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TraumaDirector to LeadEmergency Care

— Page 2

INSIDE

1

…Check My NorthBay, Your Employee Portal, for News in

Real Tim

e…

Hard HatKicks intoHigh Gear

Proudly Pink

Trio of Employees Reachthe Fabled 40-year Mark

October is filled with breast cancer awareness activities, such as the Passionately Pink for a Cure event, in which Vacaville firefighters donned special T-shirts to serve pizza and pasta in a fundraiser for the NorthBay Cancer Center. See more pho-tos inside, along with the story of a breast cancer survivor, a feature on our new technology in fighting breast cancer, details of an upcoming lecture, and a “Did You Know” focused on “Hope for Women.” See Pages 13 -15 and 20.

Susan Henry and Linda Pryor

The walls are up, window glass is placed and the roof is on. But what’s going on inside the new North wing at NorthBay Medical Center? Plenty, and FYI and the Hard Hat Report will detail it all in the coming months, leading up to ribbon cuttings and dates for move-in, staffing and, ultimately, “heads in beds.”

Here’s a snapshot of what is included in the 70,000-square-

Some were decked out in fancy dresses and suits for the occasion, while a few came straight from work and were still in scrubs, but all were gathered to celebrate their years working at NorthBay Healthcare, dur-ing the Annual Employee Recognition & Awards Banquet, held Oct. 10 at the Sunrise Event Center in Vacaville.

More than 194 employees, in-cluding 40 with more than 20 years

See Hard Hat, Page 19

See MARK, Page 8

10.24.18

There’sHope

for Women

— Page 20

New Hires 2#OurDocTalk 6 Shared Governance 10Sports Clinic Success 12Patient Shares Story 14

2TO REMEMBERDATES

IN THE NEWSPEOPLE

LETTERS

DATES

PEOPLE

NEW FACESWELCOMEWELCOME

LETTERS

Annemarie GolzFacilities Project & Development ManagerFacilities DevelopmentGreen Valley Administration Center

Farzaneh RezapourClinical Nurse IISurgeryNorthBay Medical Center

Veterans Remindedto Mark Calendars

Heather Venezio, R.N., has been named NorthBay Health-care’s Emergency Services and Trauma Program Director. Heather has a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Louisiana; a bachelor’s degree in psychology from University of Massachusetts at Amherst; and a master’s degree in develop-mental psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Heather came to NorthBay 15 years ago as a traveling nurse. She became a permanent staff nurse, then trauma program director, interim Emergency Department director and now

assumes her new role as director for Emergency Services and the Trauma Program.

“Heather brings a wealth of knowledge in all things emer-gency medicine/trauma, within NorthBay and nationally,” said Traci Duncan, vice president and chief nursing officer. “She is

sought after for her expertise and regularly consults and educates across California. Heather is mas-terful at grant writing and using resources to support trauma and emergency services in innova-tive ways. She works tirelessly to support her staff and is making a difference every day.”

TraumaDirector

to OverseeEmergency

Services

NorthBay Healthcare is planning a pair of events to celebrate its many employees who are military veterans.

Veterans are encouraged to attend either the 7 a.m. program in the Welcome Pavilion at NorthBay Medical Center, or the 10 a.m. cele-bration in the Wellness Center conference facility in Vacaville, both on Friday, Nov. 9.

Several NorthBay leaders and David Grant Medical Center officials are scheduled to speak.

Heather Venezio, R.N., has accepted the role as director for both the Trauma Program and Emergency Services.

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NorthBay Mourns Loss of Creative GeniusAdam Burke, 1971-2018

NorthBay Healthcare leaders, board members, employees and volunteers said goodbye to Foundation Board Member Adam Burke during a celebration of life event Oct. 20 in Vacaville.

Adam, a non-smoker, lost his battle with lung cancer on Oct. 8. He was diagnosed in January. He is survived by his wife, Kim, and their two sons, Aidan and Zachary. Zachary works in NorthBay Medical Center’s Environmental Services Department.

Adam became a board member in 2015 because he wanted to help his community, said Brett Johnson, NorthBay Healthcare Foundation president.

An extremely talented artist-animator and creative ge-nius for Pixar, Adam contributed to the success of the Solano Wine & Food Jubilee and other philanthropic endeavors. His artwork was featured for Open That Bottle Night and for the 2017 Jubilee.

“He elevated the reputation of many of our public fund-raising events, donating his own imaginative artwork and hosting fabulous, one-of-a-kind tours of Pixar Studios in Em-eryville for lucky families of the highest bidders,” said Brett. “He gave his time at NorthBay management and employee meetings, showing how Pixar did its magical work.”

Adam’s wife, Kim, has also been generous with North-Bay, serving as a Guild volunteer. Adam and his family were deeply moved when the Foundation organized “The Burke’s Christmas in September,” inviting a few hundred people to stop by the family’s Fairfield home and share their love with Adam. Although it was 90-plus degrees that day, many guests wore Christmas sweaters and Santa hats, sharing cheer through the tears.

