Weirdest TV fact he knows: On "The Brady Bunch," Greg once said to Jan, "Hop up on the trampoline, Eve," using actress Eve Plumb's real name

be aired in August. "I have," he sighed, "an un

natural ability to remember the inane."

• Deb Richardson-Moore can be reached at 298-4127.



Businessman gets 18 months in income tax ease Wife sentenced to house arrest By Andrea Weigl STAFF WRITER aweigl @ greenvillenews.com

ANDERSON — Prominent Greenville businessman John Burgess could soon find himself trimming hedges and mowing the 15 acres of green space that surround a federal prison in the pine flats of Hampton County.

Burgess, the 60-year-old president of Southeastern Products Inc. and a former chairman of the Greenville Hospital System board, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for underreporting his personal income by $1.35 million and corporate income by $1 million on federal tax returns.

Prosecutors said Burgess and his wife, Ann, used the money from their interior design manufacturing company to renovate and furnish their Greenville home, including construction of a $231,000 carriage house, a $117,000 pool and a $20,000 arbor.

Burgess' wife, Ann, who pleaded guilty to filing a false personal income tax return, was sentenced to six months of house arrest.

His defense lawyer, Bill Bannister, requested that Burgess be allowed to serve

What they bought Between 1993 and 1995, federal prosecutors say John and Ann Burgess failed to pay taxes on $1.38 million spent on personal items, including:

• $231,010 for construction of a carriage house

• $117,580 for the construction of a pool at their house

• $38,501 for an audio system and equipment to

• $20,426 for the construction of an arbor

• $16,578 for the flowers at daughter's wedding

• $4,924 for a putting green at their home

• $2,509 for a tanning bed

• $555 for Monopoly Collectors Edition game

• $101 for a hair dryer

SOURCE: Federal Court Records

THE GREENVILLE NEWS

his time at the medium-security federal prison in Estill. U.S. District Judge G. Ross Anderson ordered him to report to prison in 90 days but left open the possibility of reducing his sentence for health reasons.

About six months after the couple pleaded guilty, Burgess and his wife apologized in front of a courtroom packed with civic leaders,

family and friends. .,' "I numbly apologize to my family, friends and to the company that 1 have worked for and for any inconvenience that I have caused this court," Burgess said in a low whisper as he faced Anderson.

Seated on the hard wooden pews of the federal courthouse in Anderson were former Lt. Gov. Nick Theodore, former state Sen. Harry Chapman, former state Rep. Tom Marchant, Greenville County Sheriff Johnny Mack Brown, American Security CEO Henry Harrison, Chief Magistrate Diane Cagle and lawyer Kathryn Williams.

None spoke on Burgess' behalf, but Bannister presented the testimony of two doctors and a former IRS agent in an effort to reduce the 30-month maximum that his client could have faced.

Bannister convinced the judge that Burgess didn't try to conceal the income from federal authorities and got his client's minimum sentence reduced to 18 months, which is what he received.

Afterward, Bannister said his client was "careless" with how he handled the personal expenses, espe

cially the money spent on household renovations. He said Burgess intended to consider the money as a loan and pay interest on it, but he didn't get around to arranging that 'before the IRS began its audit. He said some of the expenses were for employees. : Burgess is a former chairman of •the Greenville Hospital System




board and has served as a board member of the Greenville Tech Foundation. He has contributed to charitable causes, including St. Joseph's High and the Boy Scouts of America, Bannister said.

"John Burgess is the only person that I know who was charged with tax, evasion and gave tons of money away," Bannister said after Monday's hearing.

Burgess also is active in the effort to get "Shoeless" Joe Jackson into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and was even coached by the legendary hometown hero as a young player.

Bannister presented the testimony of Burgess' doctor, who said he may not survive incarceration due to his diabetes. Dr. Sandra Weber testified that he shouldn't be away from his wife because he requires almost constant supervision.

Anderson ordered the federal Bureau of Prisons to address whether the prison system can accommodate Burgess' medical needs. Anderson said Bannister can ask him to consider lowering the sentence once the report is done.

During the hearing, Bannister objected to probation officials adding six months to his client's possible sentence based on allegations that he tried to conceal the money.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Barton argued that Burgess' accounting methods at the office were meant to conceal the expenditures, and that the couple deliberately put $800,000 in a noninterest-earning corporate account so tax forms wouldn't have to be filed.

But the judge agreed with Bannister that nothing the couple did rose to the level of using shell corporations and offshore bank accounts to hide money.

Bannister also asked the judge to give Burgess less than 18 months due to his diabetes. He questioned two doctors, who said Burgess suf

fers from large fluctuations in his blood-sugar level and requires constant supervision.

Weber said Burgess is bad at judging when his blood sugar level is too low, a condition that can become deadly in "minutes to hours," she said.

Prison spokeswoman Lori Smith said the prison can treat diabetic prisoners. Prison officials will determine whether Burgess' security level is compatible for placement at the 1,500-inmate facility, Smith said.

Barton said the couple didn't report the expenditures as income on

their personal tax returns. Instead they improperly deducted some of the purchases as corporate expenses on their company's tax returns, he said.

Due to the underreporting, the Burgesses and their company failed to pay $911,000 in federal income tax, which they have paid back, Barton said. On tax returns filed from 1994 to 1996, the Burgesses underreported their personal income by $1.35 million, according to federal prosecutors.

• Andrea Weigl writes about the courts. She can be reached at 298-4297.



The ankle bone's connected to the. . . Acupuncture-like treatment restores bladder control By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER serickso @ greenvillenews.com

One tiny needle pricked into an ankle and 30 minutes of electrical charges to the spine could keep dozens of Upstate people from frequent bolts to the bathroom.

Doctors at Greenville Memorial Hospital say new med-ical equipment approved last month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will help people who have urinary incontinence — the inability to control the bladder.

"We now have another venue for patients who have not responded to medical therapy," said Dr. Fleming Mattox, a physician trained in urogynecology. "It's not for everybody, but if it improves 70 percent of people, that's significant."

The procedures involves running low-voltage electric

ity to " b a «d »1 • ma • To find out more, call the Greenville Hospital System at 455-8488.

through a wisp of a needle about the size of a hair, placed just above the

ankle. The purpose is to stimulate the nerves that affect bladder control. The needles are similar to those used in acupuncture.

"The nerve from your ankle goes up into the spine, like all nerves, but it goes into the same spinal root as your bladder does," Mattox said.

The procedure, including the needle prick, is not painful, physicians say. Other devices that use electricity to treat urinary incontinence can be uncomfortable because they must be inserted through genital openings.

Greenville Memorial is the first hospital in the state to offer the procedure, which can be done in a physician's office and takes about 30 minutes, Mattox said.

Patients visit once a week and need at least 12 weeks of treatment. Most patients notice improvement in four to six weeks, Mattox said.

* Positive results of clinical trials involving more than 200 patients around the world were enough to convince Mattox that the new equipment, developed *by Iowa-based UroSurge Corp., could help people in the Upstate who suffer, from urinary incontinence and have been unsuccessfully treated by medications.

The technology was conceived by Dr. Marshall Stol-ler, a professor of urology from the University of California at San Francisco.

"I have been performing the therapy on my patients for over five years and I have ex-



BLADDER FROM PAGE 1B

perienced an 80 percent success rate," he said. "By bringing these developments to the marketplace, it will not only increase awareness with patients but also with physicians."

Mattox said millions of people nationwide have urinary incontinence but haven't told their doctors be^ cause they're too embarrassed to talk about their uncontrollable urges to urinate.

"About 10 million admit they have it, but we feel it is probably double or triple that," he said.

"Every urologist sees these pa

tients and has been frustrated with the limited treatment options available," Stoller said.

Urinary incontinence often affects the elderly because the efficiency of the muscles surrounding the urethra declines with age. Women are affected more often than men.

"As you get older, it's even more common, so it's expected that one out of four women will have urinary incontinence," Mattox said.

The condition may be caused by disorders of the urinary tract including infections, bladder stones and tumors, or by prolapse — a folding or dropping down of the uterus or vagina.

Incontinence due to lack of control by the brain commonly occurs in the young, the elderly, and those with mental impairment!

Damage to the brain or spinal cord by injury or disease also affects bladder control, as do stress, anger and anxiety. Weakness of the pelvic muscles, a fractured pelvis, or cancer of the prostate also can cause incontinence.

Treatment options include surgery and medications, which can help relax the spastic bladder muscle if irritable bladder is the cause.

But many patients do not respond to drugs or surgery.

"Some people just don't get better," Mattox said.

Many of those patients undergo surgery, but that doesn't always work.

„ "Hopefully this will prevent any unnecessary surgeries for patients who would be poor candidates anyway," Mattox said.


Date: March 22 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1 city Page 1 of 1

Ovarian Cancer Foundation sets Women's Festival Ovarian Cancer Foundation

We all know that it is hard to replace an old friend, and when times are tough, they seem all the more valuable. Keep reading to see how one woman and her friends triumphed together over some very hard circumstances, and how they plan to share what they learned along the way.

-When Lesa Ingram-Dyer started planning her wedding in 1998, she knew that it . would be a busy time and even anticipated some

surprises along the way. What she didn't expect was a di

agnosis of Stage 3 ovarian cancer just two months after an annual checkup had shown no sign of the disease.

All of a sudden, Ingram-Dyer and her friends and relatives had decisions to make that a bride-to-be could never anticipate.

"At first I just said to myself that I couldn't worry about having cancer right then. I had a wedding to plan," says Ingram-Dyer. Since that time, not only has she dealt with her own cancer, but now is founder and president of the South Carolina Ovarian Cancer Foundation.

Her goal is to educate women in South Carolina about the symptoms of the disease and to promote testing for early detection.

"I understand what is needed because I have been there," says Ingram-Dyer.

Roxanne Walker, South Carolina Ovarian Cancer Society Board member, remembers exactly how her involvement with the organization started.

She had been instrumental in introducing Ingram-Dyer to her then-fiance and says she learned a life lesson as she watched her friend deal with all of the stages of her diagnosis.

"I learned that cancer derails you, but it doesn't have to stop you. You forge ahead," says Walker.

And forge ahead these two friends have done in their effort to make women aware of how they can best protect themselves. Both are quick to point out that it is not without a lot of support and help from the medical community, especially gynecological oncologist Dr. Larry Puis, Ingram-Dyer's own

physician. "Dr. Puis has raised more

money, is more committed to helping women and getting this message out than anyone I know," says Walker.

All these people and many more like them will present the first Women's Festival at the James Woodside Conference Center at the Palmetto Expo Center on March 25 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The non-profit organization's event has many plusses, according to Walker.

"We hope to draw women through education, but also to have fun. The $5 admission fee includes women's health topics along with makeovers and cooking demonstrations," says Walker.

Sponsors include Greenville Hospital System. St. Francis Health System and Spartanburg Regional Hospital. The Augusta Road Business Association will sponsor exhibitions, along with other businesses, offering a fun and varied selection of merchandise for sale.

If Lesa Ingram-Dyer could help women become more educated on March 25, she would feel that the festival had been a success, but somehow I don't think that she and her supporters will stop there.

"Cancer propelled my life into forming the foundation," says Ingram-Dyer. "After going through it myself, I just want everyone to be educated about their own bodies."

For more information on the Women's Festival, please call 322-2331.


Date: March 22 Publication: Greenville News Page: 9 city Page 1 of 1

Executive director sees CDS center as vision come true

Katy Smith sees through the eyes of a contractor's daughter, but it isn't the masonry, carpentry or electrical work she sees when walking through the construction site on the corner of Hampton and Academy.

What she's looking at, here in the almost-complete Center for Developmental Services (CDS), is the promise of greater convenience and accessibility for the developmen-tally challenged, a place where all of the evaluation, treatment, education and support they need can be found under one roof.

It's a vision — more than seven years in the making — that's about to become a reality.

"So much community involvement has gone into developing CDS," says Smith, 28, who was named the organization's first executive director in August.

Emphasizing the efforts of dedicated volunteers working since the early '90s to conceptualize and create the center, she adds, "I can't tell you how excited I am about the opportunity to take all of that hard work and finish escorting it into reality."

Modeled after a program in Fort Worth, Texas, CDS is unusual, Smith says, in that it brings into collaboration - in spirit as well as locale - seven developmental service providers that were once competitors.

"This project really is one-of-a-kind," she says, noting that partner organizations are BabyNet of DHEC, the Children's Hospital of the Greenville Hospital System, Family Connection^ Greenville County Disabilities and Special Needs Board, Pediatric Rehabilitation of the St. Francis Health System, the Speech, Hearing and Learning Center arid the Preschool Special Education Program of the

School District of Greenville County.

"It's just been incredible to see how everyone involved has really been focused on what's best for the child who's going to come here."

Oftentimes, a special-needs child requires more than one type of therapy, and pre-CDS that likely involved going to several different offices on several different days in any given week - in other words, plenty of time en route and, once there, more time in the waiting room.

"This building puts everything in one place so that parent and child can come in just one time a week and get all the therapy they need," Smith says. It's not simply a matter of convenience, however.

By taking over administrative duties, CDS allows service providers to focus on what they do best -provide services. What's more, better coordination and communication between partner organizations promise better results.

With a bachelor's degree in sociology from Wake Forest and an MSW in administration/community planning from the University of Georgia, Smith is a "big picture" person who prefers helping others on an administrative, rather than clinical, level.

"I think a lot of the reasons that people have trouble with their lives is due to macro-level things: the way policies have been written, the way programs are structured, eligibility requirements, that sort of thing," she explains.

"I've found my strength to be more at the larger level - changing programs to make them more accessible, or changing policies to make them more helpful to people trying to make changes in their lives."

A native of Fort Myers, Fla., Smith moved to the Upstate five years ago to marry her college sweetheart, Matt. The couple live in the Augusta Road area and attend Westminster Presbyterian Church, and in her spare time Smith enjoys reading, sewing, and hanging out with friends and family.

Since this summer, however^ her biggest "hobby" has been work, and though she serves on the First Steps board and the Women's Leadership Council of United Way's Palmetto Society, all other extra-

curriculars have been put on the back burner until CDS is up and running. - "Everyone has been very focused on opening day - getting the building finished, meeting (each agency's specific) requirements, coming up with our first set of policies and procedures," Smith says, but after that comes the real challenge: putting CDS' collaborative theory into practice.

"So far, this idea has just existed on paper," she says. "Once we get in here, we're actually going to be living the vision."


Date: Publication; Page:

March 22 Greenville News 8 city Page 1 of 1

Center for Developmental Services began in '95

In 1992, the Community Planning Council of the United Way of Greenville County completed a study that identified a problem for parents with children experiencing vision, speech, hearing, physical and learning challenges.

Parents wanted help but had difficulty identifying and accessing appropriate services. They took their children from agency to agency, leading to duplication of services, long waiting periods and little coordination among service providers.

In 1993, several developmental service providers convened to search for a better way of serving children and families. Their vision was to establish a comprehensive, multidisciplinary center for the developmental evaluation, treatment and education of children, adolescents and adults.

In 1995, the Center for Developmental Services Inc. was formed as

a nonprofit organization. The First Presbyterian Church offered a facility on Academy Street in downtown Greenville as a potential site for CDS. Architects developed plans for the building's renovation which will allow CDS' seven organizations to effectively utilize the facility's 43,000 square feet.

In their new shared space, partner organizations - which include BabyNet of DHEC, the Children's Hospital of the Greenville Hospital System, Family Connection, Greenville County Disabilities and Special Needs Board, Pediatric Rehabilitation of the St. Francis Health System, the Speech, Hearing and Learning Center and the Preschool Special Education Program of the School District of Greenville County - will work in collaboration in order to deliver comprehensive services to an estimated 7,000 people each year.



Focusing on women

OWEN RILEY JR. /Staff

Health forum: Gov. Jim Hodges tours the Greenville Hospital System's Center for Women with GHS President and CEO Frank Pinckney, right, and board chairman Larry Greer. On the first of a four-hospital tour to gauge the state of women's health in South Carolina, Hodges plans to put together women's health legislation for 2001 based on his findings. GHS physicians presented Hodges with a brief overview of their fields, from mental health and obstetrics to heart care and cancer research.

2000-101

3-24-2000 EASLEY

Student wins scholarship from hospital foundation

Jill Tinsely of Easley has been awarded the Larkin T. Jones Memorial Scholarship by the board of directors of the Greenville Hospital System Foundation.

The annual award is presented to an out- r inse |y standing respiratory therapy student at Greenville Technical College in memory of Larkin Jones of Greer, director of respiratory care services at Greenville Memorial Hospital for many years.




Rareness of disease adds to challenge By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER serickso @ greenvillenews.com

In the kitchen of her Pickens home, Rhonda Green uses an eyedropper to squeeze a single drop of morphine into her daughter's bowl of applesauce.

As she does each day, she swirls the mixture around to mask the potent painkiller. She wants her 5-year-old's taste buds to savor the apple flavor, not the narcotic.

Because like any other day, Rhonda wants Abbigail to think about life and not about the leukemia that could soon end it.

Fearing she wouldn't live to her birthday on April 29, the family celebrated it last month, complete with presents, cake and a videotape her 6-month-old brother, Troy, can watch when he's old enough, so he can remember the older sister he once had.

Abbigail is unusual, not only because most children survive cancer, but because cancer in children is so rare to begin with.

In South Carolina, 29 children reportedly died of cancer in 1997, though officials say the actual figure could be higher.

The Upstate will probably

Nurse's helper: Six-year-old Hope Blackwell has been undergoing tests so long she knows how to hook up the equipment for checking her blood pressure and taking her temperature. Pediatric Hematology/Oncology nurse Cathy King watches.

see 50 new cases of cancer in children this year.

"Contrast that to adult oncology, where any group will see 50 people a week," said

Dr. William Schmidt, medical director of the Children's Hospital of the Greenville

See CkHCERonpageSk




CANCER FROM PAGE 1A

Hospital System. But because cancer is so rare in

children, discovering it can prove challenging.

"It's a very difficult diagnosis," Schmidt said. "It all starts out just like anything else. The worst part is, the diagnosis is such a tough one that nobody wants to make it."

Typically, a family doctor prescribes an antibiotic or chalks up sore limbs to growing pains.

Then things get worse. The first symptoms of cancer are

as varied as the types of cancers themselves.

The most common cancers in children are the leukemias, which take over the bone marrow.

Some children with leukemia bruise easily. Others turn pale be

cause red blood cells are crowded out by leukemia cells, or have leg pain because the leukemia cells grow and push on nerve endings in the lining of the bone.

Other leukemia cells gravitate toward spinal fluid and affect neurological functions, or enlarge the liver or spleen.

"Some of those symptoms are so general," Schmidt said. "Usually, when it's clearly evident that a child has cancer, the cancer is fairly far along."

In cases of solid tumors, symptoms range from vomiting in the morning and looking at a television cross-eyed to seizures and severe headaches.

"It's not the cancer cells that hurt you," Schmidt said. "They don't give off any poison and are not toxic by themselves. What happens is ithey either fill up space and give you problems there, or they replace normal cells so that normal function in; one of the organs doesn't work anymore."

Once cancer has spread, more symptoms appear — anything from fever and night sweats to weight loss.

"But again, they're all general things that can be associated with almost anything else, including a typical virus," Schmidt said.

Usually, it takes one doctor who is suspicious to run blood tests or take a bone marrow sample to discover the cancer.

Denise Blackwell's 6-year-old daughter, Hope, was diagnosed with leukemia in September. The Inman girl had red bumps on her eyes and throat. A doctor said they might be caused by coughing or crying.

Then a fever set in, and a doctor prescribed an antibiotic.

"She was tired all the time," Denise said. "I kept thinking first grade must be really stressing her out."

Her daughter's skin also had a yellowish tint.

A few weeks later, Hope's teachers at the Village School in Spartanburg grew concerned. Hope wasn't playing on the playground and was withdrawing from her friends.

A blood test revealed the culprit. But for the spunky girl with

brown bobbed hair, chemotherapy appears to have worked. In two weeks, she'll start a two-year maintenance plan—chemotherapy shots in a leg once a week. Doctors will label her "cured" if the cancer hasn't returned in five years.

For Abbigail Green, flulike symptoms were the first signs she wasn't well.

"She was very tired and would say 'Mommy, my legs hurt,'" Rhonda, 26, said from a waiting room at the Children's Hospital.

Two years ago, when Abbigail first began playing with Barbies and watching her daddy play softball, Rhonda never imagined a fever and sore legs meant her firstborn daughter had cancer. £ Her hair pulled back in a ponytail and a flannel shirt tied around her waist, Rhonda choked back tears as she recalled the progression of symptoms.

Red dots began to appear on her daughter's chest. That's when she took her to an Easley hospital, and from there doctors directed her to Greenville Memorial.

"It could be this, or it could be that," doctors continued to say, until finally, blood tests revealed the truth.

In the 64th week of chemotherapy treatments, Abbigail relapsed. Doctors changed the treatment, but eight months later she relapsed again.

Now, nothing is working. Keeping Abbigail out of pain is her mother's No. 1 priority.

"We're just waiting," Rhonda said.




Cancer diagnosis in children difficult

Pediait* itolopy/ ©logy ^

Center

•

Photographs by OWEN RILEY JR. / Staff

Between t reatments : Holding one of the gifts she got after having'her blood drawn on another floo^, leukemia patient Hope Blackwell enters the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Center at Greenville Memorial Hospital for her checkup.



Short-staffed hospital offering $1,500 bounty for referrals

Facing stiff competition, GHS asking employees for more help filling jobs

By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER serickso @ greenvillenews.com

The Greenville Hospital System has upped its ante for employment referrals — for a limited time only — to $1,500.

The bounty, paid to employees for recruiting new hires, is symptomatic of the hospital system's urgent need to find qualified applicants for 177 key hard-to-fill jobs.

GHS is facing stiff competition from its chief competitor, Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, as well as HMOs, clinics and drugstores for nurses, pharmacists and medical technicians.

The hospital system, which has a staff of 7,000, is working to fill 425 positions, including 125 nursing jobs. GHS spokeswoman Erika Spinelli said the vacancies aren't affecting patient care but are taking a toll on the staff.

"A lot of nurses have been working overtime and double shifts and carrying heavy loads of patients," she said. "They've been working very hard for the last year."

GHS started the unusual tactic for hiring employees last April. Employees could

receive $250 if they referred someone who is hired for a designated position, and an additional $250 if they stayed a year.

Seven people were hired last year through the referral program.

Now the hospital system has sweetened the pot.

Employees can receive $500 when the applicant is hired, $500 after six months of employment and another $500 when the newly hired employee completes one year of continuous full-time employment.

The referred employees must have 18 months' experience and must be hired before April 30. There's no limit to the number of referrals an employee can make.

"It's an incentive to get their colleagues on board," Spinelli said.

Along with nurses and pharmacists, the hospital needs technicians who specialize in surgery, radiology and cardiac catheterization, a test that uses a fine tube inserted into the heart to diagnose and assess the extent of heart disease.

The bounties come after the hospital unveiled a $70 million renovation and expan

sion project to ease overcrowding and to position the hospital for future growth.

Low unemployment, competition with other hospitals and managed care companies have combined to make filling vacancies a challenge, Spinelli said.

Some workers are leaving the clinical field, lured to administrative work by HMOs that like their backgrounds.

Expansion at St. Francis is bringing added pressure. A $6.2 million heart center opened there last year.

St. Francis officials are using a similar referral program. The health system in September started an employee referral bonus program, which qualifies employees for a $200 bonus if a person they recommend is hired for a full-time job. They can receive $100 if the person is hired part time.

For critical positions — nurses, radiology technicians and pharmacists — employees are eligible for a $500 referral bonus for a full-time position and $250 for a part-time position.

"At this time, we are reviewing the program, based on market conditions, and it's possible that we could increase the amounts," said

Randall Romberger, vice president of human resources, mission and support.

GHS has hired 296 people since January for clinical and non-clinical positions. About 57 of those are registered nurses.




North Greenville Hospital ready, able to serve area

Thank you for your recent article regarding mammograms.

As a member of the North Greenville Hospital Advisory Council, may I share some information?

Through a collaborate effort with Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, North Greenville hospital has been offering mobile mammogram screenings since November 1999. We are offering our third screening effort on Friday. We do have some openings available for that date. We are trying to offer screenings on a quarterly basis. These mammograms are available to those with Medical plans, Medicare, Medicaid or self-pay clients.

I assume your reporter did not have this information when writing the article. May I also let the community know what other services are offered at our fine hospital? We have an excellent emergency room, we are able to perform many routine tests ordered by physicians and we have our new Heart/Life program.

While North Greenville Hospital is dedicated to serving the citizens of the north county area, we would be happy to assist other residents in meeting their medical needs as the opportunity arises.

Joyce Judd Travelers Rest


Date: March 31 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: C31 Page 1 of 1

Governor addresses women's health forum By Gary Hyndman Contributing Writer

Gov. Jim Hodges is a man who apparently pays attention to his wife.

When she complained to him that women's health is "an area in which we don't do % good job in state government," Hodges got busy and organized a series of forums around the state to tackle this issue.

"Healthy Women Today: A Syhipoiium"On Women's Healrh." held last week at Gree I Hospital, is a product of ffr Commission on Wc -organized to examine topics, such as domestic violent Inch a cific to the female population of the state.

Speaking last week to an audience of mostly healtha profession governor outline plans fen hi n five. They include: idem i i care issues which impact v> ••

tely; identifying better way i CO(»dmate women's health services; and

impj inj he o -rail access of women to health care.

: .: . - desire to explore both > , • 'i- . '-en in South Carolina

• • iddressing these. • J> th i ' lems appear pro-

. . . . • • i. - )lina ranks in the top ' • ith rate from heart dis-

.. Ath highest rate of eer-er in the country.

• • • breastcancer is the second

leading cause of death within the female population of the state, and one in eight women will develop breast cancer at some time in then-lives.

For members of the minority community, the news is even more dismal. The stroke mortality rate for African-American women is three times that for whites. They are four times more likely to die of diabetes, a highly treatable disease.

Besides the toll untreated disease takes on families, there is a cost to be borne by the state.

Hospitalization of women suffering from osteoporosis cost South Carolina $52 million in 1998, and hospitalization of diabetic women cost another $38.5 million.

According to Hodges, the solution involves prevention. "We can drastically reduce the physical, emotional and financial tolls of many diseases," he suggested. And since women make anywhere from 70 to 90 percent of the healthcare decisions for their families, teaching prevention is likely to positively impact their children and spouses as well.

Hodges also called for a higher degree of coordination among healthcare providers. "We need to talk about prevention in ways that our hospitals, our doctors and state government can work better together to address these problems."

In addition to acknowledging the role his wife played in raising his

consciousness, the governor acknowledged learning a valuable lesson from an assumption he had made related to senior citizens. During his successful 1998 gubernatorial campaign, he emphasized income tax credits for seniors, assuming it was a prominent issue within the older population. At a series of forums last year on seniors' issues he learned that the real concerns were access to healthcare services and affordability of prescription drugs.



Babies popping out all over Upstate

Photographs by OWEN RILEY JR. / Staff

Nurses station: In the bustling delivery station at Greenville MemoriaLhtospital. nurses and doctors scurry about as babies are delivered throughout the day and night.



March 31 Greenville News 1B Page 2 of 2

New arrivals mean big changes at hospitals By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER serickso @ greenvillenews.com

Wrapped tightly, as if in a cocoon, in a white cotton blanket and wearing a pink-and-blue-striped cap about the size of an apple, Zoe Grace Acuff gazed at a wide picture window.

Her big blue eyes turned to slits when curtains opened and the bright gray sky filled the delivery room at Greenville Memorial Hospital. Her tiny lips puckered as she adjusted to her move just minutes earlier from mommy's womb to a world of people, cameras and cooing.

While parents like Sean and Monique Acuff bask in the birth of children, people like Dr. Lauren Demosthenes must keep on moving.

Because in the fast-growing Upstate, babies keep coming.

In 1995, 4,400 babies made their way into the world in delivery rooms at Greenville Memorial. Last year, that number jumped to 5,068. That's roughly 14 babies a day, 97 a week, or 422 a month. All this takes place in 12 rooms on the sixth floor of the hospital.

The baby boom is crying out for big changes at the Upstate's largest delivery hospital. And changes are on the way.

As part of a three-year, $67-million expansion plan, the Greenville Hospital System's Center for Women will gain eight more labor and delivery rooms, bringing the

total to 20. The labor triage area,

which saw 8,000 women with contractions last year, will be renovated and gain two more beds, bringing the total to six.

The expansion will also bring the number of post-delivery beds from 41 to more than 50.

"As the community continues to grow, we need to have the facilities that will not only support our care, but support our customer service efforts," said Dr. Robert Cummings, medical director and administrator for the Center for Women.

While some days are slow in the Center for Women, there are other days that women in labor must wait in small conference rooms for an available delivery room.

"There are days when the place is really busy," Cummings said. "Obstetrics is an unpredictable service — and it's not a service that people can wait for."

At 10:10 a.m. Monday, Dr. Demosthenes headed to the hospital cafeteria to buy coffee before heading home — after working 50 hours straight and delivering six babies.

The previous day she had performed a caesarean section, and Monday morning she delivered twins. Next up, after the double delivery, was Zoe Acuff.

At 9 p.m. the night before, hair stylist Monique Acuff finished cleaning her Easley home and had just lain down. That's when contractions

IPsHf"'':' ^H lp

Labor room: In a softly lit labor room at Greenville Memorial Hospital, expectant mother Rachel Kirkwood's contractions become more frequent as nurse Lori Stephens checks the baby's heart rate on a fetal monitor.

kicked in — two weeks early.

Twelve hours later, a 5-pound-12-ounce Zoe clutched . one of Demosthenes'fingers.

"She's just a little peanut," Demosthenes said of the Acuff's third child.

Meanwhile, down a hall in room 5, a doctor had just given Rachel,. Kirkwood of Piedmont an epidural. The local anesthetic was injected into her lower back to help relieve the pain of childbirth.

"This time is better," said Kirkwood, who didn't have an epidural the first time.

She arrived at the hospital at 5 a.m. and wasn't sure what time Alexis, her second daughter would be born.

She lay on her left side in the dimly lit room, talking to her husband, Shane, who sat in a large chair next to her. Their 4-year-old daughter

Jessyca rubbed her sleepy eyes and watched cartoons.

Contractions were coming every two to three minutes. Mom and baby were hooked up to a fetal monitor.

"The baby's heart rate looks wonderful," said Lori Stephens, a registered nurse who just minutes earlier was washing her hands after helping deliver Zoe.

Stephens is quite familiar with delivery procedures at the hospital. She's worked there 13 years and is expecting her fourth child in July. She's delivered them all at Greenville Memorial.

On the busiest days as many as 20 babies are born in a 24-hour period, she said.

"I enjoy it because it's primarily a happy job," she said adding a crying baby can be music to her ears. "When there's a good outcome, there's no feeling like it."



March 31 Greenville Journal C31 Page 1 of 2

Area clinics offer help to

The SLEEP Deprived


Jim Hudgins was terrified to wake up one day and find himself driving on the wrong side of the road; The experience formed a pattern of work-related nodding off.

"I could just barely make it through eight hours without passing out," he recalls.

Hudgins is among a population of predominantly overweight, middle-aged males, who suffer from a

d i s o r d e r known as sleep apnea. Its symptoms i n c l u d e episodes of loud snoring and restless s l e e p , accompanied by intermittent spells of not breath-

Dr. Rhett McCraw

ing, and e x c e s s i v e d a y t i m e drowsiness.

Local specialist Dr. F r e d d i e Wilson, of the S o u t h e a s t R e g i o n a l S l e e p D i s o r d e r s

Dr. Freddie Wilson

Center, estimates that 4 percent of working-age men, and 2 percent of working-age women, are afflicted. But it also has been diagnosed in patients of every age, including children.

The impact on these individuals' lives can range from troublesome to downright dangerous. Dr. Rhett McCraw, of the Greenville. Hospital gy tf»nVg_S)ppp Disorders Center, reports that sufferers of sleep apnea are seven times more likely to be involved in a motor vehicle accident.

But the fallout also extends to spouses, who must either endure their partners' persistent snoring and restlessness or retire to another

| room. "What brings them (patients) most often to our attention is spouses who notice them," says McCraw.

Hudgins, now retired from Kemet, describes his condition as "a huge problem" that interfered with work, was hard on his wife and sometimes expensive. WTien the couple traveled, it was customary to reserve two motel rooms, because his snoring was so disruptive to her sleep.

Sleep apnea is, however, a treatable condition when properly diagnosed. \Patients are assigned to an overnight lab, where their stages of sleep are observed by a technician. In addition, they are attached to lab equipment that monitors brain wave activity, heart rate, breathing patterns and oxygen saturation levels.

The night of Hudgins' visit to Greenville Hospital System's sleep



March 31 Greenville Journal C31 Page 2 of 2

lab, the technician awakened him at 3 a.m. to report he had already stopped breathing 130 times. He was immediately fitted with a continuous positive airway pressure device (CPAP), which he claims has "helped me tremendously."

McCraw describes the CPAP, which was introduced in the early 1980s, as a small air-compression unit attached to a mask that fits over the nose. The device produces air pressure that holds the airway open, which, in turn, quiets snoring and snorting and eliminates spells of asphyxiation and restlessness. "We can greatly improve the quality of their lives," he contends.

While sleep apnea is the most common presenting problem sleep specialists see, it is but one of more than 80 different conditions within the diagnostic classification of sleep disorders. Some of the more recognizable ones are narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome and insomnia.

Though Wilson acknowledges "a lot of them can be evaluated and treated," he also admits that "90 to 95 percent are not being treated." It is a reality that he and his colleague, McCraw, agree is a major public health problem.

Sleep disorders account for billions of dollars in lost job productivity and accidents - sometimes disastrous - that involve vehicles of land, sea and air. Studies suggest long-haul track drivers are at higher risk of developing sleep apnea, meaning public safety is compromised each time an untreated sufferer climbs behind the wheel.

As a consequence of sleep-related accidents and inefficiency, medical science has produced what McCraw calls "a huge body of work" on sleep research. According to Wilson, the collected studies in his sub-specialty are "greater than any other field of medicine."

Some of this landmark research discovered human beings doze in 90-minute cycles, alternating between rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM patterns. Wilson also notes the findings on the circadian rhythm by which people "sleep better at certain times" of the day. "Early birds" go to bed and rise early, while "delayed" sleepers prefer late nights and correspondingly late mornings.

While people do make adjustments in the rhythms of their sleep, it has become all too apparent we cannot go without it. The chief reason for sleep, it turns out, is to ensure we function properly during our waking hours. And disturbingly, many Americans are not getting adequate rest. Wilson attributes excessive daytime sleepiness to a hard-charging society that goes to bed too late and rises too early. "As a nation," he contends, "we're probably sleep deprived. And he warns, "We can't condition ourselves to get by on less sleep."

For some, the lack of sleep is a lifestyle choice, but for others it is an unwelcome and involuntary intrusion. Estimates are between 25 and 33 percent of the population suffers from some form of insomnia. Women, especially those over 60,

are more likely to be affected than men.

Sleeplessness can range from occasional to intermittent to chronic. Regardless, "over-the-counter sleeping pills are not good for treating insomnia," Wilson advises. The active ingredients are mostly antihistamines, which can leave one with a "hangover" the next morning. And frequent users will find the medication's effectiveness declines with time as the body builds a tolerance to it.

Instead, he recommends individuals treat occasional inSomnia by avoiding caffeine and evening alcohol; maintaining a sleep environment with a constant temperature that is free of extraneous noise and light; using the bed exclusively for sleep and sex; observing regular sleep hours; and scheduling a couple of hours each night before bed to wind down. "When you have trouble sleeping, get out of bed and read a book," says Wilson, explaining that anxiety about insomnia only "makes it worse."

McCraw has a simple rule about when to seek professional help for sleeplessness: -Sag&ody who has persistent problems that affect your ability to function during the day should see your physician."

But they should be prepared to wait. Appointmejss are backed up more than a month. He attributes the backlog to increased public awareness of sleep disorders, that has his clinic "overwhelmed by the number of patients


Meet Lula Meadors, R.N., one of nearly 7,000 employees delivering

'It's a family atmosphere

here at GHS, and

a good atmosphere

aids in good

patient service

and care, which

is our main priority."

Lula Meadors Registered Nurse

1 For Lula Meadors, R.N. nursing is a very rewarding profession. "At Greenville Hospital System, we strive to provide excellent patient care," she says.

Lula has been working at Greenville Memorial Hospital, a part of the Greenville Hospital System, for over nine years. As a registered nurse in the operating room, Lula is part of the open-heart and cardiovascular team.

Lula serves as a circulating nurse, which entails taking care of the safety and well-being of the patient, overseeing staff members in the operating room, maintaining documentation, relaying information to the nurses who will be caring for the patient after surgery, communicating with the patient's family, and ensuring that the hospital's policies and procedures are followed.

While a junior-high schoolteacher with two children, Lula decided that she needed a more financially rewarding profession. She chose nursing, and she's never looked back. "Nursing is the best thing I've ever done for myself," she states, smiling.

When Lula entered the medical profession in 1978, she worked at a much smaller hospital. The move to Greenville Memorial Hospital has been a very pleasurable one. "It's a growing institution, and it's not staying behind in the times. It's progressing. As Greenville grows, the hospital system grows, which leads to better healthcare, and good healthcare helps the communi ty to grow," she states.

Dealing with the loss of patients can be difficult for those in the medical profession, but saving a life can bring a tremendous reward. Lula recounts a memorable case in which a young, pregnant woman was involved in a car accident. She had a ruptured aorta and required emergency open-heart surgery. "We were unable to save the patient, but we were able to save the life of her unborn child so that a little part of her would continue to live on," Lula recalls.

As with any profession, a good workplace atmosphere is essential for satisfied employees. "It's a family atmosphere here at GHS, and a good atmosphere aids-in good patient service and care, which is our main priority," Lula says.

Lula speaks very highly of her hospital peers. She says, "We eat together and relax together. Your peers are your support system, and it helps when you're having a hard day and a peer can pat you on the back and tell you that it's going to be OK."

Lula works 10-hour shifts, four days a week and also comes in on the weekends when extra help is needed, but she doesn't mind. Lula replies, "My mind isn't going to go stale here. There's always something to learn. There's a challenge for me every day when I walk through the door, and my reward can be seen by the smile on my face."

An adve r t i s ing s u p p l e m e n t of T h e Greenv i l l e News • Friday, M a y 12, 2 0 0 0

GREENVILLE HOSPITAL SYSTEM Healthcare to a Higher Standard


9 The Greenville Hospital System honors £j .. i - 7 r\r\r\ J J - <_ J r • i An advertising supplement of The Greenville News its nearly 7,000 dedicated professionals ... Friday • May 12, 2000

celebrating national X X\j 3 LJA LOJ. V V v-CIV

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In addition to being a teaching hospital and one that conducts leading-edge research, the Greenville Hospital System is well-known for its comprehensive services and world-class physicians. But the strength and compassion of GHS come from its people - nearly 7,000 dedicated professionals, who work together every day to provide care for area residents.

This publication takes an in-depth look at some of GHS' many compassionate caregivers; it introduces you to GHS employees who have been honored for their outstanding commitment to customer service; and it offers a sincere thank you and salute to the system's long-term employees.

Upstate residents are fortunate to have convenient access to the

many high-quality, leading-edge programs and services of the

Greenville Hospital System. As we join healthcare providers across

the country in celebration of National Hospital Week, we salute the

caring and compassionate employees of the Greenville Hospital

System and their ongoing commitment in using today's advanced

medical technology to deliver "Healthcare to a Higher Standard"

for those they are privileged to serve.

& G R E E N V I L L E H O S P I T A L SYSTEM.

Healthcare to a Higher Standard

Congratulations To The

Greenville Hospital System For

Healthcare Excellence.

Come explore the career opportunities in fields including:

Security Temps

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Friday • May 12, 2000 , An advertising supplement of The Greenville News

excellence • • •

It's something the Greenville Hospital System has been committed to for nearly a century. And while new buildings and equipment are important, what makes GHS shine is its special group of employees.

These are the people who aim for excellence in their jobs, whether they work in patient care, technical or support areas, management, or volunteer services. You will see valued employees in every area and facility at GHS.

Nancy Sanders

Nancy Sanders is on staff in the Business Office at Hillcrest Hospital in Simpsonville. Always ready with a smile to put patients and their families at ease, Nancy works as a team leader in admission and registration.

"I love working with people," Nancy says with enthusiasm. "When I worked in emergency room registration, we once had a child who had a go-cart accident, and I was able to be here for the family. Most of what I like is working with all types of people. Working at Greenville Hospital System has given me the opportunity to work with and help people. It goes beyond just working here. I'm here for the patients."

Keith Jackson is a chef in Food Services at Allen Bennett Hospital. He enjoys cooking for both the cafeteria and patients. Among his favorite specialty dishes served in the cafeteria are Rock Cornish hens.

continued

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An advertising supplement of The Greenville News

Nursing is the

best thing

I've ever done

for myself.

There's a

challenge for

me every day

I walk through

the door

at GHS."

Lula Meadors Operating Room Registered Nurse

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continued... "It's a good environment

here with a good team. It's like working in a restaurant," Keith says.

Kashmira Patel is a lead physical therapist at Simpsonville Physical

Edna Childers

Therapy, which is affiliated with the Center for Health and Occupational Services. She works with an average of 8 to 10 patients a day.

Kashmira considers her work meaningful, especially when she sees dramatic changes, such as in patients who could not walk when they first

Kashmira Patel

came in for physical therapy. Because of her efforts, she's able to see them walk again and return to an active and productive life.

"Patients come in with their own goal," Kashmira explains. It's important to be a team member for them and to help them achieve their goal.

we Build The Structures That Support The importance of Life

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ff§to©or team at eeepllyorM.; ";|

salutes your professional staff

as you "take healthcare to a

higher standard'"

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Friday • May 12, 2000

It's a great pleasure once they accomplish it."

Edna Childers has devoted 25,000 hours as a volunteer at Greenville Hospital System. Her duties have included visiting, feeding, reading, and transporting patients. On any given day, you can find her cheerful and enthusiastic presence from the gift shop to the volunteer office. She especially likes to take long-term patients out into the sunshine. And she feels rewarded when she is called upon by other members of the hospital staff because of her soothing effect on challenging patients. Recently, the mayor proclaimed Edna Childers Day in honor of her exemplary dedication and selfless devotion.

"Volunteering at GHS has done more for me than I've ever done for anybody. It's been wonderful, and I really enjoy doing it," Edna says.

Betty Lewis is a shuttle bus driver at Greenville Hospital System. She's responsible for transporting employees from one department or center to another on the hospital grounds.

Betty's supervisor, Lisa Sexton, says Betty is very dependable and reliable. "She's a very good person and has never been late or absent. I wish I had a copy of her," Lisa says. Betty's favorite aspect of the job is meeting lots of people. While transporting employees, she feels she has a unique opportunity. She has the chance to speak with staff members about the various specialties and departments found at a large medical complex.



"If you're not knowledgeable about what goes on in the hospital, you learn from talking to the people who work there. You learn a lot about the intricacies of what goes on at GHS," Betty says.

Winston Jenkins has worked at the Greenville Hospital System for almost 10 years. A conditioning specialist at the Greenville Hospital System's Life Center, Winston develops exercise programs for clients and encourages and works with the clients while they are exercising. Winston, who earned a degree in exercise science, is now working on a nursing degree.

"This is a good system to work for. I've never had any problems here, and I hope that I'll be here a lot longer

An advertising supp lemen t of The Greenville News

Alison Gosnell

when I get my nursing degree," Winston says.

J immy Garrett is the manager of Production Information Services at the Greenville Hospital System. He has worked at GHS for 14 years and has seen many changes in computer technology throughout the hospital. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the computer room and manages a staff of 14. His department also staffs the help desk and answers calls

Winston Jenkins

regarding computer questions.

"The thing I like the best about my job is the variety of jobs I do each day. We're always troubleshooting problems. I have an opportunity to deal with different challenges each day, and it's never boring."

Alison Gosnell has been on staff at the Children's Hospital for 10 years. As a pediatric registered nurse, she finds her work satisfying, especially when she has the

B

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Jimmy Garrett

opportunity to see her patients after they have recovered. A number of families make a point to come back to visit her at the hospital and show their appreciation for all her skill and support.

"When you have families who come up to you months and years later, and they ask for you, you know that you've made an impression on them. They'll come from home to see you, and the

continued...

"When you

have families

who come

to you months

and years later,

and they ask for

you, you know

that you've

made an

impression

on them."

Alison Gosnell Registered Nurse Children's Hospital

tHetuKt LIKCLT. ..

tHtaliKt kdKcls.

Rodgers Builders applauds the employees of Greenville Hospital System,

promoting health and the human spirit.

Rodgers Builders Construction Manager for Greenville Hospital System


6 "It's like

working

with a

family here.

Everybody

is very

close."

Karen Boone Patient Placement

Coordinator


Bobbie Hicks

kids are coming to you, remembering you. They're actually remembering being in the hospital as a good experience," she relates.

Alison also emphasizes how staff members work together well as a team to provide expertise in a variety of specialties. "I like the Greenville setting because you have the security of a medical staff. You have a resident or doctor here all the time."

Dee Anders has only had one job in her life. For the past 48 years that job has been

Karen Boone

working as a nursing assistant for Greenville Memorial Hospital. In addition, she is a member of a family with three generations of women working to aid patients at the Greenville Hospital System. Bobbie Hicks, her daughter, is an L.P.N., and her granddaughter, Karen Boone, is an R.N.

Dee, who works in the hospital's neonatal unit, says, "Everyone at the hospital has always been very fair and nice to me, and I just love working with babies."

Dee Anders

Bobbie Hicks has been with Greenville Memorial Hospital for 31 years.

Bobbie works in the Mother/Baby unit, which helps teach new mothers how to care for their babies.

"I love my job. It's wonderful to be able to work with new families because people are always happy and excited," Bobbie says.

Karen Boone has been working at Greenville Memorial Hospital for four years. She is the patient placement coordinator for the hospital. She chose


nursing as a career because her brother had cerebral palsy and also because both her grandmother and mother experience a strong sense of fulfillment from working at the Greenville Hospital System. Karen says, "It's like working with a family here. Everybody is very close."

Majorie Less works as a radiology technician at North Greenville Hospital and has been there for nearly two years. She works mostly with patients from the emergency room and enjoys working with children.

"It's important to make them feel comfortable," Majorie says. "I tell them that what I use is like a camera, and I take pictures of bones. I let them know that what I do won't hurt. I just keep talking to them and then let them see the pictures."

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Friday • May 12, 2000 An advertising supplement of The Greenville News 7

come join the GHS team ...

This publication has given you a brief glimpse into the lives of some of the many dedicated individuals who comprise the GHS family of caregivers. Each day this diverse group of employees comes together with unique skills and expertise to positively impact the health of our community through the delivery of GHS healthcare services.

Being a part of a team that works together to bring healing and hope to the sick and injured is a source of tremendous professional satisfaction and pride.

The Greenville Hospital System welcomes the opportunity to talk with individuals who believe they have the compassion and expertise to be a part of such a renowned medical team.

To learn more about professional opportunities with the Greenville Hospital System, call the GHS jobline at 864-455-8799 or log on to the GHS Web site at www.ghs.org.

Come be a part of the area's leading healthcare team committed to taking healthcare to a higher standard.

Q-GREENVILLE H O S P I T A L SYSTEM

Healthcare to a Higher Standard

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter is a service mark of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.

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8 An advertising supplement of The Greenville News

years of dedication...

These employees will reach major milestones in their careers at GHS during the year 2000.

50 years Dorothy G. Liner

45 years lames E. Barnett

40 years Marlene M. Altom Sarah J. Dendy Mildred H. Duckett Bobby J. Jones

35 years Bobbie Abercrombie Elizabeth R. Austin Ann B. Gastley Joan H. Green

Daisy A. Griffin Sue F. Hendrix Putt Johnson, Jr. Jeannette Johnson Barbara C. Massey Michael W. Massey Watt McCain, Jr. Bonnie S. Mimms Louvenia Robinson

30 years Vanoy S. Aiken Linda A. Ballenger Sammie G. Carros Patricia H. Chapman Carol J. Clark Judith F. Cothran Linda O. Cox Shelby R. Cureton Floyd E. Ellison, Jr.

Vivian L. Herring Shirley W. Huckaby Edna B. Hugh Keith A. Linse Sandra L. McDaniel Patsy R. Miller Gary L. Osteen S. Joann Oswell Robert A. Parker Martha H. Robertson William H. Rose Mary E. Rucker Catheryn J. Shell Alice W Skelton Elsie C. Taylor Frances R. Turner Brittler Watts Jane M. Watts Dorothy L. Webb Selma Wood

25 years Joyce C. Allsep Elaine F. Awolola Marcia H. Bailey Susan G. Ballew Mary A. Beasley Marcia A. Blassingame Peter A. Brenner Elizabeth D. Brissey Lawrence A. Broderick Diane S. Campbell Frances K. Carroll Jackie E. Chandler Sheron L. Chasteen Joann M. Clinkscales Linda R. Couch Kathy C. Cromer Beverly D. Crouch Treva S. Davis Michael Dean Dianne W. Dempsey


Lula B. Drummond Wanda M. Evans Karen B. Farmer Lee L. Gilreath Antionette W. Gosa-Hair David E. Hellams Julia S. Hooper Gloria J. Jenkins Freddie D. Jones Michael P. Kellett Patricia S. Love Angela M. Mangrum Martha F. McAlister Herbert McDowell, Jr. Lemyuel E. Ogles Rita J. Pace Donna L. Pack Rita F. Ponder Marian W. Power Janice Presley Suzanne R. Pyle Patricia A. Robinson Melinda Scott Ray L. Shaffer Kitty F. Shelton Carolyn H. Smith Laura C. Thompson George W Valentine, Jr. Janice L. Wallen Margaret E. Wardlaw Brenda L. Williams

M 76e Sedt 7* tyieewMe

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i

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Friday • M a y 12, 2000 An advertising supplement of The Greenville News

,.. anniversaries

Loretta H. Williams Kathie B. Wilson Teresa A. Wolfe Randy Wright Patsy O. Wynn

20 years Betty M. Abraham Gina M Allen David E. Baity Lorraine B. Barksdale Philip K .Barnes Sandra C. Berryhill Mattie L. Black Bruce E. Boyer Frank N. Brown, Jr. Bonnie L. Brown Mary L. Bryant Lynn W. Burgan Kathy W. Burgher Pamela G. Cantrel Sharon S. Carroll Deborah A. Chambers Donna S. Chorney Lonnie W. Cofield Edwards J. Corley, Jr. Nancy W. Cox Edith I. Craft Nelda Craig Janice K. Davis Debbie F. Douglas Barry A. Earle Vivian A. Farr Claudia M. Freidank Lillie Fuller JosefinaJ. Gosnell Kathy R. Grant Vicki R. Greene Renee M. Griffith Judy R. Hallman Donna G. Hamlett Beverly D. Harris Claudette M. Harris Sandra J. Harris Carol R. Hartley Clara Y. Hawthorne Mattie W. Hellams Deborah T. Hendricks Joan C. Hermann Vicki R. Holcombe Virginia C. Hollingsworth Donnie R. Hooper Mary E. Howe Gloria J. Hunter Dianne B. Jackson Ronda B. Jackson Rosemary Jackson James R. James Lisa M. James Marie A. Jenkins Learita L. Johnson Laurie A. Jones Sandra M. Jones Susan W. Kay Betty J. Kelly Kathy W. Kingrey Terrie M. Kirkpatrick Sylvia A. Logoa Essie Lomax Lanita Mansell Nancy S. Maschler

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Paul R. Massengill, Jr. Jesse C. Massey Barbara A. McDonald Audrey N. McKinney Linda J. Menzel Mary F. Moore Mary B. Morris Barbara J. Moughton David R. Nelson Deborah R. Ousley June F. Owens H. Byron Parker, Jr. Melborne E Redick, III

Margaret T Rhinehart Robina L. Riddle Peggy A. Rucker Patricia Ruffin Martha J. Sagara Cynthia S. Schiraldi Brynda A. Shaw Annette Simmons Nancy X Sizemore Crystal L. Smith Curtis C. Smith Nancy K. Smith Sharon B. Smith Carol H. Stein Tracey R. Tate Joyce A. Taylor-Sullivan Myrna H. Torres Elizabeth L. Turner Lena Warner Sara K. Watts Richard A. Wilcox Rene B. Willis Megretta F. Wilson

Julienne L. Wood Eleanor T Wright

15 years Emilie Y. Baker Carolyn A. Barnett Lavada C. Barnwell George C. Barry, III Karen A. Battaglia Robbie L. Beeks Nancy L. Boyd Willeen A. Bridges Jonathan E. Brock Elizabeth A. Brown Vicki L. Burns Teresa M. Clark Sonya M. Cogdill Jimmy B. Cooke Karen C. Corwin Gail W. Crawford Rose E. Crowe Karen H. Culler

Diane P. Darby Lauren D. Demosthenes Janie S. Dillard Myra L. Dobbs Donna F. Doll Sandra G. Duncan Gerald D. Dunlap Wanda D. Ely Daphanie L. Evans Patricia A. Fiske Gary L. Flemming Paula E. Fowler Joann J. Gill Virginia K. Gilliam Amy C. Godwin Doris F. Good Brenda H. Grahl Lee A. Green Marcia W. Guffey Elizabeth A. Hackett-Jenkins Sherilyn H. Hamlyn Glenda T Hayes Lisa A. Haynes

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Loretta T. Henry Janet M. Herrin Linda M. Hill Stephanie T. Hinojos Mary J. Hoffman Joyce A Holder Beverley M. House Stephanie B. House Richard H. Houvener Elaine B. James Jayne M. Johnson Daniel L. Jordan Jerrilyn Z. Kelley Elizabeth. A King Kimberley A. Kirby Lydia E. Leach Rhoma J. Leonard Martha G. Love Janice W. Lowery Margaret A. Martin Steven M. Massey Angela R. Mathews Linda W. McAbee

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Tonya McCoy Zane T. McEntire Kathryn J. McKinney Helen L. Mitchem D,A. Moser Jacqueline D. Muhammad Charles D. Mullinix Hallulah C. Mullinix Renee S. Murray Donnie S. Nations Nancy L. Page Gloria R. Parker Linda R. Payment Bennie M. Pettit Susan C. Pinckney Jennifer D. Platts Berdine S. Quiller Renee H. Raines Nancy H. Rampey Pamela H. Redding Dan L. Rhodes, Jr. Teri H. Rigsby Julius E. Robinson, Jr.

John T. Rucker Pamela F. Saxon Olice Seaborn, III Karl N. Seel Marilyn R. Shaw Judy B. Shely Doris K. Smith Linda F. Smith Miriam B. Smith Kathy B. Spake Martha G. Staton Gretchen L. Stewart Linda H. Stroud Rhonda R. Stubbs Edward M. Thompson Ronnie L. Thompson Angela D. Vernon Lloyd T. Wakefield, Jr. Judy H. Walker Elizabeth A. Ware Patty E. Weathers Shannon B. Wheeler Carol L. White

Brian A. Wolfe Nancy A. Wonser Regina L. Young

10 years Sylvia K. Abbott Kay M. Allen Jennifer L. Allison Mattie A. Atkins Katherine D. Autrey Linda J. Autrey Sharon L. Bagwell

f w

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1

JU

[email protected]

134 L e a d e r Dr., P i e d m o n t , SC 220-9902

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Friday • May 12,2000

Vickie C. Bagwell Sara M. Barnette Carol K. Beery Ylva C. Belle Anna R. Bennett Beverly J. Bentley Vicki L. Berryhill Dawn W. Blackhurst William R. Boone Robert T. Boyer Angelique S. Bresch Cathy K. Brown Freda S. Brown Rebecca K. Burgess Sheila E. Burgess Ginger C. Burnett Teresa W. Burroughs Crystal S. Burton Paris D. Byrd Melissa A. Campbell Julie A. Capps Anita S. Chambers Michelle A. Cockrell Karen J. Cooke Yvonne K. Cooley Leslie N. Coolidge Travis J. Crump Mildred L. Darnell Laconia P. Davis Clyde B. Dawkins Crystal C. Dickerson Patricia A. Dillow Lita Dirton Nora V. Domingo Christine L. Doucet Carl Dowdy Tammy G. Edge Linda C. Edmond Marvin Edmond Rhonda S. Elam Debra A. Ellis Shelia F. Elrod Suzanne E. Erkens Dana M. Estes Adoracion A. Ferry Doris M. Fickling Addie B. Fleming Lee R. Flores June M. Forrester Barbara A. Franklin Fannie D. Freeman Ginger S. Fricks Sharon H. Froneberger Andreya J. Gambrell Bonita G. Garner Carey E. Garrett Kay M. Gilland James H. Gillespie Tammy L. Gillespie Mlchele W. Gmerek Deborah H. Godfrey Eugene M. Golding, Jr. Janice M. Goodwin Alison B. Gosnell Terri L. Gould Bridgette L. Gravley Terri S. Greer Charles E. Gregory, Jr. James S. Gresham Gail A. Griffin Margaret C. Griffin Julianne Groce



David S. Grubbs Kimberly E. Hall Rose B. Hawthorne James W. Hayes Debra W. Haynie Kim N. Hein Jan M. Hendrick Cynthia M. Henning Norma R. Higginbotham Benjamin S. Home, III Catherine E. Hudson Treave N. Hultz Anna M. Hunter Victor O. Jenkinson Janice M. Johnson Jon P. Johnson Sarah E. Johnson Brenda N. Jones Martha J. Kelley Vicki L. Kennedy Charlotte P. Kirkland Angela J. Krakos Pamela F. Lamb Deanna D. Larson Faith S. Larson Jacqueline M. Lattimore Patricia D. Linebarger Teresa D. Little Gloria D. Mackey Ralph E. Mangle Karen L. Mann Jane Marrazzo Jean E. Martin Barbara F. Mauney John D. McCall, III Elineth McCann Douglas P. McCormick Rhett C. McCraw, Jr. Sunjia L. McCullough Angela M. McGee Melody B. McGee Sara A. McGowan Sylvia B. Meadows Linda K. Miller Rhonda B. Miller David Mills Catherine A. Moore Joanne Moore Kathy D. Morris Faye E. Nelms Doris C. Nichols Karen R. Nichols Christine W. Nix Tiajuana J. Norris Wanda H. Perry Catherine E. Phillips Elizabeth A. Phillips Lois A. Pick Sarah B. Pierce Susan M. Pittman Cheryl L. Plumier Helen E. Pruitt Clara D. Puras Anita C. Raines Linda B. Rettew Sharon D. Rhinehart Lynn G. Rhodes Robin W. Rhodes Ann B. Rients Carmen E. Rodriguez Elizabeth L. Rutledge Sandra F. Sargent


Jacquelyn E. Sawyer Tannamia L. Saxon Susan B. Schiff William F. Schmidt, III Kathleen L. Schug Wendy W. Scott Marie H. Shelton Bernard J. Sherry Robert L. Shick, II George E. Shockley, Jr. Thomas M. Shoemaker Connie M. Simmons

Alice J. Simpson Dana M. Smith Phyllis E. Smith Rebecca T. Smith F.D. Sneed Treasure B. Snyder Nina K. Stephens Lori J. Stepp Stacy M. Stokes Nancy H. Stone Cary E. Stroud Joann Suttles Karen E. Suttles Karen A. Taylor William C. Teague Donna Y. Thackston Linda J. Thomason Paula I. Townes Cynthia S. Townsend Sandra W. Tucker Mia L. Wakefield

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Date: Pubtication; Page:

April 4 Greenville News 1B Page 1 of 1

County EMS state's 1st to carry clot drug By April E. Moorefield STAFF WRITER amoorefi @ greenvillenews.com

When it comes to treating heart attack patients, time means muscle.

Muscle permanently lost or saved.

That's why Greenville County's Emergency Medical Service was bragging Monday about finding a way to reduce the time it takes for such treatment to begin.

As of April 1, Greenville County's EMS became the first in South Carolina, and one of only a few nationwide, to carry aboard its ambulances a cardiovascular drug that dissolves blood clots in coronary arteries.

The estimated $2,000-a-dose medication known as Retavase will allow paramedics to begin treatment for heart attack patients long before they are rolled into the emergency room, where such treatment previously was started.

Ultimately, the result should be a reduced death rate, said Dr. Gregory San, a cardiologist with the Greenville Hospital System. ft alsoshould lead to a reduction in permanent heart muscle damage in heart attack survivors.

"This will greatly advance

the care we provide the community," San said. "Now, heart attack patients can receive life-saving treatment while en route to the hospital. Traditionally, the role of EMS was only to get the patient to the emergency room."

Retavase, which is administered in two-shot dosages, acts quickly to dissolve clots and restore blood flow to the heart, said Kent Berg, spokesman for Greenville County EMS. If that doesn't happen quickly, muscle tissue dies.

"Now that our ambulances will be carrying Retavase, residents of our community will have a greater chance of receiving quick treatment for a heart attack," said Dr. Carol Burger, medical director for the county EMS. "We're the largest system in the entire country doing this for patient care, and not as part of a study."

An estimated 1.25 million Americans suffer heart attacks each year, about 500,000 of those resulting in death, according to national figures. Nearly 250,000 of those patients die within the first hour of experiencing symptoms like chest pain and shortness of breath.

"The longer a heart attack patient waits to receive


Life savers : Inside a Greenville County Ambulance EMS coordinator John Rasmussen, Ph.D. shows the Retavase kit s tored there Monday. The kit can save a heart attack vict im's life.

treatment, the more heart muscle is destroyed, and the greater the risk of permanent damage," San said.

The drug's manufacturer, Centocor, stocked Green

ville County's ambulances with the initial doses of Retavase, EMS Director Jeff Ward said. Hospitals where the patients are transported will resupply subsequent doses.


Date: April 4 Publication: Greenville News Page: 4B Page 1 of 1

• Dr. Sayge Hardin Anthony, Greenville

Sayge Hardin Anthony, M.D., of 17 Hidden Hills Drive, died April 3, 2000.

Born in Greenville on July 10, 1921, he was the son of the late Sayge Hardin Anthony Sr. and Adele Oldecker Anthony.

Dr. Anthony graduated from Greenville Sr. High School in 1938 and received a BS in pre-med from Clemson University in 1942. While at Clemson, he was a member of the Senior Platoon, was commander of C Company, and the Southeast's highest ranking officer for the Pershing Rifles'. He graduated with Dr. Anthony honors from Emory University Medical School in 1945, where he was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, the highest honorary medical society.

