Tag Archives: Adena Health System

News

National Guard Closing Out Deployment at Adena Regional Medical Center

Presented By Classic Brands

(Chillicothe) – The Ohio National Guard will end their deployment February 4th at Adena Regional Medical Center for assisting in COVID testing.

“They tell you to have a bag ready at all times to be ready to respond when the state or nation needs us,” said Major Donny Glosser, who has headed up National Guard efforts over the last month in support of Adena Health System’s COVID-19 testing and operations during the latest Omicron variant-related patient surge. “I think anybody who has been in the Guard for a while, we – and our families – kind of grow accustomed to us being temporarily removed from our everyday life.”

The leadership, physicians and caregivers of Adena Health System are thankful for the sacrifices those Guard members and their families are willing to make. Since early January, about 70 Guard members from as far away as Cincinnati and Cleveland have left their civilian jobs and families to converge on the communities Adena serves to offer support during this critical time. Those tasks, in addition to performing COVID-19 testing, have included spending one-on-one time sitting with hospitalized patients, intra-hospital patient transport, nutrition services (cafeteria support), and performing environmental service (cleaning and housekeeping) tasks at Adena’s four hospitals located in Chillicothe, Greenfield, Washington Court House and Waverly.

The assistance came about through efforts of the Ohio Hospital Association and the governor’s office in support of hospitals across the state that we’re facing significant patient surges and staffing shortages. With hopes that the Omicron variant’s spread may have peaked locally and with Adena’s staffing resources improving, the National Guard is ending its Adena deployment on Friday.

As a result, drive-thru COVID-19 testing at the PACCAR Medical Education Center on the Adena Regional Medical Center campus will not be available this weekend but will return Monday on a weekdays-only schedule, available from 8am to 6pm, handled by hospital staff.

The drive-thru testing site has succeeded in doing what it set out to do. For patients, it continues to provide a convenient location where they can be swabbed while sitting in their vehicle and quickly be on their way again knowing they will be contacted when the test results are available. For the Health System, it has helped moved the testing load away from Urgent Cares that were regularly seeing record patient levels and allowed them to focus on other care priorities.

To put those patient loads into context, on January 4, 2021, Adena’s Urgent Care facilities across the Health System saw a peak of 305 patients in a single day. On January 5th of this year, the peak was at 570. The drive-thru testing site, meanwhile, peaked at 472 patients on January 13th of this year.

“There were several days when we were seeing more than 1,000 patients a day between the Urgent Cares and the testing site,” said Jessica Matheny, Associate Vice President of Adena Medical Group. “When you look back during a pandemic like this, it feels like we’ve been doing this forever.”

That kind of strain facing the frontline caregivers at Adena and in other health systems inevitably leads to fatigue. The National Guard’s arrival, Major Glosser said, appeared to bring a very visible relief to some of that fatigue.

“The biggest change I noticed from when we arrived on January 7th into that following week was how nice it was to see the hospital employees out here smiling and laughing,” he said. “When my leadership asked me if we were providing value, I said it was obvious from the demeanor of the staff that we were helping them.”

The Health System and community at large, in turn, have shown their appreciation. Several departments have provided Guard members with gift baskets and cards, the Adena Health Foundation has provided them with snacks and drinks, physicians have purchased pizzas for them, Health System leadership has provided them with gift cards to use for meals and a local Girl Scout troop even brought them donuts to enjoy.

“It’s been awesome,” said Major Glosser, who hails from the Cincinnati area. “I’ve had my dinner bought for me several times in the community, and I never expected that. I’ve felt real supported in this community, it’s been a great experience.”

Specialist Noah Love, a 20-year-old Guard Member from Dover who has served the entire month at the testing site, agreed.

“We get treated great around here,” he said. “I was going to transfer closer to home, but I like it too much here to transfer. Some of the patients even want to buy us food and they say, ‘Thank you for your service.’ They’ve been real courteous to us.”