Adam shows how to illustrate “Jack Jack” (above) and smiles during his holiday party (below) with wife Kim and Brett “Santa” Johnson.

Retirement might be far into your future, or just around the corner. Either way, it will be here no matter what. So, why not get ready for it?

Help is on hand during an upcoming NorthBay Healthcare Retirement Summit, hosted by Rod Acord of Lincoln Financial

Advisors. The summit will be held from 8:45 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3 at Green Valley Administration Center.

During the summit, North-Bay employees, their spouses or guests can hear about the latest in tax law changes and the im-portance of tax-efficient investing

from Prudential’s Chris Sheckley. BayCrest Insurance Services’ Al-len Eckman will offer attendees ways to navigate the “A-B-C-D’s of Medicare.”

Seating is limited and RSVPs are requested. Just call (707) 425-5020, or email acordgroup@LFG.com.

Retirement Summit Helps Employees Hear Latest Updates

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Time for a TourOncologist and hematologist Brian Vikstrom, M.D., (center, above) and senior market-ing representative Kelly Rhoads-Poston (at right) were offered a tour of the Genentech manufacturing plant in Vacaville after Dr. Vikstrom gave a presenta-tion to employees. The tour meant suiting up to prevent contami-nation, hence the white suits.

Two members of the NorthBay Healthcare Quality team were guest speakers at this year’s Cerner Health Conference in Kansas City, Missouri.

Jessica Coyne-Lowe, Quality Improvement and Infec-tion and Prevention manager, and Megan Davis, Quality Improvement coordinator, joined members from Univer-sity of Pittsburgh Medical Center in a panel presentation titled, “Making Measures Meaningful; Capturing Quality Data for eCQMs to Implement Quality and Operational Improvements.”

The presentation highlighted the steps taken in the last few years in partnership with Cerner’s Quality En-gagement Team to ensure NorthBay’s successful submis-sion of CMS’s new electronic core measure requirements.

These measures are unique because they pull data directly from the electronic health record and are sub-mitted to CMS, without manual chart review by the Quality Department, explained Megan. The session high-lighted ways to evaluate the effectiveness of submis-sion, how to identify key champions and tools to improve efficiency in validation of the data, as well as ways to gain strategies to quantify and monitor improvement outcomes using data analysis.

“It was a valuable experience to attend the confer-ence and see all of the potential that Cerner has to offer our organization,” said Jessica. “We were able to collabo-rate and exchange ideas with Cerner users from all over the world.”

Two Quality Speakers RepresentNorthBay at Annual Conference

Answers Coming Via Video BlogLooking for some answers on Operation-

al Excellence, aka OpEx? NorthBay Health-care President and CEO Konard Jones has answers and will bring them to you in his

video blog.Look for an announce-

ment coming to your email box soon. Just click

the link and you can watch the video on a smart phone, tablet or laptop computer. Still have questions? Email them to dbar-ney@NorthBay.org, and they will be ad-dressed in a future video blog.

Megan Davis (left) and Jessica Coyne-Lowe, of the Quality Improvement team, give a presenta-tion at the Cerner Health Conference in Kansas City, representing NorthBay.

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Staff from the Finance, Health Information Management, Patient Access and Accounting, Rev-enue Cycle and IT departments gathered recently to honor the late Rose Kennedy at a head-stone placement ceremony and luncheon organized by her hus-band, Michael Shafer. Rose was NorthBay Healthcare’s senior director of Revenue Cycle when she passed away in 2013 after a short battle with cancer.

Also attending the ceremony was a teacher from Fairview Elementary School, who came to honor Rose and the endowment that was created in her name.

The endowment assures that a number of Fairview students will receive brand new shoes and socks through NorthBay’s annual Adopt-a-School program. Rose had launched the shoe donation effort after learning of the need among Fairview’s homeless chil-dren in 2012.

“Rose was an amazing mentor

and inspirational leader,” noted Lori Eichenberger, current senior director of Revenue Cycle, “and it was her way to encourage every-one she touched to be their best. She encouraged me to go back to school and get my degree, and I did. Ever the professional, she had a way of developing a unique and personal relationship with all her employees, and even to this

day we find ourselves saying, ‘what would Rose do?”’

Note: The Adopt-a-School program has gone “live” and classroom signups are under way (see Page 18). Funds may also be donated to Rose’s endowment. For infor-mation, contact Teresa Pierce at ext. 7049.

Honoring Rose’s LegacyNorthBay, Fairview School Staffs Attend Event

Attending the luncheon to honor Rose were (left to right) Peggy Davis, Art DeNio, Teresa Pierce, Terese Davis, Michele Aceves, Lori Eichenberger, Rose Bailey, Kathryn Flores, Michael Shafer, Tammy Evans and Jason Pierce.