Dr. Anthony was a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during World War II.

In 1949, he began his medical practice in Greenville and became the founding partner of Internist Associates and retired from there after forty years of practice. He was on the staff of Greenville Memorial Hospital and St. Francis Hospital and served as an officer on both. He did volunteer medical service at the Greenville Free Medical Clinic and most recently has been Medical Director with Palmetto Physical Exams.

Dr. Anthony was a long-time member of Greenville First Baptist Church and a Deacon Emeritus. He was currently a member of Taylors First Baptist Church.

An avid boating enthusiast, Dr. Anthony was instrumental in bringing water sports and sailing to the Upstate.

Always interested in water safety, he promoted this by teaching classes, for the Greenville Power Squadron. He was also a charter member of Western Carolina Sailing Club.

Dr. Anthony is survived by his wife, Betty Loftin Anthony and their three children: Mr. and Mrs. Sayge Hardin Anthony III (Joyce) and children, Laura and Sayge Hardin IV of Columbia; Judge and Mrs. Stephen S. Bartlett (Betsy Anthony) and children, Mr. and Mrs. Craig Anthony Colaluca (Jennifer) and Wyman Bartlett of Greenville; Mr. and Mrs. Gerald N. Arnette (Carole Anthony) and children, Nesmith and Adele of Dillon; a sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Merchant (Shirley) of Highlands, N.C; five nieces; and one nephew.

The memorial service will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Taylors First Baptist Church, with Dr. Ernest Car-swell and the Rev. Jack Deskin officiating. The family will receive friends at the church at the conclusion of the service.

Memorials may be made to Taylors First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 6, Taylors, SC 29687; or to the Greenville Free Medical Clinic, 600 Arlington Avenue, Greenville, SC 29601.

The Mackey Mortuary, Century Drive


Date: May 3 Publication: Times Examiner Page: 3 Page 1 of 1

Gibbs Center making run for donors in Marrowthon 2000 By CHAD BARWICK Staff Writer

The Gibbs Regional Cancer Center is teaming up with Upstate hospitals to fight cancer and blood-borne diseases with its Marrowthon 2000.

The Marrowthon is a one-day drive Saturday to identify potential marrow donors.

Normally, it costs $75 to take the test to become eligible to be a donor, but Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System Foundation is picking up the tab for the drive.

Potential donors should go to the Gibbs Center at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center on West Wood Street from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Oconee Hospital, St. Francis

Community Hospital and the Greenville Hospital Cancer Center also are having marrow drives.

Together, the hospitals hope to recruit at least 800 donors.

Marrow transplants are used to help fight more than 60 diseases, including leukemia, aplastic anemia, breast cancer and sickle cell anemia.

In the United States about 96,000 people are diagnosed each year with diseases that can be treated with marrow transplants. About 1,500 South Carolinians are diagnosed each year.

Chad Barwick can be reached at [email protected] or 582-4511, Ext. 7213.

Safe Kids Fear focuses on sports unjuries

Each year, more than 775,000 children under age 14 are treated in hospital emergency rooms for sports-related injuries. The majority of these injuries are caused by falls, collisions, being struck by an object or overexertion. About one in four of these injuries are considered serious.

It is estimated that more than half of all organized sports-related injuries can be prevented; protective equipment, safer playing environments, and rules designed to prevent injury are successful in reducing the frequency and severity of sports-and recreation-related injuries among children.

Parents and children are invited to learn more about preventing sports-related injuries at this year's Safe Kids, which will be held May 4th through 6* at Haywood Mall during mall hours.

Sponsored by Greenville Hospital System Chilureifis Hospital and Greenville" Safe Kids, the festival will host more than 50 community agencies who will share information about all aspects of child safety and injury prevention, including a new exhibit on sports-related injuries.

In addition, families will have the chance to enter a sweepstakes to win one of 10 sports camp tuition packages for their child and a friend. Parents will also be able to sign up for future car seat check events and can ask experts about car seat installation. Children can register to win free bike helmet's and other sports equipment.


Date: Anr i ! 14 Publ icat ion: Greenville Journal Page: C27 Page 1 of 2

Real help for cancer survivors Program tackles effects of fatigue


A local rehabilitation program is taking on one of the most overlooked and undertreated side effects of cancer -and doing so with impressive results.

CancerCenters of the Carolinas has joined forces with Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital to address the widespread problem of fatigue, a condition formerly treatable only by blood transfusions. The hospital's Vitality Center now sponsors a weekly fitness program of aerobic exercise and muscle toning for survivors of the disease.

In a medical study, fatigue was cited most often by patients (76 percent) from a list of possible side effects, beating out nausea, depression and pain. "Fatigue was the one that affected their life the most and lasted the longest," reports Dr. Paulette Hale, regional assistant medical director in oncology for Ortho Biotech Inc. of Charlotte.

Hale suspects this particular complication has been underreported historically, because it was masked by


Cancer patient Wayne Newman works out in the Vitality Center at St. Francis using an upper body ergometer. She exercises three times a week at the center.

other more immediate side effects. But now that medical science has succeeded in curbing pain and nausea, she claims the crippling effects of fatigue have been "unmasked."

Fatigue, it seems, can have a dramatic impact on the quality of life of cancer survivors. It is proven to diminish concentration, memory and the capacity to keep dates straight.

Twenty-eight percent of the test subjects were so debilitated by fatigue that they were forced to resign from their jobs. Dr. Larry Gluck, an oncologist with Cancer-Centers of the Carolinas, calls the inability of these patients to perform basic daily tasks "a major disruption."

While anemia - the decline of

hemoglobin levels in the bloodstream - is one cause of fatigue, Gluck suspects "there are more that have a toxic effect." He intends to do clinical research to address the question: "What are all the components of fatigue?"

Meanwhile, his patient, Wayne Newman of Greenville, is simply grateful not to be bed-bound any longer. Two years ago, Newman was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. A combination of anemia caused by the disease and treatment with Interferon, which brings on flu-like symptoms, left her run down. "At one point, I couldn't even walk," she says. "My husband had to get me up out of bed to go to the bathroom."

After undergoing a bone marrow transplant in September 1998,

Dr. Larry Gluck (left) recognized long ago that many of his cancer patients were not functioning well during their recovery period. In 1990, he began to experiment and soon learned that adding exercise to cancer patients' lives helped them to combat the effects of cancer fatigue.



April 14 Greenville Journal C27 Page 2 of 2

Newman enrolled in the oncology rehabilitation program at the Vitality Center. Beginning with light walking on a treadmill, she discovered the benefits of exercise were "immediate." Today she walks laps on the track, rides a stationary bike and does other aerobic training. Newman reports the fatigue, like the disease itself, is in remission: "I have more endurance. I feel better."

It is a reaction her oncologist, Larry Gluck, has come to expect. Gluck recognized long ago that many of his cancer patients were not functioning very well during the recovery period. On a test to measure the body's capacity to utilize oxygen, they routinely scored in the poor range.

Gluck decided to perform an experiment in 1990. Starting with three breast cancer patients, who agreed to serve as volunteers, he made an assessment of their overall physical condition. "It was profound," he recalls. "It looked like they had been Rip Van Winkle and hadn't moved in 20 years. They were physiologically decon-ditioned to a point that didn't make sense."

Gluck then enlisted the help of

Margaret Edwards, an «3hcology nurse. Together, they placed' tie three patients on a strict exercise regimen at the Vitality Center.

As far as Edwards was concerned, the idea was long overdue. "We were asking, 'Why do you have cardiac rehab but you don't have oncology rehab?'" she says. "Our patients are as much in need of help and recovery as those patients are."

Ten weeks later, Gluck retested their oxygen levels. "What we found was these patients improved considerably," he says. The improvement in their overall vitality and sense of wellbeing was so marked, in fact, that St Francis adopted oncology rehab as part of its cancer treatment, and it was featured on the Today Show.

The program eventually migrated to the Life Center at the Greenville Hospital System (GHS). But when GHS decided to discontinue it last fall as a cost-saving measure, Gluck and Edwards returned oncology rehab to its original home at St Francis. Gluck contends that while the decision by GHS was unpopular, it actually gave the program a boost. "When they abandoned it,"

he says, "it got such a negative reaction in the community level ofawareness, went-up." the

The program has grown since returning to St. Francis, receiving 20 to 30 new referrals per month. Cancer patients, under the supervision of physical therapists and exercise physiologists, participate in tri-weekly workouts that emphasize strength training, flexibility and aerobics. According to Edwards, the regimen, like any fitness training, is designed to be progressive: "I had one patient who could not make a lap around the track. Now he's making a mile around the track."

Gluck is uncertain which biochemical changes are triggered by exercise, but he hopes to uncover these in his research. He yllso plans to incorporate Erythropoietin, a drug that in clinical trials has proven effective in countering fatigue, into his treatment of patients.

As for Newman, she reports that working out among other cancer survivors has renewed her emotionally as well as physically. "Oncology rehab has helped bring me back," she insists. "It's my life."



April 20 Greenville News 2B Page 1 of 1

McAlister Springgate

GREENVILLE Winners named for Heart Month posters

Four fifth-graders were recently honored as winners in the Heart Month 2000 Poster Contest sponsored by the Heart Institute of Greenville Hospital System, the American Heart Association and the

Greenville County School District.

Winners are: first place, Brittany McAlister of Gateway Elementary; second place, Lukas Springgate of Oakview Elementary; third place, Reva Malone of Sky-land Elementary; and honorable mention, Kayla Latimore of Blythe Academy.

The goal of the competition was to provide heart health education for students and to incorporate one of four heart health components — cardiovascular health, nutrition, physical activity and living a tobacco-free life — in the poster design.

The district uses Meeks • Heit's Totally AwesoAte to ' Health and the American Heart Association's Heart Power! to teach heart health education. Judging was based on adherence to theme, presentation, creativity and originality.

District level winners received prizes, ribbons and art materials valued from $25 to $50.


Date- April 17 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1B Page 1 of 1

Few visit new clinic at Phillis Wheatley Medical facility to aid low-income families in area By. E. Richard Walton STAFF WRITER [email protected]

The smell of fresh paint and newly installed carpet filled the air at the Phillis Wheatley Medical Center when it opened for business last week.

A row of fire-engine red chairs brightened the waiting room. Plants were strategically positioned, like sentries watching for the first patients. Everything was ready.

But nobody came. The clinic on Greenacre

Road in Greenville got off to a slow start, with no takers on day one, but officials are confident that business will pick up once everyone in the community knows the place is now open.

The clinic is to serve low-income families in ZIP code 29607, which includes the Nicholtown and Cloverdale neighborhoods, said Beverly Bruster, the clinic's manager/outreach worker.

Bruster made 15 to 20 appointments for this week.

There were a few kinks in the system that are being smoothed out now, center officials said.

For example, Deborah Car-rington, 43, who lives in nearby Jesse Jackson Town-homes, came in to seek treatment for a rash on Thursday, the second day the center was open. But there was no one there at the time to treat her, so she was turned away.


Ready to help: Beverly Bruster, right, office manager for the new Phillis Wheatley Community Health Center, talks to Deborah Carrington, who came in for treatment.

The clinic renovated offices formerly used by the Phillis Wheatley Community Center's headquarters. The facelift lasted . four months and cost $102,000. The money came from a $330,000 grant from the Greenville Hospital

Old rooms were transformed into three exam rooms that are so new the keys to medicine cabinets dangle from the locks. The scale to weigh patients has no footprints on it. Doors glide open. Lights flick on so brightly you almost need sunglasses.

"They've done a really nice job of renovating a really dilapidated area," said Dr. Ron Rolett, medical director at the Greenville County Health Department.

Preventative medical care

WANT TO GO?

• Preventive Care: Wednesdays 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• Curative Care: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

• Location: Phillis Wheatley Center, 335 Greenacre Road

• Telephone: 241-1398

for adults and seniors will be provided by the Health Department on Wednesdays; New Horizon Family Health Services will provide "curative" care on Thursdays.

Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays are unscheduled.

The Health Department will focus on women, infants and children, Rolett said. New Horizon, he said, will treat ailments like earaches, sore throats and minor injuries he said.

Patients are charged based on their income. Some will receive treatment free.

Bruster,said she expects to see increased foot traffic to the clinic, which will offer classes on wellness and nutrition. Volunteers are needed to help with that, she said.

• E. Richard Walton covers city government and urban affairs. He can be reached at 298-4317.


Spring • Summer 2000 A GUIDE TO

GREENVILLE

P«iT"*% Page 73

& * tit f •

IP

Health care getting a facelift

2000-130

Competition, money and technology are changing the face of medicine By Stephanie Erickson HEALTH WRITER sericso @ greenvillenews.com

Greenville County is in the throes of dramatic changes in health care, and Upstate patients undoubtedly will continue noticing those changes.

At the center are two hospital systems: Greenville Hospital System, a public institution that operates three full-service hospitals and the area's only teaching hospital; and Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, which owns a private Catholic hospital that offers fewer high-level services than its larger competitor.

The larger hospital system, like public hospitals nationwide, is being squeezed by shrinking government and managed-care reimbursements that hospital officials have said could result in delayed or reduced services.

The Greenville Hospital System's budget sank into the red last summer, and the board cut $15 million from the operating budget as well as some services in the fall.

But that didn't stop the hospital system from opening its cancer research institute and Eastside medical campus last year. This year brought

See HEMJHonpageW

High-tech look: Steve Milam examines mammograms in the viewing area at Greenville Hospital's Eastside Medical Center.

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Women's and Family Hospital on the Eastside.

The deal with Maryland-based Bon Secours could bring more competitive pricing to the Upstate and move St. Francis out from the 68-year-long shadow of its rival.

Even before the recently signed deal, Upstate patients were given more choices.

St. Francis last year began performing heart surgery, a service formerly monopolized by Greenville Memorial Hospital. And a rule change by the state means St. Francis now can treat some of the tiniest and sickest babies — infants Greenville Memorial has treated for years.

The Greenville Hospital System is in position to remain a strong force in the Upstate. It controls 75 percent of inpatient services, according to a study by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Studying Health System Change.

But local hospitals, doctors and insurers will increasingly face the same difficult issues that stem from demands they say lower costs without sacrificing quality.

BART BOATWRIGHT/Staff

Hospital chief: Frank Pinckney, CEO of the Greenville Hospital System, stands in the emergency room at the hospital.

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Date: May 3 Publication: Tribune Times Page: 1C Page 1 of 1

Sinus equipment at Hillcrest Hospital nothing to sneeze at

If you think your nose is big now, wait until Dr. David Parsons gets you under his Landmarx machine.

The machine amplifies an image of a patient's sinus cavity onto a screen the size of a television, making Parsons' minimally-invasive surgery technique possible.

Not only does the innovative technique for sinus pain have a 90 percent success rate, but avoids the traditional destructive method of breaking the nose.

And, Hillcrest Hospital is one of the few places in the country offering the surgery.

"Simpsonville, South Carolina, now has equipment that would rival any center in the world in sinus equipment," said Parsons.

And, since sinus disease is the No. 1 reason adults seek medical attention, according to Parsons, patients have been flocking from across the nation to the Golden Strip for surgery.

Since Parson's employer, Carolina ENT, has offices in both Greenville and Simpsonville, he performs the surgeries both at Hillcrest and at St. Francis Women's Hospital.

"One of the most influential things that got me here was that one of the nurses down in Simpsonville (Cindi Fenley), was able to get some equipment for me that the other hospitals weren't able to get," he said.

Another reason Parsons came to the area from Denver, Colo., was to try a slower approach to life near his grandchildren in North Carolina.

Previously both an academic and practicing physician, Parsons' hectic schedule left no time to get to know patients., to spend with family, or to devote to his men's ministry.

"I was seeing a high volume of patients and not being able to spend time with them," he said. "People were coming from all over the country and the waiting line to see me was enormous."

Parsons is now seeing one-third of the patients he was before, but feels his life is better balanced.

"I felt like my priorities were not being met," he said. "I elected to give up the teaching and the research and devote my time to patient care, and I've found it extremely rewarding."

While in medical research, Parsons developed the minimally-invasive technique, used primarily to treat contact-point headaches, with a group of other doctors. Developed 12 years ago, the surgery has an average two-week recovery period with very encouraging results.

"We've had patients that have been suicidal because their headaches were so intense. We've had patients that have had headaches every day for virtually 20 years, and that has such an impact on a lifestyle," Parsons said.

The Rev. Larry Padgett, minister of Burnsview Baptist Church on Reidville Road used to get up in the morning with a headache and go to bed at night with a headache. He had the minimally-invasive surgery two months ago.

"I can breathe out of both nostrils now," said Padgett, who had been suffering with sinus problems the entire 48 years of his life.

Padgett had gone through two sinus surgeries in the past for a deviated septum and experienced eight to nine sinus infections a year. He was told he would have to go through yet another surgery, when he decided to get a second opinion and ended up in Parson's office.

He hasn't had an infection since, and he said he recovered in one week.

Parsons said that every patient he has treated has had headaches reduced, though two or more headaches a month is considered by the study to be a failed surgery.

Parsons also uses the equipment to fix a lot of previous surgeries gone wrong, particularly in children.

But he said that most sinus problems can be treated without surgery.

"There is one cause of sinus disease and that is nasal swelling," he said.

Five factors generally cause nasal swelling — colds, allergies, environmental irritants (cigarette smoke, pollution, dust), structural problems with the sinus cavity, and perhaps the least known — gastric reflux.

"In reflux, stuff comes up in small amounts," said Parsons. "Not enough to be noticeable to you, but enough to cause nasal swelling."

Most patients would never think the two conditions are related, so they fail to mention it to their physician, Parsons said. But usually, sinus pain caused by reflux can be alleviated by changing your dietary habits.

Parsons said that telling a sinus infection from the common cold can be very difficult.

"The diagnosis is really listening to the patient. That's what the old timey doctors told us a long time ago."



May 3 Tribune Times 1C Page 2 of 3

Simpsonville sinus surgeon finds faith is good medicine

Crouched in a rattling cockpit, David Parsons could feel the heavy, humid air ripple against his eyebrows. The plane wobbled and the noise of guns buzzed in his ears as he swooped low over a North Vietnamese platoon.

But he wasn't afraid. He was indestructible.

When he was drafted in 1966, newly married and a senior in college, Parsons decided the Air Force was for him.

At first he was rejected because he was color blind. Then because he had experienced seizures as a child. Then because he depended on glasses.

But somehow or another, Parsons found himself flying more than 450 combat sorties over Vietnam and winning a three Top Gun awards.

'Tom Cruise in that movie 6 that was me," the 55-year-old said almost 30 years later over a glass of Southern iced tea.

It was quite an accomplishment for the boy who had grown up in a little town called Bartlesville, Okla.

But like all classic heroes, the Top Gun had a hubris so strong that it blinded him to the spiritual realm.

"There is no ego that rivals that of a fighter pilot except one 6 that of a surgeon," he said, quoting the novel "The Right Stuff."

So what did Parsons do after

S t o r y

Vietnam, but become a surgeon? He was pretty darn good at that,

too 6 editing the top-selling sinus book in the country and developing an innovative surgical technique that practically eliminates pressure point headaches.

But these accomplishments mean nothing to Parsons in comparison with the day 11 years ago when he became a Christian. * "I had a very successful life and it led-pe to a dead end," tie said.

Parsons was at a low-point after a false accusation of embezzlement ended his 26-year military career as a physician, when a friend suggested he take his medical knowledge to the third world.

He joined fellow doctors on a mission trip to Mexico, not because he was # believer, but because he wanted to "do something good.

"There was a peace about them," he said of the Christians on the mission trip.

Since then, Parsons has gotten serious about his spirituality and '•• goes to Mexico with a group of physicians at least once a year.

He's also been back to Vietnam but he's exchanged his fighter fatigues for his white coat to train Vietnamese doctors in the latest techniques of sinus surgery and research.

"Why would Communists want

See PARSONS, Page 12C

toy Rebecca B o w e n



PARSONS FROM PAGE 1C

Christian doctors to come over and teach?" he asked. "We still don't have an answer, but they were very specific (that we be Christian doctors)."

Though Parsons said the Viet

nam trip, he has taken annually since 1996, is much less evangelical in nature than the Mexico trip, but, "One on one, when someone asks, we're ready to share our faith."

Parsons firmly believes his conversion has not only made him a better husband to his wife, Begee, and a better example to his three grown children and three grandchildren, but that it has made him a better doctor as well.

"One goal I have is to integrate my faith into my practice," he said. "Eighty-percent of patients in the United States with a serious medical problem want their doctors to pray with them."

He also said that two-thirds want doctors to include spiritual matters in their care plan.

He believes patients who are prayed for recover faster and the recovery is longer-lasting than for those who aren't.

"A number of people who are spiritually mature can control their medical symptoms better than those who are not mature," he said.

He also believes being a spiritual person makes him better able to listen to his patients.

He gives the example of a woman who came for a first-time visit to his Carolina ENT office. After the first few minutes, Parsons didn't think he had anything to offer her.

But she was the last patient of the day, so they chatted a while, and lo and behold, her problem revealed itself through the conversation.

"We got to the bottom of her problem," Parsons said. "That came about not because of profound medical knowledge; it came about because I spent time with the patient."

It's been a long journey for Parsons, from Bartlesville; to Vietnam; to medical school at the University of Texas in Houston; to Albequre-que, N.M.; London, England; Denver, Colo.: Mexico and back to Vietnam, the former pilot has finally landed his wings in the Spaulding Farms subdivision between Greenville and Simpsonville.

He's cut out the research portion of his career and is concentrating on patient care and surgery and spends his time between Hillcrest Hospital in Simpsonville and St. Francis Women's & Family Hospital on the Eastside.

And since Parsons is seeing one-third of the patients he was seeing in his previous practice, in Columbia, Miss., it gives him all the more time to spend listening and integrating the spiritual with the physical.

"I think it's good medicine; it's intelligent; it's relationship-building. And I think it's the single most important thing in life," he said.


Date: May 4 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1D Page 1 of 1

GREENVILLE

Hospital's Safe Kids Fest begins today at Haywood

The Greenville Hospital System s Children's Hospital and Greenville Safe Kids will sponsor the annual Safe Kids Fest today through Saturday at Haywood Mall during mall hours.

The festival will include more than 50 community agencies that will share information about all aspects of child safety and injury prevention, including a new exhibit on sports-related injuries.

In addition, families will have the chance to enter a sweepstakes to win one of 10 sports camp tuition packages for their child and a friend, and parents can sign up for future car-seat check events. Children also can register to win free bike helmets and other sports equipment.


Date: May 7 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1D Page 1 of 1

Alyce Atkinson [email protected]

Columnist

Volunteer work focus of her life

I f you run into Edna Childers at a bake sale or other fund-raising event at

Greenville Memorial Hospital, beprepared to buy what she's selling or make a nice donation.

When Edna's in fund-raising mode, she's hard to refuse. "She can sell anything," says Susan Grier, director of volunteer services.

Edna's secret, she explains, laughing, is that she tells customers, "I don't give change," subtly making her point that they should donate the rest to whatever cause she helping.

For more than 25 years, Edna's been selling, helping, working as a volunteer at Greenville Memorial — more than 25,000 hours, an average 24 hours a week.

Consider that Edna, past 80, spends more time volunteering than lots of people do working at part-time jobs.

Nowadays, Edna works mostly in the gift shop — that

sales technique again. But she's worked just about everywhere in the hospital, including 15 years in patient

Childers services. "I've loved them; I've

laughed with them; I've cried with them; and I've prayed with them," Edna says. She's visited the lonely, read to the bored and fed patients who had no family to help them.

She appears regularly on the annual Children's Network Telethon sponsored by the Greenville Hospital System. She's raised money for United Way and the March of Dimes at the hospital, and, if you were shopping at Haywood Mall Saturday, you might have seen Edna selling Children's Hospital T-shirts.

"It's a way of life for me," Edna says of her volunteer job. "I love people, and when you get older and your family is off and grown, volunteering gives you something to do besides playing bridge and drinking coffee."

You can be sure that Edna's got no time for that.

On the two days a week she's not at the hospital, she's involved in activities at First Presbyterian Church or doing her errands. You won't often catch Edna at home.

Susan Grier says a couple of hospital employees call Edna "Mom." "She's knows everybody in the hospital. She's been here so long, she's like one of the family. There are people who go in the gift shop just to give Edna a hug."

Edna's been the hospital auxiliary's volunteer of the year and won the hospital's Malcolm Niven Award for outstanding service to the hospital and to the auxiliary. She's also been a Jefferson Award nominee.

"But I don't do it for awards." Edna's definite about that. T do it because it's good for me and because I get pleasure out of what I can do for somebody else."

Edna's philosophy and her zest for life and love of people have inspired so many other volunteers that an award will be named for her. The Edna Childers Award is being funded by her family to honor Edna and, according to Grier, will be given by the hospital

system for the first time this fall.

But beyond the award, Edna wants other volunteers to experience the pleasure she's found in her 25,000 hours at the hospital. Quite simply, she says, "It's made my life."



May 7 Greenville News 1B Page 1 of 1

Safety fest shows kids where accidents can lurk Weekend event at Haywood Mall uses array of exhibits as teaching tools

By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER loSby @ greenvilienews.com

Four-year-old Kendall Wis-man recoiled in horror from the copperhead snake floating in a jar of formaldehyde on a table full of hairy spiders, giant beetles and other creepy things.

"Mommy, what's that?" she cried, pointing at the once-deadly reptile, part of one of 21 interactive exhibits designed to teach children how to avoid injury as part of Safe Kids Fest at Haywood Mall this weekend.

Of course, Kendall, a stu

dent at the John Knox Presbyterian Church kindergarten, wasn't actually in harm's way. But the episode helped her mom, Laurie Wisman, emphasize the danger of getting too close to snakes.

Falls and other injuries affect one in four children nationally each year, sometimes resulting in death. Sports injuries alone send more than 775,000 children 14 and younger to the emergency room.

And many of these injuries need not happen at all, according to Dr. Kevin Polley, director of the Children's

1 0 t ips for staying safe ; Buckle up car seats and seat belts {Always wear appropriate helmets:

and other protective equipment when j bike riding or skate boarding p. Drink plenty of fluids when playing \ sports to i

a Never approach strange dogs .• : • • Learn to dial 911 in anemergency • Only swim with an adult nearby .

Never touch a gun • Stay away from snakes and spiders •Always use sunscreen when outdoors • Learn your full address and phone number

SUZIE RIDDLE /Staff

Emergency Center at Greenville Hospital System, which co-sponsored the three-day event. It is expected to draw

••-'iik

6,000 area children. "While accidents will hap

pen," said Polley, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist, "up to 50 percent of these injuries are directly preventable."

For instance, he said, simply ensuring that monkey bars are built over a soft surface instead of asphalt can prevent many broken bones and abrasions from falls.

At the Safe Kids Fest, children learned how to escape from a burning building, how to avoid pet bites and scratches, and how to be safe while swimming, said Linda Brees, director of Children's Advocacy at Greenville Children's Hospital and a leader with the Greenville Safe Kids Coalition, another sponsor of

the event. Other exhibits covered poi

son prevention, firearm safety, how to handle an emergency by calling 911 and sports safety.

"It's important that this information be repeated," Brees said.



May 13 Greenville News 1A Page 1 of 2

Hospital system keeps strong debt rating GHS president says tough choices led to good review By James T. Hammond STAFF WRITER

[email protected]

The Greenville Hospital System has maintained an "excellent" debt rating in a review by Moody's Investors Service amid an increasingly desperate health services industry that is pushing many public hospitals into dire financial straits and red ink.

Moody's, one of the big three debt-rating agencies that drive interest rates that corporate and public-sector borrowers must pay when floating bonds, said this year's financial performance was enhanced by $13.8 million in combined revenue increases and cost reductions.

GHS President Frank Pinckney described the past year's financial restructuring as "difficult choices" that were necessary to maintain the sys

tem's financial health and ensure it kept the prized rating on $246.5 million of debt.

"This very favorable rating is important not only to GHS, but to our physicians, our patients and area residents because it allows us to borrow needed funds at a lesser rate, thereby reducing expenses and the costs we must pass on to our customers," Pinckney wrote in a letter to his board of trustees.' • j

Pinckney wrote that the hospital's performance stands in contrast to an industry experiencing its second consecutive recordi-setting year of downgrades. In 1999, he wrote, 64 provider downgrades worth $13.4 billion in debt surpassed the 54 downgrades affecting $11 billion in 1998.

It's a brighter path than GHS appeared to face last year. In September, the system was contemplating $15 million in budget cuts to maintain its financial health.

See DEBTera 6A



May 13 Greenville News 1A Page 2 of 2

GHS sank into red ink during July and August, but Pinckney said Friday that in retrospect the hospital avoided major cuts in services as it righted its financial ship.

Meanwhile, public hospitals nationwide were being tosqiieezed by shrinking government and managed-care reimbursements they say could threaten health care for the poor and result in delayed or reduced services.

At the same time GHS w§£ restructuring last year, officials of Columbia's Palmetto Health Alliance, a combination of the former Richland Memorial Hospital and the Baptist hospitals in Columbia and Easley, were facing loses of as much as $28 million a year.

And the Medical University of South Carolina also was struggling to make up financial ground lost to a tight-fisted Congress and a shift toward managed care.

Public hospitals, the nonprofit institutions established decades ago to teach and care for the poor, still face choices of reducing services, becoming part of larger health care organizations or winning more money from the state Legislature to remain financially stable.

It took the financial knife to keep GHS healthy.

Moody's said Greenville's big public hospital system, among other things, cut corporate overhead by $5 million and achieved $5 million savings through improved staffing ratios.

In addition, Moody's noted that last December GHS shut down HealthFirst, a health maintenance organization that had required continuous subsidies since its inception.

Pinckney said HealthFirst, operated with partner hospitals in Anderson and Spartanburg, was established at a time when state government appeared headed toward funneling all Medicaid funds through an HMO. Once the state decided to "go in a different direction," Pinckney said, the hospital-operated HMO ceased to be financially viable.

"Fiscal year 2000 budget con- open-heart cases per year; templates $22.5 million of operat- B A n d u s e d m a rket position to ing income, which we believe to be acnieve higher payments from man-achievable given $15.1 million of aged care organizations, operating income posted through the first half of fiscal year 2000," Moody's said.

The Aa3 rating Moody's awarded GHS is described by the bond-rating agency as "excellent," second only to their rating of "exceptional."

Pinckney said the nature of the health industry is such that probably fewer than a dozen hospitals nationwide would receive the higher "exceptional" rating. He said maintaining the "excellent" rating shows GHS remains one of the most financially healthy public hospital systems in the nation.

Moody's describes institutions with the Aa3 rating as offering "excellent financial security," and "high-grade entities."

Moody's noted that St. Francis Health System, recently merged with the Bon Secours Health System based in Baltimore, Md., will "continue to represent a competitive factor to GHS."

But Moody's also added that "the growing population and strong local economy will likely continue to benefit both systems.". •

Among the strengths at GHS, Moody's noted the system's market share and location in a high-growth area, and "above-average coverage of a modest debt burden."

"The stable outlook reflects our belief that Greenville has implemented corrective actions that will result in improved financial performance after a slight downturn in profit margins during fiscal year 1999," Moody's said. s

Among GHS's strengths, Moody's noted:

• Strong credit fundamentals; • With over 1,000 beds and a

full-service array, GHS has maintained the leading market position, 70 percent, in Greenville County;

• Admissions continue to increase with 40,486 in 1999, and occupancy is above average: • The state's largest cardiovas

cular program with about 1,400


Date: May 14 Publication: Herald Journal Page: 3B Page 1 of 1

Greenville Hospital financially healthy Associated Press

GREENVILLE — The Greenville Hospital System has maintained an excellent debt rating at a time when many public hospitals are in dire financial straits.

This year's financial performance was enhanced by $13.8 million in combined revenue increases and cost reductions, according to Moody's.

Moody's is one of the big three debt-rating agencies that drive interest rates that corporate and public-sector borrowers must pay when floating bonds.

Hospital President Frank Pinckney said the past year's financial restructuring efforts were necessary to maintain the system's financial health and ensure it kept the prized rating on $246.5 million of debt.


Date: May 10 Publication: Tribune Times Page: 1A Page 1 of 1

Doctor lobbies for uninsured children

By L. C. Leach III Tribune-Times Writer

Medical, dental and vision coverages can be great benefits, but are not available for-thousands of families in the Upstate.

That could change, however, if former Fountain Inn physician Dr. Walter McLaw-horn convinces doctors in the Greenville and St. Francis hospital systems to offer free, private health insurance to families who qualify through Partners for Healthy Children.

"I've always felt that health care in America should be universally available, especially

for children," said McLawhorn, who practiced medicine for 46 years before retiring in 1995. "And so I've been trying to get (126) physicians in our area to agree to take these children into their practice."

The 126 physicians would be split among the two hospitals, 66 from Greenville Memorial and 60 from St. Francis.

Nothing is definite yet, but both hospitals are considering the idea.

"We are in preliminary discussions with Dr. McLawhorn on this issue," said Robyn Zimmerman, spokeswoman for Greenville Memorial Hos

pital. "And a scheduled meeting will be taking place with (him) and our senior vice president Dr. John Sanders in the next couple of weeks to discuss this issue."

McLawhorn said he became interested in the idea in 1997, when Congress passed an act called the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Money was appropriated to match each state's contribution in taking care of children stuck between Medicaid coverage and their families' ability to pay for adequate health insurance.

"Once these families make enough money to get out of Medicaid, they still don't have

private- or job-related medical insurance and they also do not have enough money to afford medical care," McLawhorn said. "This project is the gap in between, and the federal government puts up 80 percent of the money and the states put up 20 percent (for those who qualify.)"

To qualify their children for free, private health care, families must meet the 150-percent ' poverty-level standards as set by the Department of Health and Human Services in Columbia.

For example, the standard poverty level for a family of four is $2,132 per month. For a family of seven, the level is $3,219.

McLawhorn

Children who qualify would be covered for more than 10 medical services, including regular checkups, immu nizations, hospital vis

its, dental care and testing for vision and hearing problems.

Frank Adams, director of public information for DHHS, said that while current figures are not available, it is estimated that 36,000 children in Greenville County lack adequate medical insurance.

"An average of 15.1 percent of children and youth under age 18 in South Carolina had no health insurance coverage in 1995," said Adams, quoting a report from the U.S. Census Bureau. "And since 1997, we've added 10,000 children in Greenville County to Medicaid through Partners for Healthy Children."

As such, Adams said McLawhorn's efforts, if successful, could help local cities and the state improve standards of public and private health care.

"If anyone in Greenville has a child.that needs health care,


Date: May 18 Publication: Greenville News Page: 12A Page 1 of 1

GHS protects fiscal health Hospital made difficult choices that helped keep it financially stable and maintain excellent debt rating.

reenville Hospital System officials probably are underappreciated for the tough budget decisions they made last fall to stop the red ink that was flowing at more than $1 million a month. Well-deserved credit for their difficult work has come in the form of an "excellent" debt rating in a recent review by

Moody's Investor Service. The Aa3 rating is second only to the "exceptional" rating pub

lic hospitals can earn from Moody's. The "excellent" rating maintained by GHS ensures it will continue paying a lower interest rate on debt, and just as important, it shows that this county's public hospital system is running a sound operation.

It's equally telling that many hospitals obviously lack the strong leadership of GHS and have failed td move their institutions in the right financial direction in this rapidly changing and extraordinarily challenging health care environment. In 1999, 64 hospitals were downgraded, 54 in 1998.

Last September, GHS President Frank Pinckney alerted the hospital staff and our community to the likelihood of dramatic and painful cuts that would be needed to preserve the hospital system's health. Many hospitals — especially public teaching hospitals that treat a substantial Medicare and Medicaid population — were hit hard by the 1997 Balanced Budget Act. These generally thoughtless federal cuts attempted to balance the federal budget by reducing national Medicare spending. The reduction projected at $110 billion over five years turned out to be almost $200 billion.

GHS officials took the heat for some staffing changes and program reductions that made this public health care system exceptionally sound, especially when compared to many of its peers across the nation. Corporate overhead was cut by $5 million, another $5 million in savings came from improved staffing ratios and the hospital system closed its health maintenance organization.

Pinckney and the GHS board deserve much credit for reacting quickly and deliberately to external changes that were squeezing hospital revenue and presenting a possible threat to the overall health of this vital community institution. The Moody's rating merely validates these tough choices that ultimately were made in this community's best interests.



May 24 Greenville News 8 City People Page 1 of 1

Hospital system recognizes volunteers The Auxiliary to the Greenville

Hospital System held its annual awards luncheon April 11 at the Greenville . Spartanburg Airport Marriott. Approximately 250 people attended.

GHS recognized 416 Auxilians and 420 college students and teens for donating over 92,000 hours of volunteer time to the Hospital System in 1999. This amounts to a dollar figure of $1.37 million.

Service award pins were presented to 109 people who achieved volunteer-hour milestones. A proclamation from Mayor Knox White recognized Greenville Memorial Hospital volunteers Joe Babb and Edna Childers for volunteering more than 25,000 hours.

Other special awards went to: • Allen Bennett Hospital/Roger

Huntington Nursing Center Volunteer of the Year Shelba Jean Painter. Ms. Painter volunteers five days a week at Roger Huntington Nursing Center. She visits residents in their rooms, takes them to and from activities and assists the staff with activities. Although a volunteer for only lVz years, she has already worked 1,422 hours.

• Hillcrest Hospital Volunteer of the Year Marge Unger. Mrs. Un-ger volunteers in the Emergency Department and Outpatient Surgery at Hillcrest and also in the Pediatric Clinic at Greenville Memorial Medical Center. For several years she portrayed Mrs. Santa Claus at the Children's Holiday Celebration at Hillcrest.

• Greenville Memorial Medical Center Volunteer of the Year Louise Suddeth. Mrs. Suddeth has

CITY BRIEFS

Greenville Hospital System volunteers of the year, from left, Marge Unger, Louise Suddeth and Shelba Jean Painter.

We want your news

City People wants news of clubs and organizations. Deadline for information is one week before publication. Mail to City People, Greenville News, Box 1688, Greenville, SC 29601.

Information may be faxed to (864) 298-4395 or you. can e-mail us at [email protected]

volunteered more than 6,300 hours since 1991. For many years she worked in the ICU Waiting Room, and she has also assisted families in CCU and Surgery Waiting. She cur

rently works several days a week in the Volunteer Office at Greenville Memorial, where she does errands for patients, visitors and staff and assists with mailings and special projects.

The Malcolm P. Niven Award was retired at the luncheon. This award was first presented to a member of the GHS Auxiliary in 1982. The award was named for a former chairman of the GHS Board of Trustees and presented annually to volunteers chosen for outstanding service to the Auxiliary and the Hospital System. Following Niven's death last year, his family has requested that the award be retired.


Date: May 25 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1A Page i of 2

What is a PET scan? Positron emission tomography (PET) shows wt activity is taking place. PET scans hav&been u and in a new study they were used to find aetiv

. Glucose sijran

dUron

How it works

Person injected with mildly radioactive* glucose, which circulates through body

When cells use glucose for energy, a positron (positively charged; ' particle like an electron) is released

j Positron collides with a nearby/-, electron; annihilating each other:

Reaction releases gamma rays

Gamma rays hit crystal,' making a flash of light

Light detector senses flash, creates image Computer interprets flashes and plots a map of active areas on a cross-section of the body

Many scans can be combined into a 3-D map of activity in any part of the body

L

iter technology is similar to that used in CT (or "CAT') scan ilent to about two chest X-rays

SOURCES: Center for Positron Emission Tomography, CTI Inc. KRT

Upstate adding scanner to its eancer arsenal Device will help doctors track down dangerous cells

By Liv Osby H E A L T H WRITER

losby @ greenvillenews.com

Colorful three-dimensional images of the inside of the human body will better enable doctors to find cancer in their patients when a high-tech diagnostic device becomes operational in the Upstate by the end of the year.

The positron emission tomography scanner, known as PET, works by following tracers generated by injecting patients with a mildly radioactive material, roughly equal to about two chest X-rays.

Similar to other diagnostic devices, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and the Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT) in that it

offers a glimpse inside the body, PET scans track the body's metabolism. And since cancer cells have a higher metabolism than normal cells, physicians will be better able to measure the location and progression of the disease.

"PET imaging gives us a good opportunity to detect cancers we wouldn't have detected before — and earlier — and the ability to treat more thoroughly," said Mike Hanna, administrator of clinical support services for the Greenville Hospital System.

The first uses will be to detect cancer, but eventually it will be useful in diagnosing heart disease and neurological diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, seizures and brain tumors, said Dr. Mark O'Rourke of Hematology and Oncology Associates of Greenville.

See SCANNER on page 81k



May 25 Greenville News 1A page 2 of 2 Both Greenville Hospital System

and O'Rourke's 14-physician group have applied to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control for permission to run a PET scanner, which can cost more than $2 million to set up.

Only one will win state approval. That's because the state health plan calls for only four statewide — one each in the Charleston area, the Midlands, the Pee Dee and the Upstate, said Joel Grice, director of DHEC's Office of Certification of Need.

Grice said the number of PET scanners will be limited to about one for every one million residents to justify the expense.

"But we'll see how the technology develops," he added. "With MRIs, we started out with a minimal number years ago and now almost every hospital has it."

Area patients now must travel to larger metropolitan medical centers such as Atlanta if their doctor ordered a PET scan, Grice said.

Although one has been approved for Palmetto Baptist Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina currently has no PET scanners, which have existed for about 15 years mostly at large teaching hospitals involved in medical research.

But last year, the federal Health Care Financing Administration approved PET technology for detecting lymphoma, melanoma and lung cancer, O'Rourke said, authorizing Medicare reimbursement for the first time for the tests, which cost $1,000 to $1,500 each.

Once considered experimental, PET scanners were included in the state plan in 1989, Grice said. In

fact, he said, the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston received approval for one in 1990 but decided not to proceed.

"They are considered more financially feasible now," he said.

Greenville Hospital System, which wants to lease a mobile unit contained inside an 18-wheeler on the hospital property, would pay an estimated $921,000, Grice said.

The competing oncology group would house its unit in a

2,000-square-foot building on Andrews Street at the Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center campus at a cost of $2.3 million, he said.

Grice said the state has no preference for fixed or mobile PET scanners.

"In the Charleston area, we're in the same situation — two competing applications, with Roper Hospital wanting a fixed PET scanner and Trident Medical Center wanting mobile," he said. "We have to make a decision there by late June."

Nonetheless, applicants must meet certain standards, such as ensuring that they will conduct at least 750 scans a year, a minimum both Upstate groups say they will achieve.

The successful applicant also will have to document that it provides a full range of diagnostic tools, including CAT scan, ultrasound and MRIs, as well as a range of comprehensive medical services that would justify the need for such technology, Grice said.

Greenville Hospital System has those services on site, arid plans to offer PET technology refresher courses for its radiologists. O'Rourke said his practice has an agreement to provide those services with Carolina Radiology, which is recruiting a top PET expert from Duke University.

DHEC is expected to make a decision by October, enabling either group's PET scanner to be operational by December. Both believe they will be successful.

"We feel it's appropriate for us," Hanna said. "We want to be able to offer our community state-of-the-art technical diagnostic tools."

"In our own practice, we saw enough of a need to justify a PET scanner," O'Rourke said. "More and more, this type of technology is being found in the community where it's readily accessible to patients."

• Liv Osby can be reached at 298-4422.



May 31 Community Informer 1 Page 1 of 1

Children's Hospital To Part ic ipate In Nat ional Telethon

Greenville Hospital System Chil-ren's Hospital will participate in the annual Children's Miracle Network Champions Broadcast, scheduled for June 3 and 4 on WYFF-TV. Lo-al segments of the national telethon will be broadcast live from Greenville Memorial Hospital and the Children's Hospital. Hosted by WYFF news anchors and reporters, including Carol Goldsmith and Michael Cogdill, the local segments will profile treatments and procedures performed on patients in the Children's Hospital.

Profiles will include: Kimberly Sizemore of Fountain Inn, a 3-year-old born with total colon hersprung disease, a congenital defect of the colon surgically corrected by pediatric surgeon Dr. Michael Gauderer; Brock Finley of Simpsonville, an active eighth-grader who plays rec league basketball and is the school mascot for his high school despite being diagnosed with leukemia; and Jayveon Barton of Greenville, whose fall from a bicycle resulted in dozens of stitches and taught him the importance of wearing a bike helmet.

The telethon begins at 9 p.m. Saturday and continues until 6 p.m. Sunday. The GHS Foundation, which manages the telethon and all fiindraising for the hospital, hopes to surpass last year's record-breaking $ 1 million total.

Fundraising events for the Children's Hospital are held throughout the year and donated during the telethon.

The Jones Gospel Singers 28* Anniversary Celebration will be held Sunday, June 4, 2000 at Maple Creek Baptist Church beginning at 5:00 p.m. Special guest will be The Inspirational Choir of St. Mark United Methodist Church in Taylors, SC. The church is located at 609 South Main Street in Greer.

* * * First Assembly of God of Trav-


Date: May 22 Publication: GSA Business Page: 26 Page 1 of 1

SportsLife trainer program receives awards

Greenville Hospital System's SportsLife program has been recognized on both local and state levels for its outstanding contribution to public education.

The program was recognized by the State Department of Education and the Greenville County School District through the state's Business Awards Competition, Local Schools nominate businesses that go above and beyond in their effort to support public education.

The SportsLife program provides trainers to Greenville County high schools free of charge. The trainers work to treat injuries and calm fears about some traumatic injuries. They also act as a gateway to more advanced care, provide monitored rehabilitation, and relieve worries of coaches and parents. This program is the first of its kind in the state.

Greenville Hospi ta l System GREENVILLE — Patients, employees,

and community programs benefited from more than $46 million that Greenville Hospital System gave to the community in fiscal year 1999. Benefactors included patients of Greenville Memorial, North Greenville Hospital, Medical Center Clinics and Hospice, as well as community programs such as Greenville. Family Partnership, United Way, Success by 6, Center for Developmental Services, and the Greenville Community Health Center. The annual community benefits report inventories and quantifies what GHS offers to the community, defined as activities that improve community health and quality of life for which GHS receives no financial return. Contact: Erika Spinelli, 864/455-5924

St. Francis GREENVILLE — St. Francis donated more

than $21.6 million worth of care and service to the poor and underserved of Greenville County and the Upstate region during 1999. Many employees, volunteers, medical staff members and business, community, and civic leaders gave time, talent and financial resources. Activities undertaken and amounts contributed are compiled according to guidelines of the Catholic Healthcare Association. Projects included-building a house for Habitat for Humanity, supporting Camp Sunburst, a camp for bereaved children; conducting blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose screenings on the St. Francis Health Express; and providing a membership program for seniors. Contact: Carol Johnson, 864/255-1397


Date: May 26 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: B19 Page 1 of 2

Hospital officials say improvement in treatment should be evident

By Barry Ray Business Editor

With a workforce of 7,000 people, turning around an organization like the Greenville Hospital System could be compared to turning around an ocean liner. Still, that has been the focus this year of a massive internal program at GHS. Hospital officials and board members insist the initiative is far more than window dressing, but instead a critical change in the way employees and managers think about and treat customers.

"About 18 months ago, we began looking at the processes we had in place to monitor customer satisfaction," says Greg Rusnak, vice president of Ambulatory Care Services. "We have learned some very valuable information through the survey process."

That survey process is actually a two-pronged approach. The hospital system has begun an extensive survey process through which every in-patient who comes to a GHS facility is questioned about the experience. In addition, GHS officials have identified hospital systems of comparable size to GHS that have earned a national reputation for customer service and conducted site visits to find out what procedures might work here.

"We looked at some of the premiere organizations in the country and made site visits," says

"One thing we have found from the surveys is that while customers feel they get excellent care, they see the organization as large and sort of intimidating. We want to personalize the process to remove the anxiety and intimidation."

- Greg Rusnak, vice president, Ambulatory Care Services

Rusnak. "We feel that every community is different, so we focused on those things that are especially applicable to the people we serve."

The surveys, however have been especially instrumental in altering the way customers are treated at GHS. Each in-patient is given a survey to fill out within ;

72 hours of his or her release from a GHS facility. Those results are compiled, and once an issue is raised several times, the hospital system forms a team of employees to examine the issue and propose a solution.

"For instance, with our registration process, we found that while the customers expressed that their interaction with our employees was positive, they sometimes felt that the wait was

longer than they expected," says Rusnak. "We formed a team of employees to look at that issue and decide just how long a person should expect to wait during registration. They then formulated procedures to get to that

GHS implements major changes in customer service

• • " t o


Rob Reilly, who is in the pre-op area for outpatient surgery, is being treated by Lynn Bennett, RN at Greenville Memorial Hospital. The hospital system has begun an extensive survey process through which every in-patient who comes to a GHS facility is questioned about the experience. Hospital officials and board members insist the initiative is a critical change in the way employees and managers think about and treat customers.



May 26 Greenville Journal B19 Page 2 of 2

point." Rusnak stresses that the team

approach is also a means of empowering non-managerial employees. The solutions often come from the ground up and are often more likely to come from an orderly who deals with patients on an individual level than a manager. That process, according to GHS officials, results in policies that are more personalized to the gatients than the results of textbook customer relations methods.

"One thing we have found from the surveys is that while customers feel they get excellent care, they see the organization as large and sort of intimidating," says Rusnak. "We want to personalize the process to remove the anxiety and intimidation."

Participating in formulating the solutions is the chief means of recognition for employees. The hospital system has set what it calls "Stellar Service Standards." There is a reward recognition program by which employees that exceed the standards are given bonuses for their efforts. The program is set up so that employees who may have felt powerless before feel like they are on the front lines of forming the very policies they will be enforcing. Rusnak says that the supervisors and managers have reacted positively to the shift of power.

"Our managers are very committed to this process," he says.

"Often when discussions are made about a certain procedure, they say, 'Let's ask someone who deals with that every day.'"

In an increasingly competitive health care environment, GHS officials say the success of the program is critical to the financial health of the organization and to the overall well being of the patients. Since the monitoring process has been beefed up to gauge their responses to the program, the patients themselves will decide if it works.

"The patient should see a heightened sensitivity to their needs," says Rusnak. "For instance in the ER, we have trained employees to assess the emotional needs of the patients, as well as triage their physical needs. We determine everything from anxiety level to spiritual needs and work on those as well as whatever medical need is present."

The training it takes and the survey of the results have been an expensive process for GHS. Every hospital employee is now required to take customer service training in addition to a retooled orientation program constructed around the customer service initiative. If the result is a more personal feel to such a large organization, GHS officials say the money and time spent will have been worth it. And they are confident enough of the results to issue the challenge to patients.: "You be the judge."



May 29 Greenvilie News 12A Page 1 of 1

Health need not attended Many doctors don't recognize early signs of drug addiction, alcoholism. Greenville treatment needs review.

I f doctors don't do a better job of diagnosing early signs of drug addiction and alcoholism, less progress can be expected in curbing these human scourges.

Making the point was the recent survey report that 94 percent of general practitioners and 41 percent of pediatricians who often treat teen-agers frequently fail to iden

tify early signs of drug addiction and alcohol abuse. Researchers at Columbia University's National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse made the finding.

The problem is compounded in areas such as Greenville County where serious treatment for these behavioral diseases is becoming unacceptably scarce.

A1997 estimate by the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services calculated that 29,717 people in Greenville County have drug and alcohol dependency problems. The consequences are reflected in elevated rates of crime, highway accidents, lost work productivity and family strife.

Drug addiction and alcoholism are particularly difficult health problems to address because of the associated social stigma and personal denial. Young people in particular, but also older victims of these self-handicaps, are reluctant to admit they have a problem, and often refuse counseling even when their need is apparent to others around them.

Even knowledgeable medical professionals can be exasperated at the frequent uncooperative response. The behavioral literature makes clear, however, that failed interventions, even repeatedly failed interventions, are intermittently followed by successes that notably reduce the horrendous personal and community costs of these diseases.

The Greenville Hospital System that is so advanced in many ways has, because of budget stress, slipped behind in this field by no longer offering serious recovery care with an overnight component. Greenville area families and companies with Employee Assistance Plans have to look elsewhere in seeking help.

Professional organizations of health care specialists such as pediatricians and addiction therapists undoubtedly will act on the Columbia study to better inform themselves and general practitioners on the need for early diagnosis. Meanwhile, a review is needed on the adequacy of recovery services available in Greenville County.

Adequate treatment is needed whether drug addiction and alcoholism are diagnosed early or late.


Date: May 31 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1 City People Page 1 of 3

Dr. William R. DeLoache Greenville physician has helped to change children's health care

Abe Hardesty City People Writer

[email protected]

I n a small backyard greenhouse, infant orchids under the care of Dr. Wil

liam Redding DeLoache wear tags neatly noting their birth dates.

In other places in the yard are the results of earlier DeLoache projects — nursery-quality roses and orchids, shaded by eight oak, maple and magnolia trees.

"When we moved out here, there wasn't a tree in sight," recalls his wife, Bond DeLoache, surveying a tree-lined lake that seems to be waiting for a magazine photographer. "There wasn't much here at all."

The same could be said for children's health care in Greenville. But with determination and compassion, DeLoache has helped to change that. It is a passion that beckoned DeLoache to pediatric medicine a half-century ago, and one that today seems as strong as ever.

DeLoache treasures life, in particular, the most vulnerable of lives — children's. They've tugged at his heart for most of his 80 years, drawing from what seems to be an endless supply of energy.

And that is why the Center for Developmental Services, which opened Tuesday, is named for him.

The son of a Camden auto dealer who tried to make a living selling Maxwells and Hupmobiles during the Depression years, DeLoache was attracted to medicine as a youngster.

"I've tried to remember when I made that decision, and I can't," says DeLoache, whose grandfather and greatgrandfather were doctors. "I don't ever remember NOT wanting to be a doctor. And I've never thought I wanted to do anything else."

As a student at Vanderbilt University who served his residency in Greenville, DeLoache says "working'with children seemed like a lot more fun" than other fields of medicine. A lifetime of work hasn't changed his mind.

"I guess I've always been a little more drawn to people who needed me. When you see someone with a genuine problem you can help with ... there's a great sense of satisfaction," DeLoache says.

Another benefit, says DeLoache: "You get the chance for some close relationships with families, long-term relationships," DeLoache says. "It's been very rewarding. There are a lot of mothers out there who attribute wisdom to me I don't remember having."

From his earliest days as a physician, DeLoache's wisdom went beyond the medical

PROFILE

• The DeLoaches have two children and six grandsons. Daughter Frances Ellison, a Vanderbilt University graduate, is chairman of the Community Foundation of Greater Greenville. Son William Jr., also a Vanderbilt graduate, is an investment manager in Nashville. • Dr. DeLoache attended Furman University and Vanderbilt, where he met Bond Davis, a sociology major. They were married in 1943, shortly after DeLoache completed medical school. • DeLoache founded the Christie Pediatric Group, Greenville's first group medical practice. He joined other Vanderbilt graduates to form the organization, which was named in honor of Dr. Amos Christie, a Vanderbilt professor. • DeLoache also started the DeLoache Seminar, for 23 years an annual event that brings doctors from throughout the Southeast to the Greenville Hospital System.

realm. DeLoache is a visionary with an affinity for solving the needs of a community; he's an unusual blend of big-picture thinking with such attention to detail that his wife affectionately calls him "a neatnick."


Date: May 31 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1 City People Page 2 of 3


He's been a pioneer and innovator more than once.

"I guess I'm a start-up person," says DeLoache, putting a modest spin on four major projects that have benefited from his enthusiasm — the Christie Pediatric Group, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of_Greenvi11e Hospital System, continuing education programs at the hospital, and the Center for Developmental Services.

"Kicking off something, especially a work that will continue after I'm gone, gives me great satisfaction."

Modesty, often surfacing in self-deprecating humor, is among DeLoache's most apparent trait. It comes from a remarkably small ego for a man of big accomplishments.

"He has an unusual appreciation for the ironies of life," says Dr. Allen McSween, pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church. "He's quiet but has a wonderful sense of humor. He's quick to laugh at himself."

But even among those who know him best, DeLoache's serious side makes the lasting impression.

"He quietly goes about doing good things for others, especially children," says McSween. "He has a passionate concern for the well-being of children. He's been devoted in recent years to the Center for Developmental Services, which is no surprise at all to those who know him. I think CDS is a monument to his concern for kids."

CDS, a $5.7-million facility geared toward children with special needs, celebrated its opening Tuesday. It is the fourth major medical project that has earned DeLoache's devotion, and all provide benefits to Greenville today.

DeLoache made his first mark on Greenville's medical landscape in 1953, when he and a group of fellow Vanderbilt University graduates formed the Christie Pediatric Group, the first group medical practice in the city.

Nearly 20 years later, after

trying unsuccessfully to lure a neonatal doctor to Greenville and establish a neonatal intensive care unit here, DeLoache quit his job and became an intern again at 52 years old.

DeLoache completed his residency at the Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, then returned to Greenville and established the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

His pursuit of a continuing education program for doctors later led to the annual DeLoache Seminar at Greenville Memorial.

DeLoache retired in 1987 and says he has "been goofing off ever since" in his greenhouse and workshop.

He's also been dreaming of the ultimate project for children's health care — CDS. It's a comprehensive facility with seven agencies, designed-to meet the developmental needs of special children. .'.

DeLoache has worked alongside longtime friend Dr. Leslie Meyer as co-chairman

of a campaign to raise nearly $6 million to transform the dream into reality.

CDS still needs $400,000 to reach its target, but that seems small after raising more than $5 million. It wasn't easy.

"Doubts?" begins DeLoache, repeating the question as he recalled a seven-year struggle. "I doubted it so much that I quit at one time. I didn't think there was any way to get all these agencies pulling in the same direction."

Six of the planned seven agencies have moved into the building at 29 N. Academy St.

Much in the way he strolls through a back yard that took 46 years to beautify, DeLoache walks through the CDS facility and marvels that its 43,000 square feet are both functional and attractive. ' "I couldn't imagine how they could make this place look as attractive as they have. It was an old warehouse," DeLoache says.



May 31 Greenville News 1 City People Page 3 of 3

It was nothing more than that in 1993, when DeLoache and a handful of others visited the only similar facility in the United States in Fort Worth, Texas.

"It gave us some ideas about how to set it up," says DeLoache.

But $5.7 million stood between DeLoache and the vision. The contributions and the coordination were slow, and DeLoache — more accustomed to treating children than to raising funds — thought it best to hand the project over to others. He was soon recruited back onto the team.

"When First Presbyterian Church donated the building, it reinvigorated us," DeLoache says of the center.

CDS serves as a friendly, stress-saving host to families with children who need the services of BabyNet of DHEC; therapists and daycare services from the GHS Children's Hospital; Family Connection; the Greenville Disabilities and Special

Needs Board; the School District of Greenville County; and Pediatric Rehabilitation Services of the St. Francis Health System. The Speech, Hearing and Learning Center, also located there, includes services for adults.

"We think it's a success," DeLoache says. "For the families of children with special needs, it means the ability to come here and wait with the child instead of driving him to four or five different agencies."

Often as a pediatrician, DeLoache had seen children with special needs develop an array of problems.

That the facility has made a home in DeLoache's adopted hometown is another source of satisfaction. DeLoache had spent only two years in Greenville (one as a Furman University student and another as a resident doctor) when he chose Greenville as his home in 1949. DeLoache had just completed a tour of military duty in the Philippines.

He jokes that his original hometown, Camden, was "full of my relatives. There were more DeLoaches than Smiths in the Camden phone book.

"I had 36 first cousins there; I didn't want to work there, because I couldn't send them a bill," DeLoache jokes. "I knew GreenVille and liked it. There were few pediatricians, and I thought I could use my skills better here than in a university hosT pital."

Serving Greenville has required some sacrifices on DeLoache's part. He has survived heart problems that required a pacemaker in 1971, when the procedure was relatively new. And in 1992, he battled prostate cancer.

Still, he doesn't look or act his age.

"He sure doesn't seem 80 to me," says Mrs. DeLoache, a Vanderbilt grad who met :her future husband at a school function 58 years ago. "Even with the pacemaker and other problems, he stays so busy and active. I think he's been on every children's health-care board in town for the lagt 20 years."


Date: May 31 Publication: Greenville News Page: Page 1 of 1

Development center dedicates new facility Liv Osby

:AFF WRITER sby @ greenvillenews.com The Center for Develop

mental Services dedicated its new home on Academy Street on Tuesday, affording parents of children with developmental disabilities a one-stop-shopping approach for services that once were scattered all over the city.

The center provides comprehensive services for the evaluation, treatment and education of children and adolescents with developmental disabilities, as well as some specialized services for adults.

"There were always wonderful programs for children in Greenville, but they were all over town and since these kids often need more than one service, parents were driving all over," said Katy Smith, executive director of the center.

"Now everything is under one roof," she said. "And that makes it easier for parents to access those services."

Help is available at the center for cognitive, speech, language, perceptual and motor abilities, as well as orthopedic and neurological impairment, learning disabilities* and hearing disorders.

Some 7,000 children a year are expected to be served at the 36,000-squ- DeLoache are-foot facility, which was named for Dr. William R. DeLoache, a local pediatrician and former chairman of the board of the Center for Developmental Services.

"Not only is Dr. DeLoache an esteemed pediatrician who

has touched the lives of man in our community," said CD! Board Chairwoman Les; Kastler, "but he has workec on a national level to advocate for children's health and safety."

Agencies now at the center include The Children's Hospital of Greenville Hospital Sys-

Tern^ the Preschool Special Education Program of the School District of Greenville County and BabyNet, a program of the Department of Health and Environmental Control.

For more information call 331-1300.

Children's Miracle Network to profile local miracles

Greenville Hospital System's Children's Hospital will participate in the annual Children's Miracle Network Champions Broadcast, scheduled for June 3rd and 4th on WYFF-TV News Channel 4. ;,,

Local segments of tfie national telethon will be broadcast live from Greenville Memorial Hospital and the Children's Hospital.

Hosted by WYFF news anchors and reporters, including Carol Goldsmith and Michael Cogdill, the local segments will profile treatments and procedures performed on patients in the Children's Hospital.

The telethon begins at 9 p.m. Saturday and continues until 6 p.m. Sunday.


Date: June 2 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: 10A Page 1 of 1

CDS opening the result of teamwork Center unites several groups to serve develop mentally challenged

By Richard Breen Community Editor

Allen Power wasn't going to miss this ribbon-cutting for the world. Jennifer Ridgeway thinks the world of the place where the ribbon was cut.

