The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) recently honored Methodist Hospital emergency nurse, Jennifer Burchett, with the prestigious award of 2023 Magnet Nurse of the Year! Throughout the past several years, Burchett has emphasized compassionate patient care and helped to foster a secure, supportive work environment for her colleagues.

Burchett’s dedication to ethical nursing practice doesn’t stop at the hospital door; she actively serves at the Indy Motorsports in-field track hospital and various INDYCAR circuit speedways, demonstrating the true spirit of nursing excellence. Congrats, Jennifer!

Neonatal Intensive Care unit (NICU) team members from Riley Children’s Health at IU Health North in Carmel helped infant patients celebrate Halloween within the hospital walls.

Team members signed up to create a costume for a patient based on a children’s book. Then, the team dressed up the patients in the costumes and gifted them the corresponding book.

The costumes include a unicorn, a crab, a spider and more. The team took photos of the babies to share with their parents.

IU Health Paoli Hospital is a cornerstone of care for Orange County and the
surrounding communities, and the team is determined to provide the excellent
whole-person care their patients deserve.

Recently, they’ve partnered with the IU Health Alzheimer’s and Dementia
Resource Service (ADRS) for training to better support individuals living with
dementia.

“IU Health Paoli Hospital is passionate about providing care in our
community,” says Sara King, MSN, RN, IU Health Paoli Hospital Clinical Director
of Operations. “We want to reduce the stigma surrounding living with dementia
and create an environment where everyone can feel valued and respected.”

The ADRS training covers education about dementia, how to communicate with
someone living with dementia, how to create an inviting environment for these
individuals and more.

IU Health Paoli Hospital was recently awarded a Dementia Friendly
Designation for their efforts, which the team was excited to celebrate, as
shown in the photos below.

When an organization commits to being dementia friendly, it’s also
contributing to making the surrounding community more dementia friendly. That
goal is more important than ever, with the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) reporting about 5.8 million people in the United States living
with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia. That number is expected to
increase.

Additionally, a 2022 study found the risk has increased for rural
areas.

IU Health Paoli Hospital will continue its efforts to help those living with
dementia by training all new hires within their first 90 days of employment so
they can contribute to making this place of healing dementia friendly.

“With this effort, the hospital will ensure at least 50% of their staff are
trained at all times,” says ADRS Network Director and Positive Approach to Care
(PAC) Trainer, Shelly Gilbert. “Additional trainings such as the Virtual
Dementia Tour are made available at least quarterly and by request.”

Steps like this are important for contributing to communities where
individuals living with dementia feel comfortable and welcomed, and IU Health
Paoli Hospital is proud to be part of this goal.

Behind the closed door of an inpatient room at IU Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center Sebastian Thomas is battling testicular cancer. It’s been exhausting and painful at times, but the UK native knew when he booked his flight that it wouldn’t be a vacation. “A little bit of hard work and a little bit of suffering is the gain of a life. I’ll get to go back [to Florida] and be with my son,” said Sebastian, who was forced last week, to celebrate his son’s fourth birthday via video call. “At least I got to watch him open the presents I got him and at the end of the day, you know, if I have to miss one birthday to spend the next 70 with him, hey I’m happy with that.”

By Emma Avila, epackard1@iuhealth.org, writer for IU Health’s Indianapolis Suburban Region

From Avon to Carmel, Jane Seipel is grateful for the skilled and comprehensive breast cancer care she received through IU Health.

Jane Seipel was diagnosed with breast cancer last October, after she discovered a lump in her right breast. The Carmel resident traveled to Avon for her diagnostic mammogram because she could be seen quickly at IU Health West.

“Fortunately, they didn’t see anything in the left breast. But in my right breast, there was definitely something there,” she recalls.

After the imaging, Seipel needed to get an ultrasound and then a biopsy. Depending on scheduling, most patients need to make follow up appointments for additional testing, but Seipel was fortunate enough that she was able to get everything done that day.

That same day, she connected with Dr. JoAnna Hunter-Squires, a surgical oncologist.

She ordered an EKG and some additional lab work, which Seipel was also able to get that day.

Seipel is wheelchair-bound and did not have a family member with her that day, so a team member helped her get around the hospital and stayed with her during appointments.

