August 23, 2021 – Marcella Gravalese, MBA-HSA, has been appointed vice president of Baptist Health Medical Group North. She will lead the physician group’s development and operations and recruit new members to join the primary care and specialty physician practices.

Ms. Gravalese brings more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, most recently serving as assistant vice president of operations at HCA Physician Services Group – East Florida Division. While at HCA, she was responsible for the operations of 100 ambulatory clinics, five urgent care centers and multiple graduate education programs throughout South Florida. She was also instrumental in the company’s expansion into the Next Generation ACO Model, which supports the integration, alignment and coordination of care through population health initiatives.

“We are delighted to welcome Marcella to the Baptist Health family,” said Lincoln Mendez, CEO of Boca Raton Regional Hospital. “She brings the technical competencies to succeed in this role and has demonstrated a personal commitment to developing people and leading teams—two invaluable skills that will help further Baptist Health Medical Group North’s mission of providing the highest level of care to patients in Palm Beach County.”

Nelson Lazo, CEO of Bethesda Hospital East and Bethesda Hospital West, added, “Marcella will serve as a great asset in expanding the physician group to ensure patients across Palm Beach County can be connected with local primary care and specialty physicians. Her expertise is the perfect fit to help meet the needs of our growing community.”

Ms. Gravalese began her career in Detroit, Michigan, where she served in various healthcare roles before relocating to South Florida. She possesses extensive experience in healthcare operations settings, including ambulatory care, emergency medicine, urgent care, inpatient, surgical and graduate medical education.

Throughout her career, Ms. Gravalese has maintained a passion for mentoring and developing future leaders as well as serving and supporting the community. In 2017, she was one of six scholars selected for the prestigious Thomas C. Dolan Executive Diversity Program by the American College of Healthcare Executives. Most recently, she was recognized as a Dynamic Influencer by the International Association of Women. Ms. Gravalese earned a master’s degree in health services administration from Nova Southeastern University and a bachelor’s degree in health promotion and disease prevention from Michigan State University. She also completed the Leadership for Senior Executives program through Harvard Business School.

About Baptist Health Medical Group North

Baptist Health Medical Group North, formed from Bethesda Health Physician Group and BocaCare© physicians, is committed to the prevention, treatment and management of acute and chronic illnesses and diseases through evidence-based clinical practices. These dedicated providers collaborate with doctors from nearby institutions and all 11 Baptist Health hospitals, which have been operating with excellence for decades from the Florida Keys north to Bethesda Hospital East, Bethesda Hospital West and Boca Raton Regional Hospital, and more than 50 outpatient facilities located throughout South Florida.

Baptist Health Medical Group North gives access to a comprehensive network of clinicians committed to helping patients manage their day-to-day health and navigate their advanced and long-term healthcare needs in the areas of cancer care, neurosciences, cardiovascular health, orthopedics & sports medicine and others.



The American Heart Association presents multiple Achievement Awards for implementation of quality care for patients

August 23, 2021— JFK Medical Center has received three American Heart Association Achievement Awards for implementing quality improvement measures that ensure cardiovascular patients receive efficient and coordinated care, ultimately leading to more lives saved, shorter recovery times and fewer returns to the hospital.

Nearly half of all adults in the U.S. have experienced some form of cardiovascular disease – including heart attack, stroke and heart failure. For patients with conditions that are severe enough to be transported or admitted to a hospital, time is critical.

The American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline and Get With The Guidelines programs help reduce barriers to prompt treatment for cardiovascular events. As a participant in the Get With The Guidelines program, JFK Medical Center applied for the award recognitions by demonstrating how their organization has committed to improving quality care for patients.

“JFK Medical Center is honored to be recognized by the American Heart Association for our dedication to helping our patients have the best possible chance of survival and recovery after cardiovascular events,” said Gina Melby, CEO.  “The Get With The Guidelines program helps put proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis to improve outcomes for cardiovascular patients.”

This year, JFK Medical Center received the following Achievement Awards:

  • Get With The Guidelines Stroke Award (AHA) Gold Plus
  • Get With The Guidelines Stroke Award (AHA) Target Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
  • Get With The Guidelines Stroke Award (AHA) Target Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll

“We are pleased to recognize JFK Medical Center for their commitment to cardiovascular care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national chairperson of the American Heart Association’s Quality Oversight Committee and Executive Vice Chair of Neurology, Director of Acute Stroke Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the American Heart Association’s quality improvement programs often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”

About JFK Medical Center

Founded over 50 years ago, JFK Medical Center has evolved into a multi-campus medical center, with four locations throughout Palm Beach County. Our main campus in Atlantis is a 558-bed facility known for its comprehensive services, including Cardiovascular Care, General and Orthopedic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Stroke Care, Robotics, Cancer Care and Emergency Care. JFK Medical Center North Campus is a 280-bed acute care hospital, with an adjoining psychiatric unit. JFK also has two off-site Emergency Rooms in Palm Beach Gardens and Boynton Beach.

About Get With The Guidelines

Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 9 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.



August 23, 2021 – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $1.26 million to FIU chemist Natalia Soares Quinete as part of a $9 million initiative to research children’s chemical exposures from soil and dust.

Seven universities are included in the nationwide research to better estimate exposure to toxic chemicals, including mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and asbestos. The grant is part of the EPA’s Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Program to help improve children’s health.

According to the EPA, accurate and comprehensive measurements of soil and dust ingestion rates are critical for effective risk assessment, reduction, mitigation and prevention measures.

