Fulfilling a Pledge
Mary Lou Vaughan, president of the Moore Regional Hospital Auxiliary (left), and Lynda Kraus, director of the FirstHealth Child Development Center, show off a giant check indicating the fulfillment of the Auxiliary’s $1 million pledge to the CDC’s construction and renovation project. A considerable portion of the money raised came from the recent Holiday Ball fund-raisers. The 2005 Diamond Jubilee Ball will celebrate the Auxiliary’s 75th anniversary. State Sen. and Mrs. Harris Blake will serve as honorary chairs of the event, which will be held Friday, Dec. 9, at The Carolina hotel in Pinehurst. Proceeds will go toward a new $1 million Auxiliary pledge, this one to the hospital’s Stepping Stones Capital Campaign to support the construction of a Heart Hospital, Hospice House and Hospitality House.
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 Pinehurst Treatment Center Reopens with New Medical Director
Pinehurst Treatment Center, the alcohol and drug rehabilitation facility at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, has reopened following a move to newly renovated space and the arrival of Fernando Cobos, M.D., as the new medical director.
A specialist in addiction psychiatry, Dr. Cobos was an assistant professor of psychiatry and medical director of the Living Sober Rehabilitation Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School from 2002 until last fall. He recently returned from three months in Iraq, where he served in a combat stress control unit as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps.
Prior to joining the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh Medical School, Dr. Cobos served as assistant director of addiction services at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston and was a psychiatrist in addiction services at Massachusetts General Hospital.
He received his medical degree from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia.
The Pinehurst Treatment Center provides inpatient care and rehabilitation services for people with alcohol or drug addictions. The program focuses on helping people make a complete, permanent break from any substance to which they are addicted.
“We encourage, support and work very hard to help people become abstinent, and we give them the tools to help them remain so,” Dr. Cobos says.
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Specialty Centers Division created at MRH
Patient Care Services at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital has established a new division for Specialty Centers, a program that will include the Chest Center of the Carolinas, the Bariatric Center and a new Esophageal Center. The potential also exists to add other centers based on future patient needs.
“Since the three current centers have similar characteristics, such as a multidisciplinary approach and both inpatient and outpatient aspects, their consolidation into one division will enhance coordination and organization of the services using the foundation/model that was established for the Chest Center,” says Linda Wallace, vice president of Patient Care Services.
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Sleep Disorders Center opens at MMH
In a project made possible by a grant from The Capel Trust, Montgomery Memorial Hospital has opened a two-bed Sleep Disorders Center.
The multidisciplinary program is located on the hospital’s second floor.
“We are very pleased to be adding this service at Montgomery Memorial Hospital and are extremely grateful to The Capel Trust for helping make it happen,” says Kerry Hensley, the hospital’s vice president for Operations.
The Sleep Disorders Center at Montgomery Memorial is open for nighttime studies three days each week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) and employs one night sleep technician and a patient care representative.
David Thornton, M.D., a board certified pulmonologist affiliated with Pinehurst Medical Clinic and a certified sleep specialist, serves as medical director for all three FirstHealth Sleep Disorders Centers. The two other centers are located at Richmond Memorial Hospital and Moore Regional Hospital.
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 MRH nurse receives excellence award
Cindy Mooney, R.N., of Moore Regional Hospital (left), is pictured with Cheryl Batchelor, executive director of Clinical Operations. Mooney recently received Southeastern region clinical care honors in the 2005 Nursing Excellence Awards program, an award for which Batchelor nominated her.
Cindy Mooney loves being a nurse, and it’s apparent to everyone who works with her.
“No matter how busy she is at work, she never loses her smile,” says Cheryl Batchelor, executive director of Clinical Operations at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital. “During times of inclement weather, she is the first nurse to step forward and ask, ‘Where do you need help in patient care?’”
Batchelor nominated Mooney, who was then the clinical coordinator of Moore Regional’s Chest Center of the Carolinas, for clinical care honors in the 2005 Nursing Excellence Awards program. Mooney received the award for the Southeastern region, an area made up of the Carolinas,
Georgia and Florida, during a recent ceremony in Greensboro.
The national Nursing Excellence Awards program was created by Nursing Spectrum and NurseWeek, two national nursing publications, to recognize the extraordinary contributions nurses make to their patients, to each other and to the nursing profession.
In more than 28 years of nursing, Mooney has worked in several patient care areas at Moore Regional. She was recently named director of the hospital’s new Specialty Centers division.
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Pulmonary Rehab now offered at MMH
People with chronic lung diseases can now participate in FirstHealth’s Pulmonary Rehabilitation program at Montgomery Memorial Hospital.
“We are very pleased to offer this service to the people of our community,” says Kerry Hensley, the hospital’s vice president of Operations. “Chronic respiratory conditions frequently limit a person’s physical ability to perform such activities as walking to the mailbox or buying groceries. The Pulmonary Rehab program will help improve a person’s stamina and, thus, the enjoyment of the simple things.”
Designed for patients with such conditions as emphysema, chronic bronchitis, asthma, bronchiectasis and interstitial lung disease, Pulmonary Rehab provides a level of exercise training and education beyond that which is ordinarily covered by a physician during an office visit. The program includes medical management, education, emotional support, breathing re-training and instruction on relaxation techniques.
For more information on the Pulmonary Rehabilitation program at Montgomery Memorial Hospital, call Pam Meacham at (910) 571-5277.
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 FirstHealth Cares
Elizabeth Claudius, M.D., Pat Claudius, M.D., and Beth Walker, director of Healthcare Effectiveness at Montgomery Memorial Hospital, were among the guests who enjoyed food and a silent auction at the FirstHealth Montgomery Foundation’s annual Spring Benefit. The event, held at the Blair House in Troy, raised more than $65,000 to support FirstHealth Cares, a medication assistance program for qualifying residents of Montgomery County.
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Seven nurses tapped for Nursing Excellence recognition
Seven nurses from FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital attended the 2005 Institute for Nursing Excellence, a one-week professional development program
designed to reward outstanding direct-care registered nurses.
Registered nurses working in the state with five years of nursing experience and who spend at least 50 percent of their time providing direct nursing care are eligible for the recognition, which is sponsored annually by the North Carolina Center for Nursing.
Moore Regional Hospital nurses who attended the program were Merva McKinney, 3 Medical; Tracy Overton, PACU; Kristine Owens, Emergency Department; Jan Pahl, Dialysis; Joyce Pate, 2 Neuro; Debbie Smith, 2C; and Raeleen Vaisnis, Radiation Oncology.
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Caliri named president of regional health and fitness alliance
Members of the Southeastern Hospital Health and Fitness Alliance have chosen John Caliri, director of the FirstHealth Centers for Health & Fitness, to serve as their president for 2006.
“Leading this organization is a great opportunity to showcase the FirstHealth Centers for Health & Fitness and the communities we serve,” says Caliri. “We will host next year’s annual conference in Pinehurst, which will bring our staff and our centers into the spotlight among hospital health and fitness groups.”
Caliri previously served as vice president of the Southeastern Hospital Health and Fitness Alliance, an organization of hospital-based health and fitness professionals from Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, and on various committees for the group.
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