Lt. McKensie Logan, who noted that Guard units since the start of the pandemic have been called upon across Ohio to assist in warehouses, with vaccinations and at food banks among other tasks, added that patients who have been admitted to Adena’s hospitals have also frequently expressed their appreciation to the Guard members.

For more information on Adena’s COVID-19 testing locations, COVID-19 vaccine distribution and other health care services, visit Adena.org.

News

Adena Launches New Option for Emphysema/COPD Patients

Presented By Classic Brands

(Chillicothe) – A new, minimally invasive procedure now being offered by Adena Health System is providing a breath of fresh air in the treatment of patients suffering from emphysema and COPD.

“We’ve actually been talking about doing this type of procedure for at least a year,” said Adena Pulmonology, Critical Care and Sleep Associates’ Dr. Haval Saadlla, who performed the Health System’s first Zephyr Valve surgery in December. “We wanted to make sure we had every single piece of the puzzle in place before we did it.”

The procedure is the latest evolution in the treatment of patients with emphysema and COPD, conditions involving damaged portions of the lungs that have lost the ability to release trapped air, resulting in hyperinflation of the lungs that impacts breathing. Prior to the arrival of Zephyr Valve treatments, those suffering from severe cases would have to undergo a lung volume reduction surgery to remove the portion of the lung causing the hyperinflation.

“As you can imagine, those patients would be very sick, they would end up in the hospital, they would have chest pain and they would have a very high mortality risk,” said Dr. Saadlla.

A minimally invasive option to treat patients became available in June of 2018 when the Food and Drug Administration approved the Zephyr Endobronchial Valve System. Under this procedure, a physician uses a bronchoscope to place the small Zephyr Valves in the airways within the lungs. The one-way valves release the trapped air and prevent more air from becoming trapped there, allowing the healthy areas in the lung to expand and taking pressure off the diaphragm, improving the patient’s breathing.

As the procedure began to grow in popularity, Adena began putting the pieces in place to offer it close to home for patients in the communities the Health System serves. Dr. Saadlla became comfortable with the procedure and spent a lot of time with physicians who had collected a great deal of experience performing it. Meanwhile, training and education was provided to members of the team who would be involved in some way across the board, including admissions staff, the endoscopy team, patient educators, nurses and respiratory therapists.

Once the entire team was ready, the stage was set in December for the first Adena patient to benefit from the procedure, which she called her “Christmas miracle.”

Dr. Saadlla said patients who have been aware of the existence of the procedure had been asking when Adena would begin offering it. The benefits to those patients of bringing it close to home are numerous, he said.

Because it requires a three-day hospital stay under FDA regulations to, among other things, monitor for any complications following the surgery, having the procedure performed close to home is not only more convenient for the patient, but also for any family members.

“Then, there’s the patient/physician relationship,” Dr. Saadlla said. “These are patients who we know and they know us and we have built trust rather than them having to go someplace else and have a completely different physician do the procedure for them.”

The Zephyr Valves, once put in place, should last a lifetime. The only need to do anything further, Dr. Saadlla said, would involve any issue with one of them moving or if, for instance, one lobe is treated and then, over time, another location in the lungs was to have troubles requiring additional valve placement.

When the first surgery took place, Dr. Saadlla was the only Adena physician who had performed the procedure, but Dr. Rakesh Vadde has been working up patients in order to join Dr. Saadlla in offering it. 

Patients looking to schedule an appointment or learn more about the procedure may contact Adena Pulmonology, Critical Care and Sleep Associates at 740-779-8702.

News

Adena Officials Give Health Update During Conference with Chillicothe Mayor

Presented by McDonald’s, I’m Lovin’ It!

As cases of Covid-19 have increased in recent weeks, Chillicothe Mayor Luke Feeney hosted a Facebook Live broadcast Friday morning featuring leading officials of Adena Health System for an update on the System’s management of the pandemic.

Click on the photo to watch the entire Facebook Live presentation

The hour long conversation included Adena CEO Jeff Graham, Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Kirk Tucker and Chief Nursing Officer Molly Grooms.

Graham described as people have gotten back to a sense of normalcy going to the store an other public places, “you would never probably imagine that the pandemic is as bad as it is in the walls of our hospital.”