Both were on hand for the official opening of the Center for Developmental Services. The 36,000-square-foot facility on North Academy Street offers services from seven different organizations.

"All kinds of services, from evaluation to treatment to education," says CDS Executive Director Katy Smith. "Some are private, some are public, some are nonprofit, some are competitors."

The eclectic mix includes DHEC*s BabyNet program, The Children's Hospital of Greenville

Hospital System, Family Connection, Greenville County Disabilities and Special Needs Board, Pediatric Rehabilitation Services of the Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, Preschool Special Education Program of the School District of Greenville County and The Speech, Hearing, and Learning Center Inc.

Typically, parents of children with special needs must transverse the city to meet with various hospitals, clinics, therapists, etc. CDS puts seven under one roof and encourages open communication between the organizations.

Former CDS chairman, Allen Power

"I think it's going to be easier," says Ridgeway, whose 18-month-old son Chandler Mcjunkins has Moebius syndrome.

What services will she and her son be using at CDS?

"Oh, Lord, a bunch of things — and not having to drive five different places," Ridgeway says.

While the one-stop-shopping concept seems simple, getting various groups together was not.

"Otherwise anybody else would have done it," says Power. "It was 1991 when we first started looking at this issue." ' t '

Power served on a task force to study the concept of getting several groups under one roof to help developmentally challenged children. He also served as the first CDS board chairman.

A longtime Greenville radio station executive who recently moved to Atlanta, Power and his family took time out from unpacking to make a special trip back to the Upstate for the opening ceremonies.

"I can't think of much that would have kept me away," he says. Getting rivals such as GHS and St. Francis to work under one roof was another matter. "I don't mind saying there was some open competition and trust issues and-all of that had to be mediated.

That's why it took so long."

The payoff is a $5.7 million project that may be the only one of its kind in the n a t i o n , according to current C D S B o a r d c h a i r -


Children cut the ribbon to officially open the Center for Developmental Services

woman Dr. Lesa Kastler. "We crossed a lot of unique

boundaries," Kastler says. "The full continuum of who can be served here spans from newborns to the elderly."

The location, which began serving patients in April, is part of a strip of properties owned by First Presbyterian Church along Academy between Hampton Avenue and West Washington Street. CDS has rent-free use of their renovated building, which was " once the Textile Hall annex, according to First

Presbyterian pastor Dr. Randolph Kowalski.

Mayor Knox White pointed to the building's opening as the first example of downtown redevelopment crossing Academy towaid West Greenville. Proud landlord Kowalski praised downtown churches and their congregations for becoming actively involved in community redevelopment as well as helping children.

"Our congregation probably put about $1.5 million into this," Kowalski says. "But that's what a church ought to be for."


Date: June 2 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: 31C Page 1 of 1

Children's Hospital Telethon WYFF once again to host


WYFF-TV is once again hosting the annual Children's Miracle Network Telethon beginning this Saturday at 9 p.m. and continuing through 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Proceeds from the event benefit the Children's Hospital of the Greenville Hospital System.

WYFF's news anchors, Michael Cogdill and Carol Goldsmith, along with other news department on-air personalities, will be appearing on the broadcast.

According to Medical Director Dr. Bill Schmidt, the telethon, which last year raised in excess of $1 million, enables the hospital to offer services and equipment that its operational budget does not permit. Thanks to funds raised in previous years, the Children's Hospital, among other things, founded an epilepsy program for

its young patients and purchased a state-of-the-art ambulance for transporting underweight infants.

And Schmidt, for one, is grateful. "It would be difficult to have the first-class children's hospital we have without the philanthropic support we get from our community," he says.

Donations are accepted from corporations, organizations and individuals. They may be designated for*-a specific program of the Children's Hospital or undes

ignated. A needs assessment committee, composed of physicians, nurses, foundation members and private citizens, reviews grant proposals and makes recommendations to the GHS Foundation regarding the expenditure of undesignated funds.

This marks the 14th consecutive year of the collaboration between the hospital and the television station. GHS had a pediatrics department for many years and a pediatric residency program for the last 26 years, but it wasn't until the broadcast of the very first telethon in 1987 that the Children's Hospital was officially established.

The public is sometimes stumped by the fact the Children's Hospital is not housed in a building. "We don't have a separate facility," says Schmidt. Instead, its operation is spread over 22 different locations across the community, with more than 80 physicians involved in 30 different pediatric subspecialties. It is an institution unified by a mission rather than mortar. "We want to improve the health of the children of our community," he explains.

According to Schmidt, hospitals that cater to minors are different. "Children have a lot of [special] needs," he contends. "They're not just small adults."

For one thing, the hospital's commitment to treating patients from birth to 18 means being ver-

I his marks the 14th consecutive year of the collaboration between the hospital and the television station. ...Itwasn't until the broadcast of the very first telethon in 1987 that the Children's Hospital was officially established.

satile enough to respond to children at different developmental stages. For another, it requires 'staff take into account parents and siblings when a child is receiving medical care. And finally, it places emphasis upon education and psychosocial services with its young patients. "The more children understand," says Schmidt, "the less frightened they are."

The hospital sees in excess of 85,000 patients per year. It provides a pediatric intensive care unit [the only one in the Upstate], 58 medical surgical beds and another 41 beds for neonatal intensive care, all staffed by nurses who care only for kids. Satellite offices are located in Spartanburg, Anderson, Greenwood and Seneca.


Date: June 2 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: 12A Page 1 of 1

GHS: Soda can tabs can't be traded for chemotherapy Urban legend persists; tabs can be recycled

By Richard Breen Community Editor

It turns out the custom of collecting aluminum can tabs to help sick children is more of an urban legend than a medical practice.

As a result, more than a quarter million can tabs collected for a leukemia patient will be redeemed for cash at a recycling company instead of for chemotherapy at The Children's Hospital of the Greenville Hospital System.

"As far as we are aware, we have never had a program like that," says GHS spokeswoman Robyn Zimmerman. "The pop-top program does not exist."

Children at Sue Cleveland Elementary School and Northwood Middle School had been collecting tabs for 6-year-old Cory Eskew of Liberty under the impression that 1,000 tabs would earn one hour of chemo.

"Before I knew it, it got around to all these people," says Cory's mother Crystal. She says a relative mistakenly told her about the pop-top program and has already received some tabs.

Sue Cleveland, students amassed an estimated 400,000, according to school librarian Mary Aldridge.

"It has been successful beyond our wildest dreams,"

Aldridge says. Stephanie

Turford, an eighth-grader at Northwood M i d d l e School, says she and a friend spurred classmates to collect an a d d i t i o n a l 20,000 tabs.

"As long as it helps, it makes me h a p p y , " Turford says.

And there is some use for the tabs. Eskew has recycled some to pay medical bills and given others to R o n a l d M c D o n a l d House.

"We have a person who takes them and recycles them," says Ronald McDonald House Residence Manager Chris Phillips, who puts the recycling money toward the house's bills. "Sometimes we'll get these huge boxes and bags of tabs all at one time."

And it's the thought that counts. "What we were trying to do is

teach our kids to be kind and generous and caring," Aldridge says.

Zimmerman encourages those who want to help children such as Cory Eskew to donate to the GHS

Stephanie Turford's school collected about 25,000 tabs.

Foundation. The foundation has designated funds to help pediatric oncology patients with tteatment, toys, etc. She adds that while the tabs-for-chemo program is just an urban legend that "bubbles up" from time to time, "We're delighted that the community embraces these children."

As for Cory, Crystal Eskew says he's still in remission.

"He goes to chemo treatments once a week," she says. "We're counting down now. We have 28 left."


Date: June 4 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1A Page 1 of 2

State faces doctor shortage Population growth has physicians carrying heavier patient load

By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER losby @ greenvillerffiws.com

Three months to get a doctor's appointment. A 90-minute wait at the office. A delay of 2% months for a diagnostic test.

Just as schools and roads have been overwhelmed by the region's recent growth, the health care system doesn't seem able to keep up.

"My doctor was booking into January 2001 and another one in the group was already into May 2001," says an incredulous Jane Rice of her attempts to schedule a yearly check-up due this month.

"I finally got an appointment in August with a doctor in a group I've never seen before," says the Greenville social worker. "That was the earliest I could get."

It's a scenario playing out more and more as the region develops. South Carolina has grown by almost half a million residents since 1990 to 3.9 million, according to the state Office of Research and Statistics. Greenville County, alone, gained 40,000 during that time — 20,000 just in the last five years, with another 20,000 projected by 2005.

It's also resulting in delayed diagnoses and some patients having to travel as

GEORGE GARDNER / Start

Learning to be doctors: Dr. Richard Miller (seated) reviews patient files during rounds at Greenville Memorial Hospital with Dr. Tracy Cordray, a third-year critical care surgical resident. Listening are intern Dr. Benji Manning (rear left), chief surgical resident Dr. John Hansen, and Dr. Abe Arrillaga, associate director of trauma surgery. A dozen students a year train at the hospital.

Is there a doctor in the house? Greenville County has fewer doctors per 100,000 residents than the national average.

Greenville U.S. Physicians of ail types 165 189 Specialists 105 123 rVtaiai>careph»sicrans 59 65

4.3 6.3 SOURCE: Dartmouth University

GEORGE TUGGLE JR./Staff



June 4 Greenville News 1A Page 2 of 2

far as out of state to see certain specialists.

"If you think you're too long getting in and too long sitting, you're right," says Dr. John Sanders, senior vice president for physician and medical staff services at Greenville Hospital System.

Confirming that perception is a report by Deloitte Consulting for the South Carolina Health Alliance, which concludes there is "a scarcity" of physicians in South Carolina and that the ones who are here have higher patient loads than doctors in other parts of the country.

Nationwide, there are about 350 people per doctor. In South Carolina, the ratio is about 430-to-l, according to the report..

"It's like the roads and everything else," says Rice. "We just weren't ready for the population increase."

The health-care community says it recognizes the need and is working to address it.

"As the population grows," says Sanders, "we've got to respond."

And so the Greenville Hospital System, with 182 doctors on staff, plans to hire another 25 this summer. The system also plans to construct a six-story building at its Grove Road campus for cardiac and children's services and to expand the emergency rooms at all three hospitals as well as the pre- and post-operative areas at the main campus.

And at Spartanburg Regional, which employs 150 physicians, a new perinatologist is coming on board in September, while the search will soon be on for another obstetrician, says Cathy Benson, director of professional recruitment.

Benson reviews staffing annually, advertising for physicians nationally, sending doctors direct mail, and recruiting from hospital residency programs. Typically, she says, it takes six to 12 months to find a physician. But it's tougher with some specialties — like internal medicine and endocrinology.

"We started the search last year for an endocrinologist because we only have one," Benson says. Today, the hospital is no closer to hiring one, she says, adding that children with endocrine problems go to Asheville, Charlotte, Atlanta or

Charleston because there also is no pediatric endocrinologist at Spartanburg.

Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, which is not a teaching hospital and therefore employs few doctors, also has been looking for an endocrinologist — for 14 months, says physician recruiter David Townsend.

The University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia also has observed the need, says Dr. Robert Sabalis, associate dean for medical education and academic affairs. Each year, 12 third- and fourth-year medical students complete their training at Greenville Hospital System, and GHS officials hope they'll decide to practice in the Upstate upon graduation. About half do.

But critics say there is not so much a shortage of doctors as an imbalance in their distribution.

"This country faces a mal-distri-bution of physicians," says Mike Do-nio of the Pennsylvania-based consumer group People's Medical Society. "Most want to go where there are patients and huge medical centers — Florida, Texas, New York, New Jersey, California — because these areas offer something to a physician coming out of school with $90,000 in debt."

Also, he says, some specialties, such as anesthesiology, are so full that new graduates can't find jobs.

Sanders agrees, saying the federal government, through Medicare funding of medical education, instituted a policy to reduce the number of specialists and increase the number of family practitioners. But that practice may have backfired, at least in some areas.

Harry Stribling, a 74-year-old Greenville man who suffers from Parkinson's disease, says his neurologist was so busy last year that he broke four of six appointments.

And Sherril Porterfield, coordinator of Greenville's support group for people with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, says sufferers, who live an average of just three years after diagnosis, often must travel out of state for diagnosis and treatment.

"The number of specialists here is probably inadequate," says Dr.

2000-160

William R. Craig, president of the Greenville County Medical Society. "The waiting time to get in to see an endocrinologist is several months. And we do need more internists."

Of the society's 727 members, endocrinologists make up just 0.7 percent, rheumatologists 1 percent and neurologists 1.7 percent, says Robin Scott Blackburn, executive director of the society.

As of January, South Carolina had 8,010 active physicians outside military and VA settings, according to the state, up 195 from the previous year. Of that total, only 122 are neurologists, 47 are endocrinologists and 47 rheumatologists, the state reports.

Craig says there's also a need for more primary care physicians, adding that those in his practice are already booking into the fall.

"A three- to four-month wait for a routine exam is not unusual," he says. "But most doctors are willing to work emergencies in."

Scott Blackburn says some waits can be avoided by establishing a relationship with a primary care physician who can then provide timely referrals.

"Specialists are so booked that if they know a referral comes from a primary care doctor, it's really needed," she said.

Another factor that contributes to a slowdown of the system is that patients typically are limited to physicians who are part of an insurance company provider list, she says.

Yet, if there is one specialty that seems particularly well-staffed, it's pediatrics, according to Dr. Bill Schmidt, medical director and administrator of the Children's Hospital of the Greenville Hospital System.

Pediatric subspecialties exist in cardiology, critical care, neurology, hematology, oncology, nephrology and more, he said, adding the hospital has successfully recruited physicians from New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and California, a sign of its competitive position.

"We are fortunate," he said, "which is extremely unusual away from a medical school."



Supply of nurses dwindling By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER [email protected]

Spartanburg Regional Medical Center approved 110 new nursing positions this year, but whether it'll be able to fill them given the looming nationwide nursing shortage is another question.

It's one of the main obstacles facing the health care community at the dawn of the new millennium: Up to 50 percent of nurses will retire in the next 15 years and there aren't enough younger nurses or nursing students in the pipeline to replace them.

"There are so many opportunities for women today," says Richard C. Neugent, president and CEO of Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, noting that 95 percent of nurses are still women.

"They can become pilots and doctors," he says, "not only teachers and nurses like it used to be."

Indeed, current nursing school enrollments are down, by 4.6 percent, for the fifth consecutive year, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. And it is estimated that the demand for registered nurses will outpace supply in a decade, when the nation will be short some 200,000 nurses, said AACN spokesman Dan Mezibov.

South Carolina is expected to be short some 1,300 nurses by 2020, according to a

See NURSESon page 15A


In caring hands: Stephanie Rayburn, a registered nurse at St. Francis Women's Hospital, examines day-old Elizabeth Ann Marcedes, resting in the arms of new mother Anna Mar-cedes. South Carolina and the nation face a nursing shortage in coming years.



National Advisory Council report to the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

Nonetheless, Cathi Whelchel, chief nursing officer at Spartanburg Regional, is giving recruitment her best shot. She has put into play a comprehensive plan that includes-a good work environment; visits to nursing schools around the country; and contracting with headhunters who emphasize flexible work schedules, the variety of specialties available, and the hospital's policy of promotion from within.

"People today won't take a work environment that's unsatisfactory," she says. "They'll move on."

Suzanne White, vice president of nursing at Greenville Hospital System, said flexible scheduling, such as three 12-hour days a week and every other weekend off, has become an attractive option to nurses with children.

Good pay also helps. The average salary of a registered nurse working full time was $42,071 in 1996, the last year for which statistics are available, according to the federal Division of Nursing.

While some hospitals offer lucrative signing bonuses to lure nurses, Neugent says that's not a sustainable policy.

"We've got to make nursing a career that people want to go into," he says.

That could be a hard sell given that "the public's prevailing view of nursing as a hospital-based profession" is one of the reasons for the decline in nursing students, according to AACN President Andrea R. Lindell.

And the shortage will be felt more keenly in booming areas like Greenville, driving up the cost of labor and threatening the growth of the health-care system, Neugent said.

Still, demand is growing, largely due to the graying of America, the increasing acuity of hospital patients' illnesses, expanded career opportunities for nurses and technological advances, AACN reports.

White, noting that only about 9 percent of working nurses are 30 or younger, agrees.

"It's up to us to make sure people know nursing is a good profession," she says. "We have to make sure we have nurses for the future."


Date: June 5 Publication: GSA Business Journal Page: 24 Page 1 of 1

Dr. Greg W. San has been named president of the Bon Secours St. Francis Health System medical staff. Other staff officers include Dr. Steven J. Fass, first vice president; Dr. Cassandra E. Bray, second vice president; and Dr. James R. Young, immediate past president. San will represent the medical staff to the St. Francis board of directors. He serves as chair of the medical staff executive committee and is an ex-offi-cio member of all committees. San is in practice with Upstate Cardiology PA. Fass will chair the quality improvement committee and serves on the executive committee. Fass is in practice with Associates in General Surgery. Bray will chair the utilization review committee and also serves on the executive committee. She is in practice with doctors Gold, Pugh, and Wilson in Internal Medicine. Young, as immediate past president, will continue to serve on the executive committee. He is in practice with Greenville Surgical Associates. Announced: 5/00

Lori P. Center, volunteer services ilirector at Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, was recently named Volunteer Administrator

for 2000 by the Piedmont Association of Volunteer Administrators (PAVA), an organization consisting of both nonprofit and for-profit organizations and agencies in the Upstate. PAVA, in conjunction with United Way and J.C. Penney Co., presents the award based on reviews outlining nominees' achievements and involvement in the community. Nominations were submitted on members throughout Greenville County. In other news, St. Francis Hospital HomeCare welcomes the following visiting staff to its team: Lynn Walker, home health aide; Robin Creel, RN; Jamie Corn, RN; Edwin Detweiler, physical therapist assistant;

. Kellie Paine, RN; Rachel Field, physical therapist assistant; Sherry Blackwell, RN; Dianne Hightower, home health aide; Suzet te Combs , RN; A n g i o n e t t e Cunningham, home health aide; and Christina Leake, home health aide. Announced: 4/00



June 7 Greenville News 1 City People Page 1 of 2

Dr. Lewis and Betsy Terry Community, science center benefit

from couple's health-care backgrounds By Abe Hardesty City People Writer

[email protected]

W ith a nurse's heart and an educator's background, Betsy

Schoenly Terry felt naturally drawn to health education. It seems just as inevitable for her husband, Dr. Lewis Terry.

It was a path that, like their marriage, seemed likely as soon as they met on a blind date as Duke University students more than 40 years ago. When they became Grcenvillians in 1970, it seemed inevitable.

Today, they reap the benefits of their passion when they study young faces at the Roper Mountain Science Center.

"When you see kids there, that's the reward ... when you see children so excited," says Mrs. Terry. "To see their eyes light up, it's exciting to me.

"Some of these children are seeing lessons they'll never forget; it's not like sitting in a classroom," says Mrs. Terry, whose three children are all professional educators.

"The Roper Mountain Center makes science exciting for children. And for teachers, it's a wonderful resource area."

The Terrys were among the charter dreamers of the facility. Mrs. Terry was part of a five-person Greenville County Medical Society Auxiliary team that began investigating the possibility of a health education facility in the late 1970s. By the early 1980s, interest was also growing in the development of the entire Roper Mountain Science Center.

"A lot of things came together at about the same time," says Terry. "Our pri-

PROFILE

• Lewis and Betsy Terry's three children work in the education field. Lewis III is a science and biology teacher at Dorman High in Spartanburg, where he also coaches golf. Daughter Ginni is principal of a school in England. Another daughter, Susan Owens, is a math instructor at Laurens Academy. Her husband, Bill, is an orthopedic surgeon. The Terrys have one grandchild, born recently in England.

• Mrs. Terry is president of the board of directors at the Peace Center and is a member of the board of the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities. She is past president of the South Carolina Arts Commission.

• Terry is a member of the Rotary Club of Greenville, the Greenville Hospital System Foundation and a former member of the Community Foundation board.

• Terry served in the U.S. Navy aboard a submarine.

• Terry's hobbies include woodworking, golf and fly fishing. Mrs. Terry enjoys baking ("chocolate is the ultimate") flower gardening and needlepoint. The couple has traveled to Africa, Europe, South America, India and Mexico.

mary interest was in the health education ... but it was in the same time frame that folks were trying to figure out what could be done at Roper Mountain."

What is now the Roper Mountain Science Center, a 62-acre tract operated by the School District of Greenville County, then had one small office building that seemed dis-

2000-164

tant from downtown. As a former surgical nurse,

health education framed much of Mrs. Terry's interest. She recalls that a trip with the auxiliary group to a small Asheville facility, "gave us some thoughts."

But the momentum accelerated at the Roper Mountain Science Center with the arrival of Darrell Harrison, an industrial designer who had directed the growth of Charlotte's Discovery Place.

"At the time, we didn't know exactly what we wanted to try to do. We were thinking about doing something at the hospital," she recalls. "We knew we wanted to do something that was much larger than the Asheville program. We wanted something that would meet the needs of all elementary grades."

A trip to the Chicago offices of architect Richard Rush put the dream into a more definite picture.

"We all needed to see the kinds of things that were possible, so we could raise the dollars it would take to do it," says Mrs. Terry, who led the fund-raising campaign that produced a five-classroom Health Center wing at the science center.

Among her first recruits to the cause was her husband, who was president of the Greenville County Medical Society at the time. He "made the pitch to the medical society, and it was very supportive, and that got us more involved," Mrs. Terry recalls.

The Health Center, which includes classrooms for Anatomy, Nutrition, Dental, Life Beginnings and Drug Awareness, became part of the RMSC's Hall of Science.

Mrs. Terry later led the

See TERRYS' on page 11





drive to add a sixth classroom — called the Body in Motion room — that is very popular with youngsters. Completed in 1988, the Health Center is one of four major facilities at the science center, which opened with the Pioneer Farm in 1985.

The observatory opened in 1987 and the planetarium was added in 1989.

The Terrys' involvement in helping create the Health Center began a process that told them much about their adopted home.

"In this community, people are generous — they'll support a cause with their time and money," says Mrs. Terry, a New Jersey native. "Even with the phenomenal growth we've had ... the people still give, still do things for the community. ' "The Roper Mountain Center

came to fruition because so many people believed in it," Mrs. Terry says. "That alone is a wonderful feeling. I've talked to a lot of people from other communities who say, T wish we had something like that.' I know we have it simply because some people had a vision and made it happen."

Harrison, executive director at the RMSC, says visitors "see things they don't normally see in classrooms and learn things they don't normally learn" in the traditional classroom.

"And without people like the Terrys, this would not have happened," says Harrison.

After completion of the Health Center, the Terrys provided the funds to pave more than a mile of the 1.5-mile nature trail, giving RMSC's forest setting one of the few that is handicap-accessible.

Shortly after the Roper Mountain project began, Mrs. Terry put

her concern for health education on the road in the form of a health education van.

Terry convinced the Greenville County Medical Auxiliary (now known as the South Carolina Medical Alliance) to take the health message statewide.

Mrs. Terry, a bundle of energy who begins each day with garden work at 5 a.m., also found a way to incorporate education into her love of the arts. She was the founder of the Peace Center Outreach Program — POPS — and served as volunteer director in its first three years.

"She did a wonderful job in getting it started and in raising awareness," says Ellen Westkaemper, Peace Center vice president of education and outreach.

For her work in these educational areas, Mrs. Terry received the Order of the Palmetto — the state's highest civilian honor — in 1991.

The award came as a shock to her, but not to others.

"The great mystery is, where does she get the energy?" says youngest daughter Susan Terry Owens. "My husband is baffled by it. She's always been an early riser, and the energy never stops."

Owens says education remains a high priority in the Terry clan. "The reason all three of us have graduate degrees is because our parents have encouraged continuing education. They made it clear that even after we were married, they'd pay for any further education."

Dr. Terry's life has also been molded by his interest in health education. After earning his medical degree at Duke in 1959, Terry served two years in the U.S. Navy, assigned to a submarine, before completing his residency at Yale University.

He began his medical career as a faculty member at the University of North Carolina Medical School.

In the waning days of 1969, the-Terrys faced a difficult decision: He had been offered the top position at UNC's radiology department, but at the same time he felt pulled toward private practice.

In late December that year, the Terrys traveled to a handful of cities in need of radiologists. One of them was Greenville, the last stop on the way back to North Carolina.

"We got here on New Year's Eve," Terry says, "and we had a big ice storm. Traveling, it was all the excitement we needed."

Mrs. Terry remembers an unusually gracious host, the late Dr. John Pressley, and a hospital "that for a small town, was well equipped.

"The ice storm we took as a good omen," she says. "It was so beautiful; it covered anything we didn't want to see."

"Mostly, we just liked the community," says Terry, who knew Greenville as a Spartanburg native. Although his. parents were deceased, he cherished the part of the country that fostered his childhood.

Terry accepted the job as Greenville's first oncologist, at the same time becoming the state's first trained radiation oncologist.

He handled radiation and chemotherapy cases at the time. As the Greenville Hospital System staff expanded, he eventually specialized in radiation oncology.

The job answered a childhood dream for Terry, whose father worked for a Coca-Cola distributorship and whose grandfather was a physician.

"Ever since I was a little boy," says Terry, "I wanted to be a doctor."

When Terry escapes from the

high-stress environment of oncology, his restoration instincts push him toward his woodworking shop.

In a home overflowing with creative pursuits — artworks, flower gardening, Mrs. Terry's needlepoint projects and collections of hand-carved Hopi Indian dolls — Terry makes his contribution with hand-crafted wood products.

Birdhouses of all colors and shapes circle one spacious room; in May, Terry sent a hand-made cradle to England, where his first grandchild lives. _

Terry built several pieces of the couple's furniture, all from woodworking know-how he found in a bookstore.

"I just got a book and read it," says Terry, who evaluates his work by raising his hands and noting, "I've still got all my fingers."

The woodworking is an escape for Terry, whose emotions are often sapped by the life-or-death struggles that surround his work.

"When he loses a patient, it's very hard on him, because he gets involved personally," Owens says.

"He has a way of creating special relationships with his patients. Growing up, folks were often bringing food by the house as a thank-you for little things he had done.

"He was so close to one lady that ... she put in her obituary that he was her son. ... All my life, I've bumped into people who say things about him that tell me they were very, very close."

"In recent years, he's tried to get away from the woodwork so he can enjoy the computer and golf and fishing," Owens says, "but we got him back into it because we love the things he makes. Every Christmas, he gives us something he's made.

"It's special," Owens says. "I can't imagine anyone having better parents than I do."


Date: June 7 Publication: Community Informer Page: 5 Page 1 of 1

SportsLife Trainer Program Receives Awards

Greenville Hospital System's SportsLife program has been recognized on both local and state levels for its outstanding contribution to public education.

The program was recognized by the State Department of Education and the Greenville County School District through the state's Business Awards competition. Local schools nominate businesses that go above and beyond in their effort to support public education; those recognized on a local level are also judged at the state level. The school district's Professional Growth and Leadership Department nominated the program and a panel of judges from the business, education and volunteer communities evaluated nominations on point score system.

The SportsLife program provides trainers to Greenville County high schools free of charge. The trainers work to treat injuries and calm fears about some traumatic injuries. They also act as a gateway to more advanced care, provide monitored rehabilitation, and relieve worries of coaches and parents. The trainers have been working with high school athletes in injury prevention, injury recognition, and rehabilitation management for the past two years. This program is the first of its kind in the state.


Date: Publ icat ion: Page:

June 9 Greenville Journal C32 Page 1 of 1

WYFF Channel 4 news anchors Michael Cogdill and Carol Goldsmith along with Brock Findley, an eighth-grader from Simpsonville who has been diagnosed with leukemia, start the 21-hour Children's Miracle Network Champions broadcast live from Greenville Memorial Hospital last Saturday.


Date: June 19 Publication: GSA Business Page: 24 Page 1 of 1

Greenville Hospital System GREENVILLE — More than $1 million

was raised during this year's annual Children's Miracle Network Champions Telethon. The money will be used to buy equipment, fund programs, and assist many of the 85,000 patients who visit

the hospital every year. The Children's Hospital, with a staff of more than 80 physicians at 22 locations in the Upstate and the only Children's Emergency Center, offers care in 30 pediatric sub-specialities. Contact: Erika Spinelli, 864/455-5924


Date: June 14 Publication: Times Examiner Page: 2 Page 1 of 1

Community donates $1.25 million to Children's Hospital

During this weekend's annual Children's Miracle Network Champions broadcast, individuals, companies, and community groups gave $1.25 million to Greenville Hospital System Children's Hospital. Pledges were made and checks were presented during the two-day telethon on WYFF.

They money will be used to buy equipment, fund programs, and assist many of the 85,000 patient visits to the hospital every year. "Children from our region will benefit from the philanthropic support our community has shown," said Dr. William Schmidt, medical director of the Children^ Hospital. "Families don't have to leave the area for first-class medical care. We are grateful for the dedicated community support for our programs for children."

The Children's Hospital offers care in 30 different pediatric subspecialties with its staff of over 80 physicians at 22 locations in the Upstate. The hospital also staffs the only pediatric intensive care unit in the Upstate and the only Children's Emergency Center. The nurses and support staff of the Children's Hospital are specially trained to care for children.


Date: June 15 Publication: Greenville News Page: 2B Page 1 of 1

GREENVILLE

Hospital program honored by slate agency

The state Department of Education and the Greenville County School District, through the state's business awards competition, honored the Greenville Hospital System's SportsLife program for its outstanding contribution to public education.

Local schools nominate businesses that go aboveand beyond in their effort to support public education and those recognized on a local level are also judged at the state level.


Date: June 16 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: B29 Page 1 of 1

HEALTH CARE • Suzanne K. W h i t e has been appoint

ed vice president of nursing at The Greenville Hospital System. She began working with the system May 15,2000, and is responsible for nursing services across Greenville Hospital System. White came to Greenville from St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., where she was senior vice president for patient services and chief nursing officer.



OWEN RILEY, JR. / Staff

Checking up on a little one: In the neonatal intensive care unit at Greenville Memorial Hospital, Dr. David Wells checks on a young patient Monday afternoon.

State has room to grow on caring for its young


Date: June 20 Publication: Greenville News Page: IB Page 2 of 2

Greenville County does a better job, but mortality rate for children high By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER losby @ greenvillenews.com

South Carolina has made some improvements in the well-being of its children, a new study reports, but still ranks 43rd in the nation, a condition experts attribute to low wages and unequal access to health care.

The state improved in six of 10 indicators of the Kids Count 2000 study, including infant mortality, teen pregnancies, and the number of teen deaths from homicide,, accident and suicide, between 1990 and 1997, the study shows.

However, the number of low-birthweight babies, single-parent families and children living in poverty rose during that time.

"No one should be willing to accept our ranking in the bottom 10 states," said Baron Holmes, South Carolina director of Kids Count, a state-by-state assessment funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation of Baltimore.

Previously, the state placed 45th to 47th during the dec

ade the study has been conducted, said Holmes.

Greenville County fared somewhat better, reaching or exceeding the national median in four of 10 categories, and ranking in the bottom 10 in only two — the overall child death rate and the number of violent teen deaths.

To reach the national median, the state must focus on economic disparity, Holmes said.

That means better wages for families and adequate health insurance, said Max Learner, policy advisor for

the state Department of Health and Environmental Control's Office of Policy and Inter-governmental Affairs.

"We have a lot of children living in poverty because wages aren't paying people the kind of money they need to support families," he said.

Other families get by on part-time jobs, or jobs that do not offer health insurance.

In fact, the study concludes that the economic boom of the past decade passed many families by.

If it is to improve its standing in the study, the state needs political support and leadership, as it did when it jumped from 45th to first place for immunizations, Learner said.

"We are making progress, but we have a ways to go," said Luanne Miles, DHEC's director for perinatal systems, adding that change cannot be the purview of the health-care community or the state alone.

"We need the community — ministers, teachers, employers," she said, "because the health of our children is important to all of us as a society."

Miles said the state also must address racial disparities, which include a higher incidence of a number of health problems, including infant mortality, among black residents.

"It's a complex situation," Miles said. "Sometimes, people need help with transportation (to the doctor), or may be in jobs where they cannot lose a day's pay to go for prenatal care."

Also, she said, minorities often feel they are treated differently by the health-care system, which mav influence

their decisions to seek care. Meanwhile, medical experts

in the Upstate attribute the improved indicators to technological advances combined with better public health education.

"We've made a lot of improvements with premature babies, and there's also been more prenatal care for mom and baby," said Dr. Randy Butler, a pediatrician at Children's Medical Center, which is operated by Bon Secours St. Francis Health System.

Neonatologist Dr. David Wells, corporate medical director of Pediatrix Medical Group, which operates the Greenville Hospital System's neonatal intenstive care unit, agrees.

"Two-thirds of infant mortality occurs in the first 28 days of life, and respiratory problems are responsible for the majority of neonatal deaths," he said. "Since 1990, probably the No. 1 factor that improved mortality is the introduction of a chemical substance called surfactant, which helps stabilize lungs."

The reason for the increase in the number of babies born too tiny is not so east to diagnose, he said, because it has many causes, including smoking and prenatal care.

"It's discouraging to say the least," Well said.

• Liv Osby can be reached at 298-4422.

Children's well-being South Carolina improved in 6 of 10 categories in the latest Kids Count study, but still ranks 43rd among the 50 states. Below is the percentage change from 1990 to 1997.

Better

Low-birthweight babies

Infant mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 births)

6%

26% Child death rate (deaths per 1,000

children ages 1-14)

Rate of teen deaths by accident,

homicide, and suicide (deaths per

100,000 teens 15-19)

Teen birth rate (births by 1,000

females ages 15-17)

Teens who are high school dropouts

(ages 16-19)

Teens not attending school and not

working (ages 16-19)

Children living with parents who do not have full-time, year-round employment

Children in poverty

Families with children headed

by a single 24% parent

SOURCE: Kids Count

GEORGETUGGLE JR. / Staff

fb



June 21 Greenville News 2B Page 1 of 1

Program targets heart disease in rural areas of the county HeartLife teaches patients steps for healthier living By Angelia Davis STAFF WRITER [email protected]

TRAVELERS REST — Life today may be different for Garvin Chastain if he did not have convenient access to the Greenville Hospital System's cardiac rehabilitation program.

The 71-year-old who underwent bypass surgery a few months ago said he would not have been able to participate in HeartLife had he been forced to go to its location at the Life Center on West Faris Road.

Nearly a year ago, North Greenville Hospital began offering the program only a few minutes away from his Travelers Rest home.

The program allows Chastain an opportunity to learn how to exercise better, prac

tice healthier eating habits, control his diabetes and reap other benefits of the program.

The result: "I feel a 100 percent better. This helps, I guarantee you," he said.

HeartLife is a "comprehensive heart disease reversal program" that teaches patients how to take charge of their health with progressive, positive classes on diet, exercise, stress reduction and emotional well-being.

Before the service became more accessible to northern Greenville County residents, "anyone in our community who was referred (to the program) had to go to the Life Center to participate," said Rebecca Crown, North Greenville's community relations specialist. "Oftentimes people would start the Heart-Life program, get tired of the drive or frustrated with it, and not complete it."

Marilyn Clark, a registered nurse, estimates that roughly 40 people have completed the program. Clark said she would guess that a good many

HeartLife patients would not have participated if they'd have had to go downtown Greenville to do so.

The need for a program like HeartLife in northern Greenville County was initially identified in the mid-1990s by a steering committee of community leaders working with the hospital system to determine the types of additional services to offer at North Greenville Hospital. . A poll, taken by the committee and combined with a health needs assessment study conducted by the United Way, showed that heart disease is a primary health concern in that area.

"The hospital already had the HeartLife program established so one of our goals five years ago was to, at some point, offer the HeartLife program here," Crown said.

The service is also available at Allen Bennett Hospital in Greer and Hillcrest Hospital in Simpsonville. Patients are referred to HeartLife by their doctor.


Date: June 21 Publication: Traveler's Rest Monitor Page: 1 Page 1 of 1

North Greenville Hospital Has

Record Month In ER The North Greenville Hos

pital has a record month in May in the emergency room. The hospital had 1582 patients.

The average stay was 1.3 hours.

X-ray, Out Patient Lab and Clinics etc. had a total of 1696 patients.

North Greenville Hospital is growing at a rapid pace.

The hospital is staffed 24-hours a day, 7 days a week.


TANYA ACKERMAN/ Staff.

Just checking: Garvin Chastain gets his vital signs checked by registered nurse Kris Dietzko at the North Greenville Hospital's HeartLife program.



June 21 Greenville News 10A Page 1 of 1

Appropriate honor Local doctor has helped children.

ew people have done as much for children in this community as Dr. Bill DeLoache, a beloved former pediatrician. He not only has cared for sick children but also has worked to make their lives safer and their medical care more accessible.

It's especially appropriate that the newly opened Center for Developmental Services has been named for Dr. DeLoache. He was the former chairman of the board that helped make this dream become a reality that will make lives easier for so many children and their parents. The center brings together several agencies that provide comprehensive services for children and adolescents with developmental disabilities.

In a recent newspaper interview, Dr. DeLoache called himself "a start-up person." He was behind the Christie" Pediatric Group, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Greenville Hospital System, the continuing education programs at the hospital, and now, the Center for Developmental Services. He also fought for this state's child restraint law. Children who will never know him as a pediatrician will benefit from his good work.



June 21 Times Examiner 1 Page 1 of 1

GHS appoints vice president of nursing New chief is graduate of Greenville General School of Nursing

Suzanne K. White brings more than 25 years of clinical and executive experience in health eare^to- her new role as vice-president of nursing and chief nursing officer of Greenville Hospital system. She began working with the system May 15*, and is responsible for nursing services across Greenville Hospital System.

Ms. White came to Greenville from St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Term., where she was a senior vice president for patient services and chief nursing officer. She has also held executive positions at Emory University

Hospital, Duke University Medical Center, and St. Joseph's Health System in Atlanta.

Much of her clinical work has been in the field of nursing; she is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, a fellow in Critical Care Medicine, and is a past national president of the American Association of Critical Car Nurses.

She received her diploma in nursing from the Greenville General Hospital School of Nursing, a BSN from Barry University, Miami, and a master's degree in nursing from Emory University.



Gresham

• David Bruce Gresham, Greenville David Bruce Gresham, 18, of 48

Ridgeland Drive, died Wednesday, June 21, 2000, from complications of a long battle with leukemia.

He was a Class of 2000 graduate of J.L. Mann High School, having received a recent graduating honor for Helping Hands and as a National Honor Society scholar.

He is the son of James Steve Gresham, an administrator with Greenville Memorial Hospital, and

the late Sharon Barfield Gresham, who died in 1989 from complications of her own battle with cancer. David is the stepson of Kathleen Jennings Gresham. His sister, a 2000 graduate of Winthrop University, is Ashley Lynn Gresham, and his brother is Jay Gresham, age 8, a rising third-grade student at Christ Church Episcopal School.

Prior to his illness, David was an outstanding athlete excelling in soccer. His efforts during many hospitalizations led to an awareness and subsequent improvement in the Children's Hospital by garnering video equipment, videos and improvements for bed-ridden and seriously ill children. His courage and strength of character inspired all whose lives he touched. He was a recipient of the Children Hospital's Courage Award.

David was born in Greenville County on June 15, 1982, but moved with his Air Force Colonel father, Steve Gresham, in his career, returning home to Greenville in 1990.

His paternal grandparents are James and Ruby Gresham of Gresham Road, Simpsonville. His deceased mother's parents are Dot and Bruce Barfield of Stonehedge Drive, and his stepmother's parents are Chief of Police (Retired) and Mrs. Harold C. Jennings, all of Greenville. His paternal aunt and uncle are Tim and Debbie Gresham, with children, Joseph and Mikki Gresham; maternal uncle, Dr. and Mrs. Harold C. Jennings Jr., with child Caroline Jennings; and maternal aunt, Dot-tie Barfield. The family salutes Elizabeth (Liz) Snyder, David's special friend and fellow 2000 J.L. Mann graduate who supported and loved him in his senior year and final hospitalization.

He was baptized at St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church in Flat Rock, N.C. His Christian service of burial in celebration of his life will be held at Christ Episcopal Church at 3 p.m. Friday, conducted by the Rev. Dr. Robert Dannals and the Rev. Fred Hoffman of Christ Episcopal Church and the Rev. Nina Reynolds of Bethel United Methodist Church. Visitation will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. today at Thomas McAfee Funeral Home on North Main St. He will be entombed beside his mother at Graceland East Memorial Park on Woodruff Road.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that commemorations of his life be made to the David Gresham Leukemia Research Foundation, c/o Greenville Memorial Hospital Cancer Center, 900 W. Faris Road, Greenville, SC 29605.

David had planned to enter Clemson University in August on his way to becoming a pediatric oncologist. His undying spirit and strength of character will be remembered and celebrated with his living memorials, with the fervent hope that childhood leukemia will be conquered.

Pallbearers will be his cousin and best pal, Joseph Gresham; Dr. Harold Charles Jennings, maternal uncle,; and dear friends and 2000 graduates of J.L. Mann Academy, William H. Boyd III, Juan J. Arango, Christopher L. Smith; Travis Freeman, 2000 graduate of Christ Church Episcopal School; Jerry Russell Godfrey, professor at J.L. Mann Academy; and Danny K. Ghent of Rock Hill, S.C.


Date: June 14 Publication: Community Informer Page: 3 Page 1 of 1

Community Gives More Than $1 Million For Children's Hospital

During this weekend's annual Children's Miracle Network Champions Broadcast, individuals, companies and community groups gave $1.5 million to Greenville Hospital System Children's Hospital. Pledges were made and checks were presented during the two-day telethon on WYFF.

The money will be used to buy

equipment, fund programs and assist many of the 85,000 patient visits to the hospital every year. A needs assessment committee of GHS Foundation reviews grand proposals and makes recommendations regarding the expenditure funds.

"Children from our region will benefit from the philanthropic sup

port our community has shown," said Dr. William Schmit, medical director of the Children's Hospital. "It allows us to provide comprehensive care to our patients, which families don't have to leave the area for first-class medical care. We are grateful for the dedicated community support for our programs for children."

The Children's Hospital is able to offer care in 30 different pediatric subspecialties through its staff of more than 80 physicians at 22 locations in the Upstate. The hospital also staffs the only pediatric intensive care unit in the Upstate and the only Children's Emergency Center, as well as 58 medical surgical beds and' 41 beds for neonatal intensive care: The'-nurses and support staff of the1 Children's Hospital are specially trained to care for children.


Date: June 16 Publication: State Page: 1D Page 1 of 1

Hospital closes month-old facility By R. KEVIN DIETRICH

Staff Writer

Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital pulled the plug on its clinical decision unit Thursday, one month after it was opened.

The unit was a transitional facility physicians used to observe patients who might not require full hospital admittance.

Citing expenses and a recent federal agency's decision not to reimburse Palmetto Richland for certain Medicare costs associated with it, the hospital notified the unit's 34 employees their jobs had been eliminated.

"The unit certainly is not breaking even," said Jim Lathren, Palmetto Richland's chief operating officer. "We felt we had to make a decision, that we couldn't continue to subsidize it through other parts of the hospital."

The clinical decision unit was designed for patients who need observation for up to 23 hours, but might not need to be admitted to the hospital. It helped save bed space that could be used by other hospital patients.

Patients kept under observation might include diabetics who need medication and fluids, children who are severely dehydrated or asthmatic patients who need temporary treatment.

Although there was space for 20 beds in the unit, only 10 were open, Lathren said, because business had been less than projected.

"Sometimes we had as few as one patient in the unit," he said.

Hospital officials did not reveal what the unit cost to create. However,

the unit was approved as a $5 million project in the 1999 hospital budget.

One week after the unit opened, the Health Care Financing Administration notified Palmetto Richland it would cease reimbursement for Medicare observation patients in the unit.

Medicare patients made up between 25 percent and 30 percent of patients treated in the clinical decision unit, Lathren said.

That helped seal the unit's fate. "We can't afford to treat that many

non-reimbursed patients in the (clinical decision unit) and keep it open," Lathren said.

Lathren anticipates most of the 34 employees will find work elsewhere in the Palmetto Health Alliance system. There are almost 200 nursing vacancies in the system, he said.

Lathren did not rule out reopening the clinical decision unit at some point in the future.

"It was purely a financial decision," Lathren said. "There was nothing wrong with concept or the unit."

R. Kevin Dietrich covers banking, personal finance and consumer affairs. He can be reached at (803) 771-8339, by fax at (803) 771-8480 or by e-mail at [email protected].


Date: June 9 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: B21 Page 1 of 1

GHS to automate cardiac rehabilitation program Greenville Hospital System has partnered with PhDx e-SYSTEMS,

an application service provider for supporting population health and disease management programs. PhDx HeartFitRx, a configured software application, will automate GHS's cardiac rehabilitation program, providing real-time outcome information.


Date: June 17 Publication: Anderson Independent Page: 3A Page 1 of 1

Doctors graduate from residency program

For 25 years the AnMed Family Practice Residency Program has been quietly carrying out a mission that has improved the health of people literally around the world: the training of family doctors.

Nine freshly minted doctors will graduate from the program June 30 at the Madren Center on the Clemson University campus. At the same time, the center's nine first-year residents will be promoted to second-year status, and the nine second-year residents will replace the graduates.

In all, 177 family doctors have completed that cycle in the Anderson program's first quarter-century, polishing off their medical education to earn board certification.

Some have moved on to serve in far-off places, such as Timbuktu in Mali and Kathmandu in Nepal, Director Jay Buehler said.

Many, however, have stuck around. Half of the program's alumni practice in South Carolina and nearly 30 remain in Anderson.

"It means that half of the family medicine department at this hospital has trained here, and that was one of the reasons the program was founded," said Dr. Buehler, who is himself a product of the center.

Dr. Buehler trained as chief resident under Dr. James Halford and directed it for its first 18 years. Dr. Halford had founded the center in 1975 as the field of family medicine first emerged.

"I came in 1978, like a lot of others recruited by. Dr. Halford because he had a

good program with a good hospital in a nice little livable city," Dr. Buehler said.

Dr. Halford retired in 1992, and Dr. Buehler was named the program's second director. The Family Practice Center's home at 600 N. Fant St., Anderson, was named the James G. Halford Jr., M.D. Building in 1995, the year Dr. Halford died.

Today's residents say they chose Anderson because community-based programs offer useful experience for family doctors.

"I think you get better training," said third-year resident Dr. Scott Playford of Anderson.

For example, during his three years he worked at the Anderson Free Clinic and was the team phvsician for T.L. Hanna High School's football and wrestling squads.

Residents are supervised by 15 full-time faculty members and benefit from the knowledge of dozens of volunteer private physicians.

The center accepts Medicaid and indigent patients, but its accreditation requires the doctors to have a "demographically balanced patient population," meaning the young doctors see families from all walks of life.

In all, they have about 10,000 patients.

Dr. Buehler said his goal in the center's next 25 years is to make it the best family residency program in the Southeast. Residents say he's on the right track.

"I've enjoyed working with recruiting, because I have nothing but good

things to say," Dr. Playford said. "(The Family Practice Center) makes you part of a community, not just a training program."


Date: June 21 Publication: The State Page: 1 Page 1 of 1

Hospital closes bone marrow, kidney units

Palmetto Health Alliance blames low demand for decision

to eliminate facilities By KATHRVN WINIARSKI

Staff Writer Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital is immediately

closing its kidney and bone marrow transplant programs, the hospital announced Tuesday.

The move leaves Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston as the state's only kidney-transplant facility. MUSC also performs bone-marrow transplants.

Also, about 95 jobs are at risk at Palmetto Richland, hospital administrators said.

The Palmetto Health Alliance, formed by a 1998 merger of Richland Memorial and Baptist Medical Center, lost $23 million in 1999 and is undergoing extensive cost-cutting measures.

But CEO Kester Freeman Jr. said the program elimination is due to low demand rather than cost crunches induced by the merger.

"The reality is, we don't have sufficient numbers of patients to sustain these programs given the resources they require," Freeman said. The Alliance could not say Tuesday how much money would be saved by the closings.

More patients will now have to travel farther for the surgeries. MUSC is the only other South Carolina hospital performing kidney transplants, the recommended surgery for patients with kidney failure caused by diabetes and hypertension. About two-thirds of MUSC's organ transplants are kidneys.

Richland Memorial will work to transfer its existing transplant patients to other facilities, said hospital spokeswoman Judy Cotchett Smith.

"We don't even know where that is yet," she said. "But nobody that's in care right now is at risk of not being cared for."

Nancy Kay, executive director of the South Carolina Organ Procurement Agency, expressed surprise at the news.

"I'm so caught off guard by this that I don't know what to say," Kay said. "I don't know what impact this will have on the state of South Carolina."

MUSC performs about 150 kidney transplants annually. Twenty-seven such surgeries were done at Richland in 1999; 78 since the program there began in 1996. Richland has 108 patients on its kidney waiting list. MUSC has 425.

Bone marrow transplants involve the replacement of diseased marrow with healthy donated marrow. Leukemia and sickle cell anemia are commonly treated using this technique. The new marrow produces normal blood cells in the patient.

Richland began its bone marrow transplant program in 1992 and performed 37 procedures so far this year. The program at Richland is unique, performing transplants on patients whose relatives lack an exact bone marrow match.

"I'm not sure if there are any other programs in the country," Cotchett Smith said.

Attempts will be made to transfer nurses, clerical staff and other Richland employees whose jobs are now at risk to some of the approximately 200 vacant positions in the hospital, Cotchett Smith said. Employees who work in the transplant programs were told in small groups and reacted with "sadness," she said.

Demand for organs in the United States far exceeds supply. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and a U.S. Senate bill support making medical urgency more important than geographic location in distributing organs.

If passed, the measure could force smaller facilities to close. MUSC is

considered a mid-sized center, while Richland's is small. The closing of the program was not in response to the organ reallocation proposals, hospital administrators said.

This is the second time this month Palmetto Richland Memorial has announced the closing of a unit. Last week the hospital said it was shutting down its clinical decision unit, a month after it opened.

The unit was a transitional facility that physicians used to observe patients who might not require full hospital admittance. The hospital notified the unit's 34 employees their jobs had been eliminated.




Tell A Friend gets word out about mammograms Cancer Society's phone campaign urges testing By Liv Osby STAFF WRITER losby @ greenvillenews.com

One day soon, the phone may ring and on the other end will be a friend with a reminder to get a mammogram.

The call is part of the American Cancer Society's "Tell A Friend" program, which is designed to encourage women 40 and older to get the test for early detection of breast cancer.

Kicked off in Greenville Thursday, the program takes advantage of the fact that peer counseling is an effective educational tool.

Volunteers are trained to provide information and support to five friends who may not have had a mammogram this year.

"Tell A Friend ... has been a very effective tool in bringing

WANT TO HELP? • To become a volunteer, call the American Cancer Society at 989-8010.

mammography education to women in many communities," said Anastasia Kyriacou, the society's regional cancer control director.

"We hope to save lives here in the Upstate by increasing mammography in high-risk groups," she said.

Some 800 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the Upstate each year, half of them in Greenville and Spartanburg counties, the society reports. The risk for contracting the disease increases with age. Statewide, 2,600 women will be diagnosed this year — 600 will die.

African-American women and low-income women have higher death rates from cancer, according to ACS. Some 969 Upstate women died of the disease between 1994-1998, but the five-year survival rate is 96 percent if

Tell A Friend ... has been a very

effective tool in bringing

mammography education to

women in many communities." — ANASTASIA KYRIACOU,

REGIONAL CANCER CONTROL DIRECTOR

breast cancer is detected early. Mammography is generally accepted by the medical community as the best way to find cancer in its earliest stages.

"Mammography greatly increases our ability to detect and diagnose early stage breast cancer," says Dr. Karin Klove, a surgeon at Greenville Hospital System. "And the smaller the cancer is when we first detect it, the. better the chances of survival. It's very important."

Women may not have mammograms for a variety of rea

sons, including lack of insurance coverage, lack of access to health care, and fear of diagnosis. T

he cost of the test, which is typically covered by insurance, can range from about $85 to about $125.

To date, 20 women have volunteered to participate as callers.

Community groups that deal with women are invited to participate. To track the number of women who do go for mammograms after the reminder, volunteers will make follow-up calls, Kyriacou said.


Date: June 21 Publication: The State Page: B3 Page 1 of 1

MUSCMedical Center to save under new rule

The Associated Press

CHARLESTON — The public authority that begins running the Medical University of South Carolina Medical Center on July 1 expects to save $18 million during the next two years even as the school looks to cut some jobs elsewhere.

The authority will be free from state personnel policies and be able to set its own leave, vacation and scheduling. It will not be covered by the state procurement code and will have more flexibility in purchasing, but its hospitals will remain the medical school's teaching center.

It includes the MUSC Medical Center, Children's Hospital and the Storm Eye Institute.

Stuart Smith, the authority's executive director, said it was a coincidence the agency begins operating at a time of budget concerns throughout the school.

"But it's a fortunate coincidence, because we think the authority will save us some money," he said.

MUSC trustees gave final approval last week, and today the authority will ask the state Budget and Control Board fpr permission to take out a line of credit to cover initial operating expenses.

Because it will be officially separate from MUSC, the authority needs a short-term loan to get started. Smith said it would take a year or two to build up a cash reserve to avoid such loans.

"We're starting from scratch on July 1," he said. "We need working capital to get our business started."

Under state law, the authority could

borrow as much as $36 million, but Smith doubts it will need that much.

MUSC pursued the idea of a public authority after a plan to lease three of its hospitals to the Columbia-HCA Healthcare Corp. was abandoned following strong opposition locally and in the General Assembly.

Lawmakers approved the authority last year to allow MUSC's medical center more flexibility in a competitive health care environment.

"We needed to be more nimble and more cost-effective," Smith said.

MUSC has about 8,000 employees and the personnel changes will affect 3,300 of them.

While technically no longer state employees, the medical center workers will remain eligible for the state health and retirement plans. But vacation benefits will be more in line with private hospitals, Smith said.

Officials say the new policies should reduce unplanned absences, which require other workers to fill shifts costing the school overtime and sick leave.

The authority will also be able to join groups that purchase supplies on behalf of a number of hospitals to get volume discounts, something MUSC could not do under state purchasing policies.

"One group has $10 billion in buying power," Smith said. "They can negotiate veiy good agreements with vendors."

Smith said that while expected savings of $8 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1 is only a fraction of the medical center's $441 million yearly budget, it will provide some breathing room.


Date: June 22 Publication: The State Page: B3 Page 1 of 1

Unique cancer-screening plan targets black men By KATHRYN WINIARSKI

Staff Writer

African-American men are much more likely to visit a church than the doctor's office, health officials say.

With that in mind, 30 Midlands churches will be awarded $22,500 from Palmetto Health Alliance to host prostate cancer screenings this summer: The first half of the grants will be distributed tonight at an orientation program at Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital.

The churches, which will each receive a $750 grant, are in zip-code areas with high African-American populations in Columbia, West Columbia, Eastover and Easley. Doctors and nurses from Richland and Baptist hospitals will perform the screening tests.

"It's been our experience that men don't mind going to the church to have these things done," said Marisette Hasan, a nurse who coordinates cancer outreach efforts for Palmetto Health Alliance.

Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death among American men, behind lung cancer.

Black Americans have the highest rate of prostate cancer in the world, and are at twice the risk of dying from it as white Americans. One of the reasons is that African-Americans are often diagnosed at a later stage.

"Men don't really participate as much in the health care system," said Gardenia Ruff, director of the Office of Minority Health in the state De

partment of Health and Environmental Control.

Participating churches will offer the prostate specific antigen test. High levels indicate cancer may be present, although the test misses ,20 to 40 percent of prostate cancer cases.

Men with suspicious results will be referred to doctors for free follow-up exams.

DHEC designed the prototype for the program, called "Real Men: Checkin' It Out," with a $30,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The office brainstormed with the community on how to best reach men. Palmetto Health Alliance is the first group to implement the initiative.

Otis Mickens of Highland Park is living proof that the church-based program works. His prostate cancer was detected two years-ago during a health fair screening at Greenview First Baptist Church.

"I think he would have had fullblown prostate cancer if he had not been screened at that time," said his wife, Ella Mickens. "He goes to the doctor several times a year, but they did not screen for prostate cancer." Since his diagnosis, Mickens, 74, had radiation therapy and is doing well.

The outreach effort by the Alliance is part of a commitment to spend $15 million for indigent care by 2003. Richland and Baptist hospitals made this and other promises to the community as part of their 1998 merger.


Date: June 24 Publication: The State Page: Paqe 1 of 2

Hospitals cut worker benefits

Palmetto Health Alliance

announcement comes after the closing of

transplant units By KATHRYN WINIARSKI

Staff Writer

Multimillion-dollar cuts in employee benefits were announced Friday to staff at Palmetto Richland and Baptist hospitals.

Extra pay for holiday work will be eliminated as of July 23. Effective immediately, employees cannot exchange vacation days for their cash equivalent; the hospital is halving its contributions to retirement plans; and pay bonuses for nurses working in critical care units will be eliminated.

The cuts will save more than $5.5 million, according to Palmetto Health Alliance spokeswoman Judy Cotchett Smith.

These are the latest in a line of Alliance announcements this month designed to cut millions in expenses, but which have also threatened more than 100 jobs. The Alliance lost $23 million in 1999. It was formed by a 1998 merger of Richland Memorial Hospital and Baptist Medical Center.

"There is no question that we are aware these kinds of circumstances create less than the happiest of times for people to work," Cotchett Smith said.

"I know when they go home they worry about change," she said. "I wish we could provide them with an environment of perfect security, but that's not possible now."

Sherrianne Carpenter, who has

PALMETTO HEALTH

ALLIANCE CUTS On Friday, the Palmetto Health

Alliance announced the following:

• Extra pay for holiday work will be eliminated on July 23. • Employees cannot exchange vacation days for cash equivalent. • Hospital contributions to retirement plans are being cut in half. • Pay bonuses for nurses working in critical care units will be eliminated. • The cuts are expected to save more than $5.5 million.

Earlier this month, the hospital announced that:

• The bone marrow transplant and kidney transplant programs were being eliminated, at a savings of more than $3.5 million. The jobs of 95 employees are in jeopardy. • It is shutting down its month-old clinical decision unit, and eliminating 34 jobs.

been a nurse practitioner with the bone marrow transplant unit at Palmetto Richland for two years, said it's been an emotional "roller coaster."

"It would be safe to say that everyone is in shock," she said.

Between this past fall and April, Cotchett Smith said the Alliance saved

SEE HOSPITALS PAGE A7


Date: June 24 Publication: The State Page: 1A Page 2 of 2

HOSPITALS FROM PAGE Al

$11.8 million through cutbacks and reorganizations suggested by the accounting firm of Ernst and Young.

Hospital administrators reiterated Friday that care will not be jeopardized, despite low employee morale.

"We have one essential goal; to protect and preserve patient care," Cotchett Smith said. "I don't think there's any reasonfor people to be nervous at all."

Carpenter isn't as optimistic. "There are a great many of us

who will not find jobs within the hospital," Carpenter said. "There's no place for people with our expertise."

In the past month, 34 jobs have been eliminated and another 95 threatened: • On Tuesday, the bone marrow transplant and kidney transplant programs were cut. The move will save more than $3.5 million, but puts 95 employees' futures in question, and eliminates an internationally renowned program. • Last week the hospital announced that it is shutting down its month-

old clinical decision unit, and eliminating 34 jobs. The unit allowed physicians to observe patients who need care, but do not require hospital admittance.

Carpenter said it is "difficult to keep your energy level up while searching for a job. Many will have to relocate outside the state."

Wftiile she said she has seen quality health care provided when there is only a small number of caregivers, "it is next to impossible. The patients deserve more than that. Just knowing that there are a lot of cancer patients out there who have had their treatment options greatly reduced by the closing of (the bone marrow transplant) program, leaves me speechless."

Still another change announced Friday was the relocation of Richland's four-bed intensive care unit for stroke patients from the 10th to the fifth-floor, where it will be housed with another ICU. Staffing shortages on the fifth floor had forced the hospital to hire temporary-nurses at higher pay. The 10th floor nurses will help alleviate the need for those temporary high-salaried employees.

Discussions are now under way to relocate the neurological intensive care unit.

Employees learned'of the cuts after department heads were e-mailed Friday and told to pick up printed announcements from the public relations department. They then distributed the letters to the staff. Carpenter said those employees who found out that their jobs are being eliminated "are wondering what is going to happen to their benefits. There is a common concern. People wondering who is going to be next; what positions are going to be next?"

Sue Myers, who coordinates employee counseling at Palmetto Baptist, has spoken with several employees this week.

"It settled them down to have a place to talk about it," she said.

Owen Tucker, director of the pastoral counseling department for the Alliance, expects to hear from more employees next week after all the news sinks in.

"We don't preach to people, but we operate out of a framework of faith traditions," Tucker said. "It's very important to call upon your faith tradition for strength."


Date: June 26 Publication: Herald Journal Page: A12 Page 1 of 1

Get back to caring The recent events at Spartan

burg Regional Healthcare System — I mean of the past several years, not just the past several months — are troubling to me.

My biggest concern is that changing the administration may not be dealing with the basic problem.

Prior to the middle of the 20th century, health care was focused on caring, altruism and compassion. In the 1940s, new antibiotics (penicillin) and other wonder drugs began to appear. Then, new technologies, surgical procedures, transplants and gene therapy-

I believe all the new therapies resulted in a switch from a system emphasizing care to one focused on curing. As a consequence, we might have begun to lose some of our caring.

In the 1970s, we saw innovation in health-care financing. Along came DRGs, HMOs, PPOs. Additionally, there were mergers, acquisitions and physician employment by hospitals, insurance companies and large clinical management companies. Wall Street became heavily involved as not-for-profit systems switched to

for-profit systems. Patient encounters were reduced to economic events.

Now, there is illegal activity: fraud investigations, FBI raids, anti-trust convictions.

I believe our community is crying and begging for a system that meets all of the community health needs. I believe that, given the choice of a caring or curing or merchant or legal model, our community would choose the caring model. It would ask that dollars be spread equally. It would ask that technologies and drugs be used with compassion — not instead of compassion.

So my concern relates to what we have lost and what we want. I cannot excuse some of the system failures at SRMC, but they can be fixed. Neither can I excuse us if we treat a CEO's departure as a sacrifice to appease patients, physicians and other parties. We must return to caring for the whole community.

