Morning Notes
Tiger Talks Future Of Congressional Tournament — Tiger Woods was at Congressional Country Club on Monday for an annual press gathering ahead of his AT&T National PGA event (June 24-30) and discussed the possibility of moving the tournament to another course in 2015. Congressional’s membership will vote later this year on whether to bring the tournament back from 2015-2017. The Tiger Woods Foundation, which hosts the event, must also re-up with AT&T or find another sponsor. [Washington Post]
Suburban Hospital Breast Cancer Experts Discuss Risk-Reducing Mastectomies — After actress Angelina Jolie revealed she had a preventive double mastectomy because of a BRCA gene mutation known to raise the risk of breast cancer, two doctors at Suburban Hospital answered questions about the procedure and in what circumstances to pursue the operation. [Suburban Hospital]
Congressman John Delaney Backs Doug Duncan For County Exec — First-term Sixth District Congressman John Delaney (D) endorsed former County Executive Doug Duncan for the same job in next year’s Democratic Primary. Duncan has announced his intention to run for his old job and it’s expected County Executive Isiah Leggett will run against him. The only candidate to have officially filed paperwork is Councilmember Phil Andrews (D-Gaithersburg). Duncan endorsed Delaney in his Congressional race last year. [Maryland Juice]
MCFRS Celebrates National EMS Week — The Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service is celebrating National Emergency Medical Services Week by recognizing its dual role firefighters/EMTs and firefighters/paramedics. [MCFRS]
Flickr pool photo by diarmaid20814
Morning Notes
Marriott Begins Layoffs — The Bethesda-based hotel giant issued layoff notices to 34 IT workers in its Bethesda office and warned of more, perhaps hundreds of layoffs at its three Montgomery County offices in Bethesda, Rockville and Gaithersburg. The company is downsizing its technology staff and farming some of the work out to an India-based contractor. [Washington Post]
Woman Starts ‘Laughter Yoga’ Company — Potomac resident Nira Berry started a Bethesda-based company called Laughing RX, which leads small groups, corporations and cancer patients in laugther yoga. Berry, a breast cancer survivor, said laughter yoga helped her cope. She went to Switzerland to get laughter yoga certified. [ABC7]
Suburban Hospital Gets Honorable Mention In Nursing Award — The Bethesda hospital won honorable mention for the 2013 Award for Nursing Certification Advocacy. Since 2009, the number of certified nurses at Suburban has grown each year. The hospital says 22 percent of nurses, 50 percent of nurse managers and 83 percent of nurse administrators are certified. [Suburban Hospital]
Flickr photo by eddie.welker
Suburban Hospital Gets Planning Board Go-Ahead On Expansion Plan
Suburban Hospital got the go-ahead from the Montgomery County Planning Board today for its expansion project, despite arguments from residents in the surrounding neighborhood that the new facilities won’t be compatible with the area’s Master Plan.
The years-long battle between the hospital and the Huntington Terrace Citizens Association is still in court. Today’s approval of Suburban’s preliminary and site plan for the expansion is an important step, but the hospital must wait until the case has cleared Appeals court.
Suburban Hospital says it badly needs the 235,000-square-foot addition. The Huntington Terrace Citizens Association says the expansion, abandonment of Lincoln Street and new garage included in it will lead to more noise and traffic.
The issue is before the Maryland Court of Appeals. In 2011, the group’s attempt to block the expansion was thrown out in Circuit Court.
Norman Knopf, attorney for the Citizens Association, argued the proposed four-story building and 1,125-space garage don’t fit the residential area’s Master Plan, approved 23 years ago.
Barbara Sears, attorney for Suburban Hospital, said Knopf was telling only part of the story. Suburban says the expansion of healthcare is a community service that’s included in the Master Plan. The Board of Appeals and County Council staff have used that justification before to allow the abandonment of Lincoln Street, which Suburban proposes to build over.
“What we have done is the minimal. It’s designed so it can function and it has to function,” Sears said. “We can’t change that footprint. We’ve done everything possible to change it. We can’t go any further.
“I don’t know any other case that’s been through this kind of scrutiny and that’s been through these kind of details,” Sears said.