“In the last week… at the PACCAR Medical Education Center, we’ve had double lines, clear out and around Hospital Road, of people getting tested” explained Graham as more families are dealing with an increase of concern over the delta and omicron variants.

Tucker added the importance of receiving vaccination for Covid-19. and gave a sampling from the current hospitalization numbers. As of Friday, among those at Adena, only nine of 72 patients are vaccinated. Tucker says in addition, there are six patients in the intensive care unit on ventilators, none of them had been vaccinated.

“You can be fully vaccinated, boosted, gotten anyone one of the three vaccines available… can you get omicron? Yes. Absolutely” Tucker added “The difference is that instead of it being something that has the potential to progress with landing you in the ER because your oxygen levels begin to fall and your body can no longer oxygenate itself… you’re likely to be at home for five days with a headache, a fever, a cough, stuffy nose, sore throat, muscle aches and pains, fatigue and then it breaks and goes away.” Tucker says the same is true with the delta variant.

Adena has been seeing up to 180 patients infected with Covid per day. Grooms suggests if someone is experiencing symptoms, the testing center at the PACCAR MEC is the place to go. “Depending on the severity of how you’re feeling, that’s where you should start.” They’re currently testing Monday through Friday and Adena is receiving assistance from the Ohio National Guard which will help AHS extend the hours for the testing center. “We still have a lot of access within our own primary care” Grooms added. “We have a lot of support in our Urgent Cares for this testing… an if you feel you have the level of acuity and you need to see the emergency room, I’m not discouraging that from happening at all.”

Hear the entire conversation by clicking on the photo above.

News

Adena To Open New Urgent Care On North Bridge Street

Presented By McDonald’s, “I’m Lovin’ It!” & Ross-Chillicothe Convention & Visitor’s Bureau

(Chillicothe) – Adena Health System has announced that it will expand its services in Chillicothe with the addition of a new Urgent Care facility on Bridge Street. The 6,400 square-foot facility will be located in a shared space with Rural King at 1470 North Bridge Street, Chillicothe.

“We recognize the healthcare needs of our communities continue to grow and patients and their families deserve facilities and services that are convenient and close to where they live and work,” said Adena President and CEO Jeff Graham. “Our Adena Urgent Care – Western Avenue location in Chillicothe continues to see record patient volumes, so the opening of this new location not only benefits our patients with more care options but also our providers and caregivers in reducing the strains on their staffing and resources.”

Graham added, “We greatly appreciate our partners with Rural King for sharing in this vision of bringing valuable urgent care services to Chillicothe’s north end of town.”

Initial services offered at Adena Urgent Care – Bridge Street will include:

·        Acute care for illnesses like flu, colds, cough, strep throat and more;

·        COVID-19 testing;

·        Sports physicals;

·        Sprains, strains and minor fractures;

·        Outpatient laboratory services; and

·        X-ray and mobile 3D mammograms.

Patients seeking services at Adena Urgent Care – Bridge Street will have the ability to skip the waiting room experience by using Adena’s convenient online service that allows them to sign-in from home or elsewhere. After signing in online, the patient can continue working or resting at home until they are notified that it is time to come in to the clinic to see a provider. Traditional walk-in service will also be available.

Adena Urgent Care – Bridge Street is scheduled to open in early 2022.

Additional Adena Urgent Care locations can be found throughout Chillicothe, Circleville, Hillsboro, Jackson, Washington Court House and Waverly. For more information and to reserve your spot, visit Adena.org/UrgentCare.   

News

Adena Regional Medical Center Reports 1st Baby Born in 2022

Presented By McDonald’s, “I’m Lovin’ It!” & Ross-Chillicothe Convention & Visitor’s Bureau

(Chillicothe) – Lacey Lyle and her husband, Jared, weren’t taking any chances when it came to preparing for the birth of their first child, who was due to arrive January 22.

“I am a planner, so my husband and I made sure we had everything ready before the new year so we were pretty much set to go, thank goodness,” Lacey said. “Otherwise, I probably would have been having a stroke right now.”

