Hospital News - 4th Quarter 2009

HMHD Foundation presents gifts to Hunt Regional Medical Center

December 7, 2009 - The Hunt Regional Healthcare Foundation for Good Health dedicated two gifts to Hunt Regional Medical Center on Sunday afternoon (December 6, 2009) including the Monsignor John V. McCallum Quiet Place, and a Yamaha Disklavier baby grand piano for the Atrium.

The Quiet Place, honoring the late monsignor who pastored at St. Mary Catholic Church in Greenville for a number of years, was a result of gifts from Mr. and Mrs. James Coe and The Cullen Family Foundation represented by Barbara and Brian Cullen. Delivering the blessing of the Quiet Place was Father Paul Weinberger, current pastor of St. Mary, who is pictured at right with the Coes and the Cullens.

The piano was a gift from Mr. and Mrs. W.D. Hilton Jr. in honor of his mother, Mary Ann Hilton. It was dedicated during a recital in the Atrium by Mitzi Parker, representing HRH employees, Maggie Morrison, representing the Foundation, and

Dr. Ted Hansen. Hansen, renowned pianist at Texas A&M University-Commerce, presented a premiere performance of his commissioned original composition, “Time Passes By.”

Mr. and Mrs. James Coe (left), Barbara and Brian Cullen (center), and
Mr. and Mrs.W.D. Hilton, Jr. (right), benefactors for two gifts dedicated at Hunt Regional Medical Center in Greenville

Health Day at New Horizons

December 3, 2009 - Students at New Horizons were shown some of the harm to the body by cigarettes during the school’s annual health fair Thursday morning.

Demonstrating “Smokey Sue” while braving the chilly temperatures were LaShonda Simpson, social worker for the Emergency Department at Hunt Regional Medical Center, and Kim Mulder, the ED director.

Students also received blood pressure and body mass checks and lessons on infection control from HRMC staff.

At right, Michelle Lowe from the Fitness and Rehabilitation Center checks a student's body mass.

HRH brings home awards

November 17, 2009 - Hunt Regional Healthcare brought home the “Exceptional Nurse” Summit Award for Service Excellence from the 10th Annual Summit Awards ceremony held recently in Nashville, Tenn.

Mark Wright, an Emergency Department nurse from Wolfe City who is a 23-year veteran of the United States Navy, was selected from three finalists from across the United States and Canada to receive the honor.

Also representing HRH as finalists were Laboratory Director Stuart Pritchard as “Empowering Manager,” and Dr. James Petrikas, lead radiation oncologist in the Lou and Jack Finney Cancer Center, as “Customer Focused Physician.”

This is the fourth year HRH has been a part of the Customer Service Initiative. The Summit Awards are the highlight of the year, recognizing significant achievement and dedication in improving healthcare initiatives in (1) the quality of service to patients, (2) the quality of work life for healthcare professionals, and, (3) The performance of healthcare organizations.

“I couldn’t believe it when they announced my name,” said Wright who served as a hospital corpsman in the Navy and at times with the Marines. “Here they were, introducing people who held management-type positions, and I’m just a plain old floor nurse,” he said with a laugh.

Wright’s nomination came from his peers. Among the comments were: “Mark’s sense of humor, combined with his extraordinary level of compassion, helps calm the escalating tension that can often arise from serious situations in the ED. His maturity and judgment can also bring calm to any storm and his demeanor can be the reassurance that patients and families need. Mark has a way of approaching people that says, ‘everything is going to be all right.’ ”

Wright says his compassion was a result of his years in the service. Early on, when he said he was an “E-Nothing,” (service rank) he was on a ward in the military hospital in Pensacola, Fla., which sadly was the final stop for many aging military heroes from wars past.

“It was really hard to see all of those men lying in hospital beds, many who had all but been forgotten. I just wanted to give them something to smile about.”

One of those heroes was United States Marine Corps aviator Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, whose tales of his squadron of “misfits” was fodder for a television series in the 1970s titled “Baa Baa Black Sheep” (later “Black Sheep Squadron”) starring Robert Conrad and James Whitmore Jr.

One of the ways Wright would reach out to the patients was to bring his guitar to the hospital and sing requests. “I think that really helped brighten things up for them.”

When Wright retired in 2005, he looked for a nursing school that would give him credit for his experience in the military. The only one he found was an all-girl Catholic nursing school in upstate New York, near his residence at the time. He applied and was accepted.