John W. Simmons Spartanburg



June 26 : Herald Journal A6 Page 1 of 1

Student volunteers spend summer helping at hospital

By AMANDA RIDLEY For the Herald-Journal

As soon as school ended, most of Anna Williams' friends headed to the pool or the beach.

But the 12-year-old Mabry Junior High School seventh-grader headed to the hospital.

Williams is one of 48 students spending their summer in the Regional Teen Volunteer Program at the Spartanburg Regional Medical Center.

She's been assigned to the Hyperbarics Unit and Wound Healing Center, where patients are recovering from severe burns.

"I used to go home and talk to my

friends about it. But they don't want to hear about it anymore," Williams said of her peers' reactions.

These volunteers used to be known as candy stripers, young girls in red-and-white nursing uniforms.

But that program is outdated. The old uniforms have been replaced with green T-shirts and khaki pants.

The 48 volunteers range in age from 12 to 18.

The volunteers can be seen and heard around the hospital, pushing the "cheer cart" with candy and soft drinks. They greet visitors with a smile in the

Continued from A6 elevators, hallways, waiting rooms and nurses' stations.

All SRMC volunteers must serve at least four hours a week. Some eager helpers work overtime.

Williams works four days a week, from 8 a.m. until lunch. Her peers aire working extra, as well.

<$I'm here three days a week," said Khavartn Shukla, 17, who has been a volunteer in the program for four years. "I know that I want a career in meiiicine, and being here has been the best way to gain experience."

Anna Cash, volunteer services director, said most of the students plan to pursue a career in medicine. She said the program is intended to encourage their dream.

"We are trying to expose them to as much as we can so that they will leave with a good understanding of what it's like to work in a hospital," Cash said.

That exposure comes from working in such areas as family medicine, radiology, pediatrics and rehabilitative services.

"Getting to help with the patients is really my favorite part," Williams said.

The volunteers don't handle direct

patient care, but they accompany the medical staff as often as they can to strengthen their skills with patients.

"We try to let them meet the patients and talk with them, as often as possible," said Unit Coordinator and Hyperbaric Med Lynn Costello.

And the patients seem to respond'.. "The patients love to spend some

time with our Regional teens. They love meeting young people and getting to know them," Costello said.

I^aurenPope, 14, works the "cheer cart" with 15-year-old Tasha Whetstone, and both agree that seeing the

patients smile is their biggesl reward.

"It's fun to meet the people and see how they're doing. They like to see us walk into a room with candy and happy faces," Pope said.

As for the hospital staff, the volunteers also seem to be a hit with them.

"Among this group are some of the most mature teen-agers I have ever met, and the hospital staff agrees," Cash said.

Their willingness and enthusiasm are what make the program a success, she said.


Date: June 26 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1G Page 1 of 2

Aging population helps boost health-care demand By Chad Bray BUSINESS WRITER [email protected]

Having an X-ray taken or going for a CAT scan can be scary.

That's especially true for young children who've been poked and prodded by strangers — some in rubber gloves, others in masks ••— after falling out of a tree or off a bike.

Shirley „ Turpin .tries to ease children's' minds, in addition to their pain, when they visit the radiology department of the Greenville Hospital System.

The examination room is painted with bright colors and decorated with balloons, bears and fluffy clouds. Two rocking chair are nearby for Mom and Dad or a grandparent.

"They've already had a traumatic experience, so I try to make it a little bit better," the 28-year-old Greenville resident said.

In the United States, demand for radiologic technicians, like Turpin, is expected to increase during the next eight years as the nation's population ages, creating a greater need for health-care services.

"Scientific and technological advances, as well as the

increasing medical needs of aging baby boomers, are creating more career opportunities across the country for radiologic technologists than ever before," said Donna Olmstead, a spokeswoman for the American Society of Radiologic Technicians.

About 162,000 radiographers and sonographers are at work in the United States. That number is expected to grow by nearly 20 percent by 2008.

More than 300 million radiologic procedures are performed in the United States each year, involving seven out of every 10 Americans, according to Olmstead's group.

Radiologic technicians provide physicians with windows to the body, to help determine what's wrong.

Radiographers take X-rays to allow doctors to identify broken bones or damaged tissues without first having to cut patients open, exposing them to disease or infection.

Because the procedures use radiation, radiographers cover body parts that aren't being examined with lead shields to minimize exposure.

They use measuring instruments to calculate the density of an area to be examined and calibrate the equipment to produce radiographs of the appropriate exposure. Experienced radiographers may perform more advanced imaging procedures.

For fluoroscopies, patients drink a solution that contains barium or another element that allows soft tissues to be seen on an X-ray.

Some radiographers use computerized tomography — CT — scanners to produce cross-sectional views of the body. Others use giant magnets and radio waves to create magnetic resonance images — MRIs.

Sonographers use ultrasound — the echoes of high-frequency radio waves — to produce images.

Radiologic technicians are responsible for updating patient records and maintaining equipment in their department. More than half em

ployed in the United States work in hospitals.

The majority of radiologic technicians hold a two-year associate's degree in the field. Some go through one-year certificate programs; others hold bachelor's degrees.

Most states, including South Carolina, require radiologic technologists to be licensed.

Training programs typically include discussions of anatomy, physiology, patient care, radiation physics and protection, imaging, medical ethics and pathology.

At the Greenville Hospital System, entry-level radiologic technicians earn $12.50 an hour, said Erika Spinelli, a hospital system spokeswoman.

After five years of experience, they can expect to earn $14 an

hour, Spinelli said. The hospital pays $15.30 an hour after 10 years' experience.

The benefits packages are pretty standard.

At the Greenville Hospital System, radiologic technicians can expect paid time off, sick time, health and dental insurance and participation in a 403(b) retirement program.

Forty hours is a standard week. However, part-time work is an option as many hospitals and larger practices struggle to find a sufficient number of qualified radiologic technicians to cover all shifts.

For example, Turpin is preparing to go to a part-time schedule to spend more time with her 18-month-old daughter, Sydney.

"I'll probably stay part time until she goes to kindergarten," Turpin said.

The fast track Job Title Salary Range

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Entry level: $10.10/hour Experienced: $13.62/hour

Requirements

• Education College degree in business administration, accounting, finance or related fields preferred.

• Experience Previous experience in real estate is helpful.

• Career potential Most start as on-site property managers at an apartment building or office complex. With experience, they can move to larger properties or into supervisory roles with a property management firm.

• Employer expectations Communications skills, mathematics, knowledge of building systems, personnel management, business and real estate law and insurance.

• How to get started Clemson University, Greenville Technical College and Southern Wesleyan University in Central all have degree programs in business administration or management, finance and accounting.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor

THE GREENVILLE NEWS


Date: June 26 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1G Page 2 of 2

Outlook bright for radiologic technicians

OWEN RILEY JR./Staff

Monitoring the work: Radiologic technologist Shirley Turpin looks at an image of a patient at Greenville Memorial Hospital.



June 26 Greenville News 1G Page 1 of 1

Chief thrives on hectic pace, variety of patients By Chad Bray BUSINESS WRITER ::bray @ greenvillenews.com

Amy Daigle rarely has a routine at the office.

Her morning might start with her studying a computer image of a toddler's stomach, in hopes of identifying the cause of his pain.

A few minutes later, the 33-year-old Travelers Rest resident could be examining the deteriorating hip of a senior citizen or juggling schedules as various departments at Greenville Memorial Hospital request tests

from the hospital's radiology department.

The hectic pace and variety of patients are what Daigle thrives on as a chief radiologic technician for the Greenville Hospital System.

"It's a busy place," Daigle said. "It's very hectic."

The North Carolina native didn't realize how involved the technician's job was when she first entered it.

"It's a very physical job," Daigle said. "A lot of people think you just push a button. We deal with patients who are very sick and unable to do for themselves."

Daigle graduated from Greenville Technical College with an associate's degree in radiologic technology 13 years ago. She became a manager at the hospital four years later.

"There are a lot of people who come into the program. It's not what they thought, and they get out," Daigle said. "There are people who are cut out to work in the hospital, and there are people who aren't."

In her free time — what little there is — Daigle is active in« her church and

spends time with her husband, Barry, and her son Ryan, who's 7. Ryan plays coach's pitch baseball three days a week, and she tries to attend all of the practices and games.

Daigle is about to make another change in her life.

As one of the technicians on her shift goes to part-time status, Daigle will shed some of her management duties for more time with patients.

"I'm one of the people who likes the hospital, who likes the variety," Daigle said.



No major hospital layoffs planned Palmetto Health

Alliance won't make any major employee cuts, officials say, but change is on the way

By ANNA VELASCO Staff Writer

Palmetto Health Alliance officials say no major layoffs are planned even though hospital system employees received copies of the policy on staff reductions Friday.

The policy was handedout because many employees had not seen the new procedures unifying Palmetto Richland Memorial and Palmetto Baptist hospitals, said Judy Cotchett Smith, alliance spokeswoman.

Smith acknowledged, however, that more changes are on the way — changes that could force more employees to take different jobs within the hospital system, or leave.

Already in the past two weeks, the alliance announced the elimination of services that will cut up to 129 positions.

The cuts come as Palmetto Health tries to speed its financial turn-around plan.

Along with the staff reduction policy, employees received a memo Friday saying the alliance's goal is to break even within 90 to 120 days, improving financial performance by $3 million a month.

The hospital system lost $5.4 million in April alone. The alliance lost $24.2 million as of April, the first seven months of its fiscal year.

Last fiscal year, Palmetto Health lost $23 million, after Medicaid matching money helped offset an even bigger deficit. ,

"We are looking at all programs and services, re-evaluating every cost issue that we have," Smith said. "And that may include having to redeploy people from less essential to more essential jobs."

BAC1 C • UND H Palmetto Health Alliance announced last wmk, will close bone marrow and kidney L • • j programs. • The memo pur in employees' mailboxes Friday detailed •cuts; to benefits, inducting eliminating • holiday pay and - ••' t .,c . " . ! * . „ to •- v • • • ? • , \<a-h \ •'.'>'-

Last fall, the alliance instituted a turn-around plan, which as of April had saved the hospital system $11.8 million.

But the belt-tightening is getting more severe.

"As administrators, we are frustrated that each step forward seems to be accompanied by two steps back," said Friday's memo describing the need for accelerated savings. "We know you're frustrated, too."

The memo detailed cuts to employee benefits, including eliminating holiday pay and cutting contributions to retirement plans in half.

Palmetto Health also announced early last week that it would close bone marrow and kidney transplant programs as soon as current patients finish treatment — for a savings of $3.5 million.

Two weeks ago, the hospital closed

a clinical decision unit, open only a few days.

That unit was designed to treat patients who needed monitoring but were not sick enough to be admitted into the hospital.

The four-page staff reduction policy put in employees' mailboxes has some staff convinced that big layoffs are imminent, regardless of whether the cuts are called that.

One condition of the 1998 merger of Richland Memorial and Baptist Healthcare System was that there would be no merger-related layoffs. Leon Frishman, in charge of Palmetto Health oversight at the Department of Health and Environmental Control,

said his department is researching whether the proposed job cuts violate that agreement.

Smith said she could not specify where the next cuts would come.

"Everything is on the table," Smith said. "Everything is going to be evaluated."

Pam Ridings, a secretary on patient

floors at Palmetto Baptist, said she quit her job of 12 years Monday because of the stressful conditions under which she was working.

"Everybody is upset," Ridings said. "They keep telling us it's going to be all right, and yet every time we turn around, there's something else. ... We're not robots. Human beings make mistakes, and if you're overworked, you're going to make mistakes. But if something breaks down where we work, it's people's lives."

Friday's employee memo stressed that patient care has not and will not suffer from the changes. "The best news is that we're still taking excellent care of our patients," the memo stated.

Kim Taylor, who resigned as a nurse at Palmetto Baptist on Friday because she's moving, disagreed with that sentence.

"If those administrators would take the time to even walk the halls they wouldn't be making statements like that," Taylor said.



June 25 Greenville News Business Page 1 of 1

Waldrop White

metto Expo Center, has named Deborah Waldrop as director of advertising and public relations. Waldrop has more than 10 years' experience in marketing, public relations and corporate communications in the Greenville area.

• Suzanne K. White Greenville Hospital System

Suzanne K. White has been * appointed vice president of nursing and chief nursing officer of Greenville Hospital System. With more than 25 years of clinical and executive experience in health care, she is responsible for nursing services across the hospital system.




Marr Mowry

GHS volunteers honored

Greenville Memorial Medical Center recently recognized two volunteers. Lee Marr and Mary Edith Mowry were named volunteers of the month for April and May 2000. Marr has volunteered with GHS' Lifeline program for 18 months. Mowry began volunteering in 1992.

She has worked in the ICU waiting room and for the last several years worked in the Outcomes Management department.



June 28 Times Examiner 8 Page 1 of 1

TR Business Association praises North Greenville Hospital Members of the Travelers Rest Business Association discuss benefits of the Hospital System to their community

by Russell E. Miller

The Travelers Rest Area Business Association discussed North Greenville Hospital at their monthly meeting, held recently.

Growth and change are the watchwords at North Greenville Hospital. Rescued several years ago by Greenville Memorial,

North Greenville has an excellent 24-hour-a-day Emergency Room that ranks among the top 10% in the nation for service.

The professional ER service is provided by doctors who serve under contract with and rotate through all the Greenville Memorial hospitals.

Rhonda Cox (head of the TR Hospital branch) stated that expanded medical test services have spurred past growth in the hospital system, and that future growth is expected to include nursing care, assisted living, and physical therapy programs.

Cox also pointed out that most of the staff in the TR branch are from the area. These local workers contribute to the excellent service in meeting the health care needs of people in northern Greenville County.

Kelley Faulkner, Team Leader for Laboratory Services, described the blood, drugs, cholesterol, and other tests that are done either in the hospital (usually in less than one hour) or sent out for quick turnaround. Prices are less for companies with an account.

The speaker on Tuesday, July 12th at the next TR Area Business Association meeting will be Cam Walters. Walters will discuss voice communication and internet hook-ups.

For more information, call Rebecca Crown at (864) 455-9259, or Association President Mark Chapman at (864) 834-0818, or view the web site at www.travelersrestsc.com.


Date: June 29 Publication: The State Page: 8 A Page 1 of 2

Alliance's need to save second to patient care

While it is common practice for two entities that merge to reduce services and staff in order to improve the bottom line, Palmetto Health Alliance can expect heavy scrutiny as it institutes measures aimed at increasing savings.

Alliance employees and some members of the community are understandably upset at Palmetto's decisions to cut some programs and reduce employee benefits.

Is Palmetto's attempt to save money by cutting costs any bigger deal than any other entity's? Yes. Here's why: • There is trauma in a community any time an employer, particularly one this size, begins to make changes that could lead to the loss of jobs. People are left to wonder what will happen to them and who might be next. Communities don't like to see people lose their jobs, particularly not those who care for the sick or needy. • There is a fear that a smaller staff and reduced services might result in a poorer quality of health care. Patient care is No. 1. • Finally, in order to get state approval to merge, the hospitals made a list of promises to the community, one of which said that there would be no layoffs as a result of the merger. In addition, the hospitals promised to save $71 million over a five-year period.

It is hard to imagine any kind of real saving without layoffs. The alliance's job is even more difficult because it continues to suffer from financial woes stemming from market and other external forces.

The alliance has taken some big financial hits since it was formed in 1998 through the merger of Richland Memorial Hospital and Baptist Medical Center. The alliance has lost $24.2 million in the first seven months of this fiscal year. In fiscal year 1999, the hospitals lost $23 million.

Practically every move to cut services or reduce

staff is likely to be questioned, whether it is

directly related to the merger or not. That is

not altogether a bad thing. It should increase

the alliance's accountability. In recent weeks, the alliance took a few

steps that has employees and others wondering what's next. The system has cut its bone marrow transplant and kidney transplant programs, a move that will save more than $3.5 million. It remains to be seen what will happen to the 95 employees



who work in those areas. Also, the alliance has announced the closing of its clinical decision unit, eliminating 34 jobs.

Last week, the alliance announced cuts in employee benefits that are expected to save more than $5.5 million. Under the cuts, employees cannot exchange vacation days for their cash equivalent, the hospital's contributions to retirement plans will be cut in half, and pay bonuses for nurses working in critical care units will be eliminated.

Alliance officials have assured the public they are not cutting programs willy-nilly and will not do so. There is no reason to believe that the alliance would take unreasonable measures that would jeopardize patient care. Both Richland Memorial and Baptist have long provided consistent, quality care to the community. We suspect they will continue, despite their financial difficulties.

At the same time, the hospitals need to cut costs. It may not have been the wisest decision to promise no layoffs and big savings. That being the case, as the alliance institutes cost-cutting measures, officials should target areas — such as administrative functions — as far away from patient care as possible.

While there is concern that the alliance remain true to its promises, there must be equal concern about its health and stability. This community is heavily dependent on the alliance for quality health care. When the alliance was formed, it became a health care giant that serves 80 percent of the hospital market in Richland County and 66 percent of the market in Richland and Lexington counties.

There is a tension nere mat me community, as well as the alliance, must come to

grips with.The com m u n i t y needs the alliance to s u c c e e d and maintain quality. The al l iance 's ability to succeed could be based on its ability tc reduce costs.

The alliance must continue to be open and honest about its woes, and the community must be understanding. Of course, every hospital is going through experiences similar to the alliance's. The big difference is that the alliance struck a deal with the public that it must live up to, whatever its circumstances. ^

That means officials must work overtime to reduce costs while maintaining the public's trust and confidence in the quality of care and administration of the hospitals.



June 29 The State 1B Page 1 of 1

Hospital system making more cuts

Palmetto officials to discuss latest cutbacks, staff reductions today

ByANNAVELASCO Staff Writer

Palmetto Health Alliance officials made another round of cuts Wednesday at the financially ailing hospital system.

Hospital leaders would not specify publicly what changes they initiated. The alliance will discuss the latest reductions at a news conference at 10 a:m. today at corporate headquarters, said alliance spokeswoman Tammie Epps.

The alliance is waiting to talk to all employees before talking to the media, Epps said.

The alliance has said repeatedly that reductions in staff would come through attrition or by moving employees from less essential jobs to more essential ones.

Employees who called The State Wednesday said they were told to go home immediately and decide within three days whether they would take the new assignments offered. New assignments include changing from the day shift to the night shift.

All Palmetto Health employees received written copies of the company policy on staff reductions on Friday. And hospital officials have said the alliance will not necessarily have comparable replacement jobs for all employees.

Last week the alliance notified employees that it would shut down its bone marrow and kidney transplant services as soon as current patients finish treatment. That move will eliminate 95 jobs and is expected to save the system $3.5 million.

Also last week, employees learned their benefits were being cut, for a savings of $8 million annually. The al-, liance: • Eliminated extra pay for holidays. • Eliminated cash payments for unused vacation or sick days. • Eliminated extra pay for employees hired to fill critical staff shortages. • Cut in half the alliance's contributions to retirement plans.

Two weeks ago, the alliance closed a three-day-old "critical decision"*unft, with 34 positions lost. That unit had been in the works for more than a year and was designed to monitor patients who were not sick enough to be admitted into the hospital.

Of the changes announced this month, all of the cuts threatening or costing jobs have taken place at Palmetto Richland, not at Palmetto Baptist.

Dr. Lilly Filler, a Columbia obstetrician and secretary of Palmetto Richland's medical staff, said that while cutting the transplant programs was probably necessary, she hoped future cuts wouldn't affect more basic services.

"I have very deep concerns for what is going to happen between now and when all this is said and done," Filler said.

The reductions come as Palmetto

Health tries to accelerate the financial turnaround plan it started Oct. 1 under Ernst and Young financial consultants. That plan saved $11:8 million from October to the end of April, but revenues continued to decline faster than expected, said alliance spokeswoman Judy Cotchett Smith.

The newest plan calls for the alliance to break even within 120 days, improving finances by $3 million a month.

But the latest financial figures released show Palmetto Health lost $5.4 million in April alone, and $24.2 million from October through April, the first seven months of the fiscal year.

Last year the alliance lost $23 million after money set aside before the merger for Medicaid patients helped offset an even bigger loss.

One of the promises the alliance made before the 1998 merger of Richland Memorial Hospital and Baptist Healthcare System was that the merger would not cause any layoffs.

Leon Frishman, who oversees the merger promises for the state's Department of Health and Environmental Control, said his department is investigating whether the job cuts violate that promise.

Frishman said he believes the cuts to the bone marrow and kidney transplant programs are because of the small number of patients treated, and not the merger. But he said DHEC is "looking at the whole picture."




Greenville doctor's license suspended over relationships State board orders psychological tests in response to patients' complaints

By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER [email protected]

An Upstate family practice doctor accused of sexual misconduct with patients has been barred from practicing medicine by the state Board of Medical Examiners while he undergoes psychological evaluation.

Safdar Alam, 40, who practiced in Greenville and Spartanburg and also holds a medical license in Georgia, violated medical ethics by conducting a sexual relationship with one patient, pursuing a relationship with a second, and improperly examining a third, according to board documents.

Alam, a family practice doctor, received the order on June 13 and has until July 13 to file an appeal, Board Spokesman Jim Knight said Wednesday, noting no appeal had yet been filed. Attempts to reach Alam were unsuccessful.

Board President James D. Whitehead Jr. suspended Alam's license "pending the successful completion of an intensive psychological and behavioral in-patient evaluation by a facility specified by the board, and until further order of the board."

"The sanction imposed is designed not to punish the physician," Whitehead wrote,

"but to protect the life, health and welfare of the people at large."

The board acted following an evaluation of complaints from three patients, identified only by the letters A, B and C in the documents that were made public.

In its June 8 order suspending Alam's license, the board found that during 1997 while he was a doctor at the North Hills Medical Center in Greenville, he had a sexual relationship with a patient, who was also a co-worker.

The board also concluded that Alam inappropriately and repeatedly telephoned another patient in an attempt to establish a relationship with her while he was employed at Doctor's Care in Spartanburg in 1998. Alam admitted making an undisclosed number of calls, according to the documents.

During the same time frame, Alam also was found to have conducted an improper examination of a sexual nature on that patient, as well as on a third in 1999, by improperly touching their breasts, according to board records.

Dr. Nayan Desai, managing partner at North Hills, said Alam worked there from 1995 to 1997. Desai said that Alam recently asked to return to North Hills but was not hired when a review of his license revealed that it had

been suspended. A receptionist at Doctor's Care in Spartanburg said he no longer works there.

Karen Mason, executive director for the Board of Medical Examiners in Georgia, said that although Alam is licensed to practice in that state, the only address listed for him is in Spartanburg. However, she cautioned that does not mean he is not practicing in Georgia.

Mason said states are apprised of actions taken against doctors by other states through monthly e-mail messages, but she said the board had not been officially notified of the action in South Carolina.

In another matter, the South Carolina board on June 6 revoked the medical license of Spalrtanburg psychiatrist Henry S. Ritchie after finding that he pleaded guilty to "47 counts of dispensing and distributing controlled substances outside the usual course of medical practice and for other than legitimate medical purposes."

Conviction of a felony or a crime of moral turpitude is a violation of state medical ethics.

"The respondent's convictions ... pose a serious threat to the public," Whitehead wrote in his order revoking Ritche's license, "and merit the strongest action of the board."

Ritchie, who has 30 days from receipt of the order to appeal the board's decision, said he had no comment.



July 2 Greenville News 1 Business Page 1 of 1

Retired cardiac surgeon's heart belongs to cattle industry By Jenny Munro BUSINESS W R I T E R

jmunro @ greenvillenews.com

G ene Cornett says his ancestral stock is peopled with lots of country doctors and cowboys.

He followed the first group into medicine and now that he no longer maintains a practice, the retired Greenville surgeon is following the others.

Ranching is a career almost as active and fulfilling as doctoring. Not only does he tend 30 head of purebreds on his 70-acre farm near Moonville, but he's president of both the South Carolina Cattlemen's Association and the Greenville County Farm Bureau.

"He's sort of like the heartbeat" of the state cattle industry, said Danny Howard, a Clemson Extension Service agent in Greenville County. "Everybody knows him from the coast to the mountains."

While he spends a lot of time handling ranch chores of feeding cattle, moving them to good pastures, setting fences and inserting embryos into surrogate mother cows, the 70-year-old Virginia native, also spends a lot of time on industry business.

As chief spokesman for the state Cattlemen's Association, he works with state and federal legislators, lobbying for laws that support agricultural interests.

The last major push favored normalizing trade relations with China, which the organization supports because it would open the huge Chinese market of more than 1 billion people to U.S. beef.

As association president, he also works with individual ranchers to help them survive.

"We really want to focus on increasing membership so they can learn to partner with each other," Cornett said. "I'm for the little cattleman as well as the one with 400 or 500 head."

The group is sponsoring a three-day marketing school at Clemson University in the fall, to teach cattle ranchers new techniques and trends, as well as

how to evaluate their meat and beef. "This will be the first ever done in the

country," he said. "I hope the spin-off will be videos and lectures for the small guy" who can't afford the time or money to attend.

Cornett and his organizations also work to educate the public on the nutritional benefits of beef and to encourage ranchers to breed for lean beef. He points out that beef still is on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food pyramid — even though consumers are encouraged not to eat as much of it as in decades past.

Howard said that Cornett is a major force in energizing the agricultural industry in the state.

"He's very giving, very selfless. He looks for alternative crops and livestock" including supporting Greenville County's farmers' recent move into raising goats for meat instead of milk, Howard said.

Cornett said he is committed to ensuring that ranching stays a part of South Carolina, and that means that making sure that young people have it as a career option.

"We've got bright kids. This is a way of life for them. They like farming. They like livestock," he said. "We need to let them know jobs are available. They can work for corporate farms. They can be vets. They can raise cattle. Developing countries will need trained agricultural specialists."

David Brooks, a vocational agricultural teacher and a rancher, said Cornett "is a tremendous supporter of our FFA (Future Farmers of America) and 4-H programs."

The Cattlemen's Association also is an advocate for the state's cattle producers at Clemson University, South Carolina's only agricultural school.

As Cornett talks about his goals for the two groups he heads, he also looks back to his heritage.

"My folks have always been doctors and cattlemen. They were nice country doctors," he said, sitting in a rocking chair on a shady porch. "We had sheep and cattle. At one time, we ran a livestock market" Unlike his operations today, he said, 'They had help." - Although he loved both parts of the family tradition, "I didn't see how I could be a cowboy and a surgeon, tOo,'*"saift Cornett.

As a child growing up in southwest Virginia, he chose medicine as his career because of his mother's influence, he said. His father died while Cornett was an infant, and his mother, a nurse, reared him mostly on her own.

But as he was getting his education, teaching and doctoring, he never forgot livestock ranching, he said.

"It was a subdued desire," the cattle rancher said.

Cornett

His graduated from the University of Virginia Medical School and continued his surgical training at Johns Hopkins, Yale University and Washington University in St Louis. He then did a fellowship in transplant surgery at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond.

Cornett began his teaching career at the Medical College of Georgia, where he taught thoracic surgery. After about seven years, he became restless.

"It became obvious to me I'd like a change in venue. I decided on private practice." Setting up shop in Greenville, through, was a fluke. After spending a weekend with a friend in the Upstate, he decided in 1969 to come here and concentrate on a practice in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery.

"Lo and behold, the residents at the hospital were hungry for someone to teach them" those specialties,

he said. "I was getting referrals from surgeons and that's kind of unusual."

Eventually, he and a partner "sort of laid out the plans the heart program" for the Greenville Hospital System, he said.

Then in 1987, he had his own heart attack. "It made me so mad. I didn't have time for it," he

said. After his surgery, he rocked on his porch and "felt

sorry for myself," he said. Cornett decided that life held more than just medi

cine and retired in 1990. He turned his attention to ranching, and in -particular to purebred Simmental cattle, a Swiss breed raised both for its meat and milk.

Cornett said he sells his bulls to commercial cattle producers to breed with their herds. Cross-bred cattle tend to have higher birth weights and other beneficial traits.

Howard, the Extension agent, said Cornett obviously didn't go into the cattle business for the money.

"He's doing it for the love of the industry."


Date: July 3 Publication: Greenville News Page: 9A Page 1 of 1

Alcohol, drug commission at work to cut substance abuse 'Private' services diminishing, though about 30,000 in county need help. By Ryan Beaty

Re becent concerns raised about the adequacy of substance abuse services in Greenville County are certainly legitimate. While the medical community's difficulties in diagnosing addiction in adolescents (as observed in the editorial dated May 31) are well documented, physicians are not alone in the need to become more "addiction sensitive."

This illness is widespread and quite pervasive. It demands a community-wide response.

As "private" substance abuse services diminish in Greenville County, our ability to respond as a community becomes more limited. The problems of addiction, however, do not. Presently, nearly 30,000 Greenville County citizens suffer from the harmful effects of alcohol, drugs and other substances. Five thousand of those 30,000 citizens are under the age of 18.

The data are powerful: • Alcohol use is the number one

cause of death among youth age 15-24.

• Alcohol and other drug abuse costs South Carolina $2.5 billion per year.

• Eleven percent of all deaths in South Carolina are related to alcohol use/abuse;

• Two-thirds all burglaries, three-fourths of all homicides and one-half of all rapes are committed while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.

• Thirty-five percent of all arrests in South Carolina each year are alcohol/drug related.

• Sixty-eight percent of South Carolina residents killed in car

crashes were drinking prior to their accident.

• Twenty-five percent of South Carolina residents experience family problems related to alcohol/ drug use.

• Sixty percent of all drowning fatalities are related to alcohol use.

• A high number of cases involving child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, suicide and homelessness are linked directly to substance use/abuse — the list goes on and on.

Are these "new" problems? Byproducts of the 1960s? No.

The ancient Greek historian Herodatus, in his earliest social commentaries, described the drug and alcohol use of the pre-Cossack tribes of eastern Russia. Our propensity to use chemicals for "pleasure" has continued.

Communities all across America and the world are attempting to deal with the endless stream of casualties stemming from this disease. With the public concern regarding relapse, failed treatment and lost public and private funding, what could possibly work? What is Greenville County to do?

There is good news, and there is hope. First and foremost, substance abuse prevention and treatment work when provided in a quality, safe environment. Outcome analysis shows that treatment success can be high when care is provided at an adequate level of intensity. Studies also show that $1 invested in prevention and treatment will return $4 through savings associated with reduction in crime, health and welfare costs and unemployment. Additionally, recovery brings a wealth of other benefits, not the least of which is increased family stability and well

2000-204

Ryan Beaty is a i

• . 1 . . >-• • I - . .

to ' ' - t o 1 * ••?•"

• t o t o to • • ' • ; . ; : • - t o . :

• • ' ' • ' • . ' • : - - ; • . . : • • • '

being. If Greenville County is losing

quality residential and other treatment services, who can step in? As a representative of the Greenville County Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, the county's public provider, I can tell you that the commission is preparing to step into the breach and deal with this illness directly, beginning with a renewed commitment to quality, accessibility and services.

While it is true that The Greenville County Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse has experienced difficulties in recent months, the quality of its staff and services remain unquestioned. Over 4,000 residents received services from the Commission this year. With the community's help, and with our commitment to a planned, coordinated approach, The Greenville County Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse will meet its obligations and assist in reducing the negative effects of substance abuse in Greenville County.


Date: July 3 Publication: GSA Business Page: 24 Page 1 of 1

Suzanne K. White brings more than 25 years of clinical and executive experience in healthcare to her new role as vice president of nursing and chief nursing officer of Greenville Hospital System. White comes to Greenville from St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, where she was senior vice president for patient services and chief nursing officer. She has also held executive positions at Emory University Hospital, Duke University Medical* Center, and St. Joseph's Health System in Atlanta. She is a past national president of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. Announced: 6/12


Date: July 5 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1B Page 1 of 1

Hospitals in Upstate get Duke grants Endowment funds go to cover cost of charity care

By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER losby @ greenvillenews.com

Several Upstate hospitals have been awarded grants from the Duke Endowment to help defray the cost of the charity care they provide.

The grants were established in 1924 by tobacco magnate James B. Duke, who directed that eligible hospitals be given up to $1 a day toward the cost of hospital care for each patient who could not pay. 'At the time, that accounted for about a quarter of the cost of one day's care in the Carolinas.

"Certainly a dollar doesn't go as far toward covering the costs of hospital care as it did back in Mr. Duke's day," said Eugene W. Cochrane Jr., vice president and director of the health-care division of the Duke Endowment, based in Charlotte, N.C.

"But it is clear that Mr. Duke was seriously concerned with the issue of making health care more widely available," he said, "so we continue to. make these grants to help offset some of the expenses hospitals incur when they treat patients who cannot pay for their care."

The annual grants are based on the amount of unpaid care hospitals provide. Under the program, Greenville Hospital System received $106,976.

"These funds do offset a portion of unreimbursed care that we provide to our community," GHS spokeswoman Robyn Zimmerman said Monday. "Last year, we provided $29 million in charity care that was unreimbursed."

A total of $2.6 million was awarded to 155 private, not-for-profit hospitals — 45 of them in South Carolina.

Bon Secours St. Francis Health System in Greenville was awarded $28,833. It provided $20.7 million in charity care last year, spokeswoman Carol Johnson said.

MORE GRANTS • In other Upstate awards, Anderson Area Medical Center was given $38,773, Spartanburg Regional Medical Center received $35,439, Oconee Memorial got $23,181, and Shriners Hospital for Children was given $6,505.


Date: July 7 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: A9 Page 1 of 1

'Tell A Friend' program to encourage mammograms American Cancer Society looking for volunteers

By RICHARD BREEN Community Editor

The American Cancer Society is hoping a little friendly persuasion goes a long way toward raising the number of mammograms performed on Upstate women.

The group's Southeast Division recently kicked off the Tell A Friend program, which uses volunteers to motivate friends and family to get mammograms.

"We are more likely to do something that's good for us if a trusted friend is encouraging us to do so," says ACS Regional Vice President Mary Nesbitt.

ACS officials say only 54 percent of Upstate women over 50 have had a mammogram in the past year. That trails the Southeast Division (Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina) average of 63 percent and national average of more than 70 percent. The program's goal is to get Southeast numbers up to 70 percent.

Mammograms are an important tool in early detection of breast cancer, because they can detect a lump before even breast self-examination can. The survival rate with early detection is 96 percent, but that num

ber sinks to 21 percent for late-stage diagnosis.

'Too many women in the Upstate and across the country are dying of breast cancer," Nesbitt says.

Dr. Margaree Crosby can attest to the value of mammograms.

"With early detection through mammography, my life was saved," says Crosby, a Greenville Hospital System board member and national spokeswoman for ACS. A 12-year cancer survivor, Crosby continues to get yearly mammograms "because I know I am at high risk."

But many women do not visit a doctor regularly or do not get yearly mammograms for various reasons, Crosby says. Tell A Friend hopes to break through those barriers.

'Tell A Friend is a proven intervention program," Nesbitt says. Developed in the early 1990s and subsequently rolled out in other ACS divisions, Tell A Friend trains volunteers who then call five friends to encourage they get a mammogram."

"The volunteers will contact their friends at least three times during a set time period and track the end results of each call," says ACS Regional Cancer Control Director Anastasia Kyriacou. "Through evaluation, we can report how many women actually obtain mammograms."

Low-income women, minorities, and women without insurance are among the high-risk groups Tell A Friend will especially target, accord-

Photo by Jason Nicholas

Dr. Margaree Crosby says early detection of breast cancer saved her l ife.

ing to Kyriacou. Volunteer callers can expect to

hear friends express fear over the mammogram process, as well as concerns about cost and scheduling. There are also those who adopt a "what I don't know can't hurt me" philosophy, officials say.

"We really have to equip the volunteers with the necessary knowledge," Kyriacou says. "We need a lot of volunteers for this program."

Those interested in participating in Tell A Friend can call 1 -800- ACS-2345. The ACS provides materials

and instruction for the program. It is seeking to partner with other groups in the Greenville community that can connect them with at-risk women.

Crosby thanks her gynecologist for encouraging her to get her first baseline mammogram, which is now encouraged for all women at age 40. Subsequent mammograms revealed Crosby's cancer.

"I'm a survivor," she says. "There is life after cancer."

To find out more about volunteering, call 1-800-ACS-2345.


Date: July 9 Publication: The State Page: A1 Page 1 of 2

12 hospitals might face bankruptcy, study says

S.C.'s rural facilities are in the most danger of fiscal crisis by 2002

ByANNAVELASCO Staff Writer

Almost 20 percent of South Carolina's general hospitals will be broke by the end of 2002 if their current financial woes continue, a recent study for the state's hospital association reports.

Twelve of the state's 63 general hospitals will be losing money and will have exhausted their savings in two years, the report predicts.

The S.C. Health Alliance would not reveal the names of the hospitals at risk of going broke. But its report says that six of the hospitals are in rural areas and six are in urban areas.

The May study does not predict how many of the, 12 will be forced to close from the financial crunch. Some might get a financial bailout from their county governments or other sources, said Ken Shull, president of the hospital association.

The hospitals most in financial peril are small, rural institutions with little savings, Shull said. year through 2002. It also lowered the reimbursement that the federal government pays hospitals that treat a large number of low-income patients.

The federal cutbacks will cost South Carolina hospitals $272 million over the life of the law, according to the hospital association's study.

The hospital association is hoping its study, done by Deloitte & Touche, will convince South Carolina's congressional members to back increased payments to hospitals.

"We wanted to make sure we were doing our part to give good information to our legislators so we might avoid this disaster," Shull said.

Besides the federal cutbacks, hospitals are struggling because of escalating costs for employees, drugs and equipment, Shull said.

The study's findings are in line with a national trend, said Leon Frishman, director of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control's division of health facilities.

"Just from what's been in the literature in the last two years, that doesn't surprise me." Frishman said.

While the study's findings are not surprising, they are alarming, said Tom Faulds, president of the health division at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina, the Columbia-based insurer.

"If 12 hospitals were to close, that would be a serious thing for South Carolina," Faulds said.

Even if hospitals don't close, patients with private insurance probably will see their charges go up as hospitals look to insured patients to help make up losses on Medicare and Medicaid patients, Faulds said.

Teaching hospitals hard hit. The latest study follows on the heels of a hospital association survey saying many South Carolina hospitals are hurting financially.

That survey, released earlier this year, .found more than a third of the state's hospitals lost money on their business in fiscal 1999,

Urban teaching hospitals have taken the biggest hit from lower federal payments because their subsidies for medical education also were cut, Shull said.

Among the state's largest teaching hospitals, Columbia's Palmetto Health

Alliance has the most dramatic losses. The alliance is projecting operat

ing losses of $40 million this year. Even adding in income from investments and other sources, Palmetto expects a bottom line loss of about $25 million. Those losses come despite a June layoff of 150 to 200 alliance workers.

Palmetto Health estimates that federal cuts because of the Balanced Budget Act will cost it $60 million in lost revenues overthe law's five-year life.

However, Palmetto has $250 million in the bank and is not in jeopardy of closing, spokeswoman Judy Cotch-


Date: July 9 Publication: The State Page: A1 Page 2 of 2

ett Smith said. 'We are doing the fiscally responsible thing today by managing to the revenues we have on a month-to-month basis, but we are absolutely here for the long haul," Smith said.

Palmetto Health' Alliance isn't alone.

The Medical Center at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston estimates it lost $15 million in fiscal year 2000, which ended June 30. Still, that's an improvement over the hospital's 1999 loss of $28 million.

MUSC laid off 750 hospital workers in 1994. Since then, it has been able to hold down expenses through attrition and a hiring freeze, said Lisa Montgomery, MUSC's chief financial officer.

"Last year (fiscal 1999) was a big hit for us," Montgomery said. "But we've taken a lot of steps to mitigate that loss. . . . I think we had the impact (of the federal cuts) a little earlier than Palmetto. We started preparing for this two years ago."

MUSC estimates that the Balanced Budget Act cost it $20 million in income in fiscal year 2000.

To help offset that lost income, MUSC will start collecting a $20 fee from uninsured patients up front for services, except for emergency room patients, starting Aug. 1. MUSC also is trying to steer away uninsured out-of-town patients if they can get medical care in their home communities.

South Carolina's other large teaching hospital, the Greenville Hospital System, is faring slightly better.

like Palmetto Health and MUSC, Greenville expects to see its income drop because of the Balanced Budget Act, losing at least $32 million in revenue over five years. But the Greenville hospital system is making money.

In 1998, it made $9.7 million. But that profit was $19.8 million less than the year earlier. After cutting $15 million from its current budget, Greenville expects to make about $29 million this year.

Lexington, Providence in the black. Despite federal cutbacks, other hospitals continue to fare well.

In the Midlands, Lexington Medical Center and Providence Hospital say they have had to adjust to lower federal payments. But both have stayed in the black.

Lexington Medical Center made $4.7 million last year and is on track to make between $9 million and $10 million this year.

The private Providence Hospital would not release information on its profits. But the hospital expects profits to be 4 percent higher than planned.

However, charity cases make up a much smaller percentage of the medical care at Lexington and Providence than at Palmetto Health or MUSC.

Still, the hospital association's Shull said, profit margins are shrinking "across the board," even at hospitals making money.



Several hospitals face bankruptcy, study finds

Greenville Hospital System prospering

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBIA — Twelve South Carolina hospitals could face bankruptcy in the next two years in part because of federal cutbacks in Medicare reimbursements, a recent study for the state hospital association says.

The South Carolina Health Alliance refused to name the hospitals or say how many may actually close. Alliance President Ken Shull said some of the hospitals could get a financial bailout from their county governments. Half of the troubled hospitals are in rural communities.

The study pointed to the federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which reduces the amount the federal government pays to hospitals for treatment of elderly and poor patients. Those cuts will cost South Carolina hospitals $272 million for the duration of the five-year law, the study found.

Columbia's Palmetto Health Alliance has the most dramatic losses. The hospital system is projecting operating losses of $40 million this year and laid off about 200 workers in June.

The Medical Center at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston estimates it lost $15 million in fiscal year 2000, which ended June 30. That's despite a $20 million loss from the cut in Medicare payments and is an improvement from 1999, when the hospital lost $28 million.

South Carolina's other large teaching hospital, the Greenville Hospital System, is faring slightly better.

Like Palmetto Health and MUSC, Greenville expects to see its income drop because of the Balanced Budget Act,: losing at least $32 million in revenue over five years. But the Greenville hospital system is making money.

In 1998, it made $9.7 million. But that profit was $19.8

million less than the year earlier. After cutting $15 million from its current budget, Greenville expects to make about $29 million this year.


Date: July 11 Publication: Greenville News Page: A6 Page 1 of 1

Agency's chair may be hospital system's puppet

Regarding the July 3 column by Mr. Ryan Beaty, senior administrator of the Greenville Hospital System, and chairman of the Greenville County Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, I have three questions:

1. Many people have asked who spearheaded the very successful effort to close down the Greenville Hospital System's AddLife Addiction Center. Former AddLife patients have successfully sponsored more addicted people to become sober and drug free than any other treatment program in the Upstate. Yet, the AddLife Center was closed down. Why?

2. The Greenville County Detox Center, operated by the commission that Mr. Beaty chairs, was almost successfully closed down at a secret meeting. Only public embarrassment forced Mr. Beaty's commission to keep it open. What has the commission done since then to provide addiction treatment that the hospital system abandoned?

3. Since Mr. Beaty works for the Greenville Hospital System that is hostile to addiction treatment, and

he chairs the county agency that is indifferent to the need for it, why should anyone believe there is any sincerity or concern behind his column that describes the problem for 18 paragraphs and in the 19th and final paragraph offers no solution?

I think Mr. Beaty as chairman of the Greenville County Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission is carrying out the policy of the Greenville Hospital System that is opposed to treating addiction illness.

Jake Pruitt Greer



Emergencies crowd Greenville hospital Exp* lansions at suburban facilities prescribed to ease growing pains By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER [email protected]

On a recent day at Greenville Memorial Hospital's emergency department, Fred Lark lay on a gurney in the hallway tethered to monitors because no rooms were available. A technician performed an electrocardiogram on another patient stationed by the exit.

Nurses in bright blue scrubs sprinted between treatment rooms filled with

ailing patients. A crowded emergency

room is'an increasingly common scene in the Greenville Hospital System, a symptom of explosive growth in Greenville County.

In an effort to accommodate that growth and relieve pressure at Greenville Memorial Hospital, system officials have submitted for approval a plan to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control that calls for expanding emergency treatment areas at the hospitals in Greer and Simpsonville.

The plan, part of a larger expansion of facilities, also includes a reallocation of hospital beds to meet the changing demands of patients. Hospital officials say they are trying to bring a systemwide approach to overcrowding.

Most of the changes at Allen Bennett Hospital in Greer and Hillcrest Hospital in Simpsonville are planned for their overburdened emergency departments and surgical support rooms.

The number of visits to Allen Bennett's emergency room increased from 20,496 in 1995 to 24,078 in 1999, the hospital reports, while visits to Hillcrest's emergency room grew from 15,067 to 21,756 during that time.

"Because of the growing economy, there are more people employed and so the demand for care is exceeding our ability to deliver it," said Chris Sullivan, director of strategic planning for Greenville Hospital System.

The $4.9 million Allen Bennett project will add treatment rooms in the emergency department. The department is now frequently running at more than 100 percent capacity, says Scott Chambers, director of facilities development and campus planning. Also to be added are another ultrasound room and five more pre- and post-operative areas, allowing for more efficient use of the four existing operating rooms, hospital officials said.

The $3.3 million Hillcrest project calls for new construction and renovation, more than doubling the

number of emergency treatment rooms and adding pre- and post-operative rooms, Sullivan said.

GHS expects the changes at the hospital system overall will not only mean that, more patients can be

seen, but that waiting times and delays will be reduced. The largest component of the project, which was approved by the state this month, is targeted at improvements totaling $59.1 million at the main campus that will focus on the heart, children's, women's and strained emergency services.

"Hopefully, you won't have to wait several hours or days for a procedure," hospital spokeswoman Robyn Zimmerman says. "But even though this will be a hectic time, quality patient care will always come first."

This is the first time GHS planners have looked at capacity improvements from a systemwide perspective, officials say, transferring beds from -hospitals with low occupancy rates to the main campus, which is at capacity, and examining use rates to better coordinate services.

"It took us a while to figure out the most efficient way to do this," adds Sullivan. "But the demographics have dictated services to a large extent. In Simpsonville, for exam-' pie, there is a younger population, and you see a growth in outpatient surgery there."

Greenville Hospital System Expansion Plans Hil lcrest Hospi ta l , Simpsonvi l le, $ 3 . 3 mi l l ion project

m 7,700 square feet, new construction m 3,600 square feet, renovation

The project will double the number of emergency treatment rooms from eight to 18 and add eight pre- and post-operative rooms

Allen Bennett Hospital, Greer, $4.9 million project m 10,513 square feet, new construction 19,700 square feet, renovation

The project will increase the number of treatment rooms in the emergency area from nine to 19, increase the number of pre- and post-operative rooms from seven to 12, and add another ultrasound room.

For example, outpatient surgery makes up 60 percent of the operations at Allen Bennett and 75 percent of Hillcrest's procedures, while it comprises only 30 percent of Memorial's surgery.

So, Sullivan says, 13 of the 56 licensed beds at the Simpsonville facility are being transferred to the main campus because the inpatient occupancy rate is only 40 percent at Hillcrest. And the five underutilized licensed beds at North Greenville Hospital also will be transferred to Memorial, which Cham-



July 12 Greenville News 1A Page 2 of 2

"Because of the growing economy,

there are more people employed and so the demand for care is

exceeding our ability to deliver it."

— Chris Sullivan, director of strategic planning for

Greenville Hospital System

bers characterizes as "busting at the seams."

At Allen Bennett Hospital in Greer, Sullivan says, 80 percent of the inpatient beds are occupied at any given time, so it will keep its 58 licensed beds.

At Memorial's emergency room, the number of visits grew from 67,570 in 1995 to 84,000 in 1999, the hospital reports.

"I've been here 16 years and I've never seen our caution sign, which means we're full, in July," says Dr. Martin E. Lutz, medical director of emergency services at GHS. "This is supposed to be our low-census season. But the hospital just stays full."

While the main campus typically was on alert — days that only the most seriously ill or injured patients can be accepted at the main campus because there is no place to put them — six days out of 10 during the peak illness season of October through February, alert days now occur year-round, Lutz said.

Memorial was on alert 32 percent to 39 percent of the time between March and May, the hospital

TANYA ACKERMAN/ Staff

Patient representative: Stephanie Campbell provides a blanket for Fred Lark, waiting in the hall at Greenville Memorial Hospital's emergency room because no room is available. Candace Stephan checks vital signs on a monitor.

reports. And since 1998, the number of full-alert days exploded from 7 percent in 1998, to 27 percent last year. For the first two months of this year, the rate was 58 percent, and those figures do not include partial days.

For Memorial's emergency room staff, the improvements can't come fast enough.

"The next two winters will be very difficult," says Lutz, noting that about 40 patients a day are admitted to the hospital through the

ER, forcing medical staff to take time from their duties to juggle patients in an effort to find beds.

"If you start the day with no beds, then 40 is a lot because there is no place to put any of them," he says. "We're pushing the limit."


Date: July 12 Publication: Greer Citizen Page: 1A Page 1 of 1

Allen Bennett Hospital to get major expansion

A $4.9 million addition to the emergency room of Allen Bennett Memorial Hospital is a key element of a plan to accommodate growth and eto ase pressure on the emergency room at Greenville Memorial Hospital

The Allen Bennett expansions calls for ten new treatment rooms in the emergency department which frequently runs at more than 100 percent of capacity. Visits to the emergency room increased from 20,496 in 1995 to 24,078 last year.

New construction will add 10,513 square feet including another ultrasound room plus five pre-and post-operative areas to allow for more efficient use of the facility's four operating rooms .Outpatient surgery accounts for 60 percent of the operations at Allen Bennett.

Some 9,700 square feet of exist

ing space is targeted for renovation including nine present emergency treatment rooms. No changes are planned for patient care in the rest of the hospital where the 58 licensed beds are occupied 80 percent of the time.

Hospital spokesperson Erika Spinelli said the one floor addition will extend from the present emergency room facilities which are accessed from Memorial Drive. "There will be greater separation between the entrances used by ambulances and walk-in patients, and there will be a covered drive-up area for the mobile MRI unit."

Spinelli said no timetable has been established to start the project. "Right now the hospital system is in the process of filing a certificate of need with DHEC, and they must approve the project"

Hillcrest Hospital at Simpsonville, which has experienced growth of 6,000 emergency room patients a year to 21,756 in the last five years, will get a $3.3 million construction and renovation project. This will include doubling the number of" emergency treatment rooms and adding pre and post-operative rooms. Some 75 percent of Hillcrest's surgical procedures are on an outpatient basis.


Date: July 14 Publication: Greenville News Page: 12 A Page 1 of 1

Hospital official's actions belie his words

I think Ryan Beaty's July 3 opinion article is very misleading. He writes at length, describing the serious problem of addiction illness in Greenville County as if he were concerned about it.

He works as a senior administrator at the Greenville Hospital System that abandoned serious addiction treatment last year, and he serves as chairman of the Green- • ville County Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission that tried to abandon the detox program that's necessary for any addiction treatment.

Mr. Beaty skillfully describes the problem of 30,000 people in our county who are addicts or alcoholics or who are descending into those enslavements. Then, at the very end of his article, he blithely ducks responsibility for his commission or the hospital system doing anything about it.

I think Mr. Beaty should confine his skills to the hospital system where he helped to close down the ADDLife addiction treatment program,

Gary Burns Greenville

Beaty oversaw cut of addiction program

I am writing in reference to Ryan Beaty's column in The Greenville News on July 3.1 worked for North Greenville Hospital and ADDLife Addiction Services for more than 12 years (1986-98). I find it difficult to believe Mr. Beaty's sincerity about the Greenville Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, of which he is chairman, wanting to help people with addiction problems.

Mr. Beaty was administrator over the North Greenville program that at one time was ranked in the top 100 in the nation. It was under Mr. Beaty's administration that the staff was* severely reduced, and the program eventually was closed and moved to the main campus of Greenville Memorial Hospital. , This was done under protest by the City Council of Travelers Rest.

Because of the adaptability of a dedicated staff, the program continued to survive Snd to have many successes in the treatment of alcoholics and addicts. Staff and appropriations continued to be cut under Mr. Beaty's administration. Finally, all residential treatment was done away with and the staff cut to two counselors for outpatient treatment only.

Why is Mr. Beaty all of a sudden feigning concern for addicted people in the name of the commission when he just recently helped to administer the AddLife program to death for the Greenville Hospital System?

Bill Simpson Greenville


Date: July 14 Publication: Greenville News Page: IB Page 1 of 1

MUSC may phase out Greenville program Physical therapy students told they can expect 3 more years of classes By Dale Perry STAFF WRITER [email protected]

Officials at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston are weighing several issues that will play into a decision by December whether to continue a physical therapy program in Greenville beyond the spring of 2003.

MUSC officials met for 2%-hour behind closed doors Thursday with students in the program at the University Center on Pleasantburg Drive. Officials said afterward they told students MUSC is committed to the masters degree program in Greenville — at least until the 24 students who enrolled in May

i graduate. The total program , has 75 students.

Danielle Ripich, dean of the College of Health Professions at MUSC in Charleston, said the" program is in good shape

I through the fall term, but for the term next spring addi-

: tional professors will be needed to fill open positions for lab instructors and other teaching positions.

She said students will be able to continue their work with faculty on the main campus by using two-way interactive distance technology, but by the spring term, students may have to attend lab classes in Charleston, which will require an overnight stay.

Jerry Blackwell, incoming chairman of the board of the University Center, said MUSC remains committed to the physical therapy program for at least three years, and it has no plans to leave the Greenville campus.

"MUSC will always have an Upstate presence because there is such a demand here, and we now are planning to expand some health services programs," Blackwell said.

"If I'm going to have to pay the cost of traveling to Charleston to do lab work, then I should just enroll in the program at the main campus," said Tyrone Frasier, who moved to Greenville from Florence to start his first year in the program in May.

Frasier and other ^students said it costs them more than $7,000 a year for the training, including tuition, books, fees and other expenses.

Kikela Tentyon, who also enrolled in the program in May, said it would be difficult to attend lab classes in Charleston because she works as a waitress to help pay her tuition. •

"I can't just leave Greenville and go 200 miles to class in Charleston," Kikela said, adding she moved to Greenville from Columbia because she




Paint job: Wearing masks to protect them from spray paint, 5-year-old Matthew Stone, right, and 6-year-old Brandon Sullivan, left, work with artist Rusty Jewell, whose son is a cancer survivor.

Courage in treatment, at play



"ssfT

;

•A


Camp offers young cancer patients respite from fighting grown-up disease

Awaiting her cue: Lakeitha Carson, 11, waits to go on stage during a program at Camp Courage.

By Liv Osby STAFF WRITER [email protected]

CLEMSON — Eight-year-old Bryanna Selig can rattle off the name of the brain tumor inside her head, the chemotherapy used to fight it and the agonizing frequency of her blood work.

But for one week in July, she escaped all that and just became a child who goes boating, swimming and picnicking at Camp Courage, a forest retreat for children with cancer nestled in the pines on the shores of Lake Hartwell.

"At home, I have to take chemotherapy once a week and it makes me really sick," the curly-haired little girl explained last week, holding her sides as if reliving the awful treatment.

"Here," she says, "they just let me play."

That, says Camp Director Cathy King, is what Camp Courage is all about — a place where sick kids can just be kids.

"This disease takes away so many pleasures from these children," says King, a pediatric hematology-oncology nurse clinician at the Greenville Hospital System's Children's Hospital. "Camp gives them a chance to just be normal. Here, they don't have to explain their bald head to the next child."

Launched in 1994, the camp has grown so much that today there are more children than slots available for them, she says. So the hospital

See CAMP on page 5B



July 17 Greenville News 1B Page 3 of 3

CAMP FROM PAGE 1B

hopes to find additional space for next year.

Part of the demand results from the hospital's service area, which encompasses a 75-mile radius of Greenville, King says. But another important factor is the improving survival rate for children with cancer, which tops 70 percent today, she says.

"Twenty-five years ago, so many children didn't make it," King says.

Some 52 children ages 5 through 12 who are patients at Children's Hospital spend the week immersed in activities they normally must forgo — pontoon boat cruises, kayaking, swimming, arts and crafts, drama lessons, and even a night sleeping under the stars in a tree-house.

Another 20 children with hemophilia, sickle cell anemia and other serious blood disorders attend a program called Camp Running Braves, which is sponsored by the South Carolina Hemophilia Foundation.

The camps, which run during the same week, are held at the Clemson Experimental Forest, which occupies 23,000 acres along Lake Hartwell in Pickens County.

Camp Courage costs about $45,000 a year to run, which covers the expenses of the facilities, the camp counselors, supplies and

the medical staff on hand at the infirmary to watch over the children's health, King says.

It serves about 122 patients annually, including two weekend trips for teenagers, and is free to the children, with funding coming from private donations, fund-raising events such as the Camp Courage Golf Classic, and grants, she says.

Aside from an occasional wheelchair and some visible scars and other signs of treatment, the only indication that Camp Courage is for seriously ill children is the infirmary.

"Sometimes, if they've just been diagnosed, these kids can hardly talk about the disease, much less their feelings," says Pat Field, a therapist who works in the infirmary during camp week. "Then they come here with kids who've been through it and see them laughing and playing, and it's like they've been given another lease on life."

"This is my second time here," boasts 7-year-old Sidney Good of Union, in remission from a brain tumor, as he tied his towel around his neck Superman style to go swimming. "It's lots different from going to the hospital."

Nakasha Cannon, 12, of Easley, proudly announces that she's learning how to swim despite her sickle cell anemia.

"When I have to go to the hospital, they're always poking me," she says. "Camp is a very nice break."

Staff members say the program

provides as much relief for them as it does for the children.

"It's wonderful to see these kids happy and laughing instead of lying in a hospital bed," says Field.

Indeed, most campers have such a good time it's tough for them to narrow down their favorite activities.

"I liked it when we got on the boat and sailed out," said 10-year-old La'Ashia White of Greenville, who suffers from sickle cell anemia. "And I like swimming and when we have our story time and snacks at rest time. And after dinner, the whole camp plays a game."

Eleven-year-old Lakeitha Carson of Clemson, who also has sickle cell, had a ball donning a frilly evening gown with a group of girls and sashaying across the stage in a fashion show that also featured Greenville Braves Michael Corey and LJ Yankosky in flounces.

And 10-year-old baseball fan Cody Clunan of Piedmont, in remission from leukemia, was breathless at meeting the Braves.

"This is really fun," he beamed, "really exciting."

The occasional child gets homesick, King says, but most are reluctant to leave.

T can't tell you the number of kids who leave crying because they don't want to go," she says.

For Bryanna Selig, the week passes much too quickly.

"I go home Saturday," she sighed. "That's too soon."


Date: July 18 Publication: Greenville News Page: 6 A Page 1 of 1

Free clinic renovations plan to renovate the Greenville Free Medical Clinic's Westside facility suggests our community is incrementally striving to improve health-care delivery to the underprivileged.

That's a positive reflection on Greenville County. The renovation at the Northwest Crescent

Center will be funded in large part by a $73,000 Duke Endowment grant. The project will transform three partitioned examining rooms into four permanent rooms. The pharmacy, currently housed in a custodian closet, will be remodeled. A small lab also will be added.

These changes will allow doctors to see more patients during the four hours the clinic is open on Thursday evening. The clinic also is working with the hospital system's Children's Hospital to begin offering pediatric services.

Too many Greenville County residents — at least 107,000, according to a 1998 United Way study — are uninsured or un-derinsured. There is a tremendous need to expand our community's free clinics. The renovation of the Westside facility is a step in the right direction.


Date: July 19 Publication: Traveler's Rest Monitor Page: 1 Page 1 of 1

The North Greenville Hospital is experiencing growth in the increasing number of cithens taking advantage of the health services offered there.

The report for May (2000) reveled that ER treated 1582, Outpaitient Lab 706, X-ray 66,

ACC 394 and HeartLife 130 visits.

Length of stay -1.3 hours. Dr. Bill Martin a recently

graduate of Greenville Hospital System residency program has join the staff at North Greenville Hospital July 3rd.


Date: July 19 Publication: Traveler's Rest Monitor Page: 1A Page 1 of 1

Slater Youth Enjoys Camp

Courage

Matthew Stone

Matthew Stone, 6 of Slater, S. C. was recently treated to a week of sun and fun at Camp Courage, courtesy of donors to Greenville Hospital System Children's Hospital. Stone spent a week on the shores of Lake Hartwell boating, swimming, camping and crafting along with 50 other children.

But Matthew and the other kids weren't ordinary campers - they all have some type of cancer or other blood disorder that prevent them from attending a regular camp, not to mention participating in many other normal activities of childhood. Camp Courage provides the usual camp activities, but adds a staff of nurses, physician and lab technicians to keep an eye on the specials needs of this courageous group of children.

All of the campers, including Matthew, a patients of the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Center, which is part of the Children's Hospital. Matthew is currently being treated for lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic tissues. The children attend the seven-day camp for free, thanks to the many donors who contribute to the Children's Hospital during the annual Children' Miracle Network Telethon, which was held in June.

If you are interested in contributing to the Children's Hospital, or would like more information about it, please contact GMH at 455-5924.



Hospital trustees should look at addiction issue

I am a recovering member of the Greenville area alcohol addiction community. I'm writing in response to Ryan Beaty's July 3 editorial column on alcohol and drug addiction, which I found was long on insincere words and short on planned action.

Ryan Beaty works as a senior administrator for the Greenville Hospital System, and last year he was in charge of making the cutbacks and eventually closing GHS's residential AddLife addiction treatment program.

On the side, Beaty chairs the Greenville County Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, and he approved of the secretive effort that almost closed the detox facility the commission operates.

A state survey two years ago said that nearly 30,000 people in Greenville County have problems with drugs or alcohol. Beaty's July 3 edi

torial was hypocritical for acknowledging the problem and seeming to be worried about it but not offering any plan to deal with it.

The fundamental problem is the management of Greenville Hospital System is hostile to the medical model of addiction and opposed to treating it that way, while one of its top administrators chairs the county agency that is doing nothing serious about the problem either.

This area of the Upstate needs the AddLife addiction treatment program back. Trustees of the Greenville Hospital System should be reviewing why it was closed down and checking on what one of their senior administrators is doing as chairman of the Greenville County Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse.

