Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center

Four hundred thirty thousand Americans die each year from smoking. In Louisiana, 6,400 annual deaths are caused from smoking related diseases. Approximately 1,000 Louisianans die each year from secondhand smoke, according to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

As a leader in healthcare in Acadiana, Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center and its joint venture partners are pleased to announce that effective August 4, 2008, the campuses of Our Lady Lourdes, Heart Hospital of Lafayette, Lourdes Imaging Network and Lourdes AfterHours will be smoke-free. Smoking will be prohibited on all property owned, leased or operated by Lourdes, including parking lots, sidewalks and all outdoor areas on campus. This policy applies to everyone, including employees, patients, volunteers, visitors, physicians, residents, students, emergency medical staff, agency staff, contract staff and vendors.

“Our mission calls us to create a spirit of healing for all those entrusted to our care,” stated Bud Barrow, President and CEO. Our Lady of Lourdes is a place of healing, and while we respect the rights of adults to smoke, we are also aware of its ill effects. Secondhand smoke exposure has taken the lives of far too many in our community. At Lourdes, we will all breathe a little easier.”

For information and resources on quitting smoking, call 1-800-Quit now!

Lourdes Affiliate with Heart Hospital Lourdes Affiliate of Heart Hospital

Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center and Heart Hospital of Lafayette have joined forces to better serve the people of Acadiana and deliver heart healthcare to the highest power. Hospital officials announced Heart Hospital of Lafayette is now an affiliate of the Our Lady of Lourdes regional healthcare network. The announcement of this important partnership was made jointly by Bud Barrow, CEO of Lourdes, and Dr. Jon LeLeux on behalf of local physicians and investors who have an ownership interest in Heart Hospital of Lafayette.

“The mission of service, the established commitment to quality, the comprehensive overall management experience of Lourdes administrators and advantages of being a part of the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System add to the value of this new affiliation,” said Dr. LeLeux.

Under the terms of the agreement forged between the two hospitals, Our Lady of Lourdes replaces MedCath Corporation as the majority stockholder of Heart Hospital of Lafayette. Cardiology programs of both hospitals will be managed under Heart Hospital of Lafayette, as an affiliate of Our Lady of Lourdes.

In addition to Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center, the network includes, among others, a partnership with Park Place Surgical Hospital, Acadiana Imaging, St. Mary’s Imaging Center, St. Agnes Breast Center, Lourdes After Hours Clinic, an affiliation with Louisiana HomeCare of Lafayette (a Forbes recognized healthcare provider) and this new affiliation of Heart Hospital of Lafayette.

Lourdes Sleep Center opens in Crowley Crowley Sleep Center Opens

Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center recently expanded its Sleep Medicine services to Crowley. The new Lourdes Sleep Disorders Center treated its first patient at 1325 Wright Avenue, Tower One Building, Suite I on August 1.

Using state of the art equipment, Lourdes Sleep Specialist Physicians can diagnose and treat a variety of sleep disorders, including sleep apnea; snoring; insomnia; restless leg syndrome; narcolepsy; parasomnia (sleep walking, sleep talking); sleep related Cardiac Dysrythmias and other conditions.

The Lourdes Sleep Disorders Center in Crowley is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Physicians are available to see patients on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays with appointments. Sleep studies are conducted nightly, Monday through Thursday.

The center is equipped with two comfortable bedroom suites with private bathrooms to ensure sleep study patients can groom, dress and be ready to leave for the next morning’s routine with all the conveniences of home.

Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center opened its first Sleep Disorders Center in Lafayette in 1985, the first of its kind in Acadiana. In 1997, the Lourdes Sleep Disorders Center became the first accredited sleep disorders center in Acadiana, and today maintains its high marks in credentialing. Under the direction of Board Certified Sleep Specialist, Dr. Roger E. Stueben, FCCP, D,ABSM, Lourdes Sleep Specialists utilize the latest technology and expertise to diagnose and treat sleep disorders.
Call 337-783-4448 for more information or to schedule an appointment today with Dr. Roger Stueben, Dr. Paul Stringfellow or Dr. Matthew Abraham. With the Lourdes Sleep Disorders Center, dreams really do come true.

Infinia Hawkeye Nuclear/CT

Lourdes introduces
diagnosis equipment
to the HIGHEST PowerOur Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center now offers the highest powered diagnosis equipment in Acadiana. The GE Infinia™ Hawkeye®, a revolutionary combined nuclear medicine/computed tomography (CT) system, delivers unprecedented image quality and provides diagnostic confidence to physicians with a proven impact on patient management.

Infinia Hawkeye’s integrated CT solution harnesses the power of GE’s exclusive Hawkeye single photo emission computed tomography (SPECT)/CT imaging that allows physicians at Lourdes to more precisely diagnose and locate disease.

Recent clinical studies have shown that the use of the GE Hawkeye system significantly improved patient management across a range of common pathologies, including heart disease, prostate cancer and thyroid cancer.

