Watch the video as Clinical Dietitian, Laura Stepp, talks about healthy protein options.

Image via Visual.ly

For the third time, Lexington Medical Center has received a Gold Plus Quality Achievement award for stroke care from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke program. The Gold Plus award is the highest honor bestowed and recognizes commitment and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients.

“Lexington Medical Center is proud to receive this award as it demonstrates our commitment to being one of the top hospitals in the country for providing effective, evidence-based stroke care,” said Vicky Hicks, RN, B-C, outcomes coordinator at Lexington Medical Center.

The honor goes to hospitals with excellent adherence to stroke quality indicators and measures, including aggressive use of proven medications, therapy, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability, and improving the lives of stroke patients.

“Recent studies show that patients treated in hospitals participating in the American Heart Association’s “Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke” program receive a higher quality of care and may experience better outcomes,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., chair of the Get With The Guidelines National Steering Committee and director of the TeleStroke and Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “Lexington Medical Center’s team is to be commended for their commitment to improving the care of their patients.”

“Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke” helps Lexington Medical Center develop and implement acute and secondary prevention guideline processes to improve patient care and outcomes. The program provides hospitals with a web-based patient management tool, best practice discharge protocols and standing orders, along with a robust registry and real-time benchmarking capabilities to track performance.

Lexington Medical Center is certified by Det Norske Veritas Healthcare, Inc. as a Primary Stroke Center in the Midlands. The Certification Program for Primary Stroke Centers recognizes organizations that follow the best practices for stroke care. Achieving Primary Stroke Center Certification indicates the hospital’s dedication to cultivating better outcomes for patients.

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is one of the leading causes of death and serious, long-term disability in the United States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

A stroke occurs when a blood vessel carrying oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood and oxygen it needs and begins to die. Warning signs include weakness on one side of the body, slurred speech, facial drooping, confusion and the inability to talk.  Risk factors for stroke are untreated high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and high cholesterol. Stroke is an emergency. Call 911 at the first sign of stroke. Modifying your lifestyle can help prevent stroke.

A few LMC employees that were an integral part of obtaining the award.

From left to right: Christine Scott, MD/Medical Director Stroke Center, Tammy Fenske, RN,BC Care Manager, Melanie Lake, Frank Pussey, MD, Francis Glover, NM, Stroke Unit, Betsy Cromer, RN, Sean Valdepenas, PT, Kelly Nyberg RDLD, Vicky Hicks, RN,BC, Outcomes Coordinator, Shannon Turner, RN, and Kathy West, RT(R). 

Photo via The State – Kim Foster-Tobin

By MINDY LUCAS — mlucas@thestate.com

LEXINGTON COUNTY, SC — It’s a Wednesday afternoon, and members of a cancer support group at Lexington Medical Center are gathered around a conference table talking about “chemo brain,” the mental fog patients often have after chemotherapy.

Suddenly one member quips he never had much of a brain to start with.

Everyone, including the cancer support group’s leader Chris Gibson, bursts into laughter.

It’s the kind of thing members say happens often at the meetings.

“I’ve been in here crying and I’ve been in here laughing,” says Jill Revis, who recently finished a round of chemotherapy to treat colon cancer.

The women say they wouldn’t have found each other had it not been for Gibson, a social worker in Lexington Medical’s oncology department who founded the group in 2003.

“Chris is the only reason I started coming to the meetings,” says Kathryn Ward, who has been in remission for more than five years. “I kept saying, ‘I don’t need support. I don’t need support.’ But then I realized, I did need support.”

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/05/12/2768619/lexington-woman-finds-second-career.html#storylink=cpy

Photo via The State, Kim Foster-Tobin

Oh baby!  The stork has delivered great news to Lexington Medical Center. Our hospital delivered more babies than any other hospital in the Midlands in 2012. We welcomed 3,549 bundles of joy, according to statistics from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

We have a reputation for treating patients like family at Lexington Medical Center. And with state-of-the-art equipment and comfortable rooms, our obstetrical team of physicians, nurses, technicians and Doulas work together to ensure the best birth experience for each mom and baby. We also offer an innovative approach to welcoming the newest members of our community. For more than 40 years, Lexington Medical Center has been home to many “firsts” in obstetrics.

Did you know?

Lexington Medical Center was the first hospital in the Midlands to allow fathers to stay in the delivery room during childbirth, cut the umbilical cord upon a newborn’s arrival and be with their wives during caesarean sections.

We were the first hospital in the Midlands to offer epidurals during labor and delivery.

We recognized the need for a Special Care Nursery to allow our clinicians to care for newborns needing special assistance. And we worked to ensure that there was a full-time neonatologist, along with clinicians with special skills to care for the babies there.