Bud Kennedy Greenville



St. Francis decision part of national trend Other Upstate hospitals holding on to practices

By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER losby® greenvillenews.com

Bon Secours St. Francis Health System vows that selling off its physician practices will be a seamless transition for patients.

But elsewhere around the country where these transactions have occurred, patients and even physicians have sometimes come up short, analysts say.

Buy. Sell. Today's healthcare market can be as volatile as Wall Street.

Where hospitals raced to snap up practices in the mid-1990s as a hedge against the growth of managed care, they are now offloading the often costly businesses in an attempt to control spending.

St. Francis is the latest to join this nationwide trend,

See DOCTORSon page 13A

Bon Secours St. Francis Health System primary care practices • Internists Associates

• Greenville, Greer a Powdersville Family Care

- Piedmont '•. Milestone Family Medicine

• Greenville " D r s . Gold, Pugh, Bray and Wilson

- Greenville '«« Piedmont Family Practice

- Piedmont Greer Family Care Center - Greer

• Simpsonville Family Medicine • Simpsonville Travelers Rest Family Care

Center - Travelers Rest

• Children's Medical Center - Greenville, Greer. Powdersville,

Simpsonville • • Eastside Family Practice

- Greenville * Highlands Center for Women

• Greenville : ' Highlands Center for Women

- Simpsonville . West Butler Family Medicine

-Greenville : ' Woodward Medical Center

- Greenville

By Liv Osby H E A L T H WRITER losby @ greenvillenews.com

Despite a nationwide trend for hospitals to dispose of physician practices* purchased in the past decade, other Upstate hospitals say they have no plans to follow suit.

Greenville Hospital System has no plans to sell its 16 phy-sician practices, says Dr. Jerry Youkey, vice president of academic services. "We believe that our relationships with physicians is valuable for the health-care system to have and valuable beyond just the financial statements," he says. "They help us to be a full-service delivery system."

Anderson Area Medical Center has no plans to change the status of the three practices it purchased during the last decade to provide care in underserved areas, a spokesman said.

Despite suffering some financial losses, Spartanburg Regional Medical Center will hold onto its 30 physician practices, said Boyd Faust, senior vice president of network and physician partnership development.

"We see it as a part of our strategic plan," Faust said. "We put a lot of these clinics in places where there wasn't a physician. That's not necessarily a situation where you will make money, but we knew that from the onset."



DOCTORS FROM PAGE 1A

announcing last week it's hired a consultant to help return the 14 primary-care practices it purchased for $15 million in 1994 to private hands.

"This is happening pretty much everywhere," says Dr. Charles A. Peck, director of physician services for Arthur Anderson LLP, the health-care consulting firm hired by St. Francis. "There's a lot of divestiture going on."

Nationally, it's estimated that a third to a half of all hospitals are selling off their physician practices. Another third are holding on to their practices, and the rest never purchased them to begin with, the American Hospital Association reports.

'Bad bets' "They were all in a rush to ac

quire, and now they're in a rush to divest," says Arthur Caplan, a medical ethicist with the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics. "The feeder system model that a lot of health centers bet on turned out to be bad bets."

In the early 1990s, managed care, a type of coverage that includes health maintenance organizations in which doctors and hospitals typically contract with insurers for a set payment for every subscriber, was seen as a way to control spiraling health-care costs.

As the concept began to spread across the country, hospitals and doctors worried whether they would be able to stay afloat without managed-care contracts. So hospitals bought primary-care practices as a way to lock in market share, reasoning they would benefit from the referrals of their own employee doctors. And doctors felt they were gaining a stable source of income.

But amid a public outcry over

what was often viewed as less-than-adequate services, managed care did not take off as predicted, especially in South Carolina, where only 13 percent of residents are enrolled in health maintenance organizations.

Declining reimbursements Subsequently, hospitals were

faced with declining Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements under the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, as well as losses averaging $80,000 per physician from the practices they'd purchased, according to Peck.

"Everybody thought managed care would come through in a big way and that it would be good to for physicians and hospitals to have common ownership," says Ken Shull, president of the South Carolina Health Alliance, which represents 63 acute-care hospitals statewide. "But the new ventures are not working out like they'd hoped."

Shull estimates half the hospitals in the state are in the process of selling off physician practices with the rest investigating the possiblity. Of the 20 member hospitals that responded to a recent SCHA query, six are in the process of divesting while seven do not plan to get rid of their practices. Six others said they do not own any physician practices.

Typically, says Dr. Randolph D. Smoak Jr., president of the American Medical Association and an Orangeburg surgeon, the physican-pa-tient relationship is the one that suffers most when these partnerships dissolve.

"You will have patients who've been attending one group of physicians in a location that may no longer exist," he says. "Or you may have a physician who's no longer in the practice. Then the patient has to go to another physician or across town to see the same one. Or the physician may now be in a group that does not accept that insurance, or the employer may not use a plan that has that group.

"They were all in a rush to acquire, and now they're in a rush

to divest."

— Arthur Caplan, a medical ethicist with the University of Pennsylvania Center for

Bioethics

"That's a big thing for patients."

Caplan agrees, saying many patients have been embittered by such forced switches.

'Third rail of health policy' "The question is where will pa

tients' insurance let them go and what insurance will the private physicians accept?" he says. "You can never overestimate the importance of choice. Politically and ethically, it's the third rail of health policy change."

St. Francis' CEO Richard Neugent says the split should have no impact on patients.

"St. Francis is not going away, and the doctors are not going away," he said. "Our goal is a smooth transition."

And Dr. John Vry, a physician at St. Francis' Woodward Medical Center in Greenville, says the makeup of the current physician practices will not change after the split. Nonetheless, he said, insurance is another question.

"It will be up to each group as to what type (of insurance) they will take," he said. "It's also possible that all the physicians may be affiliated. We don't know because we are at the infancy of this process."



Time to part Still, Vry agrees it's time to part

company. "We got together with St. Fran

cis because ... it seemed like it was in preparation for the future," he said. "But we have missed being our own little private office rather than part of a very large group. And everybody thinks this is the right time to do this."

While there are advantages to being a part of a large organization, such as the purchasing power it brings for supplies, there are disadvantages as well, including a loss of autonomy, Vry said.

"You can't make decisions as quickly as you could on your own, so it becomes more unwieldy," he said. "We've always tried to make patients feel like they were going into a single doctor's office, to be more attentive to the individual needs of patients. This allows us to get back to that kind of a model."

Possible scenarios for the split, says Peck, include a clean break whereby physicians buy back their practices or another arrangement in which an investor, management group or other hospital purchases the practice. In either case, the physicians are no longer employees of St. Francis.

In seven out of 10 cases, he says, practices are sold back to the physicians, with the remainder picked up by another group or a hospital elsewhere in the state.

"In today's virtual world," he said, "it's not necessary for the hospital to be right down the street."

How the move will impact each practice financially is unknown. Before being purchased, a practice underwent an evaluation formula that

included its dollar value and projected earnings for the next five years, Shull says. Now, before being sold, they'll have to undergo the same process. If a practice is not as successful as it once was, a doctor may lose money, he says.

Whether physicians will lose money depends on a variety of issues, such as productivity and overhead, Peck says.

But Smoak says it's tougher to make a living today for doctors than it was five or 10 years ago, too, which means some will end up losing money. Thay may be particularly true for new physicians facing up to $120,000 in medical school debt, he says.

'Soft landing' Peck says most doctors in these

situations end up with "a soft landing," where they can start UD the

private practice once again, with or without debt.

In other areas of the country, physicians' reactions to these transactions have been mixed, Shull says.

"Some are happy to be back on their own," he says. "Some feel hurt because they feel they are being dumped."

St. Francis is working with each of the doctors to customize a plan for a return to private practice. Peck says it typically takes three to five months to craft an agreement.

Neugent says the time has come to make hospital ownership of physician practices a thing of the past.

"The idea may have been flawed from the beginning," he says. "The incentives get mixed up with the ethics of what you ought to be doing for the patient."



Jogger struck by falling log, killed

OWEN RILEY JR. /Staff

Investigation: Firefighters look at the scene where a log fell on and killed a Simpsonville jogger on Augusta Street on Monday.

Hospital employee was on lunch break By Andy Paras STAFF WRITER [email protected]

On the final stretch of Karl Witzke's typical lunchtime jog Monday, the 41-year-old Greenville Memorial Hospital employee was killed when a thick tree log fell from a worker's saw and onto his head.

Witzke, of 2 Gilder Point Court in Simpsonville, died instantly at 1:15 p.m. from massive head injuries, said

Parks Evans, Greenville County coroner.

David Waters, running side by side with his friend, said he saw the men cutting down the tree alongside Augusta Street and sprinted away when they shouted a warning at him. When he looked back, his friend was on the ground.

"I saw (the workers) and Karl's last words to me were, 'Hey, there's a dead tree,' because they were cutting a dead tree," Waters

said. "The next thing you know we heard the crack, we heard the guys yell and he went one way and I kind of went the other."

Sgt. T.B. Christy of the Greenville Police Department said the area in front of 407 Augusta St., near the corner of Claussen Street, was marked by orange cones and a sign, facing the opposite direction, warning that men were working in the tree.

Christy said the tree-cut

ters were three brothers hired by the lot owner to cut down the tree but had little other information. He said charges were not anticipated.

Waters said he and Witzke, director of investments in the finance department at Greenville Hospital System, ran about five miles together three or four times a week. Sometimes they would be joined by Steve

See JOGGER on page 5b



July 25 Greenville News 1A Page 2 of 2

JOGGER : FROM PAGE 1A

Brandt, the publisher of The Greenville News.

Brandt, who was supposed to run with them on Monday but had to cancel, said Witzke often talked about his wife and his two children, ages 8 and 10. "Based on that time we spent together it seems to me that he was a person completely devoted to his family," he said.

Waters said he was a little ahead at the time and sprinted forward. When he looked back he saw his friend down. "It was awful," he said. "He was a great guy, a great friend and a wonderful running partner and I'm going to miss him."

Witzke was the director of investments in the finance department at Greenville Hospital System, where he had worked for a

little more than two years, said hospital spokeswoman Robyn Zimmerman. Employees - were informed of his death Monday.

Susan Bichel, who as acting vice president of finance was Witzke's direct supervisor, said he was one of the finest employees she had ever worked with.

"We are all in shock," Bichel said. "Karl was someone you could always count on, he was always there to lend a helping hand. He was a wonderful and caring person and he will be deeply missed."

He was also a former employee of Multimedia Inc., which owned The Greenville .News before Gannett took over in 1995. Brandt said he and Witzke got to be friends during their runs1 together. "Anyone who knows Karl will tell you he was a very kind; mild-mannered man — someone you enjoyed knowing."

— Staff Writer Liv Osby contributed to this story.

• Andy Paras covers breaking news and crime in Greenville County. He can be reached at 298-4220.



Work zone barriers often ignored By Andy Paras STAFF WRITER aparas @ greenvillenews.com

Iallus Irby remembered yelling over the roar of his chain saw when he saw two men jog past the orange cones he had set out and into the area below the large branch that was about to fall. But it was too late.

The chunk of the tree slid off the saw and onto the head of 41-year-old Karl Witzke, killing the Greenville Memorial Hospital employee instantly, the coroner's office said. David Orders, who was jogging with him, wasn't hurt.

Irby, the owner of Irby Tree Service, said the area was properly marked but that he was devastated to see Witzke killed. -

"Some things you can't explain no matter what you say," Irby said. "Words can't explain how I felt after that happened."

But runners and people in the tree service said the practice of walkers, joggers and drivers entering into hazardous work zones is common.

Sally Nicholson, owner of Fleet Feet Sports on Augusta Street and a jogger for 15 years, said in hazardous areas like where a tree is being cut down, access should be completely blocked until it's safe.

"I just think that when you're running you do need to be aware, but I think you shouldn't have to worry about that happening, which is sort of an unusual, out-of-the-or-dinary event," Nicholson said.

But Robert Whitaker, owner of Quality Tree Service, said in his 25 years in the business- he's repeatedly had to deal with people walking or jogging past workers holding signs and ducking tape surrounding work areas. He said Monday's incident didn't surprise him.

"I've had to practically tackle somebody to keep them out of the work area, with me standing there holding a rope with a hard hat on," he said. "They've got something else on their mind when they're running or walking and don't think to look up."

Irby, a tree cutter for 20 years and also a minister at Rock Church of Greenville, said he feels like it was a freak accident and wishes he could take the day back. At the Greenville Hospital System on Tuesday, the board of directors paused for a moment during its monthly meeting to remember the father of two, who served as the director of investments in the finance department.

"All of us at the hospital truly feel. the impact of the tragic loss,"- said CEO Frank Pinckney. "He was a wonderful employee, and we will all miss him, in the hospital and the community, for his contributions."



New pediatricians hang their shingle out together Four women's practice is a first for Greenville in a couple of ways By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER [email protected]

Four Upstate doctors are launching the first all-woman pediatrics group in Greenville that is also the first practice whose start-up has been funded by the Greenville Hospital System.

"There is a very big need in our community for primary care pediatrics," said Dr. William Schmidt, medical director of Children's Hospital of the Greenville Hospital System

"It's often hard to get in to see one," he said. "And if you don't have a primary care pediatrician and you get sick, it's even harder."

Dr, Pat Marshall, medical director of GHS's Partners in Health program, which oversees the hospitals' physician practices, says that community need was a top reason the hospital put $300,000 into the office for the new practice, which the hospital will own but the doctors will manage.

TANYA ACKERMAN/Staff

Starting out together: Four young doctors who completed their pediatric training in June will go into practice this fall. Shown at their still-unfinished office are Nancy Song, in front, and standing, from left, Laure Utecht, Melissa Whitson and Hae Kyong Nelson.

"Everyone wanted to do it," Marshall said. "We got the support of the hospital administration and launched it."

The four women became

friends at Children's Hospital while sharing the demands of their pediatrics training pro-

See DOCTORSon 5B



DOCTORS FROM PAGE 1B

grams, which they completed in June. One day in February, they were sitting around a computer searching for career opportunities when the idea struck.

"We were trying to figure out what we were going to do," recalls Dr. Melissa Whitson. "I can't remember who thought of it first. It may even have been mentioned as kind of a joke."

But by mid-September, Carolina Pediatrics of Greenville will become a reality as Whitson and Drs. Hae Kyong Nelson, Nancy Song and Laure Utecht occupy their new offices at Eastside Medical Center on Pelham and Patewood roads.

The four had each planned different career paths when they met. Nelson had been thinking about going into in an academic setting, for example, while Whitson pondered working in the Third World. Even Utecht and Song, who expected to go into private practice, thought they would join an established practice. In the end, it just seemed natural to go into business together.

"We all loved Greenville, and Laure and Hae Kyong had family here," says Song, who is managing partner, a role they plan to rotate. "We talked to Dr. Schmidt to see what he would think. And he said it would be great."

Indeed, Schmidt is among their staunchest supporters. Greenville has had women pediatricians in solo practice, but there's never been an all-woman pediatrics group practice before, he said. While the vast majority of doctors are still men — 600,829, or nearly 80 percent, of the American Medical Association's 777,859 members are male — more women are choosing medicine

as a career. And Nelson notes that they make up about half the pediatrics classes in medical schools these days.

On a personal level, the practice affords the partners another opportunity — job sharing.

Nelson and Utecht, mothers of young daughters, will work 18 hours a week, while Song and Whitson, both 29, work 36 hours each with a promise of payback when they have children.

"I fed like I've missed a lot in my daughter's life," says Utecht, 32, who was six months pregnant when she began her residency.

T come home from work and there she is saying a new word or learning to walk, and I missed it," she adds. "Sharing, a position gives us the possibility to spend time with our children."

Nelson, 29, also realizes how lucky she is.

"You just don't have this opportunity every day," she says, smiling at the six-week-old infant in her arms. "My husband's a (medical) resident and we were concerned about the two of us taking call, working full-time, and having no time for our children. This worked out pretty well."

As working women themselves, the partners will offer evening and Saturday hours so parents don't have to skip work to take their children to the doctor.

And although it's still at least six weeks away from opening, the practice appears to have garnered community support through word of mouth, says Schmidt.

"The phones are ringing every day for appointments," he says, "and they haven't even opened doors yet."

• Liv Osby covers health care and can be reached at 298-4422



July 29 : The State 2B Page 1 of 1

Female pediatricians unite Greenville Hospital provides financial

support for the city's first all-female

pediatrics group The Associated Press

GREENVILLE — The Greenville Hospital System will spend $300,000 to back the first all-woman pediatrics group in the city.

The four doctors met during their pediatrics training programs at the Children's Hospital of the Greenville Hospital system. They finished those programs last month.

They were picking through career opportunities on a computer during a day in February when they came up with the idea.

"We were trying to figure out what we were going to do," Dr. Melissa

Whitson said. "I can't remember who thought of it first. It may even have been mentioned as kind of a joke."

But Dr. William Schmidt, medical director of Children's Hospital, says there is a critical need for pediatric doctors in the Upstate, so funding the startup practice made sense.

"It's often hard to get in to see one," he said. "And if you don't have a primary care pediatrician and you get sick, it's even harder."

Dr. Pat Marshall, medical director* of GHS's Partners in Health program, said the need was a main reason the hospital put $300,000 into the office, which the hospital will own but the doctors will manage.

"Everyone wanted to do it," Marshall said.

Carolina Pediatrics of Greenville will open by mid-September at East-side Medical Center with Whitson, along with Drs. Hae Kyong Nelson, Nancy Song and Laure Utecht.

The four had different career paths when they met, but it soon seemed natural to enter a partnership.

"We all loved Greenville, and Laure and Hae Kyong had family here," says Song, who is managing partner, a role they plan to rotate. "We talked to Dr. Schmidt to see what he would think. And he said it would be great."

Schmidt said there had never been an all-woman pediatrics group practice in Greenville before.

Wftiile nearly 80 percent of the American Medical Association's 777,859 members are men, Nelson estimates that women currently make up about half the pediatrics classes in medical schools.

The partners will offer evening and Saturday hours so parents will not haVe to skip work to take children to the doctor.

"The phones are ringing every day for appointments," Schmidt said, "and they haven't even opened doors yet."


Date: Aug. 2 Pu bl i cati on: Tra veler's Rest Monitor Page: 1 Page 1 of 1

Greenville Memorial Hospital Receives Approval

For Facility Construction And

Expansion COLUMBIA - The S. C De

partment of Health and Environmental Control has issued a Certificate of Need to Greenville Memorial Hospital, of Greenville, to begin a planned construction and expansion project.

The work includes a new six-floor addition on the front of the hospital and a new four-floor addition above the second floor op- * erating rooms, according to Leon B. Frishman, director of DHEC's Health Facilities and Services Development. The project will result in a lobby for the Children's Hospital, expansion of the Children's Hospital onto the new fifth and sixth floors. The Heart Institute will be relocated within the hospital with a dedicated entrance and lobby, education space, and intensive care unit and recovery areas. An additional cardiac catheterization laboratory will be constructed. Thirteen beds will be transferred from Hillcrest Hospital to Greenville Memorial.

Greenville Memorial Hospital is. transitioning to all private beds. The project will allow conversion of some semi-private to private rooms.

The ?o'fal project, cost will he' $60,000.00.


Date; Auo, 2 Puhiicatirsn; Tribune Times Page: 3C Page 1 of 1

Hannah Eberle, left, is currently being treated for ITP, a blood disorder; Tia Marler is in remission from leukemia; and Priscilla Alexander has been treated for a Wilms' tumor of the kidney.

Camp Courage provides fun for local children

Hannah Eberle, 9, of Simpsonville; Tia Marler, 9, of Fountain Inn; and Priscilla Alexander, 9, of Mauldin, were recently treated to a week of sun and fun at Camp Courage, courtesy of donors to Greenville Hospital System Children's Hospital.

The girls spent a week on the shores of Lake Hartwell boating, swimming, camping and crafting with 50 other children.

But Eberle, Marler and Alexander and the other children weren't ordinary campers — they all have some type of cancer or blood disorder that prevents them from attending a regular camp, not to mention participating in many other

normal activities of childhood. Camp Courage provides the usual

camp activities, but adds a staff of nurses, physicians and lab technicians to care for the special needs of this group of children.

All the campers are patients of the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Center, which is part of the Children's Hospital.

The children attend the seven-day camp for free, because of the many donors who contributed to the Children's Hospital in June during the annual Children's Miracle Network Telethon.

For more information, call 455-5924.


A . . _ . t"1

Publication: Tribune Times Page: 1A Page 1 of 1

Simpsonville adds to 'medical mile1

By Sara Harvey Tribune-Times Writer

Driving through Simpsonville, the landscape abruptly changes from gas stations, restaurants and front-yard car lots to a spate of a dozen medical offices around 729 Southeast Main Street, the home of Hillcrest Hospital.

The hospital's proximity has made the area a hotbed of health services, including a new office beside the BB&T bank.

When Carolina Medical Investors came to real estate broker'Larry Crain for land,

he led them right to Southeast Main Street.

"Due to its proximity to the hospital and the growth of the area," said Crain, of Colliers, Keenan, Goldsmith, LLC. "It's right between the new growth of Fairview Road and the other part of Simpsonville along (Highway) 417, to make it accessible to everyone."

The exact type of practices are yet to be determined by the investors, Crain said.

The area is awash in change, city officials said. And though the> future is unknown for the St. Francis Family

Care Center on Southeast Main, the city's health care is growing in quality and variety with the population.

"Simpsonville is fortunate to be situated in the heart of medical facilities with a tremendous amount of healthcare specialists in the area" said Lisa Bollinger, Greenville County Planning Commission planner for the Simpsonville area.

The "medical mile" makes Simpsonville unique among other similar-sized cities, city officials said. For some newcomers, it's also a reason to

settle here. "When people look to relo

cate from another part of the state, Greenville County or the nation, the high-quality health care in this area is a strong drawing card," said city administrator Barry Hickman. "Especially young families with children or anticipating children. They want to know that if little Bobby gets hurt they have somewhere nearby to take him."

The closeness of VBS Physical Therapy at 705 Southeast Main to the Carswell home in Simpsonville was a blessing,

said Nancy Carswell. Her son, Mark, 18, a new Hillcrest High graduate, was hit by a car in 1997 while riding his bicycle and needed therapy for a crushed elbow and other injuries.

"Everything we could do locally was just wonderful," Car-swell said. "We lived in Pow-derhorn so we lived right behind there. We worked full time but could use lunch hours to get him places."

The proximity to other medical offices is good for the office as well as patients, said Judy Gilbert, office manager for VBS Physical Therapy.

"It's very convenient for us," Gilbert said. "They can leave a regular M.D. or the orthopedics office and be right here. If they call and are referred to us, we can say, 'Come on over, we're right next door.'"

The practice will add a third therapist to handle a clientele increase of around 20 percent over the last year, Gilbert said.

Hillcrest Orthopaedics, 741 Southeast Main, opened in

1986 near the hospital and will also add a fourth partner soon, business manager Polly Miller said.

"People are learning they can get quality health care without having to drive to Greenville," Miller said. "It's easy'to pick up a child from school and bring him to the doctor instead of getting him out of school."

The next nearest orthopedic office specializing in bones and joints is 15 miles away, Miller said.

Other Southeast Main Street practices include, internal medicine, ear, nose and throat specialists and chiropractors.

While the Greenville Hospital System enlarges Hillcrest's emergency room, with other renovations, the future of three family practices on Southeast Main is unsure. Greenville's other health care giant, the St." Francis Health System, plans to release 12 practices back into the private sector. They include Simpsonville Family Medicine and Family Practitioners, Highlands Center for Women, and Children's Medical Center at 401 Southeast Main.

"At this point, we don't know exactly what this means," said Margaret Clark, vice president of marketing and public relations for St. Francis. "It's premature to make any announcement as to what it will look like. But our goal is to make sure that it's seamless to the patients."

St. Francis began to acquire its primary care practices in 1995 so doctors would refer more patients to the hospital and attract the attention of managed-care companies, It worked on the West Coast anc Northeast, but not in South Caro lina.

"We did it in the first place because of a specific market situation," Clark said. "Now, we're reacting to a different sort of market situation."


Date: Aug. 4 Publication: Greenville News Paae: 5B Page 1 of 1

Nurses getting harder to find Hospitals offer bonuses, perks to lure recruits

By Susan Skiles Luke THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

INDIANAPOLIS — Hospitals and other health-care employers are offering nurses signing bonuses, child care and even maid or lawn service as they confront a shortage that appears to be spreading nationwide.

If nursing does not attract more people in the next decade, hospitals face the prospect of shrinking staffs just as the estimated 78 million baby boomers begin to reach the age of 65.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services say the shortage appears limited for now to isolated pockets across the country. However, federal data were last collected in 1996, and recruiters, universities and nursing groups say the shortage has spread since then.

"Six months ago, I would have said yes, it was geographically limited. Now, I'd say it's not," said Pam Thompson, executive director of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, whose 4,000 members include recruiters, managers and nursing supervisors.

"Our members are having difficulty in filling positions, especially in the more specific areas like critical care, labor and delivery and the emergency room," she said.

Hospitals are now offering signing bonuses as high as $5,000, tuition and student-

loan reimbursement programs, child care subsidies, flexible hours and other enticements.

Community Hospitals of Indianapolis, faced with the prospect of an expanding cardiovascular unit, offered experienced nurses maid or lawn service in exchange for signing on. The perks helped round up 12 hires.

Cheryl Peterson of the American Nurses Association said managed care brought on part of the shortage as some hospitals reduced nursing staffs to cut costs.

"They disenfranchised a lot of nurses," said Peterson, a senior policy analyst with the 200,000-member union.

Meanwhile, nursing schools are turning out fewer graduates. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing reports enrollment in bachelor's programs has declined for five consecutive years. Enrollments fell nearly 5 percent last fall from the previous year.

Kimberly Grayson isn't surprised. The 24-year-old is set to graduate from Indiana University's School of Nursing in August.

There were too many applicants in 1994 and she couldn't get into the program. But two years later she was encouraged to try again.

She recently chose among three job offers, including one with a $4,000 signing bonus. She passed that job up for one in her preferred area, pediatrics, with better hours: 11

ONTH^NET • American Organization of Nurse Executives: www.aone.org • American Nurses Association: www.ana.org • JAMA: http:// jama.ama-assn.org/issues/ v283n22/abs/joc91904.html • HHS: www.os.dhhs.gov

a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. She will earn $15.40 per hour, or about $600 per week, to start.

However, with fewer younger nurses coming up through the ranks — less than 10 percent today are under 30 years old — the nation's pool of nurses is expected to shrink in the next decade.

Federal officials and nursing groups agree the nation will experience an acute shortage of registered nurses starting in 2010, when today's nurses, who average 44 years of age, start to retire.

"There will not be enough nurses to meet the different needs," said Denise Geolot, director of the division of nursing at Health and Human Services.

The shortage is expected to hit just as the oldest baby boomers reach Medicare age and their health care needs grow, according to Vanderbilt University researchers Peter Buerhaus and Douglas Staiger, who conducted a study published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The crunch is expected to get worse before it gets better, they said: By the year 2020, the nation will have 20 percent fewer registered nurses than it needs.

Because registered nurses are "vital in ensuring access to and quality of health care, it is critical that policymakers understand and develop appropriate responses to the implications of a rapidly changing workforce," the study said.


Date: Aug. 5 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1A Page 1 of 3

With bullet pulled wounded hostage

from goes

heart, home

Doctor explains techniques used to save victim of McDonald's siege

By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER J losby® greenvillenews.com

Eric Marshall stared at the X-rays of his chest for the first time Friday, awestruck that surgeons were able to remove the bullet lodged in his heart since last Sunday's shooting at a McDonald's restaurant.

"Wow!" exclaimed the 27-year-old, shaking his head in disbelief, realizing just how close he'd come to death. "I am impressed. And I'm glad to be alive."

Visibly weak but upbeat about surviving the four-hour siege at the Lauren's Road eatery where he was wounded in the neck and arm, Marshall, known to his friends as Djin, appeared briefly at a press conference at the Greenville Hospital System, where physicians explained how they removed the .25-caliber bullet during a one-hour procedure on Wednesday.

Marshall was released from the hospital Friday afternoon.

GEORGE GARDNER / Staff

'I'm glad to be alive': Eric Marshall answers questions at a news conference Friday at Greenville Memorial Hospital. Behind him are his x-rays.



Bullet removal Using technology designed to remove kidney stones from narrow urinary tract passages, Dr. William B. Hines Jr. inserted a catheter into Eric Marshall's groin and guided it to his heart to remove a 6 mm bullet lodged in the right ventricle. __ v 4

Pulmonary .artery

, . ]--") -STo lungs

From lungs

Hyt—Pulmonary W \ vein * & * \ Left

atrium _Nerve fibers

1A catheter is inserted into femofaT Veinln the groin and pushed through the femoral vein to the inferior vena cava.

2 Catheter is pushed through inferior vena cava to • the heart.

3 The catheter passes through right atrium into right ventricle.

4 The bullet is dislodged and moved into right atrium. The bullet is then grabbed and pulled out along the same pathway that it entered the body.

5 A small incision in femoral vein is made to retrieve the bullet from body.

GNS, GEORGE TUGGLE JR. / Staff



Using technology designed to remove kidney stones from narrow urinary tract passages, Dr. William B. Hines Jr. inserted a catheter into Marshall's groin and guided it through his femoral vein to the heart muscle, where the 6 mm bullet was lodged in the right ventricle. Once there, he said, he pushed a tiny basket made from material that resembles chicken wire through the end of the catheter and grabbed the black-eyed pea-sized projectile.

Sounds simple. But the sensitive procedure was made riskier because of the pumping of Marshall's heart.

So the bullet, which had traveled to the heart from the neck via the jugular vein, had to be dislodged into the atrium, where it could be more easily grasped.

"The bullet was trapped under muscles and fibers in the right ventricle," said Hines, demonstrating the procedure using a model of the heart. "We knocked it loose, grabbed it with the basket and pulled it out."

An interventional radiologist, Hines is more familiar with removing bits of catheter and other obstructions from people's veins. This was a new experience for him.

"Intravascular retrieval of foreign objects is done from time to time," he said. "But this is the first time we've

done it for a bullet."

Marshall, who declined to discuss details of Sunday's siege, said he

passed a few nerve-wracking days as doctors awaited delivery of some specialized equipment for the procedure and discussed with him how they expected it to work.

"It's been really frightening," he said, his forehead glistening with perspiration. "The toughest part was waiting and not knowing."

Last Sunday, Marshall underwent his first delicate operation. A trauma surgery team, led by Dr. Abe Arrillaga, had been prepared by emergency workers to expect a patient with a gunshot wound to the neck. But imaging revealed no bullet there.

Instead, physicians realized that the bullet had entered the left side of Marshall's neck, passed behind the trachea and through the right carotid artery into the jugular, which carried it to the heart, Arrillaga said. On the way, it caused extensive damage to the right carotid artery.

"This is a life-threatening injury and puts the patient at high risk for stroke," Arrillaga said. "We went into the chest, split his breast plate and isolated the artery, which we were able to repair."

Marshall, who required transfusions to replace the blood he'd lost, came through that surgery sporting a 10-inch scar.

After being conscious and stable at the emergency room on Sunday, Marshall hovered between critical and serious condition for most of the week. He had arrived around dawn to begin his shift at McDonald's when he and two other employees were met by gunmen who held them hostage and shot Marshall twice.

Police charged Mario Andreas Baldwin, 21, of 1602 E. North St., and Michael Antwan Sheppard, Jr., 20, with armed robbery, kidnapping, use of a firearm during a robbery, assault and battery with intent to kill, and first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving the alleged sexual assault of a female hostage.

A self-proclaimed fatalist, Marshall said he plans to return to work at McDonald's once he recovers, which doctors say should take about two months.

Medical experts say it's not uncommon for a bullet to find its way to the heart after hitting its victim in the neck or arms.

"Generally, a bullet would enter the body and go into a vein,' said Lance Paulman, Ph.D, instructor of anatomy at the University of South


Patient released: Dr. Abe Arrillaga, second from right, a trauma surgeon with the Trauma Services department of the Greenville Hospital System, explains at a Friday press conference Eric Marshall's condition and injuries when he arrived at the GMH Trauma Center last Sunday. Marshall is at far left. Marshall's sister Dawn is second from left and Dr. William B. Hines Jr., an interventional radiologist is at right.

Carolina School of Medicine. "You have major veins draining the arm and head directly back into the superior vena cava, which flows into the right atrium of the heart."

Vessels in that part of the body can be the circumference of a pen or even larger, he said. The superior vena cava, for instance, which carries about 40 percent of the blood flowing back into the heart, can be thumb-sized. So small-caliber ammunition, like the bullet that hit Marshall, could easily travel through the blood stream, he said.

The direction that physicians take in the face of such a trauma depends on a number of factors, including the location of the bullet, which could block the blood passages, the valves or be lodged in the heart muscle itself.

But cardiac surgeon Dr. Robert H. Jones, a professor of surgery at Duke University, says removal is recommended in most cases in which a bullet remains in or near

the heart. "If it's in the left side of the

heart, it represents a major threat," he says. "Any solid matter in the vascular stream can block a blood vessel and if the blood vessels are blocked on the left, there could be a stroke."

A bullet on the right side presents less of a risk, Jones said, adding he would remove it anyway because it could travel to the lungs.

Arrillaga said that leaving the bullet alone, like they did with the bullet in Marshall's left arm, was a consideration.

"He's young and healthy and could live without one total lung,"' he said. "But I talked to Dr. Hines and he felt the bullet could be fished out, so we proceeded."

"I won't be running a marathon any time soon," Marshall quipped; before heading home. "But I've had a lot of good friends, inside and out of the hospital, keeping my morale up."


Date: Aug. 6 Publication: Greenville News Page: IB Page 1 of 2

Nursing students face too few college slots

Lack of teachers, funds limits classes, chances to reduce shortage in field

By Anna Simon CLEMSON BUREAU asimon @ greenvillenews.com

CLEMSON — At a time of a nationwide nursing shortage, more students are lined up for classes than can be accepted at colleges and schools in the Upstate and around the nation.

There's a bottleneck at Clemson University, the University of South Carolina, Greenville Technical College and Tri-County Technical College that is typical nationwide.

The problem is a need for more nursing teachers, money to pay them and clinical facilities where students can get practical experience.

Clemson "can't take as many students who might apply to us even if they're qualified because we don't have the resources on many fronts to accommodate them. So it is a dilemma," said Barbara Logan, director of the School of Nursing at Clemson.

About 400 students at both Tri-County Tech and Greenville Tech are waiting for slots in nursing programs. Greenville Tech will accept 100 students this fall, the state's largest class, said

"We need to enlarge our programs, which you can't do without state

approval and paying more money and places to take them to learn."

— Polly Fehler Head of the associate degree nursing program at Tri-County Tech

Gayle Heller, who heads the nursing department there.

Tri-County Tech will accept about 50 students.

Greenville Tech advertised four nursing faculty openings for three months and has only three applicants, Heller said.

"There are not enough people with master's (degrees) out there who want to take pay cuts to come into teaching," Polly Fehler, who heads the associate degree nursing program at Tri-County Tech. "We need to enlarge our programs, which you can't do without state approval and paying more money and places to take them to learn."

The situation will get more critical as baby boomers reach retirement, said Renatta Loquist, project director for the Colleagues in Caring project at the Umversity of South Carolina. Eighty-five percent of the nursing teachers in South Carolina are over age 45, and 65 percent are over age 50. In five years, the state could lose 65 percent of its nursing faculty to retirement, Loquist said. In addition, 46 percent of all registered nurses across the state are over age 45.

South Carolina schools produced 1,112 new registered nurses in 1998 and about the



Aug. 6 Greenville News 1B Page 2 of 2

NURSING FROM PAGE 1B

same number in 1999. During the past decade, the state's registered nurse work force has increased by about 1,000 jobs annually.

"The market has absorbed all of the graduates that we have (statewide)," Loquist said. "There still is not a sufficient supply for the demand that is out there."

Nurses to fill spots in emergency rooms, operating rooms, and critical care and pediatric intensive care units are in greatest demand, said Dan Mezibov, spokesman for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Last fall there were 111,186 students in entry-level bachelor's degree nursing programs nationwide,

"The market has absorbed all of the graduates that we have (statewide). There still is not

a sufficient supply for the demand that is out there."

— Renatta Loquist Project director

Colleagues in Caring project at the University of South Carolina

down 4.6 percent from the previous year, he said.

There were 32,540 master's degree nursing students, down 1.9 percent from the previous year, and 2,879 doctorate students, up

less than one percent from the year before, he said.

Clemson nursing hopefuls face two hurdles: an entrance requirement and limited resources, Logan said.

"We want to take students who are qualified to be successful in the program," Logan said. "We do not have unlimited spaces because there is a clinical component to the training. We have to have a limited number of students with a faculty member when we send them to clinical facilities to get clinical practice experiences."

Area institutions "are chock full of nursing students and paramedics and MD students, etcetera," Fehler said. "They are full. There's just no place to take them except for evening nighttime shifts, which we may have to go to."

• Anna Simon writes about Clemson University and the surrounding


Date: Aug. 9 Publication: Greenville News Page: E_1 Page 1 of 3

Doctor's devices help children He tinkers with inventions until he finds solution By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER [email protected]

A lot of men spend their weekends tinkering in the garage, but Dr. Michael W.L. Gauderer emerges with ideas that improve the lives of ailing children.

Finding inspiration in such unlikely places as a windshield wiper vacuum pump, the pediatric surgeon has devised a variety of medical advances ranging from a latex snap that eases the pain associated with feeding tubes to a tool that retrieves coins from children's tiny throats.

"I've always been interested in gadgetry," says Gauderer, the amiable chief of pediatric surgery at Greenville Hospital System.

"It does not have to be something major," he says, covering|his office desk with aH evOWfonary sampling of one of his inventions. "I just identify a need and tinker until I come up with a solution."

As the developer of more than 20 original surgical techniques, according to his resume, Gauderer is awaiting word on whether he will be granted a patent for his latest contraption.

Coined the Penny-Pincher, the device combines the firm gripping action of a minuscule claw with the sleekness of a catheter about the size of overcooked linguine. It allows a physician to remove a coin that has become lodged in a child's esophagus in a process that takes less than a minute and requires no general anesthesia, according to its developer.


Love for gadgets: Dr. Michael W.L. Gauderer holds his Penny-Pincher device, which has successfully removed 33 coins from children. He's awaiting a patent on the device. Gauderer is the chief of pediatric surgery at Greenville Hospital System.


Date: Aug. 9 Publication: Greenville News Page: B1 Page 2 of 3

DOCTOR FROM PAGE 1B

"It's very, very simple," says Gauderer in a Mr. Rogers-style whisper he's adopted to calm frightened children. "We put the Penny-Pincher in the child's mouth, use a fluoroscope to see where the coin is, grab it and pull it up."

The device has been used successfully on 33 children who went home immediately afterward, says Gauderer, proudly pointing to a photo of all the ore that has been mined to date: a sofa's worth of small change and a reindeer pendant.

The conventional treatment, he says, is performed in the operating room. General anesthesia is administered, a rather clumsy endoscope is inserted, and the coin is removed, usually requiring a hospital stay of at least several hours. Or, he says, a catheter can be guided down the throat with a balloon at the end that can be inflated to dislodge the obstruction. But control of the coin is tenuous, he says.

In most cases, swallowed coins pass safely through the esophagus into the intestinal tract and finally to the outside world. And so, Gauderer says wryly — and with eager anticipation of a burst of laughter, "I tell parents that if their child swallows a coin to watch for change in the stools."

The device Gauderer developed for G-tubes, called a gastrostomy button, resembles the inflation flap on an inner tube and allows for skin-level access to the feeding tube. It is now the standard in gastrointestinal feeding, says Dr. William Schmidt, medical director of GHS's Children's Hospital.

"The Penny-Pincher is phenomenal," says Schmidt. "So is the Gauderer Button. If you had seen the way we fed these children through their colostomies in the old days, you'd appreciate the new design. He looked at the problem, attacked it and solved it."

Bom in East Germany in 1944 half way between Berlin and Munich, Gauderer moved with his par

ents and two siblings to West Germany, which had been decimated during World War II. In the hopes of finding a better life for the children, the Gauderers in 1949 emigrated to Brazil. There, he recalls, the impoverished family lived in a house the size of a garage where, in a sign of things to come, the young boy amused himself by fashioning his own toys out of whatever he could find.

Eventually, Gauderer learned Portuguese and attended Brazilian schools. He expected to follow his father into engineering, but as he grew older drifted into medicine with an eye on pediatrics.

"I loved being around young people and I also had a family doctor who was absolutely wonderful," he recalls. "I always said that when I grew up, I wanted to be just like her."

Gauderer began his medical training at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, eventually moving to Bremen, Germany, and finishing at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he studied with C. Everett Koop, who later became U.S. Surgeon General.

"He said he'd consider*me if I did all my general surgery training in the U.S. before going into my pediatric surgery residency. He was always very kind and I still have contact with him," he says, a broad grin revealing warm memories of those days in the late 1960s.

"But to this day, I call him Dr. Koop."

After earning his medical degree, Gauderer and his wife, Barbara, a native of New Jersey, moved to Cleveland, where he took a post at Case Western Reserve University, eventually becoming director of pediatric surgery. Along the way, genetics being what it is, his engineering side resurfaced as he began devising ways to improve on existing surgical procedures and to develop new ones.

Then in 1994, at the invitation of Schmidt, a fellow University of Pennsylvania alum, Gauderer accepted an offer to develop GHS's department of pediatric surgery. The two hit it off instantly.



Aug. 9 Greenville News B1 Page 3 of 3

"It was sheer coincidence," Gauderer remembers, in his still-German accented English. "It turned out that Bill Schmidt and I trained at the same time in Philadelphia and had known each other but lost contact."

"He was chief resident when I was a resident on the medical service," adds Schmidt. "I had followed his career, so when we were looking to build our pediatric surgery program, I wanted best person I could find. I thought of Michael. He's a world-class surgeon who's also an idea man. He's always looking for a better way to do something."

A bowtie aficionado like his mentor, Gauderer keeps his office filled with gadgets, including antique medical instruments and depictions of surgery in clay, to aid in the thought process. His research has been published extensively in medical journals and he serves on the editorial board of three journals dealing with pediatric surgery.

On the personal side, Gauderer is a music lover and a dedicated member of the board of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra, where he's suggested several innovative fund-

raising and marketing programs, says Executive Director Bob Howard.

"He is the sort of person who's not only inventive in a medical sense, but in a sense of marketing a non-profit to a community as well," lauds Howard. "He's the kind of board member who asks what more he can be doing."

Perhaps the downside to such an illustrious career has been little time for a home life. As a result, he says, none of the Gauderers' three children, now 17, 20 and 23, plan careers in medicine because they missed him so much growing up.

Nonetheless, he says, the family has been happy in Greenville. And the move has allowed him to continue teaching medicine, to treat an international community of patients, and to be involved in clinical research.

Meanwhile, back at the drawing board, Gauderer is busy on other inventions and medical improvements, such as a modification of surgery for chest wall deformities.

"Surgery is something that is conducive to doing things with your hands," he says. "And doing things with your hands leads to creativity."



The nursing shortage Larger programs, higher salaries needed.

E xacerbating a nursing shortage in the state is a lack of facilities to accommodate students interested in nursing.

About 400 students are on waiting lists for the nursing programs at Greenville and Tri-County technical colleges. Greenville Tech can accept only 100 student this fall; Tri-County can admit only 50 students. Clemson University and the University of South Carolina also report limited slots for nursing hopefuls.

The colleges cite two problems: a lack of teaching faculty and a lack of clinical facilities where students can get practical experience.

State and higher education leaders must recognize the demographic trends in the state — and nationwide^— and plan accordingly. Nursing programs in the state will have to expand and teachers of nursing will have to be paid salaries competitive with the private sector.

The need for nurses will become critical as aging baby boomers greatly increase the state's senior citizen population. But clearly many young people, attracted by increasing salaries, want to become nurses — if only programs exist to accommodate them. With forward-thinking leadership, a nursing shortage (*oesn't have to become a nursing crisis.



Aug. 13 Greenville News 1G Page 1 of 1

Helping patients regain independence perk of job By Jenny Munro BUSINESS WRITER [email protected]

Maudline Couthran, a stroke survivor, is ambulatory — and she gives the credit to her occupational therapy team.

"I can walk. They do wonderful for me," she said. "I walk."

Bonnie Bagwell, an occupational therapy assistant who works with the Belton resident, said it's people like

Couthran and what they accomplish that makes her job worthwhile.

Although only 25, Bagwell said she knows she's found her life-long career.

"I have known forever and a day" that she would work in the medical field, she said.

Her sister was born with a rare disease, keeping the family "always around medical things." When Bagwell was in

college, her sister had a leg amputated and went to Roger Peace Rehabilitation Hospital.

During that time, Bagwell did some research and decided occupational therapy was the field she wanted. She said she likes working with people trying to regain skills that will allow them to live their lives as independently as possible.

Occupational therapy assistants help patients learn — or relearn — to dress themselves, bath, brush their teeth, write their name and all the little tasks that most people dori't think about, she said. They also work with family members to help them learn the correct ways to assist patients.

"If you think about the small things, they're the ones that are a humiliation if you can't do them," Bagwell said.

At day's end, Bagwell said, she goes home feeling good.

"If just one person does one thing today they didn't do yesterday and they're excited about it, you're excited, too," she said.

Regaining strength: Occupational therapy assistant Bonnie Bagwell leads patient Maudline Couthran through a series of stretching exercise at Greenville's Roger Peace Rehabilitation Hospital. Couthran, a Belton resident, is working to recover strength and mobility reduced by a stroke.

She said she gets a great personal reward from working in a medical setting often with patients recovering from strokes or orthopedic or spinal cord injuries, or people recovering from long stays in the hospital. Jobs also can be found at other places, such as schools, home health, nursing homes, mental health centers and occupational therapy offices.

Still, the work is not for everyone, she said.

"You have to communicate well with people and create rapport," she said. "You have to like the medical stuff because you see a lot of not-so-pretty things. You have to care about people."

Bagwell said her family and her fiance, who has worked on outdoor events with her, are pleased with her decision to work in the occupational therapy field.

"He thinks it's the most wonderful thing for people to help people," she said.



Aug. 13 Greenville News 1G Page 1 of 2

License to assist

Occupational therapy assistants help others learn basic living skills By Jenny Munro B U S I N E S S W R I T E R

jmunro @ greenvillenews.com

It's the little things that count — taking a bath, getting dressed, signing your name, fixing breakfast, dressing a child, walking unaided.

Occupational therapist assistants work with patients to help them learn or relearn the skills of living.

"Simply put, occupational therapy is helping people through therapy regain their independence," said Bonnie Bagwell, an OT assistant at Roger Peace Rehabilitation Hospital in Greenville.

It is a profession different — more personal — than just about any other.

"You get intimately involved with the patient," said Veronica McNeal, an OT assistant working with Carolina Home Health Care in Greenville. "You look at the person as a whole person, not just as a patient with a stroke."

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national need for OT assistants is expected to increase by nearly 40 percent in the decade ending in 2008. While assistants work under the supervision of occupational therapists, officials predict assistants will continue to increase their share of hands-on therapy.

Job growth would be higher if it weren't for federal limita-

The fast track Job Title Occupational therapy assistant Entry level: Up to $15 an hour Experienced: Up to $47,740 a year

Requirements BEducation ,••* • ••••:•..•-.••. Two-year associate degree or certification program. State license.

• Experience Must complete in-field clinical work while earning certification.

• Career potential With additional education, assistants can become occupational therapists. The aging of the population is expected to increase the demand for occupational therapy assistants.

• Employer expectations Communicate well, build rapport with patients, care about people, work as part of a team, be responsible.

• How to get started Greenville Technical College's Greer Campus has a certification program. It's one of two programs in South Carolina. Students must pass a national certification examination and obtain a South Carolina license.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor, Greenville Technical College

THE GREENVILLE NEWS

tions in recent years on Medicare reimbursement for therapy services, said Janice Robinson, incoming president of the South Carolina Occupa-

See ASSIST on page 3G


Date: Aug. 13 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1G Page 2 of 2

ASSIST FROM PAGE 1G

tional Therapy Association. Because of increasing demand for services by an aging population, the government has relaxed the reimbursement cap for the next two years.

"We've seen a steady increase of jobs since July 1999," when the relaxation became effective, said Krista van Zyl, head of the occupational therapy assistant program at Greenville Technical College.

Accordingly, insurance companies have begun to encourage occupational therapists to delegate more hands-on therapy to assistants, a move expected to cut costs but increase employment, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For those interested in the profession, the Greer campus of Greenville Tech provides a certification program, established in 1996. Although the first year of studies can be taken virtually at any college, OT students must take a 15-month second phase of the program at Greenville Tech. The college this month is starting a program of evening and Saturday classes that will take about 27 months to complete, van Zyl said.

The night program was started because "we were getting feedback

from our career talks," she said. "Many students find it difficult to

attend class in the day because they have full-time jobs," van Zyl said.

Currently, students can enroll in either the day or evening classes, although the full-time day classes have more openings, van Zyl said. They also are required to participate in field clinics, working with patients under the direction of people already in the profession, and community service projects.

Once students graduate and receive state licenses, they usually have no trouble finding work. Last year, 16 Greenville Tech students passed the certification exam. All were offered jobs, and 14 are now working in the profession, van Zyl said. The average starting salary ii about $15 an hour.

McNeal, a Greenville Tech graduate who began working in the field in May, said she plans to continue her education and become an occupational therapist. This is her second career, and she's focusing it on health, wellness and prevention.

Robinson said flexibility can be key to getting a good job. While many students stay in the Upstate, others relocate to their home areas or elsewhere.

They may need to look at various settings — jobs can be found in schools, nursing homes, mental health facilities, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, medical offices or in home health.


Date: Aug. 16 Publication: Traveler's Rest Monitor Page: 1A Page 1 of 1

Dr. Bill Martin

With the addition of a new P e d i a t r i c i a n , the N o r t h Greenville Ambulatory Care Center at North Greenville Hospital is now able to offer more p e d i a t r i c s e r v i c e s . Pediatrician Dr. Bill Mar t in began practice here in Travelers Rest in July of this year. Dr. Martin joins Dr, Angie Millon in providing medical care to the infants, children and adolescents of Travelers Rest and the surrounding area. The staff also includes Carmen Quintereo, a pediatric Nurse Practitioner.

Additional services available include social services and ass is tance with Medica id applications. To meet the needs of the growing Hispanic population, two staff members at the cent speak Span i sh . Pediatric care at the North Greenville Ambulatory Care Center is available on Monday, Tuesday a n d Wednesday mornings and af ternoons . Thursday and Friday the center is open for Pediatrics in the morning. The Ambulatory Care Center is located at Nor th Greenville Hospital at^O? North Main Street (Highway 276) in Travelers Rest. The Center is accepting new patients and also accepts most major insurance and Medicare and Medicaid.

Calling 455-9261 can make appointments for pediatrics, as well as Orthopedics and Low Risk Obstetrics.


Date: Aug. 23 Publication: TR Monitor Page: 1 Page 1 of 1

North Greenville Hospital News

The North Greenville Hospital reported the number of citizens treated in the emergency room for 1999 was 1,5430. In the year 2000 it appears that there will be 1,700 citizens treated.

The North Greenville Hospital is open 24 hours a day, 7 days each week.

The hospital is located on U.S. 276 W. in Travelers Rest.


Date: Aug. 22 Publication: Greenville News Page: 6B Page 1 of 1

Sometimes we simply find family

Of all places to hear laughter you don't expect it in the intensive care unit's waiting room. Nor do you expect to make friends when your loved ones are walking a tightrope above death.

Laughter should be the last thing you hear. Shouldn't it?

Perhaps so, but that's how we cope. We find comfort. To witness how we find comfort is to measure the resiliency of the human spirit. That laughter was ^present and bonds of friendship solidified is tes-r tament to the inner strength We summon through faith and family, to

For the past three weeks, the fifth floor ICU waiting room at Greenville Memorial Hospital has been my family's living room. It's been that long since my sister drew an unassisted breath. Since then, she's needed help from machines. Pneumonia in both lungs and a rare blood disorder double-teamed her

lungs to choke away her body's ability to do what we all so foolishly take for granted.

| o r A V Things got LCIUJ s o bad two

weeks ago that doctors didn't

know if she would ever recover. As a precaution, they performed an emergency surgery last Tuesday to deliver her 7-month old baby. It looked grim.

And when things were darkest, we did what families do.

We prayed. We stood vigil. We briefed each other on doctors' reports, clinging to the positives and rationalizing the negatives. We prayed. We ate together. We welcomed visitors. We prayed. We remained optimistic. We cOped.

Standing vigil for their ailing mother alongside us was Wayne Mclntyre and his family.

Wayne's mother Mary was being cared for three beds over from my sister. She has TTP, a rare blood disorder that can be fatal. Side effects include stroke and kidney failure. It is especially fatal in folks Mary's age, a vibrant 71.

Sharing that room with the Mclntyres, Wayne and his sister Diane, we, remarkably, saw the definition of family blur a bit.

For the past three weeks, the black Chapmans and the white Mclntyres have essentially been one family.

And together, we did what families do in these situations.

We swapped doctors' reports, clinging to the positives and rationalizing the negatives. We prayed!. We welcomed visitors. We remained cautiously optimistic. We shared our burdens.

Our worries became theirs. Theirs became ours.

In the idle hours Wayne and my father, both veterans in their 50s, swapped war stories. Decades removed from active duty, they were now foxhole buddies in a different sense.

We talked politics. We bragged on children, eventually sharing more than enough of ourselves to care about one another.

After a while the Mclntyres looked forward to my son, who ail-ways seemed to add a little levity, visiting.

His visits are still the highlight of my mother's day. Small children can sometimes provide us with an unexplainable comfort. ••

Ultimately, their good news became our good news. And ours, theirs. Mary made it out of ICU last Thursday. And my sister, Kei-sha, is expected to make it out of ICU soon as she now breathes almost independently.

She'll possibly go home with her baby soon too. Little Shania Nicole, born weighing just 3 pounds and 3 ounces, has gained half«a pound. She's become strong enough to beat a touch of jaundice. And she's no longer on a ventilator or oxygen. When she reaches 5 pounds, she'll probably be ready to go home.

We, my parents and I, saw Wayne and Diane Sunday afternoon after visiting my sister. They were having dinner in the hospital cafeteria. They don't miss intensive care. But they've missed seeing us over the past few days.

The laughter was still there. But much of the anxiety was gone. . , — : • Uroy Chapman Jr. is:|ssociate editorial page editor. He can be reached at 298-4448 or e-mailed at Ichapmari @ greenvillenews.com




THE GREENVILLE NEWS www.greenvilleonline.com 3 B

Greenville hospital trustees OK $67.6 million expansion Systemwide plan aims to ease overcrowding


A $67.6 million spending plan to fund a systemwide expansion aimed at easing hospital overcrowding was approved Tuesday by the Greenville Hospital System Board of Trustees.

"We feel that this construction project aggressively meets the growing needs of our community," Board Chairman Larry Greer said

in announcing the approval. Known as Phase V, the plan will

expand cardiac, emergency, children's and women's services, adding 178,000 square feet of new construction and renovating another 25,200 square feet. Once completed, the expansion will enable the hospital to see another 6,000 patients a year.

The project represents the first time hospital planners looked at expansion from a systemwide perspective, with an eye on growth in outlying areas of Greenville County. As a result, while most of the expansion will occur at Greenville Memorial Hospital, work also

will be done at Allen Bennett Hospital in Greer, Hillcrest Hospital in Simpsonville and North Greenville Hospital.

The project is designed to improve access to services and to reduce waiting times and delays for patients, hospital spokeswoman Ro-byn Zimmerman said. It also will bring a transition to making all rooms private.

Construction is expected to be completed by 2003 at the main campus and by 2002 at the community hospitals. Funding for the project will come from a combination of earnings, potential borrowing and philanthropy.


Date: Aug. 23 Publication: Greer Citizen Page: 5 Page 1 of 2

This is the most caring group of people I have ever worked with in my life

-Dr. W.E. Alverson Winning a state "Spirit of Caring"

competition is an appropriate recognition for Roger Huntington Nursing Center. The Greer facility draws "unanimous praise, from physicians to minister to families of residents.

RHNC attracted statewide recognition by placing first in a poster competition based on the theme "ideas and innovations - round the clock".

The DHEC sponsored S.C. Spirit of Caring Committee visited Greer on Thursday to present a $500 reward to be invested for patient activities and a framed copy of the poster which was designed by Tim Wells.

"This is a much deserved award", said Dr. W.E. Alverson who has served as medical director at Roger Huntington since 1990. "This is the most caring group- of people that I have ever worked with in my life."

Retired teacher Mary Hayes, who's husband Gene is a patient in the facility, said "you can't beat this place. I'm here every day and observe what happens. Their focus is on people rather than the surroundings", she said, adding "Gene's health has improved since he has been here, and he likes it."

Tim Barresi, administrator at Rogtr Huntington, accepted the award: He commended the goal of the state program which is to develop good quality care. "This is what it is all about at - giving hands on care, 24 hours a day. We have a deserving team that gives the best possible care, and this party is in their honor", he said

as plates of ice cream, cake and other delights were distributed through the dining room.

Barressi also complimented the creativity of Wells, a graphic artist who's wife is a former Allen Bennett employee., "Wells used a neat concept with an hour glass and layered the image of an elderly couple to appear like they are looking into the future. It is an exciting yet tranquil poster."

"I'm very excited, especially since there were 42 entries across the state in the contest", said Joyce Chapman who heads patient activities at the facility.

Chapman also serves on the state Spirit of Caring Committee, and hopes RHNC will excel in upcoming innovations competition. Nursing homes will submit their best ideas and innovations forjudging, and the winner will be announced at a state banquet on Nov. 1.

"We probably will enter our gardening club", Chapman said. The staff took a "dismal place" on the grounds

and turned it into a garden with vegetables and flowers. "The residents have been enjoying fresh tomato sandwiches. One man calls it our Garden of Eden."

A stay-at-home mom until four years ago, Chapman said "working with the elderly is one of the most rewarding things anybody can do."

Mickey Massey, director of the Allen Bennett-RHNC campus,; observed "this shows that Roger Huntington employees are willing to put in the extra tifne and effort to provide the best possible care that they can give."

"Spirit of Caring is a wonderful philosophy, and I think Roger Huntington is one of the best in the state at carrying it out", said Sen. J. Verne

Smith. "I want to do my best in the legislature for the people here and in all of our nursing homes. We have a long'way to go, but we have come a long way."

Bill Dill, who heads the Family Council at RHNC, said "residents get excellent care, and I am here almost every day checking on my father-in-law. I know that any time you go to the administration for anything, they are very eating and

concerned about whatever problem you might be having." He added, " a number of residents have moved here from other nursing homes."

Well known semi-retired church music director J.N. McFadden, who serves as chaplain of the facility, related that "my mother and both of my wife's parents were residents here. I'm prejudiced,but I would say this is one of the top institutions of its kind, and I visited folks in a number of different nursing homes every week."

The award was presented by Tiffany Stone of Columbia who chairs the state Spirit of Caring Committee. Other members of the committee participating were Nat Benson of Mt. Pleasant, Kelly Ceto of Anderson, Allen Hughes of Abbeville and Randy Tucker of Peachtree Center. DHEC was represented by Sara Granger.


Date: Aug. 23 Publication: Greer Citizen Page: 5 Page 2 of 2

Roger Huntington Nursing Center earns unanimous praise as Spirit of Caring winner

Celebrating success - Activities director Joyce Chapman, center, prepares to cut the cake as employees and residences celebrated Roger

Huntington Nursing Center's first place award in the state Spirit of Caring poster competition on Thursday.


Date: Aug. 23 Publication: Times Examiner Page: 3 Page 1 of 1

New birth-control medication investigated

Greenville Hospital System Center for Women's Medicine is now conducting a clinical research study of an investigational medication for the prevention of pregnancy in women of child-bearing age (18-40). The study will compare two different methods of taking birth control.

Participants in the study will receive up to 12 months of study medication, study related physical exams, laboratory tests and pap smears, and compensation for time and travel.

The local study is part of a national research study, which is sponsored by a pharmaceutical company.

For more information on the study, call the Center of Women's Medicine research department at (864)455-4106.


Date: Aug. 25 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: C42 Page 1 of 1

GHS conducting birth control clinical study

Greenville Hospital System Center for Women's Medicine is now conducting a clinical research study of an investigational medication for the prevention of pregnancy in women of childbearing age (18-40). The study will compare two differem methods of taking birth control

The traditional method causes a monthly menstrual cycle. The new method causes only four menstrual cycles a year.

Eligible participants will include:

• Women who are currently taking an oral contraceptive and have had three regular menstrual cycles.

• Women who have previously used oral contraceptives.

• Women who have no prior history of oral contraceptive use.

Participants in the study will receive up to 12 months of study medication; study-related physical exams, laboratory tests and pap smears; and compensation for time and travel.

The local study is part of a national research study, sponsored by a pharmaceutical company.

For more information on the study, call - the Center for Women's Medicine research department at 455-4106.

Huntington Nursing Center wins state contest

The staff of Roger Huntington Nursing Center was awarded for the illustration of its "Spirit of Caring" by the Department of Health and Environmental Control's S.C.' Spirit of Caring Best Practice Initiative. The nursing center entered the program's annual poster contest and was rewarded with a first-place ribbon and a $500 savings bond. A framed poster and the bond were presented to the staff "and residents on Aug. 17.

The Best Practice Initiative encourages and recognizes innovative ideas and programs that improve the quality of life and quality of care for all residents in South Carolina nursing homes.


Date: Aug. 26 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1B Page 1 of 2

Medical chopper service to take off Privately owned air ambulance to cover 150 miles of Upstate By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER losby® greenvillenews.com

A fledgling helicopter service is about to take off in the Upstate to

speed critically ill and injured patients to help at area medical facilities.

Med-Trans Corp. expects to launch its service from Greenville in three weeks, transporting patients from outlying hospitals to the Upstate's three major hospitals or from accident scenes to trauma centers, said Reid Vogel, director of marketing and human resources. It will serve a 150-mile area.

"EMS responders at an accident scene, for example, will assess the needs of the patient and see if we can get them to a trauma center in critical moments," Vogel said. "Or a physician can call Med-Trans looking for air transportation for a patient."

Greenville Hospital System expects at least one landing a day from a combi

nation of traumatic injuries and transfers from other hospitals, says Dr. Martin Lutz, medical director of emergency services.

