CMN accepts donation from partnership fundraiser

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals of CoxHealth benefits from a fundraiser by Ozarks Coca-Cola / Dr Pepper Bottling Company and 72 regional Casey’s General Stores. During the month of February, for each 20oz Coke or Dr. Pepper sold at a participating Casey’s General Store, a donation was made to CMN Hospitals.

“They raised a total of $2,700,” says Tim Siebert, Executive Director, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (at left in above photo). “This donation and show of support by two local businesses is greatly appreciated and a great reminder of the lives we serve at CMN Hospitals of CoxHealth – our local children.”

Donations to CMN Hospitals of CoxHealth financially supports sick and injured children in the Ozarks by helping their families pay for medically related travel expenses, medical equipment purchases and much more.

Free screening helps determine individual risk of stroke

Every year, more than 795,000 people in the United States have a stroke. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about 610,000 or 77% of them are first or new strokes.

A stroke screening can help determine your risk for stroke, and outline preventative steps you can take to help reduce that risk. CoxHealth Stroke Center invites you to a free screening Friday, June 6, 7:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., Cox North Hospital, Fountain Plaza Room, 1423 N. Jefferson Ave., Springfield, MO.

This free screening will help you learn more about how you can prevent a stroke, based on your personal risk factors. Each screening includes an individual risk assessment, blood pressure and heart rate checks, lipid profile and education. No food or drink, only water, is allowed 12 hours prior to your appointment time.

To register, call 417/269-INFO.

101 Day Weight Loss Challenge winners drop nearly 60 pounds

Branson CoxHealth Fitness Center 101 Day Weight Loss Challenge winners Dan Baker and Teresa Melton will be starting this summer off with shopping sprees and massages as well as a combined 58 pounds lighter.

Baker, who dropped 12.1 percent of his body fat since early February, lost a total of 41 pounds to win the men’s division of the 101 Day Weight Loss Challenge.

Melton shed 6.9 percent of her body fat and 17.4 pounds to earn the top spot in the female division.
A total of 60 people signed up for the challenge this past winter.

Chris Thaller, CoxHealth Fitness Center Manager, explained the annual contest is based on overall body fat loss. Thaller said that the challenge, which is in its second year, is designed to help improve health and wellness in the Branson community.

“I think this brings out the competitiveness in people and there is camaraderie in the group setting and there is accountability in the group setting,” Thaller said. “Usually people are a lot more likely to succeed if they are with a group.”

During the 101 Day challenge, participants had the chance to access the Branson CoxHealth Fitness Center, personal trainers and the opportunity to participate in unlimited boot camp classes each week.

The 101 Day Weight Loss Challenge was sponsored by Tanger Outlets Branson, My 100.1 KOMC, Silver Dollar City and Branson Bank. Baker and Melton each received $250 Tanger Outlets Branson shopping sprees, massages and one-year fitness center memberships.

Located on the upper level of the Branson RecPlex, CoxHealth Fitness Center Branson is a spacious 7,500 square feet. A health and fitness center membership also allows access to all of the inside facilities at the RecPlex; additional fees may apply to outside facilities and some classes. For more information about CoxHealth Fitness Center Branson, call 417-348-0060 or visit CoxBranson.com and click on “Fitness Center.”

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals annual telethon to be held May 30-June 1

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals of CoxHealth has financially supported sick and injured children in the Ozarks by helping their families pay for medically related travel expenses, medical equipment purchases and much more.

The annual CMN Hospitals Telethon is a great opportunity for our community to become a part of the miracle. “Financial support from the public means we can help provide assistance to local children who might otherwise be unable to afford much needed medical treatment,” says Tim Siebert, Executive Director of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. “One-hundred percent of gifts and proceeds will help local kids. They may be a neighbor, a friend or a family member.”

The telethon will air live on KY3 10:30 p.m. – Midnight, Saturday, May 31 and 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sunday, June 1. The live broadcast from Cox Medical Center South in Springfield will feature inspirational stories of many local children and their families who have been helped by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Last year CMN Hospitals of CoxHealth raised more than $1.5 million to help local kids.

Athletic Advantage summer camps for young athletes

School is just about out and it’s time for summer camps to begin. Help get your young athlete ready for the sports season this summer with Athletic Advantage summer camps at CoxHealth.

“These camps are for any current or future athlete,” explains Jess Hamlet, Athletic Advantage coordinator. “This is great for elementary and middle school students working on coordination and balance, and high school students working to improve their game for a scholarship.”

