Thursday, April 11, 2013

Gumbo Chili Showdown 2013



The fifth annual Gumbo Chili Showdown was held April 6, 2013, preceding the University of South Alabama Jaguars Spring Game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

More than 500 people came to the event to enjoy gumbo and chili prepared by 17 competing teams. Winners of this year's event were:

Best Overall: "Bad Chili, Ain't Got Time for That" by the USA College of Medicine Class of 2014 - sponsored by Mobile Diagnostic Center

Best Chili: "Chili in Your Belly, South in Your Mouth" by the USA Alumni Association

Best Gumbo: "Gumbo Assassins" by Springhill Medical Center

People's Choice: "USA Outlaws" by the USA Mitchell College of Business

Best Team Spirit: "Motley's Crüe" by the USA Family Medicine Interest Group

Best Team Name: "Sos Boss & the Burning Sensation Chili" by the USA College of Medicine Class of 2016

The Gumbo Chili Showdown supports a scholarship at the USA College of Medicine created in memory of Regan Robinson, a medical student at USA who was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer in 2003 at the age of 23. The scholarship provides assistance to a rising senior medical student who embodies Regan’s spirit and character.

Click here to view more photos from the event. For local news coverage of the event, click here.

Sir Philip Cohen Gives 2013 Charles M. Baugh Lecture


From left to right: Dr. Ronald Franks, vice president for health sciences at USA; Sir Philip Cohen, professor of enzymology, Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation Unit, University of Dundee, Scotland; and Dr. Samuel Strada, dean of the USA College of Medicine.
The University of South Alabama College of Medicine hosted the Charles M. Baugh 2013 lecture on April 9th. The event featured Sir Philip Cohen, a pioneer in the scientific field of protein phosphorylation and cellular signalling.

The lecture is held in memory of Dr. Charles M. Baugh, who served twice as dean of the USA College of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs.

Click here to learn more about Sir Philip Cohen and the Charles M. Baugh lecture.

Register Now: 24th Annual Southeastern Orthopaedic Foot Club Conference

Dr. Lew Schon
The University of South Alabama Department of Orthopaedic Surgery will host its 24th annual Southeastern Orthopaedic Foot Club conference May 16, 2013, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Ala.

The conference, held in conjunction with the Alabama Orthopaedic Society Meeting, will feature Dr. Lew Schon, director of foot and ankle services at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Md.

Dr. Schon will lecture on “Advances in Treating the Achilles and Posterior Tibial Tendon Disorders” and “Ankle Reconstructions Via a Lateral Approach: Autograft, Allograft and Arthroplasty.”

Additional conference speakers include: Dr. Melanie Clark, USA; Dr. John Gould, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Dr. John Kirchner, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Dr. Angus McBryde, University of South Carolina; Dr. Raoul Rodriguez, Tulane University; Dr. Zhiqing Xing, USA; and Drs. Mason Florence, Beatriz Garcia, and Kavita Iyengar, fellows at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

At the conclusion of the conference, participants should be able to utilize procedural and ambulatory care for the disorders of the foot and ankle; recognize and incorporate therapeutic options for clinical problems of the foot and ankle; and apply these new diagnostic and treatment modalities and technical knowledge in the treatment of children and adults with foot and ankle abnormalities, as well as the highly trained athlete.

CEU’s will be available. Deadline for registration is May 3, 2013. To register, click here.

For more information, call (251) 665-8250 or click here. You can also get conference updates on Facebook here.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Construction Update: USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital

The University of South Alabama Children’s & Women’s Hospital is nearing the final stages of a five-level expansion that will nearly double the hospital’s size.

The $72.6 million expansion will address patient care needs as well as enhance services provided for families, visitors and hospital staff.

Hospital administrator Owen Bailey said Phase I construction is in the final phase and should be completed by this summer.

According to Bailey, the expansion features more space for the hospital’s neonatal and pediatric intensive care units, additional operating rooms and large patient rooms to better accommodate visitors and families. Vital support services such as a large cafeteria and kitchen, along with space for professional teaching and community education, are also included in the expansion.

Highlights of Phase I of the expansion include:

• Enlarging the Hollis J. Wiseman Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), adding 12 private NICU rooms (including five new isolation rooms), and a Progressive Care area for up to 16 babies

The Progressive Care area ties into the existing NICU and has six skylights that provide natural lighting.
• Relocating and expanding the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, adding six beds to the current 14-bed unit, while the PICU’s overall size will nearly triple to 13,500 square feet
• Surgical Services will relocate and increase from 11,000 to 41,000 square feet and Surgical Recovery will grow from five to 15 beds
• New five-room Epilepsy Monitoring Unit
• New third floor will include an infant unit and a toddler/preschool unit
• New fourth floor will include a school-age/adolescent unit and a hematology/oncology unit
• Pharmacy will relocate and expand from 2,300 to 3,700 square feet
• Pediatric and Adolescent floors will increase from 27,000 to 57,000 square feet, with the number of beds growing from 53 to 68
The new, large pediatric rooms are located on the third and fourth floors of the expansion. Each room has a computer for electronic medical records, which allows the hallways to be clutter free.

















The hospital's expansion was built around centrally located nurse stations, which help keep noise and activity to a minimum for the patients.
The expansion features a new dining area that is four times larger than the current cafeteria. The new dining area, which seats up to 140 people, is available for hospital visitors and staff.
Additional highlights of the expansion include a new Class Act Room. Class Act is a K-12 program staffed by Mobile County Public Schools teachers that enables children to continue their education while hospitalized.

In addition, the hospital's expansion will house two Ronald McDonald Family Rooms, an extension of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Mobile. The Family Rooms will be located on the third and fourth floors of the new hospital tower and will give families a break from the hospital environment while remaining merely steps away from their child's bedside.

Each Family Room is equipped with a kitchenette, comfortable furniture, a television, private restroom, shower, laundry facilities, and internet connection.

According to Bailey, Phase II of the hospital's expansion is a smaller, but visible phase that will go into 2014. Phase II includes demolishing the old kitchen and dining room, building a new gift shop, renovating the existing lobby, and creating the courtyard space between the two patient towers.

For updates on activities at USA Children's & Women's Hospital, visit the hospital's Facebook page here.