Typical transport patients would be those suffering

from serious burns, strokes, heart attacks, obstetrical emergencies, head injuries and other kinds of trauma.

Currently, private emergency medical helicopter service in the area is spotty,

provided by companies outside the Upstate, according to GHS spokeswoman Erika Spinelli. Greenville County EMS doesn't have a helicopter for medical use. And the Sheriff's Department helicopters are used for law enforcement, rescue and fire-fighting, said Sgt. Mike Brown, public information officer.

Vogel said the company's fleet of 10 helicopters has logged 100,000 hours of air time at its other locations in Arizona, Tennessee and North Dakota. Next month, he said, it will begin operations in California.

The company began medical emergency helicopter operations in 1984 in Bismarck, N.D., through its Executive Air Taxi Corp., becoming Med-Trans in 1995, said Skeet Baise, medical coordinator of the company's eastern division.

Med-Trans will operate a Bell Longranger 206 helicopter out of its 15,000-square-foot headquarters off U.S. 25 near Donaldson Center, Baise said. The company will employ a staff of 14, including a full-time mechanic. A pilot, a registered nurse and

See MED-TRANS on page5B




a paramedic will live at the facility — firehouse style — ready to respond when called.

Besides the crew of three, the helicopter, which will be furnished with a variety of emergency medical supplies and equipment, such as a defibrillator and ventilator, can hold one patient, Baise said.

While some hospitals, including Palmetto Health Alliance in Columbia, have their own helicopter services, Med-Trans' Greenville operation is a private company, not affiliated with any hospital, Vogel said. Patients or their insurers are billed a one-time liftoff fee plus a charge for each mile they are on board and for medical supplies, he said.

Company officials would not disclose their charges or costs. But Vogel, noting that the price tag for a helicopter can run from $1.5 million to $6 million, said charges can range up to a couple of thousand dollars, adding that insurance typically covers 80 percent.

Medically necessary helicopter transportation is covered by most private insurance, said Joe Liichok,

communications manager for the Health Insurance Association of America, which represents 290 private health insurers nationwide. And Medicaid pays for emergency helicopter transport that is ordered by a physician, said Frank Adams, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Any helicopter service that enrolls with Medicaid agrees to accept a basic transport fee of $400, an additional $10 a mile, plus $35 for one attendant and $79.65 for the return trip, Adams said. In addition, there are optional payments including $8.50 for each half hour of waiting time, he said.

Vogel said the company chose Greenville after studying the region's population, hospital network and growth to assess the need.

Med-Trans, whose helicopters travel at an average speed of 120 mph, is not designed to replace any existing ground transportation providers, he said, and would typically be called by EMS.

The biggest obstacle to service is enough space to land. Baise says helicopters typically need an area of 80 feet by 80 feet in the daytime and 100 feet by 100 feet at night. While Greenvilie Hospital System has a grassy area to land helicopters at Grove and Faris streets, other hospitals without helipads, such as Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, have no such access, Baise said. So an open space in the surrounding area is used.


Date: Aug. 26 Publication: Greenville News Page: IB Page 1 of 1

OB-GYN's license restored By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER [email protected]

A Greenville doctor's license has been returned to good standing after being temporarily suspended because of his addiction to drugs.

Christopher R. Jennings, an obstetrician and gynecologist, was suspended by the state Board of Medical Examiners in February for taking the drugs fentanyl and Versed from operating rooms at Greenville Memorial Hospital.

Jennings, 42, admitted taking the narcotics from anesthesia carts in the operating rooms on about 10 different occasions for his own use, according to board documents.

At the time, the board concluded that he was addicted to drugs "to such a degree as to render him unfit to practice medicine."

Jennings entered treatment for drug dependency at the Talbott Recovery Campus in Atlanta in January and was discharged in March, the documents show. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

His license was reinstated as of July 26.

The board documents show Jennings will continue to be monitored via blood and urine tests and must attend support groups through the Recovering Professionals Program.


Date: Aug. 30 Publication: Greenville News Page: & City People Page 1 of 1

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Families, kids focus on safety

i Greenville Hospital System 1 presented "Healthy and Safe • Kids Builds Healthy Commu-1 nities," Friday at Greenville I Braves Stadium. 1 Parents and children re-1 ceived tickets to the Braves n vs. Jacksonville Suns game >••} and were provided with T-

shirts, entertainment and exhibits before the game.

Charlene Proietta helps her children, Ashleigh and Anthony, get their bags together as the youngsters' grandfather, Charles Findlay, looks on.




CancerCenters gets OK for PET scanner GHS, which also sought approval, appeals decision By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER [email protected]

CancerCenters of the Carolinas has won state approval to operate a high-tech device in Greenville that will help physicians better detect cancer in their patients and afford Upstate residents access to the latest diagnostic testing close to home.

Greenville Hospital System, which also sought a certificate of need from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to run a positron emission tomography, or PET, scanner, appealed the decision Wednesday. The case will be decided by an administrative law judge, said Joel Grice, director of DHEC's Office of Certification of Need.

"The state health plan shows a need for only one PET scanner in the Upstate at this time, and we determined that (CancerCenters) better met our stan-

What is a PET scan? Positron emission tomography (PET; i activity is taking place. PET scans have: tten u: and in a new study they were used to find acti\ -

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any part of the body : Gdwputer technology is similar to that used in CT (or "CAT) scan ' Equivalent to about two chest X-rays

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dards," Grice said.

In an effort to rein in health-care costs, hospitals must apply to the state for

permission to add new high-end services or equipment.

See PET on page 5B




Positron emission tomography works by tracking and providing color images of the body's metabolism. Tracers generated by injecting patients with a mildly radioactive material, about equivalent to two chest X-rays, are scanned. Since cancer cells have a higher metabolism than normal cells, the scans can measure the location and progression of the disease.

Currently, Upstate patients must travel to larger metropolitan medical centers, such as Atlanta, for a PET scan, Grice said.

Greenville Hospital System's application called for leasing a mobile PET scanner that would have been housed inside an 18-wheeler on the hospital property at^a cost of about $921,000, Grice said. It would have operated three days a week at GHS.

CancerCenters' plan, with a price tag of $2.3 million, includes a 2,000-square-foot building to house a fixed PET scanner on Andrews Street at Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center campus, he said. It would operate five days a week.

CancerCenters' Dr. Mark O'Rourke said the project will be financed by US Oncology Inc., a nationwide physician practice management company that manages CancerCenters of the Carolinas as well as 67 other cancer centers in 26 states.

O'Rourke said CancerCenters was chosen because it has cooperative agreements with Upstate physicians who would refer patients for PET scans.

"DHEC was impressed that we had laid groundwork so we're able to work with every hospital," he said, "not one competing with another one."

Greenville Hospital System has filed its appeal, maintaining its proposal is more cost-effective and ensures better access for patients across the 10-county Upstate region.

"More patients can be reached with our plan, and we look for multiple opportunities for

cooperation and collaboration, which includes the CancerCenters of the Carolinas."

—- Robyn Zimmerman, hospital spokeswoman

"We believe that this advanced imaging tool needs to be shared with other Upstate health care providers," said hospital spokeswoman Robyn Zimmerman. "More patients can be reached with our plan, and we look for multiple opportunities for cooperation and collaboration, which includes the CancerCenters of the Carolinas."

Grice said that CancerCenters documented more support from the medical community in the Upstate

for its plan and demonstrated a broader range of uses for the device. The operator of a PET scanner, he said, must demonstrate a minimum of 750 procedures a year, a number that GHS has said it would reach as well.

"The need for PET scanning is increasing dramatically," said O'Rourke. "We actually think we'll see more than 1,000 of these in the first year, if not the second."

CancerCenters, a 14-physician hematology and oncology practice, wants to begin construction in the next two months with the scanner operational by Jan. 1.

Although there are no PET scanners in South Carolina, the state health plan calls for one for every million people, Grice said. That translates into one each for the Charleston area, the Midlands, and the Pee Dee region, in addition to the Upstate.

A PET scanner has been approved for Palmetto Baptist Hospital in Columbia, which expects it to be in operation by November, and another scanner was approved for Roper Hospital in Charleston. That decision is being appealed by a competing hospital, Grice said.

While PET scanning is used largely in diagnosing cancer, eventually it is expected to be useful in cardiology and neurology. The technology has been available for about 15 years, mostly at large teaching hospitals.

Each PET scan costs $1,000 to $1,500. Last year, the federal Health Care Financing Administration approved the technology in diagnosing lymphoma, melanoma and lung cancer, opening the door for Medicare reimbursement for the first time.


Date: Sept. 1, 2000 Publication: Greenvilie News Page: 1A Page 1 of 2

GHS' Eastside Cancer Center to be closed Services launched 14 months ago By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER losby @ greenvillenews.com

Greenville Hospital System's Eastside Cancer Center is scheduled to close today, 14 months after cancer services were launched there.

"Greenville Hospital System is transitioning its cancer services from the Eastside to the main campus, where a full array of cancer services will remain intact," hospital spokeswoman Robyn Zimmerman said, without discussing the reasons behind the move.

She said that GHS has been negotiating with CancerCenters of the Carolinas, a 14-doctor private practice in

Greenville, to provide outpatient cancer services at the hospital's main campus at the site of GHS' existing Cancer Center.

And CancerCenters of the Carolinas runs an Eastside facility off Pelham and Patewood roads on Enterprise Boulevard, right down the road from GHS' Eastside Cancer Center.

GHS' $4.4 million Eastside Cancer Center was described, as a way to bring much-needed medical services to Greenville County's growing eastern suburbs when it was proposed.

See CANCER on page 7H


Date: Sept. 1, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1A Page 2 of 2

At the time, GHS officials said a third of GHS's cancer patients lived on the Eastside. In its application to state health regulators, the hospital projected the Eastside facility would perform 7,772 radiation treatments by 1999 and 7,874 treatments by 2000.

Outpatient services at the facility have largely focused on radiation treatment. Surgery and other inpatient treatments are done at the main campus.

No state notification is required when services are shut down.

Dr. Jerry Youkey, GHS's vice president of academic affairs, said the hospital has been talking with CancerCenters about providing services at GHS.

But any agreement is still several weeks away, he said.

"The rumors are much further along than any facts," he said. "We have not reached any accord about details."

Several physicians at CancerCenters of the Carolinas worked out of GHS until 1995, when they left to begin their own practice in an acrimonious split.

Today, neither' side wants to discuss the past.

"It's history," said Dr. W. Larry Gluck, a partner with CancerCenters of the Carolinas.

"There was clearly a lot of animosity and there are a lot of scars," said Youkey. "But five years have gone by and lots of things have changed."

Marsha Cliff, a 48-year-old Greenville woman with breast cancer, says a deal between GHS, where she has been receiving treatment, and CancerCenters of the Carolinas, will mean fewer options for patients.

"The biggest thing for me is choice," said Cliff, noting that her oncologist of two years is leaving GHS, which means only two medical oncologists will remain.

"You have to see somebody," she added, "and if they (CancerCenters) are the only ones there, you have to see them."

Gluck said that besides his 14-doctor group and GHS, there is at least one other medical oncologist practicing in Greenville and others in surrounding counties.

"We desire to look after blood and cancer patients in the Upstate," he said. "But for those who don't want to see our group, they have more choice today than they had in most of the last 20 years."

Oncology services at Bon Secours St. Francis Health System are largely provided by CancerCenters' physicians. St. Francis Chief Executive Officer Richard Neugent declined comment on a possible agreement between GHS and CancerCenters.

Both Youkey and Gluck say no layoffs are planned. But different work sites or shifts are a possibility for current GHS Cancer Center employees if Gluck's group moves in, because CancerCenters of the Carolinas would hire its own employees, they said.

Youkey said the goal of both is to improve patient care and "to develop a larger more vibrant cancer treatment program in the Upstate.",

"They are the major providers of cancer treatment," he said, "and the other piece of it is that if we can work together, we ought to be able to impact services."

For instance, he said, the cost of expensive equipment could be shared.

In an unrelated development, GHS on Wednesday appealed a decision by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to approve CancerCenters' certificate of need for a high-tech $2.3 million PET Scanner that helps doctors better detect cancer.

GHS maintained that its proposal to lease a mobile PET, or positron

emission tomography, scanner housed inside an 18-wheeler on hospital property would be more cost-effective and reach a greater number of patients.

The state said CancerCenters documented more support from the Upstate medical community for its plan and demonstrated a broader range of uses for the device

Meanwhile, officials won't discuss the future of GHS's Eastside Cancer Center, which opened in June 1999 in a 110,000-square-foot building along with other services, including outpatient surgery, laboratories and a pharmacy, and the $1.2 million linear accelerator purchased to provide radiation therapy at the site.

Said Zimmerman, "We are exploring the opportunities."



Sept. 6, 2000 Greenville News 8 City People Page 1 of 2

Soothing voice for many people Switchboard operator at Memorial stays busy all day

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Chris McMahon City People Writer

cmcmahon @ greenvillenews.com

Before Yvonne Cooley takes her lunch break, she has answered 500 calls to Greenville Memorial Hospital switchboard.

Yet, she speaks to her next caller as if he was the first phone caller of the day. The last person that Cooley speaks with at the end of

her- shift gets PROFILE the same treat

ment. By then, she has had brief telephone conversations with more than 1,200 people.

Cooley directs most of those calls to doctors, patients and visitors in the hospital. And she insists to a caller that she never saw the blonde in a red skirt pass by her desk in the lobby of the main entrance,

because that isn't where Cooley sits to do her job.

• Name: Yvonne Cooley • Occupation: Switchboard operator at Greenville Memorial Hospital • Experience: 10 years • Family: Husband William Cooley; sons, William Jr. and Michael; three grandchildren.

• Hobbies: Thrift shopping

KEN OSBURN / Staff

Yvonne Cooley, switchboard operator at Greenville Memorial Hospital, handles about 1,200 calls a day.



Sept. 6, 2000 Greenville News 8 City People Page 2 of 2

She doesn't see hospital visitors unless they have a reason to come down a flight of stairs to the mezzanine floor and into the switchboard office.

That is where the operators work. The staff on duty usually answers 10,000 calls a day, about three million calls every year.

"Most people think that we are the ladies who sit at the front desk," says Cooley, who has worked as a switchboard operator for the past 10 years.

"Someone will call and say they need to find their sister who just came through the lobby a few minutes ago. They say she has blonde hair and a red miniskirt."

Most of her phone calls are quick-hits that last about 15 seconds. The majority of the calls come between 7 and 9 a.m., with another barrage from noon until 2:30 p.m.

Cooley, a Greenville resident, left her customer service job in banking after 24 years to work full-time as a switchboard operator at the hospital. She's been answering phones there for the past 10 years.

"Every job that I've had has been dealing with people," says Cooley. "Here it gives you a warm feeling. You help that person you are talking to. You put them in touch with people they need to talk to."

The phone calls she answers vary day to day. Sometimes, callers are looking for their husbands or wives. Others want to know why there is an ambulance three houses down their street. At times people call, but don't know the name of the person they are looking for.

Cooley sips from a cup of water on her desk. She receives so many phone calls that she has a recorded greeting for calls that come from outside the hospital. Once the greeting plays then she answers in person by tapping a key on her computer to connect to her customer.

All of the incoming calls pop up on one side of the screen on her computer. On the other side of the screen are the extensions for patients, doctors and employees of the hospital.

If the phone system goes down at the hospital, the switchboard operators have a back-up system to use. If that system fails, there is a third system available.

Cooley says she gets a list of patients and their medical conditions every morning.

"It touches your heart when you know of a death or something tragic happens," says Cooley. "Sometimes, you have to turn your board off, get up and go outside to

get yourself together."

At home, Cooley says she screens most of her calls through her answering machine, but she normally picks up the receiver.

"I'm a people person," she says. "I like talking to people."

• City People writer Chris McMahon can be reached at 298-4270.


Date: Sept. 6, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Paae: 11 City People

Volunteer surprised in Greer Co-workers threw a surprise

party for Melba Stephens Wednesday at Allen Bennett Hospital in Greer to show their appreciation for her volunteer role.

Stephens has been available day and night, often on her own time, to

act as a translator in the emergency room for Hispanic patients.

When she's on vacation, she provides Spanish-speaking interpreters to be on call in her place. She also works in the community with the growing Hispanic population.

Page 1 of 1

Photographs by KEN OSBURN / Staff

Melba Stephens, above left, is all smiles as she accepts a gift from Allen Bennett Hospital administrator Mickey Massey in recognition of her volunteer work. At left, Melba is surrounded by her family at the hospital.



Sept. 6, 2000 Community Informer 5 Page 1 of 1

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Expanded Pediatr ic Services For Northern Greenvi l le County

by Carmen Quintero North Greenville Hospital

With the addition of a new Pediatrician, the North Greenville Ambulatory Care Center at North Greenville Hospital is now able to offer more pediatric services.

Pediatrician Dr. Bill Martin began practice in Travelers Rest in July of this year. Dr. Martin joins Dr. Angie Millon in providing medical care to the infants, children and adolescents of Travelers Rest .and the surrounding areas. The staff also includes Carmen Quintereo, a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.

Additional services available include social services and assistance with Medicaid applications. To meet the needs of the growing Hispanic- population, two staff members at the center speak Spanish.

Pediatric care at the North Greenville Ambulatory Care Center is available on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and afternoons. Thursday and Friday the center is open for Pediatrics in the morning. The Ambulatory Care Center is located at North Greenville Hospital at 807 North Main Street (Highway 276) in Travelers Rest. The Center is accepting new patients and also accepts most major insurance and Medicare and Medicaid.

Calling 455-9261 can make appointments for Pediatrics, as well as Orthopedics and Low Risk Obstetrics.

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Dr. Angie Millon (seated) and Carmen Quintero, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.


Date: Sept. 8, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: IB Page 1 of 2

Ailing businessman ;

prison Judge denies Burgess' plea to serve sentence at his Greenville home By April E. Moorefield and Dale Perry STAFF WRITERS

ANDERSON — An ailing Greenville businessman's effort to avoid a stint in a Kentucky prison failed Thursday when a federal judge ruled that he isn't sick enough to serve his time at home.

John Burgess, the president of Southeastern Products Inc. and former Greenville Hospital System board chairman, appeared in federal court in Anderson to ask for special consideration because of his deteriorating health.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Barton opposed the request.

U.S. District Court Judge G. Ross Anderson agreed with the prosecutor.

Anderson did allow Burgess to delay until October the start of his federal prison sentence for underreporting

more than $2 million in personal and corporate income. It will allow him adequate time for a needed root canal, according to court records.

Burgess, 60, was sentenced in March to 18 months in prison for underreporting his personal income by $1.35 million and corporate income by $1 million on federal tax returns. The government alleged that he and his wife used the money from their interior design manufacturing company to renovate and furnish their Greenville home.

Since March, the start of Burgess' prison sentence has been delayed three times.

First, Anderson granted a month's delay this summer to allow Burgess time for a scheduled eye appointment, according to court records.

"The defendant has diabetes, which is severely affecting his eyesight, with the potential that he may lose most or all of his sight unless

proper treatment is given," said the motion, filed by Burgess' attorney, Bill Bannister of Greenville.

The date was extended from June 19 to July 18.

Next, Anderson agreed to delay Burgess' start date until Sept. 5 so that he could have crowns placed on six front teeth.

Then last month, Bannister asked the court for another extension "in order to save the teeth" of his client.

Anderson ruled Thursday that Burgess has until Oct. 10 or 72 hours following the completion of his dental work — whichever comes first —

See PRISON on page 6B


Date: Sept. 8, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1B Page 2 of 2

PRISON FROM PAGE 1B

to report to federal authorities in Lexington, Ky., where he will undergo a 30-day medical evaluation.

At the end of the evaluation period, Anderson said he will decide if Burgess should continue serving his sentence in a federal prison or be confined to his home.

In the meantime, Anderson said Dr. Sandra Weber, Burgess' personal physician, may visit the Lexington facility and conduct her own

examination. Weber was asked to submit a report on Burgess' condition to the court within 30 days after he reports.

Weber told the court Thursday that Burgess is being treated for diabetes, hypertension and depression and that imprisonment could be stressful. She said she plans to send a letter to the staff at the fed eral facility detailing her patient's hiedical needs.

A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons told The Greenville News that the Kentucky prison is well-equipped and able to treat most dental and medical needs on its premises.


Date: Sept. 8, 2000 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: 9A Page 1 of 2

Going in a new direction Local club offers stroke victims, caregivers support group

By RICHARD BREEN Community Editor

Ike Patterson remembers the agonizingly slow trip to the hospital during his stroke in 1980.

"They didn't rush me to the hospital," Patterson says. Conventional medical wisdom at the time said not to rush or do anything to get stroke victims excited.

"I can't imagine an ambulance stopping for red lights," Patterson says. "I thought I was dead. I felt like I was riding in a hearse."

While care for stroke victims has improved considerably in that time, one thing that hasn't changed is the need for follow-up support for victims and their caregivers. The Pattersons helped start the Greenville County Stroke Club in 1984 and continue to attend its monthly meetings.

"There's a lot of fellowship," says Ike's wife, Kathleen "Kat" Patterson. "In the 1980s, there was not a lot of publicity about strokes, the aftereffects, and people still leading useful lives."

Easter Seals Greenville sponsors the club. Director Anne Duncan says the gatherings alternate between social and educational.


Jeannie Elliott, stroke coordinator with the Greenville Hospital System, participates in a Greenville County Stroke Club meeting at the Salem United Methodist Church.



"It's really a wonderful group of people, and it means as much for me to be here as it does them," Duncan says.

The club has begun a relationship with Easter Seals' next-door neighbor, A Child's Haven. Members put on an Easter party for the children and plan on future activities involving the two groups.

"I try to get the stroke survivors to. do something for someone else," Duncan says. "Everything is always so focused on them taking care of themselves."

Approximately 25-30 - club members attend the meetings from a roll of around 100. Duncan says Easter Seals is looking into a second monthly meeting, which would take place in the evenings, to accommodate caregivers who also work full-time.

"We think there are some younger stroke survivors that could benefit from the Stroke

Club," she says. Kat Patterson, 69, talks to other

caregivers and stroke victims at the meetings, which take place the first Tuesday of every month at Salem United Methodist Church.

"Depression is something hot only the patient has to fight, but the family. It was devastating at first," she says.

Two of their five sons were still in school, and Kat says she worried about paying for their college education. Ike, a local State Farm agent, wanted to be able to continue to help his policyholders.

"Everything just worked but beautifully," Kat says. Ike even got to travel to Idaho to see his son Ed play football for Furman University in the 1988 NCAA Division I-AA Championship.

Ike spent one month in rehab at Greenville Memorial Hospital

and two months at Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Hospital. Typical rehab stays are significantly shorter now.

"I couldn't spell," Ike says, not even "cat" or "Kat," as he admitted to a therapist.

The stroke had robbed him of some memory as well as the use of his right arm, and it left his right toes paralyzed.

"He had to learn to write with his left hand," Kat says. "Roger Peace is one of the best assets of Greenville."

Ike, 71 and retired, now teaches Sunday school at Augusta Heights Baptist Church, even though he says he has to "read and read and read'^his Bible to be able to recall verses.

"The biggest thing is encouraging people that it's not the end of life," Kat says. "It's a different direction."



GHS Hospice needs volunteers Volunteers are needed to work with the hospice care team of the

Greenville Hospital System. Hospice care is for people with limited life expectancies who want to spend their last days at home or in a nursing home. The hospice team works to make the dying process as painless and meaningful as possible while relieving fear and loneliness for the patient and providing support for families before and after death. Volunteers must be 18 or older and will receive 12 hours of training. GHS Hospice serves patients in Greenville, Anderson, Laurens, Pickens and Spartanburg counties. To volunteer call 454-0890.

9-11-2000 GREER Hospital offering free screenings

Allen Bennett Hospital in Greer is offering free prostate screening for men 50 and over Sept. 21, 25 and 26 from 5:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.

The hospital is located on Wade Hampton Boulevard in Greer.

Please call 864-848-8154 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays to sign up for a complimentary screening.,



Professionals work with disabled golfers

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Helpful hints: Blind Golfer Avery Ellis, right, gets some Roger Peace Rehabilitation Hospital sponsored the pointers form Georgia golf pro Sonny Ackerman at the workshop, and 18 disabled golfers participated in it River Falls Plantation golf course Wednesday. The and will play in a tournament with other golfers today.



Regional care for preemies stirs debate

Opponents claim profits drive measure; supporters cite competition

By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER


Opponents of a proposed regulatory change that would allow more hospitals to care for the state's tiniest newborns say the measure puts profits before health care.

But supporters of the measure say it's the hospitals currently providing the services who are worried about profits.

The issue won't be decided until next month. But board members with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control clashed over the proposal at a meeting to discuss the measure Wednesday in Greenville.

"Medicine has changed, and to stay with the old plan is not in the best interest of patients," said Dr. Howard Brilliant, a proponent of the plan proposed last year by fellow board member Wifliam M. Hull.

But other board members said studies show the regional system is best for infants as well as cost-effective, and that the debate has more to do with competition.

"This is getting to be a little too much about money," board member Brian Smith said. "We're thinking about giving hospitals options that maybe the baby's health is not the issue."

Under current regulations, the sickest babies are only seen at hospitals designated? as regional perinatal centers — Greenville Hospital System, Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, and Self Memorial Hospital in the Up

state. The regional system was

set up to control health-care costs by concentrating expensive medical equipment and services at regional centers. It also assumes the best care is provided at facilities with the highest volume of patients.

The new proposal would create a new hospital designation — Level HE — enabling some 12 additional hospitals statewide, including Bon Secours St. Francis Women's & Family Hospital and Anderson Area Medical Center, to apply for permission to offer those services as long as they have a neonatologist on staff and follow certain guidelines.

"This proposal is the best way to bring better care to more babies in South Carolina, and to save lives and have healthier babies," Henry L. Parr, a Greenville attorney representing St. Francis, said after the meeting.

"Because of advances in medicine, care can now be easily delivered in a hospital like St. Francis," he said. "The state should encourage this type of life-saving care to be available at more hospitals."

But Dr. William Schmidt, medical director of GHS's Children's Hospital, said it would not be prudent to dedicate so many resources, such as neonatal intensive care incubators that run $24,000 apiece as well as staff, to hospitals that would see only a few 2- and 3-pound babies a year.

See CAREOM page 4B



Sept. 14,2000 Greenville News 1B Page 2 of 2

CARE FROM PAGE 1B

"Why would a community duplicate these resources?" he asked. "And why would we want to go against national standards of the American Academy of Pediatrics or the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, or the March of Dimes? No one recommends this except the smaller hospitals who want to keep the babies."

DHEC says that those organizations have provided the framework for the regional perinatal system in South Carolina.

While Parr agreed hospitals must look carefully at costs, he said that there is a cost benefit in better outcomes for more babies. And he added that regional perinatal centers may "have their own financial interests at stake" in opposing the measure.

Acknowledging that it is not unusual for a hospital bill for a pre-emie to top $1 million, Schmidt said that while money may be an issue for a particular hospital, it isn't for national organizations that recommend a regional approach.

Citing national health data that

Neonatal intensive care hospitals South Carolina's current system calls for the tiniest babies to be cared for at one of six specialized hospitals designated as regional perinatal centers.

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support the regional system, Smith ble," fie said, "and this is not an area agreed. where we should be testing things

"We need to be as safe as possi- out."


Date: Sept. 17,2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 2F Page 1 of 1

Seneca

Hospital staff goes above and beyond call of duty

Our granddaughter, Kylie Jeanne Champion, has been critically ill since last July, in a coma for the first 52 days and not expected to live at all. We do praise God that he gave us another miracle and she is at home with us once again. However, she did spend 1.71 days in Greenville Memorial Children's Hospital in the Pediatric ICU.

During that time my husband Jimmy and I stayed with her 24 hours a day, he at night and myself during the day. Fortunately there is a Ronald McDonald House across the street from the hospital and we were blessed to have a rodm there. I don't know what we would have done had it not been for that place! Everyone is so kind and supportive. Area churches and other organizations often bring in meals, and at Thanksgiving and Christmas we were well fed!

I also want to give a very big "thank you" to the doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists and staff at the Pediatric ICU at Greenville Memorial Children's Hospital, they are absolutely the greatest, who go above and beyond their duty in everything they do!

leanne B.Campbell


Date: Sept. 20, 2000 Publication: Greer Citizen Page: 7 Page 1 of 1

Hospital throws surprise party to honor Stephens

Allen Bennett Hospital has honored business office employee Melba Stephens for her hard work and devotion to helping others.

Hospital staff recently recognized Stephens with a surprise " thank-you" party.

E m p l o y e e H o n o r e d Allen Bennett Hospital ER Charge Nurse Barbara Greene, right, congratulates Melba Stephens on her willingness to help others. Stephens, a hospital office employee, has stepped into the role of Emergency Room translator.

Stephens has taken on the responsibility of serving as the hospital's interpreter to the Greer community's growing Hispanic population.

She has made emergency room operations much easier by translating Hispanics medical needs and putting the patients at ease.

Stephens has made herself available to emergency room staff at all times. She is willing to drop whatever she is doing to go to the emergency room at 6 a.m. or midnight in the rain or snow.

In addition, when Stephens does take a vacation she take measures to insure the emergency room is covered. She provides other Spanish speaking interpreters to be on call in her place.



Sept. 20, 2000 Greenville News 1B Page 1 of 2

Hospital reveals Eastside plans Women's center will provide range of services in former cancer facility By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER [email protected]

Greenville Hospital System plans a women's medical center at its former Eastside Cancer Center that would cut the wait for a mammogram and signals the easterly spread of other services, officials said Tuesday.

GHS patients now wait up to six months for a mammogram, said Dr. Robert V. Cummings, medical director of the new' facility, which would house nine mammography units allowing for 10,000 patient visits a year.

"We believe that with this increased capacity, it should be less than a month for a routine mammogram," Cummings said, "and for someone with an emergency, within the same day or week."

The American Cancer Society says enhancing access to mammography is important in the treatment of breast cancer.

"It's been proven that the

timely access to mammography can dramatically affect the stage at which cancer is detected," said MJ. Wardle, regional communications director for ACS. "So the earlier it's detected, the greater the chance a patient will have for long-term survival."

Set to open in March, the 12,OOO-square-foot Center for Women's Medicine at Pelham and Patewood roads also would offer ultrasound, reproductive endocrinology and other gynecological services to women on Greenville County's Eastside. Minor surgical procedures such as biopsies also will be performed on an outpatient basis.

The women's center is the first piece of a broader plan to expand a variety of services, including pediatrics subspecialties, to the Eastside, hospital spokeswoman Robyn Zimmerman said.

"We will be putting a lot of subspecialities on the Eastside over the next several


Centered plans: Dr. Robert V. Cummings, right, and Dr. Mary Rippon announce plans for Greenville Hospital System's new Center for Women's Medicine. Cummings is medical director of the new facility, which is planned at the site of the hospital's former cancer center on the Eastside.

months," said Zimmerman, who declined to provide further details.

The center is located on property adjacent to Bon Secours St. Francis Women's & Family Hospital, built 10 years ago. St. Francis officials

See CENTERon page5B



CENTER FROM PAGE IB

declined to comment on GHS's plans.

The expense of renovating the Eastside Cancer Center to provide the women's services is estimated at $800,000, not including the cost of the new mammography units, which will be leased.

The $4.4 million Eastside Cancer Center closed on Sept. 1, just 14 months after it opened. Officials have declined to disclose why the center was shut down, but when it was proposed it was touted it as a way to bring much-needed medical

services to the eastern suburbs.

The population continues to grow on the Eastside, said Dr. Mary Rippon, a surgical oncologist and medical director of GHS's Breast Health Center. That facility is relocating from i the main campus to the new center, Zimmerman said.

Diagnostic testing and outpatient services will continue at Greenville Memorial Hospital, including mammography, which may be expanded there as Well, Zimmerman said. She also said that services elsewhere in the system will not be discontinued once the Eastside facility opens.

The center, which is expected to see a,.total of 20,000 patients a year, will operate weekdays with some evening hours and possibly on

Saturdays, Cummings said. Child care may be offered to patients in tandem with other services at the center, he said.

The staff of 30, including four gynecologists, a radiologist, technicians, nurses, and fitness and nutrition counselors, will be hospital employees, he said.

With the exception of some confutations for high-risk pregnancies, no obstetrical services will be offered at the center, Cummings said. . A certificate of need was not required for the facility because it is an expansion of existing physician services, Zimmerman said. The center already houses radiology, laboratory and pharmaty services, outpatient surgery, medical offices and an urgent care center;


Date: Sept. 22, 2000 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: 40C Page 1 of 1

GHS needs hospice volunteers Volunteers are needed to work relieving fear and I for

with the hospice care team of the the patient and prov Greenville Hospital System, for families > Hospice care is for people with deato. Vol limited life expectancies who older and < want to spend their last days at training. GHS Hi ves home or in a nursing home. The patients in Gre on, hospice team works to make the Laurens, Pickens an dying process as painless and counties. To.vol mteei meaningful as possible while 0890.



Sept. 22, 2000 Greenville Journal 12A Page 1 of 2

GHS plans new women's center Facility scheduled to open next March

By GARY HYNDMAN Contributing Writer

Greenville Hospital System announced plans this week to locate a Women's Health Center in its Eastside Medical Campus.

The new unit, which will supplant its recently closed cancer center, is projected to cost approximately $800,000 for renovations and be open for business in March 2001. It will offer women of all ages a variety of healthcare services.

"This broad scope of services will help Greenville Hospital System address the needs of the growing population of women in Greenville County," says Dr. Robert Cummings, medical director of GHS's Center for Women.

The women's center will provide gynecological and reproductive endocrinology services; mammograms and ultrasounds, testing for osteoporosis; hormone replacement therapy; nutrition and exercise consulting; treatment for urinary incontinence and consultations for high-risk pregnancies. In fact, about the only female-related healthcare


Dr. Robert Cummings, administrator/medical director for Women's Services at GHS speaks to members of the media who gathered at the Eastside facility.

issue the center will not address is normal obstetrics.

Cummings expresses particular pleasure about the new facility's potential to offer breast imaging. With plans for nine new mammography suites, the six months Greenville women generally have to wait for a mammography will be reduced to about one month.

There also will be on-site biopsies and consultations for patients who are diagnosed with breast lesions.

According to Dr. Mary Rippon, a surgical oncologist and medical director of breast health services at GHS, the goal is "to create an

See GHS, Page A l 3 •



GHS from page Al 2

umbrella of women's services." By offering a comprehensive range of services in one location, patients will be able to "pick and choose" as they have need. "It shouldn't be so hard to do routine healthcare," she adds. Patients also will have access to outpatient surgery, which already is offered upstairs in the facility.

The center expects to employ a staff of approximately 30 doctors, nurses, technicians and nutritionists, some of them transfers from other locations while others will be new hires. That number will include four gynecologists and one radiologist. Life Center staff also will be on hand for consultations on diet and exercise.

Cummings reports focus groups were used to determine the need for the new facility and that its location was selected by consideration of pertinent demographic information. "The corridor that's growing fastest is here on the eastside, " he says. Then too, ii is a geographic area with a high concentration of women over 35, an age bracket which

represents the center' s primary target group. Explaining that basic obstetric services are widely available across the area, he hopes "to give women, who are not obstetrically focused access to these services."

But the new center also intends to provide healthcare for women of all ages. Specially designed programming will be available for females by age group, with emphasis placed on wellness and prevention. It is what Cummings describes as "healthcare throughout the life span." And he acknowledges that programming will be flexible, adapting to best serve the needs of its constituency. .

Cummings, who is himself an obstetrician and gynecologist, also promises the center will be "woman-friendly." ^Renovations to the existing 12,000 square foot suite call for creating good access and patient flow, privacy for checking in and out, and private dressing rooms adjacent to each mammography machine.

Hours of operation are expected to be Monday through Friday, with possible office hours on Saturday. Rippon notes that consideration is being given to offering childcare on site as well.



Children's Miracle Network pays off

Pholo Provided

Greenville Hospital System received a record donation of more than $1.2 million from this year's Children's Miracle Network telethon. Pictured at the check presentation are (I to r) GHS President Frank Pinckney, GHS Trustee Pat Haskell-Robinson, Children's Hospital Medical Director Dr. William Schmidt, GHS Foundation Chairman Andy Cajka, Holly Hepfer of the Children's Miracle Network and Lori Bovender of the GHS Foundation.



Sept. 27, 2000 Greenville News 1A Page 1 of 2

GHS raising rates 8.4% as of Sunday Hospital president says it's cost of doing business


The Greenville Hospital System will raise its rates 8.4 percent on Sunday, when the hospital's 2001 budget takes effect.

The $673.7 million budget, an increase of $51.6 million over last year, was approved Tuesday by the hospital's board of trustees.

The increase is necessary to pay for the higher costs of doing business, including la

bor, medical equipment and supplies, said GHS President Frank Pinckney. Labor costs account for $337 million of the budget,

It's also needed to offset cuts in federal reimbursements under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, and reduced revenues* negotiated under managed care contracts, which account for about 31 percent of hospital business.

"This budget is stretched, but achievable," Pinckney told the board. "We have to look for new procedures and volumes, and at the same time be cost-effective, to increase revenues."

See HOSPnM.onpage7A



Sept. 27, 2000 Greenville News 1A Page 2 of 2

HOSPITAL FROM PAGE 1A

The hospital system increased its rates 9 percent last year.

Accounting for cuts in federal Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, the hike translates into a net increase of 1.6 percent and enables the hospital to maintain a 4.4 percent operating, or profit, margin of $31 million, said Susan Bichel, GHS's acting vice president of finance.

About half the hospital's revenues come from Medicare and Medicaid, the federal health care programs for the elderly and the poor, and are not affected by the increase. Medicare reimbursements alone are dropping by $53.4 million in the five years ending in 2002, she said.

The budget includes the loss of 15 full-time administrative and corporate positions through attrition, but no layoffs, Bichel said.

The new fiscal plan calls for 261 new employees in other areas, including 105 nurses, 110 physicians, radiologists and other technicians, and 45 support staff such as housekeeping and maintenance, Bichel said.

An annual pay increase of up to 5 percent also is included in the budget, said Pinckney, along with improved health benefits. He added that the hospital's 6,000 workers — except for corporate staff — will receive a one-time $500 bonus from this year's budget to recognize the efforts they've made over the past few years to help cut costs.

The budget also includes a capital expense increase of $77.6 million, $49.3 million of which has already been approved for the hospital's upcoming expansion, new equipment and other improvements, she said.

The remaining $28.2 million would be earmarked for the renovation of patient rooms and the purchase of new equipment, such as new.X-ray units and an automated system for providing information

and supplies to operating rooms, allowing for increased use of the ORs, she said. ,

Dr. Thomas Mann, the new board chairman,said the budget allows the hospital to address a major concern — recruitment and retention of staff. Among new nurses, he said, the turnover rate hovers between 15 and 20 percent.

"The turnover rate in this institution is really discouraging," Mann said. "And that's thousands of dollars per employee that we lose because it costs us $8,000 to $10,000 to hire and process someone."

A retired surgeon, Mann in 1995 was the first physician appointed to the board. He served as board secretary in 1999 and as vice chairman in 2000.

The 2001 budget assumes an increase in patients — 44,400 inpatients, up 2,134, and 1.2 million outpatients, or 4,248 more than this year, Bichel said. But it also assumes bad debt of $45 million and charity said.

care of $35 million, she


Date: Sept. 29, 2000 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: C32 Page 1 of 1

* RE/MAX Reality Professionals Inc. celebrated its 15th year in business with a ^ party in honor of the Greenville Children's Hospital. Here, magician Alan

Bryson juggles for kids at the hospital.


Date: Oct. 4, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1B Page 1 of 1

GHS settles federal billing claims

US. government says 20 state hospitals overcharged for lab tests By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER [email protected]

Greenville Hospital System is among 20 South Carolina hospitals that have agreed to pay nearly $2 million to settle federal claims that they billed government health plans too much for outpatient lab tests.

The hospitals repaid $1.97 million for billing Medicare and the CHAMPUS military health-care program for separate lab tests that should have been bundled as a group, U.S. Attorney J. Rene Josey said Tuesday.

The billing problems were found after the U.S. attorney's office asked hospitals in the state to audit their billing practices.

The Medical University of South Carolina will have to repay $379,433, the most in the state, Josey said.

Greenville Hospital System settled for $261,791 in late summer and hospital attorney Donna S. Kivett characterized the dispute as "a disagreement" over billing codes.

"Let's say a doctor orders a CBC (complete blood count), there was an issue about how

that should be coded," she said. "Medicare has unique codes it gives to each component of tests and this was a disagreement between hospitals nationwide and the U.S. Attorney's Office about how that was supposed to be done."

"This was a coding issue pure and simple," said GHS attorney Joe Blake. "There is no question the tests were run."

Spartanburg Regional Medical Center agreed to repay $110,834 and SRMC spokeswoman Betsy McMillan said the improperly submitted claims were unintentional and resulted from "ambiguous" Medicare regulations for outpatient lab procedures that SRMC misinterpreted.

"We were billing for individual charges which they said we should have bundled as one charge," she said. "When we were contacted by the government about this retroactive action we fully cooperated and did an audit involving tens of thousands of claims."

The investigation began in

lyyy when hospitals in South Carolina were asked by the Department of Justice to audit their outpatient laboratory billing practices, Josey said.

The hospitals were suspected of improperly submitting unnecessary or unbundled claims, Josey said. Unbundling claims is the process of billing for several individual tests performed as single automated chemistry panel.

When that turned out to be a "long and cumbersome process," Jo-sey's office began its own investigation.

"I'm sure their view is they were acting cooperatively," Josey said. "We gathered our own data in an effort to expedite a resolution."

The settlements were reached during the past six months based on based on information from both sides, he said, adding that he believes this was the first time such an investigation was conducted in South Carolina.

At the time the investigation was launched, Ken Shull, president of the South Carolina Health Alliance, which represents more than 60 acute care hospitals in the state, said it resulted from billing errors rather than fraud or abuse.

Although Josey said fines were possible at the outset of the investigation, none was levied.


Date: Oct. 5, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1A Page 1 of 2

Jobs being c rea ted faster t h a n they can be filled

By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER [email protected]

During the five months Diane Davis was waiting to get a routine mammogram, a quick-growing cancer was spreading through her breast.

"That was scary," says the 53-year-old Greenville woman who underwent a mastectomy in May to remove the cancer that was undiscovered until she had the diagnostic test.

"You need to be able to get in for a mammogram faster."

Health officials in the Upstate and around South Carolina agree: Up to six months waiting for a test to detect breast cancer is far too long. But faced with a growing population that is also aging

as the number of mammo-graphers shrinks, they're not sure what to do about it.

"We really are in a crisis," said Dr. Tommy E. Cupples, a Columbia radiologist and assistant clinical professor of radiology at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. He noted there is a shortage of radiologic technologists overall.

"This specialty is in real trouble if there aren't some changes in the next few years," he said.

TO LEARN MORE For more information, contact the American Society Of Radiologic Technologists at 800-444-2778.

In 1994, schools nationwide certified 10,629 radiologic technologists, the step before becoming a mammo-grapher, according to the American Society of Radiologic Technologists. That number had dropped to 7,595 by last year. But the society predicts another 55,000 technologists will be needed by 2008.

"Jobs are being created in the field faster than they can be filled," said society spokeswoman Ceela McEl-veny. "Radiology departments around the country are understaffed."

Nationwide, more than 300 million radiologic procedures, including X-rays, CT scans and MRIs, are performed a year — 8 percent of them are mammograms,

McElveny said.

Over the next three years,

Cupples said, a million women a year will turn 40, the age when annual mammography screening typically begins. And the population 65 and older is expected to double in the next decade, McElveny said.

Judy H. Speer, mammography coordinator at Greenville Technical College, says the shortage is expected to hit critical proportions in the Upstate next spring when Greenville Hospital System opens its Eastside Center for Women with a total of nine mammography units on site.

"We've seen the need for about five or six years," she said. "I think it will be difficult to (staff) nine units."

GHS, which hopes to reduce the wait from six months to one month by performing another 12,000 to 14,000 mammograms a year at its Eastside center, is "aggressively recruiting" technologists, said Michael E. Hanna, administrator of clinical support services.

Radiologic techology s In 1998, there were 162,000 radiologic technologists jobs nationwide—one in five working part-time. • The number of jobs is expected to increase 10 to 20 percent by 2008. I : Radiologic Technologists earned a median annual salary of $32,880 in 1998. K Hospitals will continue to be the largest employer, but the greatest growth will occur in private offices and clinics. ». Some 600 schools, including

Greenville Technical College, were accredited last year

with 35 states and Puerto Rico,

: including South Carolina, offering licensing programs.

Two-year associate's degrees are most

common for radiologic technologists with

mammographers studying an additional

six to 12 months.

SOURCE: US Department of Labor; American Society of Radiologic Technologists

S. RIDDLE/Staff



Still, Speer said, the shortage is spotty. While she's been getting calls for mammographers from some hospitals — one in Columbia is short nine — others are managing.

At Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, the wait for a routine mammogram is two to three months, an interval the hospital considers acceptable, says lead mammographer Allie Eriksson. St. Francis has 11 mammographers, she said, attributing the staffing to flexible hours and part-time positions that make life easier for working moms.

The AnMed Health Campus of Anderson Area Medical Center, with five full-time and two part-time mammographers, is able to schedule a mammogram within a week, said radiologist Dr. Paige Huber. And Mary Black Hospital Memorial Hospital in Spartanburg can schedule next-day routine mammography, spokesman Cliff Floyd said.

While Oconee Memorial Hospital is experiencing a shortage of radiographers, spokeswoman Heather Goss said mammograms can nonetheless be scheduled within the week. And Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, with eight technologists, has a two-week wait for a routine mammogram, according to Mary Mabry, coordinator for mammography services.

Hospitals typically recruit locally, which means they try to lure technologists from nearby facilities, Speer said, or they import costly temporary employees. A mammographer working for one hospital in Greenville says she was recently offered a position at another.

And HealthSouth Diagnostic Center of Greenville recently lost a mammographer to an Anderson County facility, said Administrator Nancy L. Gregory, noting a recently installed mammography unit can't keep running because of a lack of staff.

"Since the day I started a year ago in July," Gregory said, "we've never been fully staffed."

Besides advertising in the Upstate, Gregory says she's tried to

recruit from out of state, too. She's trained routine radiology techs to do mammograms, she says, only to lose them to other jobs and family moves. She's even offered sign-on bonuses.

And she's not alone. Across the country, hospitals have been hoping to attract new technologists with bonuses of up to $4,000, McElveny said.

"We are in dire straits in the medical community," Gregory said. "We don't want to go out of the mammography business."

But one Greenville facility is. Internal Medicine Associates will stop performing mammographies by the end of the year, leaving 5,000 patients to look for the service elsewhere, said office manager Carmel West.

"Insurance companies do not reimburse us enough to cover the costs, and we're losing $15,000 a year providing this service," West said, noting IMA receives an average reimbursement of $42 for each of the 300 mammographies it performs a month.

"It's a shame that a service so important to women is such a money loser, especially since the Upstate is so underserved it takes months to get in," she said. "But we can't afford to provide it any longer."

Cupples agrees. Citing a 1994 study he conducted, he said each mammogram cost $28 in film and processing alone, not including the salaries of the technologists who perform the mammogram and the radiologists who read the films plus office overhead.

"Mammography programs are in a real financial crunch because they aren't able to charge what it costs to do a mammogram," he said, adding insurance reimbursements must increase or IMA won't be the only program to curtail mammography services.

But Richard Coorsh, spokesman for the Health Insurance Association of America, which represents 290 private health insurers nationwide, said reimbursements are as low as they are to help control health-care costs.

"Our concern, first and foremost, has to be with keeping the cost of coverage affordable," he said. "If consumers are unabie to afford the premium, then they are unable to avail themselves of the preventive services the coverage will provide."

Meanwhile, McElveny said fewer students are entering the field because of the lure of better paying jobs in computer and other high-tech professions. A survey of graduates that Speer conducted showed mammographers in South Carolina make an average of $16 an hour after one year on the job.

..Greenville Tech is the only school in the state offering a mammography specialty, Speer and health-care experts said. Class size varies from six to 14 with eight students enrolled this year, she said. But only three are from the Upstate.

Diane Davis, who along with husband Bill owns a dry-cleaning business, still considers herself lucky even though she had to wait so long for the test.

"It was caught in the early stages," she said. "But we need a system where people can get in faster."



Oct. 5, 2000 Herald Journal 1B Page 1 of 1

Hospitals must repay nearly $2 million

Money settles federal claims of overbilling By TOM LANGHORNE Staff Writer

The federal government said 22 South Carolina hospitals, including Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, overbilled government health plans for outpatient laboratory tests.

Now 20 of those hospitals have agreed to pay nearly $2 million in civil settlements of the disputed f ed-"al claims. '

SRMC has agreed to repay $110,834, the seventh-highest figure in the state.

In all, the 20 hospitals will repay a total of $1,976,055.33 for billing Medicare and the CHAMPUS military health-care program for separate lab tests that the government says should have been billed as a single series of tests.

SRMC spokeswoman Betsy McMillan said Wednesday that claims improperly submitted by hospital system employees were unintentional and had ftp criminal intent.

"It was billing errors, not fraud or abuse," McMillan said.

The government's investigation began in 1997, when the United

States Attorney's Office asked South Carolina hospitals to audit their own outpatient laboratory billing practices. The federal prosecutor's office was acting as part of a larger national initiative of the U.S. Department of Justice, according to U.S. Attorney J. Rene Josey.

The government suspected the hospitals were improperly submitting unnecessary or unbundled claims, Josey said Wednesday.

Josey said technological advances had produced automated machinery enabling the hospitals to analyze a patient's blood for many things at once.

"They were testing for multiple things, but able to do it with only one pass through the machine," Josey

said. "Say the blood was tested for 10 things at once. They were billing for all 10 separately, when only one or two were necessary, or in some cases, even when all 10 were necessary."

When the government decided the self-audits it had requested were taking too long, Josey said, the U.S. Attorney's Office stepped in and conducted its own audits.

It was these audits on which the hospitals' civil settlements with the government were based, Josey said.

SRMC's McMillan said the unintentional errors made by hospital system employees came in trying to interpret ambiguous Medicare billing codes.

"When the government requested

the self-audits, we cooperated fully and audited tens of thousands of claims," she said.

McMillan said having to pay the $110,834 will not harm SRMC's financial position unduly.

U.S. Attorney Josey said the amounts each hospital agreed to pay were arrived at using information provided by both sides and results of the government's audits.

"It was how much we thought they might have been overpaid and our assessment of their overall culpability," the federal prosecutor said.

Tom Longhorne can be reached at [email protected], or 582-4511, Ext. 7221.


Date: Oct. 6, 2000 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: C19 Page 1 of 2

Two years ago , the Greenvi l le Hospi ta l System found itself in a di f f icul t pos i t ion . Today, due to bo ld decisions made by GHS President Frank Pinckney and other hospi ta l of f ic ia ls,

the b leeding of red ink has s topped, and the heal th care system is now —

AC! IV

The Greenville Hospital System found itself in a difficult position two years ago. It was faced with providing health care for a community that was growing far beyond what was anticipated.

At the same time, it was hit with the federal Balanced Budget Act, which began drastically reducing the amount of money the government was reimbursing hospitals for Medicare and Medicaid.

Almost overnight, the previously healthy GHS system was bleeding red ink to the tune of $1 million per month. What transpired in the midst of that crisis is described by GHS officials as bold, tough decisions that have resulted, in a

Photos by Julie Crawford/Staff Photographer

Bold, tough decisions have resulted in a healthcare system that is expanding today, paying performance bonuses to its employees and adding services, says GHS President Frank Pinckney, right.

By BARRY RAY system that is expanding today, Business Editor paying performance bonuses to its

employees and adding services while many of the state's other hospitals and hospital systems are slashing personnel and services.

"Two years

ago, we

dropped

$10

million

In six

months."

"Two years ago, we dropped $10 million in six months," says Frank Pinckney, GHS president. "We decided not to sit back and wait for reform. We acted. Some other hospitals decided to wait, and they are experiencing the consequences of that. We said

we needed to make bold decisions to offset some of the impact of the BBA [Balanced Budget Act]."

GHS made cuts in just about every nonclinical area - that is,"areas that do not directly affect patient

care. There were job cuts, mostly accomplished through attrition, and consolidation of some functions within the system. Soon, the system was in the black again and still able to press ahead with plans to expand facilities to accommodate the growth of the past five years in the Upstate and the growth that is projected for the next three years.

Last month, the GHS board of trustees approved a $673.7-million budget for fiscal 2001. The budget

See GHS, Page B22 •


Date: Publication; Page:

Oct. 6, 2000 Greenville Journal C19 Page 2 of 2

provides increases in employee benefits, the addition of 271 patient-support positions, new equipment and new technology. It also commences the Phase V construction plan, which will result in a six-story patient room tower at Greenville Memorial Hospital, the first in a series of facility expansions that will result in new heart facilities, a new neonatal intensive care unit, the conversion to all private rooms, and other improvements. Preliminary site work for the tower is already under way. The budget calls for an 8.4 percent increase in room pricing, which GHS officials say has been misinterpreted in the media and the public.

"It's important to.recognize that for every dollar in price increases, GHS only gets about 25 cents," says Dr. Tom Mann, chairman of the GHS board of trustees. "The net price increase is actually 1.6 percent. We felt it was essential that we recognize our employees."

"That 1.6 percent is an investment in this community," says Pinckney. "Is a small increase like that worth it for this community? You bet it is."

The new budget for GHS reflects the continued growth in Greenville County that brings with it a demand for additional services and expansion of existing services. It also reflects the fact that government reimbursements through Medicare and Medicaid are still shrinking, at a greater rate than in previous years, due to the ballooning nature of the cuts.

So while budgetary reality as dictated by Congress would suggest hospitals cut services, GHS is not afforded that opportunity due to the growth that has swelled its patient load. The hospital system

expects to treat 44,400 inpatients next year and 1.2 million outpatients. Add to that the fact that GHS handles the bulk of indigent health care, to the tone of some $30 rnillion per year and that it has $40 million in bad debt (patients who can afford to pay but haven't), and the task is daunting. .

In making the cuts during the BBA crisis, GHS and its board turned to hospital staff members. The feeling was that those on the front lines in day-to-day patient care would be in a better position to identify opportunities for cuts and consolidation. Those employees who have made suggestions and continue to, will be rewarded with bonuses.

In addition, because of GHS's success in coping with the budgetary concerns of the past two years, all current, full-time employees are getting a $500 bonus as well as increased dental and prescription benefits.

Not all of the cuts made at GHS have been popular. Some members of the community were opposed to the consolidation of cancer radiation services from the Eastside to Greenville Memorial.

"We recently looked at radiation therapy," says Pinckney. "We have surplus space in radiation therapy, so we consolidated everything to this facility."

Now that the transition has occurred, GHS is negotiating with Hematology and Oncology Associates, which left facilities at GHS to build CancerCenters of the Carolinas, for a return to the GHS Cancer Center. Pinckney says the departure of Hematology and Oncology Associates five years ago made business sense for both entities, and that the current nego

tiations are based on a dramatically different scene in health care.

"We have entered into discussions with medical oncologists, Hematology and Oncology Associates," says Pinckney. "They too have costs and challenges and it makes sense to consolidate where possible. The entire health care field has changed so drastically since they left here five years ago. It makes sense to collaborate now."

The new GHS budget calls for the hospital system to operate on a slim 4.4 percent (revenue over cost) margin. If the system is able to achieve that margin or improve on it, it will be instrumental in maintaining its AA bond rating, a f$at only a handful of hospitals in the U.S. have been able to achieve.

The hospital will need that rating as it seeks to borrow money and attract additional help from the philanthropic community, two avenues it plans to use in the coming years in order to hold patient costs near current levels while completing the expansion.

The budget session of the GHS system also marked a first for the board of trustees. Mann, a retired general surgeon who became the first physician on the GHS board, became the chairman, another first. Mann's father, James Mann, served on the board beginning in 1930 and spent several years as the board's legal counsel.

"I think the board and the administration deserve credit for their efforts to increase physician involvement on the board," says Mann. "That is the trend in health care today, but GHS was way ahead of the curve. That's commendable."



Clemson h a s r eco rd yea r for r e s e a r c h funding

By Anna Simon CLEMSON BUREAU

asimon @ greenvillenews.com

CLEMSON — While Clemson University astrophysicist Donald Clayton looks to the stars to find the origin of the galaxy, entomology professor Clyde Gorsuch keeps his nose to the ground to find ways to control fire ants invading the Southern United States.

These research projects and hundreds of others brought a record $69.1 million in sponsored research funding to Clemson University in fiscal year 1999-2000, which ended June 30.

It was a 25 percent increase over the previous year's figures and exceeded

the university's target by about 8 percent.

"I attribute this phenomenal increase to the university's renewed commitment to growing its research and graduate education opportunities," said Y.T. Shah, Clemson's chief research officer.

The funding increase announced Thursday brings Clemson another step closer to meeting President James Barker's goals of being ranked among the top 20 public universities within 10 years and reaching $100 million in sponsored research.

Ultimately, research dollars can be turned into economic

prosperity ana JODS in soutn Carolina, Shah said.

"The technology and intellectual capital born in such research projects will not only grow existing businesses but help attract new high-tech industries," Shah said.

Federal agencies, such as the National Science Foundation, sponsor 74 percent of the research projects, bringing $51 million to Clemson. Federal dollars increased 34 percent from the previous year.

Private industry accounted for 17. percent of the research revenue, state money provided 8 percent, and local government spending came to 1 percent.

Major gifts last year included the donation of intellectual properties worth an estimated $50 million by major companies such as Hoechst and Eastman Chemical.

Clemson's new Institute for Family and Neighborhood Life brought in more than $1.5 million in projects from a child-care study to assistance for teen moms.

About half of the grants went to the College of Engineering and Science, which brought in $34.3 million.

One of those projects, a $500,000 annual grant from General Electric to increase the efficiency of gas turbines, could mean less expensive air transportation and cheaper electricity for consumers.

The project differs from most research projects in that it is funded for a minimum of five years, which researchers say will allow more continuity in what could be frontier-

Chris Przirembel, associate dean of Engineering and Sciences, said a particularly popular project is a $360,000 grant that allows graduate and undergraduate students to work with a NASCAR team to increase horsepower, reduce drag and help race cars run longer on a tank of gas.

What researchers learn could eventually help consumers pay less at the gas pumps.

Construction also began on a state-of-the-art agricultural biotechnology and molecular biology complex funded by a state bond bill. The complex should be completed in early 2002.

Clemson also continues to rank in the top 25 nationally in income earned from patents and intellectual properties.

Now researchers are gearing up

for what they hope will be another record-breaking year, Przirembel said.

Three areas at Clemson that are rich in federal funding — nanotech-nology, (manipulation of materials on an atomic or molecular scale), bioengineerig and information technology — are targeted for grant proposals.

Bioengineering efforts include collaborations with the Greenville Hospital System and the Medical University of South Carolina.

• Anna Simon writes about Clemson University and the surrounding community. She can be reached at (864) 654-7563.

-1-nrr TTrrvt-U



Construction to force hospital detours $59.1 million project to alter driving, parking at Memorial By Liv Osby H E A L T H W R I T E R losby @ greenvillenews.com

Getting around Greenville Memorial Hospital is about to get tougher for the hospital's 8,000 daily visitors and patients as parking and driving patterns change in anticipation of the Phase V construction project.

The $59.1 million project will expand cardiac, emergency, children's and women's services at Memorial to enable the hospital to see another 6,000 patients a year.

The most immediate change will be Monday's closure of the emergency room access off Grove Road, said John F. Mansure, Phase V administrator. A new road around the south parking area

has been constructed to allow access to the ER, he said.

Since construction will occur largely in front of the hospital, three of its five entrances will close next month, he said. The current ER entrance, for instance, will be closed and a new temporary entrance will open through the pediatric ER, Mansure said. Both inpatient and outpatient drop-off areas also will close, and a new entrance for both services will be provided closer to the visitor's entrance.

Improvements will be made to the ER ambulance area as well, he said, and a helipad constructed next to the south parking deck.

"We have met with EMS, the Highway Patrol and law enforcement to tell them about all this, so it will not be a surprise," Mansure said.

Parking for ER patients also will move to the ground-level lot across from the Shriner's Hospital. Since the project means a loss of about 50 visitor parking spaces,

Changing traffic and parking patterns Greenville Hospital System is altering its driving and parking patterns with

the start of its Phase V construction project. Beginning Monday, the Grove Road access road to the Emergency Room

will close. Another road which loops around the south parking area has been constructed for ER access. ER patient parking also wilt move to the lot opposite the Shriner's Hospital and a new ER entrance will be designated.

1 Entrance road closed | Marshall 1.1

Pickens

Grove Rd.

•' &£(&£& ;|

GHS will prohibit employee parking in visitor lots, Man-sure said.

Phase V overall will cost $67.6 million and includes improvements at Allen Bennett Hospital in Greer and Hillcrest Hospital in Simpsonville.

The expansion was designed with an eye on growth in outlying areas and population projections in GHS's service area — it has 70 percent of the market share in

SUZIE RIDDLE/Staff

Greenville County and 30 percent overall of the 10 Upstate counties — as well as use rates. For instance, the number of visits to Memorial's ER grew from 67,570 in 1995 to 84,000 last year, and cardiac catheterizations increased 38.4 percent between 1995 and 1999.

Construction is expected to be completed by 2003 at the main campus and by 2002 at the community hospitals.


Date: Oct. 13,2000 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: B25 Page 1 of 1

Mann Brister

MEDICAL • The Greenville Hospital System Board

of Trustees has elected new officers for the 2001 fiscal year. Dr. Thomas Mann,

a retired surgeon and Greenville native was elected chairman of the board. He became the first physician appointed to the board in 1995. Roy Abercrombie, executive vice president

of Central Carolina Bank, will serve as vice chairman. Douglas Brister PhD, vice president of administration at Greenville Technical College, will serve as secretary.

• Paul E. Smith Jr. has opened the eastside office of Smith Therapy Services in Greenville. Smith was formerly the director of SportsLife at Greenville Hospital System.

Abercrombie



Perinatal centers get DHEC backing Specialized sites most able to care for at-risk infants By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER [email protected]

The state's tiniest newborns will continue to be delivered and cared for at specialized South Carolina hospitals, except for those born more than 60 miles from those regional perinatal centers, a state board decided Thursday.