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Give a Hand for #OurDocTalk Duo

TO REMEMBERDATES

IN THE NEWSPEOPLE

LETTERS

DATES

PEOPLE

NEW FACESWELCOMEWELCOME

LETTERS

10.25.18 Employee Benefit/ Open Enrollment Fair, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., VVHP Suite 24010.26.18 Employee Benefit/Open Enrollment Fair, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., GVAC10.27.18 Alzheimer Walk, 9 to 11 a.m., Suisun Waterfront10.27.18 NICU Reunion, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., GVAC11.07.18 Cancer Talk with Jessica Powers, M.D., and Pooja de Sa, M.D., 5:30 p.m., VacaValley Wellness Center 11.08.18 Andrew Brooks, M.D., Joint Replacement Lecture, 5:30 p.m., GVAC11.09.18 Veterans Day Recognitions – NorthBay Medical Center at 7 a.m.; VacaValley Hospital at 10 a.m.11.22.18 Solano Turkey Trot, 8 a.m., Solano Community College11.24.18 Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Holiday in the Park, 2 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Certified hand therapist Lori Russell (left) and orthopedic specialist Daniel Birkbeck, M.D., pose for a photograph prior to their #OurDoc-Talk Facebook chat on hand ailments and treatment options.

Treatment options abound when it comes to hand disorders and injuries and working with an expert physician and certified hand therapist can make all the difference.

That was the message during the most recent installment of #OurDocTalk on the NorthBay Facebook page.

Orthopedic specialist Daniel Birkbeck, M.D., and certified hand therapist Lori Russell teamed up for the half-hour Facebook Live streaming video chat, answering questions about carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis and other common hand ailments.

Dr. Birkbeck explained that there is a common misconception that if you work at a

keyboard, you are more likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome.

“I would say the op-posite, that anyone can develop carpal tunnel,” he explained. “Some people are more prone to it, and

some of it can be your anatomy and other predisposing factors. But I think it’s fair game for anyone to develop. And it’s not always developed on your dominant side, either.”

Determining whether someone has carpal tunnel involves exploring their history and physical examination as well as a nerve con-duction study. “This is a special test where we run small amounts of electricity through the nerve to determine how fast the signal travels across the carpal tunnel in the wrist where compression typically occurs,” he ex-plained.

A diagnosis of carpal tunnel doesn’t auto-matically mean surgery is needed, he said. Modification of activities and various stretch-es and nerve glide exercises will often be the first step in treatment. “And wearing a splint at night is often helpful because it puts the wrist in a more comfortable position where the nerve doesn’t get pressure on it,” he said.

Working with a hand therapist is also im-portant. Lori explained some of the exercises typically used to help patients.

“We’re always trying to get the pressure off the nerve,” she explained as she demon-strated some tendon glide exercises that can help stretch the hand and wrist. “They are

all designed to be smooth and easy. We don’t want to put a lot of stress on it because we are trying to relieve the stress and take the pressure off,” she said.

It’s also important for patients to learn the exercises so that they can follow through and do them at home or work, and not just when they come in to see the thera-pist, she added.

The full video chat can be viewed on the NorthBay Facebook page (Facebook.com/NorthBayHealthcare) and will be posted on the NorthBay YouTube channel soon.

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Work has begun in earnest at OLE Health’s second Fairfield medical office build-ing — in NorthBay Health Plaza, across the street from NorthBay Medical Center. Although the partnership between NorthBay Healthcare and OLE Health has not been announced publicly yet, work is moving at a steady pace behind the scenes to get the office ready for a soft opening on Nov. 5. Health Center Manager Dora Tamayo (above) checks out the waiting room while Demetrio Rubio, facil-ity manager, (at right) keeps tabs on prog-ress in the lab area. A grand opening is being planned later in No-vember. The partner-ship was announced to NorthBay Healthcare employees in the Oct. 10 issue of FYI.

Get a jump start on holiday festivities by joining with your NorthBay family and friends at the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom’s “Holiday in the Park” event, set for Saturday, Nov. 24.

Visitors can enjoy more than 1 million lights, holiday-themed shows, a snow hill and favorite rides on this special day, from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Tickets are $25 per per-son, and one free parking voucher per ticket sale is available, while supplies last. The special pricing is avail-able to NorthBay employees, physicians, Guild volunteers, contracted employees and their families, courtesy of the Special Activities Committee.

Ticket sales begin Nov. 7.

Tickets Goon Sale Soon for Holidayin the Park

OLE Getting Ready to Open in the Health Plaza

Flexing Their SkillsSeth Barger, R.N., describes proper femoral artery compression techniques to Sheilamae Wagness, R.N. (at left) during NorthBay’s annual Nursing Skills Fair last week in Green Valley. Brian Johnson, R.N., (above left) and James-Michael Johnson, ED Tech, perform a timed exercise using the LUCAS automated compression device.

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of service to NorthBay, were honored during the evening’s festivities.

