Mercy’s Volunteers Give Back page 3

A publicAtion from mercy regionAl medicAl center & mercy HeAltH foundAtion

health+careWinter 2011

inside: Midwives Help MoMs deliver at faMily BirtH Center + our weBsite’s new look!

Mercy Helps Protect Young Athletes from the dangers of Concussionspage 4

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Mercy Regional Medical Center’s patient registration system was upgraded on November 1, 2011. Please remember to bring your insurance card with you at your next visit so we can update your information and provide you with prompt, efficient service. 

Visiting Mercy? Please Bring Your Insurance Card

Mercy Regional Medical Center is a proud supporter of Trails 2000,

a nonprofit organization that builds and cares for multiuse trails and paths in southwest Colorado. Since its inception in 1989, Trails 2000 has built and maintains a network of trails that measures more than 300 miles—roughly the driving distance between Durango and Colorado Springs—and more miles of trail are added every year. This is possible only through collaboration with many public agencies, municipalities, donors, private partners, and volunteers, who spend approximately 3,000 hours every year doing trail work.

Trails enhance the overall health of communities by providing ample opportunities for exercise. Walking, hiking, running, mountain biking, snowshoeing, horseback riding, and cross-country skiing

are among the more popular trail uses in our area. Trails are not only good for the body, but the mind as well, and they can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

The Three Springs Trail that links Mercy Regional Medical Center and the Three Springs neighborhood to the Horse Gulch trail system is located on the northwest corner of the Mercy campus and is easily accessed by Mercy visitors and employees. In the future, the Smart 160 Trail will connect the Mercy campus to the southern terminus of the Animas River Trail.

Last September, Mercy Regional Medical Center celebrated the opening of the Mercy Labyrinth Meditation Garden on the west side of the facility. The newly landscaped space includes a waterfall and stream, benches, a pergola, paths, and other landscaping features that surround the labyrinth, which was installed in 2006 when the hospital opened.

Labyrinths have been used for centuries by various cultures throughout the world. The Mercy labyrinth is modeled after one at 12th-century Chartres Cathedral in France. Labyrinths differ from mazes in that they have no dead ends or false turns. Rather, one circuitous path winds from the exterior of the labyrinth to its center. Walking the labyrinth is a great way to quiet the mind and meditate, pray, or reflect. It is one more way Mercy helps promote healing of body, mind, and spirit.

The labyrinth and surrounding garden is open to the public. It is a gift to be appreciated not only by hospital patients, visitors, and employees, but the entire community.

Mercy Celebrates Opening of Labyrinth Meditation Garden

On the cover: One of the many treasures that can be found in the Mercy Gift Shop.

+ Want to help support Trails 2000? Call 970-259-4682 or visit www.trails2000.org.

Trails 2000: The Path to Good Health

Contributions to Mercy Health Foundation, including a portion of the proceeds

from the Mercy Gift Shop, helped fund the enhancements to the Mercy Labyrinth Meditation Garden. The Foundation continues to raise money to further enhance and maintain the garden. To donate, please call 970-764-2802 or visit www.mhffnd.org.

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While Mercy Regional Medical Center’s mission of caring for the

community compels some to make financial donations to Mercy, others choose to give their time. Helping everywhere from the Mercy Gift Shop to the Human Resources department, to the Surgical and Short Stay front desk, Mercy’s 125 volunteers greatly benefit the hospital.

Although she’s retired now, Diane Skinner continues to serve at Mercy Regional Medical Center. After 32 years working in Mercy’s laboratory as a microbiologist, she currently volunteers in Mercy’s Gift Shop. “I saw the need for volunteers, and Mercy had been such a good place to work,” Skinner says. “I get to see people I know, I provide a service here, and I like doing it. That’s why I volunteer.”

In addition to their generous donation of time and service, Mercy volunteers in the last fiscal year also helped raise over $19,000, which was donated to Mercy Health Foundation. Working with Foundation staff, the volunteers decided their financial contribution would equally benefit the Mercy Project Prescription Program, which helps pay for the first

Midwives Help Moms Deliver at Mercy’s Family Birth CenterCertified nurse midwives have been offering prenatal care and delivering babies at Mercy’s Family Birth Center since 1992. Midwives receive extensive education and certification, and offer a wide range of care for women before, during, and after pregnancy.

