The ETMC Breast Care Center is holding a free, one-day retreat for breast cancer survivors on Friday, Oct. 7, featuring breast cancer survivor Anne Barab as guest speaker.
The ETMC Pink Ribbon Getaway will be held at the ETMC Pavilion, 801 Clinic Drive, with registration beginning at 7:30 a.m. and the conference concluding at 2 p.m.
The conference is supported by The Robert M. Rogers Foundation, JCPenney, Tyler Professional Fire Fighters Association, Mineola Fire Department and the ETMC Foundation.
The event will feature topics such as a physician panel discussion, nutrition tips, lymphedema management and door prizes. JCPenney will provide a makeup demonstration for cancer survivors.
The keynote luncheon speaker, Anne Barab of Dallas, learned she had cancer six years ago during the week of her daughter’s wedding. In her presentation, “The Big C and Me,” she talks about laughing and learning how to cope when cancer or another tragedy strikes.
Attendance for the retreat is limited.  Please contact Sandy Campbell for a registration form or with questions at 903-535-6302 or email slcampbell@etmc.org

ETMC EMS has named Neal Franklin as the new director of operations for the East Texas service area. Franklin previously served as EMS director of business development and came to ETMC in January after retiring as fire chief with the city of Tyler.

In this new position, Franklin will be responsible for more than 300 paramedics and emergency medical technicians, covering over 16,000 square miles in East Texas, responding to 110,000 requests for service and transportation of more than 77,000 patients each year.

Franklin is from Tyler and received his bachelor’s degree in education from Stephen F. Austin State University. While attending graduate school at the University of North Texas, he became a Dallas firefighter. In 1987, he moved back to Tyler and worked his way up through the ranks of the Tyler Fire Department and eventually served as chief for seven years.

Franklin has been married for 25 years to Valli and has three children.

East Texas Medical Center Regional Healthcare System has named Ron Schwartz as the new vice president/chief operating officer for ETMC EMS.
Schwartz has been with ETMC for over 11 years serving as director of operations and general manager.
In this position, he was responsible for more than 400 paramedics and emergency medical technicians, covering over 17,000 square miles, responding to 135,000 requests for service and transportation of more than 105,000 patients each year.
Schwartz helped ETMC add EMS services to several markets in Texas including Waco and Pasadena. Last year, ETMC EMS joined an elite group of emergency providers to receive a three year accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services for quality patient care in America’s medical transportation system.
Schwartz will also serve as president of Paramedics Plus, an ambulance division of the East Texas Medical Center Regional Healthcare System. Paramedics Plus currently provides emergency services to residents of Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Pinellas County, Florida, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and in November will begin providing services to Alameda, California.
Schwartz began his career as a paramedic in Michigan and then worked as a paramedic and a firefighter in Nevada. He later went into management for ambulance services in Reno, Nevada, and Lincoln, Nebraska. Schwartz has a degree in EMS management from Davenport College in Michigan.
Schwartz replaces Tony Myers, who retired in June after 18 years with ETMC EMS and Paramedics Plus.

East Texas Medical Center (ETMC) at Tyler and Be The Match Registry are hosting a marrow registration drive from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Thurs., July 28 in the front lobby of the hospital.
The drive is open to the public.
To join the Be the Match Registry, you must be between the ages of 18 and 60, in good general health, and willing to offer help and hope to any patient in need.
The registration process entails completing a consent form and undergoing a simple cheek swab.
For thousands of people battling leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell disease and other life-limiting diseases, a marrow transplant offers the best and, in some cases, the only hope for a cure. Seventy percent of these patients don’t have a matching donor in their families, so they depend on the Be The Match Registry, the world’s largest and most diverse listing of potential marrow donors, to find a life-saving match.
You may be the only one out of 9 million registered donors to be the match who can save someone’s life, so join the Be The Match Registry today.
The East Texas Medical Center Regional Healthcare System is East Texas’ largest healthcare system. ETMC facilities include hospitals in Athens, Carthage, Clarksville, Crockett, Fairfield, Gilmer, Henderson, Jacksonville, Mount Vernon, Pittsburg, Quitman, Trinity and Tyler.  ETMC is a not-for-profit organization committed to improving the quality of life in communities throughout East Texas. For more information, go to www.etmc.org.

