Newsmakers in Health and Wellness

American College of Surgeons

The Southwest Missouri Chapter of the American College of Surgeons recently elected its officers for the 2002-03 year at the chapter's fall meeting. The elected officers are: Thomas Pearson, MD, president; Joseph Newman, MD, past president; Alan Buchele, MD, president-elect; Kenneth Larson, MD, secretary-treasurer; John Bumberry, MD, junior councilor; Kenneth Neu, MD, Dan Cardwell, MD, and Stephen Christansen, MD, councilors; and Michael S. Clarke, MD, governor.

CoxHealth

CoxHealth received statewide recognition for marketing communications projects produced by the health system this year to educate and inform community and area residents. CoxHealth was recognized in the following categories of the Show-Me Excellence Awards: employee communications project; media relations activity or program; physician relations communication project; annual reports; advertising-print; advertising-special visuals; and crisis communications. The Show-Me Excellence Awards are presented each year by the Missouri Hospital Association for Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing to recognize high achievement and superb quality in advertising, marketing and public relations projects produced by hospitals and health care systems in Missouri.

Freeman Health System

K'Alice Breining, chief clinical officer for Freeman Health System in Joplin, received the 2002 Freeman Quality in Medicine Award, which is presented biennially by the Freeman Health Foundation and Freeman Health System in recognition of outstanding leadership in health care. Breining played a major role in the development of heart, cancer and trauma programs at Freeman, and he had a significant impact on Freeman's quality management and patient safety processes.

Forest Institute

Douglas Carpenter, Psy.D, associate dean/graduate training professor and associate professor; and Hiroko Arikowa, Ph.D, associate professor at the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology, were recognized for educational excellence by being listed in "Who's Who Among America's Teachers 2002." "Who's Who Among America's Teachers" is published every two years. Honorees are selected by their communities as the most influential educators within their schools.

Health Education

Bernie Dana, assistant professor of business at Evangel University, was a guest lecturer for the Core of Knowledge Nursing Home Administrator Program at Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business. His topic was quality improvement. He also presented a two-hour program on improving customer satisfaction at the annual convention of the Health Care Association of Michigan. Dana has several years of experience in long-term care, and he is the chair of the American Health Care Association's Quality Improvement Subcommittee.

Research

Dr. Paul L. Durham associate professor of biology, recently received a grant from the National Headache Foundation for his research project, "Cellular Mechanisms of Botulinum Toxin Type A in Migraine Therapy." Durham's research goal is to determine how botulinum toxin type A functions at the level of the trigeminal nerve during migraine therapy.

Skaggs Community Health Center

Stephanie Reed, an occupational therapist with Skaggs Community Health Center in Branson, recently completed a 135-hour certification course in manual lymph drainage and complete decongestive therapy presented by the Klose Norton School of Lymphedema Therapy.

St. John's Health System

Four St. John's Community Relations communications projects received 2002 Show-Me Excellence Awards from the Missouri Association for Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing, a division of the Missouri Hospital Association. St. John's Healthy People magazine received second place in the external publications/routine category. St. John's Web site, www.st.johns.com, placed second in the new media/Web site projects category. Two community relations video projects, the Children's Hospital/Auxiliary video project and the Spirit of Mercy videos won third place in the video category.

Keith LaFerriere, MD, a facial plastic surgeon with St. John's was selected president-elect of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

The Medical Library Association awarded St. John's Van K. Smith Community Health Library first place in the "Medical Center/Hospital Libraries-Ongoing Cam-paign" category for promotional materials.