UMMC

United Memorial Medical Center will honor the years of service of more than 100 employees at its annual recognition dinner on Oct. 6 at Bohn’s Restaurant, Clinton Street Road, Batavia. Employees are recognized for their years of employment at 5-year milestones.
 
This year, Hazel King of Patient Accounts and Sandra Martino of Surgery will each be honored for 40 years of dedicated service.

Sheryl Hazlett, Healthy Living, Nancy Medwid, Cardiac Rehab and the Laboratory’s Marie Olson will celebrate 35 years of service.

For 30 years, Monika Ghise and Deborah Starowicz, Third Floor; Kathleen Hume, Quality Management; Wanda Irwin and Amy Mooney, Emergency Department; Frances Neth, Finance; Cheryl Newell, Don Priollo and Carl Schoonover, Materials Management; Carolyn Putnum, ICU; and Sandra Nixon, EKG.

Individuals with 25 years of employment are: Colleen Brudz, ICU; Paula Gross, Quality Management; Chris Koneski, Information Services; Loretta Kurek, Ambulatory Surgery; and Melanie Sutherland, Medical Records.
 
Those celebrating 20 years of service include: Lorene Beckmann, ASU; Peggy Coniber, Medical Records; Debra Daniel, Finance; Susan Davis, Pediatrics; Daniel Ireland, Chief Operations Officer; Jacqueline Marsceill, Respiratory Therapy; Anthony Matla, ICU; Jan Nichols, CAT Scan; Susan O’Connor, Medical Records; Joan Peters, Patient Accounts; Joan Price, Laboratory; Cynthia Schwab, Cardiac Rehab; and Jennifer West, OB.
 
There are 73 employees who will receive recognition for 5, 10 and 15 years of service. Each employee receives dinner for themselves and a guest, a pin and gift certificate. Employees with 25 years or more of service are honored individually by their manager and senior leader with a presentation highlighting their contributions.
 
United Memorial is the largest private employer in Genesee County with approximately 750 employees and an annual payroll and benefit expenditure that exceeds $36 million.

Here's a news release from the United Memorial Medical Center.

To date, United Memorial Family Care Centers have received only a percentage of their allotted shipment of influenza vaccine due to a manufacturing issue regarding labeling. The balance of the shipment is expected to be delivered by the end of October.

The initial shipment will be reserved for patients considered to be at “high risk” as defined by the New York State Department of Health. Patients of Batavia, Byron and Tountas Family Care Centers who are at high-risk for complications as defined below, should contact their physician office to schedule an appointment for vaccination.

High-risk patients include:

• Children ages 6 to 59 months;
• Individuals age 50 years and above who suffer from chronic health issues such as diabetes, asthma, and cardiovascular disease;
• Those who are immuno-suppressed;
• Women who are or become pregnant during the flu season;
• American Indians/Alaska Natives;
• The morbidly obese (body mass index > 40);
• Health care professionals;
• Caregivers and household contacts of persons with medical conditions that put them at higher risk for severe complications;
• Caregivers and household contacts of children under 5 years of age and adults age 50 years and older with particular emphasis on vaccinating contacts of children under 6 months of age.

Batavia Family Care (including Yeong Lee, MD) at 16 Bank St., Batavia will conduct vaccination clinics for their high risk patients from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 28 and from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 29.

Patients should call (585) 344-4800 to schedule an appointment. Tountas Family Care at 3 Tountas Ave., LeRoy will schedule patients from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sept. 30. Appointments can be made by phoning (585) 768-6530.

Patients at Byron Family Care, located at 6815 Byron Holley Road, Byron may call (585) 548-7155 to schedule an appointment for their clinic from 8 a.m. to noon on Oct. 1.

All patients are encouraged to receive the influenza vaccine. Those who are not identified as high-risk may call their physician office to schedule an appointment in late October and November. Influenza vaccines are also available at many retail pharmacies.

Here's a news release from United Memorial Medical Center.

United Memorial Medical Center celebrates its 10th anniversary with a Health Fair and Chicken Barbecue from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 21 at the Jerome Center, 16 Bank St., Batavia. The celebration has been planned to coincide with the City of Batavia’s “Summer in the City” event.

Proceeds from the Chicken Barbecue will benefit the Surgical Expansion Project at the Hospital’s North Street Campus. Tickets are $8 each and are available at the Hospital Cashier’s office or by phoning (585) 344-5415. Tickets may be purchased using cash, check or major credit card.

The barbecue will run from 12 noon until sold out. Dinner includes grilled barbecue chicken, potato salad, vegetable, roll and beverage. They will be packaged for take-out but tables and chairs will be available under the tent where guests can enjoy live music performed by the local band, Buffalo Road Show from 12-2:30 p.m.

