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River Parishes
Hospital
500 Rue De Sante'
LaPlace, LA 70068
(985) 652-7000 |
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Hospital Auxiliary Awards College Scholarships |
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 The RPH Auxiliary recently awarded scholarships to three exemplary high school seniors: Vianca Turner, Jessica Pintado and Louie Corzo, all of which are students at Hahnville High School. They each received a $2,000 scholarship, which will help them pursue a career in the healthcare field. River Parishes Hospital represenatatives Charlotte Dupré, CEO, Jean Haas, Auxiliary President, Wilhelmina Armour, Auxiliary Scholarship Chairperson, and Stuart Schultz, MD, were on hand to present the awards.
Each year, the Auxiliary holds fundraisers to benefit their scholarship fund. They also receive donations from hospital administration, the medical staff and various community organizations.In April, they send letters to all area high schools inviting qualified students who plan to pursue a healthcare career to apply. Winners are selected based on their academic achievements, personal goals and aspirations for the future.
This is a great community service that is
provided each year by the Auxiliary, as it recognizes deserving students in our area as well as builds hospital recognition as caring for the community we serve. It will also encourage these students to consider River Parishes Hospital once they graduate and pursue a career in healthcare.
Thanks goes to everyone who assisted the Auxiliary in raising money for their scholarship fund. Keep in mind that Friday, May 30 is the last day to purchase books from the Imagine Nation Book Fair. Proceeds from this event will benefit the scholarship fund. |
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RPH Earns Platinum Honor For Top Care |
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 The Quality Improvement Team is proud to announce that RPH recently received the Platinum Level 2007 Louisiana Hospital Quality Award, which is presented each year by the Louisiana Health Care Review Inc., the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Louisiana. Syl Pawol (pictured second from left), Director of Quality Management/Infection Control, and Trina Calhoun (second from right), Risk Manager, accept the Platinum Award on behalf of the hospital. Presenting the award are (from left): Lauren Haygood, Sue Sihvonen and Sheila Veuleman of Louisiana Health Care Review.
The LHCR presents awards to 67 hospitals in the state who have consistently improved the quality of care provided to their patients. Award levels range from Bronze, Silver, Gold to Platinum. River Parishes Hospital is one of only 10 hospitals in the state who have achieved the highest level platinum award this year.
The purpose of the award is to recognize short-term acute care and critical access hospitals of all sizes located in both urban and rural areas for their efforts and achievements in improving the quality of inpatient care. The hospital has been recognized for significant improvement in care over the proceeding year, specifically for persons requiring admission for Acute Myocardial Infarction (heart attack), Heart Failure, Community-Acquired Pneumonia and Surgical Care.
The Hospital Quality Award honors Louisiana hospitals that are performing quality initiatives aimed at improving patient care in the hospital setting. The clinical topics measured for the awards have been designated as national health care priorities by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Staff members at the hospital have been working with quality improvement specialists from the Louisiana Health Care Review, Inc. to use proven, evidence-based practices to improve care for our patients.
“We are extremely proud to be a recipient of this distinguished award,” said Syl Pawol, Director of Quality Management/Infection Control. “I want to congratulate everyone at the hospital for making this happen. We could not have achieved this level of care without the collaboration and efforts of everyone at hospital.” |
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Melba Perez-Berguno Named LifePoint Hospitals' 2008 Mercy Award Winner |
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 River Parishes Hospital is very proud to announce that Melba Perez-Berguno, Social Worker, has been selected as LifePoint Hospital’s (the hosital’s parent corporation) 2008 Mercy Award Winner. It is the highest honor that the company can bestow on an employee.
The Mercy Award was created to honor Scott Mercy (1961-2000), LifePoint’s founding Chairman and CEO, by recognizing outstanding individuals for embracing his philosophies – balancing family and career, staying healthy, getting involved in worthy causes and giving back wherever you can. Mercy’s enthusiasm, compassion and merciful spirit continue to define LifePoint Hospital’s high standards of excellence.
Melba joined River Parishes Hospital in 2003 as a professional social worker with more than 30 years of experience. Melba makes a real difference in the lives of others through her willingness to reach out and help those in need, especially our patients. A giving community servant, Melba contributes her time as a volunteer for several worthy organizations. She serves on the board of St. John Association of Retarded Citizens. She is actively involved with the Youth Ministry at her church. She distributes Bibles as a volunteer with the Auxiliary of Gideon’s International. She works as a “Reach to Recovery” volunteer for the American Cancer Society and has participated in the St. John Parish Relay for Life for the past 11 years. Most notably, she was actively involved with the Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief Ministry and invited a homeless hurricane refugee into her home.
