If Toby Keith needs a song ending, we know the woman to call...

If you were at CoxHealth's employee recognition banquet a couple of weeks ago, you no doubt heard about Priscilla Curbow’s non-traditional retirement plan: sell one of her songs to country music star Toby Keith.

This was mentioned in passing during her recognition and it’s the kind of thing that demands a few follow-up questions. We caught up with Priscilla, who works in CoxHealth’s Communications department, and asked about her burgeoning songwriting career.

Her first question to us was, “Do you know how to get in touch with Toby Keith? I know he lives in Oklahoma.”

“He’s never there, though, or I’d stalk him out,” she says with a laugh. “You’d hear on the news about this ol’ grandma stalking Toby Keith.”

If she could get in touch with Mr. Keith, Priscilla says she has an ending to a song called “Brand New Bow,” a deep cut on his “White Trash With Money” album from 2006.

If you haven’t heard it, the song centers on a double-entendre-prone narrator, who is a few months late in calling up an old girlfriend to wish her a happy birthday. He tells her that he may not have the funds for a ring, but perhaps they could put a new bow on “the same old thing” - “you can guess what he means,” Priscilla says.

As the song fades out, Keith says over a guitar harmony: “It’d be cool if we could make an ending for it.”

Priscilla, who writes poetry in her spare time and has penned a few songs in the past, believes she has the perfect ending. It’s two verses that are a cleverly worded rebuttal from the girlfriend, who has heard all of this before and, frankly, she ain’t going for it. The lines would sound especially good if sung by, say, a Gretchen Wilson-type.

Priscilla keeps the complete contents of her verses confidential - unless you’re a Nashville agent - but we’ve heard them off the record and they’re indeed a good fit for the song. Now, all she needs is a chance to get in the right hands. So, if any of us run across Mr. Keith, perhaps in a honky-tonk with Willie Nelson, we should keep Priscilla’s number handy.

“I always keep a copy of it on me,” she says. “You just never know!”

Cox participates in Hand Hygiene Day

CoxHealth is the only health system in our area signed up to participate in The World Health Organization’s Hand Hygiene Day.

The organization is asking patients and their families to observe and record the hand hygiene practices of their care providers on Wednesday, May 5. Patients and their families will be asked to complete a brief five-question survey, and they will observe as their care providers clean their hands at five different moments of patient care. CoxHealth’s Infection Prevention department will collect the data and report the findings to WHO and receive feedback on their efforts from a global perspective.

“No matter how good we are, we know there is always room to improve,” says Susan Soetaert, CoxHealth’s director of Infection Prevention. “Participating in Hand Hygiene Day is an excellent opportunity for us to compare how we’re doing to hospitals around the world.”

The “Five Moments of Hand Hygiene” are:
• before touching a patient
• before inserting or caring for an IV, changing wound dressings or brushing a patient’s teeth, etc.
• after removing an IV, changing wound dressings, handling soiled linens, etc.
• after touching a patient, including his or her dry, intact skin
• after touching patient surroundings such as the bed, tables, monitors and when leaving the room.

Data will again be collected for one day in July and in October, and feedback from these observations as well as education and awareness activities will be presented to staff throughout the time period.

Image courtesy of The World Health Organization

Lane shift demands caution from drivers

Lanes on National have shifted to the west as construction continues on the tunnel under National Avenue near the new diverging diamond intersection at James River Freeway.

MoDOT passes along a few pointers for those of us driving and/or walking near the construction on south National:

"1.) Pedestrians are highly discouraged from using the sidewalks on the east side of National especially south of Bradford Parkway. There will be a large open trench where earth is being excavated for the east side of the National Avenue underpass. Pedestrians can use the sidewalks along the west side of National Avenue.

2.) Drivers trying to enter National Avenue at the CoxHealth Service Road on the west side of National are strongly cautioned to not pull past the white stop bar painted on the pavement at the entrance.

Now that traffic is shifted to the west side of National Avenue, southbound traffic may clip a vehicle that rolls past the stop bar while attempting to pull onto National Avenue from the Service Road. Our construction inspector has noticed a couple of cars pulling past the stop bar this morning that were nearly hit because people don't realize that the southbound lane is now back to its original position and right against the curb."

Work to shift traffic to west side of National

The Missouri Department of Transportation has announced that traffic through the James River and National construction zone will switch to the west side of the street sometime early Tuesday, May 4.

The switch will allow crews to build the east half of the new underpass beneath National. When complete, the underpass will allow easier access to CoxHealth facilities, including the new Emergency Department.

