2019 Report to Our Community 2
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FTHEUTURE 2019 REPORT TO OUR COMMUNITY From the internet to the global economy, there We value collaboration at Carilion and consider Our spirit of collaboration brings the best minds to is no question that our future is a connected one. it a way of life. Without it, the breakthrough the table and the biggest hearts to the community. The opportunity to shape our future—to deal procedures we’ve pioneered would never have Now, more than ever, we look to collaboration to with problems, cure diseases, understand and happened. The education and research we support connect us and provide the answers that will shape support one another—resides in our ability wouldn’t be available. And the sustainable economic our future. to collaborate. engine and point of pride we’ve become for Virginia would not be a reality. PEOPLE PASSION PATHWAYS PURPOSE 2 Dear Neighbors and Friends, CONTENTS Collaboration drove our work in 2019. Collaboration In our communities, we continued to empower Beyond the care we provide, each of us has benefited between experts, between organizations and between neighbors to improve their health, and forged from the positive economic impact we’ve seen as health communities and beyond. It speaks to our belief that innovative, new partnerships. care transforms our region. A study released last year 4 BRIDGING TO BETTER OUTCOMES the very future of health care depends on collaboration measured our contribution at more than $3.2 billion. at every level. We now have one of the largest nursing schools in Virginia in our own backyard, thanks to the Radford With a commitment to innovation, the most advanced From being among the first to offer groundbreaking University Carilion partnership, and our partnership clinical care, education and research, and community new treatments to extending our reach through with Virginia Tech continues to flourish. engagement, we’ll continue to pursue our mission of technology, we made advancements and expanded improving health. And, thanks to collaboration, provide services to improve access to care for patients across Our hard work is being recognized. Carilion Roanoke leadership for the future. our region. Notably, our collaborative outreach helped Memorial Hospital was named the third best 12 FORTIFYING OUR RESOURCES thousands of previously uninsured patients enroll hospital in Virginia by U.S. News & World Report and in Medicaid—making care available for the first time again named one of the “150 Top Places to Work in Warmly, for many. Healthcare” in Becker’s Hospital Review. And because convenient, clinically advanced facilities are essential to ensuring access to world-class care in the future, we announced ambitious plans to expand our Roanoke campus and create a Carilion Children’s 19 VITALIZING HERE, EVERY DAY outpatient clinic. Nancy Howell Agee, President and CEO 28 GIVING & ACKNOWLEDGING James A. Hartley, Chairman 2 Powered by collaboration, technology creates amazing clinical SARAH’S advancements. Along with connecting doctors and patients STORY virtually, we can see more than ever without surgical exploration and deliver even better results with less invasive procedures. “It’s so important to listen to Advanced technology, along with shared innovative thinking your body and go to the and approaches, builds a bridge to our future. doctor when you feel like something isn’t right.” - Sarah Sarah Gregory Sarah Gregory, a 31-year-old human resources The cardiologist heard a slight murmur, gave her several Open heart surgery was scheduled to repair the professional at Carilion, had been training to participate in tests, and scheduled her for an echocardiogram. A few aneurysm. Following successful surgery, she began an Ironman competition—when she awoke in the middle days later, he called with some shocking news: Sarah’s weeks of recovery. After years of working on the staffing of the night with chest pain. Because of her strenuous aorta was enlarged like a balloon and in danger of side of Carilion, she got to see her employer from the workouts, she assumed she had pulled something. rupturing. She was born with a bicuspid aortic valve, patient’s side. which is frequently associated with weakening of the Yet the pain didn’t stop. segment of the aorta adjacent to the heart, causing an Within weeks after surgery, Sarah returned to cycling ascending aortic aneurysm. and working out. While her Ironman aspirations are At work, she noticed a Carilion poster describing the on hold for now, her cardiologist has her on a plan to warning signs of a heart attack. “It sounded like what Sarah’s doctor told her to leave work immediately and continue the active lifestyle she enjoyed before. I was experiencing,” she said. When the pain didn’t have someone drive her to the Emergency Department. stop after a doctor visit, Sarah’s primary care physician When she arrived, she was given a CT scan that showed referred her to a Carilion cardiologist. how enlarged her aorta had become. 