Lexington Medical Center began a Doula program that was the first-of-its-kind in the Southeast. A doula is a birth coach who provides women comfort and reassurance during labor and delivery. The program is a nationally-recognized success, and doulas are a free service for any woman having a baby at Lexington Medical Center provided by the Lexington Medical Center Foundation.

And, we were the first hospital in our area to introduce Kangaroo Care for premature babies, where parents are able to nestle skin-to-skin with their baby, helping them to bond.

Today, Lexington Medical Center offers a series of classes for expectant families including breastfeeding, childbirth and sibling classes.

We strive to make sure having a baby is a positive, rewarding experience that new parents remember for a lifetime.

Visit Lexmed.com for more information about having a baby at Lexington Medical Center, or to view pictures of our latest arrivals.

Lexington Medical Center is proud to welcome Will Floyd, MD, MPH, into the hospital’s network of care.  Dr. Floyd has joined Alice Barker, MD, and Dana Rawl, MD as a practicing physician at Occupational Health, a Lexington Medical Center physician practice.

Dr. Floyd will provide health care services ranging from pre-placement assessments to comprehensive treatment of workers’ compensation injuries.  With the addition of Dr. Floyd, Lexington Medical Center is now home to the only occupational health program in South Carolina with three physicians who are board certified in occupational medicine.

“I’m very excited about joining Lexington Medical Center and look forward to meeting the occupational health needs of the Midlands’ business and industrial community,” said Dr. Floyd.

Dr. Floyd graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and completed his Internal Medicine residency at Palmetto Health. During his residency, he also pursued a master’s degree in Public Health from USC with a focus on Occupational Health. He followed this education with a Preventive Medicine residency at the USC Department of Family & Preventive Medicine. A South Carolina native who has practiced in Columbia since 1999, he is board certified in Occupational, Preventive and Internal Medicine.

Dr. Floyd’s training and experience have provided him with an extensive understanding of occupational and preventive health. He is highly respected by local businesses for his hard work and partnerships to improve health in the workplace. He is a member of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and the South Carolina Medical Association, currently serving as chair of its Occupational Medicine Committee.

Occupational Health is located at 300 West Dunbar in West Columbia. To schedule an appointment, call (803) 755-3337 or visit http://occupationalhealthlexington.com.

STEMI is an acronym for “ST segment elevation myocardial infarction.” During a STEMI, a coronary artery is completely blocked off and nearly all of the heart muscle supplied by the artery starts to die. This type of heart attack is usually recognized by the changes it produces on an electrocardiogram (ECG).

According to the American Heart Association, nearly 250,000 Americans experience a STEMI each year. The majority of these patients fail to receive appropriate treatment for their life-threatening conditions within recommended timeframes.

The American Heart Association created “Mission: Lifeline®” to provide education about prompt and appropriate STEMI treatment. The Recognition Awards honor hospitals that treat STEMI patients with recommended door-to-device timeframes, and follow up with appropriate medication, treatment and education. The awards also measure the work of EMS and referral centers.

“This award reflects our dedication to heart attack care in all phases of the care continuum at our hospital” said James W. Jeffcoat, MSN, RN-BC, Lexington Medical Center Outcomes Coordinator.
Lexington Medical Heart Center offers comprehensive cardiovascular care, including open heart surgery and therapeutic catheterizations. It is the only Duke Heart Center affiliated program in the Midlands.
The hospital began its complete cardiac care program in 2012. In its first year, Lexington Medical Center performed nearly 200 open heart surgeries. This year, Lexington Medical Center has added a second open heart surgeon. In addition, Lexington Medical Center now offers electrophysiology, a cardiology specialty that focuses on the treatment of abnormal heart rhythms. The hospital is also looking toward providing minimally invasive aortic valve replacement in the future.

Lexington Medical Center’s Marketing department has earned 53 state, national and international awards that honor outstanding advertising, marketing and public relations campaigns. The honors include a Telly Award, Aster Awards, Healthcare Advertising Awards, and South Carolina Public Relations Society of America awards.

Lexington Medical Center won a Telly Award for its 2012 Pink Glove Dance video, a project that has become a community favorite and honors breast cancer survivors. The Tellys are a premier competition honoring excellence in local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film productions, and online commercials, video and films.

The hospital received 20 Aster Awards, a medical marketing awards program with entries from across the nation and world. Importantly, Lexington Medical Center received two “Judges Choice” awards from the Asters for its cancer services campaign and cardiac services advertising campaign. Out of 4,000 entries, only eight “Judges Choice” awards are given each year. Lexington Medical Center is the first organization to take home the honor for two categories in the same year.