“Our philosophy is that pregnancy and birth are almost always normal, healthy events in a woman’s life, and we take care of healthy, pregnant women,” says Amy Ginn, a certified nurse midwife. Midwives offer prenatal care and can help with any style of healthy, low-risk delivery that a mom chooses.

Midwives can administer pain relief— from IV medications to epidurals—or help moms with a natural or water birth. “We’re the only practice in town that provides water birthing as an option,” says Ginn. In fact, the tub at Mercy’s Family Birth Center

was specially made in Germany—just for water birthing.

According to Ginn, the birth experience with a midwife is typically very hands-on and personal. “We spend a lot of time answering questions, and also just being with women during labor—especially with women who want a natural birth.”

Registered Nurses Margo Philpott and Jennifer Hyson co-manage the Family Birth Center at Mercy and agree that hands-on, compassionate care is what the Family Birth Center is all about. “We make it as warm and friendly as we can,” says Philpott. “Women who give birth at Mercy—whether with the help of a midwife, obstetrician, or family doctor who delivers babies—can feel more relaxed being in a home-like setting and knowing that they have immediate access to medical experts and technology.”

30 days of medication prescribed to discharged patients who are unable to afford them, and Mercy’s global mission project, Mercy to Mbulu, which provides opportunities to Tanzanian girls and women to better their lives through education and small business development. In the past, Mercy volunteer contributions have helped purchase medical equipment for the hospital, fund enhancements to the Mercy Labyrinth Meditation Garden, and more.

“Volunteers make such a significant contribution on top of the hours that they put in,” says Cathy Roberts, Mercy’s director of employee and volunteer services. “They’re not always visible and not always noticed—some are retired and some put in time after they work a full-time job—but they all make life easier for our associates and our patients,

and they’re impacting the lives of those in our community and those across the world in Tanzania.”

Want to learn more? Call 970-764-3150 to find out more or to schedule a tour of Mercy’s Family Birth Center.

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Mercy’s Volunteers Give Back

If you are looking for a unique opportunity to serve others and make new friends, consider volunteering at Mercy. A wide range of volunteer opportunities are available that will allow you to use your skills or learn new ones. Whether you’re interested in interacting with patients and visitors or assisting Mercy’s office staff, we can use your help. For more information about the volunteer program at Mercy, call 970-764-2392.

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amy Ginn, certified nurse midwife.

diane skinner, Mercy volunteer, has been helping patients, visitors, and employees for three years.

Recent rule changes in the National Football League show how common

concussions can be among elite athletes in high-impact sports—but the pros aren’t the only ones getting hurt.

Young athletes are also at risk for concussions and potentially serious

complications. That’s why a Colorado law that goes into effect on January 1 requires young

athletes who are suspected of having suffered a concussion

be removed from play until

cleared to return by a doctor or other qualified medical professional.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that there are between 1.6 and 3.8 million sports- or recreation-related concussions yearly,” says Joe Murphy, M.D., a family physician and member of the Rocky Mountain Sports Medicine Foundation. A good percentage of those concussions occur in young athletes, he says. While most concussions are not serious, Mercy’s goal is to prevent the “catastrophic occurrences,” such as the potentially life-threatening injury called

second impact syndrome, in which a second concussion occurs before the initial brain injury has healed.

MerCy’S MISSIOnMercy Regional Medical Center is tackling the problem by preventing and diagnosing concussions in young athletes by providing certified athletic trainers to several area high schools. The athletic trainers are present at practices and games—especially for contact sports where there’s an increased risk for serious injury.

“Certified athletic trainers have

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Mercy Helps Protect Young Athletes from the Dangers of Concussions

Certified athletic trainers like Crystal Moore at Bayfield High school are a great resource for physicians because they can provide fast, valuable information after a player sustains an injury.

www.mercydurango.org 5

+ Parents, even if you can’t be on the field protecting your kids from harm, Mercy is there to help keep them safe. For more information, visit www.mercydurango.org/the-training-room.

significant education and expertise in evaluating and managing concussions, so having them on the sidelines is great,” says Dr. Murphy. “They’re a great resource for us physicians because they can give valuable information for our evaluations after a player sustains an injury.”

