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Healthcare Journal of NEW ORLEANS
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processes known to be critical to wound healing and
suppressing those causing chronic inflammation
associated with non-healing diabetic wounds.
The research team also included Yan Lu, Haibin
Tian, Bhagwat V. Alapure, Quansheng Wang in the
LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center of
Excellence and Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr. James
Monroe Laborde, Director of Foot Surgery at LSU
Health New Orleans Department of Orthopaedic
Surgery, as well as Dr. Bruce A. Bunnell at Tulane
University.
LCMC Health Invests in New
Orleans Biomedical Corridor
LCMC Health has announced an investment of
$100,000 in the New Orleans Business Alliance
(NOLABA) to support the further development of
the NewOrleans Bioinnovation and Health Services
cluster. This marks the first anchor institution invest-
ment in development of the biomedical cluster.
As the official economic development organiza-
tion for the city of New Orleans, NOLABA is a pub-
lic-private partnership funded by both the City and
the private sector. This strategic alliance partners
with businesses around the city to build an innova-
tive, sustainable economy and understands that the
city’s anchor institutions – those employers that are
so well established they will likely never move – are
fundamental to the long-term economic strength
of New Orleans.
Peoples Health Opens Gretna
Senior and Wellness Center
Gretna leaders and the Jefferson Council on Aging
joined Peoples Health for the Grand Opening of the
GRETNASenior andWellness Center at 476 Franklin
Avenue, Gretna. The Center, developed by Peoples
Health in partnership with the Jefferson Council on
sepsis and a status update of the performance at
STPH overall and by nursing unit for sepsis manage-
ment. He also provided a roadmap for performance
improvement that included operational recommen-
dations and a coding review for providers to make
sure they capture all of the work that is associated
with the care of these complex patients.
With a focus on reducing surgical site infections,
Iverson and Dominguez collaborated on a standard-
ized process that spans the continuum of care for
surgical patients that begins in the holding area and
continues until the patient gets transferred to the
floor. The process was documented in a checklist
that provides guidance on the use of prophylac-
tic antibiotics and peri-operative beta-blockers, as
well as safety measures to support DVTprophylaxis,
promote active warming, and the appropriate tim-
ing for urinary catheter removal.
New Target for Diabetic
Wound Healing Discovered
Research led by scientists in Dr. Song Hong’s
group at LSU Health New Orleans has identified a
novel family of chemical mediators that rescue the
reparative functions of macrophages (a main type
of mature white blood cells) impaired by diabetes,
restoring their ability to resolve inflammation and
heal wounds. The research is in-press and is sched-
uled to be published in the October 23, 2014 issue of
Chemistry & Biology
, a
Cell Press
journal.
The LSU Health New Orleans researchers discov-
ered that leukocytes and platelets produce a group
of molecules, called Maresin-Ls, which promote
wound healing and reduce inflammation. They also
identified the enzymes needed in the cells to produce
thesemolecules.They demonstrated that treatment
by these novel molecules restores reparative func-
tions to diabetic macrophages, enabling the cellular
frommedicine, nursing, pharmacy, and social work
in the management of patients with uncontrolled
diabetes in an internal medicine residency train-
ing program. The project uses the primary care
patient centered medical home model. The inter-
professional care management team visits weekly
with registered high-risk diabetic patients who are
invited to meet for a planned visit and subsequent
follow-up encounters, via phone or in person. The
goal is to address patients’ medical and related
psychosocial problems to improve their functional
health status, enhance coordination of care, elimi-
nate duplication of services and reduce the need for
expensive medical services.
Other members of the interprofessional faculty
team include LSU Health New Orleans’ Dr. Angela
McLean, Medicine, Khaleelah Hasan, MN, RN, CNE,
Nursing, and Course Coordinator Caroline Munson,
MBA, as well asXavier Pharmacist LaKeishaWilliams
and Interim LSU Hospital Social Worker Ellen Lee.
STQN Names 1st Medical
Director Award Recipients
The first three recipients of the St. Tammany Qual-
ity Network Medical Director Award, created in
July 2014, recently were selected for demonstrat-
ing innovative leadership, a commitment to quality
and a focus on efficiency.
The recipients are Dr. David Cressy for his role
in the St. Tammany Parish Hospital sepsis educa-
tion initiative and Drs. Michael Iverson and Mark
Dominguez for their efforts to reduce surgical site
infections.
Cressy spearheaded the effort to provide edu-
cational information to the ICU staff, ED physi-
cians, and hospitalists on the optimal care of sep-
sis patients. These sessions included a review of
best practices for the diagnosis and treatment of
LSU physical therapy students in their newly presented white coats.