For more information on the Be The Match program, visit www.bethematch.org or call the local offices at 214-820-4279.

The East Texas region has one of the highest stroke rates in our state hence ETMC conducts screenings regularly to help pinpoint
problems that may lead to stroke.

East Texas Medical Center/Tyler’s (ETMC) stroke treatment department has earned recertification as an Advanced Primary Stroke Center.
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has awarded its Gold Seal of Approval to ETMC.
In 2005 ETMC became East Texas’ first hospital (and one of the very first in the state) to earn this status, reclaiming it in 2007 and 2009.  ETMC concentrates on this field of medicine because of the unacceptably high incidence of stroke-related deaths in East Texas.  The Joint Commission conducted on-site inspections of the facility this spring to establish its degree of excellence according to national guidelines for clinical standards and treatment outcomes.  ETMC Neurological Institute Vice-President Todd Sigmon outlined his hospital’s aims for serving this area.
“The East Texas region has one of the highest stroke rates in our state,” he said.  “Since part of the effort to earn the certification includes a focus on stroke prevention, we believe it will help us meet our goal to help change that factor in our region.”
To receive certification a facility must establish and effectively maintain standardized stroke protocols.  Medical providers have to take special training in stroke diagnosis and treatment to insure patients receive the best care possible resulting in significant recovery.
“Our quality assurance efforts include a continuous review of patient data to determine ways to improve outcomes,” Sigmon said.
There are also educational resources provided to the general public.
“ETMC conducts screenings regularly to help pinpoint problems that may lead to stroke, and we have an ongoing series of community education forums called KnowledgeFirst.  Topics on stroke and vascular conditions are regularly included,” Sigmon added.
On average there are 795,000 incidences of stroke nationwide each year.  It is the country’s third-leading cause of death, killing approximately 143,579 yearly.  There are now about five million stroke survivors, many of whom suffer long-term disability.

The East Texas Medical Center (ETMC) Cancer Institute has earned a three-year accreditation and a commendation on its cancer program from the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons. This was based on on-site evaluation by a physician surveyor in May.
The commission is a consortium of professional medical associations striving for higher survival rates and improved quality of life for cancer patients and survivors.  It pursues these aims through education for medical providers and patients, setting high standards, prevention, research and the monitoring of cancer treatment.  The ETMC Institute, in 1990, became the first facility in East Texas to earn this accreditation, which places it among the elite of the nation’s cancer treatment providers.  Institute Vice-President Todd Sigmon was delighted but unsurprised at the honor.
“We are very pleased to have this approval again because it’s only given to facilities that have voluntarily committed to providing the highest level of quality cancer care,” he said.

ETMC’s Cancer Care Institute provides its patients with the following services:
1. Comprehensive care including a range of state-of-the-art treatments and equipment.
2. A multispecialty, plus team approach to coordinating the best treatment options.
3. Education on ongoing clinical trials and treatment options.
4. Access to cancer-related information, education and support.
5. A registry for collecting information on types and stages of cancers, treatment results, and for offering lifelong patient follow-up.
6. Continual care monitoring and options for improvement.
7. Quality care close to home.

The American Cancer Society predicts there will be more than 1.5 million new cases of cancer diagnosed during 2011.

ETMC is the first hospital system in East Texas to offer complete, online mammogram scheduling, available on our website at www.etmc.org.
“Online registration for digital mammography at ETMC will add convenience for East Texas women,” according to Regina Davis, director of the breast care center. “Women will be able to schedule their annual appointment at anytime on our secure website, by selecting the date, time and location.”

Patients will log on to www.etmc.org and click on the mammogram self-scheduling box and follow the instructions. “The system will ask the patient questions to make sure she is the right age and meets specified guidelines to receive a screening mammogram. Women should have a baseline mammogram at age 35 to 40 and an annual mammogram beginning at age 40,” said Davis.