The traffic shift is needed to allow contractor crews to build the east of half of an underpass underneath National Avenue which will connect the CoxHealth facilities on either side of National Avenue.

After the shift, the same traffic configuration will remain in place -- with only one southbound lane of National Avenue open between Primrose Street and James River Freeway. Two northbound lanes of National Avenue will remain open.

Access to CoxHealth facilities and other businesses will remain open. However, drivers traveling southbound on National Avenue will not be able to make a left turn onto Bradford Parkway.

Drivers who use National Avenue to commute through the area, especially southbound during afternoon rush hour, are still being urged to find other routes to avoid the construction and reduce congestion along the corridor.

Cox Monett to recognize employees

Each year, Cox Monett recognizes employees who have served for five years or more; this year’s banquet will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, April 30th, at the Monett High School. Here are two of the long-term employees who will be honored Friday night:

Nancy Roller, Payroll

Most people living in the Ozarks eagerly anticipate the first day of spring, but not Nancy Roller, Cox Monett Payroll Manager. Nancy loves everything about winter, including the snow and cold weather.

“I love winter because I like coming home to a warm house,” she says. “People think I’m a little crazy, but I don’t think there’s anything prettier than watching the snow fall or waking up in the morning to see the snow glistening in the sun.”

After 25 years in business as a hairdresser, Nancy decided to come to work at the hospital as a switchboard operator, and then later transferred to the accounting department, where she has worked for 13 years.

“I love the people that I work with and the flexibility that my job allows me,” she says. “It truly is a family atmosphere here.”

In her spare time, Nancy enjoys spending time with her family and watching two of her favorite shows on television, “Criminal Minds” and “Dancing with the Stars.” Someday when she retires, she would like to spend more time painting and reading and maybe taking a cruise.

Roger Price, Environmental Services


Who do you call when you don’t know who to call? That would be Roger Price, Cox Monett Environmental Services supervisor. On any given day, Price can be found buffing floors, taking out the trash, cleaning patient rooms or mowing the lawn.

“There’s plenty of work to do and no two days are ever alike,” he says. “Many people have told me we have the shiniest floors around, we take pride in our work and want to do the best job possible.”

Price started his career at the hospital in the housekeeping department cleaning patient rooms. In addition to his regular duties, he also manages 12 full-time and two part-time staff.

“I’m a very simple person, what you see is what you get,” says Price. “I enjoy what I do because of the people that work here.” Roger resides with his wife, Jo, in Pierce City. Jo is from Thailand and they have traveled there eight times to visit her family. They also like to visit national parks and take an occasional trip to Las Vegas. Besides traveling, Price likes to read biographies and buys one book a week so he’ll have them one day when he retires.

“I have a whole bookshelf just waiting for me,” he says.

Pair donates stuffed toys to Pediatrics

When Billie Jean Thompson’s daughter was about to turn three, she broke her arm and wound up in Pediatrics at Cox South. While she was there, the staff of Child Life gave her a teddy bear that Billie Jean says made all the difference.

“She still has that teddy bear,” she says with a laugh. “That was pretty cool.”

Billie Jean is a caregiver for Rena Rideout of West Plains and when Rena mentioned she had some stuffed animals at home that had never been played with, Thompson saw an opportunity.

“She wanted to donate them to somewhere where kids need them and I said, ‘I know the place,’” Billie Jean says.

They were in Springfield for a doctor’s appointment Friday afternoon and they made a stop to drop off a wagon full of toys for kids in Pediatrics.

The Child Life department accepts donations of toys that are new or unused.

Efforts help make every day Earth Day

In celebration of Earth Day, it’s time to take stock of the ways CoxHealth is working to protect the environment. Over the past couple of years, CoxHealth’s Environmental Leadership Council and our volunteer Green Team Champions have made changes that have reduced waste and encouraged recycling and energy conservation throughout the health system.

In conjunction with CoxHealth’s Engineering, Environmental Services and Materials Management departments, we’ve been able to:

• Install an environmentally friendly floor covering on the hospital’s skywalk
• Switch to “greener” paper towels in restrooms throughout the hospital
• Expand the usage of concentrated, environmentally friendly cleaning chemicals that reduce the amount of water used in industrial floor scrubbers
• Recycle cardboard, paper and metal from throughout the system.
• Connect lights in areas that are not occupied 24 hours a day to motion sensors, allowing them to be off when no one’s around.
• Work to phase out CRT monitors for computers and replacing them with energy-saving flat-screen monitors.
• Modify bed-change policies to reduce the total amount of linens washed and the amount of water used.