Lacey avoided that stroke she joked about, but she and Jared did become the proud parents of the first baby born at Adena Regional Medical Center in 2022. At 7:33 a.m. Sunday, January 2, they welcomed the arrival of their daughter, Evey Jo Lyle, who entered the world at 5 pounds, 10 ounces and 18 ½ inches long. Evey is their first child.

“I was having contractions early this morning so I hopped in the shower and I just figured they were those fake Braxton-Hicks contractions, but then they started to get more intense,” Lacey said. “My husband was fixing us breakfast and my water broke. We headed in to the hospital and they checked to see if she was breech and she was so they did an emergency C-section to get her out of there.”

In a breech situation, the baby is not in the correct position within the uterus for a regular head-first vaginal birth. Because of the extra risk that can pose to the mother and the baby, a cesarean – or C-section – procedure is often performed to allow for the safest possible birth.

Both mother and daughter were doing fine Sunday afternoon. Lacey said she was appreciative of the quality of care they received and of the fact that “everybody was really nice” in providing that care.

Lacey is originally from Circleville, while her husband is from Greenfield. The couple now lives in Kinnikinnick.

As it does each year, the Adena Women’s Board will provide a gift basket for the first baby of the new year, born as the result of spontaneous labor/birth (not induced or scheduled).

News

Adena Health Reflects On 2021 Accomplishments

Presented By Hometown-Motors, Inc. & Accurate Heating, Cooling & Plumbing

(Chillicothe) – It was a bright, sunny afternoon at a ribbon cutting ceremony in late August when Adena President and CEO Jeff Graham, with the Adena Orthopedic and Spine Institute (AOSI) as a backdrop, talked about the Health System being made up of family, friends and neighbors caring for family, friends and neighbors.

That day, he was looking ahead to the September opening of the new home to Adena’s nationally accredited orthopedics program and specialized care for orthopedics, spine, sports medicine, neurology, podiatry and interventional pain management. While the launch of the AOSI was one of the crowning moments of 2021 for the Health System and its patients, the sentiment spoken that day captured Adena’s everyday commitment to its communities.

“More than 125 years ago, what is now Adena Health System was created by members of the community for the community – its founders passionate in the belief that everyone should have access to quality care,” Graham said. “Today, we share that passion and commitment, which has been demonstrated over the past year through investments in new facilities and technologies; attracting top physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses and other caregivers to Adena; and forging even more partnerships with other health systems and community organizations that enhance what we do here at Adena to keep specialized care close to where our patients and families live.”

Much like the prior year, the COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges along the way, with the Delta variant of the virus producing COVID-related patient surges far exceeding the hospitalizations that occurred during the initial stages of the pandemic. Adena responded, taking the lead in helping the community navigate the crisis through its urgent care and hospital services, operating one of only 15 mass vaccination clinics in the state and providing drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites for patient convenience and safety. As physicians, nurses and other caregivers continued to man the front lines against COVID-19 while maintaining the usual wide array of other services across the Health System, Adena never lost its focus on the future by expanding its services and community partnerships to benefit more of our area’s residents.

Among those efforts:

·        Launching a pediatric hospitalist program partnership in January with Nationwide Children’s Hospital that brought around-the-clock pediatric specialist care to Adena Regional Medical Center, keeping families close to home for essential care.

·        Adding what is now Adena Fayette Medical Center to the Adena family in May. Besides the ability to expand services in Fayette County, the move also brought with it plans for future construction of a new hospital in Washington Court House.

·        The aforementioned opening of the AOSI in September. In addition to bringing several related specialties together under one roof, the facility also opened with a concierge-level of client service and new technology, enhancing the patient experience.

·        An October groundbreaking for a new Medical Office Building expansion onto Adena Greenfield Medical Center. Expected to open in the summer of 2022, the new facility will enhance existing services and the patient experience while setting the stage for future expansion of providers and services in Highland County.

·        Adding more than 70 new physicians and Advanced Practice Providers during a very successful recruiting year in 2021.

