Mary Landry has joined the Woman’s Foundation Inc. as assistant program manager. She assists with managing all programs and will help with coordination and implementation of future educational programs. A native of Breaux Bridge, Landry is a graduate of UL Lafayette with a bachelor of general studies with a concentration in behavior sciences. She previously interned for the Healthy Start Program at The Family Tree and has been a dance instructor with Irene’s School of Dance in Breaux Bridge for five years.
Lafayette Surgical Specialty Hospital has received the Platinum Level 2008 Louisiana Hospital Quality Award, presented by Louisiana Health Care Review Inc., the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Louisiana. With this award, LSSH has been recognized for improving the quality of health care given to its patients.
Home Health of Lafayette General Medical Center has received a Platinum 2008 Louisiana Home Health Agency Quality Award presented by Louisiana Health Care Review Inc. Home Health of Lafayette General is one of five home health agencies in the state to receive a Platinum level award in 2008. The awards were given for excellent performance and improvement in acute care hospitalization and/or other outcomes.
National Cancer Survivors Day, the world’s largest cancer survivor event, is held the first Sunday in June each year. To commemorate this worldwide celebration of life, OncoLogics Inc. hosted its 16th annual National Cancer Survivors Day celebration at River Oaks Catering and Event Center in Lafayette on June 7. More than 500 cancer survivors, caregivers, family members, friends and health care professionals united to celebrate life. The event included a magic show by Rob Rue, bingo, door prizes and hand massages. The following agencies were available for questions and provided information about assistance available to patients and caregivers: Miles Perret Cancer Services, Komen Acadiana, American Cancer Society, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Dietician Juliana Briscoe. Many local businesses contributed to the festivities by donating plants, prizes, gift certificates and other items. A complete list of those businesses can be found on www.oncologics.net .
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 also led to yet another name change for Southwest Medical Center, once called Medical Center of Southwest Louisiana. It’s 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 the two Lafayette hospitals and is retaining is current name. Vicki Romero Briggs and Kathy J. Bobbs have been named to the leadership team for the regional health system. Briggs will serve as CEO and Bobbs will serve as senior vice president of strategy and business development. Bobbs will also continue in her role as CEO of Women’s & Children’s Hospital. In addition, Kyle J. Viator, CEO of Southwest Medical Center, retired in June after 30 years with HCA Inc. Briggs has since assumed the CEO duties in addition to her role with the system, and Viator is in a consulting role during the transition period. Briggs, an American College of Healthcare Executives Fellow, has more than three decades in leadership roles in health care. She most recently served as vice president of operations for Health Management Associates Inc. in Birmingham, with responsibility for 12 hospitals in Alabama, North and South Carolina and Pennsylvania. Prior to this role, Briggs served as CEO of Affinity Health System, which is a partnership between Baptist Health System and Triad Hospitals Inc. She also was CEO of Longview Regional Medical Center, Longview, Texas, and at one time was president of the Baton Rouge Market for Columbia Healthcare Systems of Louisiana, responsible for two hospitals, three surgery centers, a physician hospital organization and statewide physician management services. Prior to this, she served in the capacity of president and CEO of Baton Rouge-based Woman’s Hospital Foundation, a 225-bed OB/GYN specialty hospital. Briggs earned her B.S. from Nicholls State University and did graduate work at Samford University in Birmingham. Active in various Louisiana health care initiatives, Briggs also a graduate of the 1994 class of Leadership Louisiana, sponsored by the Council for a Better Louisiana. Bobbs, FACHE, has been CEO of Women’s & Children’s Hospital since 2000. Prior to joining Women’s, Bobbs was CEO for Riverview Medical Center in Gonzales.