Candace Hagler, nurse manager, said that patients and nurses alike appreciate the
benefits of the new computers.
non-narcotic medications and the supplies
needed to give medications.
“Our patients love it,” said Candace
Hagler, nurse manager of the first unit
to use the carts. “They love having the
nurse at the bedside asking questions
and putting information in the computer
in real time.”
Hagler, shown above with one of the
new computers, said the nurses like the
new devices because they want to be more
efficient and spend quality time with their
patients.
Dr. Frederic “Deric”
Jones, medical di-
rector for the Emer-
gency Department at
DCH Regional Medi-
cal Center, has been
named a Medi-
cal Director of the
Year for Emergency
Medicine by Team-
Health, one of the
nation’s largest providers of outsourced
physician staffing solutions for hospitals.
Dr. Jones was one of professionals
recognized for excellence in physician
leadership by TeamHealth’s operating di-
vision presidents. The winners are among
more than , health care professionals
affiliated with TeamHealth.
Dr. Jones has worked with TeamHealth
since , and he came to Tuscaloosa when
TeamHealth began providing physicians for
the DCH Emergency Department in .
Before coming to DCH, he was medical di-
rector at Decatur General Hospital and was
assistant medical director at St. Vincent’s
Medical Center in Birmingham.
A fellow in the American College of
Emergency Physicians, Dr. Jones was the
medical director of the Chest Pain Center
at Decatur General and was a volunteer for
Kenya Relief in Migori, Kenya.
Looking at
community
priorities
All four DCH hospitals recently worked
with community members to complete
community health needs assessments for
the areas they serve.
Under the Affordable Care Act, all non-
profit hospitals are required to conduct a
community health needs assessment every
three years. Hospitals have to determine
priorities for their communities and adopt
an implementation strategy.
Representatives of DCH Health System
hospitals met with stakeholders represent-
ing a cross-section of the community to
help identify health needs.
For DCH Regional Medical Center and
Northport Medical Center, the priorities
are:
●
Wellness.
●
Access to care.
●
Mental health and substance abuse.
●
Teen pregnancy/infant mortality/
single-parent households.
For Fayette Medical Center, the priori-
ties are:
●
Access to care/patient use of the
hospital.
●
Wellness.
●
Physician recruitment.
For Pickens County Medical Center, the
priorities are:
●
Access to care.
●
Wellness.
●
Drug abuse.
DCH Health System President/CEO
Bryan Kindred said that a committee
headed by DCH staff and including some
members of the community will recom-
mend to the DCH board the priorities that
DCH will focus on.
“We know we won’t tackle all priorities
at once, but our goal is to make significant
progress in as many areas as possible,”
Kindred said.
All three community health
needs assessments are available
at the DCH Health System web-
site,
.
Dr. John B. Crew has joined the medical
staff of the Lewis and Faye Manderson
Cancer Center at DCH Regional Medical
Center as a radiation
oncologist.
A S y l a c a u g a
nat ive, Dr. Crew
graduated from Bir-
mingham Southern
College in . He
received his medical
degree fromThe Uni-
versity of Alabama
School of Medicine
DCH Regional Medical Center has re-
ceived a Federal Emergency Management
Agency grant of more than million to
help the hospital protect patients during
severe weather.
When tornados or high winds are ex-
pected, patients are moved to the hallways
Dr. John B. Crew
Radiation
oncologist
Dr. Frederic Jones
Emergency
medicine
e newest face of radiation oncology
in , graduating magna cum laude.
He completed his internship at Evanston
Northwestern Healthcare in Illinois in
and his radiation oncology resi-
dency at James Graham Brown Cancer
Center at the University of Louisville in
Kentucky in .
Dr. Crew is board-eligible with the
American Board of Radiology in radia-
tion oncology. He is a member of the
American Society for Radiation Oncol-
ogy, American Brachytherapy Society
and the Radiological Society of North
America.
He and his wife, Allie, have two sons.
Dr. Crew joins radiation oncologists Dr.
J. Curtis Tucker and Dr. Melanie Graham
at the Manderson Cancer Center.
The Manderson Cancer Center offers
a range of radiation therapy using linear
accelerators to deliver precise and pow-
erful doses of high-energy X-rays to tu-
mors. RapidArc radiotherapy technology
improves tumor targeting and shapes the
radiation dose so that it conforms closely
to the -D shape of the tumor. This means
more dosage to the tumor and less radia-
tion to surrounding healthy tissue.
In-room computers
improve patients’ stay
DCH Regional Medical Center and North-
port Medical Center will soon have com-
puters in all patient rooms.
Having a computer in each room will
improve safety and give nurses more time to
establish a relationship with their patients,
said Lorraine Yehlen, vice president of Patient
Care Services for the DCH Health System.
The computers will allow nurses to
look up patient information and record
information right at the patient’s bedside,
Yehlen said. The computers will be on roll-
ing carts that also have locked drawers for
Congrats to
Dr. Jones!
to protect them fromflying debris. However,
some patients are difficult to move because
they are connected to lifesaving equipment.
The grant will help pay to retrofit wind-
resistant windows in the intensive care
units, the operating rooms, the ventilator
rooms and at the ends of corridors.
The windows are made to withstand
flying debris at speeds of up to miles
per hour.
Preliminary work on the project has
begun, said David Roberts, DCH corporate
director of Construction and Engineering.
Roberts said the construction phase of the
project should take to months and
will be done in phases.
The grant will cover . million of the
. million project.
DCH RECE I VE S FEMA GRANT
Better windows for weather
D C H N E W S
F A L L 2 0 1 3
H E A L T H Y C O M M U N I T Y
7