·        Expanding a partnership with The Ohio State University to begin a move to a much-improved electronic medical record system called Epic that will benefit patients when it goes live the latter part of 2022.

·        Completing the purchase of the Carlisle Building in downtown Chillicothe. Adena’s decision to become the major tenant for the building played a key role in the Carlisle’s restoration and reopening in 2015 – a reopening seen by many as having been a catalyst for downtown revitalization – and its outright purchase by Adena in the summer of 2021 served to further the Health System’s commitment.

That level of commitment, both to the communities Adena serves and to those who work each day to improve the health and quality of life in those communities, brought with it several honors from key stakeholders in the healthcare industry. Among them:

·        Several for Adena Regional Medical Center, including being named one of America’s 250 Best Hospitals by Healthgrades; receiving a Blue Distinction Centers for Maternity Care designation from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield; being named a Five-Star Hospital by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; earning an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from Leapfrog; receiving The American Heart Association’s GoldPlus Get With the Guidelines Stroke Quality Achievement Award; and being named a Top Rural Hospital nationally by The Leapfrog Group.

·        Recognition for the entire Health System through being named to the Forbes Best-In-State Employers 2021 list.      

Adena recognizes that caring for the health of our communities doesn’t exist only within our exam rooms and surgical suites. It also involves playing an active role in the overall health of the community and continuing to develop partnerships that enhance that health.

During 2021, Adena invested more than $1 million dollars in community health funding, including more than $650,000 in an ongoing program providing athletic trainers to several school districts within the counties we serve and more than $400,000 in other community programming and initiatives. Health System caregivers and volunteers also made significant time investments in community involvement, logging in excess of 2,500 volunteer hours, producing over 25 virtual community health town hall events and supporting 68 community events and organizations with either funding or volunteers.

“Over the last two years, our amazing caregivers at every level of the organization have given so much of themselves to care for the communities they call home,” Graham added. “Through unprecedented patient volumes, long hours, constant demands and personal sacrifices, they have persevered and even thrived supporting one another and lifting our region to better places. Through all this, they showed up every day for our family, friends and neighbors providing more than one million visits within our facilities. I am proud of our Adena family. It is because of their strength and talents Adena has never been stronger and why I am excited for what lies ahead in the new year.”

News

Adena Hospice Helps Former Patient Realize Dream of Publishing

Presented By Classic Brands

(Chillicothe) – Adena Hospice Spiritual Coordinator Cameron Caseman proudly keeps a prized copy of a rare book – one of just 40 ever printed – inside his office. Inscribed inside, a very special note to be cherished forever from the book’s author, Holle Johnson.

“My Earthly angel, without the sunshine you brought to me, I would never have gotten my rainbow,” it reads.

The inscription is a fitting one. Holle, a former hospice patient who went to be with the angels over the Thanksgiving holiday period, had waited 28 years to see her children’s book, “It’s a Secret,” published. The story, which she wrote and illustrated herself, contains a heavy dose of angels and rainbows and she said it had been destined to remain tucked away in the dark for her son, Jeff, to find sometime in the future before Cameron came along to help bring it into the light.

Holle said in an interview just a week before her death that in her younger days, she’d had thoughts about writing and illustrating children’s books, but those remained just thoughts and were never acted upon. Never, that is, until the early 1990s when she served as a parent volunteer with the art club of which Jeff was a part.

“We were having some weird conversation and we were talking about the rainbow and there was some sort of dispute over whether or not indigo is really in a rainbow,” she recalled. “He was going into some scientific thing about how the temperatures of all the colors could be measured and it was way above my head. I said, ‘The angels did it’ and I walked away. It just sparked this idea, so I went with it and I wrote this story. Then, I decided since I wrote the story, I might as well do the pictures.”

The creative process took nine months, after which she applied for and was granted a copyright from the Library of Congress for the work. She was asked to visit the classrooms in her son’s school to read her original copy of the book, but her work never went any further than that. While carrying a lot of sentimental meaning for her, she didn’t know how to get it published, she didn’t see it as a perfect work and she was dealing with some issues that pushed trying to publish the book out of mind.

