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News Release

CHEST SURGERY ADVANCES TOP HOSPITAL'S ACHIEVEMENTS
UPMC Northwest also opens Diabetes Care Center, adds doctors, technology

July 10, 2007 —Advancement of thoracic surgical services, the opening of the Diabetes Care Center, and the addition of several doctors highlighted UPMC Northwest’s achievements the past year. The hospital also earned an award for community value and added new diagnostic technology.

Thoracic Surgical Services – Thoracic/vascular surgeon James Klena, MD, is a partner in UPMC’s Heart, Lung & Esophageal Surgery Institute – one of the nation’s premier cardiac and thoracic (chest) surgery programs – and he is bringing many of the institute’s advanced surgical techniques to UPMC Northwest. Many of these procedures like video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) use minimally-invasive surgical techniques that produce excellent results with less pain, a shorter hospital stay, and a faster return to normal activities for the patient, and they are helping to give UPMC Northwest more advanced surgical services than ever.

While VATS is used most often to evaluate and treat cancer and other diseases of the lung and esophagus, it is a versatile procedure that has numerous other applications too, including managing hiatal hernia and acid reflux disease, preventing or repairing collapsed lung, diagnosing and treating fluid around the heart and lungs, evaluating and treating other chest tumors, treating emphysema, and repairing thickening in the esophagus that causes difficulty in swallowing.

Another leading edge procedure that is being introduced by Dr. Klena and interventional radiologist Mark Salerno, MD, is endovascular surgery, a minimally-invasive procedure for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). Vascular surgeons traditionally have repaired these dangerous bulges of the abdomen’s main artery through a long abdominal incision, but with the endovascular technique Dr. Klena and Dr. Salerno use a catheter to make the repair from inside the artery. Like VATS, endovascular surgery is safer and easier for patients to undergo.

Registered dietitian Julie Carothers (left) and registered nurse Deb Dowling are full-time staff members of UPMC Northwest's Diabetes Care Center.

Diabetes Care Center – UPMC Northwest’s new Diabetes Care Center is aggressively fighting back against a disease that has reached near epidemic proportions in this area. Because of aging, obesity and other factors, thousands of area residents have diabetes, and complications and deaths occur here at a rate about 40 percent higher than the statewide averages.

The Diabetes Care Center is committing more resources than ever to preventing and treating the disease, including two full-time staff members – diabetes nurse educator Deb Dowling, RN, and diabetes dietitian Julie Carothers, RD – who devote their time exclusively to teaching and caring for diabetes patients.

New Doctors – The most recent additions to the UPMC Northwest medical staff are family practitioner Scott Piranian, MD, hospitalists (inpatient care specialists) Kathleen Filiaggi, MD, and Steven Ferguson, MD, cardiologist Paris Horan, MD, internist Vijayaprabha Ramanujam, MD, psychiatrist Ronald McFadden, MD, ophthalmologist Perry Younger, MD, urologist Sergio Giancola, MD, internist Roulay Thammavong, MD, and pulmonologist Amgad Abdu, MD.

Also set to join the hospital medical staff this year are family practitioners Veronica Santee, MD, Rick Krueger, DO, and Erica Thammavong, MD, colon/rectal surgeon David Ferraro, MD, and anesthesiologist Darren Loughran, DO.

Value Award – For the third time in four years, UPMC Northwest has earned recognition for providing great value to the communities it serves. Cleverley & Associates, an Ohio-based health care financial strategies company, placed UPMC Northwest on its annual Community Value Index (CVI) Five-Star Hospital List in recognition of the hospital’s low costs, low charges, and the use of its strong financial position to reinvest in providing care for patients.

Business of the Year – Venango Area Chamber of Commerce recently named UPMC Northwest as its 2007 Business of the Year. The award recognizes the hospital for demonstrating a continued passion for excellence and promoting the advancement of responsible business leadership within the community.

Cancer Center – With its medical and radiation oncology services now all in one location at the hospital in Seneca, UPMC Cancer Center at UPMC Northwest is better able than ever to meet area residents’ cancer care needs.

Stroke Program – UPMC Northwest’s comprehensive Stroke Program – the only one of its kind among rural hospitals in western Pennsylvania – is advancing the fight against stroke on several fronts. It is taking part in the American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative to prevent strokes and improve stroke treatment.

Imaging Technology – Recent diagnostic advancements for UPMC Northwest include the R2 Technology ImageChecker System that makes mammography exams more thorough than ever, and the General Electric Lunar Prodigy bone density scanner that the hospital is using to fight back against osteoporosis.

Imaging Accreditations – UPMC Northwest now has a remarkable seven  imaging accreditations (MRI, open MRI, nuclear medicine, nuclear cardiology, mammography, ultrasound and stereotactic breast biopsy), an achievement that may be unprecedented among the region’s hospitals.

Ultrasound System – UPMC Northwest’s Family Birthing Center has a new ultrasound unit that is helping staff members meet the needs of expectant mothers and their babies. The state-of-the-art General Electric LOGIQ 3 system is used most often at delivery: birthing center staff members can evaluate the size and position of the baby and obtain other information that helps to assure a safe, healthy delivery.

Hospitalist Program – Three full-time hospitalists (inpatient care specialists) are helping to advance inpatient care while reducing the cost of care and patients’ length of stay.

Inpatient Hospice – Visiting Nurses Association of Venango County’s inpatient hospice at UPMC Northwest has helped meet the needs of more than 50 patients and families. VNA also is considering development of an inpatient hospice at UPMC Northwest’s Sugar Creek Station skilled nursing center near Franklin.

Independent Living Apartments – These apartments at Sugar Creek Station offer a comfortable, affordable housing option for seniors who can live on their own. Five apartments are occupied, and Sugar Creek Station is accepting inquiries for the remaining two units.

Other achievements include measurable improvements in car for heart attack, pneumonia and congestive heart failure; and the introduction of Condition H that allows patients and families to call for a rapid response team when a patient needs immediate help.