When detecting congenital heart problems in infants and children, pediatric cardiologists may order an echocardiogram, which provides a good view of the working heart and its pumping chambers. Other children may need a stress test to detect a certain abnormality or a tilt test to check if there is a cardiac link to their fainting spells.

The new Pediatric Heart Station at the Cardiac Center at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital was dedicated on Tuesday, February 14, 2006. Pictured (l to r) are Mark Boucek, M.D., Director of Pediatric Cardiac Services; Eleanor Savariau, Administrative Director of Pediatric Cardiac Center; and Richard A. Perryman, M.D., Director of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery.

Yet, no matter what cardiac test is required, patients need to reach only one place at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital – the Pediatric Heart Station.

“This Heart Station brings our congenital cardiac program to a whole new level by providing a central location for non-invasive diagnostic evaluations,” said Eleanor Savariau, Administrative Director, Pediatric Cardiac Center at the Children’s Hospital. “Cardiac imaging plays a critical role in our program and having a state-of-the-art imaging laboratory for echocardiography allows us to fully evaluate complex congenital heart disease and enhances our ability to diagnose and treat problems.”



A new partnership between Palm Beach Community College and Indian River Community College allows for an exchange of programs across the two districts, avoiding duplication of efforts while also filling a need in the community. The programs involved are PBCC’s Sonography and IRCC’s Nuclear Medicine Technology.

PBCC’s Sonography program director, Patty Moriano-Braga sees great benefits from this partnership. “It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved. We are able to provide a much needed service to the students in the area where they live; and we will be providing the community with potential employees that are already connected to the community. By sharing programs across district lines each college can use their resources to better provide for one program instead of spreading them out over two,” said Braga. Classes will be simulcast to the remote campus, allowing the students the convenience of attending class on the campus nearest them while also benefiting from “live” interaction with the instructor and their fellow students via distance learning technology.

“I can further my career without having to travel 50 or 60 miles to class. That’s important for me as a working mom. I don’t think I could have done this without the partnership,” said Glenda Bingold, a IRCC nuclear medicine technology student who attends her classes on PBCC’s campus. “Everything is completely interactive. There are two huge screens in the classroom. One lets us see and interact with the students at IRCC and the other is for the instructor to put up his visual aids.”

When Bingold completes the course she will be looking for a job in Palm Beach County, where she says she is determined to stay. Regardless of which campus they use, those studying sonography will be PBCC students and those studying nuclear medicine technology will be enrolled at IRCC. They will graduate from the programs with either a certificate or associate of science degree from that institution.

Students will complete their clinical patient care experience requirements in the community where they attend classes. The expansion allows for more clinical sites, which increases the number of students who can attend each semester.



Palmetto General Hospital recently unveiled the opening of its new “Heart Institute at Palmetto General Hospital,” which will bring the conventional operating room into the digital age.

“The Heart Institute will serve as one of the most advanced cardiac facilities in South Florida, and boast two new ‘smart’ operating rooms and a leading-edge 10-bed cardiac intensive care unit,” said Ana Mederos, Palmetto General Hospital’s chief executive officer.

PGH1: Dr. Romualdo “Peter” Segurola, medical director of The Heart Institute at Palmetto General Hospital, holds a model heart as he demonstrates the new technology available in the hospital’s two new “Smart ORs.” Observers are pictured in one of the several interconnected, voice-activated video screens that are positioned throughout the operating room.

The two “Smart ORs,” which are the only such advanced cardiac facilities south of Tampa, are fully integrated, voice-controlled operating rooms that will provide surgeons with comprehensive access and control of critical devices along with networked digital documentation and telemedicine capabilities.

Gone are the hundreds of feet of equipment cables found in conventional cardiac ORs. Instead, these rooms are specially designed to be completely wireless for maximum efficiency and patient safety.

In addition, instead of dictating instructions to nurses, cardiac surgeons at Palmetto General Hospital will now give simple verbal commands to Sidne®, a voice-recognition network that will turn on lights, raise or lower the surgical table, instruct cameras to zoom in and out, take pictures and perform a variety of other functions.

A video screen in the upper right of the “Smart OR” focuses in to show detail of a model of a heart placed at the center of the operating table. The cameras, which are high-definition, allow the medical staff both inside the Smart OR and in the separate ICU to see detailed images of the surgery without increasing traffic, congestion and the possibility of infection within the room.

Upon completion of a surgical procedure in the “Smart OR,” Palmetto General Hospital patients will recuperate in one of Florida’s most leading-edge cardiac Intensive Care Units. The 10-bed unit, with individual rooms for each patient, is wired to the ORs via television monitors so that nurses can begin preparing for a patient’s arrival before he/she ever leaves the operating table.

