“Great Minds Have Purposes; Others Have Wishes.”
~ Washington Irving
May 27, 2011
Dear Colleagues and Friends:
Building Bridges …
We’ve had a whirlwind of events at GHSU that culminated last week with the Inauguration Events celebrating the investiture of our 8th President, Dr. Azziz, our Day of Service, and Family Night at Lake Olmstead Stadium. ‘Building bridges, transformative leadership, collaboration, visionary, strength, and excellence’ were just a few of the enlightening words we heard throughout the week. Delegates from over 20 universities and national associations as well as our own local community and statewide representatives joined the GHSU community in this memorable celebration. We also had a great turn out for the Day of Service. Several of us worked at the Widow’s Home, a great renovation project whose historical roots extend right back to the origins of the Medical College of Georgia. We also had a fun evening at the Green Jackets stadium celebration event.
Synchronicity …
As noted in previous Dean’s Diaries, we will continue to give you weekly updates with regards to the status of our EHR project. Synchronicity is scheduled to go live with several pilot sites to include General Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Neurosciences, and the PPG Primary Care Pediatrics site on June 7. The remainder of the sites will be included in the ‘big bang’ go-live on June 28. Workflow is being finalized to allow third and fourth year medical students to document in Synchronicity. This is scheduled to be in place and part of the ‘big bang’ roll-out. Integration testing took place last week and we want to thank all of our providers who took place in the testing. Training is underway and remember … all medical staff need to be registered for training before the pilot and ‘big bang’ go-live. Training for Dragon is also available and registration for all classes can be found at http://hi.georgiahealth.edu/trainMe/Default.asp?pickDate=5/1/2011. Our colleagues in Communications are kindly assisting with the development of some helpful materials that will be placed in our practice sites prior to go-live. We very much appreciate everyone’s input and assistance. We are listening! For a list of FAQs, please visit our website at http://ehr.georgiahealth.edu/. We are heading into the home-stretch and we want to thank everyone for their effort and hard work to make this a successful go-live.
Congratulations …
Dr. Rhee Fincher recently received the Jane F. Deforges Distinguished Teaching Award from the American College of Physicians. This is a major national teaching award and is an outstanding testament to the caliber of educator and role model that Dr. Fincher is. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Fincher the next time you see her.
Leadership From Our Students …
Please join us in our congratulations to Jun “Jimmy” Ma, MS2 for his appointment as the Class of 2014 Admissions Committee Representative. Each year, three students from the rising second year class are nominated by their peers to be considered to serve as a student member of the MCG Admissions Committee. The student representative serves on the Admissions Committee throughout his/her tenure at MCG. This is a great opportunity for Jimmy and we very much appreciate his willingness to serve in this capacity.
And we also want to congratulate Mehreen Iqbal, MCG Class of 2013, who has been elected as the 2011-2012 Global Health Education Coordinator for the American Medical Student Association (AMSA). For the past two years, Mehreen has been an active volunteer in the local community as well as participating in global health volunteerism. This is an outstanding honor for Mehreen.
MAG …
The Medical Association of Georgia (MAG) is encouraging physicians in the state to call the Governor’s office (Governor Deal’s Constituent Services office at 404-656-1776) to thank him for his support, vision, and leadership with the signing of the ‘prompt pay bill, H.B. 176) into law. Beginning in January 2013, third party administrators will have to pay paper claims within 30 days and electronic claims within 15 days or address why they can’t … within the same time frame. MAG has been wholly behind this bill as this will enhance the practice environment and access to healthcare for Georgians.
Also supported by MAG is the Governor’s fitness initiative that was recently launched to tackle childhood obesity. SHAPE is a unique public-private partnership to promote childhood fitness and build a culture of wellness among our state’s young people. SHAPE is a partnership of Gov. Deal, the Arthur Blank Foundation, the Georgia Department of Education, the Department of Community Health and the Division of Public Health, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the Atlanta Falcons and the Atlanta Braves. Five counties are piloting the program this year. This resonates well with our own ‘Healthy Augusta’ efforts.
Please Tune In …. Channel 12 WRDW
The live broadcast of the Children’s Miracle Network from the CMC lobby will be held on June 5 from 11 am to 6 pm on WRDW Channel 12. This extraordinary event celebrates the successes of sponsors and donors, and our children. The money raised goes to benefit programs and services at the MCGHealth Children’s Medical Center … the area’s only children’s hospital. This year, the first Children’s Miracle Network ‘poster child’ of 26 years ago, Jennifer Irons Carrrick will share her story. Jennifer now works in research at GHSU. If you would like to volunteer your time, your money, your story or yourself, please call 706-721-4004.
In Remembrance …
Monday May 30 is Memorial Day which was originally called Decoration Day and is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. Many traditions with family and friends for this weekend have evolved over the years. A national moment of remembrance takes place on Memorial Day at 3 pm local time. Whatever you are doing this weekend, please take a moment to remember those who have died in our nation’s service, have fun with your family and friends and be safe.
Many thanks for all of your service to our institution, our community and our country.