Monday, October 22, 2001
Providers Should Be Alert to Illness Patterns, Diagnostic Clues  
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is advising health care providers to be alert to illness patterns and diagnostic clues that might indicate an unusual infectious disease outbreak associated with the intentional release of a biologic agent, according to findings released in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The report says providers should notify their local or state health department of any clusters or findings, which are often indicated by a geographic clustering of illness and an unusual age distribution for common diseases.

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

For your daily health care news digest, go to the Hannah News Service's StateHealthClips.com.

TriHealth raises pressure on levy funding
Cincinnati Business Courier
Monday, October 22, 2001
TriHealth is taking the offensive with a plan to include its hospitals in a pool of $264 million in indigent care levy funds.

County dealing with hospital debt
Ironton Tribune
Monday, October 22, 2001
As county leaders continue negotiating with healthcare companies - intent on reopening the former River Valley facility - the court and its financial expert are preparing to deal with the defunct hospital's debt.

Opinion: Support, promote nursing to reverse shortage
Akron Beacon Journal
Monday, October 22, 2001
The Sept. 11 terrorist acts in New York City and Washington, D.C., left an indelible mark on this nation's sense of security. Many political leaders brag about this country's readiness to handle terrorist acts such as bombings and chemical warfare without the slightest notion of the need for adequate numbers of health-care personnel.  

Tuesday, October 23, 2001
Foundation Awards Over $50,000 in Fall Cycle  
The Foundation for Healthy Communities awarded $50,382 for seven new community-health programs during its fall grant cycle. This brings the overall total awarded to 80 hospital-based programs since 1994 to more than $750,000. Falling under this year’s focus on end-of-life care and the elderly, the programs are:

• Center for Healthy Communities in Dayton received $7,500 for the Hospital Based Kinship Program, which will educate eight hospitals’ staffs about the needs of kinship caregivers who are typically grandparents.
• Grady Memorial Hospital in Delaware was awarded $7,197 for the Grady D.R.I.V.E. program, which offers a driving evaluation to seniors with physical or cognitive impairments who are prohibited from driving prior to having an evaluation.
• Lake Hospital System in Willoughby received $7,500 to conduct screening in the community to heighten awareness of depression and identify those at risk for depression.
• The Repertory Project in Cleveland received $7,500 to partner with University Hospitals to provide music and movement therapy to hospitalized elderly to address their physiological and psychosocial needs after surgery.
• Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna was awarded $5,175 for the Caregiver Training Program, which will educate community members on providing care for ill or disabled elderly loved ones.
• St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center – Mercy Home Care in Toledo received $6,100 for the Senior Outreach Program, designed to provide home-based intervention to at-risk, low-income, isolated seniors to improve their quality of life and decrease unnecessary hospitalizations and/or emergency room visits.
• Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights received $9,410 for the Gatekeeper Program, which identifies at-risk seniors and their needs, connects them to the appropriate resources and follows up on their care.

More information on the Foundation for Healthy Communities is available at www.ohanet.org/ohasite/resources/research/healthy_communities.asp. (Lynne Ayres, lynnea@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

For your daily health care news digest, go to the Hannah News Service's StateHealthClips.com.

Clinic trying to change lives of heavy children
Akron Beacon Journal
Tuesday, October 23, 2001
Sometimes Cindy Bennett, a nurse practitioner in sports medicine at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Akron, cannot believe her eyes. There was the 4-year-old patient who weighed 117 pounds. There was the 10-year-old who weighed 333 pounds.

Smallpox response a big concern
Cincinnati Enquirer
Tuesday, October 23, 2001
Even as anthrax attacks grab the national spotlight, public health officials say they are more concerned about America's ability to respond to another potential bioterror weapon: smallpox.

Study tells of serious side effects from Cipro
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Tuesday, October 23, 2001
The anthrax scare has prompted the early release of a report that details "severe and permanently disabling" side effects from the antibiotic Cipro and its chemical cousins.

Wednesday, October 24, 2001
Two More Hospitals Receive Critical Access Designation
Two more Ohio hospitals have received the federal critical access hospital designation, bringing the total to seven. Doctors Hospital of Nelsonville and Oberlin Medical Center are the newest designees.

