Healthbeat

  • Thirty-nine Ochsner Health System nurses have been honored in the annual “100 Great Nurses of Louisiana” list. Patients and fellow nurses select honorees based on the individual’s humanity, community and professional contributions.
  • In an effort to boost the number of qualified medical professionals in the local area, East Jefferson General Hospital is teaming up with Baton Rouge’s Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, to offer an 11-month nurse-training program, and Delgado Community College, to train EMTs and paramedics. All classes for the program will be held at East Jefferson General Hospital and both programs are currently accepting applications.
  • Tulane Medical Center appointed vascular neurologist Dr. Sheryl Martin-Schild as director of the Tulane Stroke Program. Stroke, the curtailment or dramatic reduction of blood flow to the brain, is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Martin-Schild believes most strokes can be prevented with advance screenings and proper medical management.
  • Louisiana Medical News reports primary care physicians in Louisiana will be offered financial assistance for adopting, and implementing, electronic health records as part of The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ five-year Electronic Health Records Demonstration Project. Participating practitioners will receive up to $290,000 over the five years; for more details, visit the Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum Web site, www.lhcqf.org.
  • In a recent article in American Entomologist, LSU AgCenter Professor Gregg Henderson suggests Formosan subterranean termites played a role in the failure of the New Orleans’ levees in 2005. Henderson says he discovered the insects’ levee presence in August 2000, the same time he noticed the seams were made from bagasse, a processed sugarcane waste that attracts the insects.

After the levee breaks in 2005, Henderson and colleague Alan Morgan found 70 percent of the seams in the London Avenue Canal and 27 percent of the seams in the 17th Street Canal showed evidence of insect attack. Henderson suggests New Orleans’ 350 miles of levees and floodwalls should be surveyed for termite damage, and that treatment of the floodwalls and nearby trees may be necessary to avoid future disasters. More information on ESA is available at entsoc.org.

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