Fast forward to just a couple months ago when Cameron had his first visit with Holle as part of his hospice responsibilities. As the two talked, Cameron happened to mention he’d had his first book published earlier this year, which prompted Holle to mention her unpublished work and pull it out to show him what she’d done. He immediately saw a change come over her, a “sparkle in her eye.”

“What I usually tell people in hospice is you need to find something to live for, something to get up every day for,” he said. “Holle was a walker, she had a coffee club, she did different things and she was very, very active, so that really wasn’t an issue, but I asked her if there was anything she’d really like to do. She kept mentioning the book. She never said she wanted to make sure it’s published, but she just kept bringing it up.”

Cameron saw an opportunity to make Holle’s unspoken dream a reality, his experience and contacts from getting his own book published making the pair’s meeting seem almost destined to happen.

He immediately reached out to some attorneys he knows to explore any potential legal issues involved and, with direct intervention from Holle, convinced her ex-husband to sign his share of the rights to the book written while the couple was still married over to her. The night those issues were resolved, he sent an email to the company that had published his book and shared some of her backstory and a photo of the book’s cover. After seeing more photos and with Holle being a hospice patient, the publisher decided to make the project a top priority and obtained the pages from her.

The pre-publication proof of the book came back three or four days later and, in all the excitement, a crucial mistake initially went unnoticed. That’s when an element of chance stepped in again.

“I left her and was supposed to tell the publisher by 3 o’clock that it was good,” Cameron said. “I forgot to, though, and about 4:30 she called me and let me know that page 1 was missing, so obviously without that, the story doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Thankfully, I was that bad guy who forgot to call the company to let them know.”

Normally, the situation would have created a second round of proofs being sent out and the accompanying delay. The publisher, who agreed to insert the missing page and double- and triple-check before publishing the final product, worked out an agreement with Cameron on phone approval and got the book published, voluntarily doubling the initial order of 20 copies to provide her with 40 and providing a significant reduction in the cost of production.

None of this was known to Holle until Cameron, working with a social worker and with Jeff, surprised her in the lobby of her apartment building with her books fanned out on a table under balloons and a celebration sign. The gesture, she said, left her speechless.

“For me, it’s like I don’t have the weight of the world on my shoulders any more, if that makes sense,” she said. “It was just something that was forgotten, and now it’s come to light. It was never meant to come to light back then, it just wasn’t meant to be, but patience is a virtue.”

The promise of the book’s publication pushed her to take action on a long-dormant idea for a follow-up to “It’s a Secret,” which she planned to title “It’s a Secret: The Sequel.” At the time of her death, she already had the story completed and about 80 percent of the illustrations done.

Prior to her death, working to get the book published had been something positive Cameron and the hospice staff could grab hold of and follow. Much of the time, hospice work involves helping patients wrap up financial matters or tie up any loose ends and create opportunities for them to say good bye while at the same time providing comfort, counseling and purpose. Turning Holle’s dream into reality and seeing her work ahead on her next project proved inspiring. Getting the book turned around in mere weeks rather than the months such an endeavor would usually take proved satisfying, giving her the chance to actually see and hold the result of her precious work.

For Holle, though, it was just a gift from her “Earthly angel.”

“What touched me more than anything was when Cameron read the book, he said, ‘This is your legacy,’” she said. “Back then, when I did the book, that was my thought, it was just something to leave behind. I didn’t know it would go anyplace, but it would be something that my son, in going through my stuff someday, would come across and say, ‘Wow! I didn’t know Mom did this.’ It was just something to leave behind, and now Cameron’s made that wish come true.”

News

Adena Health Foundation Delivers Coats For Kids

Presented By Hometown-Motors, Inc. & Accurate Heating, Cooling & Plumbing

(Chillicothe) – The holiday season is often a favorite time of year for those able to wrap themselves in its comfort, warmth and joy.

For those with more limited means, however, the season also brings with it the return of bitter cold temperatures that make the warmth enjoyed by so many very hard to come by.

