Summa Western Reserve Hospital welcomes Pamela Banchy, RN-BC, PMP, to the role of Chief Information Officer for the hospital.

Summa Western Reserve Hospital, Hudson High School National Honor Society students and the EMS Outreach Fund of Hudson recently teamed up to show just how “cool” safety can be by distributing “Fridge MedPaks” to Hudson residents. The safety aid is kept in the refrigerator to store vital medical information should police, fire and EMS personnel arrive during an emergency.

Summa Western Reserve Hospital welcomes Peggy McDonald, RN, BSN, MSN as the hospitals new Director of Critical Care Services.

Summa Western Reserve Hospital physicians and employees recently visited Richardson Elementary School students to discuss hospital careers and the importance of teamwork within a hospital setting. Throughout the month, employees from across a broad scope of hospital departments, including medical staff, maintenance, marketing, quality improvement, sleep medicine, graduate medical education, speech pathology, nursing and food services, met with students to talk about their career field and how they work with others in the hospital to provide collaborative care for patients.

“It is never too early to expose students to the multitude of career opportunities that exist, and doing so by partnering with businesses in our community makes the experience even more relevant,” said Dr. Todd M. Nichols, superintendant and CEO, Cuyahoga Falls City Schools. “Ensuring our students are both career and college ready is our first job, and requires a rigorous blend of both traditional academics and exposure to real-world employment environments. The partnership with Summa Western Reserve Hospital provides students with a glimpse at the broad range of jobs available in a single-setting, and is a great way to motivate them toward our goal of readiness.”

Summa Western Reserve Hospital physicians and employees recently visited Richardson Elementary School students to discuss hospital careers and the importance of teamwork within a hospital setting. Throughout the month, employees from across a broad scope of hospital departments, including medical staff, maintenance, marketing, quality improvement, sleep medicine, graduate medical education, speech pathology, nursing and food services, met with students to talk about their career field and how they work with others in the hospital to provide collaborative care for patients.

“It is never too early to expose students to the multitude of career opportunities that exist, and doing so by partnering with businesses in our community makes the experience even more relevant,” said Dr. Todd M. Nichols, superintendant and CEO, Cuyahoga Falls City Schools. “Ensuring our students are both career and college ready is our first job, and requires a rigorous blend of both traditional academics and exposure to real-world employment environments. The partnership with Summa Western Reserve Hospital provides students with a glimpse at the broad range of jobs available in a single-setting, and is a great way to motivate them toward our goal of readiness.”

Special guest Orman Hall, director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, discusses resolving Ohio’s opiate and prescription drug epidemic.

The physicians of the Center for Pain Medicine at Summa Western Reserve Hospital continue to re-envision the treatment of chronic pain, and to promote awareness of and provide education about this vital initiative, the Center recently hosted a one-day conference for more than 100 healthcare professionals. Physicians, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, nurses, pharmacists and students attended "Chronic Pain Management: Improving the Patient’s Quality of Life," a special seminar led by Dr. Samer Narouze and aimed at elevating the use of less invasive, multidisciplinary pain treatment approaches.

“There are many things today that we can throw at the problem in the form of prescription medications, but the only way to truly approach pain treatment is through a comprehensive approach that can alleviate the problem on all levels,” said Narouze. “There is more value and safety in a multidisciplinary approach in that we surround the problem on all sides to more effectively ease the suffering of the patient and restore a better quality of life.”

Summa Western Reserve Hospital recently hosted a sleep disorder seminar entitled “Understanding and Treating Sleep Disorders."

The free, public event was part of Summa Health System’s “Sleep Week” events to raise awareness about common sleep disorders, their effects and treatment practices to remedy them. The event featured special guest speaker, Dr. Lawrence Saltis, Medical Director and Neurologist of the Summa Western Reserve Hospital Sleep Medicine Center.

Saltis discussed sleep structure and how the body is impacted by sleep and a lack thereof. Disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome (RLS) and common deviations from sleep patterns were discussed as well as treatment methods currently used to aid sleep disorders.

Guests were provided with a free lunch at the hospital, a free sleep kit gift and enjoyed a raffle drawing featuring a “Sleep Well” basket.

State’s increased network bandwidth speeds will solidify Ohio’s standing in cutting edge medical research, innovation, patient care and education

Summa Western Reserve Hospital was one of four sites that recently joined a live video conference with Gov. John Kasich to discuss a ten-fold boost to OARnet’s statewide network bandwidth, an initiative to bolster an accelerated network to serve as a technological pipeline for the latest advancements in medical research and technology within Ohio’s medical corridor.

The extensive broadband network will benefit the state for training doctors on the newest clinical procedures, network physicians to allow experts to share their advances and innovations such as the ultrasound guided pain relief procedures pioneered by Dr. Samer Narouze, chairman, Center for Pain Medicine at Summa Western Reserve Hospital.

In honor of Black History Month, Summa Western Reserve Hospital recently teamed up with actors from Hale Farm and Village to present a special performance of "A Fugitive’s Path" Feb. 23.

The event took place at the hospital auditorium and hosted students from Richardson Elementary School. Special guest Rev. Carl P. Wallace of Trinity United Church of Christ also addressed the audience regarding the significance of this pivotal time in the nation’s history.

"The history of the Underground Railroad is a history of our great nation coming together for freedom," said Wallace. "In the 1800s, it is estimated that more than 100,000 slaves were aided by patriotic Americans to seek freedom from their enslavement by relocating to Canada and Mexico. It is has been documented that there are more than 700 locations in Ohio of these Underground Railroad stops where ‘conductors’ risked their very lives so others may be free. This story must not die and for Summa Western Reserve Hospital to enable the students of Richardson Elementary to keep this history alive speaks to the very spirit of America, a place of freedom for all."

Summa Western Reserve Hospital recently launched its new Lung Health Program. One of the only lung health and smoking cessation programs of its kind in the area, the program offers collaborative care for smokers (both current and those who have quit) or those exposed to secondhand smoke.

A unique feature of the program is the inclusion of a rapid, non-invasive, pain-free low-dose CT scan that produces a three-dimensional image of the lungs. This screening measure has been proven extremely accurate for early detection of cancers and abnormalities in the chest. Individual or group consultation sessions for smoking cessation are also provided.