“Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.” ~Leon J. Suenes

May 6, 2011

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

Celebrations, Conferrings, and Grand Regalia …

Four years of hard work and determination culminated in the Medical College of Georgia Hooding Ceremony on Wednesday and GHSU Graduation Ceremony yesterday. The day of Hooding started off with Dr. Pauline Chen, keynote speaker and author of the weekly New York Times column Doctor and Patient holding several round table discussions throughout the morning. We want to thank our students, residents, faculty and Patient Family Center Care (PFCC) Patient Advisors who gave Dr. Chen an exceptional impression of our institution. We were also most grateful that our colleagues and friends at University Hospital (Dr. Bill Farr, CMO, Dr. Tara Kittine, Medical Director of University Hospice and Ms. Suzanne Prinicpi, Palliative Care Coordinator), and at Select Hospital (Mr. David Mock, CEO) who kindly joined us as well to describe their important contributions to healthcare in Augusta with an ensuring lively exchange of ideas regarding palliative care and hospice settings. Dr. Chen then gave an inspiring keynote presentation at the afternoon Hooding Ceremony. Hooding was indeed an invigorating event and we were pleased to mark the accomplishments of our students as they became doctors (well … they actually were just 1 day away from becoming doctors). As always, Dr. Ellison reminded us of the great tradition of Hooding. Dr. Hobbs also reminded our newest physician colleagues of the importance of remaining connected to their Alma Mater, GHSU. The event was followed by a gathering in the Old Medical College building, a perfect venue to welcome our newest physicians into the tradition of medicine as a service. Our sincere thanks to Dr. Kathleen McKie and our entire staff who worked tirelessly in putting Hooding together. It takes a village to make this a success and it certainly was. Please check out the great story and photos (on line too) in the Augusta Chronicle on our Hooding ceremony. http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/education/2011-05-04/new-doctors-urged-follow-their-calling?v=1304562515

The 182nd Graduation Commencement at GHSU was held yesterday and we were extremely fortunate to have Governor Nathan Deal giving remarks and to have Dr. Louis Sullivan as the keynote speaker. Governor Deal reminded our newest physicians of their commitment to society and he encouraged clinicians who are going outside of Georgia for the next stage of their training to return afterwards to care for Georgians. Dr. Sullivan, renowned leader, is the former Secretary of Health and Human Services and Founding Dean of Morehouse College. Dr. Sullivan is a native Georgian and as a leading public health policy expert, he gave our new clinicians a comprehensive overview of the challenges that they will meet in tackling the healthcare issues before them. He too thanked them for their dedication to learning their profession. Dr. Azziz further emphasized the calling of healthcare professionals – reminding our new colleagues … And all of us – that we must always strive to ‘do the right thing’ to live up to our commitment to be exemplary healthcare professionals. Dr. Azziz told us – as an example to all of us – of the great career of Dr. Curly Watson who was awarded the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Watson has given many contributions to GHSU and the community and we are grateful for his service. It was inspiring to all of us – especially to our graduating colleagues – to have Dr. Watson and his family at our special event. Regent Willis Potts also gave inspirational remarks and he congratulated our students on behalf of the University System of Georgia (USG). His enthusiasm for education and his pride in the USG system was very evident in his congratulatory remarks. We also were joined by many community leaders and legislative colleagues. We really appreciate their support. We congratulate all our students at GHSU for their outstanding accomplishments. This is one step closer to making their dream become reality. This is a time to celebrate (and they sure did … there were several other class social events that were great fun too) as well as a time to prepare for the next level of training. Our colleagues were reminded that they can always come home … home to MCG … home to GHSU … home to Georgia.

Congratulations Class of 2011.

More congratulations …

We also offer congratulations to Brett Heimlich of the Class of 2013 as being selected to serve as a Student Ambassador for the AMA Foundation for the 2011-2012 term, which will begin June 1st. He is highly deserving of this position and will serve capably and notably. We thank Brett for making the effort to become involved on a national level.

We also want to recognize and send congratulations to Dr. Jim McLoughlin, Department of Surgery for being elected to the Georgia State Chair of the Commission on Cancer. Dr. McLoughlin will be focused on tracking and improving cancer outcomes across the State. He will also be the Commission on Cancer liaison to the American Cancer Society Georgia Chapter.

Laboratory Professionals Get Results …

Did you know that April 24-30 was ‘Lab Week’? This is the time to recognize the dedication of the men and women in laboratory services in patient care. These medical professional work behind the scenes and are a critical component to the health care team. Thank you for your hard work and dedication.

