A woman whose life's work is caring for medically fragile children, Lilburn resident Laura Moore, was featured on ABC's "World News Tonight" Jan. 5 as its Person of the Week.
Moore is founder and CEO of Dream House, a nonprofit organization that trains and equips families to care for children who need special health care in order to survive. The Person of the Week honor typically goes to an individual who performs acts of charity.
"I just feel so unworthy," said Moore, 45. "I feel there are so many people out there doing things that are better than me."
Moore, who worked for 20 years as a registered nurse, was recently profiled in People magazine.
Moore said she spent eight hours with a TV crew for the January feature. She hopes the segment will educate more people about the plight of children whose families are unable to take care of them and give them up. The children sometimes are left in hospitals or with foster families for weeks, months or years because biological or adoptive families don't have the training or resources to care for them.
"The more publicity you get, especially getting on 'World News Tonight,' elevates the status of your mission, which adds more legitimacy," she said.
CERTIFIED SOCIAL WORKER: Nanci Langer-Warren, LCSW, has earned the designation of board-certified diplomate in clinical social work, a national credential issued to advanced practitioners by the American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work. It signifies the highest level of achievement for a licensed clinical social worker.
Langer-Warren is the manager of assessments and case management at Gwinnett Medical Center's SummitRidge Center for Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine.
NURSES OF TOMORROW: DeKalb Medical Center has awarded $21,000 to nine nursing students through the Dr. Mark Coppage Scholarship Fund, named for a DeKalb Medical Center anesthesiologist who died in 1989.
Georgia Perimeter College nursing student Travis Dykes won the first-place award of $5,000.
KUDOS TO NORTHSIDE: For the 10th consecutive year, Northside Hospital-Atlanta has been voted Atlanta's Most Preferred Hospital for Overall Healthcare Services by metro Atlanta consumers in the National Research Corp. 2006-07 Healthcare Market Guide study. Widely known as the nation's most comprehensive consumer assessment of the health care industry, NRC surveyed more than 200,000 households nationally (more than 3,500 in metro Atlanta) to determine which hospitals have the best overall quality and image.
"These rankings are a testament to the dedication, hard work and compassionate care our employees, physicians and volunteers provide to the community each day," said Bob Quattrocchi, president and CEO of Northside Hospital.
Atlanta consumers also ranked Northside No. 1 in the Metropolitan Atlanta Statistical Area (representing 28 counties and including 43 individual hospitals) in several categories, including best registered nurses, most personalized care and highest patient safety.
BOOKED FOR BEST PRACTICES: WellStar Health System will be featured in the Baptist Leadership Institute's upcoming book, "Best Practices: Leading the Way to Cultural Excellence."
The institute invited 27 health care organizations nationwide to share their best practices that foster performance excellence.
The book is available through the institute's Web site (www.baptistleadershipinstitute.com).
"WellStar is honored to be featured as a best-practice health care leader," said Karen Mathews, director of WellStar service excellence. "By enthusiastically embracing our programs and practices, WellStar employees are creating a culture of world-class health care, and the real winners are our patients."
BOOST FOR HOSPITAL EXPANSION: Gwinnett Medical Center has been given a capital infusion by Gwinnett County that will help support a massive expansion project at its main campus in Lawrenceville. The Gwinnett County Commission approved $25 million in funding — $5 million per year for the next five years.
"Gwinnett Medical Center is at a point where we must expand significantly to continue to effectively serve Gwinnett County," said Phil Wolfe, president and CEO of Gwinnett Hospital System.
Pending approval, the funds will be used to add a new five-story tower to the 22-year-old building, raising total bed capacity to 304.
NEW NURSING FACULTY: The Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing welcomes two new faculty members to help the school advance its research and faculty practice initiatives.
Sunita Dodani joins the school as assistant dean of research and will assist faculty in finding new funding sources and opportunities for research. Dodani, a native of Pakistan and an epidemiologist, has a doctoral degree from the University of Pittsburgh and has been an investigator with several World Health Organization studies.
Janie Heath is the school's new associate dean for academic nursing practice. A nurse practitioner with nearly 20 years of experience, Heath has a doctorate from George Mason University. For the last 12 years, she has split her time teaching, research and clinical practice.
Before coming to MCG, she was an assistant professor and director of the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Critical Care Clinical Nurse Specialist Program at Georgetown University.
CLINIC WINS AWARD: The Emory Clinic is one of six health care organizations in the United States to receive the Press Ganey Success Story Award, and is the only medical practice group among the winners.
Press Ganey, a leading independent vendor of satisfaction measurement, recognizes a handful out of more than 7,000 health care facilities annually for their dedication and unique approaches to improving patient care.
The Emory Clinic was cited for its program to decrease waits and delays in its 66 locations in Georgia and the Southeast.
PATIENT SAFETY: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, through it's "Wisdom at Work: Retaining Experienced Nurses" national initiative, has awarded a $75,000 grant to St. Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta. The grant will be applied to the hospital's Smooth Moves patient-transfer program.
The Partnership for Health and Accountability, the quality and safety assurance program of the Georgia Hospital Association, has recognized two of St. Joseph's safety initiatives. The hospital has reduced the arrival in the emergency department to angioplasty for patients suspected of ST-elevation myocardial infarction to 77 minutes. Its practices and use of continuous lateral rotation therapy beds have reduced pulmonary problems for patients in the medical-surgical intensive care unit.