As the evening kicked off, President and CEO Konard Jones reminded the crowd of where we were a year ago, when Napa wildfires caused the postponement of last year’s banquet in October. Nearly 500 meals had already been prepared, so it was decided that they would be donated to firefighters, volunteers and evacuees. The banquet was

NorthBayHonors Tenure

Susan HenryCertified Phlebotomy Tech-LeadClinical Lab, NorthBay Medical

Center

Linda PryorRisk Management Program

Manager, Corporate Administra-tion, Hilborn Administration Center

Terri TaylorCT Technologist

CT ScannerNorthBay Medical Center

Jo ApiladoAnesthesia Technician

AnesthesiologyNorthBay Medical Center

LoMai GozaLaboratory Supervisor

Clinical LaboratoryVacaValley Hospital

Darcie Hutson (Retired)Respiratory Care Practitioner II

Respiratory TherapyNorthBay Medical Center

Debra LumOutpatient Complex Case

Manager IIINB Case Management

NorthBay Medical Center

Apolania MatabanEnvironmental Services Aide

Environmental ServicesNorthBay Medical Center

Dana MoodyClinical Pharmacist II

PharmacyVacaValley Hospital

30-Year Awardees

40-Year Awardees

subsequently rescheduled for late November.

“That event affected so many lives, and yet here we are a year later, with so much to be thankful for,” Konard said, to the crowd’s applause.

Two of the three longest ten-ured employees were honored for reaching the 40-year mark with a video tribute: Susan Henry, certified phlebotomy tech-lead, and Linda Pryor, risk management program manager. Terri Taylor, CT technologist, was unable to attend but will receive her gifts at a later date.

The awards banquet also in-

The Pharmacy Team (above) cheers for Dana Moody, who

couldn’t attend the Employee Appre-

ciation Banquet to celebrate her 30th

anniversary, so they brought her along by

affixing her portrait to a popsicle stick. Wycitra Foster (at

right) had a thumbs up after receiving her

25-year honor from NorthBay Healthcare

President and CEO Konard Jones (left) and board member Archie Humphrey.

Mark ... (From Page 1)

See MARK, Page 9

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Neeta BhasinFermin CalderonErnesto EspirituTamara FosnotWycitra FosterKeni HoriuchiBrett JohnsonKaren LoeweEdie Machado

Camelia MedinaCarmen Ramirez-Brooks

Lisa Walters

Elaine BryantClaudia Cope

Christina CorleyNorlan Crim, Jr. Aimee GriffithsCharles Hall, Jr. Michelle HearneMelinda KabahitKevin Lumpkin

Berlinda MajerleTrang Nokelby

Tamara PagliariJacqueline Santiago

Dawn SwitzerGeorge VaughnTrisha Vaughn

Cindy Zook

25-Year Awardees

A link to the banquet program and a complete list of awardees can be found on My NorthBay, your employee portal.

20-Year Awardees

Trina SayasSenior Systems AnalystInformation Technology

Green Valley Administration Center

Jerry WilcoxDirector

Diagnostic ImagingNorthBay Medical Center

cluded video tributes for those in attendance marking their 30-year milestones.

Archie Humphrey, chair-man, NorthBay Healthcare Group board of directors, joined Konard to hand out plaques, pose for photos and offer accolades.

“It’s important for us to take the time and say thank you for your service,” said Ko-nard. “It’s the valuable contri-butions of our talented and loyal employees who make NorthBay Healthcare’s continued growth — particularly during these turbu-lent times for healthcare — possible.”

30-Year Awardees

(From Page 8)

Mark ... (From Page 8)

After receiving her 25-year award Neeta

Bhasin, a clinical Pharmacist II, asked

to use the microphone for a minute in order to

thank her team for all their support through

the years. So naturally, after the ceremony, she

needed a group photo to commemorate the event. Also capturing

images during the eve-ning was Heather Troutt

(at right), of Women and Children’s Services.

Selfies were also popular during the evening.

10

DBCs Celebrate Accomplishments

This is the second in a series of blogs written by Valerie Valentin, R.N., who works at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital and is the communication of-ficer for Shared Governance. You’ll also find it online on My NorthBay, your employee portal — Editor. By Valerie Valentin

I’m in the mood to dance! To do that, I am going to enlist the help from the music group Kool and the Gang. Maybe you’ve heard of this song? “Celebrate good times, come on! /Let’s

celebrate/Cel-ebrate good times, come on! /Let’s cel-ebrate!” This month, we had a party during Shared Governance, a celebration to highlight all the accomplish-

ments from each Department-Based Council (DBC). And boy, does NorthBay’s staff know how to throw a party!

This year, each DBC created a poster board presentation to showcase their goals and accom-plishments to be displayed during Shared Governance.

Each DBC was given guidelines for information to incorporate into their board such as Quality Improvement data, unit-specific goals and bonding/fun activities.