Most recently, we’ve added aluminum and plastic recycling, which is managed by our Green Team champions – volunteers from throughout the system who are passionate about recycling and are pitching in to help make recycling a reality for their departments and four our guests. There are currently more than 100 champions volunteering to help with recycling in their departments and sharing ideas on Cox’s intranet.

The effort is ongoing, but small changes Cox has made over the last couple of years are helping us make a big difference in our environmental impact. A roundup of past overage of our efforts can be found here: http://www.coxhealth.com/body.cfm?id=3267

Two more Prestigious Partners honorees

CoxHealth’s Employee Recognition Banquet is set for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 22 at University Plaza – here are two more profiles of employees who'll be honored on Thursday night:


Danielle Braden-Moll, Adult Medicine and Endocrinology Specialists

Danielle Braden-Moll is a certified diabetes educator at CoxHealth. She’s also a first-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

“It’s a form of self-defense and fighting,” says Braden-Moll. “We’re taught to avoid problematic situations but we’re also taught how to protect ourselves and to use focus and concentration so we can respond appropriately in different situations.”

One of those situations occurred while Braden-Moll was at a black belt training class at Mid-America Tae Kwon Do in Republic. One of the instructors was 46-year old Dave Gordon from Lamar.

“We were working out pretty hard,” says Gordon. “I started feeling numbness in my fingers. I sat down for about 10-15 minutes and it went away. I got back up and started working out and then I started feeling numbness in the left side of my body.”

Braden-Moll and others in the class encouraged Gordon to sit down again. His condition continued to worsen.

“We finally convinced him to let us take him to get medical help. He got up and took two steps and started to collapse,” says Jay Gillispie, owner of MTA-Republic, who called out to the group for anyone who had a current certification in CPR.

Braden-Moll had just been recertified eight weeks earlier in a Basic Life Support class at Cox. She says Gordon didn’t have a pulse and about 30 seconds later he stopped breathing.

“He had bitten his tongue when he fell so he had blood in his mouth when I initiated CPR,” she says. “I had no protective devices, but you make a choice and the choice was to save this man’s life.”

Gordon had experienced sudden death, a total blockage in the left chamber of his heart which supplies blood to the rest of his body, a condition known as the widow maker because the vast majority of people do not survive.

Braden-Moll continued to do CPR until Cox paramedics arrived. Gordon was shocked with a defibrillator but remained unresponsive. He was finally revived after leaving the center. He received a stent and has made a full recovery.

“Five days after this happened, my granddaughter was born,” says Gordon.

“I never would have gotten to see her if it weren’t for Danielle and all of the others who saved my life that day.”

“To be honest, I always found it annoying to go back and have to be recertified in CPR,” says Braden-Moll. “But because of that simple training, that simple education, this man is alive today.”


Amanda Eddington, Child Life

Amanda Eddington is a child life specialist at Cox South. Her job is to help children cope with the hospitalization experience, but at times she’s called on to help families cope with the loss of a child.

Eddington is being honored as a Prestigious Partner for her actions in one of those circumstances.

“When I came in on that Monday, I knew about the patient who came to us on Saturday,” says Eddington. “On Sunday the family had determined to take this patient off of life support.”
Child life specialists in Pediatrics create memory boxes for families when a death occurs. The box contains items that represent the child including a lock of hair, handprints and foot and hand molds. It also contains a journal for the family.

“It helps to start the grieving process,” says Sue Midcap, Pediatrics assistant nurse manager. “It gives the family something to take home because they aren’t able to take their baby home.”
Child Life could not create a memory box on this occasion until after an autopsy was performed Monday. Amanda arranged to meet the medical examiner in the morgue afterward to collect the items for the box.

“I’ve only been in the morgue one other time,” says Eddington. “It’s not in my normal job description to be there but I knew that was something that needed to be done for that family.”
Eddington learned the family was staying at a hotel in Springfield. She went to the hotel that evening and delivered the memory box to the family.

“When I heard what Amanda had done I was extremely touched but I wasn’t surprised,” says Midcap. “A lot of people might have said, ‘Oh well, we didn’t get that done.’ But Amanda is really special and she took it upon herself to make sure that this got done.”

“I’m honored to get this award but this is just my job,” says Eddington. “Being a child life specialist is my job and helping families cope is my job. It’s not that I think I went above and beyond the call of duty, I just did what I had to do.”

Parents can learn real-world parenting strategies

CoxHealth presents a new series of parenting classes, “Parenting Strategies for the Real World.” Classes are held on Thursdays, 6:30-7:30 p.m., in Classroom C300 at Cox North, 1423 N. Jefferson Ave.