St. Agnes offers advanced
Digital Mammography
with "R2" Technology
A Lorad Selenia Full Field Digital Mammography system has been added to the comprehensive diagnostic services dedicated to women and the early detection of breast cancer at St. Agnes Breast Center located on Our Lady of Lourdes campus. The new Selenia system incorporates revolutionary imaging technology that provides incredibly sharp images. St. Agnes is the first installations incorporating this cutting edge technology in Acadiana.

From the patient’s point of view, a digital mammogram is like traditional film screen mammography. Both use x-rays to generate images of the breast. However, instead of using film to capture and record the image, a digital mammogram uses a special detector to capture and convert x-ray energy into digital data. The resulting digital images are immediately available to the radiologist for diagnosis.

Lourdes
After Hours Clinic
for Minor Care

Minor illness or injury can strike at any time – often when your doctor’s office is closed. The facility, offers walk-in medical care without appointments or lengthy waiting for conditions such as allergic reactions, fever, rashes, simple burns and cuts, wound care, sprains, simple fractures and other illnesses and minor injuries. Both adults and children are treated, and most major medical insurances are accepted.

Patients seen at Lourdes After Hours care are referred back to the patient’s primary care physician for follow-up or additional treatment. If the patient does not have a family doctor, a local doctor who is accepting patients will be referred.

Because work-related injuries aren’t just a 9-5 concern, Lourdes After Hours Clinic offers special care for workman’s compensation cases by going beyond just treating the injury or illness. Lourdes After Hours Clinic avoids downtime by successfully treating employees so that they can return to work as soon as possible. The convenient location at Kaliste Saloom Rd. and Martial Blvd. is easily accessible in an ever growing sector of Lafayette.

Lourdes Laboratory receives accreditation!Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center Laboratory, Lafayette. Louisiana, has been awarded an accreditation by the Commission on Laboratory Accreditation of the College of American Pathologists (CAP), based on me results of a recent on-site inspection. The laboratory's director was advised of this national recognition and congratulated for the "excellence of the services being provided." Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center Laboratory is one of the more than 6,000 CAP-accredited laboratories nationwide.

Lourdes introduces advanced MRI! GE Excite MRI

Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center has purchased the most advanced MRI available in Acadiana. The GE EXCITE MRI with advanced application features is slated to go on-line in mid August. This newest technology is capable of overcoming speed restrictions in all previous open and closed magnet configurations.

Speed has long been the #1 challenge in MRI, i.e., to acquire information fast enough to overcome or to capture the movement of the human body. EXCITE expands MRI diagnostics from a three-dimensional modality to a true four-dimensional tool that now uses time as an ally in the diagnostic process. Dr. Joan Wojak, Interventional Neuro Radiologist, stated, “This represents a quantum leap in acquisition speed and image quality that will impact diagnosis in every application and every patient, and open up the door to new applications already in development.”

EXCITE is the industry’s first comprehensive technical solution to improving speed in MRI image acquisition to final image presentation, along with a superior image for diagnosis of complete anatomical structures in the human body. The overall EXCITE MRI system with an 8-channel coil and high resolution provides huge advantages for parallel imaging. It has been called “MRI at the speed of life.”

MRI utilizes computers and magnetic fields, rather than radiation, to provide safe and non-invasive images of the human anatomy. It is estimated that more than 20 million MRI exams are performed each year in the United States.

Kevin Lambert, Director of Radiology and St. Mary’s Imaging Center, said, “In essence, with this $2.2 million dollar investment, we now have the ability to capture diagnostic images at what we call the ‘speed of life.’ This scanner reduces the length of MRI exams while improving the quality of the anatomical information. It will also make MRI exams more comfortable for patients, especially those who have difficulty holding their breath during certain procedures.”

Capable of acquiring diagnostic information significantly faster than other MR systems, the EXCITE scanner will enable doctors at Lourdes to improve the diagnosis of a wide range of conditions, including cardiac and vascular disease; stroke; abdominal and brain disorders; musculoskeletal conditions in the knee, shoulder, wrist and other joints, in addition to dual breast imaging.

“Our Lady of Lourdes’ continuing ability to provide the most advanced care to our patients requires leading-edge technologies, like this new GE EXCITE MRI scanner,” said Dr. Victor Gunderson, Medical Director of Lourdes Radiology and St. Mary’s Imaging Center, “This system opens the door to new imaging applications that will improve the diagnosis of disease throughout the human body, from head to toe.”
For more information about this new technology and other services offered by St. Mary’s Imaging, call 337.233.6288, or email: info@lourdes.net .

St. Bernadette Clinic Serves the UnderservedSt. Bernadette Clinic, a community clinic for the needy of the area, operates in an expanded facility. Located within the Bishop Edward J. O’Donnell Building at 409 St. John Street in Lafayette, the clinic boasts over 4,000 square feet of space, an increase from less than 1,000 feet under the former clinic’s roof. The additional floor space provides five private exam rooms, with a separate exam room for dental assessment and tooth extraction. The office area is now fully separated from the patient areas.

