Todd Leach has been promoted to
vice president and chief information officer at UTMB, responsible for the overall strategic direction of UTMB’s information services function, overseeing more than 300 employees and a budget of approximately $100 million. Leach first joined UTMB in 1992 as senior network analyst. In addition to a master’s degree in business, he is a graduate of the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Information Resources Leadership Institute and an affiliate member of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.
Quality and Healthcare Safety celebrated National Quality Week, October 21 through October 25. Posters were displayed on October 24 in Brown Atrium Hallway, showcasing quality and safety projects.
In honor of Pastoral Care Week, October 20-26, Director of Pastoral Care, John Riley, hosted a service on Thursday, October 23 in the
UTMB Chapel recognizing the Pastoral Care volunteers who offer their time and service to patients and their families. Volunteers shared personal stories of how they have seen the program not only assist the patients and their families in times of need, but of how the progam has enriched their own lives as well. The service was followed by a reception in Pastoral Care offices.
Pictured, Back Row, Left to Right: Miguel Serrato, Fr. John Paul Fajole, Joie Soske, AL Curtis, Rabbi Jimmy Kessler, John W. Riley, Director and Kathy Sapp Ozenberger, Chaplain. Front Row, L to R: Kathy Menninga, Katherine Thatcher, Charlene Lutz and Lona Dorman. Volunteers not pictured: Fr. John Taosen, Carl and Judy Schutz, Elroy McHenry, Doug Tucker, Lance Anaya On Call Chaplains: Johnna Faber and Tom Bain.
On October 5,
UTMB and TDCJ employees participated the 2013 Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Town Green Park in The Woodlands. The team, the Houston Lampposts, was led by Kendra Phelps, Mental Health Manager at Lychner/Kegans. The team’s goal was to raise $2,250 and they exceeded their target with a total of $2,882! Kendra became an Alzheimer’s Awareness advocate after watching her grandpa suffer through having the horrible disease, which ultimately reduced his quality of life until he passed away. She held a training session at a staff meeting last month and shared her story along with pictures of her beloved “Pops”. Fellow staff members wore purple to spread awareness.
Thanks to the quick thinking of one of our registrars, a patient likely averted what could have been a serious turn for the worse. Soon after La Tonya Cunningham, patient registration specialist, entered the patient’s room to complete the bedside registration, she noticed the patient was in trouble. “He just wasn’t acting right,” she said, and she immediately notified his nurse that something seemed terribly wrong. Indeed, it was. The patient’s nurse had been in to see him only minutes before, and he was doing fine; however, when La Tonya saw him, he was showing stroke-like symptoms. Her keen observation and the prompt intervention of the medical team made a huge difference in the patient’s outcome. Her manager, Nancy Polk, said, “Our patients are our greatest asset, and La Tonya’s quick response to his illness really made a difference.
UTMB’s Dr. O.W. “Skip” Brown has been elected chairman of The Texas Pediatric Society, the Texas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, for a three-year term. Brown is past-president of TPS — a state professional nonprofit organization of 2,800 Texas pediatricians and 250 medical students. The goal of the Society is that all children in the State attain their full potential for physical, emotional and social health. Brown is medical director for the Pediatric Specialty Center at Bay Colony and associate professor of pediatrics in the division of general academic pediatrics.