Charlotte Dupré, River Parishes CEO, says, “Melba is one of those rare individuals you meet in your life who leaves an impression and cares enough to make a difference in services to others. On behalf of everyone here at RPH, I want to thank you for being an outstanding role model for all of us.”
In June, Melba traveled with her husband to Chicago where she was honored at a ceremony during LifePoint’s Senior Leadership Retreat. She was presented with the 2008 Mercy Award and a $5,000 cash gift.
“The process of selecting one winner from so many outstanding nominees was not an easy task,” said Bill Carpenter, President of LifePoint Hospitals. Compassionate and dedicated individuals from each of our hospitals were nominated for this year’s Mercy Award. Each of them deserves special recognition. Congratulations, Melba, for demonstrating LifePoint’s High Five guiding principles in all you do.”
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RPH Holds 2008 Service Award Banquet |
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River Parishes Hospital’s 25th annual Service Awards Banquet was held Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at Armand’s Bistro at the Quality Inn in LaPlace. Each year, River Parishes Hospital recognizes employees by their length of service to the facility. Awards are given to employees who have completed their 5th, 10th, 15th and 25th year of consecutive employment at RPH. The hospital opened in June of 1982, making this the first year we were able to honor a group of employees with a 25 year service award.
At no other time in the hospital’s history have we had such a large number of employees to honor. A total of 51 employees were recognized. RPH is proud to have been a top employer in the River Parishes region for over 25 years, which is apparent by the number of employees who were awarded for achieving a 5-year milestone of service. Each manager was called upon to recognize the employees in his/her department and hand out their respective award.
Kat Trepagnier, Director of Human Resources, who served as Master of Ceremonies explained, “In the past, our Chief Executive Officer has recognized these employees but this year we decided to turn this over to our department managers. It was an excellent decision because we heard some wonderful stories and some outstanding achievements about our employees from their respective department managers with whom they work with every day. As we listened, we laughed out loud and cried with joy, just like you would with family.”
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 After all employees were awarded for their years of service, Charlotte Dupré, CEO, introduced the three nominees for Manager of the Year. These nominees were chosen by the hospital’s Sr. Administrative Team. She opened the sealed envelope and announced a three-way tie: Kerry Kippes, Maintenance Director, Diane Abbondante, Surgical Services Director, and Brad Vicknair, Materials Management Director (pictured at right). Ms. Dupré said with enthusiasm, “we had three outstanding nominees, and we wanted all three to be recognized for the contributions they make to the facility, their outstanding quality of work and the positive attitude they demonstrate every day. What a joy it is to work with these folks.” Each winner received a check for $2,500 and a four-day weekend off with pay. |
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To close the evening, Dupré recognized the six “star” employees who were nominated for the 2008 Employee of the Year. They were: Trude Montz, Rhonda Burns, Sharon Tamporello, Denise Nosacka, Kyle Cason and Melba Perez-Berguno. These employees were nominated by a coworker, manager, patient, or visitor at the hospital for their loving care, professionalism, kind actions, teamwork and especially compassion they have shown to our patients and visitors. They go above and beyond their job duties on a daily basis. “We are very proud to have these genuine, compassionate men and women as employees of River Parishes Hospital. Dupré announced with great pride the Employee of the Year winner as Kyle Cason, a Nuclear Medicine Technologist in the Radiology Department. |
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 Cason (at left) has been recognized on several occasions by physicians, coworkers and patients for his dedication to River Parishes Hospital and his genuine concern for his patients. He has been employed as a Nuclear Med Tech at the hospital since it opened in 1982.On his own initiative, he became certified in osteoporosis by passing the national registry exam and currently serves as the hospital’s DEXA Technologist. Because of his commitment to offer the latest in technology to his patients, River Parishes Hospital recently purchased a new Bright View SPECT Nuclear Medicine Gamma Camera, which is the first of its kind in the nation, as well as a new Luna Prodigy Advance Bone Densitometer, which is one of the most advanced bone densitometry technologies available.
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His Manager Ann LeBlanc states that there is not a minute that goes by that Kyle does not exemplify excellent customer service. “His kindness to his patients is limitless. He follows his patients and their outcomes through personal communication with them.”
These comments were echoed by Dr. Julian Foreman, Radiologist, who added, “Kyle is one of those people who could be named Employee of the Year every year. He is very knowledgeable about his chosen field and, as a result, there is no nuclear procedure that cannot be performed at River Parishes Hospital and some that are only performed at this hospital. He is well known for working tirelessly in order to help referring physicians make better diagnoses in order to better serve our patients.”
As the Employee of the Year, Cason received a check for $1,500 and had a star named for him by the Name A Star Foundation. |
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