CAH status is awarded to select small, rural hospitals and allows them to recoup Medicare-defined allowable costs for services provided to Medicare patients, rather than subjecting them to further discounted rates most hospitals face. The designation recognizes the important services these hospitals provide and gives them increased reimbursement so they can better serve their communities. To receive this designation, hospitals must meet specific criteria pertaining, for example, to bed size, patient length of stay and transfer agreements with other facilities.

Terrorism Preparedness Info Available Online 
Available on OHA’s Web site is a list of online resources to help hospitals stay up-to-date on the latest information on terrorism and disaster preparedness. The resources include information from the Ohio Department of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ohio Emergency Management Agency, National Center for Infectious Diseases and other related organizations. OHA will be updating the information, available at www.ohanet.org/terrorism_preparedness/, as additional resources become available, so check back often. Hospital staff that want to receive periodic e-mails with terrorism related information should send an e-mail with their name, title, hospital, phone number and e-mail address to Stacey Walton at OHA at staceyw@ohanet.org.

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

For your daily health care news digest, go to the Hannah News Service's StateHealthClips.com.

Canton hospital suffers big scare
Akron Beacon Journal
Wednesday, October 24, 2001
CANTON: A recently divorced man caused all ambulance traffic to be re-routed from Mercy Medical Center for more than five hours yesterday when he dropped a Mason jar full of a waxy, greenish powder in the emergency room shortly before 7 a.m.

A flu-shot slowdown
Cincinnati Enquirer
Wednesday, October 24, 2001
Yes, some influenza vaccine has arrived in Greater Cincinnati, and more is expected in the next month or so.

OPINION: Our medical safety net
Cincinnati Post
Wednesday, October 24, 2001
Believe it or not, stolid old Cincinnati has a downright progressive health care system.

Thursday, October 25, 2001
Have Questions About Advance Directives Publications?  
Federal law requires hospitals to distribute information on advance directives to all adults upon admission. A new resource recently made available has prompted questions from some hospitals regarding what is required of them by law.

A booklet prepared by the former Ohio Department of Human Services and updated in 1999 covers the topics of living wills, do-not-resuscitate orders, advance directives and durable power of attorney and is intended to be used by hospitals to comply with federal requirements. This booklet, You Have the Right: Using Advance Directives to State Your Wishes About Your Medical Care, can be ordered online at www.state.oh.us/odhs/manuals/odhspubs.htm (select publication 8095) or downloaded at www.state.oh.us/odhs/manuals/8095.pdf.

Cleveland Clinic Receives Quality Award from JCAHO  
The Cleveland Clinic Health System was this week announced as a 2001 recipient of the fifth Ernest A. Codman Award to recognize excellence in the use of outcomes measurement to achieve health care quality improvement. The Cleveland Clinic received the award, given by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), for an initiative to improve the use of ACE inhibitors, drugs proven in studies to slow the progression of heart failure. JCAHO will formally present the Codman Award to the Cleveland Clinic on Nov. 8 during the National Conference on Quality and Safety in Health Care in Chicago. A complete press release is available at www.statehealthclips.com/PressReleases/20011022_CCF.htm. (Rosalie Weakland, rosaliew@ohanet.org)

DAILY NEWS CLIPS

For your daily health care news digest, go to the Hannah News Service's StateHealthClips.com.

Suspicious spill, scare at hospital a costly affair
Canton Repository
Thursday, October 25, 2001
CANTON — What started out as a simple spill in an emergency room will end up costing nearly $10,000.

Vaccine arriving later in flu season
Columbus Dispatch
Thursday, October 25, 2001
Pressed with manufacturing slowdowns and price spikes, many of the folks who hold the flu vaccine are running a bit late this year and charging more for that yearly shot in the arm.

Spending less time in St. Rita’s is Lima hospital’s aim
Toledo Blade
Thursday, October 25, 2001
LIMA, Ohio - Mary Ann Martin is spending less time in the hospital now that St. Rita’s Medical Center is offering one-stop health care for people with chronic ailments.

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