The Adena Health Foundation, in conjunction with the physicians, advanced practice providers and other caregivers throughout Adena Health System, recognizes the need that exists in our schools and communities and for roughly the last dozen years have sought to do something about it through the Coats for Kids program. Recently, more than 1,000 coats purchased and then donated by Adena caregivers were delivered to school districts across the region that had identified students in need of a winter coat.

“I cannot even explain our need for this kind of stuff in our district,” said a guidance counselor at one of the schools where some of the coats were delivered. “Your staff is so appreciated for doing this outreach, I’m sure it’s a ton of work but it’s so needed. When students need coats, it’s a true need, and some of our population does without and we work extra hard just to feed them and get their basic needs covered. Thank you so much.”

In the lead-up to the holiday season, the Health Foundation asks for lists from several area schools of coat sizes and quantities needed for those facing the most difficult financial circumstances within their districts. Students supported by the program are identified by teachers, principals, bus drivers and others who may know of a family’s financial situation or notice that a child may not have proper clothing to ward off the cold.

The Health Foundation then asks Health System employees interested in participating to purchase at least one new coat for students on the list. The coats are collected, prepared and then delivered to the individual school districts for distribution.

They are welcomed with excitement. Megan Miller, a Caregiver Relationship Analyst with Adena, noted that a staff member at Chillicothe Primary School told her, “Coat day is the best day of the year” while another person assisting in the distribution at the school suggested it may be better than Christmas for some. At Piketon High School, Miller added, a parent had called just that morning asking about the coats, while some staff members in Waverly were surprised at the amount of coats piled in the van.

“All in all, it was a wonderful morning filled with tons of smiles,” Miller said, a sentiment shared by several who helped with the deliveries.

Some of the stories of students shared with Adena from past program years clearly show the difference a warm coat can have on a child.

Take, for instance, one little girl who was so excited to receive her coat that she said she would sleep in it, thus allowing her brother to use the blanket that night. Or the response of a 16-year-old girl who cried when receiving her coat, saying nobody had ever bought her anything that nice. Or another instance in which children wore their new coats at recess in unseasonably warm weather because they were so excited to receive them.

Adena’s original participation in the coat drive started as a community project for Nurses Week under the oversight of Sharon Wills and involved slightly less than 300 coats. Over the years, the Health Foundation has expanded its outreach to an increasing number of area schools to the point that following this year’s coat drive, it is estimated that more than 13,000 children will have received coats from Health System employees since the program’s inception.

“It is a project I have done or been a part of for more years than I can remember and one of the most rewarding projects I do,” said Robin Berno, Health Foundation Director of Major Giving. “Giving these kids hope and showing them the love of strangers warms my heart.

“I have had our own caregivers tell me they give and buy coats because they or their children were once recipients of a coat or coats and they want to give back. I always say these kids will pay it forward one day and, when I hear stories like that, I know we are doing the right thing.”

Coats for Kids marks just one of many contributions made by the Adena Health Foundation in its commitment to improve the quality of life in the communities it serves. In addition to receiving contributions from generous donors in the community, funding to meet those needs is also provided by Adena Health System employees during an annual caregiver fundraising campaign conducted every spring. Funds from that campaign not only help in the community, but also provide additional resources to enhance patient care and meet emergency needs of Health System caregivers.

Adena Health System employees and the Adena Health Foundation are happy to provide their warm embrace to students who will benefit from this year’s Coats for Kids campaign, and wish everyone a cozy and joyous holiday season.

For more on how you can help the Adena Health Foundation, email foundation@adena.org or call 740-779-7528.

News

Long-Time Pike County Nurse Retires After 64 Years Of Service

Presented By Hometown-Motors, Inc.

(Photo From Adena Health System)

(Waverly) – Try walking through the halls of Adena Pike Medical Center with Mary Alice Cisco without anyone passing by, flashing a big smile and tossing out some variation of, “Hey, Mary Alice, how’ve you been?” Odds are, you can’t do it. After all, Mary Alice has been an integral part of that hospital since before its doors opened in December of 1958. When her tenure at APMC officially ends with her retirement at the end of this year, it will have been 64 years since she first applied to help care for the residents of Pike County.