“It is our duty to protect the health of those most vulnerable among us, including our children,” said Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development and the EPA science advisor. “The researchers receiving these awards will improve our understanding of how children are exposed to chemicals, which will inform future actions to reduce these exposures and better protect their health.”

Young children may ingest significant quantities of soil and dust because they often play on the ground and put their hands and other objects into their mouths that have dust or soil on them. For children, especially those 6-months-old through 6-years-old, soil and dust ingestion can be the main route of exposure to toxic chemicals. This research will focus on improving estimates of children’s ingestion rates of these chemicals.

Quinete — who is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Institute of Environment — will use this grant to identify specific tracers of dust and soil exposure combined with relevant environmental information to estimate soil and dust ingestion rates in children. Funding will also support graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at FIU.

“Toxic chemicals that may be present in soil and dust can impact the health of younger children, but we don’t know yet how to accurately estimate chemical exposure by soil and dust ingestion,” Quinete said. “With this grant, we will identify chemical tracers using innovative analytical methodologies, and will also focus on understanding the impacts on underrepresented groups of children living in Florida.”

The other six universities participating in the research are Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., New York University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, University of California Davis, and University of Nevada-Reno.

EPA’s STAR Program aims to stimulate and support scientific and engineering research that advances EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment. It is a competitive, peer-reviewed, extramural research program that provides access to the nation’s best scientists and engineers in academic and other nonprofit research institutions. The STAR program funds research on the environmental and public health effects of air quality, climate change, environmental justice, water quality and quantity, hazardous waste, toxic substances and pesticides.

-FIU-
About FIU:
Florida International University is a Top 50 public university that drives real talent and innovation in Miami and globally. High research (R1) activity and high social mobility come together at FIU to uplift and accelerate learner success in a global city by focusing in the areas of environment, health, innovation, and justice. Today, FIU has two campuses and multiple centers. FIU serves a diverse student body of more than 58,000 and 260,000 Panther alumni. U.S. News and World Report places dozens of FIU programs among the best in the nation, including international business at No. 2. Washington Monthly Magazine ranks FIU among the top 20 public universities contributing to the public good.



August 23 2021 – LeadingAge Florida, Florida’s only association representing the entire continuum of care for older adults, announced today that Lisa Smith has been hired as the association’s Director of Nursing Home Public Policy.

Ms. Smith joins LeadingAge Florida from the Agency for Health Care Administration where she served as the Bureau Chief of Medicaid Program Finance for the last three years.

Lisa Smith

“Lisa is a tremendous addition to our advocacy team,” said Steve Bahmer, President and CEO of LeadingAge Florida. “She is a proven leader with more than a decade of experience managing the Medicaid reimbursement system for long-term care.

This knowledge will be critical as we look toward the future of the long-term care payment system and how we best serve our members. I’m thrilled to have her join our team.”

As Bureau Chief Ms. Smith’s responsibilities included the fiscal planning of the $34.4 billion Florida Medicaid services budget, and practitioner and institutional rate setting including nursing homes, hospitals, and clinics. She was also responsible for monitoring the financial performance and health of Medicaid managed care health and dental plans.

“We are excited to welcome Lisa to the LeadingAge Florida Advocacy team,” said Susan Langston, Vice President of Advocacy. “Lisa brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, including an in-depth understanding of Medicaid public policy and budgets, the Nursing Home Prospective Payment System, and public policy implications of Medicaid funding and other financial decisions. Her experience complements and further expands the value and service offerings we bring to our members.”

Ms. Smith lives in Tallahassee and graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor’s of Science.

For more than 58 years, LeadingAge Florida has been the state’s leading advocate for high-quality senior living, aging services and care. We are the only statewide association representing the full continuum of care for seniors. The Association provides up-to-date regulatory information, a wide variety of educational opportunities, representation before the Legislature and government agencies, group purchasing services, and opportunities for networking with peers to help member communities best serve the needs of Florida’s senior population.



WHAT:

Drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco cigarettes throughout the first trimester of pregnancy is associated with nearly three times the risk of late stillbirth (at 28 or more weeks), compared to women who neither drink or smoke during pregnancy or quit both before the end of the first trimester, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Although prenatal smoking is known to increase stillbirth risk, the researchers conducted the study to examine how smoking combined with alcohol use might influence the risk. The researchers also confirmed the higher stillbirth risk from alcohol alone, which has been suggested by earlier, less comprehensive studies.

The study was conducted by researchers in the Prenatal Alcohol in SIDS and Stillbirth (PASS) Network and appears in JAMA Network Open. Funding was provided by NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), and National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).

The study followed nearly 12,000 pregnancies among more than 8,500 women in South Africa and the U.S. Northern Plains. Compared to the pregnancies of women who did not drink or smoke or who quit both before the second trimester, women who drank and smoked through the first trimester and beyond had 2.78 times the risk for late stillbirth. Previously, the PASS Network found that the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, was 12 times higher in pregnancies exposed to maternal drinking and smoking past the first trimester.

NIAAA warns against drinking any alcohol during pregnancy because it can result in birth defects and neurodevelopmental abnormalities. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes(link is external) that smoking during pregnancy increases the risk for pregnancy complications, preterm birth, sudden infant death syndrome and infant health problems.

WHO:

Caroline Signore, M.D., deputy director of NICHD’s Extramural Research Division, is available for comment.

ARTICLE:

Odendaal, H. et al. Association of prenatal exposure to maternal drinking and smoking with the risk of stillbirth. JAMA Network Open.2021.

About the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): NICHD leads research and training to understand human development, improve reproductive health, enhance the lives of children and adolescents, and optimize abilities for all. For more information, visit https://www.nichd.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.