Newsroom Archive

JPS celebrates recipients of the 2018 John Peter Smith Excellence Awards this week, honoring 12 team members for exemplary performance and service to the communities JPS serves. Awards will be presented at a formal dinner on Wednesday night.

“At JPS a big part of our culture is to celebrate team members who perform their daily duties at a level beyond the expected,” said JPS President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Earley. “Our honorees are people who live our mission to transform healthcare delivery for the communities we serve.”

JPS photographer Kevin Fujii recently had a colonoscopy, a health screening that could save your life by detecting – and allowing doctors to treat -- a deadly form of cancer before it’s too late. Far too many people avoid the procedure because they’re afraid it will be painful or embarrassing. But Kevin, who enjoys finding the lighter side of things, decided he was going to embrace it by taking care of himself and the people he loves on Valentine’s Day.

Here is his story:

Some folks celebrate Valentine’s Day with flowers or chocolates. I had a colonoscopy.

Jennifer Bailey-Jackson, JPS executive director of Talent Acquisition, Learning and Organizational Development, comes from a family that emphasizes the importance of education, always doing your best and refraining from “following the crowd.”  She remembers her father, an educator and minister, reviewing the Pythagorean Theorem with her and her siblings, as a normal and frequent dinnertime conversation.  So it’s no surprise that she has detoured from a traditional nursing career to one that incorporates strategic planning, administration and education.

Let this week’s thunderstorms serve as a reminder: Typically tumultuous springtime weather will soon be upon us. Now is a good time to update your emergency preparedness plan, especially if you or a family member have medical needs that could become acute in a severe weather event.

Even if someone doesn’t seem like they have the flu, don’t discount what you may be exposed to if you’re anywhere in the vicinity of a sneeze or cough that doesn’t get covered.

People with the flu are contagious a full day before their symptoms become noticeable and up to seven days thereafter. Children can be contagious even longer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Seeing cancer patients readmitted to the hospital malnourished, clinical dietitians at JPS launched an assistance program now providing liquid meal replacements for more than 60 patients like Judith Fleeks, who can’t take food by mouth but can’t afford the alternative.

“This stuff is so expensive, I wouldn’t have the means of providing it for myself,” Fleeks said during a stop at JPS to pick up a month’s worth of nutrient-packed formula.

A device small enough to fit in a pocket was creating a conundrum for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), where visitors are required to clean their hands – not just a little clean, but hospital clean — upon entering. Parents willingly complied, but within minutes were reaching for their cell phones.

Parents were asked to contain their phones inside a plastic bag. “You can take pictures just fine through plastic,” said NICU Manager Raquel Armstrong. “But they didn’t like it, and as soon as you’d turn around, the phone would be out.”

A sustained effort to improve care for heart attacks has slashed time-to-treatment at JPS to as little as 21 minutes — the fastest door-to-balloon time in 2017. It happened twice.

Even average door-to-balloon time, 57 minutes, came in significantly under the American Heart Association’s 90-minute national standard for hospitals.

Blood donors come through to save lives

As many as 81 people will benefit from blood donated by JPS team members at the first blood drive of 2018, which was Friday on the main campus.

Twenty-seven donors provided blood to be processed into its components — red blood cells, fresh frozen plasma and platelets. “In addition,” reported Carter BloodCare’s Judy Smith, “we collected two units of O-negative, 10 units of O-positive and one unit of AB-positive blood. That was an unexpected blessing.”

Ask a woman to list her top health concerns and if she’s like many, heart disease won’t be No. 1. Yet heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. In fact, one in three heart attack patients at JPS Health Network is a woman.