“It just made me feel so much better,” she says. “They were all professional, good-hearted people.”

After Dr. Hunter-Squires had the results from the additional testing, Seipel returned for a follow up appointment.

“We talked about what was going on,” Seipel says. “It was a fast-growing, estrogen type of cancer, so we needed to do the surgery right away.”

She had a mastectomy at IU Health West on November 9.

“It went well,” she says. “The margins were good and the cancer hadn’t gone into my lymph nodes.”

After surgery, Seipel switched her care to the IU Health Joe & Shelly Schwarz Cancer Center in Carmel, which is closer to home. She was amazed at how easily her care transferred to another IU Health facility.

“It was just so seamless. They send all the records and it’s all good.”

Before her procedure, she met with Terry Augsberger, a bra fitter at the cancer center. Seipel received a camisole that had pouches for her drain tubes post-surgery.

She also began occupational therapy to help with her range of motion and muscle chording on her right side.

“By the time I finished, my range of motion was back to normal,” she says.

Her occupational therapist, Carrie Morris, gave Seipel tips to help with her scarring. Morris suggested using a silicone gel and scar tape to help, which Seipel says made a big difference.

She also began seeing Dr. Nawal Kassem, who specializes in hematology-oncology at the IU Health Schwarz Cancer Center.

“Of course, you’re concerned. The surgeon said I wouldn’t need radiation, but you don’t know what the oncologist will say about chemo,” Seipel recalls. “But she said I definitely didn’t need chemo.”

Seipel returned to IU Health West earlier this year for her six-month follow up with Dr. Hunter-Squires.

“She was very impressed with my progress.”

Now, she is set to see Dr. Hunter-Squires again in November for her one-year follow up. Though the road has been long, she is grateful for the care from the team.

“I can’t say enough about the follow up care that has made all the difference in my recovery,” she shares. “The professionals are really taking care of you.”

She’s been in the medical field for years and when Daryl Fenio learned she has a rare form of cancer, she came to a familiar hospital for treatment.

By TJ Banes, IU Health Senior Journalist, tfender1@iuhealth.org

There are many milestones in Daryl Fenio’s life. Consider that she worked toward her medical degree while mothering six children, and graduated as the mother of seven. Consider also that as an anesthesiologist she has witnessed numerous hospital procedures – some the result of a familiar diagnosis; others less common.

A graduate of Indiana University School of Medicine, Fenio has always been fascinated with medical science. “It’s always amazed me the types of things we can do in the body,” said Fenio, who grew up in California. She was a single mother of five children when she met her soon-to-be husband, Ray. At the time, Fenio was living in the state of Washington and taking classes toward a nursing degree. Ray persuaded her to become a doctor and they moved to Bloomington where he began working on a doctorate in anthropology. His wife began medical school and had her sixth child in the middle of her intensive studies.

After 20 years of practice, Fenio retired from full time work at IU Health Bloomington with a plan to split time between Indiana and California. It was in Bloomington where she had a routine colonoscopy that revealed a mucus secreting mass out of her appendix.

In July, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic mucinous abnormal carcinoma, a type of tumor of the appendix. Some research indicates that this type of cancer attributes to less than 0.5 percent of all gastrointestinal cancers.

As Fenio recently chatted with IU Health Simon Cancer Center nurse, Bailey Davis, she shared her experience with treatments. Within two weeks of diagnosis she had surgery, and began chemotherapy shortly afterward. At IU Health she is in the care of hematologist/oncologist, Dr. Paul Helft.

At first, doctors thought she might have had ovarian cancer but scans and biopsies showed otherwise.

“When I decided to split my time between San Diego and Bloomington, I had to make a decision on my health insurance. I decided if I had some catastrophic illness I wanted to be in Bloomington where all of my family lives,” said Fenio. Five of her children live near Bloomington; one lives in Chicago; and one in Nevada. She also has 12 grandchildren.

“Being close to Simon Cancer Center is a comfort. I always felt as a student coming out of medical school that I was well trained and I got my first pick at residency. IU did a great job of preparing us. I’ve never been on the other side but I feel like everyone I see is well trained,” said Fenio.

