OpusCare of Florida recently broke ground on Miami-Dade County’s first free-standing 13 bed inpatient hospice unit. The new facility will be located in the Village of Palmetto Bay.

The new facility will help meet the needs of current and future OpusCare patients by improving the delivery of hospice care services. The facility will provide a home-like setting where patients and their families will be able to have privacy and access to supportive care from OpusCare’s hospice specialized staff.
 
The oasis-style unit will be complete with 13 private suites, state-of-the-art technology, a meditation garden, chapel, and dedicated areas for counseling, spiritual, and bereavement services that are not easy nor ideal to provide in a hospital setting.
 
A freestanding hospice inpatient unit in Miami-Dade County would allow for OpusCare to extend and further enhance the quality and continuity of care that they currently provide. OpusCare’s specialized services, innovative facility, and qualified staffing will allow patients and their families to have an alternate, independent choice with the patient’s best interest in mind.


With many businesses and schools in the United States now open post COVID-19, employers are faced with new challenges to keep the workplace safe for their employees, customers and students.

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science have received a two-year $698,801 grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to test the effectiveness of various types of personal protection measures against airborne viral transmission. Building on their prior research, the project will result in experimentally verified computational strategies for mitigating airborne transmission of aerosolized droplets for a safe workplace environment.
 
Researchers will test and quantify the effectiveness of various protective measures under new American Society for Testing Materials standards and best safety practices in the workplace. They will evaluate facemasks and other personal protection equipment; physical safety barriers; interior designs of spaces; air filters, humidifiers; safe seating arrangements in a classroom setting and queuing at checkouts, as well as other measures.
 
“Employers are considering various protective measures in the workplace such as facemasks, placing safety barriers in offices and at workstations, reviewing ventilation/air conditioning systems in buildings, redesigning interior spaces as well as arranging safe queuing procedures at checkouts and other high-density environments,” said Manhar Dhanak, Ph.D., principal investigator, chair of FAU’s Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering, and professor and director of SeaTech. “With this CDC grant, we will conduct experimental simulation studies that will result in observations and analyses in support of social distancing and other preventative measures for mitigating airborne transmission of viral infections, which will be of particular interest to businesses, schools and the general public.”


The first new lung valve treatment for patients with severe COPD/emphysema was performed at Holy Cross Health, one of the first hospitals in South Florida to offer the Zephyr® Endobronchial Valve treatment.

“This is a groundbreaking moment for patients who suffer from emphysema,” said Sam G. Kosseifi, M.D., DABSM, lead pulmonologist at Holy Cross Health. “It’s a minimally invasive procedure that helps them breathe easier without major surgery and improves their quality of life.”
 
Dr. Kosseifi and his team inserted four one-way tiny valves into the airways of Stanley Williams, a 79-year-old patient who has had COPD for a long time. The valves were inserted to block off the diseased parts of the lungs where air gets trapped. Keeping air from getting trapped in the diseased parts of the lung allows the healthier parts of the lungs to expand and take in more air and allow the patient to breathe easier, while reducing shortness of breath and also allowing the patient to be more active and energetic.
 
"It was getting harder and harder to breathe," said Williams. "Since the valve implant, I can breathe much easier and can take deep breaths without any strain. Any physical activity used to require me to sit down and catch my breath but now my recovery time is much quicker and my lungs are working better."
 
Before the Zephyr Valves the only options for relief were highly invasive treatments including lung surgeries.
 


The Florida Atlantic University/Northwest Community Health Alliance Community Health Center (FAU/NCHA Community Health Center), operated by the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, is the first university in Florida to be designated by the United States Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), as a “Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Look-Alike,” effective May 1. An FQHC is a clinic that provides comprehensive primary, behavioral health and preventive care to patients of all ages in underserved and rural areas. The purpose of FQHCs is to serve communities that may have financial disadvantages, language barriers, geographic barriers, or other specific needs.

“Receiving this important designation from the U.S. Health Resources Services Administration is the result of the tireless efforts of our nurse-led Community Health Center’s staff and leadership team, including our executive director Dr. Kay Edwards, and our nursing faculty who are all dedicated to providing lifesaving health care and services to underserved populations in Palm Beach County. Our Community Health Center is an invaluable resource in the community and provides patient-centered care by an outstanding interdisciplinary team of professionals that include nurse practitioners, physicians, psychiatrists, social workers, medical assistants and others,” said Safiya George, Ph.D., dean, FAU Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing. “The majority of residents who live in our service areas live well below poverty. As a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike, we will be able to expand and enhance the vital services we provide at our FAU/NCHA Community Health Center.”
 
To receive an FQHC Look-Alike designation, organizations must operate and provide services consistent with HRSA’s Health Center Program requirements to ensure health care for underserved communities and vulnerable populations in the U.S. through service provision to all, regardless of ability to pay. Health Center Program look-alikes improve the health of underserved communities and vulnerable populations by expanding access to comprehensive, culturally competent, quality primary health care services.


Delray Medical Center and West Boca Medical Center announced they have both been recognized as Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award™ recipients for the fourth year in a row (2018-2021).