USA Health System Website Training Sessions to be Held This Summer

The USA Health System increasingly is turning to the web and social media for its internal and external communications. Its website, http://www.usahealthsystem.com/, includes content about the USA College of Medicine, the USA Physicians Group, the USA Mitchell Cancer Institute, the USA Medical Center, and USA Children's and Women's Hospital.

On Thursday, Web Marketing Coordinator Bernell Dorrough held a training session to empower staff members from across the health system to make updates to the site themselves.

"Our website has information for current and future patients, medical students and faculty, totaling almost 4,000 individual pages," Dorrough explained. "That much content is too much for any one person to manage. By empowering representatives from all our divisions to make changes themselves, we can ensure the information is accurate and updated regularly."

The health system's website is hosted using a content management software solution.

"The beauty of a content-management system is that people don't need a background in web design to make page updates," Dorrough said. "Most people with basic computer skills are ready to start updating the site after only a two-hour training session like this one."

Two more training sessions already are scheduled for June 27 and July 11, and more could be added to meet demand. Faculty and staff members interested in signing up can contact Dorrough at bdorrough@southalabama.edu.

Snapshots: Lung Bowl Competition

The University of South Alabama Center for Lung Biology held its second Lung Bowl competition on June 7, 2013, at the Active Learning Center.

The Lung Bowl is a biology game based on a jeopardy model, where teams come together to compete against one another for high scores. The teams include graduate students, doctoral program students, pulmonary and critical care fellows, and post-doctoral fellows in the USA Center for Lung Biology.

Dr. Troy Stevens, professor of pharmacology and director of the USA Center for Lung Biology, the Lung Bowl is a training exercise that builds the pulmonary community.

This year's winning team was Team 2, "Hyper-Tensions." Team members were Pierre Kadeba, graduate student; Larry Lee, postdoctoral fellow; Adam Morrow, postdoctoral fellow; Pat O'Brien, medical student; Patricia Villalta, graduate student; and Thomas Yarbrough, graduate student.

USA Welcomes Dr. Lynne Wright

Dr. Lynne A. Wright was recently appointed as a full-time staff physician for the University of South Alabama Student Health Center and USA Urgent Care.

Dr. Wright has more than 15 years of experience in student health services. Prior to her appointment to USA, Dr. Wright served as a staff physician at the University of Alabama Student Health Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Dr. Wright previously served as a part-time clinic physician at American Family Care in Hoover, Ala., and an emergency department physician at Medical Center East Hospital in Birmingham, Ala. From 1995-1998, she served as an emergency department physician at DCH-Northport Hospital in Northport, Ala., and a staff physician at First Care in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

In addition, Dr. Wright has served as a staff physician at Drake Student Health Center at Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., as well as an emergency department physician at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Augusta, Ga.; West Georgia Medical Center in LaGrange, Ga.; Homer P. Cobb Hospital in Phenix City, Ala.; and Lanier Hospital in Valley, Ala.

Dr. Wright earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Birmingham Southern College in Birmingham, Ala., and a medical degree from USA. She completed both an internship and residency in internal medicine at Albert B. Chandler Medical Center at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Ky.

Last year, the USA Student Health Center and USA Urgent Care served more than 12,000 patients combined, with more than 5,600 of those visits being unique patient encounters.

Student Health Services are available during each semester to all students actively enrolled in the University. In addition, the center has sports medicine services available for students and collaborates closely with the athletics department and all university athletes. For more information on the USA Student Health Center, click here. To learn more about USA Urgent Care, click here.

To make an appointment with Dr. Wright, call (251) 460-7151.

Carrie Ellisor Recognized for Customer Service

Carrie Ellisor, billing/insurance clerk for the USA Department of Orthopaedics, was recently presented an Employee Recognition Award for her outstanding customer service skills.

“Carrie takes the time to teach me as much as she can about many of the front desk duties. I think of her as the ‘go to’ girl of the front desk. If someone needs an answer, Carrie usually has it. If she doesn’t know the answer, she will find out what the answer is. I have also observed that the busier things get, the calmer Carrie seems to become. It is this that makes her a leader in my eyes.”

     - Excerpt taken from co-workers' nomination form

To learn more about the USA Physicians Group Customer Service Performance Recognition Program and to print a nomination form, click here.