MAkInG An IMPACTOne of the quantitative tools Mercy’s athletic trainers use to assess concussions is ImPACT, or Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing. It is a computer-based screening test that can help determine whether a player can return to play safely.

Before the season starts, athletes are given a baseline test, says Wayne Barger, head athletic trainer at Fort Lewis College. If they suffer a head injury during the season, they’re given another ImPACT test. Their results are compared to their pre-injury results to look for any deficits or decline in neurocognitive function. ImPACT measures things like processing speed, verbal and visual memory, and reaction time.

“With an increased focus on traumatic brain injuries in sports, proper diagnosis and management have become essential in helping prevent catastrophic injuries,” says Crystal Moore, a certified athletic trainer at The Training Room at Mercy Regional Medical Center and the head athletic trainer at Bayfield High School. “There are many athletes at all levels of participation—from youth to high school level—who are unique in that their brains are still developing and are therefore more susceptible to injury. Any injury to the brain should be quickly and effectively cared for,” explains Moore.

The ImPACT test is used across the

country, everywhere from high schools to the NFL and other professional sports leagues, to protect athletes’ safety. Mercy has helped implement the ImPACT locally at:

yy Durango High Schoolyy Bayfield High School and

Middle Schoolyy Ignacio High School and

Junior High Schoolyy Cortez High Schoolyy Durango Area Youth Hockey

Association

If a player returns to play too quickly after a concussion, the risk for serious injury greatly increases. “Swelling within the brain is similar to the swelling of a sprained ankle,” says Barger. “But because it is an enclosed space, the swelling brain is subjected to pressure that can affect different functions of the body.” Since athletic trainers can’t see the swelling, they rely on tests—such as the ImPACT test—to spot symptoms that indicate what’s going on inside the brain.

The athletic trainers at area high schools and Fort Lewis College also use the SAC (standardized assessment for concussion) and BESS (balance error scoring system) tests to help determine whether a player has a concussion or can safely return to play. In severe cases, injured athletes may be transported to the

Emergency Department at Mercy for additional diagnostic testing and acute medical care.

“The ImPACT test is one of the tools athletic trainers and physicians use to help make an informed decision about an athlete’s readiness to return to play. Our priority is to ensure players’ safety,” says Barger.

Mercy has implemented another program to help prevent, diagnose, and treat concussions. “The Gray Matters program is

a preventive program that was initially started by Mercy’s trauma service team,” says Dr. Murphy. The program educates the

community about traumatic brain injury and promotes the use and availability of helmets for all children and adolescents when

biking, skiing, or participating in other activities in which a head trauma is possible. To find out more about Gray Matters, visit

www.mercydurango.org/gray-matters.We’d like to welcome our latest Gray Matters sponsor, Durango Urgent Care.

Crystal Moore performs a concussion assessment on a Bayfield High school football player.

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Mercy Health Foundation Summer into Fall events

Mercy Health Foundation supports patients and families in need of care at Mercy Regional Medical Center. The Foundation provides funding for equipment needs, programs, and services including hospice and charity care. Monies are raised through individual donations, grants, and events.

June 18, 2011: Durango Old Car Club Durango Motor Expo Classic Car Show took place on Main Avenue. The Foundation received a check for $2,000 from the organizers. All proceeds went to Hospice of Mercy.

August 5, 2011: Iron Horse Thank you Dinner Howard and Marjie Wilson hosted a dinner at their home for the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic organizers to thank them for benefiting patients and families in need of care through the Foundation. The 2011 proceeds went to Hospice of Mercy.

September 16, 2011: Alpine Bank Golf Tournament Despite the steady rain, Alpine Bank hosted their annual golf tournament at the Glacier Club as a fundraiser for Hospice of Mercy. Before the start of the tournament, Mercy Regional Medical Center’s Flight For Life Colorado helicopter and flight crew flew over the course to execute a ball drop on the first hole.

Golfers previously had the opportunity to purchase numbered golf balls for a chance to win 10 percent of the winnings from the ball drop. The numbered ball dropped closest to the pin won the cash prize. The winner of the ball drop, Greg McClanahan, donated the winnings back to the Foundation. All funds raised from the ball drop went to the Mercy Health Foundation Journey of Hope fund.

