Impact November 2016

UTMB NEWSLETTER • NOVEMBER 2016

Nursing Interprofessional Simulation Center keeps it real UTMB anesthesiologist receives prestigious military award Spotlight on Emily Blomberg, Professional and Support Services

Erika Parker, practice manager of the Mainland Cardiology Clinic, and Suzanne Wilson, assistant director of Care Management, received President Callender’s Way to Go Awards for going above and beyond to help patients navigate their health care. Parker was described as being “extremely professional and above all, she understood the patient’s needs. She helped assist a longtime patient in navigating cardiology care. We are so lucky to have her as part of the UTMB family.” Wilson was described as being “phenomenal, and truly one of the kindest and most compassionate people I have met at UTMB. She went out of her way to help me navigate a care need for a close family friend that almost seemed impossible in the short time frame needed.”

UTMB Environmental Services housekeepers Besy Martinez, Reina Martinez, Maranda Batista and Delmira Orellano received President’s Way to Go Awards for receiving the highest scores on their units for the past four months. James LeDuc, PhD, director of the Galveston National Laboratory, said Orellano worked extra hours to ensure the facility was clean and ready for an important visit including more than 60 state representatives and senators, legislative staff, elected officials and business leaders throughout Galveston County. “Delmira takes great pride in her work and always does it with courtesy and a big smile. She is a joy to have around, and we genuinely appreciate her every effort,” said LeDuc.

Patient Services Specialists Donna Papa and Vanessa Romero jumped into action when a landscaping crew carrying an unconscious co-worker approached them as they were leaving UTMB’s Multispecialty Center and Stark Diabetes Clinic in League City. Papa and Romero called 911 and got the automated external defibrillator (AED) per EMS request. Dr. Kevin Merkley, an ophthalmologist who was still in the building, monitored the patient’s vitals until emergency medical care arrived. Romero also translated between EMS and the men, who primarily spoke Spanish. They were recognized during the Health System Leadership Team meeting in September for their quick action and compassionate care.

UTMB’s MakerHealth Space was awarded “Best in Class” for the second year in a row at the 2016 World Maker Faire in Queens, NY, on Oct. 1–2.

It also earned an “Editor’s Choice” award. On display were examples of projects from our MakerHealth Space.

David Marshall, DNP, JD, RN, chief nursing and patient care services officer, and Andrew Maxwell-Parish, MakerHealth Space manager, represented UTMB at the event.

Leslye Mlcak, an administrative manager with Patient Services, was selected as the 2016 winner of the Anna Mary Lindsey Award at the Texas Alliance for Patient Services annual conference in Dallas. Every year, one member is recognized for demonstrating an earnest dedication to patient advocacy, contributing to improvements in the field, promoting patient advocacy through education of the community and fellow employees, and displaying exemplary personal characteristics that demonstrate the spirit of the Texas Alliance for Patient Services.

Dr. Lillian Lockhart, a professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Genetics; and Dr. Ben Raimer, professor in the departments of Pediatrics, Family Medicine, and Preventive Medicine and Community Health; recently were honored by the Texas Pediatric Society.

Lockhart received the Charles W. Daeschner Jr., MD Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest TPS award, which recognizes the contributions to the health and well-being of children, as well as the education and mentoring of pediatric students. Lockhart has served as a UTMB faculty member for more than 55 years. Raimer received the Sidney R. Kaliski Award of Merit, recognizing a TPS member who has served as an advocate for children’s health and has made a substantial contribution to the TPS. In his role as UTMB’s senior vice president for health policy and legislative affairs, Raimer works steadily to affect legislative policy relevant to children and UTMB. Dr. Barbara Bryant, professor and vice chair of pathology and medical director of UTMB’s blood bank technology program, is a recipient of the Sally Frank Memorial Award by the American Association of Blood Banks. Bryant was recognized for her significant achievements in education, leadership and antibody identification: “Her academic contributions to immunohematology are well demonstrated in numerous publications; she has been a stellar teacher nationally while encouraging her students, both specialists in blood banking and transfusion medicine fellows, to cultivate data and provide new research for publication to AABB.”

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From the President On Nov. 11, our nation celebrated Veterans Day. This issue of Impact celebrates UTMB veterans with articles on two of our dedicated and talented health care providers who are continuing their legacy of service to others following exemplary careers in the military.

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One of the articles focuses on Dr. Joaquin Cortiella, a UTMB anesthesiologist and U.S. Army Colonel who in September received the Legion of Merit award, one of the U.S. military’s most distinguished awards.

