KOKOMO TRIBUNE
•
SATURDAY, SEPT. 29, 2018
FROM STAFF REPORTS
O
ver the past 12 months,
St. Vincent Kokomo has
completed $7 million in
construction and technol-
ogy improvements to ex-
pand resources in the commu-
nity.
“We are in the midst of an
exciting transformation in
healthcare,” said Margie John-
son, Northwest Region Presi-
dent, St. Vincent Kokomo.
“Through our associates’
hard work, we have been im-
proving performance, including
all the great work they are do-
ing to drive quality care and to
function efficiently and seam-
lessly for our patients.”
St. Vincent Kokomo contin-
ues to be a non-PCI Chest Pain
Center, accredited by the
American College of Cardiol-
ogy, and since 2006, a Primary
Stroke Center of Excellence,
designated by The Joint Com-
mission, with a Board Certified
Neurologist on staff.
The Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS) re-
cently rated St. Vincent
Kokomo with an overall 4-star
rating.
And, in continuing excellence
in healthcare, it was recognized
among the top 25 percent in
the nation and awarded the
Professional Research Consul-
tants, Inc. Excellence in Health-
care Award 2018 for Overall
Quality Care in Emergency De-
partment Services and Overall
Hospital Ratings (HCAHPS) for
Inpatient Services.
In addition, Leapfrog has
rated St. Vincent Kokomo with
an “A” rating,” said Johnson.
“We are also focusing on inno-
vation – expanding to new ar-
eas and meeting consumers
where they are, to help them
get the right care at the right
place and at the right time.
“We’ve launched new ways
for patients to see a provider
on their schedule and close to
home through virtual care, ad-
vanced telehealth services, on-
line primary care appointment
scheduling through getstvin-
centcare.com and more.”
Over the past 12 months, St.
Vincent Kokomo has com-
pleted $7 million in construc-
tion and technology improve-
ments to expand resources for
our community. Additional ar-
eas of progression include:
• A new Women’s Center
• Breast surgeons available
four days a week
• Expansion and full renova-
tion of the cardiology depart-
ment and cardiac rehabilitation
• Expansion of lymphedema
rehabilitation
• Implementation of a new
cardiac nuclear camera
• Implementation of an am-
putee clinic and rehabilitation
• Implementation of an Emer-
gency Department concierge
• Implementation of telemed-
icine with Logansport Hospital
• A new way of caring for
employee health through the
partnership with FCA – the
FCA Family Health and Well-
ness Center Powered by St.
Vincent
• New location and recon-
struction for vascular surgery,
C.O.A.G. Clinic and Clinic of
Hope
• Initial work and construc-
tion for a new linear accelera-
tor for the Cancer Center
• Initial work for implement-
ing the newest technology in
robotic surgery – the da Vinci
Xi Surgical System
• Planning and design for a
new MRI inside the hospital
• Service the poor and vulner-
able through providing more
than $12 million in community
benefit for Kokomo.
ST. VINCENT KOKOMO INVESTS IN HEALTHCARE
HEALTH
SPOTLIGHT
BY GEORGE MYERS
KOKOMO TRIBUNE
W
ith her family’s
history, Bobbie
Deardorf never
skips an annual
breast cancer
checkup.
So, on a July morning,
she sat in the lobby of St.
Vincent Kokomo’s new
women’s center, minutes
after an appointment that
included a 3D mammo-
gram, and complimented
what hospital officials
have hyped as a high-
tech, centralized space
that will provide unprece-
dented health services to
women like Deardorf.
A Russiaville resident
whose mother and sister
are both survivors of the
disease, Deardorf didn’t
even know about the
center until just days be-
fore she got her mammo-
gram there.
But its potential is al-
ready clear.
“It’s a lot quieter over
here,” she said, chuckling,
comparing the new space
to the former women’s
center located within the
sprawling St. Vincent
Kokomo hospital com-
plex.
“It was always kind of
congested and everybody
was running around ev-
ery place over there.” But
here, she said, “you didn’t
have to go through the
hospital and all that
hoopla. It was just, in the
door.”
The center, which
opened on July 10, is lo-
cated at 305 S. Berkley
Road, just south of St.
Vincent Kokomo. The pri-
vate center, hospital offi-
cials stressed, is consid-
ered a centralized hub for
access to women’s health
services including breast
care, bone density, spe-
cialized care and more.
