Isn't It Time You Got A Good Night's Sleep?

Do you suffer from sleepiness? Do you snore in your sleep?

Join Dr. Muhammad Najjar of the Sleep Disorders Center, as he discusses how untreated sleep disorders can pose serious threats to your health such as high blood pressure, heart attack and even cause traffic accidents.

Tuesday, May 22
6 p.m.
Franciscan Hammond Clinic - Specialty Center
7905 Calumet Avenue, Munster

For more information and to register, please call (219) 836-3600.

WorkingWell on Journey to Baldrige Quality Award

WorkingWell, Franciscan Alliance's Northern Indiana Region network of occupational health care providers, recently received a High Level Bronze-Indiana State Malcolm Baldrige Award, which is a step toward qualifying to achieve the highly coveted Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

The Bronze award recently was announced by The Partnership for Excellence, the Baldrige-based awards program for Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia. The group partners with organizations using the internationally based Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence.

Applicants are evaluated by an independent board of examiners in areas of work force focus, operations focus, leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, measurement, analysis and knowledge management, and results.

Tim Ross, WorkingWell regional administrative director, said the honor resulted from a team effort.

"I was humbled by how Franciscan Alliance Northern Indiana Region leaders pulled together to support WorkingWell staff to achieve this prestige award. This was a team effort by all."

He added, "The journey started with WorkingWell's National Association of Healthcare Providers certification, which laid the foundation to achieve our International Organization for Standardization certification for all five WorkingWell clinics. The Baldrige award is the latest in achievements that WorkingWell has accomplished in our quest for high quality standards."

Ross said the next step in the journey for the ultimate Baldrige award will be earning the tri-state-level honor, which is the next goal.

"We will utilize Baldrige criteria to continuously improve quality objectives to become the best occupational health clinics."

Ross also credited Moulay Alaoui, regional business transformation specialist, for providing information that matched WorkingWell processes to Baldrige criteria.

WorkingWell clinics are located in Crown Point, Hammond, Michigan City, Munster and Valparaiso. To learn more, visit workingwell.org.

About the Award
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence. The Baldrige Award is the only formal recognition of the performance excellence of both public and private U.S. organizations given by the U.S. president. It is administered by the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, which is based at and managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Up to 18 awards may be given annually across six eligibility categories -- manufacturing, service, small business, education, health care, and nonprofit. As of 2010, 91 organizations had received the award.

The Baldrige National Quality Program and the associated award were established by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act of 1987. The program and award were named for Malcolm Baldrige, who served as United States Secretary of Commerce during the Reagan administration, from 1981 until Baldrige’s 1987 death in a rodeo accident.

Stroke Awareness Month: Remember to Act FAST

The acronym FAST is an easy way to remember signs of stroke and what to do if you think a stroke has occurred. However, it is important to always keep in mind that the most important thing to do is to immediately call 9-1-1 for emergency assistance.

FAST stands for:

• (F)ACE. Ask the person to smile. Check to see if one side of the face droops.
• (A)RMS. Ask the person to raise both arms. See if one arm drifts downward.
• (S)PEECH. Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence. Check to see if words are slurred and if the sentence is repeated correctly.
• (T)IME. If a person shows any of these symptoms, time is essential. It is important to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. Call 9-1-1. Act FAST.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health, offers up an award-winning video to build awareness about the signs of stroke and the need to call 911 to receive immediate medical treatment. The video includes information on stroke symptoms, treatment, and risk factors, and features medical experts, stroke patients and their families. Take a look:

Happy Nurses and Hospital Week!

In today's specialized world, we are often tempted to compartmentalize our lives, putting our professional interests in one corner and our spiritual concerns in another.

To Florence Nightingale - the founder of Nursing - fragmenting one's life in this way would have been unthinkable. Nightingale's life work of social action was her way of honoring God. As she put it, "My work is my must." She was and still is an icon of wholeness, an emblem of a united, integrated life. In fact, the integrity of her nursing practice depended on this holistic approach.

In 1875, Mother Maria Theresia - the founder of the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration - accepted an invitation to send Sisters to America. Religious persecution in Germany did not stop her from following the One who led her. Like Florence Nightingale, Mother Maria Theresia was determined to keep nursing and hospital ministry as a mission.

As we celebrate National Nurses Week and National Hospital Week, may their examples inspire us!

"It's My Time" to Get an Annual Mammogram

A MAMMOthon program, consisting of digital mammogram screenings, free chair massages and giveaways, including watches, will take place May 11 at Franciscan Hammond Clinic, 7905 Calumet Ave., Munster, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Call (219) 836-3600 to schedule. Here, a physician referral is required.