Another features a day in the life of Tim Robinson, a certified hyperbaric technician and a U.S. Navy veteran who works at UTMB’s Wound Care and Hyperbarics Clinic in Dickinson.

Nursing Interprofessional Simulation Center

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These veterans are two of the more than 1,150 UTMB employees who have self-reported as veterans. We are thankful to all of our veterans for their years of service to our nation and for their continued service in UTMB locations throughout the state.

Among the other highlights from this issue: • A profile of Emily Blomberg, vice president of Professional and Support Services in the UTMB Health System

Day in the life of a hyperbaric technician

• Best Care in Action, featuring Information Services’ Epic support team and how it helps take care of the caregivers

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• How advances in technology and teaching are helping the Nursing Interprofessional Simulation Center to train students in a realistic environment • New candidate vaccines developed by UTMB researchers to combat the plague • Holiday food safety tips by Bill Anchondo, executive chef for UTMB Food and Nutrition Services Spotlight on Emily Blomberg

• Numerous accomplishments and kudos in the Working Wonders column and throughout the newsletter

Page 12 Finally, by the time this issue hits newsstands, we’ll have completed our annual State Employee Charitable Campaign. We surpassed our goal with a full week left in the campaign, and I could not be prouder of the UTMB community for its generosity. In this season of thanksgiving, I am grateful to each of you.

UTMB anesthesiologist receives Legion of Merit

Dr. David L. Callender UTMB President

Impact is for and about the people who fulfill UTMB’s mission to improve health in Texas and around the world. We hope you enjoy reading this issue. Let us know what you think!

ON THE COVER: Tim Robinson, a certified hyperbaric technician at UTMB’s Wound Care and Hyperbarics Clinic in Dickinson, monitors a patient as they undergo hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). HBOT takes place within a total body chamber, where breathing 100 percent oxygen under increased atmospheric pressure enhances the body’s natural healing process.

P R INT E D B Y U T MB G R A P H IC D ES IG N & P RIN TIN G S ERVICES

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Vice President Marketing & Communications Steve Campbell

CONTACT US Email: impact.newsletter@utmb.edu Phone: (409) 772-2618

Associate Vice President Marketing & Communications Mary Havard

Campus mail route: 0144 U.S. Postal address: UTMB Marketing & Communications

301 University Boulevard

Galveston, TX 77555-0144

Editors KirstiAnn Clifford Stephen Hadley Art Director Mark Navarro

BES T C AR E

BY KIRSTIANN CLIFFORD

When the Texas City Urgent Care clinic opened

teaching by the Epic team, I am functioning well in just a couple of weeks.”

on Oct. 3, UTMB’s Epic Support team was there to help ensure every patient received the best care.

But opening a clinic isn’t the end of the Epic support team’s job. The 11-member group receives between 200 and 250 calls a week and has a 24/7 on-call option for providers who need help in the middle of the night. They can also be found helping out during Epic training classes on the Galveston Campus and making daily rounds at the League City and Angleton Danbury campuses.

Although team members don’t provide hands-on medical care, the expert support they provide to physicians, nurses and other caregivers regarding UTMB’s electronic health record has a significant impact on the care patients receive.

“Whenever a new hospital, clinic or provider joins UTMB, we go onsite and assist staff with their new workflow,” said Chris Jenogan, a computer operations supervisor who leads the Epic Support team. “We’re there to answer questions, keep their daily operations running smoothly and help them be as efficient as possible. Providers may only have five to 10 minutes in between patients, so documenting efficiently and accurately in the electronic medical record is critical.”

“Providers may see 20 or more patients a day, so they may not always have time to call us with questions at a particular instance,” said Cordell Richards, an applications system associate analyst and one of the Epic Support Team members who make stops at all League City Campus Hospital departments each day.

The Epic electronic medical record is a paperless version of a patient’s medical history that is maintained by providers over time. It may include key information relevant to an individual’s care, including demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, medical history and more. Instead of sorting through paper charts, those involved in the patient’s care can access the information instantly and securely.

“Digital technology has really transformed the way we communicate and deliver health care,” said Jenogan. “Our team stays current with all the new optimizations and nuances of the software so they can help users with any possible question. They have to know everything about Epic from the scheduling piece when a patient is admitted, to how a patient is discharged.”

The Texas City clinic opening went smoothly, with support team members assisting providers until the clinic closed at 10 p.m. They made sure all electronic prescriptions were sent to pharmacies and all patient encounters were closed out for the day. Then they came back the next day to do it all over again.

Dr. Kent Anthony, one of the urgent care physicians, greatly appreciated the on-site help from the Epic team.

