Accepting two awards from Marilyn Rudolph, VHA vice president, Performance Improvement (5th from right), are Jefferson Regional Medical Center leaders, from left, Thomas Timcho, president and CEO; Ronald Boron, MD, outgoing vice president, Medical Affairs; Mary Mylo, director, Performance Improvement; Brenda Veschio, RN, patient care manager, CVU; Louise Urban, vice president, Patient Care Services; James Hoover, vice president, Quality; Cindy Ragan, associate nurse executive; Judy Hall, vice president, Cardiovascular Services/Oncology Programming, and Richard Collins, MD, incoming vice president, Medical Affairs.

JEFFERSON HILLS, PA - July 18, 2007 - For the second consecutive year, the Cardiovascular Unit (CVU) at Jefferson Regional Medical Center has been honored with the VHA National Leadership Award for Clinical Excellence.

The criteria for the award is a six-month consecutive period with no blood stream infections related to central lines beginning in the last quarter of 2005. Jefferson Regional’s CVU exceeded the requirement by reporting no blood stream infections related to central lines for nine months, from October 2005 to June 2006.

The CVU also was honored with the same award in 2006, for achieving no blood stream infections related to central lines from October 2004 to March 2005.

“Receiving this award two years in a row is a significant accomplishment for the Cardiovascular Unit and the entire team of care givers who contribute to our efforts of achieving and sustaining clinical excellence,” said Louise Urban, vice president, Patient Care Services.

Marilyn Rudolph, VHA vice president of performance improvement, said the consecutive accomplishment by the CVU staff is unprecedented, and the entire medical team should be proud of its achievement.

“Not only are you doing great work, but you are able to sustain it,” Rudolph said. “This is just phenomenal. Six months is considered stellar, but you have gone beyond that.”

In addition to the national recognition, Rudolph presented the CVU with the APEX (Achieving Patient Care Excellence) Award from the Pennsylvania Regional Office of VHA.

Thomas P. Timcho, president and CEO, Jefferson Regional Medical Center, said the CVU team is to be commended for its accomplishments.

“This truly is a team award,” he said, adding that the achievement is shared not only by Brenda Veschio, manager of the CVU, and her staff, but by the anesthesiologists, cardiovascular surgeons and physician assistants, cardiologists, and pulmonologists who work together to attain excellent patient care at Jefferson Regional.

Timcho said the recognition from VHA earned for reducing hospital-acquired infections reinforces the recent accolades that Jefferson Regional has earned for its open-heart program, orthopedic program and vascular services.

“This award demonstrates our continuing commitment to providing quality medical care for the residents of the communities we serve,” he said.

Based in Irving, Texas, VHA Inc. is a health care provider alliance of more than 2,400 not-for-profit health care organizations. VHA recognizes those organizations that achieve a high level of performance as measured by clinical quality indicators of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).

The CVU staff was nominated for the award by Beverly Flannery, RN, manager, Infection Control, in recognition of their efforts.