John Hiser

Debbie Fox

• John Hiser is profiled for his outstanding teaching career at Tarrant County College in this article in the college newspaper. John recently received the school’s Chancellor’s Award for Exemplary Teaching. He says he enjoys teaching because he likes it when students “understand a difficult concept, when they get it.” Tahita Fulkerson, president of the Trinity River campus of TCC, congratulated John on his receipt of the award in this YouTube video.

• Kenny McCowen touts the merits of his RT educational program in this article on UltimateKingwood.com out of Kingwood, TX. “The purpose of the respiratory care program is to develop effective, efficient members of the health care team specializing in the prevention and treatment of acute and chronic heart and lung disease,” he was quoted as saying.

• According to this article on ITNewsOnline.com, the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) turned to Debbie Fox to help present a recent webinar on The Joint Commission’s Sentinel Event Alert on the safe use of opioids. She and her colleagues on the four member panel discussed the role of continuous monitoring in opioid safety and addressed four flawed monitoring practices outlined by the PPAHS.

• This article about a benefits fair at Florida A&M features two students in Mary Simmon’s cardiopulmonary sciences program and notes that they and their classmates were planning to hold a fundraiser to help cover the costs of their attendance at AARC Congress 2012, coming up Nov. 10-13 in New Orleans. The story appeared in the college newspaper.

• Jim Rintoul took part in a medical simulation exercise held at his hospital for high school students interested in health care careers recently, and the program was covered in this article in the Berkshire Eagle out of Massachusetts.

• Tom Bageant knows how important it is for transport helicopters to be able to quickly identify the helipad, and when he ran into a Boy Scout who was visiting his grandmother at his hospital, he saw a way to make sure the pad at his facility was more visible. The young man is a family friend who was looking for a way to earn a Community Service Project Badge, and Tom suggested repainting the pad would be a great project. “Tom pushed me to go for it,” the young man was quoted as saying in this article on TribLIVE.com out of Pennsylvania. “He’s a real motivator.”

• Patti McElheny’s eight-year-old daughter Sarah was already battling leukemia when she developed West Nile virus while undergoing chemotherapy. Her ongoing recovery is covered in this article in the Oak Lawn Patch out of Illinois. Sarah has improved markedly, but as of the publication of this article, still required a ventilator to breathe.

• Dennis Maid is a member of his hospital’s Simulation Education Team, and he and his colleagues were pictured with their SimMan human patient simulator in this article on NorthCountryNow.com out of New York. The facility had just opened its Simulation Education Center and was in the process of hosting a Facebook contest to come up with a more personalize name for the new mannequin.

• Wake Forest Baptist Health – Lexington Medical Center and Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem are recognized for receiving the AARC’s Quality Respiratory Care Recognition in this article in the Lexington, NC, Dispatch.