The 95-year-old native of Jeffersonville, Indiana, began her journey to a healthcare career during World War II when she pursued training in the Cadet Nurse Corps. She didn’t quite finish the program because, during her second year, she got married – something that wasn’t allowed for those involved in the Corps. She wound up becoming an LPN as a registered surgical technician instead. After a move to Pike County and years of staying home caring for the couple’s two children (at the time, a third would be welcomed into the family later), an opportunity presented itself that she never could have imagined she would still be enjoying more than six decades later.

“As soon as I heard this hospital was going to be built, I applied as soon as I possibly could,” she said. “I was hired around July of 1958 and we didn’t open until December. An RN and I set up surgery, central supply and we also had the recovery room we were responsible for.”

Remembering that in the early days of the hospital they “were a busy bunch,” Mary Alice’s background was put to good use training all of the surgical techs and assisting the physicians performing surgeries at the hospital. Because she was credentialed in Medical Records as well, she also provided help to area nursing homes which had to have a credentialed person on staff.

After 35 years on the surgical staff, Mary Alice moved over to the Medical Records department for the next 25 years of her career. As she reached and then passed the usual retirement age, she knew she still had plenty to contribute after leaving that post.

“At that time, I was plenty old enough to retire and I told the administrator, ‘If you don’t find me another job, I’m going to be leaving,’” she recalled. “So they got me the job I’ve been doing the last several years, which is call backs, where I call surgery and ER patients who have recently been discharged to see how they are doing and get their feedback.

“When Adena took over APMC, they’ve been extremely good to me, and that’s what I’ve continued doing the last four years. I’m enjoying this and really enjoy getting the feedback I gather. I enjoy talking with the patients.

True to her past performance, she hasn’t been content with doing just her own job. Mary Alice has been very active with the hospital’s volunteers to the point that she jokes, “I’m involved with the volunteers as much as if I was a volunteer.”

In 2020, she took the lead in working with the Adena Pike Medical Center Foundation Board and Adena Health Foundation to shepherd to conclusion a project converting an inpatient hospital room at APMC into one specifically for hospice patients and their families. With the help of $15,000 she personally donated, the room now bears her name and includes a pullout couch, microwave, refrigerator, tables and chairs, and more space than the average room, making it much more comfortable for families of hospice patients to gather and visit their loved ones in the hospital. Mary Alice considers that project, as well as the kindness and compassion she’s brought to relationships she’s formed over the decades at the hospital, as her legacy.

Others would definitely agree. During the dedication of the Mary Alice Cisco Hospice Room in 2020, Dave Zanni, Senior Operations Executive Officer at APMC, expressed his appreciation and spoke of the importance of her generosity, her institutional knowledge of the hospital and her willingness to share of herself.

“Throughout her long and storied career at Adena Pike Medical Center, Mary Alice remains a true champion of this facility, never losing faith in what this hospital can accomplish or how we can best serve our community,” he said. “Her passion has been a driving force behind our
successes, making us stronger and better prepared to serve our community members.”

Even now, 25 to 30 years after many people would have called it a career, Mary Alice finds it difficult to consider walking away from something she still enjoys doing. A recent hospital stay as a patient, however, convinced her the time was right. She still plans to stay active with the hospital’s volunteers, saying there is a definite need for additional help and urging members of the community to consider sharing a bit of their time and
abilities to enhance the hospital experience for their friends and neighbors.

When she’s no longer a daily fixture in the APMC halls and her name comes up in conversation, Mary Alice simply hopes people speak of her as having been a good employee who was very faithful to whatever job she happened to be doing. She also hopes they realize how much she
loved them, how they have been like family and how much they will be missed.

“I like to take care of others, and I’m really going to miss coming here,” she said. “Some people say, ‘Why in the world do you want to work that long?’ I just say, ‘Because I really enjoy it.’”