Flashes

Health Flashes - April 2008

André Moreau has been appointed vice president of corporate development at Our Lady of Lourdes. Moreau has been with the hospital more than 16 years in a variety of roles, including marketing research, managed care, business planning, property management, Lourdes Foundation and decision support. As director of business development, he was instrumental in the establishment of joint ventures with Acadiana Imaging, LHC Group in home health, Lourdes AfterHours and Heart Hospital of Lafayette. In his new role, Moreau is overseeing all new business development opportunities, strategic planning, community relations and physician partnerships. He will also maintain responsibility for the managed care contracts of Our Lady of Lourdes and the Heart Hospital of Lafayette. Additionally, he has oversight responsibility for WellnessWorks, an occupational and wellness program designed to assist local employers improve and maintain the health and wellness of their employees at no cost to the employer. Moreau received a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from UL Lafayette. He is a longtime member of the Lafayette Sertoma Breakfast Club; served as president of Lourdes Hospital Federal Credit Union board of directors and is a graduate of the Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Lafayette program. Also at Lourdes, CPA Bently B. Senegal has been named director of accounting and decision support. Senegal has more than 25 years of health care experience and has been employed with Lourdes for the past eight years in the role of decision support coordinator. Senegal earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1980 from UL and his certification in public accounting in 1990. Senegal is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Louisiana Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Healthcare Financial Management Association. Senegal served his country in the U.S. Army National Guard from 1976 to June 1980 and was honorably discharged as sergeant. He is an active member in the community, serving as vice president of the Lourdes Credit Union board of directors. He is also a member of the board of directors for Acadiana Outreach. Additionally, he is the chairman of Our Lady of Lourdes Mission Integration Committee.

Dr. Samuel Moss, a Lafayette dentist, has earned the ACLS certification by completing an Advanced Cardiac Life Support training program sponsored by the Dental Organization for Conscious Sedation. The training he received is similar to that received by doctors, nurses, and paramedics. He is a member of the fastest growing organization of its kind in dentistry, the DOCS, whose purpose is to provide the education necessary for dentists to provide safe, conscious sedation for the large population of people who avoid the dentist out of fear.

Fertility & Women’s Health Center of Louisiana, Women’s & Children’s Hospital and Sheridan Healthcare are again joining forces to offer GIFT of HOPE, an annual collaboration created to help one infertile couple each year overcome the financial barriers to building their family through the gift of one in vitro fertilization cycle. Established in 2006, GIFT of HOPE seeks to ease the high costs, both financially and emotionally, of infertility treatments for one couple that demonstrates both financial and medical needs for IVF. According to Resolve, the National Infertility Association, only a quarter of health care insurers offer coverage for infertility care. Depending on individual circumstances, IVF typically costs $10,000 to $15,000 per cycle, as a result, as many as 50 percent of American couples who fail to conceive do not seek treatment due to financial reasons. GIFT of HOPE has secured donated services to provide one couple the chance of pregnancy through in vitro fertilization. The sponsoring doctor is John M. Storment, a board certified reproductive endocrinologist with Fertility & Women’s Health Center of Louisiana. Two couples were chosen for the GIFT of HOPE award in 2007: Ryan and Bridgette Baudoin of Breaux Bridge and Eric and Elizabeth McCleery of Rayne. Applications were reviewed by an independent committee that selected the couples based upon their financial and medical needs and personal situation. One couple has completed the IVF treatment with an unsuccessful outcome, while the other couple is awaiting treatment. For additional information on GIFT of HOPE 2008, including eligibility requirements, please access www.fertilityanswers.com or call 337-989-8795. An independent committee will review all submitted applications and select one couple to receive this gift. The deadline to receive applications is April 25; GIFT of HOPE will be awarded on May 2.

The Society of Chest Pain Centers recently granted the designation of Cycle II Chest Pain Accreditation to Southwest Medical Center — the highest designation for chest pain in Acadiana. Southwest is the third facility in the state and the only full-service, acute care facility in the region granted this designation by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria and completing on-site evaluations by a review team from the Society of Chest Pain Centers and Providers. “This achievement could not have been accomplished without collaborative effort from our cardiovascular and emergency department physicians, local EMS and our staff. They have worked diligently to develop our chest pain center into a premier program for the early detection and treatment of heart attacks. Achieving this distinction validates the progressiveness of our heart program, and it confirms the level of confidence patients can have in us for the treatment of chest pain,” says Kyle Viator, Southwest Medical Center’s CEO. The hospital also recognized the contributions of its Chest Pain Center director, Dr. Raghotham Patlola, an interventional cardiologist with Cardiovascular Institute of the South. The goal of the Society of Chest Pain Centers is to significantly lower the mortality rate from heart attacks by teaching the public to recognize and react to the early symptoms, reduce the time that it takes to receive treatment and increase the accuracy and effectiveness of treatment.

Dr. Stephen Seymour, a urogynecologist and reconstructive surgeon, has joined the medical staff at Women’s & Children’s Hospital. Seymour specializes in diagnosing and treating pelvic floor conditions including stress and urge incontinence, uterine prolapse, bladder and other pelvic floor defects, as well as repair and restoration of anatomy that has suffered abnormalities sustained during childbirth. Pelvic floor dysfunction affects approximately 50 percent of all women, making it one of the most common health problems women face. This highly specialized care of women is learned from advanced training and experience. Seymour earned his medical degree from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Mo. He completed his internship and residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash., where he also completed a three-year fellowship in urogynecology/pelvic reconstructive surgery. Women’s & Children’s Hospital also offers patients the Women’s Physical Therapy, Continence and Pelvic Floor Disorders Center, which supports the hospital’s urogynecology program.