There are two age groups available, 12 and younger and 13 and older. Participants ages 12 and younger will work on proper running mechanics, flexibility, speed, agility and power drills, injury prevention, proper squat technique and cardio. The older age group will provide complete body strengthening, improve vertical jump, flexibility, plyometrics, speed, agility and power drills, injury prevention, core strength and cardio.

Camps are held in the CoxHealth Meyer Center the weeks of June 2-6, June 16-20, July 7-11 and July 21-25. Younger group sessions are 1 – 2:30 p.m. and the older group meets 2:30 – 4 p.m. The cost is $50. Sign up for your chosen class one week early and receive a $5 discount.

For more information or to sign-up call 417-276-1974 or email sportsmedicine@coxhealth.com.

Hepatitis A vaccination update

The Springfield-Greene County Health Department will hold a mass vaccination clinic at Remington’s at 1655 W. Republic Road. Vaccinations will be provided starting May 22, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. and will continue May 23 from 7 a.m. – noon.

CoxHealth is assisting with this community health concern by administering Hepatitis A vaccine provided by the health department to those affected. Those who aren’t able to go to the mass vaccination clinic can report to the CoxHealth Urgent Care at Cox South, 1000 E. Primrose, May 24-26 from noon to 4 p.m.

Mercy will also offer vaccinations at the Smith Glenn Callaway Clinic at 3231 S. National on May 24-26 from noon to 4 p.m.

The health department has set up a hotline from people to call if they have questions. It is at 417-829-6200.
It will be staffed from:
7 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 22
7 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 23

'Kanbans' improve processes for Pharmacy

Continuous quality improvement is all about finding ways to do our daily work better – creating efficiencies that add up to improved departmental performance.

In the Pharmacy department at Cox South, you can see an obvious sign of one of those improvements: large red tags hanging among the medications on the wall.

Those tags, known as “kanbans” in the parlance of process improvement, provide a quick visual cue that alerts staff that a medication needs to be reordered. Kanban is a Japanese word translated roughly as “signboard.” The use of signs as signals is a key part of Toyota’s manufacturing efforts, which serve as the basis of process improvement in a variety of fields.

Over the past several months, the kanbans have helped manage the flow of medication out of inventory and into use.

“In the past, we knew we had some issues with inventory management,” says Jennifer Reeves, operations director for CoxHealth’s Pharmacy department. “Sometimes there was excess product on the shelf, other times we would run low.”

Now, the kanban project has helped dial in the optimal amount of medication to have on hand. In addition to reminding staff members that a medication needs to be restocked, the cards have made that process faster and easier. Reeves says the kanban process has replaced educated guesswork with a data-backed system.

Improving processes
Inside the pharmacy, a large wall is stocked floor to ceiling with pegs filled with pharmaceuticals. Previously, a technician would walk along 20-30 feet of wall space and review the items on the pegs to determine what needed to be reordered and what needed to be repackaged. That staff member had a good sense of how quickly medications were used and they knew roughly when the pegs needed to be restocked.

“Each day, a technician was spending an hour just reviewing what was on the wall and figuring out what they would be cueing up for their work that day,” Reeves says.

To reduce that time and make sure there would always be the right amount of product on hand, Reeves and the team delved into the data of medication usage. They looked at a 120-day timeframe (60 summer days and 60 winter days) to measure the actual usage. From there, they created a “safety stock level” – the minimum amount of each medication they want to have on hand.

How it works
The kanban cards are placed on each peg, in front of the safety stock. The cards have reorder numbers and barcodes that can be scanned to reorder. The cards also include details about the kind of package a medication needs – paper, light sensitive, etc. – so the techs can sort their workflow by the type of packaging.

When a staff member gets to a kanban card, the card is placed on a separate board. At the end of the day, a tech can scan all the cards for ordering overnight. The next day when the medication arrives, that becomes the day’s workflow.

“What used to be a one-hour process is now a 10-minute process,” Reeves says. The technicians are freed up for other responsibilities, so other staff get to go out on patient floors. “Without hiring any new staff members, we’ve been able to increase our services to the nursing staff.”

Reeves says that since wholesalers deliver medications five days a week, it’s just as efficient to have multiple, small orders rather than having the pharmacy overstocked.

“We have to use all of our available space to the best of our ability and extra stock takes up extra space,” Reeves says.

Data-driven performance
Monitoring the data has been key to adjusting the days-on-hand supply in the Pharmacy. The team started with seven days on hand and they have been adjusting down as they go.