The conference room at GVAC was transformed into a “Cel-ebration Center,” with each DBC poster board spread around the room. The different DBC boards were so creative. Many of them were decorated with various

See DBC, Page 11

Members of the team from VacaValley 1 and 2 West pose with their poster board.

Members of the team from Unit 1800 at NorthBay Medical Center pose with their poster board display.

Members of the Acute

Care team from Units 1600 and

1700 at NorthBay

Medical Center pose

with their poster board.

Members of the

team with Womens and

Children’s Services

pose with their poster

board.

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props such as balloons, flower arrangements, candy/cookies and even a fake baby! (Can you guess which unit had the baby?)

Everyone was engaged and in high spirits. Members of the Nursing Congress and upper management were invited to attend. The upper management enjoyed it so much, seeing how proud our staff was of their boards, they stated they would love to attend again next year!

Check out some of the pictures and next time you see your DBC members, please give them (and yourselves, of course!) a pat on the back and a round of applause for a job well done! Let’s continue to celebrate!

DBC ... (From Page 10)

Have a Shared Governance question? Email Val-erie at VValentin@NorthBay.org and she’ll try to incorporate the answer into a future blog.

Clinical Support Services’ team poses with their poster board.

The Perioperative Services Team poses with their contribution.

The ICU team posing with their poster board.

Respiratory Therapy’s team member and poster board.

The Catheterization Lab team poses with their board.

Two from the Cardiology team (above) pose with their poster and two from the Emergency Department (be-low) pose with theirs.

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If friends and family are asking you insur-ance questions that you can’t answer, don’t despair, help is here. You’ll find it at: northbay.org/patients-visitors/ask-Kelly-FAQ.cfm.

Click on “Health Plans and Insurance” for an up-to-date list on what health plans are accepted and consider NorthBay “in-network.”

And if all else fails, you can ask Kelly Rhoads-Poston, senior marketing represen-tative, at (707) 646-3280.

She can not only help navigate the in-surance landscape, but she’s pretty good at helping folks determine which physician would best meet their needs.

Kelly Can Help Find Answers The open enrollment period for the 2019 plan

year kicks off tomorrow and Friday with benefits fairs and plenty of representatives will be on hand to help explain it all.

The benefit fairs are from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 25 at the VacaValley Health Plaza, Suite 240, and from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 26 at the Green Valley Administration Center conference facility, Rooms 155-156.

Not only can you take care of your benefits, but you can also receive a flu shot. Flu clinics will be available from 7 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. both days.

All changes will be handled online and computer access will be available during the benefit fairs. The final day to make changes in the computer lab on the NorthBay campus is Nov. 19. The final day in Vacaville will be Nov. 20. The last day at Green Val-ley will be Nov. 21.

If you have no changes to your coverage and do not participate in the flexible spending accounts, you do not need to complete the online enrollment process. Questions? Call Diane Urbano, Human Re-sources services manager at (707) 646-3313.

Mark Your Calendar to Attend the Benefit Fairs

Saturday Sports Clinics Nearly Done

Robert Pe-terson, M.D., checks out a possible fin-ger strain on water polo player Tyler Malotte, 14, under the watchful eyes of his parents, Lisa and Ryan.

It has been an exciting year for growth since NorthBay Healthcare unveiled its first-ever Saturday morning Sports Medi-cine Clinic this summer at North-Bay Urgent Care in the Nut Tree Plaza.

Orthopedic specialists Robert Peterson, M.D., Jay Parkin, M.D., and Kevin Miller, D.P.M., alter-nated weekends, seeing athletes of all ages, starting Aug. 18. The final clinic of 2018 will be Oct. 27.

“We’ve seen 14 patients through the first eight weeks,” said Kevin Pattison, director of Orthopedics. “Of those, one is now a NorthBay surgical patient, and people who never knew about our services have had the chance to meet our physicians

and learn about what we have to offer. It’s a win, and we believe the volume will continue to grow year after year,” said Kevin.

Sharing space with NorthBay Urgent Care was also ideal, said

Kevin. “Our Urgent Care is one of the nicest facilities and they had space available, so we could could slide in with very little ef-fort. Plus, they have an X-ray machine in the clinic.”

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In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, NorthBay Health-Spring Fitness will cut the cost of new memberships by 50 percent if you donate to Solano Midnight Sun Breast Cancer Foundation in October.

Just bring in proof of your donation to re-ceive the discount when you enroll at Health-Spring Fitness.

For membership options or to schedule a tour, call (707) 301-4060 or visit the facility, at 1020 Nut Tree Road in Vacaville.

HealthSpring Offers Deal, Raises Awareness

Are you concerned about lung cancer? Are you between the ages of 55 and 74, and did you smoke between two and three packs per day? Did you quit within the past 15 years, or are still smoking?

If you answered yes to these questions you may be at increased risk for lung cancer and eligible for a lung cancer CT screening.

NorthBay Healthcare is holding low-dose CT lung cancer screenings between Nov. 12 and Nov. 30 through Solano Diagnostic Imaging (SDI), at either of SDI’s Vacaville or Fairfield locations.