Rochester radio’s WBEE 92.5 FM will host a live remote with on-air personality Billy Kidd from 3-5 p.m.

This is an opportunity for the community to celebrate United Memorial’s 10th anniversary and learn about current and future hospital projects such as the surgical expansion, housing renovation, physical therapy facility and urgent care service.

The project to renovate the top four floors of the former St. Jerome Hospital is nearing completion and guided tours of the senior apartments will be offered.

The Health Fair will feature free screenings, within the Jerome Center, provided by United Memorial’s Healthy Living Department for total cholesterol, blood pressure, body fat analysis, and blood glucose. (Please fast for two hours prior to the blood glucose test for accurate results.)

Outside, under the tent, several community partners will offer information, free giveaways and have a Child Safe ID booth.

Participants include the YMCA, the Genesee County Sheriff's Department, City of Batavia Police Department, HCR Home Care, Cancer Services Partnership of Genesee and Orleans Counties, Batavia Ophthalmology, Genesee Hospitalists, Conifer Realty, Lake Plains Community Care, GCASA, and The Justice for Children Advocacy Center.

Kurt Calman has been selected as the chief information officer (CIO) for United Memorial Medical Center. He will be responsible for the leadership and the implementation of information technology, management and service initiatives at United Memorial.

This position was previously held by Daniel O’Connor, RN, BSN, MBA, who accepted another position in Florida.

Calman is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology with Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Technology and he received a Master's of Business Administration from the University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business.

For the past two years, he has served as a lead project manager/systems engineer at the University of Rochester and was previously a systems administrator for Unity Health System in Rochester. He is a resident of Pittsford, expected to begin his new job July 19.

United Memorial Medical Center Emergency Department has decreased the average wait time for patients to be triaged, according to a news release today.

Triage is a method of categorizing patients based on the severity of the injury or illness. Patients whose conditions require the most immediate attention are placed at the top of the list, to be seen before those with less severe illnesses.

The national average triage wait time is 15 minutes. In January, UMMC was well below that with an average time of 9.98 minutes. But the hospital has reduced that even further, ending May with a 2010 record average of 5.79 minutes, less than half the national average.

According to the American College of Physicians, “a federal report last year found that patients who need to be seen in one to 14 minutes are being seen in twice that time frame (37 minutes).”

This extended wait time may be due to several reasons, including a lengthy triage time.

The Emergency Department staff at United Memorial works diligently to achieve greater efficiency and reduce triage time. As a result, patients are evaluated faster and treated more quickly.

Last year, the Emergency Department at United Memorial cared for 23,375 patients. All Emergency Room physicians are board certified in Emergency Medicine. Many of its ER nurses have worked with, or are currently involved with, Mercy Flight.

UMMC also operates a SANE program (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) to elevate the care provided to victims of sexual assault and improve the conviction rate of sexual offenders through the use of forensic evidence.

The Batavia Rotary Club announced today that it has pledged $100,000 to United Memorial Medical Center (UMMC), to be fulfilled over a five-year period.

“The Batavia Rotary Club has a rich history of generous donations to critical community partners such as UMMC,” said President Ted Hawley. “Our members spend countless hours on fundraising activities and events; the Father’s Day Fly-In Breakfast is the most recent example..."

Today's pledge comes a year after the club made its final payment on another multi-year pledge to UMMC, which totaled $250,000.

The momentum for the latest donation plan stems from UMMC's announcement in October about the surgical expansion project in front of the hospital at 127 North St., Batavia. The project includes a one-story addition to the front of the main hospital building. A total of five operating rooms will double in size from 300 to 600 square feet, plus there will be one treatment room and 19 private recovery beds.

In addition to annual scholarships, the Batavia Rotary Club contributes money to many youth and human service organizations in Genesee County, as well as to international projects. For example, each year, Rotary selects three high school seniors -- one from Batavia High School, BOCES and Notre Dame -- to receive a $1,500 annual scholarship for each of the four years the recipient is in college.

United Memorial Medical Center is proud to serve as the Genesee County War Memorial. Due to construction at the North Street Hospital site, services for the annual remembrance have been temporarily moved to The Jerome Center at 16 Bank St., Batavia.

Memorial Day will be observed at the flag on the Bank Street campus at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, May 31. The names of over 280 Genesee County soldiers who lost their lives in World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam Conflict will be read aloud and flags honoring the memory of each soldier will be placed in the ground.

Members of Batavia Concert Band will perform the National Anthem. Refreshments will be served in the Jerome Center Conference Room immediately following the event. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.