Notable is the center’s
reliance on new technolo-
gies, like 3D mammogra-
phy (breast tomosynthe-
sis) and digital mammog-
raphy. Such machines fill
a building recently gutted
and redone to accommo-
date the women’s clinic
after serving previously
as a vascular clinic.
3D technology takes an
additional 15 to 50 pic-
tures of the breast, shown
to increase the accuracy
of breast cancer diagnosis
by 20 to 45 percent, ex-
plained Erica Giblin, St.
Vincent’s medical director
of breast care services,
who will be in Kokomo
two days per week.
The technological ad-
vances, she explained,
will be particularly help-
ful for women with dense
breast tissue.
St. Vincent also offers a
“screening abbreviated
breast MRI” that im-
proves the accuracy of
breast cancer detection
by 150 percent in women
who have dense breast
tissue, said Giblin.
“It’s like an added plus
to the women who are
getting the 3D mammo-
gram,” she explained.
Also included at the
women’s center will be
image-guided radiation
therapy that uses the
SAVI SCOUT system, a
wire-free radar localiza-
tion meant to ease the
surgery process; ultra-
sound and radiology in
the same location; and
even plastic reconstruc-
tion services.
“St. Vincent Kokomo is
privileged to have a team
of women healthcare pro-
fessionals dedicated to
taking care of women’s
health needs in our com-
munity,” said St. Vincent
Kokomo Regional Presi-
dent Margie Johnson in a
media release announc-
ing the new facility.
The center, she said,
represents “a variety of
specialties such as OB/
GYN, maternity services,
bone health and osteopo-
rosis, vascular, breast
care, pelvic health and
women’s cardiac risk
clinic.”
But most important,
perhaps, will be the on-
site presence of breast
surgeons four days per
week, with a goal of in-
creasing that number to
five days. With that, the
center will boast a radiol-
ogist dedicated to breast
services.
Those surgeons, which
HOSPITAL OPENS NEW WOMEN’S CENTER
ST. VINCENT TOUTS IMPROVED TECHNOLOGY, SURGEON AVAILABILITY
have practiced in Carmel,
were made available
through St. Vincent Health,
which is part of Ascension,
the largest nonprofit health
system in the U.S. and the
world’s largest Catholic
health system.
“I think we’ve developed
a breast service line
throughout St. Vincent and
Ascension to really focus
on women’s health and
breast services,” said Kristi
Bledsoe, the women’s cen-
ter director.
At St. Vincent Kokomo’s
former women’s center,
breast surgeons were only
available a half-day each
week, meaning patients
were sometimes required
to schedule appointments
weeks in advance.
The new setup will now
allow “more opportunity to
get the diagnostics done,”
explained Bledose.
“In the past we’ve only
had a breast surgeon on
Fridays, so if something
came up ominous or con-
cerning, you had to wait
until the next Friday that
you could get in, which
sometimes was two or
three weeks,” she contin-
ued.
“So now if we have
breast surgeons on-site,
you’re going to get in a lot
quicker. That’s a huge dif-
ference.”
It’s possible for a breast
surgeon to “come right
across and take a look at it
right then” if something
worrisome shows up on a
test.
“Instead of, ‘Well, get
dressed and now you’re go-
ing to get an appointment
for two weeks down the
road,’ and you’re going to
stew and fret through that
whole thing,” said Bledsoe.
Now, “it’s just let me go
grab the breast surgeon
and take a look at this,
and get the radiologist to
see it.”
And it’s a process, com-
mented Deardorf, that’s
less intimidating and more
private, avoiding awkward
walks through hospital
hallways and a shared
space with men and chil-
dren.
“I think this is impera-
tive, to have places like
this,” she said. “The hospi-
tal has a stigma. It’s a hos-
pital. Here, you’re just com-
ing in to the women’s cen-
ter with other women, and
you’re having a routine ex-
amine and, boop, you’re
done. It’s over.
“It’s not like going
through the whole gambit
of finding where you need
to go and all that stuff.”
No one argued that
point.
“It was pretty small and
pretty cramped,” acknowl-
edged Bledsoe.
The new center, slated to
host educational seminars
centered on women’s
health services, will offer
workshops, panel discus-
sions, speaking engage-
ments from health profes-
sionals and evening hours
for mammograms and
massages.
3D MAMMOGRAM:
Mammographer Kelly Keisling with
Bobbie Deardorff are shown here in the mammography
room of St. Vincent’s women’s center.
(Kelly Lafferty Gerber | Kokomo Tribune)