5 BRIDGING TO BETTER OUTCOMES One day, Army veteran Daniel Lang collapsed onto the floor from a seizure. His medical alert dog, YaYa, notified his wife who was able to get him to a doctor. An evaluation determined Daniel had a complex brain aneurysm. Up to six percent of Americans have brain NATION-LEADING HEART CARE NEW EP LAB DEBUTS aneurysms, a weakening in an artery wall that allows it to stretch and potentially burst. Consistently ranked among the nation’s top A second cardiac electrophysiology lab was added to heart programs, our Cardiovascular Institute improve access for the growing number of patients Luckily for Daniel, he was referred to Carilion (CVI) brings together an interdisciplinary with heart rhythm disorders. The lab incorporates the Clinic, the first health system in Virginia to team of heart care professionals to provide latest technology to reduce radiation exposure, making employ a treatment newly approved by the FDA DANIEL’S the latest, most technologically advanced procedures safer for patients and staff. The new lab also called the Woven EndoBridge (WEB) Aneurysm care for patients. provides space to perform more complex procedures. Embolization System. It addresses complex brain aneurysms in a way that allows them to heal on STORY their own. CARDIAC CATH LAB GETS A FACELIFT In the minimally invasive procedure, doctors Space renovations in our cardiac catheterization lab insert a catheter that delivers a mesh-like ball into created a big impact. One of six at Carilion Roanoke the bulging vessel to stabilize it, and in response, Memorial Hospital, the new lab’s reconfigured space the patient’s body naturally produces a wall made for greater efficiency, with upgraded imaging of cells that permanently block the aneurysm, equipment and state-of-the-art mapping systems to eliminating the risk of a future hemorrhage. ensure exact stent placement. Improved radiographic images make the renovated lab ideal for repairing heart Not only is this approach less invasive than valves and other structural heart procedures. the traditional open surgery, it allows patients to avoid blood thinners and more complex The new lab honors the memory of Gary Swank, M.D., endovascular procedures. an interventional cardiologist and the cath lab medical “It’s a lot of stress every director, who died in 2019. Daniel was back home with his wife and YaYa daythe day after to the leave treatment. him and go A newly renovated “Theto work doctor and was not really know if cardiac catheterization easyhe is togoing talk to,to andbe there he lab created significant explainedwhen I get everything home,” said improvements. Darlene.really well. “That’s You could all changedsee he cared.” now.” Daniel Lang and YaYa - Daniel 6 7 BRIDGING TO BETTER OUTCOMES Ten-year-old Bella Mays of Lexington was born a micro-preemie—just one pound—and, as a result, regularly sees several specialists. Until last year, that meant a lot of travel time for her and her mom and a fair amount of inconvenience for their family, which includes Bella’s four brothers and sisters. Through the use of advanced technology, visits with OUR DIGITAL FUTURE Here are a few telemedicine collaborations BELLA’S Bella’s pulmonologist became easier. Now instead of worth noting: spending more than an hour in the car each way, the trip From big data to artificial intelligence and takes only 10 minutes. telemedicine, new technologies promise to • Teleneurology services became available STORY change how we care for patients—in some ways through a partnership with Children’s National Over a secure connection at Carilion’s family medicine quite dramatically. Already, our use of technology Hospital in Washington, D.C. practice in Lexington, Bella sees her doctor, who is 45 miles is advancing our vision of a future in which the away in Roanoke. With the hands-on help of a nurse in delivery of care is more efficient, personalized • Telestroke services successfully launched at our Lexington, her doctor provides routine therapy for asthma, and precise. hospitals in Lexington, the New River Valley which also includes pulmonary function testing, asthma and Rocky Mount. With access to neurologists control testing and a review of medication history. at any time, day or night, stroke patients are treated within crucial minutes of arriving at our These telemedicine appointments allow Bella’s GOING THE DISTANCE Emergency Departments. pulmonologist to conduct a visit as if Bella were sitting in front of him. He can listen to her lungs and her heart, • Telepsychiatric services delivered through Telemedicine involves electronically exchanging OUR DIGITAL FRONT DOOR and do everything he would normally do during an MyChart began, opening the opportunity to medical information from one site to another. It exam in person. care for patients with mental health needs delivers faster, more efficient ways to improve a To improve convenience for patients, we began anywhere, anytime, via our secure patient patient’s health.