In addition, Lexington Medical Center earned 29 accolades in the Healthcare Advertising Awards, a health care marketing and advertising awards program that judges entries on quality, creativity and message effectiveness. The hospital received six “Gold” Healthcare Advertising Awards for its work on TV and video campaigns, event promotion, print materials, and external publications.

Lastly, the South Carolina Public Relations Society of America recognized the hospital with three awards for exceptional public relations programs, tactics and campaigns. The hospital received the Silver Wing Award of Merit for House Call magazine, a heart surgery guide, and the Every Woman Blog (www.everywomanblog.com).

“LMC is an excellent hospital with state-of-the-art service lines that provide high quality heath care to our community. Our marketing team is privileged to showcase our services that highlight our compassionate care and cutting-edge technology,” said Mark Shelley, Vice President of Marketing and Communications.

The campaigns pictured above are winners of the “Judges Choice” award from the Asters.

The Pink Glove Dance was a winner of a Telly award:

The Walk from Obesity was critical in raising awareness and promoting healthy living as South Carolina becomes increasingly affected by the obesity epidemic. Statistics show that 66.9 percent of adults in our state are overweight and 31.5 percent are obese. In addition, an estimated 93 million Americans are obese and that number is expected to climb to 120 million in the next five years.

Lexington Medical Center is committed to helping the community fight obesity by offering comprehensive weight management programs to ensure successful weight loss through the South Carolina Obesity Surgery Center, a Lexington Medical Center physician practice.

Thank you to everyone who made our 1st Annual Walk From Obesity a success!  Like our Facebook Page for more photos and information.

Lexington Medical Center has received a grant from the Susan G. Komen For the Cure Foundation’s SC Mountains to Midlands affiliate to provide 230 breast cancer screenings for uninsured and underinsured women in the Midlands.

Lexington Medical Center will begin offering the screenings to women who meet specific financial requirements. The grant money can also be used to assist with transportation to Women’s Imaging Centers in Lexington Medical Center’s network of care.

“We have always been able to help women who need diagnostic mammograms, but screening mammograms were more difficult to provide,” said Kelly Jeffcoat, Lexington Medical Center Breast Cancer Nurse Navigator. “The Komen grant enables us to offer screening mammograms which are often successful in detecting breast cancer in its earliest stages.”
The goal is early detection and treatment. Clinicians know that early detection is key to successful treatment of breast cancer.

“The biggest problem with patients who are uninsured is that they rarely have access to routine screening mammography.” said Chris Gibson, Lexington Medical Center oncology social worker.  “With these screenings, we have the potential to detect breast cancer in its earliest stages when cure rates are much higher.”
Lexington Medical Center diagnoses approximately 250 breast cancer patients each year.  The hospital’s breast program is accredited by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC) and the American College of Radiology (ACR).  Lexington Medical Center has four Women’s Imaging centers and a mobile mammography van, all offering digital mammography.  During treatment, breast cancer patients receive the assistance of a nurse navigator who provides education and emotional support. Lexington Medical Center’s cancer program is also accredited with commendation by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer.

This is the second time that this chapter of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation has awarded Lexington Medical Center a grant for breast cancer screenings.  The first one was in 2011 and provided approximately 250 screenings to women in the Midlands. During those screenings, two breast cancers were detected. This year, the hospital expanded the number of counties included in the grant, allowing a broader group of women in the Midlands to benefit from screening mammograms.

For more information about the grant screenings, including eligibility requirements, call 803- 791-2521.

About Lexington Medical Center

Lexington Medical Center, in West Columbia, S.C., anchors a county-wide health care network that includes six community medical centers throughout Lexington County and employs a staff of 5,900 health care professionals.  The network also includes the largest extended care facility in the Carolinas, an occupational health center and more than 60 physician practices.  At its heart is the 414-bed state-of-the-art Lexington Medical Center, with a reputation for the highest quality care.  Lexington Medical Center won “Best Hospital” by readers of The State for ten years in a row, “Best Hospital” by readers of the Free Times, “Best Place to Have a Baby” by readers of Palmetto Parent, the “Consumer Choice Award” from the National Research Corporation and the prestigious “Summit Award” from Press Ganey.  Visit www.lexmed.com. 

About the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation

Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest breast cancer organization.  It was started by Nancy G. Brinker, who promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever.  Komen’s SC Mountains to Midlands affiliate is one of 125 affiliates around the nation dedicated to ending breast cancer in our communities.  Komen affiliates fund innovative programs that help women and men overcome the barriers to breast cancer screening and treatment.  For more information, visit www.komenscmm.org.