When Cathy Holmes was told just 10 days ago she had breast cancer, she quickly realized she wouldn’t be fighting the battle alone.

Not only did she have her family to offer support, she also had a group of coworkers that have rallied around Holmes, the nurse manager at J.W. Sommer Rehabilitation unit at Shoals Hospital. That group showed support for Holmes and other breast cancer fighters and survivors with a surprise balloon release Tuesday at J.W. Sommer.

A surprised and crying Holmes was comforted by her husband, Tim, as Shalako King, the rehab unit’s administrative assistant spoke about rallying around those diagnosed with breast cancer.

And Cathy and Tim, a tennis instructor at Cypress Lakes, stood in the middle of a circle of support as pink balloons, some with names or words of encouragement written on them, floated into the clear October sky.

“We are a family,” said Pam Moore, director of the J.W. Sommer Rehabilitation Unit. “Many times we are with our coworkers more than we are with our spouse. We love each other. We care about each other. We worry about each other.”

Cathy’s cancer was found during a routine mammogram. She said she has had abnormal results before and wasn’t incredibly worried when she was called back for more screenings. But this it wasn’t just scar tissue. It was cancer.

“It’s small; it’s early,” she said. “I’m going to have good results.

“This is just one of those bumps and lumps on the road of my life.”

She said her son might have summed it up best when he said “You’ll be fine. You are a tough old bird.”

She is scheduled for lumpectomy and lymph node biopsy Nov. 1.

And because she is a mother figure in the department, she is spreading the word about the necessity of annual screenings.

“I’m the big advocate now for the yearly mammograms,” Cathy said. “I’ve talked to the ladies in the unit who haven’t had one this year, and they are scheduling them.”

And that’s one of the reasons King said she scheduled the surprise.

“We don’t want this to be a sad thing,” she said. “We want to bring more awareness.”

• Hospital communication gets upgrade
• A message from the CEO
• Shoals Hospital goes pink for Breast Cancer Awareness
• An update from volunteers and Helping Hands
• Coca-Cola promotion winners
• WOW! Employees
• October Birthdays
• Quality Corner

View the issue (pdf)

For years, Ann Ware went to bed exhausted and woke up with the same feeling.

Each night she thought, “I’m so tired I know I’ll sleep tonight.” But she didn’t.

She woke up and walked back and forth between a recliner and the bed hoping she’d fall back asleep.

Ware said she typically logged just two hours of sleep each night.

But that’s not the case anymore thanks to her “pig nose.”

That is what Ware calls the mask she uses with her C-PAP — continuous positive airway pressure machine — that ensures she breaths properly during the night.

A C-PAP machine is used to treat patients with obstructive sleep apnea, which causes the person to stop breathing or experience low breathing while sleeping.

Ware was having as many as 137 of those episodes every night, meaning even her sleep wasn’t restful.

The restlessness and exhaustion even after sleep are tell-tale signs of sleep apnea, but that wasn’t what sent Ware to the sleep study wing of Shoals Hospital.

Ware was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, blood pressure in the pulmonary artery, pulmonary vein, or pulmonary capillaries.

Her treatment options added another medicine to her daily routine, something she did not want. Her doctor mentioned sleep apnea was sometimes associated with pulmonary hypertension and a sleep study could help.

Ware gladly signed up, and after the sleep study diagnosed her with sleep apnea, she was just as motivated to use the C-PAP machine.

“I’m a different person now,” she said. “I’ve got my life back.

She can sew without falling asleep at the sewing machine and line dance to her heart’s content because now she is sleeping deeply and waking up with energy to take on the day, she said.

And her doctor said there is no sign of the pulmonary hypertension.

Not all patients have the immediate success Ware experienced.

Many have a difficult time adjusting to sleeping in a mask with a hose attachment.

For that reason, Shoals Hospital will soon begin a service they call PAP Nap, short daytime stays in the hospital’s sleep lab so practitioners can help newly diagnosed patients get acclimated to the treatment devices.

Phyllis Greene, director of Shoals Sleep Center, said the Pap Nap gives the patient a one-on-one session with a sleep professional to offer advice and help on utilizing C-Pap equipment.

Greene said many people have trouble adjusting to sleeping with masks and hoses and therefore don’t get the maximum benefit.

That was the case for Ware’s husband, Mark, who was diagnosed with sleep apnea after his wife.

“He tried so many things,” Ware said. “Now he hangs his hose from the headboard. He says that works better.”

Greene said Pap Naps are best suited for patients in the first 90 days of using the machines. The service will begin Sept. 4. Naps are scheduled in the early afternoon and take two to four hours.

“This is simply a service we want to offer them to make sure they are getting optimal results,” she said. “For insurance companies to pay (for supplies), patients have to meet compliance standards, and this will help them with that.”

Complaints are common. As are mistakes.

