Nancy Bowen, a Memorial nurse who specializes in high-risk pregnancies, has been nominated for one of Colorado’s prestigious Nightingale Awards. The awards, named after Florence Nightingale, are given to recognize nursing excellence in areas such as advocacy, innovation and leadership. Bowen was among seven Memorial nurses considered from the Colorado Springs region, which is one of seven regions [...]

Seven Memorial nurses are in the running for a Nightingale Award, one of the most prestigious awards in nursing. They are: Matthew Love, Cardiac 45 Patricia Senrick, Surgical Trauma Sally Duncan, Trauma Services Kim Cooper, Digestive Medicine Meredith Ford, Oncology Stacy Wilson, Renal Medicine Nancy Bowen, Maternal-Fetal Medicine These rockstars will join other nurses from across the Colorado Springs region at [...]

For most of us, falling down would be noteworthy, and recording just how many days we’ve gone without taking a spill would not be. That’s a different story in hospitals, however. Preventing patient falls is an ongoing battle. Patients are often weak and frail. They are in an unfamiliar setting with new furniture, equipment, etc. They are sometimes reluctant to [...]

Every year as many as 100,000 people in the U.S. die from medical mistakes. That’s roughly the attendance of the 2011 Superbowl. Medical mistakes are the eighth-leading cause of death, according to the Institute for Health Care Improvement, putting them above traffic fatalities and AIDS. This grim reality comes in spite of the endless advances in medicine and a cash infusion in [...]

Today, Penrose-St. Francis Health Services announced the results of a wellness program it launched eight months ago with residents of the Old North End, where Penrose Hospital is located. Under the program, interested neighbors were offered a free risk assessment and access to fitness coaching. According to an article in The Gazette, wellness indicators improved significantly for [...]

There’s a lesson to be learned from crawling through mud, jumping over cars, climbing over a wall of hay bales and leaping through flames to a finish line. And, no, the lesson is not that Memorial should be more careful about who it allows to be its spokesperson. I was one of several Memorial employees who competed in the Warrior [...]

It’s not unusual for a health system as large and advanced as Memorial to have a cache of stories about unusual conditions, heroic saves, or tear-jerker tales in any given year. But all at once? Memorial’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was a popular place recently when three newsworthy stories came together in just a few days. Jennifer and Justin Last kicked off the press coverage [...]

In the past few months there’s been a lot of talk, locally and nationally, about integrated systems of care and partnerships with physicians. It’s been a topic of discussion for the Memorial Citizens’ Commission and MHS’s executive team, and national experts credit it as necessary to survive in a changing health care landscape. Today, a [...]

The Hermanstorfers’ story made national news late last year. Tracy Hermanstorfer died during delivery, underwent an emergency C-section, and was revived without suffering any complications. Her baby, Coltyn, was not breathing when he was delivered, but he also was treated quickly and emerged from the ordeal without complications. The media dubbed their tale a miracle, and the [...]

Evelyn Epperson, with a risk for heart disease, figured it might be a good idea to attend a Memorial presentation on the female-specific signs of a heart attack. She just didn’t know how good. Eleven days after learning the symptoms women suffer during heart attacks, the Memorial employee experienced them firsthand. That knowledge, she says, led her to call [...]