EHR Update … Synchronicity …

We are coming into the home stretch with the implementation and go-live of the EHR. The updates are as follows: The medication reconciliation team has been formed, for inpatients and outpatients. Four providers have agreed to participate, and the first meeting has been scheduled. With the go-live of the EHR in June, our paper process for ordering labs, radiology, and other ancillaries will take their place within the system. Some of these orders will be ordered by protocol, others coming in via nurse triage line may be entered and require your co-signature at a later date. This will all be covered thoroughly during training, and the super users in your practice sites will be well versed on how the processes will work. The training calendar is now available and sessions are filling up very quickly. All medical staff will need to be registered before the pilot go-live and big bang go-lives. Please visit the following link to view the training calendar and register for classes: http://hi.georgiahealth.edu/trainMe/Default.asp?pickDate=5/1/2011. A training calendar for Dragon dictation is being developed and will be forwarded as soon as it is finalized. Please check out our FAQ site at: http://mcgsites.org/ehr/. Thank you for your support of this important initiative.

Education Discovery Institute – EDI needs you …

We want to encourage you (before the June 15th deadline) to apply to the EDI for the 2012 EDI educational research fellowship cycle. The fellowship is a one-year term in which you will learn about key issues in medical education research, educational research methods, and innovative approaches to educational discovery. More information can be obtained by calling the EDI or contacting Janelle Davis at rdavis@georgiahealth.edu.
Pull … Pull … Pull …

Congratulations are in order to those who participated in the 3rd annual Fed Ex ‘plane pull’ at Augusta Regional Airport (Bush Field). This is a fantastic community event that benefits the Ronald McDonald House. We had a record 42 teams of 20 people trying to move a gigantic 727 plane as fast as possible for 12 feet. What fun was had by all on and off the tarmac! We hope you can join in next year. Our very own ‘Peds Pullers’ came in 3rd. WooHoo and thanks to all whom participated with a special thanks going to Dr. Jim Mumford who is part of the organizing committee.

Reminder of Pink and Green ….

Did you know that GHSU Sports Medicine is now in partnership with the Augusta Greenjackets to provide medical care and advice to the baseball team? The theme of the night at the Augusta Greenjackets game tomorrow evening is ‘Pink in the Park’ to honor breast cancer survivors. Dr. Azziz will be throwing out the first pitch. There will be fireworks at the end of the game. Come along for a fun night at the Augusta Greenjackets game at Lake Olmstead Stadium.

The Continuum of Leadership … Please Join Us …

We want to also remind you that the MCG Faculty Senate is hosting the State of the College presentation next Friday May 13 at 12 noon in the Lee Auditoria Center. This presentation will be for all faculty, staff, residents and students. Please encourage your colleagues to attend with you. We are looking forward to having a great turnout with all of our ‘MCG Family’. The presentation is right around the corner and we hope that it’s on your calendar. We have many excellent accomplishments to celebrate and lots to look forward to. Please plan to join us as we touch on the past, look at the present, and see what is in store for the future.

Inauguration Events … A Special Opportunity …

Please mark your calendars for the Presidential Inauguration to be held on Friday May 20 at 2 pm at Gilbert Lambuth Memorial Chapel at Paine College. This event is open to all and will be memorable … so please plan to come along. While we recognize that regular educational activities and business of the enterprise should continue as usual, we are appropriately encouraging attendance of faculty, staff, residents and students who are not directly involved in scheduled classes, clinical activities, and who are not performing essential activities and therefore could be absent from work for that period of time. Please make the effort to join us for this key and invigorating institutional event – you won’t be disappointed! We very much appreciate your support in congratulating Dr. Azziz for his leadership of GHSU over the past 10 months and we look forward to what the future holds.

Give a Day … Give of yourself and your time …

Please also mark your calendars for May 21 as a ‘Volunteer a Day of Service’ for GHSU to give back to the community. This is to culminate the week’s inaugural activities and is an opportunity for students, faculty and staff to work together to provide solutions to our community’s most pressing problems. Employees and their families may volunteer for a day with our Service Day Partners, which include many non-profit organizations located throughout the Central Savannah River Area. Volunteers will receive a commemorative t-shirt in exchange for his or her commitment to serve. In addition, employees and their families are invited to celebrate a day of hard work and community spirit at the Georgia Health Sciences Family Celebration later that evening at GreenJackets stadium. For more information, or for ways to serve, visit http://www.georgiahealth.edu/about/leadership/president/inauguration/

Upcoming Events to please place on your calendar:

Tomorrow – First Annual Laney Walker/Bethlehem Celebration – Blocks are Beautiful. There will be live entertainment, family fun, a Southern Soul Food Cook-off, raffle, and tours of the Heritage Pine development. There is a small admission fee ($1.00) with proceeds being donated to the Pediatric Cancer Research at GHSU. Area churches and school groups will make sure you have plenty of food to tickle your ‘sweet tooth’. Come join us for this fun and food filled Saturday to benefit a great cause.

MCG State of the School – May 13

President’s Inauguration – May 20

9th Annual GHSU Tech Fair – May 26

Many thanks for all you do for our medical college and our institution. We hope that you have a wonderful weekend in celebration of “Mother’s Day”.

Best wishes,