SDI will bill the patient’s insurance com-pany, and some assistance with co-pays may be available. Call the reservation line at (707) 624-8140 for information.

Lung Cancer Screenings Set

Pizza Time Fundraiser for Pink-Tober!Pietros No. 1 was hopping in Vacaville Oct. 17, when Vacaville firefighters put on special T-shirts and served pizza and pasta to raise money for the NorthBay Cancer Center. Enjoying the experi-ence were members of the Lydon family (above) and Joanna Olson, Clinical Nurse II in the Vaca-Valley ICU, (right) with her son, Kyle Melton.

14

Savi Scout System is Key in the Arsenal“I never thought I would get

cancer. I never, ever thought it was possible. It doesn’t run in my family, and I didn’t feel a lump,” says Diana Muehlhausen, 65, of Rio Vista.

But suspicious, small lumps did show up in her left breast on her regular mammogram, so the team at Solano Diagnostic Imag-ing contacted Diana to return for a second and even a third image in late June.

“I didn’t understand why they were calling me back to repeat it,” she said, “but it definitely got my attention after they said they were referring me to a specialist.”

The specialist was Jason Marengo, M.D., oncoplastic surgeon at the NorthBay Cancer Center, and he explained that Di-ana’s lumps, although at Stage 0, were in fact a kind of cancer that had worrisome characteristics.

She was scheduled for a lumpectomy and from this point on, Diana would now have access

not only to cutting-edge technology at the NorthBay Cancer Center, but also to Dr. Marengo’s special-ized training in breast reconstruction and conservation tech-niques. Having him teamed with Brian Vikstrom, M.D., her oncologist/hematolo-gist, so early in the treatment regimen is unique to cancer care, not only in Solano County, but within the greater San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento Valley, according to Lori Muir, director of Oncology Services for NorthBay Health-care.

“Yes, it’s rare for a breast cancer patient to be seen by a plastic surgeon before they have breast conservation surgery and radiation therapy,” agreed Dr. Marengo, “but that’s actu-ally when it’s most critical. We

have this consultation first, to map out tissue-preserving incisions, because after radiation treatments there are few options to preserve the breast with mini-mal contour changes. The blood supply to the breast changes after radiation and limits our ability to rearrange breast tissue to mini-

mize contour changes after cancer removal.

That’s why we create an in-depth plan before surgery and radia-tion, for a better cosmetic out-come.”

Diana also had access to a new tool in NorthBay Cancer Center’s arsenal to help women prepare for their breast cancer surgery, called a Savi Scout Wire-free Radar Localization System.

This system allows Dr. Maren-go to more precisely locate tu-

(See SAVI, Page 15)

Diana Muehlhausen

It’s rare for patients to receive an oncoplastic surgical consultation before cancer treat-ment begins, but it’s the protocol at North-Bay Cancer Center. It leads to better out-comes for the patient, says Jason Marengo, M.D., oncoplastic sur-geon (left). Not only did Diana Muehlhau-sen (below) receive that critical consulta-tion, but her treat-ment plan included use of the Cancer Center’s newest piece of technology.

15

Physicians Plan Candid Talk on Cancer

mors — or tiny lumps, in Diana’s case — and remove them while sparing healthy tissue and pre-serving the breast’s most natural shape.

Diana’s surgery, held in mid-August, was successful, and not only did she have the worrisome lumps removed from her left breast, as well as some lymph nodes, but Dr. Marengo also per-formed breast reduction surgery on her right breast so that she would have improved symmetry.

“Dr. Marengo is so dedicated to his patients that it is some-times surprising,” Diana said. “All the doctors, including Dr. Vikstrom, and their staff are so supportive, kind and help-ful. They make the doctor visits not so terrible and depressing. Dr. Marengo actually gives his patients his private cell phone number so you can call or text him anytime, day or night, to ask any questions. He is that

available. And if the radiologist didn’t see these tiny specks, and do multiple images, then where would I be? Stage 2 or 3? If I didn’t have a facility that is as caring as NorthBay Cancer Center, and if I didn’t have the support of my husband, who also has a cancer history, I don’t

know if I would be recovering as well as I am. This is so important for the patient.”

Diana also had some advice for others.

“Don’t wait to have your mammogram. Just don’t put it off, even if you don’t feel a lump. They do them for a good reason.”

It’s important for surgeons to find the exact location of can-cerous cells that will be removed during a lumpectomy. During the surgery, surgeons are guided to the tumor by following a wire that has been inserted inside the breast during a proce-dure called wire localization. The wire is localized on the morn-ing of the surgery by a radiologist. This can cause extended discomfort for the patient.