“In the grand scheme of things when I found out I had cancer, I realized I am where I need to be. I’m close to my grandchildren and the hospital system I trust.”

Michelle Bailey’s training as an oncology massage therapist is part of what sets IU Health Simon Cancer Center apart as a comprehensive cancer center. “The thing I enjoy most about oncology massage is I can take my skills into a setting where a patient may really be struggling… and I can walk in and… meet them where they are and then apply the skill set that I have to offer and then the patient completely shifts and changes. That’s what I love the most. That’s what drives me to come to work every day.”

As we prepared to announce IU Health Foundation’s $200 million “All The Difference” fundraising campaign, we spotted a national news story that underscored the importance of the work the campaign will fund.

In recent years, the generally poor health of Indiana residents has been documented in a number of ways. We’ve seen data suggesting that Hoosiers die of cancer at a rate higher than most states. We have one of the nation’s highest infant mortality rates. We are among the worst states in the nation for mental illness and mental health services. And so on.

But the most compelling recent indicator might be that Oct. 3 Washington Post article headlined “An epidemic of chronic illness is killing us too soon.” To illustrate their points, the reporters concentrated on towns in southern Indiana and Louisville, KY, across the Ohio River from those towns.

It’s time to put coverage like that into Indiana’s past. And we believe philanthropy can make that possible.

By publicly announcing “All the Difference: The Campaign for Indiana University Health,” we recommit ourselves to IU Health’s goal of making Indiana one of the healthiest states in the nation. The campaign is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the trajectory of health in the Hoosier state. And we dedicate ourselves to focusing the power of the campaign’s donors not on bricks and mortar but on programs and services that improve the health of people all across Indiana.

The Post article served to affirm that focus by echoing our emphasis on the non-health-related factors that contribute to poor health – the social determinants of health – and the equity issues that so often exacerbate them.

As the article notes, “Poor life expectancy, in this view, is the predictable result of the society we have created and tolerated: one riddled with lethal elements, such as inadequate insurance, minimal preventive care, bad diets and a weak economic safety net.” Adds Marcella Nunez-Smith, a professor of medicine, public health and management at Yale University, “There is a great deal of harm in the way that we somehow stigmatize social determinants, like that’s code for poor, people of color or something.”

We believe that IU Health has a unique opportunity – in fact, a responsibility – to address these factors. With programs, services and healthcare professionals in locations across the state, we serve people from all of Indiana’s 92 counties. With nationally respected programs in transplant medicine, cardiovascular care, cancer treatment and more, we connect Hoosiers with resources here in Indiana that people in other states must travel to find.

With the understanding that healthcare delivery is being re-imagined in the United States – and, in fact, in the world – we intend to be a leader, blazing new trails to ensure that Indiana residents have the chance to benefit as soon as possible, not after new ideas have become commonplace.

Together, this vibrant healthcare infrastructure and ambitious vision for the future put IU Health in a position to ensure that generations of Hoosiers receive not just the best care and treatment available but also the resources they need to enjoy healthier lives.

But this vision won’t be possible without philanthropy. Many programs and services addressing social determinants of health – such as education, job training, social work and preventive care – are not covered by current payment systems. Plus, the state’s government support of healthcare falls well short of need, as Indiana ranks 45th in the nation for public health funding and most local public health funding comes from local governments, which puts Indiana’s smaller communities – where the need is sometimes greatest – at a disadvantage.

That’s why we’ve launched “All the Difference”: to put philanthropy to work confronting one of Indiana’s greatest challenges. We believe IU Health, powered by generous donors like you, can indeed change the trajectory of health in Indiana. We believe that, together, we can face this unprecedented challenge and this unparalleled opportunity.

And we believe that, by joining forces, we can change the stories that are told about Indiana, and connect this state to headlines focused on new hope and healthier people.

Join us. https://iuhealth.org/all-the-d…

Respiratory therapists play a vital role in the care of patients with cardiopulmonary needs. “Respiratory therapy is a fairly new profession. We just celebrated 60 years as a state society so compared to nursing… we’re still infants,” said John McLouth, a respiratory therapist on Methodist Hospital’s cardiovascular critical care unit. “We’re working hard to collaborate with our nursing and physician partners to really add value at the bedside.”