This unique facility promotes greater privacy and dignity for our patients, who now feel a sense of ownership and pride that the center is there for them. St. Bernadette staff has already noticed this enhanced pride in our patient census.

St. Bernadette Clinic is staffed by the Lourdes Community Service Department including a Nurse Practitioner, a registered nurse, social worker and office volunteers. The clinic collaborates with LSU Medical & Dental Schools, ULL School of Nursing, volunteer physicians & dentists, and the laity.

Sister Betty Lyons, OSF, Administrator of Mission and Community Services at Lourdes said, “St. Bernadette Clinic was established in 1995 through collaboration with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette to provide assisted medical care for the elderly, uninsured, underinsured, and indigent, in the Acadiana community.”

Bob Peebles, President & CEO of Our Lady of Lourdes, commented, “This project sets a new standard for community, faith-based clinics of this type. It truly reflects the mission and community outreach of our medical center and the Diocese of Lafayette.”

Lourdes Offers "CAMERA IN A PILL" Technology
Our Lady of Lourdes is now utilizing a revolutionary, clinically proven medical technology that allows physicians to see what no one has ever been able to fully capture before – a view of the entire 21 feet of the human small intestine. The M2A™ Capsule Endoscope, or camera in a pill, was pioneered by Given Imaging Corporation to give patients a non-invasive option for diagnosis of certain small intestine disorders.

Approximately 70 million Americans currently suffer from gastrointestinal troubles, including disorders such as obscure bleeding, Crohn’s Disease, malabsorption or Celiac Disease, and intestinal tumors. However, many of these conditions go undiagnosed, or are treated with trial and error, due to the limited diagnostic options available for this region of the body. Given Imaging’s M2A Capsule Endoscope significantly improves the chances of accurate diagnosis for many previously undiagnosed small intestine disorders.

The capsule, which is taken with a sip of water, just like a vitamin, passes naturally through the digestive tract, recording video images that are transmitted to and then stored on a recorder belt worn throughout the day. Eight hours after swallowing the capsule, the patient returns the belt to the physician’s office. The physician then views the images using the Given Imaging workstation and RAPID software, and later reports his or her findings back to the patient.

For more information, contact the Lourdes Gastroenterology Department at (337) 289-2924 or visit the Given Imaging website.

Medical First for Lafayette!

A breakthrough in cancer treatment was performed for the first time in the State of Louisiana at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center. Dr. Ravi Murthy, of M.D. Anderson, was impressed with the professionalism and efforts of Lourdes, the Acadiana Radiology Group and OncoLogics, Inc. While the communities they serve may be relatively small, Lourdes is one of only fifteen centers in the United States where this live-saving procedure has been utilized. In fact, up until now, this revolutionary procedure has only been performed in large academic institutions and hospitals. The procedure, known as Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT), was administered to a 57-year-old male with primary cancer of the colon and secondary cancer (metastases) to the liver.

Liver cancer is very common and is basically diagnosed in two categories: Primary – the disease starts in the liver; and secondary – the disease develops within some other internal organ (commonly the colon) and then metastasizes to the liver. Until now, both primary and secondary liver cancers have been largely untreatable, and more than 95% of these patients eventually die due to the illness. SIRT offers new hope to thousands of people throughout the United States.

There were several physicians involved in bringing this revolutionary procedure to Louisiana and our community. Dr. Julian Krawczyk, from OncoLogics, Inc. in Lafayette, was the attending Radiation Oncologist, and Dr. Mark Stephan, from the Acadiana Radiology Group, was the attending Interventional Radiologist. John Duhon, Director of Medical Physics at OncoLogics, Inc., was also involved during the procedure as the attending physicist. These clinicians were observed by Dr. Ravi Murthy, an Interventional Radiologist from MD Anderson in Houston, Texas. Dr. Murthy was the preceptor and offered teaching techniques during this procedure.

The SIRT procedure is currently used to treat cancers in the liver and involves the implantation of tiny radioactive spheres, approximately 35 microns in diameter. Potential patients will undergo several tests to ensure they are eligible for the treatment, then the so-called SIR-Spheres are injected through a trans-femoral catheter into the hepatic artery. The spheres lodge in the small blood vessels of the tumor to irradiate and destroy the cancer tumors. This process selectively targets high radiation doses to the tumors, while most of the normal liver tissue remains relatively unaffected.

For many colon cancer patients, this treatment (combined with chemotherapy) completely eradicates metastases or tumors in the liver. For other patients, Dr. Ravi Murthy (from M.D. Anderson) advised that, “patients treated with SIR-Spheres® have had such marked shrinkage of the liver cancer that the cancer can be surgically removed at a later date. This has resulted in a long-term cure for some patients.”

Most patients treated with SIR-Spheres® can go home the day after treatment and resume their normal activity.

If you would like additional information about this procedure, please contact Dr. Julian Krawczyk at Oncologics, Inc. (337-237-2057)

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