NorthBay Healthcare recently acquired the Savi Scout Wire-free Radar Localization System, and it doesn’t use wires, but instead uses a small, 1 cm reflector to guide the surgeon to the lump. This reflector is inserted into the lump by a radiologist, and the surgeon locates it using a hand-held device that emits a tiny radar signal. Precision in locating the tumor may increase the probability of complete cancer removal, which also reduces the chances of needing a second surgery.

The reflector can be implanted up to 30 days before the sur-gery, so there is no waiting on the morning of the surgery.

Savi ...(From page 14)

New System Ends Need to Insert Wires

Who hasn’t had someone they love touched by or lost to cancer? How can it be prevented? What are the odds you’ll get it? Bring all your cancer-related questions to the NorthBay Cancer Center, where an oncologist and pulmon-ologist are ready to give straight answers during two Doc Talk Live sessions.

Set in an informal, Town Hall-type setting at the NorthBay Cancer Center, Doc Talk Live will feature Jessica Powers, M.D., oncologist/hematologist and Pooja de Sa, M.D., pulmonologist, answering questions on all kinds of cancers, including lung cancer on Nov. 7.

The Doc Talk Live event is at

the NorthBay VacaValley Wellness Center confer-ence rooms, 1020 Nut Tree Road in Vacaville. The evening starts off with light refreshments at 5:30 p.m., and an hour of questions and answers will follow from 6 to 7 p.m.

Reservations are requested at events@NorthBay.org or call (707) 301-4062.

Additionally, NorthBay Health-care is holding low-dose CT lung cancer screenings between Nov. 12 and Nov. 30 through Solano Diagnostic Imaging (SDI), at either of SDI’s Vacaville or Fair-

field locations. SDI will bill the patient’s insurance company, and some assistance with co-pays may be available. Call the reser-vation line at (707) 624-8140 for a pre-screening.

Jessica Powers, M.D. Pooja de Sa, M.D.

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Tennis Challenger wraps up 9-day run

Professional tennis player Bjorn Fratangelo of the United States (above) returns a serve during the final match against Alex Bolt of Aus-tralia (at left). Fratan-gelo beat Bolt to win the title in the NorthBay Healthcare Men’s Pro Championship finals on Sunday, Oct. 14 at So-lano Community College in Fairfield.

The NorthBay Healthcare Men’s Pro Championship tennis tournament came to an end in thrilling fashion with excellent tennis played before a capac-ity crowd at Solano Community College.

American Bjorn Fratan-gelo dominated the field at the $100,000 challenger, winning his first title in two years, beating eighth-seed Australian Alex Bolt 6-4, 6-3 in the ATP Challenger Series and USTA Pro Circuit event. The Pittsburgh native and current Orlando, Fla., resident was working his way back from a knee injury he suffered in Madrid just months ago.

Presenting the winning prize money ($14,400) and trophy, NorthBay President and CEO Ko-nard Jones congratulated Fratan-gelo on an excellent win and thanked the crowd that packed the seats for the final match, ex-plaining NorthBay’s commitment to good health and the commu-

nity as the driving force behind the decision to be title sponsor for the event. “Any time we can

be engaged with the community and promoting healthy, family-friendly events like this, that’s where we want to be,” Konard said.

The singles match followed a spectacular doubles final that saw top-seed Sanchai Ratiwata-na of Thailand and Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia win the title by beating Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland 6-0, 7-6 (9). It earned Ratiwatana and Rungkat $6,200 in prize money.

Throughout the nine-day tournament, top-notch tennis

President and CEO Konard Jones

(center right) chats with Phil

Cello, tournament director and pro-fessional player

Tommy Paul during a player-sponsor party at the tournament.

(See TENNIS, Page 17)

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Tennis ...(From page 16)

Professional tennis player Bjorn Fratangelo (at left) poses with his trophy and check with (left to right) NorthBay President and CEO Konard Jones, SCC Presi-dent Celia Espesito-Noy, announcer Jay Schoemaker, and tournament director Phil Cello. Doubles cham-pions Sanchai Ratiwatana and Christopher Rungkat (above) show off their trophies after their win.

NorthBay Healthcare Men’s Pro Championship co-director Rafael Rovira (above left) hands out tennis balls to youth from The Leaven during Net Generation night at the tournament. The youngsters got some hands-on training (left) rolling the balls back and forth with their rackets and later learn-ing to bounce and hit the balls back and forth.

captured strong community at-tention and, as the match was live streamed on the internet, an audience of thousands across the globe.

It also planted the seeds of tennis fandom with a group of local youth from The Leaven. Dozens of youngsters crowded the college courts for Net Gen-eration night at the tournament, getting their hands on rackets and balls for a few basic les-sons. The program is designed to inspire the next generation of players and fans of the sport.

The tournament benefits the Chris Cammisa Tennis and Education Foundation, which not only supports the men’s and women’s tennis programs at So-lano Community College but also helps reach underserved youth throughout Solano County.

More information on the foun-dation and stories on the tour-nament can be found at www.FairfieldProTennis.com.