The system has other benefits as well. “We will also be able to generate e-mail reminders and provide additional services that will help East Texas women pursue healthy lifestyles through screening and early detection,” said Susan Shockey, referral services director.

ETMC screens over 10,000 women a year for breast cancer.

ETMC will offer a free KnowledgeFirst Forum on Thursday, May 5, at noon at the ETMC Pavilion on the warning signs of stroke with Dr. Allison Hennigan with the ETMC Neurological Institute.
“East Texans face one of the highest stroke mortality rates in our state, and we are working to change that by providing stroke care and also community education that urges individuals to seek care quickly if they show symptoms of stroke,” Dr. Hennigan said.  “The faster they seek care, the better their chance of survival and recovery.”
ETMC Tyler was the first hospital in East Texas to become a certified stroke center as designated by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. The designation indicates the hospital is dedicated to providing high-quality stroke treatment and care.
A light lunch will be served. Free parking is available next to the Pavilion. The gate opens at 11:30 a.m. Please pre-register by calling 800-648-8141 and press 2.

Retired Tyler police officer Allan Crosby and his sister, Audrey Crosby Spies, a retired Bowling Green, Ky., and former Tyler police officer, plan to walk across Texas this spring in memory of their sister and to raise money to help East Texas cancer patients.
They plan to start their walk on April 1 on the Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas state line near Atlanta, Texas and walk 857 miles during April and part of May to El Paso.
The walk called “Cops Crushing Cancer,” is in memory of the Crosbys’ sister, Jacqueline Crosby Mazzola, a retired Dallas police officer, who died in 2010 of colon cancer. Mazzola told her family to look for change on the street as a sign that she was dropping pennies from heaven for them to help cancer patients. Crosby says they are asking walkers to get pledges of one penny per mile.
All money raised from the walk will go to ETMC’s Cancer Institute Remembrance Fund. The fund, which is coordinated through the East Texas Medical Center Foundation, assists cancer patients and the community through patient support programs, such as retreats and support groups, cancer screenings, advancement of cancer programs and services and assistance to patients with special needs.
Crosby hopes retired and active law enforcement officers as well as cancer survivors will join them as they pass through their county and walk with them.
They plan to use their Facebook page under Cops Crushing Cancer, to update walkers as to when they will be in their area.

The walk will begin in Cass County on State Highway 155 and turn onto U.S. Highway 80 to travel to Dallas. Walkers will travel through Dallas-Ft. Worth and take routes north of Midland to reach El Paso. They are staying off main interstates so the trip will be safer for the walkers.

To make a donation by check, please send your tax-deductible gift to the ETMC Foundation, Cancer Institute Remembrance Fund, P. O. Box 6400, Tyler, TX 75711. For more information on the walk please contact Crosby at 903-245-9004.

East Texans who have survived cancer are invited to go on the East Texas Medical Center (ETMC) Cancer Institute’s “Great Getaway” retreat scheduled for April 26-28 at Lake Palestine’s Pine Cove.
This event will enable those who have overcome cancer to take it easy with others of their calling, meet and become acquainted with local cancer survivors, refocus and help learn to cope with the challenges of their post-cancer lives.  Any adult diagnosed now or in the past is urged to attend.
“This is a chance to get away from the stress of day-to-day life and enjoy the company of those who have been through similar experiences,” said ETMC Cancer Institute Vice-President Todd Sigmon.  “Heathcare professionals as well as cancer survivors will be on hand to assist with retreat activities.”
Those in attendance will stay in Pine Cove’s comfortable motel-style rooms complete with private baths.  For a $50 registration fee attendees will receive not only lodging, but meals and snacks.  Arrival time will be 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, and departure will be 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
Registration forms and fees must be received by April 8.  Because of limited space priority will be given to first-time guests, and in case financial assistance is needed there are scholarships available.   For more prescription drugs online information call (903) 595-5550 or (800) 541-0592.