The original monument was removed from the hospital when work began on the addition of a 44,000-square-foot surgical unit. The embossed plates listing the names of those who died in service were carefully wrapped and placed in storage.

A thorough review of the monument deemed it unsalvageable due to weathering and a committee was formed to develop plans for a new monument.

Committee members include Ron Koniezny of J. Leonard Mc Andrew Funeral Home; Hal Kreter, Director of Genesee County Veterans’ Services; Jim Neider of the Joint Veterans’ Council; veteran Dan Waterman, Assemblyman Steve Hawley and Colleen Flynn from United Memorial.

As of April 1, United Memorial Medical Center offers free television and telephone service to inpatients.

As a result of a new telecommunications contract with Time Warner, patients will have free access to basic cable channels and local telephone service; including free long distance. New flat panel televisions were installed in patient rooms last month.

This change means that patients will no longer have to go through the lengthy process of establishing service through a separate vendor or receive bills for these services following discharge. Both services are readily available to them upon admission to the hospital.

The change was precipitated by comments made on patient satisfaction surveys, which indicated that the former television and telephone services caused a great deal of frustration to patients. The previous service required patients to dial 1-800 numbers and enter financial information to a remote vendor call-site. Customer service issues were difficult for not only patients, but for the nursing staff as well when they were unable to intercede on a patient’s behalf.

Currently, the televisions and telephones are functional; however the full transition to Time Warner will not be complete until mid-May.

For the next six weeks, patients may dial telephone numbers with the 585, 716 and 315 area codes directly. Long distance calls to other area codes will need to be placed through the hospital switchboard although they will not be charged.

In May, following the completion of the transition, patients will be able to make all long distance calls directly from their room without operator assistance.

This initiative was made possible by the UMMC Foundation.

 

UMMC provides Free health care screenings for men and women in our community without health insurance. For women age 40-64 we will pay for a free annual mammogram, pelvic exams and pap smears and breast exams. You can go to your own Doctor and your choice of places for a mammo. For men and women 50-64 we will pay for a colon screening kit used in the privacy of your own home. Other exams may be covered also. And if you are diagnosed with cancer we can help you apply for a Medicaid program that will pay for all of your health care needs. Call (585)344-5497 for more information.We want you to stay in the best health possible!

United Memorial Medical Center held a Code Amber drill on Dec. 29 at the main hospital facility on North Street in Batavia. The mock scenario involved a 10-year-old child who walked away from her patient room under the premise that she did not want to have surgery.

Kaylee MacIntyre, a fifth grader at Alexander Central School and her mother, Stacy Wirth, volunteered to portray the missing child and worried mother. The drill was not announced to the hospital staff prior to the actual event. The child’s absence was noticed immediately and in order to test the hospital’s emergency protocols, the drill was allowed to proceed.

United Memorial frequently holds drills to test its emergency preparedness and assess the readiness of staff if a real incident occured. This event was held in collaboration with the City of Batavia Police Department, which responded to the call and assessed the efforts of the facility in carrying out lockdown and search efforts. Video monitoring of public-access areas was beneficial in tracking the path of departure used by the child and the response of staff in search efforts. The drill also allowed the hospital to test its radio operations.

UMMC apologizes for any inconvenience the drill process may have caused visitors, and hopes they understand the importance of practicing and drilling for possible emergency situations. The safety of patients, staff and visitors is a priority for the organization. Additional drills are held throughout the year pertaining to fire, evacuation, contamination, and multiple casualties.

United Memorial Medical Center has promoted Daniel P. Ireland from vice president of clinical support services to the position of vice president of operations.
 
Ireland has had a long and varied career at United Memorial. He began in 1990 as an orderly/medic and progressed to floor nurse on a medical/surgical unit. He worked as the emergency department nurse manager at the time of the Amtrak train disaster in 1994. In 1998, he was IT clinical analyst, an administrative analyst in 2001 and director of quality management in December 2004. He assumed the administrative duties of ancillary departments and Hope Haven and was promoted to vice president of clinical support services in 2005.
 
Ireland has oversight of many of UMMC’s capital improvement projects including the Jerome Center diagnostic and housing renovations, the surgical expansion project, and the physical therapy relocation project at Genesee Community College. He also serves as the administrator of all emergency preparedness activities at UMMC and as a liaison to the Genesee County Health Department.
 
While employed full time at United Memorial, Ireland completed his Associate's Degree in Nursing from Genesee Community College in 1992, his BSN from SUNY Brockport in 1994, and received an MBA from RIT in 1997. He is a member of the Leadership Genesee class of 2006 and a recipient of Business First of Buffalo's first 40 Under 40 Award in 2007. He's a lifelong resident of Genesee County and lives in Byron with his wife, Amy, and their three children.