October 24, 2011: Old Tymer’s Café Old Tymer’s Café turned their 30th anniversary into a fundraiser for Mercy Regional Breast Care Center during the month of October. Activities included Mercy physicians working as guest waiters and other fun activities.

Mark walters, M.d.; tammy osborn, Mercy Health foundation board member and breast cancer survivor; david deaver, M.d.; and Mark saddler, M.d., waited tables at old tymer’s Café to raise money for the foundation.

Gaige sippy presenting a check for $39,000 to Mercy Health foundation Chief development officer karen Midkiff.

Beth drum and Mike Burns of alpine Bank with Mercy’s flight for life Colorado crew.

durango old Car Club members with Michelle appenzeller, Hospice of Mercy director.

+ For more information on the Mercy Health Foundation or to make a contribution, please call 970-764-2802 or visit www.mhffnd.org.

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Community Comes Together to Honor Loved Ones, Fight Breast Cancer

above: Journey of Hope Cofounders rob freeman and Joanne spina.

On Saturday, October 1, 2011, a profound event took place with the 17th Annual Journey of Hope 5K Family Run/Walk held on the trails at Three Springs. 

The event began at Mercy Regional Breast Care Center and hundreds of people, friends, and families came out in honor of those they love and to help fight breast cancer by contributing to early detection. More than 370 people participated, raising more than $14,000. We saw everyone from youngsters in strollers to youngsters in their late 70’s participating. It was a beautiful day, indeed.

+ For more information on how to qualify for Journey of Hope funds, please call Mercy Regional Medical Center at 970-764-2385.To make a contribution please call the Foundation at 970-764-2802 or visit www.mhffnd.org.

A special thanks to our 2011 Journey of Hope sponsors, volunteers and participants who make this day possible:

left: starting point of the 5k family run/walk.

Journey of HopeTo promote the early detection of breast cancer, the Journey of Hope Fund offers free

mammograms to women who cannot afford the life-saving screening.

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www.mercydurango.org

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health+care is published quarterly as a service of Mercy Regional Medical Center and is not intended to provide personal medical advice, which should be obtained directly from a physician. If you have a health issue or concern, please contact your health care provider.

If you have an address change or would like to be removed from our mailing list, please call 970-764-3910.

Our website is easier than ever to use. Improvements were made with you in mind, saving you time and providing everything you need at the click of a button. Check out some highlights below:

CenTurA COnneCTeD LInkLearn more about our new relationship with Centura Health and find out how you can benefit. From reducing health care costs to providing more outreach support to rural communities in Colorado and greater access to specialty care, we strive to keep you in good health.

FOunDATIOn PAGe LInkMercy Regional Medical Center would not be what it is today without the support of the Mercy Health Foundation. This nonprofit organization helps our patients and families in need. Click here to find out about upcoming events or how to get involved!

HeALTH LIBrAryDownload a medication record card to help you and your health care team keep track of your prescriptions. Or be proactive in early detection and take a heart risk assessment test. The symptom navigator can tell you more about symptoms you may be experiencing.

FInD A DOCTOrAre you looking for a doctor in a particular specialty? Looking to get more information on a doctor’s location? Search by name or specialty.

FInD A LOCATIOnWe strive to bring you the best care, close to home. Search for other Centura Health facilities and the wide array of available services.

GeT InFOrMATIOn On HeALTH COnDITIOnSNavigate your way to better health by searching our Adam health information database featuring an illustrated encyclopedia, in-depth patient reports, and more. Having a surgery or procedure? We’re your one-stop-shop for what you need to know before, during, and after.

LeT’S GeT SOCIAL!Connect with Centura Health via social media for fun health facts, the latest health updates, informational videos, and more.

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Save the Date

neW AnD IMPrOveD!

DOn’T MISS THIS yeAr’S SOuP FOr THe SOuL!

+ For more information or to volunteer, call 970-764-2800 or visit www.mhffnd.org.

Pagosa Springs Thursday, February 16, 2012

Pagosa Community Recreation Center

Durango Wednesday, March 14, 2012 La Plata County Fairgrounds

The Soup for the Soul fundraiser benefits Hospice of Mercy. Attend one of this year’s events: