Acadian Ambulance Service and Priority One EMS have joined forces in Southeast Texas. Acadian plans to assume the operations of Priority One EMS effective July 14. There will be no interruption of service, as all calls to Priority One EMS will be forwarded automatically to the Acadian Ambulance dispatch center. All qualified Priority One EMS medics are being offered employment with Acadian; each employee hired will receive at least equal to, if not greater, salaries. Acadian is an ESOP with 75 percent of its stock owned by the employees. It began operating in Texas in 2006 in Jefferson and Orange counties and in 2007 in Austin.
Nine Pelican Awards were presented to LGMC by the Louisiana Society for Hospital Public Relations and Marketing. The awards recognize the outstanding marketing, advertising and public relations work among hospitals statewide. Also, the National Healthcare Marketing Report announced its list of winners, with a Gold, two Silvers, and a Merit awarded to LGMC. The Lafayette General team includes Mark Attales, director, Leslie Davis and Patrice Doucet, communications specialists, and Kim Morse, graphic designer. National Healthcare Marketing Report Awards won are: Gold, Web site/Home Page-www.LafayetteGeneral.com; Silver, New Media-Pavilion Reception Invite; Silver, Newspaper Ad/Series-da Vinci Ad Campaign; Merit, Television Ad/Series-Pavilion for women and children. The hospital’s award-winning Web site, which launched in November 2008, was created by local web development company, Bizzuka. The team won Pelican Awards for Television Advertising, Single-da Vinci Small Incision; Television Advertising, Campaign-Pavilion for women and children; Annual Report-Looking Forward to Life; Print Advertising Campaign, black and white-Hospital Week series; Brochure-Pavilion Never Miss A Moment; Direct Mail Campaign-Lafayette General Imaging; Writing/External Audience-Pavilion Never Miss a Moment; Jacqueline Leonhard Award for Writing Excellence-Pavilion Never Miss a Moment.
The prestigious Best of Show Jacqueline Leonhard Award for Writing Excellence has been awarded to LGMC for the third year. For the second year, Leslie Davis took home the top honor for the Pavilion Never Miss A Moment brochure. To view some of these award-winning pieces, visit www.lafayettegeneral.com/advertising .
Dr. Kenneth E. Brown Sr. was appointed to the LAMMICO board of directors. Brown practiced OB/GYN in Lafayette and currently serves as the medical director and chief medical officer for the Woman’s Health Foundation in Baton Rouge. He is a graduate of the Howard University School of Medicine and completed his residency in Louisiana at the LSU School of Medicine-New Orleans. Later in his academic career, Brown earned an MBA from UL Lafayette. Brown will continue to serve on LAMMICO’s underwriting committee.
Dr. Glynn A. Granger, a general surgeon, is a recipient of the Physician’s Recognition Award by the American Medical Association for March 2009. The AMA, which encourages and supports the art and science of medicine, created the Physician’s Recognition Award in 1968. It is the most widely accepted certificate for recognizing physician achievement. It acknowledges qualified physicians who stay up to date with medical advances by participating in different educational activities.
Women’s & Children’s Hospital, Southwest Medical Center and Dauterive Hospital in New Iberia, affiliates of HCA Inc., recently combined under the umbrella of The Regional Health System of Acadiana to better establish their regional presence. That decision has apparently also led to yet another name change for Southwest Medical Center, once called Medical Center of Southwest Louisiana. It has been renamed The Regional Medical Center of Acadiana. Additionally, Women’s & Children’s Hospital and The Regional Medical Center of Acadiana are combining under a single license, creating one hospital with two complementary campuses and a total of 252 licensed beds, 51 NICU beds and 45 bassinets. (Women’s & Children’s Hospital is referred to as Women’s & Children’s Hospital, a campus of The Regional Medical Center of Acadiana.) And while the affiliated health care facilities in the regional health system also include Dauterive Hospital, the New Iberia facility is not part of the consolidation of Women’s & Children’s Hospital and Southwest Medical Center and is retaining is current name.
Registered Nurse Fred Lavergne, a patient care nurse at Lafayette Surgical Specialty Hospital, was named one of the area’s outstanding nurses at the Acadiana Celebrates Nursing program at the Petroleum Club of Lafayette. The event is held annually to recognize and honor nurses who exemplify outstanding nursing practices. It is sponsored by the Louisiana State Nurses Association, District IV, which includes seven parishes in Acadiana. Twenty-five registered nurses, nominated by colleagues, friends, family and/or patients, are selected by a committee of their peers.