In a 5-1 vote, the Department of Health and Environmental Control board said that premature infants weighing less than 1,250 grams, or 2.75 pounds, are better served at regional centers equipped to handle high-risk pregnancies and births, DHEC spokeswoman Jan Eas-terling said.

The measure, which must be approved by the Legislature before taking effect, permits hospitals that are more than 60 miles from a South Carolina regional perinatal center or hospitals in Aiken, Rock Hill and Beaufort to apply to DHEC to provide the

service should they wish. Paula Howell, director of

the South Carolina chapter of the March of Dimes, called the vote "a victory for this state's smallest citizens," adding that the regional perinatal system "promises the best outcomes for babies."

The regional system was designed to concentrate expensive medical equipment and services at centers, known as Level III hospitals, assuming the best care is provided at facilities with the highest volume of patients. I Upstate hospitals designated as regional perinatal centers are the Greenville Hospital System, Spartanburg Regional Medical Center and Self Memorial Hospital.

Under the measure passed Thursday, another hospital designation — Level HE — Svas created for the Aiken,

Beaufort and Rock Hill hospitals.

The original proposal would have allowed 12 hospitals statewide, in-eluding Bon Secours St. Francis Women's & Family Hospital and Anderson Area Medical Center, to apply to offer those services as long as they had a neonatologist on staff and followed certain guidelines.

Dr. Howard L. Brilliant, the lone dissenter in Thursday's vote, had supported the original proposal, which generated harsh criticism from other board members, including Brian Smith, who said it considered hospital profits over infants' health.

Bon Secours St. Francis had supported the proposal, saying that care provided at additional hospitals would save more lives.

"We are delighted that the DHEC board approved the concept of Level HE centers, but very disap

pointed that they amended it so that Level HE can't be available in Greenvilie," said Margaret Clark, Bon Secours St. Francis' vice president of marketing and public relations.

Anderson Area Medical Center officials were not available for comment, but Dr. Robert Newell, neonatologist at Greenville Hospital System, called the exception "unwise."

"We have a system of regional care that we should be very proud of in South Carolina. Since it was established in the 1970s, we reduced infant mortality 77 percent," he said. "These (preemies) represent only 1.5 percent of births, but 40 percent of mortalities. And mor

tality is higher at centers that are not part of this system."

Newell said he fears the change also may lead to further erosions of the regional system, which is also sanctioned by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.


Date: Oct. 15, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1G Page 1 of 2

Surgical technicians help hospitals operate


Ready to operate: Surgical technicians Nica McGee, left, and Kathy McCombes, center, assist surgeon Dr. Christopher H. Kavolus with knee replacement surgery at Greenville Memorial Hospital.

Technician finds surgery more fun than nursing By Noxolo Nxusani STAFF WRITER nnxusani @ greenvillenews.com

Nica McGee entered Greenville Technical College a few years ago with the intention of becoming a nurse.

Now she says she was lucky the waiting list for nursing was so long. Instead, she registered to study surgical technology — a field she said she has enjoyed from the first day to today.

"Surgery was more appeal

ing and fun than nursing." she said. Initially, she moved between four different specialties — neurosurgery, cardiology, gynecology and orthopedics.

But she "later settled for ortho," she said, "which I found to be better than the other fields."

McGee said she likes the control over her environment that her job allows.

She's not alone. Mia Wakefield, an expect

ing mother, loves the work,


New knee coming: Surgical technicians Nica McGee, right, and Kathy McCombes prepare a patient for knee replacement surgery.

although she had her rough couldn't eat the meat," moments early on.

"When I first started, I had difficulty eating meat for about a month. This* was after helping out during a surgery. I used to cook it but

Wakefield said. Those days are over,

though, and she, like McGee, can leave the surgery where it belongs — in the operating room.


Date: Oct. 15,2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1G Page 2 of 2

Low pay 'scaring' workers away from growing field By Noxolo Nxusani STAFF WRITER nnxusani @ greenvillenews.com

Medical shortages aren't limited to doctors and nurses. There's one for surgical technicians, those who assist in medical operations, whether scheduled or emergency.

It's a profession expected to increase in size dramatically in coming years.

Orrie Burdine, who heads Greenville Technical College's Department of Surgical Technology, said the profession has yet to come into its own. Generally low salaries have limited interest, she said.

"Basic starting salary should be between $11 and $12 an hour, but right now, we are looking at $9 an hour, and that's scaring them away," she said.

The role of technician, though, is growing in scope and responsibility, Burdine said.

Techs — or "scrubs" as they are commonly called in hospitals — assist in operations under supervision of surgeons, registered nurses,

or other medical personnel. Their job is to help get the

operating room ready for surgery, assist during a procedure, and clean up afterward.

Techs also help get patients ready by washing, shaving and sterilizing the areas for surgery. They transport patients to the operating room and get them in the right position on the operating table.

During procedures, they often help monitor patients' vital signs, check charts and pass instruments and other materials to the physicians.

They may also be called on to hold retractors, cut sutures and apply dressings, or operate sterilizers, lights or suction machines.

Even though it's an interesting job, said Erika Spinelli, a spokeswoman for Greenville Memorial Hospital, it has its disadvantages and is not without risk.

By necessity, techs must stand for long periods and remain alert during operations.

At times, they may be exposed to communicable diseases and unpleasant sights,

odors and materials. Although they work a regular 40-hour week, they may be on call or work nights, weekends and holidays on. a rotating basis.

Most receive their training in formal programs offered by community and junior colleges, universities, hospitals and the military. They are expected to keep abreast of new developments in the medical field.

With additional training, some techs advance to become first assistant, a surgeon's right hand in the operating room.

Others manage central supply departments in hospitals, or take positions with insurance companies or medical equipment or supplies services.

Spinelli said at Greenville Memorial, there are currently nine vacancies for surgical tech. Starting salary for someone directly out of school, she said, is about $19,600 a year, but techs have the potential of making up to $32,500.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said the need for surgical techs is expected to

Job Title Surgical technologist Salary Range Nationally, a majority earn between • $22,040 and $30,230 a year. Median annual earnings were $25,780in 1998. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $18,930 and the highest 10 percent earned more than $35,020 a year.

Requirements • Education Technologists receive training in formal programs offered by community and junior colleges, vocational schools, universities, hospitals and the military. High school graduation normally is required for admission. Programs last nine months to two years and lead to a certificate, diploma or associate's degree. • Career potential The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 41.8 percent increase in the employment of surgical technologists through the year 2008. • How to get started Be prepared to learn something daily and have patience. Be conscientious, orderly and emotionally stable to handle the demands of the operating room environment.

THE GREENVILLE NEWS

increase considerably between now and 2008, as the U.S. population grows older and larger.

While hospitals are expected to continue to be the primary employer of surgical techs, more and more will find positions in medical offices and clinics — especially walk-in surgical centers.



Oct. 18,2000 Greenville News 11 Citv People Paqe 1 of 1

Triumph of Human Spirit awards made at Embassy Suites

Students, businesses and community members were honored Oct. 5 at the Triumph of the Human Spirit awards banquet at Embassy Suites.

Winners are: Student of the year: Jennifer

Hammond. Jennifer, a recent graduate of Blue Ridge High School, has Down Syndrome and a speech impediment. She has a perfect work attendance record at her job in the cafeteria at Skyland Elementary School, and was on the honor roll each year at school.

Student of the year: Angela Lind-sey Deese. Angela, a recent graduate of J.L. Mann High School, has congenital spina bifida and paraplegia. She was an active student and participated in many sporting events. Angela was the first student to complete drivers' education using hand controls. She now attends USC Spartanburg.

Citizen of the year: Tommy Land. Tommy is a paraplegic and volunteers in the therapy departments at Greenville Hospital Sys

tem's Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Hospital. Tommy assists RCP staff, but more importantly, he provides patients with the peer support and encouragement they need. Tommy also participates in Think-First, a head-injury awareness program and has been nominated for a Jefferson Award.

Employers of the year, recognized for employing persons and students with disabilities:

Small business: Sleep-In of Travelers Rest

Medium business: Ultra-Pak Inc. Large business: IH Services. Human service professional of

the year: Keith Powell. Keith is employed by the Greenville County School District and serves on the Greenville County Committee on Accessibility, the Greenville County Transitional Cooperative, the S.C. Interagency Supported Employment Transition Committee, and is a member of the planning committee for the International DCDT Conference.


Date: Oct. 19,2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1D Page 1 of 3

Exercise your |

Etiquette at the gym makes workouts less tiresome

By Mike Foley STAFF WRITER mfoley @ greenvillenews.com

W ant to fight? Next time you're

at your health club or fitness center, sneak around and turn up the volume on the communal stereo. Or turn it down. Or change the music.

Then duck. Music volume and selec

tion is a top gripe among gym-goers. And such gripes are likely to increase now that outdoor temperatures are cooling and days are shortening. That sends people back into fitness centers where they easily fall into two categories — gym dandies or gym jerks.

Gym dandies are you and me. We're conscientious, neat and courteous.

Gym jerks are all those other guys. The ones who leave sweat trails on equipment, slowly circle the track three abreast and violate everything you learned in kindergarten about sharing.

Sweat it out "The thing I hate is when

people get up and leave the

machines soaked with sweat," said Gail Jervey, a conditioning specialist at Greenville Hospital System's Life Center. "I think it's disgusting to see dried sweat on the seats, on the support bars. It's so bad sometimes it corrodes the machines."

Staffers at the Life Center spend inordinate time wiping machines, Jervey said. "We get paid a lot of money to be people's maids," she said.

The problem is ail-but universal, said Scott Murr, fitness center director at Furman University. The center, like most gyms, provides hand towels to encourage people to mop up after themselves.

"If we didn't provide those, we'd have a real mess," Murr said. "We try and promote a Boy Scout kind of thing. You know, leave it cleaner than when you got there."

Leaving people to clean up after themselves doesn't always work, said George Gagnon, owner of the Greer Athletic Club.

"You try and operate on the premise that most people will use some good common

Mind your manners: Towels are available so patrons can wipe sweat off seats and equip-ment after each use. The problem, health club staffers say, is getting members to use them.

sense, but sometimes that doesn't prevail," he said.

Pump up (or down) the volume

If you want a fight at nearly any gym, switch the radio station on the communal stereo or put on another CD. If that doesn't start a battle royale, turn up the volume, or turn it down.

"That's a big bone of contention. Constantly," Gagnon said. "You have so many people that have different tastes in music. You've got some who want country, some want rock 'n' roll, or oldies, or top 40. There's so much diversity out there, it's hard to find the middle of the road."

It's not always the kind of music that pushes people to the edge of World War III,

it's volume, too. When there's loud music

with a heavy beat, exercise doesn't provide the pleasant escape that Greenville resident Doris Blazer is after.

"We'd all be better off without that noise pollution," Blazer said during a midday power walk on the Life Center's track.

At the Life Center, programs coordinator Kim Hein said the controversy got so heated her staff took a music survey to find out what people wanted to hear. That led to a ban on certain radio stations, the purchase of "neutral" CDs, a five-disc changer, and suggestions that those who still weren't happy should buy a personal

See EXERCISE on page 2D


Date: Oct. 19,2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1D Page 2 of 3

Photographs by ALAM DEVORSEY / Staff

in line: To ensure an orderly flow, those using the three-lane indoor track at Greenville Hospital System's Lite Center obey the signs. Here, Gary Hill obeys the rules as he runs during a midday workout.

stereo. "You'll never find the right fit for

music," Hein said with a sigh. "No one is ever, going to be quite happy."

Sharing Treadmills, exercise bikes and el

liptical trainers are in high demand and often in low numbers. That's led clubs to program machines to limit users to a 30-minute run or ride.

Murr said while Furman students use a sign-up sheet to get in line for the fitness center's eight tread

mills, some of them will hit. their 30-minute max and simply repro-gram the machine.

"We've got a lot of students who think more is better," Murr said. And it gets worse for the currently popular elliptical trainers, "We often have to kick people off those."

Weight machines are another place where sharing can be a foreign word. People often dominate a piece of equipment, even sitting on it to rest between sets when others could use it.

"If you're doing multiple sets, we ask people to let others work through," Murr said.

But if you think waiting is bad now, in January those with New Year's resolutions dancing in their heads arrive and make it much worse.

"They always hog all the machines for three weeks," said Ren Harper of Greenville as she used a leg machine at the nearly empty Life Center one afternoon last week. "They disappear after that."

Group dynamics Basketball courts and aerobics

classes are places where gym etiquette takes a beating as strangers are thrown together and forced to mingle. At the Cleveland Street YMCA, executive director Keith Quick said 95 percent of the members know the rules on the Y's basketball courts and stick to them. . "They know the etiquette. That helps a lot," Quick said. "We have loyal members who have been here for years, and they'll tell others to get in line without the staff getting involved."



Oct. 19,2000 Greenville News 1D Page 3 of 3

Still, the Y struggles with inappropriate language and intense competition on the basketball court.

"It doesn't get too bad, but you can get concerned," he said. "Since we're a Christian organization, you don't want that at all. When we have it, it's very noticeable."

Aerobics classes can be a problem as members try to find a compatible instructor. If you think marriage is hard, try finding an instructor you like.

"People tend to be very opinionated about instructors," Hein said, noting critical comments she'll occasionally see on the center's comment cards. "And the problem is, they think people all feel that way and they don't."

Weighted down Anyone who lifts weights runs

into the problem of unloading someone else's barbell after the previous user leaves.

"Men always do that," said Jacqueline Muhammed of Piedmont, shaking her head at the thought as she pedaled an exercise bike at the Life Center. "It feels like I'm always cleaning up after them."

Reracking weights can just be tedious, but sometimes it's almost impossible, said Denise Liberty, of the Greenville Racquet and Fitness Club.

"You'll get a man who leaves six 45-pound weights on the bench press, and then a woman wants to use it and she can't lift them off," Liberty said.

Gagnon has a solution to that: Do it his way.

"Because this is a dictatorship, we don't have too much trouble with that," he said. "Everyone's learned. That's just good gym etiquette. We tell them, put on what you need, finish and then put it back the way you found it."

Cover it up

One place where the annoyance factor is in the eyes of the beholder is in gym attire. Too many people, it seems, believe less is best.

"You'll see people wearing Span-dex that's way too tight," Jervey said about both men and women. "We've had women come in here with a thong on, and nothing underneath."


Date: Oct. 20, 2000 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: C27 Page 1 of 2

Early detection strategies key to survival, experts say

/GARY HYNDMAN Contributing Writer

Mary Rippon has one message lor women about breast cancer. As

a surgical oncologist and me I-ical director of Ga Hospital System's Breast Health Center, she says, "Breast cancer is a curable disease."

Approximately 182,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. It is, after lung cancer, the most common form of cancer among women. Nationwide, 41.200 . \< will die this year from the disease, some of them preventable

During October, whk h-been designated Breast Car. i Awareness Month, Rippon a . other health care providers ate encouraging women to take the

y precautions. For the relationship between early detection and survival is clear. When nodules are diagnosed in the pre-cancerous stage, the survival rate for breast cancer is as high as 95 percent.

Overall, survival rates have improved steadily since the 1970s because of a commitment on the part of public health officials to promote widespread screening procedures. "We are clearly seeing a shift in the stage at which cancers are being detected," she notes.

Early detection strategies include monthly self-examina-

is by all women and annual mamn i • r women 40 and >lder (S m r - .its advise regu-

• • mograms beginning at age 35). Earlier ex?= , m is sometimes • \ . als at higher risk bee::-ily history with the disease.

Earlier detection also has thetic benefits. "We're do; ig

many, many m o r e l u m p e c t o m i e s , " r e p o r t s Rippon. A lumpectomy is the less invasive of the two surgical procedures, which preserves the integrity of the breast by r e m o v i n g only the can-c e r o u s

2000-304

cmcMie cmed. growth and some surrounding healthy tissue. It is followed by radiation treatments to destroy any remaining malignant cells.

AC more advanced stages, however, patients may require the more radical mastectomy, which involves removal of the entire breast.and adjf« nil mpl node1-; py. V Ijjje breast re: yo- \mc ion is an option. Rippon calls the

" t o - : • • . . ' ; to« - < " • ' . ' - • . ' . • ' .

"sijjnificant." Br:

different diseases: ductal, whs-, accounts for 85 percent of all cases, and lobular, which is generally harder to detect and puts the patient at slightly higher risk of developing lesions in the other breast. Approximately 10 percent to 15 percent of breast

cancer cases are \ hereditary. In

\ the 1990s, I s c i en t i s t s

identif ied two different genes,

See BREAST CANCER,



Oct. 20, 2000 Greenville Journal C27 Page 2 of 2

which trigger its onset. As for the rest, Rippon pleads ignorance: "We really don't know what causes it."

Environmental factors have been cited as one possibility, although no specific carcinogens have been identified to date. There also is evidence that women who never bear children and those who wait until age 35 or later to conceive are at higher risk, as are individuals whose childbearing years are unusually long (early menarche followed by late menopause). These all suggest hormones play some role in the disease.

Rippon credits medical advances with mitigating somewhat the trauma of the disease. Improved surgical techniques have made procedures less invasive and shortened hospital stays. And where patients once underwent surgery uninformed, today's diagnostic advancements, like needle biopsies, indicate the nature of the disease prior to surgery.

Rippon claims this is good news for patients. Armed with this important information, they can more actively consider treatment options with their physicians. "It's a much preferable way to treat patients." She adds, "It's allowing patients to remain in control of their health care."

She expresses optimism about an eventual cure for breast cancer. Scientists presently are experimenting with vaccines as well as developing procedures for early identification of high risk patients.

Meanwhile, Rippon's mantra remains early detection. Next March, she will be migrating to GHS's new Women's Center when it opens at the hospital's eastside location. The facility will combine two existing mammography machines with seven new ones, shortening the wait for a mammo-graphic screening. The current waiting period across the community is approximately six months.

In addition, the local chapter of the American Cancer Society sponsors several programs to promote breast cancer awareness:

Tell A Friend relies on trained volunteers to contact acquaintances over 40 and encourage them to get a mammogram. Research suggests that this peer counseling m'odel is an effective one. Both individuals and groups are welcome to participate.

Reach to Recovery is a home visitation p r o g r a m , where volunteer survivors provide support and information to current breast cancer patients and their families. V o l u n t e e r s , who must be one year post-treatment for breast cancer, are trained by ACS to offer n o n m e d i c a l

tips to encourage otners in tneir recovery.

Look Good. . .Feel Better is a national public service program, which helps "women who are undergoing cancer treatment to cope with the appearance-related side effects of treatment and regain a sense of self-confidence and control over their lives." In group sessions, volunteer cosmetologists teach patients how to enhance their appearance with makeup and how to disguise hair loss using accessories.

For more information on any of these programs, call the American Cancer Society at 989-8010.


Mary Rippon, a surgical oncologist and medical director of GHS's Breast Health Center, says that when detected early, the survival rate for breast cancer is as high as 95 percent.



Oct. 23, 2000 GSA Business 3 Page 1 of 2

PET scanner Bat t le over medical equipment t ied up in court rto

Only one PET scanner is approved for the Upstate. CancerCenters of the Carolinas

and Greenville Hospital System are currently fighting for ownership of the equipment.

Allison Cantrell, Staff Reporter

Two Upstate medical centers are fighting over ownership of a crucial piece of medical equipment, and involved officials say the legal dispute could last months or even years.

CancerCenters of the Carolinas was awarded a Certificate of Need by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control on Aug. 21 for the only PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scanner in the Upstate, according to CancerCenters' Dr. Mark A. O'Rourke.

But the Greenville Hospital System also wants the scanner, which can be used for detecting some types of cancer by showing where chemical activity is taking place in the body. DHEC will only provide one Certificate of Need to the Upstate area because of the cost of building and implementing the PET scanner.

"We do something called health planning. We look at expensive equipment, like PET scanners, and determine likely utilization for technology like that," says Leon Frishman, bureau director for SC DHEC. "Our planners found that one PET scanner (in the Upstate) would serve about one million people."

The fight for the PET scanner "We have a plan for the PET Scanner,

money in the bank, and (we're) ready to go," says O'Rourke. "Our award is tied up in the courts."

Ray Lark, attorney for CancerCenters, says the court has not denied Greenville Hospital System's appeal. "We're to submit a pre-hearing statement, basically a list of potential issues, and it's likely this will go to a contested case hearing in late December, or more likely January," Lark says.

"This means no PET scanner in the Upstate anytime soon based on this


Date: Oct. 23, 2000 Publication: GSA Business Page: 3 Page 2 of 2

action by the Greenville Hospital System," adds O'Rourke.

However, GHS Spokesperson Robyn Zimmerman says their proposal included a mobile alternative.

More and more patients are having to leave the Upstate to go to Atlanta or Charlotte to get a PET scan.

— Dr. Mark A. O'Rourke, CancerCenters of the Carolinas

"Our proposal includes a mobile scanner which would allow for more patients in the Upstate area to have access to this diagnostic tool," she says.

O'Rourke says CancerCenters deserves the Upstate's single PET scanner.

"We were ready to cooperate with St. Francis, Greenville Memorial, Palmetto Baptist Easley and Mary Black," he says.

"It's more beneficial for those hospitals to have cooperative agreements than to have them competing with Greenville Memorial Hospital."

O'Rourke says if the machine is operated by CancerCenters, it will be accessible to more patients through hospital cooperation.

While serving patients efficiently is the ultimate goal of the PET scanner, owning the exclusive piece of equipment would also carry positive business implications, but O'Rourke and Lark say claiming ownership will be easier said than done.

"More and more patients arc having to leave the Upstate to go to Atlanta or Charlotte to get a PET scan," O'Rourke says.

Lark says he cannot estimate when the state will decide who should have the PET scanner. Zimmerman adds: "It's going to be several months into next year."*^ \

Greenville Hospital System's Board of Trustees has elected new officers for 2001, including: Dr. Thomas Mann, retired surgeon, chair; Roy Abercrombie, executive vice president of Central Carolina Bank, vice chair; and Dr. Douglas Brister, vice president of administration at Greenville Technical College, secretary. Announced: 9/26


Date: Oct. 25, 2000 Publication: TR Monitor Page: 8 Page 1 of 1

North Greenville College Donates Fatal Vision Goggles To Area High Schools

By - Roger Jewell North Greenville Hospi

tal donated Fatal Vision Goggles to each of the North Greenville area high schools. The goggles, which simulate the physical effects of excessive drinking - dizziness, loss of balance, confusion of perspective - a re designed to domonstrate to teens the dangers of drinking.

The resource officer at each school will manage the goggles; Officer Larry Pruitt at Travelers Rest High School; Officer Danny Oslager at Berea High School; and Officer Benny Simmons at Blue Ridge High School.

The p resen ta t ion and demonstration was held last Friday morning in front of North Greenville Hospital in Travelers Rest. Principals from each school, Harvey Choplin (Travelers Rest High), Dr. Keith East (Berea High School) and Kenneth Southerlin (Berea High School) were In attendance as well as the resource officers and student representatives from the three area high schools. Students attending were Brandon Crown of Travelers Rest High School, Nichole Brown of Berea High, and Ryan Cox of Blue Ridge High.

Represent ing North Greenville Hospital were Rebecca Crown, Erika Spinelli, Ronda Cox and Dr. John Powers.

"As the emergency car provider for the North Greenville area, Greenville Hospital System want to help avert preventable tragedies," said Dr. John Powers, emergency physician and medical director at the facility. "We hope these goggles will give teens a powerful insight into the dangers of drinking alcohol, and persuade them to make the wise and legal choice not to drink."

Walking the line. TRHS Principal Harvey Choplin says, "Hey I am doing this pretty good." Watching and laughing are Keith East of Berea, Kenneth Southerlin of Blue Ridge and Officer Benny Simmons. Photo By - Roger Jewell

The s tudents and the principals wore the Fata! Vision goggles and went through the following exercises: Walking the line, which was a standard heel toe, arms at the side, walk down a yellow line as well as tossing, dribbling and catching a basketball. The participants were also asked to pick keys up off the ground and coins.

WSPA television as well

as WYFF were also at the event at the hospital last Friday morning.

"We see many accident victims in our emergency room and what we are trying to do here more than anything is to make our young people aware of the problem and maybe prevent them from becoming s ta t i s t ics ," Er ika Spinelli said.

Alcohol was involved in 2 out of 5 motor vehicle fatalities.



Oct. 26, 2000 Greenville News 1B Page 1 of 1

Clemson researchers develop new laser imaging system Mammograms less painful, quicker By Anna Simon CLEMSON BUREAU asimon @ greenvillenews.com

CLEMSON — Like sleuths using flashlights in search of clues, a Clemson University professor and his international research team use light instead of X-rays to find breast cancer earlier and at a more treatable stage.

Huabei Jiang, an assistant physics professor at Clemson, has developed a new laser imaging system that provides more detailed views of breast tissue than traditional mammograms.

The process can detect some growths not detected by a mammogram and in e.arly tests was also able to predict whether the tumor was benign or malignant.

Trying to detect breast cancer early is the ultimate goal," Jiang said.

He is working in collaboration with a Florida company that is trying to get preliminary FDA approval this year. If all goes well, the new type of breast cancer testing could be available on a limited basis in the next two to three years and readily available in three to five years, he said.

Jiang's team is collaborating with specialists at the Greenville Hospital System and radiologists at the Medical University of South Carolina.

The project and Jiang's research are funded by the Greenville Hospital System-Clemson University Bio

medical Cooperative, and grants from the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute and the Department of Defense's U.S. Army breast cancer research program.

The laser technology is easier on the patient than mammography because there is no painful squeezing of the breast. It is more economical for health-care providers because the process costs less, Jiang said.

And it may be healthier in the long run because light administered properly doesn't harm the body, he said.

Judy Link, a 49-year-old Clemson woman with a family history of cancer, was one of 10 women in. initial testing. She said it was painless, took about half an hour, and she has confidence in the results, which were negative.

"I have friends who don't get mammograms because the procedure is uncomfortable for them," Link said. "There are a lot of opportunities out there and programs. You have to get out there and do all you can do to protect yourself."

A second phase of clinical, testing involving about 100 women will start late this year.

"We are encouraged by our early findings, but the research is still in the preliminary stages. If all goes well, this could be a viable adjunct to mammograms within three to five years," Jiang said.

During testing, the patient lies face down on an exam table, that contains a special laser ring that encircles but doesn't touch the breast.

The imaging system sends laser beams through the breast at 16 different points to produce a detailed picture of what's inside.

This is possible because the blood

vessels and other structures surrounding a tumor absorb and scatter the near-infrared light from the laser quite differently than the surrounding normal tissue.

"The women feel like the decrease in pain is an absolute plus," said Julie Eggert, site coordinator for cancer prevention studies at Greenville Memorial Hospital. If indeed the continued research shows

he can find the lesions, the new treatment can make a big difference, she said.

A second-generation machine the team is working on now will use 64 laser points spaced over four rings.

"This will give us better 3-D images, as well as significantly cut testing time," Jiang said.

It now takes about 10 minutes to scan each breast using the single-ring prototype machine. Jiang expects the time to drop to three minutes or less per breast using the newer system.

Jiang, 37, got into breast cancer research by accident. He came from mainland China with a doctorate in laser optics to start postdoctoral work at Dartmouth College in the early 1990s, wanting to apply laser optics to biomedical imaging.

Right at that time early breast cancer detection was becoming a popular cause. Congress created a large pot of money for research, available through the Army project. Jiang took advantage of the new finding and applied his laser optics expertise to breast cancer imaging.

His Clemson team also includes post-doctoral fellows Nicusor Ifti-mia,v of Romania, Yong Xu, of China, as well as post-graduate students Ye Yang, of China and Ra-mesh Sathappan, of India.


Date: Oct. 30, 2000 Publication: Anderson Independent Page: 3 A Page 1 of 2

Device in works detects cancer By Kelly Davis Independent-Mail

CLEMSON — In the Kinard Physics Building at Clemson University, a team of students and post doctoral researchers is building a device that could someday ease pain and discomfort for hundreds of thousands of women and save lives.

Led by associate physics professor Huabei Jiang (WHA-bay ZHONG), the team is delving into the world of optical imaging, usin^ light to paint a picture of interior breast tissue to detect cancer.

"There are other teams working in this area, but my idea is the simplest and the cheapest," said Mr. Jiang, who holds doctorate degrees in physics and biomedical engineering.

The goal is to eliminate the ambiguity and discomfort of x-ray mammograms, which a trade article hanging in Mr. Jiang's office refers to as "slam-o-grams." The name refers to the squeezing of the breast required during mammograms to improve the x-ray image.

X-rays also do not provide the best information to detect cancer or pre-can-cerous changes. Dr. Karin Klove, a Greenville surgeon, said 15 percent of breast cancer tumors are found only on physical exam because mammograms miss them. Dr. Klove worked with Mr. Jiang during a 10-patient trial of the machine earlier this year at the hospital.

A related problem is that radiologists sometimes see things that look dangerous but aren't. According to the American Cancer Society, about 70 percent of abnormalities for which biopsies are ordered are benign. 2000-310

Ken Ruinard Independent-Mail



Oct. 30, 2000 Anderson Independent 3A Page 2 of 2

Mr. Jiang's device positions the breast in an adjustable ring of 32 optical fibers. A low-power laser is directed at the breast through every second fiber, one at a time around the ring. The remaining 16 fibers collect the scattered, invisible light as it exits the breast in many places.

A sophisticated computer program analyzes the light pattern to tease out details about the type of tissue through which the light has passed. The ring then moves down the

Clemson physics professor Hubei Jiang, right, and Nicusor Iftimia, research associate, look at a near infrared optical tomography device in a study office at Clemson University. Without needing to x-ray, the new device would be a step further in breast cancer imaging, with a connection to a computer to come up with detailed results.

breast and the lasers fire again, creating a stack of slices.

The resulting images aren't as sharp as x-rays, but they provide helpful information an x-ray cannot, Mr. Jiang said.

In the first-phase trial, each imaging session took 10 minutes. A second-generation machine being hand-built by post-doctoral

researcher Nicusor Iftimia will use four rings of 64 lasers and detectors. It should cut imaging time to three minutes or less and create three-dimensional images.

Although he is pleased with the results of the trial, 10 patients doesn't mean a lot scientifically, Mr. Jiang said. He plans several studies with hun

dreds more women. With good results, the team's optical imager could be on the market in five years, he said.

Funding for the project has come from Clemson University, the Greenville Hospital System, the National Cancer Institute and the Department of Defense's breast cancer research program.


Date: Nov. 1, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 2 City People Page 1 of 2

From left, Cubbage

Photographs by KEN OSBURN/Staff

Martha and Ben Keys chat with Suzanne White at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Leighton

Hospital system honors boards

The Greenville Hospital System honored members of its board of directors and its foundation board members at a party Thursday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Leighton Cubbage.

Scott Chambers, left, Pat Tate, center, and Angela Freeman visit at the Greenville Hospital System's party for its board of directors and foundation board.



Andy Cajka, GHS chairman of the foundation board, and his wife, Donna, enjoy the party.


Date: Nov. 1, 2000 Publication: Anderson Independent Page: 3A Page 1 of 1

USC receives millions for health studies By Kelly Davis Independent-Mai)

GREENVILLE — Women, young diabetics and middle-school girls should benefit from $8.3 million in federal money the University of South Carolina School of Public Health has received to launch three research projects.

Officials from the university and the Greenville Hospital System announced the awards Tuesday at the Greenville Hospital Cancer Center.

Dr. Ann Coker will spend five years and $2 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to compare approaches to helping women escape domestic violence.

"We make it very hard for victims of intimate-partner violence to connect with help," Dr. Coker said.

Her study will compare the effectiveness of combinations of strategies, including longer-term support, more comprehensive screening and having community representatives at clinics to provide immediate outreach.

The study will focus on four clinics serving low-income women in the Pee Dee region, and is expected to become a nationwide model.

The second project is to develop a statewide registry of diabetes patients, led by diabetes

researcher Elizabeth Mayer-Davis and funded with a $2.3 million, five-year grant from the CDC.

The registry will collect information on children and teenagers with juvenile and adult-onset diabetes. Jt will help researchers determine how widespread diabetes is, and if the adult-onset type is becoming worse in young people as obesity becomes more common.

Dr. Russ Pate received $4 million from the National Institutes of Health to participate in a national, six-year study of exercise and physical activity among middle-school girls.

His project is to find better ways to encourage physical activity in girls between 11 and 13, who are at risk of obesity and myriad health problems.

"Activity levels decline precipitously in adolescent girls and we don't know how to deal with that," he said.

The study will involve 36 schools, six of them in South Carolina. The schools will be identified during the first year of the study, he said.

Including these awards, the School of Public Health has received more than $12.5 million in research funding this year, putting it close to last year's record total of $13 million, said the school's dean, Dr. Harris Pastides.


Date: Nov. 3, 2000 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: B30 Page 1 of 1


GRANT ANNOUNCEMENT: University of South Carolina faculty member Dr. Elizabeth Mayer-Davis was at the Greenville Hospilal System recently to help announce $8.3 million in grants to the school.


Date: Nov. 4, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 12A Page 1 of 1

THUMBS UP, THUMBS DOWN J £ * Goggles warn of drinking dangers

Thumbs Up to North Greenville Hospital which has donated Fatal Vision Goggles to high schools in north Greenville. The goggles, which simulate the physical effects of excessive drinking — dizziness, loss of balance and confusion of perspective — are designed to demonstrate to teens the dangers of drinking.


Date: Nov. 8, 2000 Publication: Community Informer Page: 3 Page 1 of 1

Greenville Hospital System Receives Consumer Choice Award

Greenville Memorial Hospital has been named a 2000 Con

sumer Choice award winner by the Greenville community, after a survey by the National Research Corporation (NRC) showed most Greenville residents prefer the GHS facility for overall healthcare services. This marks the second consecutive year GMH has received this award.

NRC, a leader in health care performance measurement, honors the most preferred hospitals based on a survey of more than 160,000

households representing more than 400,000 consumers nationwide. The award reflects the growing role consumer choice is playing in the healthcare field.

"We.are honored.tobe chosen,by Greenville residents as their-health-

• care provider of choice^' saii-SHJJ -President Frank Pinckney. "Our physicians and staff work tirelessly to provide the highest standard of healthcare, and we appreciate the community's support of their efforts."

Greenville Memorial is one of

122 hospitals awarded in the study, which rated 2,500 facilities across the nation, and was one of three

South Carolina hospitals (MUSC-Charleston, Palmetto Baptist-Columbia) to receive this honor. :.

"We are pleased to recognise those hospitals singled out as leaders by those they serve," said NRC

President Michael Hays. "The winners deserve recognition for the emphasis they have placed on providing quality care and meeting consumers' needs.



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literacy Day held at Expo Center

Four-year-olds who attend programs through the School District of Greenville County as well as adults in district programs joined to celebrate National Literacy Day at Palmetto Expo.

"The Celebration Shop," provided entertainment, and each child received a book donated by the Children's Hospital of the Greenville Hospital System and the Rotary Club of Greenville.


Date: Nov. 10, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 3B Page 1 of 2

Hillcrest Hospital plans to grow with Simpsonville

Expansion will add recovery rooms, more than double size of busy ER By Eric Connor STAFF7 WRITER econnor @ greenvillenews.Gom,

SIMPSONVILLE — In Hillcrest Hospital's recovery room, a child cries that slow moan that could break anyone's heart. Next to him — with only a curtain between them — older folks must endure the boy's painful sound as; they contend with their own ailments.

Meanwhile, medical equip

ment lines hallway walls in the emergency room area because there just isn't enough space to keep up with the demand the Golden Strip's population growth has placed on the hospital.

However, hospital administrator Mark Slyter said Hillcrest plans to change that — and soon. Something must be done as the hospital's patient count grows at about 10 percent a year, he said.

Work to nearly double the number of recovery rooms will begin in January, pending approval from state regulators, Slyter said, as well as construction that will more than double the size of the hospital's emergency room.

The new recovery rooms — some of which will be enclosed in glass especially to accommodate young patients — will be a welcome sight for Hillcrest nurse Peter Ryan, who works in the operating room that performs about 3,000 procedures a year.

Ryan said he looks forward to a much calmer environ

ment where a child can recover in a private, soundproof room, with a Popsicle in hand and a television to help forget the pain of surgery.

"We need the rooms for the kids," Ryan said. "That's definitely going to be a plus here."

So, too, will the emergency room expansion, said ER nurse Deane Hines. When she first began nursing at Hillcrest 24 years ago, Hines said the hospital might see one or two patients a day.

Whoever came to the ER back then had to ring a bell to be let in at night. Now, though, Hines sees about 65



Nov. 10,2000 Greenville News 3B Page 2 of 2

to 75 patients a day in an emergency room that struggles to get patients service quickly.

"Chances are, you might wait an hour to be seen," Slyter said.

Hillcrest Hospital, opened in 1963, is a subsidiary of the Greenville Hospital System and handles emergencies, outpatient surgery and other services.

About 70 percent of Hillcrest's admissions are through the ER, Slyter said, mirroring Simpsonville's growth patterns.

In contrast, Greenville Me

morial sees 35 to 40 percent of its' admissions through the emergency room, said John Mansure, administrator of medical, surgical and subacute services.

When the project is done, Hillcrest's ER will have room for potentially more practitioners and 10 new patient examination areas.

Also, the plans call for a new, more comfortable waiting room and creation of more reception desks, including a "fast-track" area that can handle those with only minor problems that often tie up waiting times for those with more-serious ailments.

The emergency room will expand to where the drop-off area and parking lot are now. When it's complete, ambulance traffic will no longer enter the same way as regular patient traffic, Slyter said.

Another layer of the $3.3 million project is a plan to create a "patient-reception, area" where a patient getting surgery at sister campuses Greenville Memorial, Allen Bennett in Greer or North Greenville Hospital in Travelers Rest can get all preliminary tests and registrations out of the way at their local Hillcrest Hospital.


Date: Nov. 10, 2000 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: A17 Page 1 of 1

' look Good, Feel Better" set for Nov. 13 A program for women undergoing cancer treatment will be held

at the Greenville Hospital System Cancer Education Center on Monday, Nov. 13 at 1 p.m. The two-hour program will assist women in ways to help them look better and feel better about themselves. To register, call the American Cancer Society at 989-8010.

Epilepsy program organized for GHS The Epilepsy Foundation of South Carolina and the ^Greenville

Hospital System have organized a presentation regarding epilepsy issues for adolescents and adults, to be held Thursday, Nov. 16, 6:00 to 8:30 p.m., at Greenville Hospital System's Eastside Branch. Registration is required. Call 455-3394 or 455-1598 to'register.

^ Hillcrest Hospital to expand substantially

Thumbs Up to Simpsonville's Hillcrest Hospital, which will soon add new examination areas and double the number of its recovery rooms and the size of its emergency room to keep pace with growth in the Golden Strip. The hospital is part of the Greenville Hospital System.


Date: Nov. 19, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1D Page 1 of 1

Aiyce Atkinson [email protected]

Columnist

'Pillow lady' comforts children J eri Green's project began

as a way to pass the hours when she was awake, in

pain, in the middle of the night.

She began making colorful, huggable pillows in a variety of shapes and in soft fabrics covered with prints of animals, cartoon characters, Sesame Street figures and candy bars.

At first, she simply gave them to children in her River Falls neighborhood near Marietta.

Making them — and giving them away — became her therapy. When she was awakened by the chronic ache in her legs following knee surgery, she'd sew. And when she ran out of neighborhood children to give the pillows to, she began giving them to children she didn't know.

As she tod husband Roland, both retired, were out and about in Travelers Rest or in Greenville, she'd pull a couple of them from her car for well-behaved children, handicapped children.

She learned quickly that small, cuddly pillows can serve as substitute security blankets for youngsters of all ages.

One day in a Greenville Burger King, Jeri offered a pillow to an 11-year-old girl whose mother explained that her other child, her son, was undergoing treatment at the nearby Greenville Hospital System Cancer Treatment

Center. Jeri insisted that they take him a pillow, too.

At the same time, the Greens asked questions about the center. How many children were treated there? Could they use some of Jeri's pillows?

It wasn't long before they visited the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Department — with a load of pillows — and met Pat Field, a child life specialist there.

Since that first visit two years ago, Pat estimates that Jeri's made more than 1,000 pillows that have been distributed through the center and also in the pediatric emergency room and the children's HIV clinic.

"Our kids have to go through so much pain," Pat says. "Anything we can send their way that's a positive, we want to do, and the pillows have been wonderful for them."

Pat says the center's young

patients use the pillows for comfort during treatment and at home.

"We've had some children who've worn theirs out, and they had to have another one."

That these children know her as "the pillow lady" delights Jeri. "This is my mission," she says simply.

And she's found other places where her pillows also are needed. She provided the Emmanuel Unit and surgical floors of St. Francis Hospital with more than 500 pillows.

Patients who've had surgery find them useful as well as comforting, because they can gently cushion the surgical wound when the patient needs to cough or move.

When Jeri learned that members of Marietta First Baptist Church were going to visit Romanian orphanages on a mission trip, she provided them with 100 pillows to give the children there.

So, as long as there are hospital patients who enjoy them, Jeri plans to keep sewing pillows, even though the pain that started it all has almost disappeared.

There's no doubt in her mind that the pillows and her religious faith have everything to do with the healing she experienced in a New Jersey church service in July.

The more you give, Jeri says, the more you get in return.

Easing the pain: Jeri Green believes that sewing security pillows for hospitalized children has helped her overcome her own health problems.


Date: Nov. 19, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 5 Business Page 1 of 1

ACHIEVEMENTS Dr. Thomas Mann, retired sur

geon and Greenville native, was elected chairman of the Greenville Hospital System Board of Trustees for the 2001 fiscal year. Roy Abercrombie will serve as vice chairman and Douglas Brister Ph.D., will serve as secretary.

Mann became the first physician appointed to the board in 1995; Abercrombie is executive vice president of Central Carolina Bank; and Brister is vice president of administration at Greenville Technical College.

Mann Abercrombie Brister

Board members are appointed by the Greenville County legislative delegation and Greenville City Council to serve six-year terms.

GAMA International has announced that Nicholas B. Gava-las, general agent of the South Carolina Agency of MassMutuak


Date: Nov. 20, 2000 Publication: GSA Business Page: 6 Page 1 of 1

Greenville Hospital System GREENVILLE — The Greenville Hospital

System Board of Trustees approved a $673.7 million budget recently for fiscal year 2001, with a continued focus on patients, employees, technology, expansion and financial stability. The budget, which began Oct. 1, includes increases in employee benefits, the addition of 271 patient support positions, new equipment and technology, beginning stages of Phase V expansion and continued maintenance of the AA bond rating. The hospital system expects to treat 44,400 inpatients and 1.2 million outpatients in the new fiscal year. Over a five-year period, the hospital expects $53 million less in Medicare funding as a result of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act. Greenville Memorial Hospital has been named a 2000 Consumer Choice award winner by the Greenville community, after a survey by the National Research Corp. showed most area residents prefer the GHS facility for overall healthcare services. This marks the second consecutive year GMH has received the award. Contact: Erika Spinelli, 864/455-5924


Date: Nov. 22, 2000 Publication: Travelers' Rest Monitor Page: 10 Page 1 of 1

Nor th Greenvi l le Hospi ta l

News September 2000 report:

ER had 1374 patients (average length of stay was 1.9 hour; Outpatients X-Ray-61, Outpatient Lab-1070; ACC-389 (Peds-279, Ortho-84; Ob-26 and Heartlife-122

. A total of 2,335 patients at North Greenville Hospital during the month of September 2000.

October 2000 repor t : ER-1407 (average length of stay was 1.45 hours); X Ray-84; Lab-1024; Heartlife-161; Ortho-472; and Peds-303.

A total of 3,476 patients were seen at North Greenville Hospital during the month of October 2000.



Frank & Lynn Landgraff

H i s compassion a n d vision helped build Greenville's Ronald McDonald House

Abe Hardesty City People Writer

[email protected]

A t 706 Grove Road, where a tidy 12-bedroom house

holds bed-and-breakfast charm and an endless parade of heartbreaking stories, the letters arrive often.

One Upstate family writes to thank the Ronald McDonald House staff "for opening your doors and your hearts to us" for the 10 months their child needed extensive medical attention.

Another family writes that "having this place to come home to kept us going and grounded during this tough time."

A Greenwood family calls the house "a godsend for folks with ill or injured children."

To Robin Gillis, executive director at Ronald McDonald House, the notes reinforce the merit of a home that has helped 40,000-plus families since its doors opened in April 1989.

To Frank Landgraff, the messages are a reminder that the house remains a worthy ongoing project.

For families with critically ill, hospitalized children, the

PROFILE

• Frank moved to Greenville in 1983 from the Georgetown area. An Arlington, Va., native, Landgraff attended Pittsburgh's Central Catholic High School and the University of Pittsburgh. Wife Lynn is a native of Illinois who met Landgraff in 1983. They were married on Thanksgiving Day 1996.

• Landgraff has served as chairman of the Clemson University Board of Visitors, YMCA Camp Greenville, the Eastside campus of the Greenville Hospital System, and the Sara Collins Improvement council.

• Landgraff was chosen "1987 Boss of the Year" by the Greenville Jaycees.

• Landgraff is a 15-year member of the Rotary Club of Greenville. • Landgraff is a member of the McDonald's National Operations Advisory Board.

More details, Page 8

non-profit RMH serves as a "home away from home" to families who can afford $5 a night and is complimentary to

those who cannot. While the house receives some funding from Ronald McDonald Charities, which also donates to other causes, it is not funded by the McDonald's restaurant chain.

It is a facility that Landgraff believed Greenville needed when he moved here from Charleston in 1983.

As a Lowcountry McDon- „ aid's owner, Landgraff saw the benefit of the Ronald McDonald House in Charleston. Here, where the Shriners Hospital and the Children's Hospital of the Greenville Hospital System offered care for so many youngsters, he saw a greater need.

Many of the 200 RMH homes nationally were converted old houses, often on land donated by a charity or individual. But Landgraff's dream carried a bigger price tag: He was determined to build the house near the hospital.

"I thought it was important that the house be within eye contact of the hospital," Landgraff says. "I know that if my child was over there with serious health problems, it would make a world of

difference if I could see the building any time I needed to. It's a way of making a connection that you wouldn't have if you were somewhere else in the city,"

Although he's never experienced the ordeal, Landgraff's emphathy was on target.

"I've had people say that if they could see the building, they felt their child was safer. And they didn't feel quite as guilty for not being there in the room 24 hours a day."

Landgraff was also resolute on the matter of bathrooms. Unlike most RMH homes, he wanted a separate bathroom for every bedroom.

The dream home meeting those requirements carried a price tag of $1.5 million for land purchase and construction. Daily operations would require continuing funds.

Landgraff led a group that raised most of the money within three years after construction began in 1987. That surprised Landgraff, but not those who know him.

"He's not the kind of guy who will twist your arm," says Merrill-Lynch executive Rick Simonson, who met Landgraff through business contacts 16 years ago. "But people respond to his sincerity. He's genuine, and he's consistent.

Landgraff's strengths are most




P80FILI • A longtime baseball player and fan, Landgraff has frequently coached youth league baseball.

• Landgraff has two sons: Frank Jr. is a patent attorney in Atlanta; Chris is a litigation attorney in Chicago. • In October, Landgraff received the Order of the Silver Crescent. The award is presented by the governor's office to non-South Carolina natives who have made outstanding contributions to the state. • In 1999, Landgraff was chosen Ronald McDonald House Volunteer of the Decade. He is a charter member of Ronald McDonald House Charities' Board of Directors.

apparent- when teamwork is involved.

Active in sports as a youth, he was so devoted to baseball that he kept a baseball glove and cleats in his car — for those evenings when he could join in a baseball or soft-ball game — until his mid-50s.

Landgraff, who was a Pittsburgh high school teammate of eventual major league pitcher Sam McDowell, calls baseball his "first love." ,

In recent years, that has given way to the RMH Charities, which last year chose Landgraff as its Volunteer of the Decade. In the past year, the RMH dream took an

"He's the kind of guy you want on your team when you're trying to get something done, because he doesn't sit back and wait for

someone else to do it."

— Rick Simonson, Merrill Lynch executive

additional step: An RMH room will be part of the proposed expansion wing of the Children's Hospital. For his efforts to make that happen, and the ongoing fund-raising work required for RMH operations, Landgraff recently received the Order of the Silver Crescent from the governor's office.

The award goes to non-natives of the state who have made outstanding contributions here,

Landgraff, 59, stepped into fund-raising work shortly after his job brought him to Greenville. He spent six years as the chairman of the board for the YMCA's Camp Greenville, where fund-raising was the top priority.

"He didn't just use it for a listing on a resume — he worked hard for the organization*" says executive director Greg McKee, adding that Landgraff was extremely successful in recruiting volunteers to the camp project.

"He got more people involved than had ever been involved before," says McKee. "He did a good job of bringing people together, setting the goals and seeing them through."

Hands-on involvement is the key to Landgraff's ability to attract others to a cause, and the practice has enhanced his success in the

McDonald's restaurant chain. "I learned the most important

lessons of life in team sports," says Landgraff, who, with his wife, Jill, owns nine McDonald's franchises in the Greenville area.

"He would never say someone works for him — he always refers to people who work with huh," says Mrs. Landgraff, who met her husband in 1983 and married Km in 1996. "He really thinks that way.

"He's a team person, and lie's the same person in private as he; is in public," says Mrs. Landgraff. "His friends know that."

Landgraff's related passion is higher education. Over the last 15 years, Landgraff has personally awarded 92 college scholarships to Upstate students.

He's worked as chairman of advisory boards for Clemson University, the Urban League and the new eastside campus of the Greenville Hospital System.

"He's the kind of guy you want on your team when you're trying to get something done," says Simonson, "because he doesn't sit back and wait for someone else to do it."

Every week, there are several families at 706 Grove Road who are grateful that he doesn't.


Date: Nov. 24, 2000 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: C27

S.C. plagued by high incidence of brain disorder


While many South Carolinians beam with pride when the state is referred to as "the buckle of the Bible Belt," there is another regional distinction which evokes only regret. South Carolina also is a member of the "Stroke Belt," a geographic swath traversing the Southeastern United States in which strokes occur at a higher rate of frequency than the national average.

And one group of physicians is trying to do something about that. Interventional neuroradiologists Stephen Anvar and Lee Madeline of Greenville Radiology have been instrumental in launching a public education campaign. "We're trying to build the public's awareness of symptoms to get them plugged into the system," Anvar explains.

Strokes involve a loss of brain function that occurs when the blood supply is interrupted. They

Page 1 of 4


Date: Nov. 24, 2000 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: C27 Page 2 of 4

effect four out of 1,000 people and represent the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Age is a factor, with the risk of a stroke doubling each decade after age 35. And so is gender. While more men are afflicted with strokes, more women die from them. Other risk factors include a family history of strokes, race (it is more common among African-A m e r i c a n s ) , previous attacks, arterial disease, diabetes, smoking, and high blood pressure.

In 1997, 1 6 0 , 0 0 0 Americans died as a result of strokes. And for survivors, they represent the leading cause of long-term disability in this country. "It's a terrible dis-

Julie Crowford/Staff Photographer

Interventional neuroradiologists Stephen Anvar (shown above) and Lee Madeline of Greenville Radiology have been instrumental in launching a public education campaign on strokes. "We're trying to build the public's awareness of symptoms to get them plugged into the system," Anvar explains.

ease," Anvar laments. "If it doesn't kill you, it can really maim you." Problems with speech, vision, perception, coordination and ambulation are all associated with its onset.

Though bad news is plentiful,

See STROKE BELT, Page C30 •



there are some hopeful statistics. Strokes are highly survivable, with 4.4 million patients still alive today. And two of the leading risk factors are either preventable (smoking) or treatable (high blood pressure).

Thus, Anvar and his partner have become more aggressive in their educational approach to the disease. "The biggest problem," he explains, "is not recognizing the symptoms of a stroke."

Together with other medical professionals, they have formed a multidisciplinary stroke team, coordinated through the Greenville Hospital System. Their collective goal is improving treatment and alerting family-practice physicians, emergency medical technicians and lay people to the symptoms associated with this "insult to the brain."

Strokes fall into two basic categories. Hemorrhagic strokes are ruptures of the vessels that supply blood to the brain. These generally occur dramatically without warning and tend to afflict younger people. "I've seen people in their early 40s and late 30s,"

vreports Dennis Hollins, medical director of the Roger C. Peace Rehabilitative Hospital. "Usually, they've got high blood pressure."

But it is the other kind of stroke which is more common and more likely to provide warning signs. Ischemic attacks, as they are called, involve an arterial clot that interrupts the blood flow to the brain.

It was this type of stroke that Lula Belle Drummond suffered unexpectedly in church on Easter Sunday in 1999. "I tried to get up, and I looked at the girl [seated beside me] and said T can't move,'" she recalls. The stroke

paralyzed the entire right side of Drummond's body.

She had been hospitalized several weeks before the actual attack after passing out but had returned to work. (Ironically, at the time, Drummond worked as an assistant at the Roger Peace Center.) .:* .

According to Anvar, this type of scenario can be a prelude to a fullblown stroke. Called TIAs (transient ischemic attacks), these "mini-strokes" often manifest themselves in sudden visual impairment, an inability to speak or a tingling on one side of the. body. "The patient should be urged to see their doctor," he says. "They could be a disaster waiting to happen."

When an attack does occur, prompt medical attention is crucial. 'Time is brain," is the phrase used to describe the inevitable deterioration of delicate tissue suddenly deprived of its bloody supply. For ischemic attacks, emergency room physicians have but three hours to administer drugs intravenously that dissolve the clot.

Between three and six hours, interventional radiologists are trained to administer these same drugs intra-arterially. A catheter is fed into the brain via the groin, where it's buried in the brain clot and the drugs are introduced directly to the affected site. (Anvar and Madeline are the only physicians in South Carolina certified to perform this procedure.)

* Within six hours, drug treatment must be discontinued for fear of encouraging internal bleeding of damaged tissue.

After patients are stabilized, they are transferred to the Roger Peace Center, the 53-bed acute-care rehabilitation facility.

Hollins reports that 30 to 40 percent of patients there are recovering from a stroke. "We've been amazed how many [stroke] patients we've had come through



here," he says. Ultimately, recovery depends

on the stroke's location and severity. Damage to the left side of the brain affects the language center, diminishing a person's capacity to speak. If the damage is to the right side, patients likely will experience a loss of spatial and visual perception skills that can cloud judgment.

Damaged tissue, which depletes the brain's stored memory, also can render patients helpless to perform skills even as basic as combing their hair. For many, relearning these skills means the awkwardness of starting over. "Much of what they try to do resembles what little kids do," Hollins observes.

The goal of rehabilitation is to help the individual patient "maximize" his or her ability to function. Occupational therapists assist them in the recovery of self-" care skills, such as personal hygiene and feeding themselves.-Physical therapists focus on ambulation, helping them recover balance and strength. They also teach patients to manuever in their walkers and wheelchairs.

For many, progress comes slowly. Unfortunately, rehabilitation has been hampered in recent years by managed healthcare plans, which limit most patients to about two weeks of institutional care. This places the exceptional burden of caregiving on family members and can be highly disruptive to family life. "You're dealing with a person who now needs a fairly high level of care," he warns.


Date: Nov. 29, 2000 Publication: Greer Citizen Page: 1A Page 1 of 3

MEMORIAL DRIVE

the existing emergency room and outpatient surgery feciliUes. Expected H O S D i t a l e x p a n s i o n - The shaded area shows the new to cost about $5.5 million, the project will begin early next year and will

addition to Allen BenneTt Memorial Hospital which will greatly expand be completed by early 2003.


Date: Nov. 29, 2000 Publication: Greer Citizen Page: 1A Page 2 of 3

Rel ie f c o m i n g - the mimscuie pa-tient waiting area in the Allen Bennett Memorial

"Once the new addition to the emergency room is completed, in a bout a year's time, we will close and renovate the old one. When that is complete, probably in another full year,it will link with the new building to make one large facility", Kennedy said. " This means a lot of shuffling around for our staff, but we survived the same type of transition on a much large scale in the 1980's , so I think we can handle this one."

Hospital emergency room will be doubled in size as part of a $5.5 million expansion to begin early next year.

With the growth of outpatient services and the trend toward briefer hospital stays, the facility's 58 acute care beds are rarely filled to 100 percent capacity.

"The average hospital say is now 4-6 days, where as it was 6-7 days just a few years ago", Massey said. "But during an influenza outbreak in the winter, it can fill up in a hurry."

Massey said the demands on hospital services have change significantly in recent years. "Five years ago, we weren't doing any labor and delivery because there were no obstetricians practicing in Greer. Now we are doing 400 deliveries a year."



Nov. 29, 2000 Greer Citizen 1A Page 3 of 3

Hospital to get $5.5 million expansion

Emergency room, outpatient facilities to be doubled in size

Bids will be opened tomorrow for a major expansion of emergency room and outpatient facilities at Allen Bennett Memorial Hospital.

Expected to cost about $5.5 million, the expansion will be done in phases over a two year period while the hospital emergency facilities remain open to serve a rapidly growing number of patients.

Plans call for building a 10,513 square foot addition, and once that is complete, renovating 9,700 square fee of existing space. "We are going to remain open and work around the construction as best we can, knowing that in the long run we will have a much better facility", said Allen Bennett Administrator Michael Massey.

When completed,.the expansion will have more than doubled the number of treatment rooms and office spaces, in the the Emergency Room, greatly enlarged outpatient surgery and the GO lab, and provided a site for a mobile MIX lab which will be stationed at Allen Bennett on a regular basis.

The expansion will cover much of

the present patient parking lot along Memorial Drive side of the hospital. "It will require creating g a new parking lot which will extend all the way to the EMS station at the top of the hill", Massey noted.

The visitors parking lot in front of the hospital, facing Wade Hampton Blvd., may also be enlarged, depending on whether the bids are within budget.

"There seems to be a good deal of interest among contractors, so we are hoping to get a good bid", said Plant Engineer Harvey Kennedy. He said eight firms attended the pre-bid conference.

The expansion is not coming a minute too soon to relieve the overcrowded emergency room which was part of the most recent expansion, completed in 1989. "In every patient survey that we make, people complain about the emergency room", Massey said. "But you have to consider that it was designed with seven treatment rooms to accommodate 17,000 patients a year, and the case load is now over 25,000 a year." When complete, the ER will have 16 treatment rooms.

Overwhelming demand is having a similar impact on outpatient surgery. "We do 2,700 surgeries annually at Allen Bennett, and 2,100 of them are

outpatient. That facility is designed for only 800 to 1,000 operations a year.", Massey said.

The GO lab also is overloaded, carrying out 1,200 procedures annually in a facility designed for a case load of 750 a year.

Surveys indicate a significant number of patients are sent elsewhere for MRIs. "I really think Greer could support an in- house ARIZ But to start with, the plan is for a mobile ARIZ to be stationed here two and a half days a week, and to be at Eastside or Hillcrest the rest of the week!',

• Massey said.

A related, but separately budget radiology project is replacing the hospital's present CT Scan equipment with a new Spiral CT Scan device. "This can do procedures faster and with better images. That should come on line late next year", Massey said.

Enroot and Associates has designed the expansion which will be done in phases



Howard & Hilda Suitt Greenville arts community has not had stronger backers than this couple

Jimmy Cornelison City People Writer

[email protected]

H oward and Hilda Suitt are op-posites who attracted each

. other to a marriage that's lasted more than 50 years.

He is a man of few words. Those he does speak are delivered in a slow, melodic voice.

"I knew if he ever said he loved me, I had better get a wedding dress and be ready to head for the altar. He never says anything he doesn't mean," says Mrs. Suitt of her husband.

She, on the other hand, describes herself as a "mo-

INSIDE

• Some interesting facts about Howard and Hilda Suitt, Page 10.

tor mouth." Still, she knows that her outgoing personality was important on stage at the Greenville Little Theatre. She ap

peared in nine of its productions and received GLT Oscars for her starring roles in "The Music Man" and "Mame."

"I was fortunate to have a director like Robert McLane," says Mrs. Suitt of her mentor and the man who was a cornerstone of Greenville theater.

"He always demanded your best. He directed and trained Joanne Woodward. I asked her one time if she ever had a director who de

manded more than Bob McLane. She said, 'No.'"

Allen McCalla, artistic director of Greenville Little Theatre, enjoys telling a story about Mrs. Suitt and McLane.

It seems they were short of bodies for the chorus in "Sound of Music," and ihey pleaded with Mrs. Suitt to jump in, which she did with little W* hearsal time. Dressed as a nun, a part of the choreography called for her to cross herself. When that time came, the artistic director McLane stopped the rehearsal.

"He cried out, 'Someone is not crossing themselves correctly,'" says McCalla. "She (Mrs. Suitt) stepped forward and said, 'Well, what do you expect from a left-handed Methodist?' "

From her love of theater and her

husband's love of her, came the Suitts support not only of the Little Theatre, but also the Peace Center for the Performing Arts and the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.

The couple also has a strong allegiance to their alma maters, Win-throp University and The Citadel.

At The Citadel, Suitt has served on the school's development foundation board.

In the fall of 1999, he surprised his wife on her birthday by establishing the Hilda Brockman Suitt Endowed Scholarship at Winthrop University. It is a Founder's Scholarship funded at $100,000 to $250,000 over five years.

For Mrs. Suitt's devotion to Winthrop, the university's alumni association honored her with the Mary Mildred Sullivan Award last spring.

In her speech at the award ceremony, Mrs. Suitt expressed her delight. "Mark Twain once said, T can live two months on a good compliment.' Well, this award you



Nov. 29, 2000 Greenville News 1 City People Page 2 of 3

present to me today will make me happy the rest of my life," she said.

The Suitts have always described their marriage as a partnership, so much so that Mrs. Suitt served on the board of directors of her husband's Suitt Construction Co. for 28 years.

And together they choose the organizations and agencies they want to support.

Businessman and friend Bill Orders describes Mrs. Suitt as one of the most interesting people he's ever met, a teacher by nature. Orders describes Howard Suitt as serious, knowledgeable and methodical, traits he believes account for Suitt's success.

"They always speak of the business in terms of a 'we' operation," says Orders. "She is a good thinker and sounding board. Howard is the decision-maker. I think that's what makes them work." ' "To be married as long as we

have, each party has to work hard at making it work," says Suitt, then adding with a smile, "I tell Hilda I worked harder than she did."

"He might be right," quips his wife.

"We give to each other," he continues, offering as an example, "She had her theater work, and I accommodated that. I have to travel a lot in my work, and she accommodated that."

