NATHAN LITTAUER HOSPITAL PROJECTS AWARDED STATE SUPPORT THROUGH MOHAWK VALLEY REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL Posted on December 21, 2015 by Dakota PikeGLOVERSVILLE, N.Y. – Nathan Littauer Hospital & Nursing Home’s goal of delivering dialysis care and expanding their primary care footprint is getting closer to becoming a reality. On Dec. 10, when Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the 2015 Regional Economic Development Council Awards, several important projects for Nathan Littauer Hospital & Nursing Home (NLH) were awarded critical support from New York State. The hospital is slated to receive $740,000 from Empire State Development (ESD) to expand its primary care services and to contribute towards the cost of building a dialysis care facility. The funds will help offset the significant investment the hospital is making to bring the projects to fruition.The hospital submitted Consolidated Funding Applications (CFA) to the Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council and ESD earlier this year with two goals in mind: to expand primary care and to provide comprehensive renal health care at Nathan Littauer’s Hospital campus. In addition to the dialysis center, two applications were submitted in response to the burgeoning demand for Littauer’s primary care.Laurence E. Kelly, Nathan Littauer’s CEO and President stated, “Primary care is vital to our population health goals. We have a hugely successful primary care practice spanning almost 50 miles. It is a formula we would like to replicate for underserved communities.” One such goal is to build a new Primary and Specialty Care Center in the village of Fonda.“The Certificate of Need for our Fonda project was approved on Dec. 12,” explained Kelly. He added, “We had a lot of good news this month.”The renal dialysis care center, when completed, will provide critical access to dialysis care in Fulton, Montgomery and Hamilton counties and the surrounding rural communities. “With the prevalence of kidney disease in our area the center will fill an important need,” said Kelly.Geoff Peck, Vice President and Executive Director of the Nathan Littauer Foundation stated, “Traveling long distances to receive primary care and in particular, dialysis care is not only a financial burden it is also an emotional and physical burden on our patients and their families. Kidney failure disproportionally afflicts minorities and the disposed.” He concluded, “So this project is wonderful for the community because it will drastically improve the quality of life of our neighbors.”In August, Littauer announced a relationship with a national provider of outpatient dialysis services and nephrology care and two local physicians Hani Shahata, M.D. and Soo Gil Lee, M.D. The new center will be one of the few dialysis centers with direct access to a nursing home and a hospital. New York State approved the Certificate of Need for the project this fall.“It is exciting to think of the lives that will improve with these projects,” said Kelly. “Thursday’s announcement by the Governor is a wonderful endorsement of that vision.”“Nathan Littauer is grateful to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, Empire State Development, Mohawk Regional Economic Development Council and the Fulton County Planning Department,” said Kelly.More information about the announcement can be found at: https://www.ny.gov/sites/ny.gov/files/atoms/files/REDCAwardsBooklet2015.pdfXXXAbout Nathan Littauer Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home is a full-service, 74 bed acute care hospital with an 84 bed skilled nursing home. For 121 years, Nathan Littauer has provided safe, high-quality health and wellness services with a focus on securing appropriate new technologies for people residing in Upstate New York. Over the years, the hospital has expanded its services to offer health care that is comprehensive, accessible, and relevant to the needs of the communities they serve.
Littauer earns Nuclear Medicine ACR Accreditation Posted on September 14, 2015 by Dakota PikeLittauer earns Nuclear Medicine ACR AccreditationNathan Littauer Hospital has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in nuclear medicine as the result of a recent review by the American College of Radiology (ACR). Nuclear medicine is a branch of medical imaging that uses small amounts of radioactive material, ingested by the patient, to diagnose and treat a variety of disease, including many types of cancers, heart disease, and certain other abnormalities within the body.The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR Practice Guidelines and Technical Standards after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. Image quality, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures, and quality assurance programs are assessed. The findings are reported to the ACR Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report they can use for continuous practice improvement.The ACR is a national professional organization serving more than 36,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services. In addition to nuclear medicine, Littauer is also ACR accredited in mammography, MRI, CT and ultrasound. XXXNathan Littauer Hospital and Family of Health Services serves Fulton, Montgomery, and Hamilton counties in upstate New York with a full-service, 74-bed acute care hospital, nine primary care centers, a nursing home and a community education center. The hospital was founded in 1894, has 1,000 employees and regularly hosts ground-breaking spine surgeries. Nathan Littauer continues to offer the latest in diagnostic imaging, including a new MRI suite. For more information, please visit www.nlh.org.
