Employees wore red to support the fight against heart disease in woman during Go Red for Women day. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, currently some 8 million women in the U.S. are living with heart disease, yet only one in five American women believes that heart disease is her greatest health threat.

 

Mark S. Kirschbaum, UTMB's chief quality, safety and clinical information officer, has been appointed to the Texas Hospital Association's quality and patient safety committee.

The committee’s charge is to monitor, assess and develop policy recommendations regarding: initiatives related to quality of care, disease management and patient safety; quantifiable standards for clinical quality and outcomes; principles for the collection and reporting of data related to patient safety and quality of care; and public and private hospital data collection and reporting activities and programs. 
 
David Darrow, a fourth-year medical student, received the 2012 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Service Award at the campus luncheon Jan. 13 commemorating Martin Luther King Day. Darrow founded the Green House Foundation, an organization that promotes community food gardens in Galveston. He also has been active as a volunteer director for Frontera de Salud, the St. Vincent’s Student Clinic, and Hope Clinic, and frequently partnering with Galveston’s Families, Children and Youth Board and the Jesse Tree. Darrow led the “Grow Your Own Food” drive in October 2011 at the Wright Cuney Recreation Center in Galveston that helped 200 families, and worked to install 20 raised garden beds at the center.
 
 
Congratulations to UTMB physicians, Drs. Joan Richardson and George Saade, who have been appointed to the newly created Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) Medicaid Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Council. This HHSC advisory committee was one of three authorized by the 2011 Texas Legislature, and will advise the HHSC on standards for neonatal intensive care units and on the development of an accreditation process for a neonatal intensive care unit to receive Medicaid payments.  

Displays exhibiting Dr. Ashbel Smith and his contribution to medicine and the Galveston community were mounted by Ashbel Smith Society members at St. Vincent's Clinic. The displays were re-printed with permission from the Truman G. Blocker Jr., History of Medicine Collections Staff. The beautiful display was originally created by Lisa Reyna-Guerrero 

Daisy Award winner Kitty Bosch, RN, of Post Partum, was nominated by Dr. Russell Synder for her extra efforts towards a patient and their premature infant. Kitty worked with the young mother and her family in dealing with the infant's stay in NICU. Her compassion, advocacy and family focus was critical in getting the mother and infant medically ready for hospital discharge.