The Suitts grew up in Spartanburg, where her father was sheriff. Suitt's father worked in the wholesale grocery business. The two met in a lOth-grade Latin class at Spartanburg High School.

"He was smart, and I was a motor mouth. That hasn't changed," says Mrs. Suitt. "Howard always cuts his own way."

The two began dating as high school seniors. After graduation, she went to Winthrop, he to The Citadel. Because of travel condi-

PROFILE • Howard and Hilda Suitt are members of Buncombe Street United Methodist Church. • They have two children, Tom Suitt and Nancy Bennett, both living in Atlanta. The Suitts also have four grandchildren.

• Mrs. Suitt collects Imari porcelain. • Together they collect paintings by Suitt's sister, M.E. Suitt.

• Suitt is an avid golfer, and, before experiencing health problems, Mrs. Suitt was an avid tennis player.

• Though the Suitts are committed to their alma maters, they also have a loyalty to Furman University and are contributors to the Richard Furman Society. • Suitt ha*s been chairman of the board of trustees of the Greenville Hospital System and now serves on the GHS Foundation board.

• Mrs. Suitt says that musical comedy was her forte.

• Because of the demands of theater roles, she never took one without discussing it with her husband and children.

tions and then World War II, it was the beginning of a long-distance courtship that would last until they married in 1949.

Mrs. Suitt expected her future to be in education. Her future husband, however, had no career plans.

"I had taken two years of French and two years of Latin in high school, so I didn't really want to major in anything where I would have to take foreign languages," Suitt recalls. "My adviser told me you didn't have to take foreign language if you majored in engineering."

Combined with the fact that he has "always liked building things and watching them being created," that cemented his future.

Once discharged from the military, Suitt returned to The Citadel to complete his degree arid then married Hilda Brockman.

"You didn't get married in those days until you finished school," explains Mrs. Suitt.

Though engineering would eventually be his livelihood, Suitt's first job "after college was with a wood-preserving company that made telephone poles and railroad crossties in Spartanburg. He spent seven years on that job.

"It was a wonderful time to start a family," says Mrs. Suitt. "That was our first home, and it gave us a chance to settle down."

During the early years of their marriage, Mrs. Suitt taught school.

"It made me a great believer in education," she says. "I loved it. Teaching is the most rewarding job, but it is also the hardest job in the world."

After seven years, Suitt joined the construction arm of S.H. Kress Co., the dime store chain. He was responsible for the building of new stores and renovation of old ones.

"It was the grandest experience," Suitt says. "It gave me the


Date: Nov. 29, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: ICity People Page 3 of 3

ownership perspective of construction."

Kress, however, was falling on hard times, and, when Suitt's job was eliminated, he joined Daniel Construction in 1960.

During the three years Suitt had been with Kress, he and his family had moved five times. In 1966, after six years with Daniel, he was to be transferred again.

Mrs. Suitt, who was in no hurry to pull up stakes again, says, "After a while, you've got to start thinking of the children."

"She is the one who encouraged me to try it on my own," says Suitt.

Starting in 1968 with two employees and his wife as corporate secretary, Suitt went into business for himself.

"I started out thinking about feeding my family," says Suitt.

Over the next 28 years, he built his company into one of the top 10 privately owned companies in South Carolina.

In 1996, Suitt sold Suitt Construction to B.E. & K., a large Birmingham, Ala., company. Though old enough to retire, Suitt stayed on as CEO of Suitt, now a subsid-aryofB.E. & K.

"He's always said that if you find i job you like, you never have to vork," says Mrs. Suitt, who found ter special interest on the stage.

"From the time I was 4 years old I've been dancing and acting," she explains, joking that, "Shirley Temple was my mentor." As a

freshman at Winthrop, she won a talent contest, and during her

years there was in charge of musicals and skits. Once set

tled in Greenville, she became involved with the Little The

atre. Not only did she star in a number of productions, she also served on the theater's board from 1968 to 1985. "She has meant an awful lot to

our family," says McCalla. "From the time she moved here, she was involved right off the bat and has always been a staunch supporter."

"She is the most uninhibited person I've ever known, never at a • loss for presence," says Suitt of his wife's love of theater. "And she is probably the most people-oriented person I've ever known."

A breast cancer survivor who is still recovering from the effects of a serious fall in 1988, Mrs. Suitt remains outgoing and upbeat.

"We can be out, and a band will be playing. The next thing I know, she's talking to the band leader, and before long she's up there singing," says a bemused and proud husband.

Their joy in one another's activities has spilled over onto their friends and their community.

As Mrs. Suitt sums it up, "Howard and I both think we owe Greenville a lot. We feel if you don't give back, you may as well move."

That was never an option.

• City People writer Jimmy Cornelison may be reached at 298-4279.



Nov. 29, 2000 Community Informer 1 Page 1 of 1

Holiday Open House The Greenville Hospital System

invites you to join the staff of North Greenville Hospital at a Holiday Open House on Tuesday, December 5, from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m., at NGH, located at 807 North Main Street, Travelers Rest, SC.

Guest Emcee will be Amy Wood, of WSPA TV, with refreshments and Santa. Entertainment will feature Travelers Rest High School

Band, Northwest Middle School 6th

Grade Chorus, Spiritual Deliverance Choir of Shoal Creek Baptist Church, and Ms. Shirlene Cruell.

Please remember the Toy Drive and Food Drive to benefit those in need in the community.

Co-sponsorS are North Greenville_ Hospital Advisory Council and North Greenville YMCA.


Date: Nov. 29, 2000 Publication: Times Examiner Page: 2 Page 1 of 1

Holiday Open House

Greenville Hospital System invites you to join the staff of North Greenville Hospital at a Holiday Open House on Tuesday, December 5th from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.

The event will take place at North Greenville Hospital located at 807 North Main Street (Hwy. 276) in Travelers Rest.

The guest emcee for the evening is Amy Wood of WSPA TV. Refreshments, entertainment, and Santa will all be a part of the evening. Also, the event will have performances by the Travelers Rest High School Band, the Northwest Middle School 6th

Grade Chorus, and the Spiritual Deliverance Choir of Shoal Creek Baptist Church.


Date: Nov. 30, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1B Page 1 of 2

GHS profits small, but welcomed

Many hospitals in financial crisis By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER [email protected]

The Greenville Hospital System ended its fiscal year nearly $23 million in the black to post a 3.7 percent profit margin, more than twice last year's.

"These results are phenomenal in this kind of distressed hospital environment," said Ernst & Young auditor Mike Chibbaro. "Other hospitals are in trouble." «

The South Carolina Health Alliance, which represents more than 60 hospitals in the state, cautions that six out of 10 hospitals could be in dire straits by next year as a result of the federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997,"which reduced Medicare spending by $115.1 billion and Medicaid by $10.1 billion over a five-year period ending in 2002.

The alliance estimates that hospitals statewide will gain an average 1.2 percent for 1999, with teaching hospitals in worse shape, suffering losses of 1.4 percent, alliance spokeswoman Patricia Smoake said.

Nationwide, hospital operating margins averaged 2.9 percent, with smaller hospitals most in jeopardy, according to a study by Ernst & Young and Maryland-based HCIA-Sachs, a health-care analysis firm. And despite $11 billion of relief passed by Congress, margins will continue to erode in the next two years, the study predicts.

Full-Si • a:rt.employees: per a#.

Average length of stay

I GHS H National

1996 2000 SOURCE: GHS SUZIE RIDDLE/Staff

"We've seen some gains" up from 1.4 last year, said an upbeat Susan Bichel, GHS' acting vice president of finance.

So considering those "gains," why did GHS raise rates 8.4 percent last month?

"That $31 million profit margin is only 20 days of operating capital," said board chairman Dr. Thomas Mann Sr., adding that the rate increase translates into a net increase of just 1.6 percent.

The margin also enables the hospital to buy new technology, to pay for upkeep of property and facilities and to maintain a AA bond rating, Mann said.

"And our bond rating is critical right now because we will

See GHS on page 3B



Nov. 30, 2000 Greenville News 1B Page 2 of 2

GHS FROM PAGE 1B

be going to the bond market for our Phase V expansion."

That $67 million project will increase capacity at the main campus and at suburban facilities to reduce waiting times and alleviate overcrowding.

GHS also must continue to be a safety net hospital for the region's poor, Mann said, noting that charity care, or services provided to the uninsured who cannot pay, cost the hospital $32 million in fiscal 2000. Bad debt, or uncollected patient co-payments, totaled $39.5 million, he said.

The increase over last year's bottom line resulted from a variety of efforts, including reducing the average length of stay for inpatients and cutting the number of full-time equivalent employees, or FTEs, per patient stay. The average length of stay dropped from 7.6 days in 1996 to 5.2 days this year, while the number of FTEs per adjusted patient stay dropped over the same period from 36.7 to 31.6.

Another windfall was provided by nearly $8 million in investment earnings, up from just $200,000 last year, Mann said, hringing total profits to $31 million.

Overall, net revenues topped $622.2 million, while expenses totaled $599.4 million, Bichel said. Labor costs made up 53 percent of expenses.


Date: Dec 1, 2000 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: 1A Page 1 of 3

Bid for technology winds up in court Local health organizations scuffle over ownership of high-tech imaging equipment


Carolinas Clinical PET Institute (CCPI) has been granted approval to introduce a potentially revolutionary piece of medical equipment to the Upstate.

CCPI, a joint venture of CancerCenters of the Carolinas, Bon Secours-St. Francis Health Care System, and Carolina Radiology, was awarded a Certificate of Need (CON) in August by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental

—^ — — - Control (DHEC) to acquire a INSIDE 1 1 C43 positron emission tOmogra-

. . phy (PET) scanner. A lOOk a t According to Mark _ P T O'Rourke, an oncologist rbl SCannerS with CancerCenters, the,$2-

:—• million state-of-the-art equipment is to be housed on the St. Francis campus and was to be ready for service by the end of this year.

However, an appeal of that decision by the Greenville Hospital System (GHS),.the other applicant for the CON, could delay the arrival of that technology for some time. The appeal has been filed with the administrative law Court, but a Court date has not been set. Mary Fechtel of DHEC says the case may not be heard before March or April of next year.

Even if the judge rules against them, GHS still could appeal directly to the DHEC board, a circuit court and eventually even the state Supreme Court. "It is open-ended," says O'Rourke of the appeals process. "It could delay this a couple of years."

Fechtel reports it is "very, very rare" for one of their decisions to be overturned in court. But it is common for then decisions, especially those involving new medical technology or services, to be challenged. "Tertiary services is sort of a battleground," she explains. "You get the same thing in Columbia and Charleston."

Howell Clyborne, vice president of communication services for GHS, insists it is not the intention of his organization to delay ^he process. "I think this issue will be resolved pretty quickly," lae contends. "We have a pretty good track record in this community .of resolving issues." "Who is better qualified,

Yet O'Rourke a large multifunction remains skeptical, . ... .. ,

A. institution or a arouo of accusing the com- " * • " munity's largest private practitioners?" hospital of obstruc- • „ ,, r t , tionism "Th ~~ Clyborne, wantthetechnology VP of Communications Services for GHS for the Greenville Hospital System," he claims.

Richard Neugent, CEO of St. Fpncis, cites an earlier conflict between the two institutions, when a GHS appeal of a CON delayed the opening of the St. Francis Women's Hospital. "There's no question you can string things out indefinitely," he says.

The bone of contention in this case is an imaging technology which actually has been around for a number of years. According to Eric Farnsworth, a. radiologist with Carolina Radiology who recently completed a fellowship in this imaging modality, PET scanners read the effect of radioactive glucose injected into a patient's body. Cancer cells are "hyper-metabolic" and consume the glucose at a higher rate than ordinary cells. This high metabolic rate shows up as a hot spot on a computer screen when it's read by the scanner.

Farnsworth explains that the scanner is superior to MRIs and X-rays. "Majnly it's more sensitive," he says. So sensitive, in fact,



Dec 1,2000 Greenville Journal 1A Page 2 of 3

it is capable of distinguishing some cancerous tumors from benign ones. It has proven effective in diagnosing lung and colon cancers, malignant melanomas and lymphomas, as well as dementia of the brain, including Alzheimer's disease.

Until now, this technology was mostly available at research hospitals like Duke and Emory, where data on its effectiveness were being compiled. Physicians

. who wished to access it had to send their patients out of town - an inconvenience to both the patient's family and the physician.

But the data confirming its diagnos

tic powers has been published in the last year. And a ruling by the federal Health Care Financing Administration allowing PET scans to be reimbursed by both Medicare and Medicaid has increased its financial feasibility for community hospitals to make the necessary capital investment.

Unfortunately, the State Health Plan currently allows only one CON to be issued for every 1 million people in the population. Roper Hospital in Charleston and Baptist Hospital in Columbia both received approval to acquire PET scanners this year, and CancerCenters was to be the third.

O'Rourke, who has spearheaded CancerCenters' drive to bring this technology to the Upstate, claims DHEC officials told him afterwards, "This was the most decisive review application they had ever seen." He claims his

"This Was the most decisive review application they had ever seen. "

- D r . Mark O'Rourke,

CancerCenters of the Carolinas

application was embraced, in part, because its proposed scanner (ECAT EXACT) is superior to the competition, would be available five days per week as opposed to GHS's three-day-a-week mobile scanner, and because Farnsworth, who is the only local radiologist trained to interpret PET scans, practices out of St. Francis Hospital, where the scanner would be located.

Chris Sullivan, GHS director of planning, disputes that, saying, "Both applications met all the relevant criteria DHEC use in awarding a CON." He counters that the mobile scanner is not inferior and that its vendor has agreed to provide training support to local radiologists as they equip themselves to read PET scans. "DHEC did not see that as an issue," he says. And the three-day service was proposed as a cost-effective approach for introducing the new service to the area. "We can go back to DHEC and expand it from three days to five days," he adds.

Perhaps the stickiest issue has to do with the tussle over who can provide the best service. "Who is

better qualified," asks Clyborne, "a large multifunction institution or a group of private practitioners?" And Sullivan adds that a mobile scanner,

which can travel to outlying medical facilities, is "more accessible" than one at a fixed location.

Neugent, like O'Rourke, contends GHS will show a preference for patients covered by managed-care contracts it serves, while other providers can expect to pay a surcharge for PET scans.

According to O'Rourke, CancerCenters pledged in its application to make the service available to patients at all area hospitals at competitive prices. "[CancerCenters] said we're not going to abuse it; we're not going to disadvantage other providers," says Neugent.

What cannot be overlooked, however, is that while CancerCenters' parent company, U.S. Oncology, eventually would own the scanner, if would be located on the St. Francis campus, giving that institution a competitive advantage of its own.

With the financial stakes high, (CancerCenters' application projects a net income of $1.2 million in 2002) the two institutions find themselves locked in another of a long series of turf battles that may or may not be decided by an administrative law judge.


Date: Dec 1, 2000 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: 1A Page 3 of 3


Dr. Mark O'Rourke examines an image produced by a PET scanner.


Date: Dec. 2, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1 B Page 1 of 1

GHS offering minority incentives Hospital program provides loans for students entering health-care fields By Liv Osby H E A L T H WRITER

losby® greenvillenews.com

Struggling with chronic staff shortages amid a growing patient base, Greenville Hospital System hopes to coax Upstate minority students into health-care careers by offering educational loans they can work off after graduation.

"The health-care industry is facing critical needs for more health-care professionals and for more diversity in its ranks," said Doug Dorman, GHS' vice president of human resources.

"We need to encourage more students, and especially minority students," he said, "to pursue health-care occupations, such as nursing and radiological technology."

Upstate women often must wait up to six months for a mammography largely because of the shortage of mammographers, which reflects the greater nationwide dearth of radiological technologists.

More than 300 million radiological procedures are performed in the United States a year. And while schools certified 10,629 radiological technologists in 1994, that number had dropped to 7,595 by last. vear. according to the

American Society of Radiological Technologists.

Next spring, GHS will open its Eastside Center for Women with nine mammography units in addition to those at its main and suburban campuses. And industry experts say they will be difficult to staff given the tight labor market locally.

The nursing side is not faring much better. Because GHS is having a hard time attracting full-time nurses, it has to contract for more costly part-time, or per diem, professionals.

In fact, GHS currently has more than 300 job openings, more than 100 for nursing spots — primarily RNs — and another 50 for technologists, including radiological technologists, Dorman said, as well as an employee turnover rate of 20 percent.

Accordingly, the hospital contributed $70,000 to the Greenville Hospital System Foundation to establish an endowment whose interest will fund loans for between five and 10 students annually, Dorman said.

"We had a good year," he said, "so we took some money and decided to invest in the future."

The program is aimed at high school graduates or older people who may be looking for a second career, said Dorman.

Students will be required to work one year for each year's tuition they accept, and longer for part-timers, in the hopes they will stay with GHS, he said. Those who fail to come to work at GHS after graduation will be responsible for repaying the loan, he said.

The fund will complement more than $60,000 in minority health-care scholarships

"We had a good year, so we took some money and

decided to invest in the future." — Doug Dorman,

Greenville Hospital System vice president of human resources

raised by the Area Health Education Consortium's Minority Advisory Council for Upstate students.

"It's important to continue our commitment to minority students," said Jacqueline Williams, chair of the council.

"We need to educate minority students about the vast numbers and kinds of careers available in health care," she said, "and then make those careers feasible by exposing them to job information in higher or continuing education forums."

The St. Francis Foundation of Bon Secours St. Francis Health System offers three scholarships to employees: $2,500 a year toward college for health-care studies, $10,000 to nurses for continuing education,4 and $600 a year toward continuing education for employees in the gastrointestinal department, spokeswoman Jo Halmes said.

However, she said, the hospital does not offer scholarships to recruit professionals.

Tuition assistance is offered to employees in the hopes they will become nurses and technologists, recruiter Phyllis Long said.

Other incentives for new hires include paying off student loans and relocation packages, she said.

• Liv Osby covers health issues and can be reached at 298-4422.


Date: Dec. 3, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 11C Page 1 of 2

Mother Nature, Paris Mountain rough up racers

By Mike Foley STAFF WRITER [email protected]

How do you make South Carolina's toughest road race even tougher? Add chilling temperatures, rain, sleet and a touch of snow.

The 30th annual Greenville Hospital System Paris Mountain 20K Road Race on Saturday morning featured those amenities as hundreds of runners tackled the race, which starts on the campus of Furman University, heads to the 2,000-foot summit of Paris Mountain, and then winds up and down even more hills on its 12.4-mile meander back to campus.

The race is billed*as South Carolina's oldest and toughest road race, and the early December date adds to the difficulty.

Overall winner Jeremiah Mushen, 24, of Seneca, a former collegiate runner at Western Washington University and now a professional tri-athlete, didn't have any arguments about the race's difficulty. Even though he grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where mountains are common, he still had respect for Saturday's endeavor.

"That's one of the toughest races I've ever run," Mushen said shortly after crossing the finish line in 1 hour, 13 minutes and 29 seconds. That time was a course record, as the course was altered this year to avoid heavy vehicle traffic.

While the course gave Mushen trouble, so did runner-up Jarret Keim, 31, of Central, one of Mu-shen's training partners and a fellow triathlete. When the duo crested the mountain, at about 3V2 miles, that's when the race began, Mushen said.

"We started out real conservative and then we picked it up coming down the mountain," Mushen said. While that's a place many runners try to ease up a bit, to save on the inevitable heavy pounding the legs absorb while zipping down the

mountain, Mushen and Keim used the downhill to gap most of the field.

"I think we've got well-developed quads (quadricep muscles) from all the biking we do," Mushen said. "So it didn't hurt us much."

While the men battled it out at the front, Dian Ford, 45, of Piedmont fought only the clock as she tried to break the South Carolina state age group record for 45-49 females and win the race.

"I just wanted to break 1:30," said Ford, who has broken the 45-49 division 5K, 10K and 10-mile records since April. Ford finished in 1:26:22, winning by four minutes over second-place finisher Fe Lobo-Menendez, 37, of Columbia, and eclipsing the old age group mark by more than six minutes. Lobo-Me-nendez finished in 1:30:22.

Ford said she recently drove the new course to see the changes. After running it Saturday, she concluded, "It was tougher driving it than running it."

In the accompanying 5K, the great Dane — Denmark native and former Clemson University runner Tina Jensen, 28, now of Greenville — showed her heels to the entire field finishing in 17:30, about 20 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Joe Hammond, 39, of Travelers Rest.

Construction on campus made the course at least 100 meters longer than 5 kilometers; still, Jensen demolished the former course record by a minute and 15 seconds. Hammond clocked 17:50. Toby Brown, 33, of Greenville, was third in 17:57.

The overall win by a female is the first anyone could recall. Jensen said it was exciting to be out in front of the men and women. Jensen, said she was running with Hammond and Brown until about the halfway point.

"Then, they didn't hang on any more," she said.

• Mike Foley covers running for The Greenville News. Award winners from out-of-town races, and marathon finishers, can report results by calling 298-4744 or e-mailing information.


Date: Dec. 3, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1C Page 2 of 2

Mountain Man

BARTBOATWRIGHT/Staff

20k smile: Jeremiah Mushen of Seneca smiles as he wins the wet and chilly Greenville Hospital System Paris Mountain 20k Road Race on Saturday. See story, 11C

2000 347 [ search engine powered by magazooms.com ]

Date: Dec. 6, 2000 Publication: Community Informer Page: 1

GHS Creates Minor i ty Heal thcare Scholarship Fund

Greenville Hospital System has contributed $70,000 to the

Greenville Hospital System Foundation to create an endowment for minority students to pursue health care careers. The interest on the fund will be used to fund scholarships in the form of loans which students pay back by working for Greenville Hospital System after graduation.

"We need to encourage more students, and especially minority students, to pursue health care occupations such as nursing and

radiological technology," said Doug Dorman, vice president of human resources for the hospital system. "The healthcare industry is facing critical needs for more healthcare professionals and for more diversity in its ranks."

The fund will complement the efforts of the Area Health Education Consortium's Minority Advisory Council, which has already raised over $60,000 for minority healthcare scholarships in the Upstate. "It's important to continue our

commitment to minority students," said Jacqueline Williams, council chair. "We need to educate minority students about the vast numbers and kinds of careers available in healthcare, and then make those careers feasible by exposing them to job information in higher or continuing education forums."

GHS has a long-standing record of recruiting minorities and educating employees about cultural differences through its Diversity Program, which has become a model in the nation.


Date: Dec. 7, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 2B Page 1 of 1

Hospital surplus taxes go

to public service agencies By Angelia Davis STAFF WRITER

adavis® greenvillenews.com

•to More than $150,000 in hospital surplus taxes has been dispensed to public service agencies for projects that officials say will contribute to the health of northern Greenville County residents. < Ten fire departments, the

Slater-Health and Human Services Agency, the city of Travelers Rest and the Greenville County Recreation District are among the agencies that have received some pi the $200,000-plus in excess money generated by a special tax district created 32 years ago to build North greenvilie Hospital.

The remaining $57,432.67 in surplus taxes will go to the North Greenville Family YMCA for the construction of a new $1.5 million facility on McElhaney Road, said Dill Blackwell, chairman of the Upper Greenville Hospital District Commission.

Blackwell said that money and the interest it generates will be given to the agency when a construction contract is signed for the project.

Gary Schlansker, president and chief executive officer of the YMCA, said he doesn't know when that will be. The agency, he said, is waiting for different approvals from county agencies to move forward with the project.

The special tax was created in the 1960s. In 1980, officials found they had collected enough money to pay off the hospital bonds but didn't halt the tax immediately. It brought in about $49,000 in surplus that has been generating interest since.

Two years ago, the General Assembly passed a resolution allowing the Upper Greenville Hospital District Commission to hold a public hearing to get ideas about what to do with the surplus money. *

Under a plan later approved by the Legislature, the hospital commission distributed $68,844.64 to the Glassy Mountain, North Greenville,

River Falls, Slater-Marietta, Tigerville, Travelers Rest, Lake Cunningham, Berea, Duncan Chapel and Piedmont Park fire departments.

That money was used to buy emergency medical equipment such as automated external defibrillators, jaws of life and first-responder equipment. *

The Slater-Marietta Health and Human Services Agency received $75,487.62 to help fund the renovation of its new larger home, which is the former Slater-Marietta Fire Department.

The city of Travelers Rest received $1,320.10 for a senior center, and the Greenville County Recreation District received the same amount to make improvements at Gateway Park.

Travelers Rest City Administrator Cliff Gaddy said the City Council may decide to give the grant to the area's Senior Action group.

That would be fine, Black-well said. The main thing is that the money is earmarked for senior citizens, he said.

The grant will first be discussed by the council's Ways and Means Committee next week, Gaddy said.

• Angelia Davis covers the Berea and Travelers Rest areas. She can be reached at 298-4276.



Emergency room stays shortened in Greenville New layout, more nurse practitioners help cut about 30 minutes


Patients are spending less time at Greenville Memorial's emergency room since the addition of more nurse practitioners and a reconfiguration of the department's layout, hospital officials say.

The ER sees about 85,000 patients a year, Dr. Martin E. Lutz, medical director of GHS's emergency trauma center, said Wednesday. That's a 36 percent jump since 1990, he said, which has put a strain on services.

'Renovations are two-plus years away, but we needed to

figure out how do we take care of the folks coming in the door," Lutz said. "We opted to get more nurse practitioners and find more space. It was not that easy to do."

The moves, which took effect Oct. 23, have cut the av-

Greenviile Memorte Hospital ER Annual visits to the ER

63 ,254 35 ,398 ER visits in October

7 ,171 7,312 Average time in ER* Before program took effect

4 hours 2 4 minutes ' "Af te r"

3 hours 5 1 minutes * Includes wait and treatment

out of the waiting room, enabling care to begin earlier. Nurse practitioner coverage was tripled to care for them, said H. Lorette Mitchem, ER nurse practitioner.

St. Francis Health System also has nurse practitioners in its emergency departments, said physician assistant Mitchell Greenberg.

"They see the less critical patients — coughs, colds, minor broken bones — which helps the physicians to see the more critical patients," Greenberg said. "It has reduced the time patients spend in the ER."

Source: Greenville Hospital System

erage time in the ER for adults about 30 minutes from 4 hours and 24 minutes to 3 hours and 51 minutes, Lutz said.

About one in three patients comes to the ER with coughs, colds and other mild symptoms that don't require critical care, Lutz said. Nurse practitioners — advanced registered nurses who can order tests, perform minor procedures and prescribe medications — can treat them.

Ten underutilized beds in the chest pain observation area were converted for patients who aren't seriously ill or injured, he said. And two treatment rooms were carved


Date: Dec. 27, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 11 City People Page 1 of 1

Sybil Gray Joy Burger

Top volunteers Joy Burger and Sybil Gray are

Greenville Memorial Medical Center's Volunteers for the Month for October and November.

Burger has volunteered in the ICU Waiting Room at Greenville Memorial Hospital since 1994. Gray has volunteered in the Gero-Psych Program at Marshall I. Pickens Hospital for the last three years.



Bout with cancer convinced Groce to help others


Six years ago, Caroll Groce was diagnosed with lymphoma, and, as he lay in bed, he thought about the difficulties of cancer and the strength he needed to fight it.

He says that his faith in God helped him win that battle after a year.

"I'm the religious type. God takes care of us. His will be done. I always thought it was a win-win situation. If I beat the cancer, it was fine, or I would go somewhere else and that would be fine, too," Groce said.

"It's a fairly low-grade cancer, and it's easy to treat. The drugs knocked down the cancer, and, so far, it looks good. I think I have beaten it."

For 26 years, Groce worked at Duke Power in Greenville as a superintendent of power apparatus, retiring in 1991.

After his recovery, he knew

PROFILE

• Name: Caroll Groce " • Hometown: Greer • Family: Wife, Lee; four children and eight grandchildren • Education: Studied at Georgia Tech • Hobbies: Volunteering and reading

he wanted to give something back to the people who had helped him, but he didn't know exactly how to go about that until a few years later.

Today, Groce is a volunteer for the Greenville Hospital System Auxiliary. For the last 2% years, he has spent every Wednesday at Greenville Memorial Hospital.

"I enjoy it. I can relate to people there. Sometimes, we look at people, and we say, 'I know how you feel, but you don't know how they feel. You can't know how they feel,' but I do. I know what radiation is like, the sickness, the burning

and the pain," Groce said. "I am sure if more people

knew about how patients feel, they would volunteer."

His duties include errands such as delivering blood samples for testing, picking up cookies from the kitchen for the patients and simply visiting with patients.

"God brought me through the cancer. ... I don't ask him why it happened to me. I just ask what can I do?" Groce said.

"I will volunteer for the rest of my life, as long as I can keep doing it, and there are so many wonderful volunteers."

And he tries to point out to patients the positive things he has learned through his own experience with illness.

"Because of my lymphoma, I get to do a lot of small things, like participate in the Relay for Life and other cancer events. I also hand out pens with little notes, reminding women to get their mammograms," Groce said.


Date: Dec. 27, 2000

Publication: Greenville News

Page: 8 City People Page 2 of 2

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Caroll Groce volunteers with the Greenville Hospital System Auxiliary on a regular basis.



GHS Auxiliary started 46 years ago The auxiliary to the Greenville Hos- The auxiliary adopted its current • Allen Bennett Hospital/Roger

pital System dates back to 1954. In that structure in 1975 with the formation of Huntington Nursing Center Auxiliary year, the volunteers at Greenville Gen- an executive committee to oversee op- — Dorothy Mills, president; Hattie eral Hospital organized the Greenville erations of auxiliaries at the individual Ross, president-elect

? l n e r a M H ^ S P i t a l ^ T ' / " ? M r S ' h ° S p i t a l S - • Greenville Memorial Medical Cen-James Meade served as the first presi- N d l e M c C a u l e y s e r y e d a s t h e & s t t e r A u x i l i a r y _ T o o d l e R o b e r t Son,

When Greenville Memorial Hospital chairman of the executive committee, president; Pierson Price, president-opened in 1972, the auxiliary's name Sharon Howell holds the position now. elect was changed to the Auxiliary to the The current auxiliaries and their • Hillcrest Hospital Auxiliary — Bar-Greenville Hospital System. leadership are as follows: bera Boggs, vice-president



Grier relishes challenges as GHS Auxiliary director


Susan Grier grew up hearing stories about hospital routine at the dinner table, because both her parents were health-care workers.

So, it's no surprise that, as a teen-ager, Grier often volunteered at hospitals. In college, she spent her summers volunteering in hospital pharmacies.

After graduation, the logical step seemed for her to simply walk into a career in the same field.

Today, as director of volunteer services of the Greenville Hospital System Auxiliary, Grier supervises 700 volunteers.

She also works with the 7,000 employees of the Greenville Hospital System from an office where she has one assistant and lots of volunteer help.

"I always liked working with people in an environment where no two days are alike. I enjoy the diversity of each situation and the challenges it presents," she said.

Her daily goal is simple: "To make a patient's stay at the hospital as pleasant as possible. Except for someone having a baby, no one wants to be here. If a volunteer can take them mail, help at mealtime or run a small errand for them, it just makes it a little easier," Grier said.

"The volunteers don't get a paycheck, but they give themselves and their time so unselfishly with such contagious enthusiasm, that it pumps me up, and I get a lot of personal satisfaction from their accomplishments."

ALAN DEVORSEY / Staff

Susan Grier holds a master's degree in public health.

PROFILE • Name: Susan Grier • Hometown: Savannah, Ga. • Family: Husband, Paul, and son, Hayward • Education: B.S. from Vanderbilt University; M.H.A. from Duke University • Hobbies: Reading, traveling, baseball and volunteering



Dec. 27, 2000 Greenville News 8 City People Page 2 of 2

Better than anyone, she knows how many kinds of volunteers it takes to help the hospital run.

"We have retirees, college students, teen-agers and young professionals who put in more than 40-plus hours a week (at work) and then spend an evening or a day volunteering here," said Grier.

"They are all amazing and invaluable to the hospital. Without them, this would be a very different place. Most of them are people who want to make a difference in the world."

They also have a variety of reasons for volunteering.

"Some do it because they have had a personal experience with their health or have had a family member who has been very ill. Others have a hobby or special skills they want to share, like making

decorations or crafts for the children to work on, and some just like the social aspects of it as volunteers lunch together every day," Grier said.

As visitors walk through GHS, they can recognize the female volunteers in white slacks or skirts topped with pink smocks or the men in white with red smocks.

Volunteers may be evident in reception areas where they act as a liaison between staff and family members. Or they can choose to work directly with the patients, doing errands, playing a game or reading a book.

The 700 volunteers work 80,000 hours per year, and, if the value of their work was calculated on an hourly basis, they contribute $1.2 million of their time.

"They do some things that the staff don't normally have time to do, like writing a letter for a patient or making a phone call. Staff members would love to do that, but

they are so pressed for time, it becomes impossible," Grier said.

Some potential volunteers assume they can offer their name and receive an immediate assignment.

In reality, they must fill out an application, have the same medical examination as a prospective employee, learn about infection control, fire safety, security measures and undergo a hospital orientation.

"A lot of volunteers come looking for something short-term to do and stay up to a year and then move on, while some stay more than 30 years. These are a real asset and invaluable, as they know everyone and know where everything is kept," Grier said.

Grier expects to stay just as long as those valuable long-term volunteers.

Her first job was at the Emory University research lab, where she did basic cancer research. She returned to school to get a master's degree in public health and discovered that her interest lay in administration.

Grier moved to Greenville and did a year's residency at Greenville Memorial Hospital, then worked at Greenville General Hospital.

She spent four years working with home health-care companies before moving into her present job.



Auxiliary fills the gaps Sharon Howell Guest Columnist

My association with the auxiliary to Greenville Hospital System started in 1993. After moving to Greenville the year before, I needed something to occupy my time.

With my children grown and grandchildren too big to rock, I decided it was time to pursue my dream for when I was old and gray — rocking babies at the hospital.

After inquiring about my ambition at the Volunteer Services Office, I found that everyone wants to be a "cud-dler." With my name on the "cuddler" waiting list, I started volunteering as an office assistant and eventually began my duties-in the Newborn Nursery as a cuddler.

I admit that my initial intention was purely selfish — I loved getting my hands on the adorable babies!

I soon began serving on the auxiliary board at Greenville Memorial Medical Center, first as secretary, then president-elect and president. The longer I served, the more I learned and became excited about the auxiliary and the way it supports the Greenville Hospital System.

The auxiliary's purpose is "to provide direct supplemental patient services and indirect services to patients, employees and visitors in the Greenville Hospital System."

Three separate constituent auxiliaries make up the Auxiliary to GHS. They are located at Allen Bennett Hospital, Greenville Memorial Medical Center and Hillcrest Hospital.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

• Sharon Howell is chairman of the GHS Auxiliary executive committee. She and her husband, Bob, are members of Buncombe Street United Methodist Church.

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ALAN DEVORSEY/Staff

Sharon Howell moved to Greenville in 1992.



An executive committee, composed of volunteers and staff from the three hospitals, develops general policies for the auxiliary and considers funding requests for equipment, services or special projects that exceed the approval limits for the constituent boards.

Investment income, fundraisers and auxiliary-owned hospital gift shops yield enough money to enable us to give back to GHS in many ways every year.

Some of the larger grants have included $50,000 to provide partial funding for a neonatal transport ambulance; $52,943 for the Children's Hospital to purchase state-of-the-art equipment for the apnea program to assess and treat children who are at risk for sudden infant and childhood death; $50,000 for the Greenville Hospital System's display at the Bi-Lo Center; $75,000 for Camp Courage, which is held each summer at Lake Hartwell for children with cancer and chronic blood disorders; and a $250,000 five-year pledge for the GHS capital campaign for a playroom in the expanded Children's Hospital.

The auxiliary also provides complimentary newspapers to inpatients. Total contributions to GHS for the fiscal year ended September 2000 were $202,925.62.

During Christmas we decorate the hospitals and sponsor the "Light-Up-A-Life" program, where lights are symbolically placed on the poin-settia tree in Greenville Memorial's lobby in honor or memory of a loved one.

The proceeds from this program are used to provide scholarships for teen-age volunteers and children of hospital employees or volunteers who are pursuing an education in a health-related field.

Many service hours are accumulated in the hospitals — two Greenville Memorial volunteers have worked more than 25,000 hours.

Whenever you see a volunteer working at the information desk, the ICU or CCU waiting room, in the gift shop, transporting a patient, delivering flowers, meals or mail, remember that we serve in many ways with our hearts and hands.

I am proud to be a part of an organization that gives so much to the patients, their families, hospital staff and visitors. We are helping the Greenville Hospital System bring health care to a higher standard.

WANT map? • To volunteer with the Greenville Hospital System and become part of the auxiliary, contact the Volunteer Office at Greenville Memorial Hospital, 455-7994.


Date: Dec. 27, 2000 Publication: Greer Citizen Page: A1 Page 1 of 1

Record 98 patients flocked to hospital ER on Christmas

Allen Bennett Hospital's emergency room was the busiest place in Greer on Christmas Day.

Trauma Center Nurse Manager Barbara Greene reports the emergency room set a new patient record on Christmas with 98 patients over a 24 hour period.

The previous 24 hour record was set two years ago when 94 patients visited the ER during a flu epidemic. The previous Christmas day record was 78 patients seen last year.

This Christmas a variety of problems led to the ER's record setting day.

Patients came to the ER with com-' plications ranging from cardiac disease, accidents, nausea, vomiting, lacerations, and some alcohol related occurrences.

"We had a lot of lacerations," Greene noted. "People were cut washing dishes when glass broke."

As is often the case with Christmas, the ER also saw many patients battling psychiatric problems such as depression and suicidal tendencies.

Despite the record ER turnout, Greene said she and her staff had no trouble seeing all of the patients. The peak period for the ER came between 7 a.m. and 2 a.m.


Date: Dec. 27, 2000 Publication: Greer Citizen Page: A2 Page 1 of 1

Allen wins hospital system scholarship to tech Marilyn Allen of Taylors has been

awarded one of the Greenville Hospital System scholarships at Greenvile Technical College for students majoring in nursing and radiologic technology.

More scholarships are expected to be awarded in the spring.

"A high percentage of our employees have been trained at Greenville Tech and are involved in retraining and the continued education programs," says Doug Dorman, Vice President of Human Resources for the Greenville Hospital System (GHS).

Frank Pinckney, President of the GHS says, "We look forward to con

tinuing our partnership with Greenville Tech so that we can improve our abilities to meet the growing health and educational needs of our community."

Allen is in the Radiologic 'Tech?., nology program. She had considered becoming a nurse but as she got dlder, her interests changed. She went to a university for a year and a half and was majoring in chemistry. Allen returned home and chose to continue her education at Greenville Tech. "I have found the Rad Tech program to be extremely challenging. It's great and I would certainly recommend it to anyone interested in his field, says Allen.

The scholarship program continues the working partnership between the Greenville Hospital System and Greenville Tech. Students who accept the GHS scholarship agree to full-time, employment, after graduation, |o j a;period of one year for each academic year the student received the scholarship.

Students interested in the Greenville Hospital System Endowed Scholarships should contact the Financial Aid office at 250-8128. For information on establishing an en-Sowed scholarship, call the Greenville Tech Foundation office at 250-8514.



Emergency rooms feel pains from population increase Next three years projected to produce more of a strain on medical services

By Liv Osby HEALTH WRITER


Patients jamming the emergency room, patients in the halls, patients filling hospital beds — the Upstate's health care system is strained on the best of days.

Sometimes when emergency medical services calls with word that another patient is en route, it approaches the breaking point.

So hospitals issue an alert for EMS to take the less critical patients to, another medical center, a practice known as diversion. But as the Upstate grows, so has the volume of calls to 911 as well as the number of diversions.

And EMS increasingly finds itself transporting patients without a clear destination.

"Hospitals have a real problem trying to get enough space for patients," says Capt. William F. Marcley Jr. of Greenville County Emergency Medical Services.

"When they say don't bring the patient here because they're full, it's a problem," he says. "And it adds a lot of stress to an already stressful job."

"It's a challenge," agrees Gregory J. Rusnak, vice presi

dent of Greenville Memorial Medical Center, which called 164 diversions between July 1999 and May 2000, or about every other day.

"And it's probably going to get worse," he predicts, "because the population continues to be something that surpasses everybody's projections."

The Greenville Memorial Hospital emergency room has seen a 35 percent increase in visits since 1990, from 63,254 that year to 85,398 so far this year. That's nearly twice the increase of the total county population, which has risen 18.6 percent since 1990, according to the Greenville County Planning Commission.

Greenville Hospital System, and to a lesser degree Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, began diverting patients several years ago. Initially, the scheme posed few problems, Marcley says. But the number of calls to 911 has soared by more than 20 percent in the past five years, from about 29,000 in 1995 to a projected 36,000 this year.

And when one hospital is busy — which happens more often when winter brings the flu, freezing temperatures, icy sidewalks and too much holi-

Staying busy: EMS worker Hayes Kiser takes a patient from the ambulance outside Greenville Memorial Hospital on Wednesday.

day cheer — the others are busy too, he says.

That leads to multiple hospital diversions.

On November 29 and 30, for example, diversions were called at Allen Bennett Memorial Hospital in Greer, St. Francis Hospital downtown and Greenville Memorial, Marcley says.

"It doesn't take long when a

big hospital goes on diversion for the smaller ones to fill up too," says Dr. Mark H. Princell, medical director of emergency medicine at St. Francis Hospital. "We're coming into the busy season now and we're a little afraid of what's going to happen."

It's a scenario that tests even the most good-natured person.

"When they're on diversion, they're not very happy with us. And our guys cop an attitude too," says the amiable Marcley. "But what are you going to do?"

The phenomenon led EMS — which covers Greenville County's 800 square miles round-the-clock with 13 ambulances — to issue a memo recently that diversions will



Emergency crunch Volume of 911 calls to EMS

1995/28,937 1996/30,371 1997/30,949 1998/32,490 1999/34,931 2000/36,000* •projected

\lr7~~<

Visits to Greenville Memorial Hospital ER fear/total Year/total Increase

1990/63,254 2000/85,398 +35%

Greenville County population Year/total Year/total

1990/320,167 2000/379,871 +18.6%

SOURCE: Greenville County Planning Commission/Greenville Memorial Hospital

GEORGE TUGGLE JR./Staff

not be observed in certain circumstances:

• All trauma patients will be taken to Greenville Memorial — the regional trauma center — regardless of diversion status.

• Patient condition will dictate the destination — heart attack victims, for instance, will be taken to the closest appropriate hospital.

• When six or more ambulances are on a call, the patient will be taken to the closest or most appropriate hospital.

• If diversion is called at both St. Francis downtown and Greenville Memorial — the core hospitals — patients can't be taken to outlying hos

pitals leaving the city without ambulance coverage.

• Patients refusing to be diverted will be taken to the hospital of their choice.

"To maximize our limited resources, our policy is dependent on status of our system during the time the hospitals are on diversion," says Marcley. "They won't stand outside the ER and say you can't come in."

Making matters worse are 911 calls for colds and other minor ailments from people who have no transportation or who use the emergency room as their clinic, says Marcley.

EMS abusers also jam the system, Marcley says, pointing to a file more than an inch thick.

One man called EMS on three different occasions complaining of pain so he could be transported to the hospital to visit his girlfriend who worked there.

"He didn't have a car," says Marcley. "We put a stop to that pretty quick."

Another fellow calls EMS several times a week claiming he has chest pain, but is actually inebriated, he says. And as ER waits grow longer, calls are logged from hospital lobbies, where patients tired of waiting to see a doctor call 911 to get to another hospital.

While they don't constitute emergencies, they tie up ambulances and paramedics, keeping them from responding to other calls.

Despite the problems, Marcley says no diverted patients have died or worsened because of the system. But the potential is always there, he says, and patients frequently overhear radio calls from paramedics trying to find a hospital, causing needless anxiety.

So what can be done? Hospitals typically bring in additional staff in an attempt to break the backlog of patients. Still, there are occasions when there simply aren't enough beds.

"We do get busy and have to see people in the hallway sometimes, but you can't stop people from coming," he says. "We've done everything we know to do, other than computerized tracking, which tends to be very expensive."

"We try to manage it," adds Rusnak, noting that mornings are the busiest times as patients awaiting discharge occupy beds needed for new admissions.

So GHS is investigating ways to expedite processes, such as more timely notification of housekeeping to prepare a room and reducing length of stay, so that beds become available more quickly, Rusnak says.

Educating physicians to admit patients to less-crowded Allen Bennett and Hillcrest Hospital in Simpsonville would reduce the demand on Memorial. Expansion at those hospitals also should help somewhat, Rusnak says. GHS has plans to expand Memorial as well. But those projects won't be completed for three years.

"The county is growing so fast that by the time they complete the expansion," says Marcley, "it's already too small."

Rusnak says the project will help ease the bottleneck by allowing for more efficient use of beds because private rooms mean one bed need not remain empty because the occupant is male and an incoming patient is female.

Nonetheless, he says, the next three years won't be easy.

Marcley just shakes his head when he thinks of the next few years.

"We're looking at an increase of 5 percent a year in the number of calls, so we have a lot more people going to the ER," he says. "I don't know what will happen."


Date: Dec. 29, 2000 Publication: Greenville Journal Page: A7 Page 1 of 3

GHS nursing administrator unretiring in commitment


Laurie Johnson, an employee at the Heart Institute of Greenville, reviews paperwork with Beverly Johnson.



Beverly Johnson works because she wants to


Beverly Johnson is clear about what she loves about her job: "The fact [is] that I don't have to work."

For the director of nursing for cardiovascular services and intensive care and vascular units at the Greenville Hospital System, the assurance that employment is optional lessens the pressure to produce and gives her an enviable degree of job satisfaction.

Johnson and her husband, Clement, a former New York City police sergeant, had taken early retirement and moved to Florida with their daughter, Jocelyn, some years ago. But leisure in the Sunshine State was not all it was cracked up to be. "We found we were the youngest people in Florida," she quips.

So the energetic and resourceful nurse re-entered the workforce

at Lee Memorial Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla. Finding employment was made smoother by the qualifications that preceded her, including a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University and stints at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, the State University of New York in Brooklyn, and a cadre of small community hospitals.

Now in her sixth year at GHS, Johnson oversees a staff of nearly 500 that cares for some of the hospital's most critically ill and injured patients. "When you have good people," she says, "you can do anything." Despite stressful jobs, she claims her employees are a cohesive and contented group. "There are no people who work for me who don't want to be here," she declares.

She attributes the good morale to lessons learned from a former nursing administration mentor and the Golden Rule: "Teach others to lead and treat others as you would want to be treated."

For all her job satisfaction, Johnson does express a longing for the direct contact with patients and families that she once knew

as a floor nurse. Her responsibilities these days mostly involve community outreach and education, leadership development, and management of multimillion-dollar budgets.

But when the administrative duties prove too tedious, the native of Kingston, N.Y., is likely to be found interacting with staff, patients and their families. Patient care, she believes, is one duty that ties her profession to its past. "The art and science of nursing .... they don't, change," she insists. "They have been the core foundation of nursing forever."

However, everything else about nursing appears to be in transition. Technology, for example, is advancing alongside the growing asssertiveness of patients. "Nurses have to be more knowledgeable, not only to answer questions but in terms of exercising judgment in interpreting -information," she explains.

The delivery model is not what it once was, either. Once expected to perform a routine series of

See JOHNSON, Page A 7 »



JOHNSON from page A6

tasks with each patient, nurses now must be prepared for "a higher order of thinking" that includes more collaboration with physicians and other health care providers.

The sometimes dicey relationship with doctors may be in transition as well. Johnson observes that the physicians with whom she works today are less authoritarian and more collegial in their approach with hospital staff. Busier than ever, doctors look to nurses as problem solvers. "They want somebody to hear what that issue is and bring it to resolution," she contends.

Johnson admits that her profession suffers from some antiquated stereotypes. "It's a career path for young people [where] they have to think beyond giving someone a bedpan, a pill or a shot," she says. In fact, many of those tasks have been assigned to patient care technicians, freeing the registered nurse to focus instead on assessment, coordination and other critical-thinking skills.

Besides image problems, nursing recruitment has been hindered by a greater range of vocational options available for contemporary females. Where once women who sought a career were restricted mostly to nursing or teaching,

today their opportunities are more numerous.

But Johnson also admits her profession has failed to adequately tap two demographic populations - men and African-Americans - which potentially could put an end to the chronic shortage of nurses. Males often reject nursing because of its image as a female profession and a lack of awareness of the diverse technical skills the job requires, and African-Americans because of a combination of inadequate preparation, confidence and opportunity. (Johnson presently has no African-American managers on her staff, and only about 5 percent of the nurses under her supervision are African-American.)

Though African-American and female herself, the determined Johnson has refused to allow her own minority status to stand in the way of advancement in the often patriarchal world of medicine. "I've been very, very successful," she says. "And it's because I'm here to do a job. They're not paying me to be an African-American; they're paying me to be a nurse."

She attributes her can-do attitude to her husband: "He's been my biggest cheerleader, my biggest fan." And as for her professional development, she credits her boss, Pat Jansen: "He taught me how to maneuver in political systems and get things done."

10 . *> ' t o / •' • * ; t o

w i t h Bever ly Johnson 1. What is your favorite book?

Anything by Danielle Steele.

2. What is your favorite movie? The Bone Collector.

3. What is your favorite activity? Reading.

4. Who is the most influential person in your life? My family.

5. What is your best advice? You can do anything you put your mind to.

6. What is your aspiration? To retire young and rich.

7. What person would you most like to have a conversation with? Maya Angelou or Oprah Winfrey.

8. What is your most important belief? All things are possible through Christ.

9. What is your greatest regret? Not becoming a lawyer.

10. What is your most memorable experience? My managers gave me a day at Wilson's on Washington.



GHS, St. Francis to fight cancer together Coordinated effort to provide better access to trials for cancer patients


Greenville Hospital System (GHS) and Bon Secours-St. Francis Health System have announced a collaboration which signals a positive development in the fight against cancer.

The two hospitals have ^agreed to cre

ate a joint

G R E E N V I L L E H O S P I T A L S Y S T E M Healthcare to a Higher Standard

Institutional Review Committee (IRC) that will oversee cancer research projects in both facilities. IRCs review and approve clinical trial protocols through which patient care is provided in local hospitals.

Up until now, each institution has maintained independent IRCs, because each was affiliated with a different Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP). (These organizations administer all clinical trials.) Cancer trials at St. Francis have been managed by the Greenville C C O P , while those at GHS were overseen by the Spartanburg CCOP.

The result is that oncologists conducting trials involving patients at both facilities were forced to duplicate their efforts. "Getting reviews through IRCs required going to both," says Kathy Christman, an oncologist with Cancer Centers of the Carolinas and a member of the new committee.

She calls appearing before two committees and producing the requisite paperwork for each "cumbersome." It also is more expensive to manage, makes access to trials uneven and can cause confusion for patients who are asked to sign separate consent forms.

"The main focus of an IRC is to

protect the patients," says Stephanie Taylor, director of the GHS Office of Research Compliance and Administration. Her office will assist the new review committee in keeping abreast of all federal regulations and making sure that medical consent forms are written in clear, concise terms lay people can understand.

"Medical research is such a huge, growing area, anything we can do to simplify this process is good for the community, " says Taylor.

The joint IRC is composed of 8 committee members from each of the two institutions. In addition to physicians and nurses, it includes

c a n c e r s u r -v ivor s , m i n i s ters and o t h e r

private citizens, who, according to Taylor, "look at things from the community's point of view."

Unifying the process is the brainchild of Jerry Youkey, vice president of medical academic services for GHS. "There was some confusion recruiting the same patients for clinical trials that made no sense to me," he explains.



Youkey approached Jeff Giguere, another oncologist with

Cancer Centers who directs the

JIL G r e e n v i l l e

CflDD

St Francis Health System

CCOP, and proposed his organization administer the trials for both hospitals. Giguere agreed, and plans were made to unify the review process under one committee.

Besides reducing the volume of paperwork and presentations, Youkey anticipates "more nebulous benefits from having providers collaborate." National cancer trials tend to favor organi-

. zations that can provide them with the greatest numbers of patients. By combining into one CCOP, the community instantly increases its patient pool and enhances its chances of attracting

other new trials. Not that there is any shortage at

present. Christman estimates there are between 80 and 100 clinical trials in progress locally. The number is considered impressive for a community of this size without a major research institute.

Of course, the ultimate beneficiaries are the cancer patients themselves. The more trials that are conducted locally, the more likely they are to receive the

advanced treatments they need without having to travel to research facilities around the country.

And they also stand to benefit from the creation of the single IRC, as participation in trials will only require signing a single consent form. "It makes access to clinical trials for cancer patients easier," says Christman of the collaboration.

Perhaps on a larger scale, the announcement signifies an attempt on the part of the area's two major medical facilities to create some synergy. "That's what we're striving for - healing some

old wounds," contends Taylor. "I'm excited the community is going to be able to hear some positive things between the two institutions."

The announcement also may represent a move toward the restoration of the professional relationship between GHS and Cancer Centers of the Carolinas, which was damaged some years ago. "This is probably a first step in working together," suggests Youkey.

"It was always our desire to work with them," adds Christman. "And I think that's where we've come again."



Hospital adding patient tower

Some entrances relocated: Visitors should expect changes: An artist's rendering shows the entrance to Greenville Memorial Hospital after construction of a new six-story patient tower is completed. The hospital's emergency and patient entrances were moved this week to make way for the two-year construction project. Changes in parking areas and entrances will be marked, and hospital security officers are available to direct traffic and answer questions.

Photos by JASON PARKER/Staff


Date: Dec. 31,2000 Publication: Herald Journal Page: A1 Page 1 of 1

ALLEN B E N I I G I i mEniOillAL. HOSPITAL

:M

JOHN BYRUM/STAFF

TIM KIMZEY/STAFF

Allen Bennett Memorial Hospital, above, in Greer will add 11 rooms in the emergency department and four rooms in the outpatient surgery department.This artist's rendering, at left, is what the hospital will look like upon completion of the project.

$5.5 million expansion starts January By MURRAY GLENN Staff Writer

GREER — Expanded emergency and outpatient surgery departments are the focal points of a $5.5 million expansion and renovation program at Allen Bennett Memorial Hospital.

Work is expected to start in mid-January and take 2Vz years to complete.

The emergency department is being expanded from seven to 18 treatment rooms. The work includes a new X-ray unit, more waiting room and more office space.

The outpatient surgery area is jumping from seven to 11 rooms. The work includes a patient access center, where people gather in

a central location for paperwork and lab tests. The work involves the addition of 10,500

square feet and the renovation of 9,700 square feet. The project includes an expanded parking area and money for new medical equipment.

Officials say the effort is a response to rapid population growth of the Greer community.

For the year ending Sept. 31, 2000, the emergency room treated twice the number of people it was designed for in 1989.

The number of surgical procedures has jumped by more than 30 percent since 1989.

The number of outpatient surgiciai procedures has more than doubled during the same period.

"We need a better way to care for the growth that has occurred }n the area over the last five to 10 years," hospital administrator Mickey Massey said. "We also feel like this expansion will allow us room for future growth.

"We want the public to know we have the best of equipment and the best of care for a community hospital," Massey added.

The Allen Bennett project is part of a $67 million expansion for the Greenville Hospital System. TJhe work includes the addition of a sjx-story tower at Greenville Memorial Hospital. A children's hospital and a heart center will go in fitie space.

Other plans include an expansion of Greenville Memorial's emergency room and private rooms for all patients, said Robyn Zimmerman, spokeswoman for the hospital system.

Murray Glenn can be reached at [email protected] or 582-4511, Ext.7214.


Date: Dec. 31,2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1G Page 1 of 3

Nursing shortage 'almost a crisis' »y Kudolph Bell BUSINESS WRITER

dbell @ greenvillenews.com

It's a good time to be a registered nurse. Because of a national shortage, salaries are growing, and job opportunities are becoming more numerous.

"There's simply not enough nurses to take care of the number of patients," said Gayle Heller, chairwoman of the nursing department at Greenville Tech. "We have almost a crisis situation, particularly in the Upstate."

One reason, she said, is that young people don't seem to be as interested in the profession as they once were.

"They're not choosing nursing because nursing is hard work," Heller said. "It takes some dedication and commitment. And these young girls don't want to work nights and weekends."

But for those who are willing, the money is getting better all the time.

Heller said she knows a recent graduate of Tech's nursing program who's earning $33 an hour working nighttime hours on weekends at a local hospital. That leaves the young mother free to care for her children during the week.

"Our students have jobs before they graduate, and they're getting recruited from other states even," Heller said.

Registered nurses promote good health and help patients cope with illness. They observe, assess and record the progress of patients, assist physicians and administer medication. They also develop and manage nursing-care plans.

Nursing is the largest health-care occupation, with registered nurses holding about 2.1 million jobs across the country in 1998, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Most work in hospitals. Greenville Hospital System alone employs 1,800 registered nurses.

Registered nurses also work in doctors' offices, clinics, outpatient surgery centers, nursing homes, schools, government agencies and factories.

They had median annual earnings of $40,690 in

See NURSESon pageZG

Job Title Registered nurse Safety range: In the Upstate, entry-level jobs typically pay $16 to $17 an hour. That rises to at least $20 to $25 an hour with five years' experience.

Requirements • Education To be a registered nurse, one must graduate from a nursing program and pass a national licensing exam. Some schools, such as Greenville Tech, offer a two-year associate's degree program. Others, including Clemson University and the University of South Carolina, have four-year bachelor's degree programs.

• Job prospects Registered nurses are in strong demand because of a national shortage. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects employment to grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2008. The occupation is the largest in the health care field, with 2.1 million jobs in 1998.

• How to get started Contact the nursing department of a local college or university. In South Carolina, Greenville Tech, Clemson University, the University of South Carolina and other schools have programs.

THE GREENVILLE NEWS


Date: Dec. 31, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1G Page 2 of 3

1998, according to the statistics bureau.

In the Upstate, registered nurses can expect to earn $16 to $17 an hour to start and at least $20 to $25 an hour with five years' experience, according to Heller.

The career also offers opportunities for advancement into management.

"It's not like you have to be a staff nurse all your life," said Don Hoskins, manager of oncology nursing at Greenville Memorial Hospital.

He spent years in various nursing jobs before getting a master's degree in management. He took his current job in 1997.

Hoskins prepares work schedules for a staff of 40 to 45 nurses, monitors the care they give patients and makes sure they follow state regulations. He said nursing offers "a great opportunity to combine humanity and high-tech science."

A registered nurse must graduate from a nursing program and pass a national licensing exam.

Greenville Tech offers a two-year program that prepares students to become registered nurses. Other schools — including Clemson University and the University of South Carolina in Columbia and Spartanburg — offer four-year programs.

Heller said nurses are "usually people who are nurturing and caring."

The job is "really where the patient care takes place — day to day, shift to shift, hour to hour," she said.

"In the hospital setting, it's fast-paced, it's stressful at times, but it's also rewarding. You feel a sense of accomplishment in terms of helping the patient."

Heller was head nurse in the newborn nursery at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital in Florida before coming to Greenville Tech in 1974 to teach.

She expects the shortage of nurses to grow more acute as baby boomers move into retirement. As that happens, nurses who are baby boomers will be leaving the field at a time when their peers will be getting older and thus in more need of nursing care.


Date: Dec. 31, 2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1G Page 3 of 3

Opportunity abounds for people with RN training

JASON PARKER/Staff

Chart chat: Registered nurses Don Hoskins and Carolyn Tucker discuss medical charts Wednesday at the nurses station at Greenvilie Memorial Hospital.


Date: Dec. 31,2000 Publication: Greenville News Page: 1G Page 1 of 2

Nurse enjoys job where he makes a difference By Rudolph Bell BUSINESS WRITER [email protected]

Don Hoskins admits it — nursing is hard, stressful work.

But "if there's a part of you that wants to make a difference in someone's life, it's a very rewarding career," he said.

Hoskins ought to know. He's been in the profession for 22 years.

Hoskins, 43, is manager of oncology nursing at Greenville Memorial Hospital. He. said nursing is a good career for people who like science, involving as it does the latest advances in drugs and medical technology.

Yet the essence of the job is very traditional — taking care of patients. That includes meeting not only their physical needs but their emotional, social and spiritual ones, too,

Hoskins said. With a shortage of nurses

nationwide, jobs in the profession are plentiful, and salaries are headed up.

"You don't have to worry about being laid off," Hoskins said.

While helping a patient recover is very rewarding, nursing can be emotionally draining at times — especially when a favorite patient dies.

"They don't teach you that in school," Hoskins said, "but you learn how to deal with it."

Hoskins first got interested in nursing while still in high school in rural Kansas. He had a part-time job at a nursing home where he helped lift patients.

Later, he was an aide for Hamilton County Hospital's ambulance service.

"To me, it was excjting," Hoskins said.

See HOSKINS on page 3&

JASON PARKER / STAFF

Checking drug list: Don Hoskins, 43, manager of oncology nursing at Greenville Memorial Hospital, looks over a list of medications given to patients during the day.



Dec. 31,2000 Greenville News 1G Page 2 of 2

WW?

JASON PARKER/Staff

Safety check: Don Hoskins, a nurse manager at Greenville Memorial Hospital, checks over a crash cart at the nurses' station.

HOSKINS FROM PAGE 1G

Plus, there weren't a lot of career options in western Kansas. Hoskins said he didn't want to farm and didn't like the cyclical ups and downs of the aerospace industry in Wichita.

So he enrolled in a nursing program at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita and, three years later,

passed a state test to become a registered nurse.

He spent most of his career working various nursing jobs at St. Francis, a Roman Catholic hospital in Wichita. He got a master's degree in management from Friends University in Wichita before taking his present job in Greenville in 1997.

As the manager of oncology nursing at Greenville Memorial, Hoskins spends as much time caring for a staff of 40 to 45 nurses as he does caring for patients.

He prepares their work schedules, monitors the care they give patients and makes sure they follow state regulations. He also plans special events such as "Survivor's Day," an annual celebration for patients who survive cancer.

In between, he'll pause to help a colleague put a needle in a patient's arm or move a patient from a bed to a gurney. He said he enjoys the work.

"I haven't changed jobs," he said, "and I've had the opportunity."



Dec. 31,2000 Greenville News 4F (Year in Review) Page 1 of 1


Runner run down:As he prepares to leave Greenvi|e Memorial Hospital, Robbie Phillips, center, says goodbye to fellow Wade Hampton High School cross country runner Nick Reinhardt, while injured athlete Zack Taylor, right, rests. The students were hit by a car while jogging on State Park Road.


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