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Broward Health Coral Springs Health Care District’s School Nurses
Launches Intensivist Program Prepare for the New School Year

Patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Broward “Health Care District School Nurses are
Health Coral Springs will now have access to board certified ready to go back to school!”
critical care physicians known as intensivists as part of the The chant rang out Wednesday at
new onsite and telemedicine intensivist program. William T. Dwyer High School in Palm
“A structured intensivist program has been proven to Beach Gardens, where over 200 Health
improve quality of care,” said Isabel Novela, medical direc- Care District school nurses, health tech-
tor of critical care, Broward Health Coral Springs. “It pro- nicians and staff gathered to prepare for
vides benefits to patients, medical staff and the hospital.” the upcoming school year.
Intensivists provide 24/7 critical care coverage while “Palm Beach County made a bold com-
helping coordinate the critical care program's multidiscipli- mitment in the 1990s to put a nurse in
nary healthcare team, including consulting physicians, nearly every public school,” said Alina M.
nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, dieticians and Alonso, M.D., Director of the Florida
social workers. They play an integral role with the patients Jared Smith Department of Health for Palm Beach (l-r) Ginny Keller, the Health Care
and their families, and are responsible for ensuring a continuum of care as patients' County and Health Care District Board District’s Director of the School Health
needs are met. According to NuView Health, a national leader in onsite intensivist Member in her welcome address. “Today, Program and Dr. Alina M. Alonso, Director
programming and telemedicine, studies have shown that when intensivists are we are one of the few school districts in of the Florida Department of Health for
involved in the care of critically ill patients there is improvement in care, fewer com- the nation that has a nurse in nearly every Palm Beach County and Health Care
plications and a reduction in mortality. school. In many cases, you are the only District Board Member
“Establishing a program such as this is integral to our hospital’s quality initiatives,” health care provider a child ever sees.
said Jared Smith, CEO of Broward Health Coral Springs. “We are confident that as Your role on campus is more important than ever.”
intensivists work with our critically ill patients they will enhance our patients’ out- Every school day, the nurses are ready to respond to a wide range of health issues,
comes.” from injuries and illness to chronic diseases like seizures and asthma. They provide
nursing care, medically-complex care planning and case management, and communi-
cable disease surveillance. The school nurses identify conditions, sometimes life-
threatening, that might otherwise go unnoticed and they steer students and their fam-
ilies to treatments. Last year, school health technicians performed 50,000 vision
screenings, nearly 50,000 hearing screenings and over 11,000 scoliosis screenings.
E-mail Your Editorial Submissions to At this year’s meeting, the registered nurses received “Stop the Bleed” training to
use in the event of on-campus emergencies. The annual event brings the nurses and
staff together before they begin working independently in health rooms at their
editorial@southfloridahospitalnews.com assigned schools. School Health is one of the many programs the Health Care District
provides to keep the community healthy.
“As the school year begins, you can take pride in what our health care system has
accomplished,” said Darcy J. Davis, the Health Care District’s Chief Executive Officer,
as she addressed the group. “Over the past couple of years, we’ve focused on fulfilling
our safety net mission in the county. We have expanded our programs like adding a
mobile health clinic for the homeless and a new behavioral health benefit.”
Davis noted that, “while expanding access to quality care for our patients, we’ve
also been respectful to county taxpayers. We reduced the tax rate 33% in the past
three years to the lowest rate in District history.”
Ginny Keller, RN, MBA, NCSN, Director of the School Health Program for the
Health Care District, summed up the meeting, which this year featured a western,
rodeo theme: “We are truly excited to kick off the school year and help ensure that
nearly 180,000 pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students stay healthy and ready
to learn.”

Memorial Sports Medicine Center

Selected as the Official Sports Medicine
Provider for Broward College Athletics

The Memorial Sports Medicine Center has been selected by Broward College to pro-
vide medical support services and athletic trainers for its sports programs. As part of
the agreement, student athletes will also receive pre-participation physicals from
Memorial’s multi-disciplinary team of physicians.
The school currently has eight team sports and nearly 150 athletes that will be cov-
ered by the Center. Two certified athletic trainers will be present at all Broward
College home games and will provide office-hour coverage of training rooms on cam-
pus, maintaining direct communication with the treating physicians at the Memorial
Sports Medicine Center. Sports that will receive medical services include men’s base-
ball, basketball, and soccer, as well as women’s basketball, tennis, volleyball, softball,
and soccer.
Broward College becomes the third institution to align its sports programs with the
Memorial Sports Medicine Center, following Florida Memorial University and ASA
College.

E-mail Your Editorial Submissions to

editorial@southfloridahospitalnews.com

28 September 2019 southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News