CDT recognizes three Littauer nurses Posted on August 27, 2015 by Dakota PikeThe Center for Donation & Transplant (CDT) nominated three Nathan Littauer Hospital & Nursing Home nurses for the CDT’s 2014-2015 Lyn LaBarre Donate Life Healthcare Champion of the Year Award. Nurses Charmaine Miskinis, RN, Tina Barber, RN, and Sari Stewart, RN, were honored at the 2015 Donate Life Symposium and Celebration Dinner held in April.Among the many health care professionals in the 43 hospitals that CDT serves, these three Nathan Littauer nurses were nominated by CDT in recognition of their outstanding dedication to organ and tissue donation. They are each responsible for over two dozen timely referrals in 2014, bringing the Littauer donation count to 78 in 2014.“On behalf of CDT and the entire donation and transplant community, thank you and your staff for encouraging the gift of life” said Organ Procurement Coordinator, Joey C. Nuqui, Center for Donation.Littauer’s Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer Stephanie Fishel, notes, “I am proud of our nurses Charmaine, Tina and Sari for their leadership and teamwork. Their efforts are a direct reflection of Littauer nurses as patient and family advocates.”Charmaine Miskinis, RNSari Stewart, RN Tina Barber, RN
The Ferguson Fund supports two Littauer nurses Posted on August 27, 2015August 27, 2015 by Dakota PikeRecently, the Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson and Robert A. Ferguson Fund for Education scholarship award was presented at Nathan Littauer Hospital & Nursing Home. Scholarships of $2,500 each were granted to Jennifer Elmendorf, RN, and Danielle McDuffee, LPN, both employees at Littauer.Jennifer Elmendorf serves Nathan Littauer Hospital as an assistant manager and registered nurse in the Emergency Care Center. With her family present, Elmendorf explained how honored she felt to receive the Ferguson Scholarship. She is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in nursing.Danielle McDuffee is an LPN who also works in Littauer’s Emergency Care Center. “I am so honored to receive the scholarship this year,” said McDuffee. “I reapplied for the award this year, and I’m so happy I remained persistent. The scholarship is going to be a big help in furthering my health care career.” McDuffee is pursuing her RN through Mohawk Valley Community College.“We are honored by the Fergusons commitment to this scholarship fund,” said Nathan Littauer Foundation Executive Director Geoffrey Peck. He added that the Fergusons enjoy the opportunity to personally present the awards. “They meet the scholars, learn about their families, their work and how advancing their education will impact patient care.”Dr. Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson is a Gloversville native and a recently retired Professor of the Department of Sociology at Columbia University. Her husband, Dr. Robert A. Ferguson, is the George Edward Woodberry Professor in Law, Literature and Criticism at Columbia Law School. They own a home in Gloversville and are active in community. The Ferguson Fund continues a family tradition of support to the hospital. Priscilla’s father, Richard B. Parkhurst, served as a longtime member and officer on the Nathan Littauer Hospital Board of Directors.“It was inspiring to meet the two scholarship recipients this year” said Priscilla. “Both of these local young ladies are extremely hardworking, and have chosen to further their careers, all while raising a family.”Inspired by the diligence of the two scholarship recipients, Robert added, “We are great supporters of Gloversville, and of Nathan Littauer as a key institution in Fulton County. We hope that by giving back to this community, others will recognize the importance and do the same.”As educators, Priscilla and Robert appreciate that learning never ends, and they know that the need for incremental learning is especially important and exciting in the medical field where necessary advances in health care take place. They also feel it is a good way to serve the community generally. Just as Littauer employees are the heart and soul of the hospital, so the hospital itself helps sustain Gloversville as a vital and desirable place to live. Priscilla and Robert expect to grow the Ferguson Fund to the point where it can help many employees advance their careers through continuing education while furthering the goals of ever better and safer patient care.“We need the best and brightest minds to enter and remain in the field of healthcare,” said Littauer President and CEO Laurence Kelly. “The field of healthcare must have our finest and most prepared people. This scholarship ensures that its recipients will have the support to do so. It is hard to anticipate the demands that will be placed on hospitals in the future, but this scholarship helps us prepare our workforce for whatever that future will be.”From left: NL Foundation Executive Director Geoffrey Peck, Jennifer Elmendorf, Dr. Robert A. Ferguson, Dr. Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson, Danielle McDuffee. and NLH President and CEO Laurence E. Kelly
Deb Perham receives the NLH ACE Award Posted on August 27, 2015 by Dakota PikeDebra Perham, an administrative assistant in Littauer’s Gloversville Primary & Specialty Care Center, was recently recognized as a Littauer ACE Award recipient. ACE or “Awards Celebrating Employees” is a special recognition for Littauer employees who have gone above and beyond their responsibilities to demonstrate the organization’s mission of caring. It is presented by the hospital’s Rewards and Recognition Committee.Perham was recognized for her heroic efforts when she saved a family from a structure fire. On an early morning in March, she noticed a billow of black smoke coming from a neighbor’s home. Later she noticed flames were burning through the home’s roof. Perham went to the home, where she found the father having breakfast with one of the six children. They were unaware their house was on fire. The flames were burning through the roof, not triggering the smoke detectors.The family quickly evacuated, including the dog. Perham stayed outside with the children until the mother, who was on the second floor of the home, came outside and firefighters arrived. Shortly after the family evacuated, part of the ceiling collapsed on the second floor. Feeling there was little more she could do at that time, Perham left for work at Littauer. Her only concern was that she was about 15 minutes late for work that morning.“I did what anyone else would have done,” said Perham.Perham does not consider herself a hero. However, one family is thankful she took the time to respond the way she did.Nathan Littauer Hospital celebrates Deb Perham as she exemplifies our values in the community.NLH ACE Award recipient Deb Perham (center), with family at award ceremony