The biggest question Reeves hears when people learn of the project is, “How do you keep from running out?” She’s quick to point out that the days on hand amounts also account for variability in patients and include some extra as a cushion in case of emergency.

“We can also get most medications from another location within the system, or here in the city,” she says, noting that patients are never at risk of being unable to access medication. Reducing days on hand just makes sense when you have access to reliable data and frequent deliveries, Reeves says.

“Our controlled substances used to have 17 days on hand, for example, but there’s no need for that when we can get anything the next day. You don’t have 17 days of bread on hand at home.”

Strategy expands 
The kanban system has been in place in the pharmacy since last fall and it’s being introduced to a wider variety of medication storage areas. Staff members and leaders have also been working to spread the usage of kanbans. Ashley Digiovanni, technical supervisor, recently implemented a kanban system in the bins where liquid medications are prepared. The bins where the medications are prepared now have “critical low” cards that remind all technicians of the supply level.

Jennifer Reeves says the kanban process is continuing to expand: Kanbans will soon be in place in the IV room and staff members are evaluating usage numbers for the injectable section. Reeves expects to have kanbans used in nearly every area within the pharmacy by the end of the year.

Cox Medical Center Branson invites community to help save lives

Cox Medical Center Branson is teaming up with Community Blood Center of the Ozarks to once again host a community blood drive as part of Racin’ To Save Lives.

The blood drive is set for noon to 6 p.m. Friday, May 30, in the Dogwood and Redbud Conference Rooms at Cox Medical Center Branson, 525 Branson Landing Blvd., in Branson. All participants will receive a free gift from CoxHealth.

Donors to Community Blood Center of the Ozarks provide all of the blood for patients at 38 area hospitals, including Cox Medical Center Branson.

Every five minutes on average, a transfusion takes place and it takes approximately 250 donations each day to meet the area’s blood needs.

To be eligible to give blood, donors must weigh at least 110 pounds, be in good health and present a valid photo ID. For more information about the blood drive, please visit cbco.org or call 800-280-5337.

'Topping-out' the expansion at Cox Medical Center Branson

Press release from CBRE Healthcare, project managers on the expansion at Cox Medical Center Branson:

CBRE Healthcare and CoxHealth celebrated the Topping Out of the new 60,000 square foot construction and renovation project at Cox Medical Center Branson on Thursday, April 24, 2014. This project will provide patients and staff access to a new emergency department (ED), expanded coronary care unit (CCU) and much more.

“This project will help us meet the growing needs of those who need us,” said William Mahoney, President and CEO of Cox Medical Center Branson. “It’s a statement of stability and confidence in our community.”

In order to make room for the new construction, the Medical Plaza Two building was demolished. Construction consists of a three-story, 42,000 square foot hospital addition and a 18,000 square foot renovation of space within the existing structure. In addition to the ED and CCU, construction also includes a third floor with shell space to allow for future expansion and growth.

Currently, the existing ED serves 37,000 patients per year. The new ED is being built with future growth in mind allowing providers to care for 55,000 - 60,000 patients each year. Improved work flow will allow for quicker patient access to services.

“Branson is a growing community and the number of patients we serve is also increasing. The expansion of our ED and CCU will allow us to expedite the treatment of our patients, and get them back to enjoying the many exciting amenities our community has to offer,” said Mahoney.

The expanded CCU will be on the second floor of the new structure and will connect to the hospital. It will include 20 private rooms, plus a large, comfortable waiting area for families. The current CCU/ICU has 14 patient beds.

CBRE Healthcare is currently providing CoxHealth Project Advisory Solutions that include: Launch Gap Analysis; Facilities Planning Committee Organization; Project Work Review and Validation; Master Program Schedule and Budget Development and Maintenance; CON Submission; Project Delivery Team Selection; Project Staffing Plan and Project Implementation Plan Development. Involvement on the project will continue through occupancy.

“The impact of this project is far-reaching and CBRE Healthcare is honored to be a part of it. Assisting CoxHealth in delivering superior care to the community is our main focus and ultimate goal,” stated Steve Higgs, Managing Director, CBRE Healthcare.

Cox Medical Center Branson is expected to open in late 2014. To learn more about the project visit CoxHealth.com. To see the Topping Out Ceremony visit: Beam Camera.

CoxHealth staffers: Mark your calendars for our return to Silver Dollar City on Sept. 6

CoxHealth employees, now is the time to mark your calendars: We’re headed to Silver Dollar City for the Employee Fall Fest on Saturday, Sept. 6! Watch for more details coming this summer in Connect Daily and on the intranet.