The classes, presented by parent educator Tony Massey, will cover tactics for parenting elementary-, middle- and high school-aged children. Techniques to manage problematic behaviors including power struggles, bullying, drug use, fighting and more will be discussed.

There is no fee or registration required for this class. For more information, call 269-3275.

Banquet to honor Prestigious Partners

Each year, CoxHealth’s Employee Recognition Banquet honors employees who have served with Cox for five years or more. This year’s event will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 22, at University Plaza Convention Center in downtown Springfield.

This year’s event will also honor those employees who are receiving CoxHealth's Prestigious Partners award for outstanding service. Below are two profiles of employees who'll be honored on Thursday night - watch for two more profiles tomorrow:


Stacie Mountain, Pre-Hospital

Stacie Mountain’s name might imply an imposing figure, but the Cox EMT is actually a petite 5-foot-3-inches tall.

Despite her size, Mountain’s partner, paramedic Jason Blum, says she never backs down on the job, even when dealing with an aggressive patient.

“She has a very pleasant, calm demeanor that sometimes helps to calm down patients who become threatening,” says Blum. “But Stacie can also be tough when she needs to be.”

That toughness may have helped during a tense situation one night last year while Blum and Mountain were on duty in north Springfield. The team was preparing to leave the scene of an earlier call.

“I walked out to the ambulance and heard a woman screaming, ‘Help me, help me,’ over and over,” says Mountain. “A fireman and I walked toward the noise to find out what was going on.”

The screaming was coming from two houses away. As they got closer, they saw a man and a woman struggling.

“He was pulling her by the hair toward a car,” remembers Mountain. “The driver’s side door was open and he was apparently trying to drag her to the car.”

Mountain and the fireman approached the two, startling the man, who let go of the woman and came toward them.

“From what I understand from witnesses, he apparently puffed up his chest and got in their faces like he wanted to fight,” says Blum.

“I don’t think he realized who we were at first, but after he saw our uniforms, he took off running,” says Mountain. “The police apparently caught him a week later.”

After the suspect ran away, the woman ran toward the ambulance and collapsed on the ground.

“I ran over to her to make sure she was okay,” says Mountain. “She told me the man was trying to stab her. She apparently jumped out of the car when she saw the ambulance and fire truck and tried to run for safety. Her quick thinking saved her.”

Mountain’s actions earned her a Prestigious Partners award.

“We’re taught to be aware of your surroundings and to be prepared for something that may escalate, because you just never know,” says Mountain. “I’m glad that we happened to be at the right place at the right time.”


Peggy Cave, Food and Nutrition Services

Peggy Cave always has her yearly mammogram. Loritha Crews, Peggy’s friend and co-worker in Food Services for the past 27 years, had never had one.

“Every year Peggy would talk to me about getting a mammogram. Actually, she really hounded me,” Crews says with a laugh. “I didn’t think I needed one because I don’t have a family history of breast cancer.”

Last year, Loritha’s primary care doctor advised her that she was past the age of beginning yearly mammograms. Loritha told Peggy about her doctor’s recommendation and says Peggy started on her mammogram pitch again.

“Women have to have their mammograms because you just never know,” says Cave, explaining her persistence.

But this year, Peggy changed her tactics.

“We were coming off the elevator on the third floor of Hulston after working up in the board room for a lunch,” remembers Cave. “The elevator opens right outside of the doors to the Breast Care Clinic. I told Loritha I was going to make my appointment for my mammogram and that she was coming with me. So I dragged her in there!”

Peggy made her appointment 15 minutes after Loritha’s so she could be there to support her friend.

“It was my very first mammogram,” says Crews. “I was really apprehensive. I was scared. But Peggy was there for me.”

And Peggy was there for her friend after the mammogram and subsequent screening found a small lump in Loritha’s left breast.

“It really wasn’t large enough for me to feel on my own, so the mammogram was the only way they would have caught it,” says Crews.

Crews says her surgeon told Peggy her persistence saved Loritha’s life.

“If it weren’t for Peggy’s encouragement, I would not have gotten the mammogram,” says Crews. “I probably still wouldn’t have gotten one to this day. I never would have thought having one simple little test could actually save my life.”

Cave’s support for her fellow co-worker earned her a Prestigious Partners award. Cave says she is honored for the recognition but is especially grateful that Loritha is cancer free.

“I just thank the Lord for that,” says Cave. “I just wanted to be there for her because she’s my friend, you know? You do what you can for your friends.”