Dr. Larry Carmichael, director of the Northwest Alabama Sleep Disorder Center at Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield, said it is easy to understand why some patients struggle to adjust.

“I liken it to a fly landing on their nose,” Carmichael said. “We are asking someone to tolerate something in their sleep that they have never experienced before.”

But for those who do learn to tolerate the treatment, the turnaround is phenomenal, he said.

“It is a life-changing experience to suffer from sleep apnea and then be treated successfully,” Carmichael said.

People who think they may have sleep apnea should talk to their primary care physician or contact a sleep center for referral information.

“The population now knows more about sleep apnea and are beginning to know what to look for,” Carmichael said. “In the last year or so, it has become more en vogue … which is leading to more people seeking treatment. I only see this growing in popularity as people see how much better they feel after treatment.”

• Tell us what you think!
• A message from the CEO
• Breast Cancer Awareness month coming up
• New whiteboards, folders designed with Shoals’ patients in mind
• Muscle Shoals Trojans items coming to Shoals Hospital gift shop
• WOW! Employees
• Hospital briefs and updates
• September Birthdays
• Quality Corner

View the issue (pdf)

• July 27 kick off for AIDET Olympics
• Bear donation
• CRRN update
• New armbands
• Coca-cola promotion winners
• August birthdays
• Quality Corner

View the issue (pdf)

Flash-forward 44 years, and Shoals Hospital had moved into Muscle Shoals while continuing to serve the community with some of the most innovative programs available in local health care. The J.W. Sommer Rehabilitation Unit is the Shoals’ only acute care facility, while the Senior Care Center offers psychiatric services for our senior adults. The large private rooms, compassionate caregivers and devoted medical staff have become the hallmarks of the care our patients have come to expect from Shoals Hospital.

In honor of the hospital’s birthday, the staff, along with Muscle Shoals Mayor David Bradford and members of the City Council, celebrated with a party Thursday, June 28, on the hospital campus.

“It’s exciting for me, as the CEO at Shoals, to see the community embrace Shoals Hospital,” said Ross Berry, chief executive officer at Shoals Hospital. “We’re a family of compassionate caregivers and blessed to have a dedicated medical staff, and I believe it’s something our patients have come to expect and appreciate about Shoals.”

While much has changed in the 44 years Shoals Hospital has served the region, still other, greater changes are on the horizon. Plans are under way to grow the services being offered at the facility, including the opening of Shoals Occupational Medicine later this month, as well as to invest $1 million in the renovation the Emergency Department.

For details, please contact:
Michelle Rupe Eubanks, Shoals Hospital Community Relations Director
256-386-1808 or mreubanks@chgroup.org

• Patient satisfaction at heart of move
• Teen volunteers to campus
• Welcome Coke!
• New cafeteria discounts
• Ambulance Update
• June Birthdays, Hospital Stars
• HIPAA Update
• Quality Corner

View the issue (pdf)

Eliza Coffee Memorial and Shoals hospitals continue to have an economic impact locally, and hospital officials are hoping that translates into community support for future plans.

ECM CEO Russell Pigg told community leaders and others at the Downtown Florence Unlimited meeting Wednesday that in 2011 RegionalCare, the parent company of the hospitals, paid more than $2.1 million in sales and property taxes in Florence and Lauderdale County.

That total breaks down to $1.2 million in Florence sales tax, $346,000 in Lauderdale County sales tax and $588,903 for Lauderdale County property tax.

Property tax collections will increase when the proposed replacement facility is built as the campus will be larger and the building more valuable.

Shoals Hospital paid taxes in Colbert County totaling $177,952.

That includes property taxes and other taxes split between the county, state, city of Muscle Shoals and education taxes, he said.

The hospital paid an additional $56,338 in sales and use taxes in Muscle Shoals.

Before ECM and Shoals hospitals were sold to RegionalCare in July 2010, the two were operated by the county-owned Health Care Authority of Lauderdale County and the City of Florence, collectively called Coffee Health Group, which exempted the hospitals from paying property and sales taxes.

Pigg said the $2.1 million in tax payments is on top of a $57 million payroll and benefits paid to the 1,200 ECM employees.

The taxes paid, Pigg said, illustrate the hospital’s economic impact on the city, county and area. He hopes that translates into community support for ECM’s future plans, including the proposal to build a replacement facility for ECM in Lauderdale County.

“What is good for the community is good for the hospital and vice versa,” Pigg said.

Pigg also addressed the ongoing approval process for the certificate of need application. It has been five months since the application was filed, but a decision still is at least seven months away, Pigg said.

A contested case hearing, where opponents and proponents of the project will present evidence, is scheduled for the first two full weeks in November.

“Hopefully we will get a decision by the end of the year, but if not, it should be in January,” he said.

But Pigg said he has confidence.