Joined by community leaders and hospital officials, Dr. Romualdo “Peter” Segurola (center left), medical director of The Heart Institute at Palmetto General Hospital, Ralph A. Aleman (center), vice president of Tenet’s Miami-Dade Health Network, and Ana Mederos (center right), CEO of PGH, cut the ribbon to formally open The Heart Institute at Palmetto General Hospital.

The ICU also operates on a revolutionary “universal bed” concept, whereby patients spend their entire stay in the same bed instead of facing the disruption of changing rooms and floors. Other technological features include two-way video and audio connections to allow other doctors to interact with the operating surgeon, as well as observe a variety of camera views and electronic patient data simultaneously.



As Baby Boomers continue to age, the demand for healthcare professionals in many different fields will continue to grow. And with these opportunities comes the need for properly trained professionals who have the right skills set, from nurses and pharmacists to CEOs.

“There will be numerous career opportunities in 2007, especially in areas where we are seeing shortages, such as nursing, radiology, and pharmacy,” said J. Don Haney, principal and senior partner of Haney/Lowderman, which provides career transition services to healthcare executives. “There are always opportunities at the senior executive level, whether it’s a CEO moving into another CEO role at a different facility, or a COO moving into a CEO position.”

“Individuals in acute healthcare administration are now finding more positions outside traditional hospitals, including in rehabilitation hospitals and LTAC (long-term acute care) facilities,” added Haney/Lowderman principal, Bill Lowderman. “We’re also seeing a real proliferation of jobs for consultants in interim or turnaround management companies—not just for the CEO, COO and CFO, but in emergency, surgery, and other departments as well.”

According to Haney and Lowderman, while there may be a proliferation of healthcare jobs available, candidates are undergoing a more thorough selection process than ever before. “Especially in upper level positions, employers are relying less on chemistry during the interview, and are spending more time scrutinizing potential employees’ track records and references,” said Lowderman. “They are using behavioral-based interviewing (BBI) related to the issues, projects and challenges the management position requires based on the belief that the best indicator of an applicant’s future performance is his or her past performance.” Behavioral-based interviewing is also a way of discovering an applicant’s values, temperament, decision-making processes, conflict resolution style and personality.

“Employers who use to consider three candidates for a position now often look at six,” added Haney. “They also conduct more thorough reference checking and even second-generation reference checking, so candidates really need to have their acts together.”

In order to help healthcare executives succeed in their employment quest, Haney/Lowderman, formerly known as Haney & Associates, provides comprehensive career transition services, which include outplacement training techniques designed to help executives minimize mistakes during the job search. Two- to three-day workshops help individuals learn how to build a powerful resume, prepare for interviews, manage references and learn to network. “We believe that it’s not what you know or who you know, but who knows what you know that determines future career success,” said Lowderman.

With more than 45-plus years of experience between them, Haney and Lowderman understand what skills employers require. “A candidate must have strong leadership skills, as well as strong technology skills and financial skills,” said Haney. “Even non IT-mangers must be more technologically savvy. And if a candidate doesn’t have a thorough understanding of the financial aspects of their organization, they are at a definite disadvantage.”

“Executives must have the ability to improve clinical quality ratings and customer service ratings,” added Lowderman, who says that with more of this data available on the Internet, customers who are making the purchasing decision are increasingly focusing on these statistics. “The federal government and customers who are making healthcare decisions are looking for increased transparency in quality and in pricing.”

Being able to work with a myriad of people is also an important skill. “An executive’s physician-relationship skills must be outstanding,” said Lowderman. “Physicians expect a hospital administrator to be attentive, responsive and honest. And anyone who takes this position needs to realize what a complex relationship it is—a physician can be a hospital’s competitor, partner, collaborator, customer, and employee, all at the same time.”

“Physicians have more power now than ever before,” added Haney. “They can develop outpatient projects on their own, and there is also a trend toward more physician equity positions. To succeed as an executive requires political astuteness and savvy—not only in physician relationships, but with the hospital board, medical staff, employees, consumers and the community.”

Though jobs in healthcare can be extremely rigorous, finding the right position can make it all worthwhile. “Hospital management is one of the most labor-intensive jobs in the world, and one of the most difficult industries for management due to multiple constituencies and the political skills required,” said Lowderman. “Still, for people who relish a challenge, healthcare remains an exciting and dynamic field.”



Keiser University received a National Award for Superior Volunteer Efforts in the Community from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF).

The CFF recognized Keiser University’s unique fundraising effort, designated “Freedom to Live, Freedom to Fly,” that offered actual butterfly cocoons for a donation. The butterflies would hatch over time, symbolizing the birth of new possibilities for people living with cystic fibrosis. The campaign raised $50,000 and resulted in hundreds of butterflies being hatched and released across the state of Florida, including at elementary schools in each of Keiser University’s campus communities that received donated cocoons. The Keiser effort was part of an event led by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who is the honorary chairman of the annual Jeb Bush Florida Classic, which raised $1 million in 2006 for cystic fibrosis research.