New MRI Guidelines Released

According to new guidelines released by the American Cancer Society, women with a very high risk of developing breast cancer should receive an MRI along with their annual mammogram. This special group represents over 1.4 million women in the United States. Women should consult their physicians to see if they qualify. Along with these guidelines is a recommendation that women seek breast MRIs at facilities with the capability and expertise of performing MRI-guided needle localizations and core biopsies. In doing so, they eliminate the need for the test to be repeated if a biopsy is needed.

The value of “diagnostic” breast MRI in patients with recently diagnosed or highly suspected breast cancer is already well established. Breast MRI at the time of breast cancer diagnosis has been shown to be valuable in most accurately determining the size of the primary lesion and in finding “occult” disease (multi-focal and multi-centric disease) that is not demonstrable by conventional mammography and breast ultrasonography.

Many insurance carriers provide coverage for both “diagnostic” and “screening” breast MRI exams in these specific situations.

When Woman’s Hospital added MRI services in 2005, it was with a focus on breast services; we are one of the few MRI services in the south with the appropriate specialized coils and related computer capacity. We have a very mature breast program, performing over 40,000 mammograms a year on a fully digital system and having completed 198 Breast MRIs since March 2006. We have also been a pioneer in MRI-guided needle localizations and core biopsies, and have been performing them since August 2006.

Please help us spread the word about MRI at Woman's Hospital.

Standing Ovation
The documentary film that Louisiana Public Broadcasting made about the hospital's experience after the 2005 hurricanes was shown at the national meeting of the Association for Community Health Improvement. This is an affiliate of the American Hospital Association that includes public and community health practitioners from around the country. The meeting was in New Orleans. Someone from Woman’s was invited to attend to answer questions after the screening, so Jamie Hauser attended to represent the organization.

After the film, one of the people attending stood up and said, “On behalf of our profession, I just want to tell you - thank you.” She stood up – and so did the other 200 or so people in attendance, and gave us, Woman's Hospital, a standing ovation.

Thanks for all you do, all day, every day, to improve the health of women and infants!

Volunteer Appreciation Week: April 12-16
Take time to appreciate one of the ladies or gentlemen in a pink smock.  April 12 - 16 is Volunteer Appreciation Week.

Our volunteers do so much for us on a daily basis, even garner donated dollars from ExxonMobil.  Helen Haymon discovered a generous program sponsored by ExxonMobil Corporation. The company’s Volunteer Involvement Program (VIP) is designed for employees, retirees and/or their spouses who volunteer in the community. A $5,000 grant can be awarded to a charitable, nonprofit organization after an eligible participant volunteers at least 20 hours of his/her time to the organization during a calendar year.

Each eligible participant may apply for four individual grants per calendar year, provided 20 hours of work is performed for each grant. An organization may receive a maximum of $5,000 per calendar year of Individual Volunteer Grants. Helen Haymon, Pat Moreau, and Veerle Brouns have participated in the program, securing $4,000 to benefit the Woman’s Hospital Auxiliary.

Infant Abduction
By Greg Smith

There was an infant abduction in Lubbock, Texas.  Thankfully, the baby was found and has been returned to her parents.  This is the second infant abduction from a hospital in Lubbock in the last year.

We are in the process of gathering information about the incidents and are pulling a team together to do an intensive analysis of our infant security procedures to test for issues and identify areas of our infant security program that could be improved. 

As part of our current infant security plan, we conduct two infant abduction drills per year to test our security procedures, staff awareness and response.  Results from those drills are used to improve our infant security.  As always, a key factor in preventing incidents is staff and patient awareness.

We will keep you updated as to any changes made in our current procedures.

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