“All the signs from our attorneys say we are going to get it approved,” he said.

If approval is granted, there is a shorter appeals process opponents of the project can choose to utilize.

Assuming RegionalCare and ECM navigate those steps, Pigg said the hospital is still likely four years away from opening, including the 20-22 months for construction.

RegionalCare and ECM officials remain tight-lipped about the location of the replacement hospital but did say property must meet several criteria to even be considered.

Jeff Atwood, vice president of communication for RegionalCare, said the property must be 60 continuous acres and must front a four- to six-lane road to allow for ambulance access.

“We are looking at several options in Lauderdale County,” Atwood said. “We have not identified a site, and we certainly have not optioned any land.”

Shoals Hospital has formed a partnership with Priority Ambulance Service to provide ambulance service at the hospital, a move that could bring as many as 120 jobs to the area, officials said Tuesday.

Shoals Hospital CEO Ross Berry said the venture, to be called Shoals Ambulance Service, is part of the hospital’s ongoing plan to expand services in the community.

“Having an ambulance service based here at Shoals Hospital in Muscle Shoals is part of the natural progression as we continue to develop services,” Berry said.

Priority Ambulance Service is headed by Bryan Gibson, of Arizona, and he said he is looking to start a three-state operation, with billing headquarters in Muscle Shoals, within 16 months.

Gibson said the majority of the estimated 120 jobs will be in the billing office, but 20 to 25 paramedics and support staff will be hired quickly so the company can begin offering ambulance service in mid-April.

“For me, when I was looking for a place to headquarter my company, Muscle Shoals made a lot of sense,” Gibson said. “I am from here and have land and a cabin here, so it is like home. Also the quality of employees is very high here.”

Primary ambulance service to Shoals Hospital is now provided by Keller/Lauderdale EMS.

Bruce Carson, director of Keller/Lauderdale EMS, said his operation has provided primary ambulance service for Colbert County for 30 years and believes the addition of a new service provider will not adversely affect that service.

“Over the past 30 years, ambulance services have come and gone,” Carson said. “Keller EMS has stood the test of time by providing locally owned quality care and service.”

Gibson said Shoals Ambulance Service will focus on becoming the primary service provider in Muscle Shoals.

“We will obviously work together with Keller, and hopefully, if we become primary for Muscle Shoals, we can be secondary for (Colbert County) to help them with backup. We want to have a great working relationship with them.”

Gibson said the service will operate ambulances with 12-lead electrocardiograph, EKG machines, GPS tracking and tele-medicine capabilities that will allow emergency room physicians to see the patient in the ambulance through a video feed.

Berry said the technology will help ensure patients are routed to the most appropriate facility for the care they need. He said that is particularly important in cardiac care, where treatment standards require heart patients be treated within 90 minutes of arriving at a hospital.

Berry said because of the EKG capabilities of the ambulances, patients with appropriate symptoms and readings will be routed directly to Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence for treatment.

Carson said Keller/Lauderdale EMS covers Colbert and Lauderdale counties, which is a benefit when emergency situations occur in both counties.

“We have invested a significant amount of money in state-of-the-art equipment, trucks and highly trained staff,” he said. “We make sure that Colbert County is covered 24 hours per day, every day.”

Berry said with the addition of ambulance service, Shoals Hospital plans to initiate community outreach projects that include donating at least six automated external defibrillators to Muscle Shoals and teaching CPR to all ninth-grade students and all teachers in Muscle Shoals schools.

MUSCLE SHOALS – The Shoals Hospital Mammography Department has been recognized as a Certified Quality Breast Center in the National Quality Measures for Breast Centers Program (NQMBC). Shoals is the first and only hospital in this area to receive the distinction. It is one of only two in Alabama to become a Certified Quality Breast Center.

The distinction is based on quality care measures. For the Shoals Mammography Department, the process began when it received the designation of Certified Participant which also comes from the consortium. With this in hand, the facility began to work toward its designation as a Certified Quality Breast Center. To achieve this Shoals had to perform at a high level in six separate quality indicators. The data was then collected and compared with the outcomes at other participating centers across the United States.

“This certification is a wonderful tool for our patients to see how we measure up to other breast centers across the U.S.,” said Helen Copeland, the manager of the Shoals Radiology department. “We wanted to pursue this distinctive award so that our employees would be up-todate on the best care that we can provide to our patients. Further, it would give our patients a resource to ensure they are getting the best care available in the Shoals.”

Measuring and comparing quality performance is essential in assessing patient care and allocating resources where improvement is desired, according to a statement by NQMBC. In today’s health care environment, breast centers are faced with providing quality care while simultaneously keeping costs under control. A center’s staff must not only be familiar with existing standards of care, but it must also be aware of new advances in technology. The Shoals Hospital Mammography Department has taken a major step to ensure they provide the best possible quality care to breast patients in the area.