Sears also showed a house near the hospital that was sold and rebuilt in 2010 by a man who had earlier feared he would not be able to sell it for good value because of the expansion. Sears said the value of the property doubled by 2010, even with the knowledge that Suburban would be building.
Knopf identified four issues the neighborhood had with the expansion: The anticipated increase in noise from HVAC units, an entranceway to the new garage from Southwick Street, the size and location of the garage and the size and location of the portion of the hospital addition that would go behind Southwick Street.
The majority of the Planning Board agreed to include a condition that would require Suburban to keep its noise testing locations on the same side of the street as the hospital. Residents were concerned moving those testing locations across the street would allow for higher noise levels.
Commissioner Amy Presley expressed concern about increased traffic on Smithwick that might come from the closing of Lincoln Street.
Rendering via Suburban Hospital, Site map via Montgomery County Planning Department
Suburban Hospital Expansion Plan Set For Planning Board
Expansion plans for Suburban Hospital will go in front of the Montgomery County Planning Board on April 18, almost two years after a Circuit Court judge denied a request from nearby residents to block the project.
The Site Plan application for Suburban Hospital’s proposed 235,000-square-foot addition to its facility at 8600 Old Georgetown Rd. say the hospital is in need of its first major clinical expansion since 1979.
In 2011, residents of the Huntington Terrace Citizens Association unsuccessfully tried to block the project, which has meant the closure of Lincoln Street between Grant Street and Old Georgetown Road and will mean the demolition of 10 hospital-owned houses. In July 2011, the Montgomery County Council approved a special exception request to close that section of Lincoln Street, which residents opposed because of anticipated disruptions.
The Planning Staff report on the hospital’s Preliminary and Site Plan materials was not available today, but the application filed last year explains how the project would work. Staff is recommending approval of the Plans, with conditions.
The existing 323,100-square-foot building would be combined with the new addition by removing the houses, two-story administrative building and garage and replacing those with a four-story building and new 1,125-space garage.
Suburban’s application says the project would separate pedestrian and regular vehicle traffic from ambulance traffic, as well as significantly reduce the amount of surface parking.
Suburban argues for the expansion because of a large increase in patient volume, improvements in healthcare delivery methods, additional regulatory demands and its status as Montgomery County’s only designated trauma center. The new building would include new surgical facilities, private patient rooms, doctors’ offices and the garage.
PDF: Suburban Hospital Site Plan Application
Photo via Suburban Hospital
Suburban Hospital Recognizes Certified Nurses With Wall Exhibit
Suburban Hospital (8600 Old Georgetown Rd.) is paying tribute to its certified nurses with a new wall exhibit that includes photos of all 156 members of its growing nursing core.
Since 2009, the number of certified nurses has grown every year, chief nursing officer Barbara Jacobs said. Many of the nurses at Suburban get certified while on the job with tuition assistance from the hospital.
Certifications typically require periodic review, sometimes via continuing education units (CEUs).
“Certification enables nurses to demonstrate their specialty expertise and validate their knowledge to employers and, most importantly, to patients,” Jacobs said in a statement. “Nurses worldwide contribute to better patient outcomes through national certification in their specialty.”
Photo via Suburban Hospital
Suburban Hospital Celebrates 30 Years Of Heart Rehab
For 30 years, Suburban Hospital’s Cardiac Rehab Department has helped heart disease victims learn how to eat better, exercise and get support.
When the program began in 1983, between four and six patients came to each session. Now, the Cardiac Rehab staff at Suburban (8600 Old Georgetown Rd.) can work with up to 25 patients at a time after three renovations to accomodate a growing number of heart attack victims and those recuperating from valve replacement and bypass surgeries.
“We know that cardiac rehabilitation after a heart attack or cardiac surgery can prolong the life of people with coronary artery disease,” said Dr. Greg Kumkumian, medical director of the Cardiac Rehab Center at Suburban Hospital, in a prepared release. ”Our skilled staff is uniquely attuned to the needs of cardiac patients. We encourage and teach our patients how they can live a full and active live after a heart event.”
The program includes consultations with a dietitian and monitored exercise that has kept some patients for more than 20 years. Fifty percent of the patients, who range in age from 18 to 97, continue in the rehab program. The department treats more than 350 new patients per year.