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PVE Gets the VIP Tour

Lecture Will Focus on Hips and KneesDo you have creaky hips or cranky knees? Does it hurt

to walk or do many of the activities that you used to enjoy? If so, a presentation by Andrew Brooks, M.D., may be in order.

Dr. Brooks, who offers hip and knee replacement sur-gery, as well as partial knee replacement through the NorthBay Joint Replacement Program, will discuss patient options at a presentation in Fairfield on Nov. 8.

The presentation begins with registration at 5:30 p.m., followed by a lecture from 6 to 7 pm., saving time for questions from the audience.

The event will be at NorthBay’s Green Valley Administra-tion Center, 4500 Business Center Drive, in Fairfield. There is no cost to attend, but reservations are requested. Email Events@NorthBay.org, or call (707) 646-3280.

NorthBay Healthcare elves and Santa’s helpers, the time is now to pick your classroom as part of the annual “Adopt a School” program!

The available classroom wish lists went live today, at 9 a.m.

Every year, employees enthusiasti-cally put their creative and generous heads together to create a memorable party for their adopted classrooms at

Eugene Padan Elementary School in Vacaville and Fair-view El-

ementary School in Fairfield, fulfilling as many items as possible on the teacher’s wish lists.

NorthBay departments should act fast to sign up for their classes, ac-cording to co-organizer Sylvia Spanos, executive assistant to Konard Jones, president and CEO. “Many departments designate a representative who will be responsible for selecting a classroom, and they get snapped up quickly. It is an amazing tradition at NorthBay.”

This year, as many as 67 classrooms are available for adoption, she added.

“As soon as the classroom is ad-opted, it’s important for the department representative to contact the teacher to let them know they’ve been selected,” Sylvia advised.

Sylvia and co-organizer Stacy Ander-sen, executive assistant to Steve Hud-dleston, vice president of public affairs, spent the past couple of weeks compil-ing the classroom wish lists from both schools before posting them for adop-tion. Wish list items include everything from paper and pencils to books, games and playground balls. Popular class-room party items include pizza, cookies, cupcakes, and even small gifts for the children and teachers.

Questions? Call Sylvia at ext. 3102, or Stacy at ext. 3303.

Adopt a Schoolis Now LIVE!

A group of about 30 Paradise Valley Estates residents got an up-close look at NorthBay Healthcare on Oct. 15, visiting the VacaValley Wellness Center and the NorthBay Center for Orthopedics and Rehabilitation. Their tour guide, Mary Jameson, direc-tor of the Center for Primary Care, Vacaville and Women’s Health (above), said NorthBay was happy to show the group the new facilities. Neurosurgeon Edie Zusman, M.D., (right) spoke to the group at the Wellness Center.

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foot facility: The first floor is home to a

new kitchen, café with indoor and outdoor seating, diagnostic imaging to include a CT scanner, two ultrasound rooms and a com-bined mammography/ultrasound room, fluoroscopy and a SPEC-tomotry CT, and a central sterile processing department.

The second floor, named 2 North, has 22 state-of-the-art patient rooms, four nurses’ sta-tions, a waiting room with tele-visions and tracking monitors, equipment storage rooms, clean and dirty supply rooms, and two treatment rooms.

The third floor is equipped with eight surgical suites with six set to open: a hybrid (endo-vascular) operating room, two general-use operating rooms, two surgical suites devoted to trauma and neuro cases, and a CVOR suite. The floor also has a Same Day Center with eight bays and a Post-Anesthesia Care Unit with eight bays.

One of the surgical suites is

equipped with a Pheno device, technology so advanced it was only recently approved by the FDA. Only two other facilities in California have this equipment, a robotic arm that provides real-time imag-ing, typically during cardiovascu-lar surgeries.

The utility plant next to the wing is receiving a new generator and cooling tower to support the expansion.

There are four elevators in the new wing. One is a high-speed elevator that moves patients quickly up from the Emergency Department; one is strictly for dirty supplies and another for clean supplies.

And here’s a peek at what we’ll be writing about in FYI and on the Hard Hat Report:

A series of stories offering

a deeper dive into some of the medical ad-vancements and special features to be found on each of the floors, from Nu-trition Services to the surgical suites, complete with maps and photos.

Information on a job fair for internal candidates scheduled for January, including what kind of credentials or special training candidates will need.

A “Did You Know” feature that will offer fun facts and details on the new building to share with family and friends.

Move-in schedules as they become solidified.

Have questions? Forward them to Sally Wyatt, public relations specialist, at swyatt@NorthBay.org, and we’ll try to get them answered or covered in FYI and in the Hard Hat Report.

Hard Hat Report is Back... (From Page 1)

Construction continues at a steady pace at the three-story wing on the NorthBay Medical Center campus. To stay up to date on progress, sign up to receive status reports when-ever the Hard Hat Report is published. You’ll find it on My NorthBay, your employee portal, under blogs. Click on the SUBSCRIBE button and confirm when you receive an email.

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