Wright, a native of Nocona, had attended then East Texas State University (now Texas A&M University-Commerce) as an agriculture education student before going into the Navy. His decision to return to Texas after completing nurses’ training, with done without hesitation, he says. His wife, Beth Rouse Wright, was from Wolfe City. They are the parents of two daughters, Quanah, 13, and Dakota, 12, and a son, Zeb, 8.

“I really did want to come back and work in this hospital’s Emergency Room,” Wright said. “But, wow, the hospital had really changed since I had last seen it. It was huge!”

Wright says he can’t imagine working anywhere else and credits the rest of the ER staff around him as playing a large part in the Summit Award.

Pritchard was nominated for and received the Pinnacle Award, and went on to be one of three recognized as an Empowered Manager, or, a “true leader who encourages individuals to achieve great results.”

He was nominated for giving people in his department “a place to grow and flourish. Stuart believes that unless you offer someone the independence to fly freely, you tether them to the ground. His strong philosophy that to lead by example means to take in hand the talents of others and bring them along to the point that they may progress as leaders in their own right.”

Pritchard, who came to Hunt County from Colorado with his family three years ago, is also director of the Hunt Regional Community Hospital in Commerce laboratory, director of the Cardiopulmonary Department and is the medical center’s safety officer.

Dr. Petrikas was nominated as HRH’s “Customer Focused Physician,” for which he also earned a Pinnacle Award and was one of three finalists for the Summit honors. A Customer Focused Physician was defined as being “Professional and respectful, with compassion for those they serve.”

“When it comes to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the patients at Hunt Regional Healthcare, time has no meaning. … He has raised the standard of care and has raised the bar in our commitment to customer satifaction,” reads the doctor’s nomination.

It continues, “An example of his commitment can be seen when a nervous 73-year-old female says, ‘He immediately put me at ease and I was not the least bit uncomfortable. At some point I realized he was on one knee – looking up at me explaining what we would do together to make me whole again. I knew there was a mom somewhere in the world that raised a son in a most excellent way.’”

Petrikas came to the Lou and Jack Finney Cancer Center as part of Texas Oncology. He is a native of Chicago, and he and his wife are the parents of five children.

“I am extremely proud of Mark, Stuart and Dr. Petreikas,” said HRH Chief Executive Officer Richard Carter. “They model an exemplary attitude and service to their patients every day and we are fortunate to have professionals of their caliber.

“I am also very proud of our entire staff whose dedication and customer service creates opportunities for us to receive such recognition as we have during these awards.”

Housekeeping Dept. holds successful clothing drive

November 17, 2009 - The Housekeeping Department collected more than 1,300 pounds of clothing during a drive earlier this fall among the employees of Hunt Regional Medical Center.

Pictured loading up one of three trucks full of clothing items are members of the drive team including Pranvera Vinca and Deirde Hazeltine in the front, and Vickie Herrera and Manual Anderson in the back.

The collection went to My Sisters Closet, the resale shop for Women In Need, and to the children of Greenville Independent School District who are in need of winter clothing and jackets.

At the Expo

November 6, 2009 - Sharon Sanders, Mike Klepin and Susan Spoonemore are pictured at the Hunt Regional Healthcare information booth at the annual Chamber of Commerce Business Expo Thursday at the Civic Center.

Sanders is Employer Relations director for HRH, Klepin is HRH administrator and Spoonemore is Public Relations coordinator.

Hunt Regional Healthcare at economic summit

November 6, 2009 - At left, Dr. Lowell Catlett, Professor in the Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business Department at New Mexico State University, is flanked by State Sen. Bob Deuell, M.D., and Jeanette Moser, chairman of the Hunt County Economic Development Board following the recent economic summit at Texas A&M University Commerce.

Catlett teaches and conducts research in the areas of marketing, policy, futures markets, management and futuristic issues. As guest speaker at the summit he emphasized the importance of a strong healthcare system to a successful economic climate. Hunt Regional Healthcare was one of the sponsors of the program.

Also speaking at the summit was John B. McWhorter III, president of Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas and a senior vice president of Baylor Health Care System. McWhorter was special guest of HRH which is affiliated with the Baylor system. He is shown with HRH board chairman Ron Wensel.

Some 200 business, civic and industrial leaders attended the conference at the new Sam Rayburn Student Center on the A&M campus in Commerce. Also addressing today’s economy and its outlook for Texas were Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples and Tony Batman, chairman, chief executive officer and co-founder of 1st Global, a diversified financial services firm that is the business development and resource partner to leading tax, accounting and law firms. He is a former business partner of Jim Ainesworth of Commerce.

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