Photo via Suburban Hospital
Suburban Hospital Names New President
Dr. Gene E. Green will be the new president of Suburban Hospital (8600 Old Georgetown Rd.) taking over the position from Brian Gragnolati.
Green, who serves as the chief medical officer for the Johns Hopkins Community Physicians network, was chosen for his experience in “community-based medicine,” Suburban Board of Trustees Chairman Christopher Doherty said in a statement.
Gragnolati will become the senior vice president for the Johns Hopkins Health System, which includes primary care physician offices and six area hospitals including Suburban.
“Suburban Hospital will benefit from Gene’s experience as an effective relationship builder and communicator,” Gragnolati said in a statement. “His knowledge of Johns Hopkins Medicine will be extremely effective in facilitating and accelerating our clinical integration efforts with other parts of the Hopkins system.”
Suburban has been Bethesda’s primary hospital facility since 1943 and cites its affiliation to the National Institutes of Health (NIH is located directly across Old Georgetown Road) with helping to bring about advanced treatment of strokes, heart attacks and other conditions.
Green joined Johns Hopkins Community Physicians in 2003. Before entering medical school, he worked as a paramedic and businessman in Virginia.
Photo via Suburban Hospital
Freon Leak Causes Emergency Room Shutdown At Suburban Hospital
A small freon leak in the basement of Suburban Hospital has the emergency room closed to new patients, hospital spokeswoman Ronna Borenstein said.
The leak occurred in the cooling system of a basement computer server room, Borenstein said. Fire and Rescue officials were on the scene of the hospital at 8600 Old Georgetown Rd., and many employees were waiting outside the building.
Borenstein said the leak had no impact on any of the patients inside the hospital, but the ER would not be taking in new patients until the scene was cleared.
Suburban Hospital, Saks Fifth Avenue Hosting Charity Event
Suburban Hospital is again partnering with Saks Fifth Avenue Chevy Chase (5555 Wisconsin Ave.) for a three-day shopping event to raise funds for cancer research and treatment.
The regional kick-off party for Key To The Cure will be held Oct. 17 at Saks Fifth Avenue Chevy Chase in an annual event featuring food samples, style and fashion demonstrations and a raffle box to benefit women’s cancer programs at Suburban Hospital.
The event will honor 12 area cancer survivors, led by Dr. Katherine Alley, one of the area’s first to start a dedicated breast cancer practice.
The three-day shopping event means two percent of all retail sales from Oct. 18-21 at Saks Fifth Avenue will go to the Suburban Hospital Cancer Care Program. Suburban is a leading treatment center for breast cancer in Montgomery County thanks to the Cancer Care Program.
The Key To The Cure has raised more than $1 million for the program in the past decade, according to a Suburban Hospital press release.
For more information, including how to register, visit the event website.
Suburban Hospital Hosting Community Flu Shot Clinics
Suburban Hospital (8600 Old Georgetown Rd.) is hosting a series of flu shot clinics in October at three Bethesda locations.
No appointment is necessary. You must be 18 years old or older to receive the shot, which costs $25.
The clinic will be in front of the Bethesda Chevy Chase Regional Services Center (4805 Edgemoor Lane) from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday Oct. 4 and Thursday, Oct. 4.
Suburban Hospital will have a table at the Taste of Bethesda, from noon to 3 p.m. on Oct. 6 in the Woodmont Triangle area that will be offering the flu vaccine.
On Tuesday, Oct. 16 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and again from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., the hospital will bring the clinic to the YMCA Bethesda-Chevy Chase (9401 Old Georgetown Rd.)
For more information call the hospital at 301-896-6508.
Man Suffers Life Threatening Injuries In North Bethesda Wreck
Two adult males, one with serious, life threatening injuries, were transported to Suburban Hospital yesterday after an early afternoon collision at Executive Boulevard and Old Georgetown Road.
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services spokeswoman Beth Anne Nesselt said units were called at 12:16 p.m. and found two overturned vehicles and two people pinned by those vehicles.
Fire and Rescue Services personnel extricated the patients in 15 minutes, Nesselt said.
The second patient was transported with serious non-life threatening injuries.