The program will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 18 at Franciscan St. Margaret Health - Hammond, 5454 Hohman Ave. Call (219) 933-2635 to schedule.

Chair massages will be available from 3 to 7 p.m. at all locations. Participants also may enter a drawing to win an Apple iPad.

MAMMOthon is sponsored by Franciscan Alliance’s Spirit of Women program, which offers information and activities to encourage and enhance women’s health. Early detection is said to be key in beating breast cancer.

Ball of Strength Helps Participants Get in Shape

Participants in Franciscan Alliance's monthly Franciscanfit Mallwalkers program at Westfield Southlake Mall on April 25 received a lesson in how use of a mini-ball can help boost core body strength.

Jane Bogordos, fitness supervisor for Franciscan Omni Health & Fitness centers, demonstrated numerous techniques to participants.

Blood pressure screenings also were offered by Barbara Neely, a cardiac rehabilitation technician at Franciscan St. Margaret Health - Hammond, and by Christy Cleveland, a registered nurse in that unit.

The program takes place on the fourth Thursday of each month on the mall's lower level, outside of the JC Penney store.

For more information, call (219) 931-3322.

For more photos of this event, check us out on Facebook at facebook.com/FranciscanNWI.

National Healthcare Decisions Day - Understanding Advance Directives

There may come a time when you or a family member is seriously injured or gravely ill. In the midst of shock and grief, you may be asked to make hard medical decisions. It is important for you to learn about Advance Directives, types and intensity of medical care, and to discuss the kind of treatment you feel comfortable with before you make those difficult decisions.

April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day…a time to bring awareness to the importance of advance care planning and communicating and documenting your healthcare decisions.


Understanding Advance Directives

Advance care directives allow patients to provide instructions about their preferences regarding the care they would like to receive if they develop an illness or a life-threatening injury and are unable to express their preferences. Advance care directives can also designate someone the patient trusts to make decisions about medical care if the patient becomes unable to make (or communicate) these decisions. This is called designating "power of attorney (for health care)."

Advance care directives can reduce:

• Personal worry
• Feelings of helplessness and guilt by family members
• Futile, costly, specialized interventions that a patient may not want
• Overall health care costs
• Legal concerns for everyone involved

Example of Advance Directives

• Verbal instructions. These are any decisions regarding care that are communicated verbally by an individual to health care providers or family members.
• Organ donation. This may be accomplished by completing an organ donation card and carrying it in your wallet. A second card may be placed with important papers (such as a living will, insurance papers, and so on).
• Living will. This is a written, legal document that conveys the wishes of a person in the event of serious illness. This document can speak for a patient who is unable to communicate. A living will may indicate specific care or treatment the person does or does not want performed under specific circumstances. A living will is not to be confused with a last will and testament that distributes assets after a person's death.
• Special medical power of attorney. A legal document that allows an individual to appoint someone else (proxy) to make medical or health care decisions, in the event the individual becomes unable to make or communicate such decisions personally.
• DNR (do not resuscitate) order. This states that CPR is not to be performed if your breathing stops or your heart stops beating. The order may be written by the person's doctor after discussing the issue with the person (if possible), the proxy, or family.

Recommendations

• In the event you choose to create a living will or special medical power of attorney, know specific state laws that may apply. Write the document to be consistent with your state's laws.
• If you have a living will or special medical power of attorney, provide copies for your family members and health care providers. Carry a copy with you in a wallet, glove compartment of a car, or similar location. If you have a planned admission to a hospital, take copies for the hospital to include in your medical chart and tell all medical personnel involved with your case about the documents.
• Consider the possibilities of the future, and plan ahead. Studies have shown that although the majority of people believe having some form of advance directive is a good idea, most people have not actually developed advance directives for themselves. Many people state that they want their families to make health care decisions. However, less than half of these people have ever discussed the issue and their specific desires with family members.
• These decisions can be changed at any time. However, if a living will is changed, everyone involved -- including family or proxies and all healthcare providers -- must be informed and new copies of instructions made and distributed.

The process of creating advance care directives may be difficult. It requires you to think about your priorities regarding quality of life and your death. Treatment options, and their possible influence on your quality of life, need to be fully understood and considered. Know the potential implications of choosing or refusing specific forms of care.

Discuss your wishes regarding advance care directives with your health care providers, family members, and friends. Review your wishes from time to time to remind everyone.

Source: A.D.A.M. Interactive Health