TGMC RECEIVES RECOGNITION

Nicholls hosts sales competition

February 23, 2017

Johnny Sanchez

February 24, 2017

Terrebonne General Medical Center is sporting a new, electronic medical records system and as well as continue to build on its wellness programs.

TGMC has continued to finish and implement long-term projects, even in the face of a local economy hamstrung by depressed oil prices. Earlier this month the hospital digitized all of its medical records with the launch of the EPIC Computer Charting system. The Community Sports Institute, part of the Healthy Lifestyles Center, is a wellness education program with a focus on athletics since its launch over the summer.

The overhaul of the hospital’s medical records was the culmination of two years of preparation and implementation, according to TGMC CEO Phyllis Peoples. The hospital had been working with EPIC staff to convert the entirety of its records across all departments to electronic files and retrain TGMC’s 1,400 staff members, 200 doctors and all of its patients on the new, paperless system. On the morning of Feb. 5, TGMC went live with EPIC. Peoples said all stakeholders have been supportive of each other and the new system, even though each person’s ability to transition to the new system has been based on the individual.

“People are still bleary-eyed and working through it, but we’re doing well,” Peoples said.

Peoples said EPIC provides a boost to patient care by instantly giving them information on the care they’re receiving. EPIC files are also transferrable to any other hospital using the system, which is one of the major providers of electronic medical records in the nation.

“It gives the patient the accountability and control of their well-being, and it gives the caregivers all the information for anybody who cared for them. That is a very powerful thing to have in one place,” Peoples said.

In year three of the Healthy Lifestyles Center’s operation, the CSI’s introduction has further rounded out a multifaceted wellness program. The CSI has had physicians and staff go to schools throughout Terrebonne to promote not only injury prevention but also general healthcare education. CSI staff are also impact testing all children who play contact sports in the parish, amounting to about 1,200 kids per year. Those impact tests provide baselines for any concussion evaluations they may face down the line.

The CSI has begun a Bayou Region sports hall of fame, which will honor six local athletes for their past exploits per year, beginning with this year’s induction on Apr. 28. Paul Labat, staff support for the Foundation of TGMC, is heading the hall of fame efforts, which will also function as a fundraising opportunity. Labat said money raised from the hall of fame will initially go toward purchasing a $350,000 mobile health unit. According to Labat, he and other organizers for the hall of fame were “amazed” once they began to consider the task before them.

“We started out saying six [inductees] might be too many. We started listing people, and we figured it’d be 20 years before we run out of having to think about people from Terrebonne, Lafourche and Assumption parishes,” Labat said.

Stan Gravois, director of the Healthy Lifestyles Center, said the hall of fame is a way for the CSI to show those young people coming through the institute the greatness that paved the way for them.

“We’re proud to be associated with it. We’re trying not to lose the history of the Bayou Region in athletics. We have, because there are people coming across the pipe that I never heard of, never knew,” Gravois said.

The focus on youth is just the latest facet of TGMC’s push for wellness. According to Gravois, TGMC spent the last year concentrating on seniors in the community. Kirbie LeCompte is the coordinator of the Wellness for Life program, which looks to partner with local businesses to promote healthy living among employees. TGMC began its Well and Wise program, a six-month course for adults over 60 years old, in January. The program’s second course, set to begin in July, has already reached its 50-person maximum, and Le-Compte said TGMC is currently scheduling Well and Wise for 2018.

“Have them come here and offer education programs, preventive services and we also do a walk every other week to keep them going. We just want to add years to their lives,” LeCompte said.

“We’ve been here in our community for 63 years. Our goal is to be here for another 100 years, too. We’re proud of that, but it’s by everybody banding together. It really is a working family,” Peoples said.

The Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center at TGMC has received another award for its work with patients. The center was honored with a 2016 Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award for patient experience. According to Melanie Guilbeaux, director of the cancer center, the award is based on TGMC staying in the top five percent of cancer centers for patient expansion, experience and clinical outcomes.

Guilbeaux credited the award to the community-based treatment she sees in Terrebonne, stretching from doctors to loved ones. She said doctors have good relationships with referring physicians, surgeons and radiologists, which make for good, comprehensive care for the patient. Beyond that, caregivers’ involvement in helping cancer patients fight and the local support for the center’s plans and projects gives the Mary Bird Perkins Center the ability to earn that recognition, according to Guilbeaux.

“I can’t really put my finger on it. There’s a human touch that you find in this community that you just don’t find anywhere else,” Guilbeaux said. “The whole idea of community, what you think it should be, neighborhoods and families and people who’ve lived here their whole lives and genuinely have a care for each other – that’s what’s so special about this place that you don’t find anywhere else.”

As with the CSI and other TGMC centers, the Mary Bird Perkins Center fosters that community support with outreach programs. Guilbeaux said the center did 26 educational events during 2016, reaching over 1,400 people. The center also did 69 screening events that reached over 900 people. According to Guilbeaux, 101 patients had something abnormal, with four of those abnormalities found to be cancer.

“That’s four people who may not have gotten diagnosed, so we can get them in early, get them in for treatment. We just have a whole team of people working on it to have what they need,” Guilbeaux said.

Peoples said the hospital has had its own struggles with the economic downturn, as patients receiving treatment have had less ability to pay for their care. She said while long-term projects are still being completed, her barometer for success during this slowdown is to continue to be there for the community. To ensure that, Peoples has looked for new ways to cut costs, such as joining five other hospitals in the Ochsner Health Network to combine purchasing power and drive down prices from insurance companies. Peoples said TGMC’s continued survival and successes are the results of cooperation and innovation throughout the entire hospital.

“We’ve been here in our community for 63 years. Our goal is to be here for another 100 years, too. We’re proud of that, but it’s by everybody bands together. It really is a working family,” Peoples said.