“Epic is a large language to learn,” he said.

“A colleague said it takes a couple of years to actually learn it, but because of the good

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“So when I show up in front of them, they can show me what’s going on and they don’t have to wait on the phone. I also try to educate them on ‘smart phrases’ in Epic, which is where they can type in a keyword and it will create an entire document—they can just jump in and fill in the missing fields.

Anything we can do to make their job easier is a win for us.”

When Richards encounters new providers, he will often sit next to the physician during patient visits, providing support and a little bit of coaching.

Cordell Richards assists Magdalena Dziadek, a nurse at UTMB’s League City Campus Hospital, with an Epic question.

“Our team stays current with all the new optimizations and nuances of the software so they can help users with any possible question. They have to know everything about Epic from the scheduling piece when a patient is admitted, to how a patient is discharged.

“I’ll follow along down the line of things they need to document in Epic, from updating the patient’s current list of medications to closing the patient encounter,” said Richards.

“Coaching them on the different topics they need to discuss with each patient is important. We encourage physicians to always document with the patient in the room and show them ways to do it without turning their back to the patient.”

If the Epic Support team can’t resolve an issue immediately, they will escalate it to other Epic experts at UTMB. But they always strive to provide Best Care by getting questions answered and issues resolved as quickly as possible, so providers can focus on their patients and care is documented properly.

“We take care of our health care staff so they can take care of their patients,” said Jenogan. “If they are able to do their job well and efficiently, then we’ve done our job.”

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E DUCAT I O N

Rachel Kilgore, PhD, stands next to a high-fidelity mannequin used for nursing training.

Advances in technology and teaching help the Nursing Interprofessional Simulation Center train students in realistic environment

BY KIRSTIANN CLIFFORD

AT THE UTMB NURSING INTERPROFESSIONAL SIMULATION CENTER, “PRETEND” IS A BAD WORD. So, when first-year School of Nursing students practice intramuscular injections, they use a “task trainer” that looks and feels like an actual piece of flesh—with layers representing skin, fat and muscle.

“Our goal is to make it as real as possible,” said Rachel Kilgore, PhD, RN, director of the Nursing Interprofessional Simulation Center (NISC). “Gone are the days of using an orange to practice insulin injections. When students stick their needles in the task trainers, they get a better feel for what it’s actually like.

And it’s a nonthreatening, safe environment—they can make mistakes here.”

with the patient,” Hashemi said. “That really prepares us to provide the best care possible to real patients.”

Efforts to keep nursing simulation training as real as possible are paying off, with recent research showing that this type of education is effective. A 2014 study looking at more than 650 students found that substituting high quality simulation experiences for up to half of traditional clinical hours resulted in comparable educational outcomes.

According to Kilgore, simulation training has exploded in the last 10 years, with 3 percent of nursing schools using simulators in 2000—compared to 87 percent by 2010. In addition to SON, UTMB’s School of Medicine and School of Health Professions also use simulation in their education programs. She points to advantages of simulation, which include the ability to ensure students get exposure to a wide variety of patients.

UTMB’s NISC opened in 2011 and has so far trained more than 1,500 students in an interprofessional setting.

The center’s Smart Hospital, located in “With clinical rotations, you never know the Rebecca Sealy Building, was built in a what you’re going to get—you may never former surgical unit, providing an environget a diabetic patient,” said Kilgore. “But ment identical to an active hospital floor simulation teaching is very efficient with state-of-the-art technologies. From a because we can cover everything. We can designated “control room,” nursing faculty have all students use their critical-thinking can observe and adjust the difficulty level skills to take care of a diabetic patient and of patient scenarios as students progress see what happens when everything goes in their education. Video-capture software wrong. It prepares them for anything they allows for video and audio playback of could see—it’s not hit or miss.” simulated activity that is used for feedback Another advantage to simulation is the abiland evaluation.

School of Nursing students Sophia Hashemi (left) and Katelyn ity to train more nurses. With limited space Over the past five years, the center has Kayser practice giving insulin injections on a task trainer. in hospitals and clinics, simulation can help kept pushing forward with innovations to ensure students get as much clinical time make simulations even more authentic. as they need. And with the forecasted shortfall in health care personnel needed “We now have high-fidelity mannequins that can produce blood, sweat and to care for the aging population, Kilgore said simulations are more important than tears, and are programmed to present cases such as stroke and cardiac ever. She’s attended conferences around the country to learn about the latest arrest,” said Kilgore. In addition, she makes a point of supplying students with simulator training methods and technologies and bring them back to UTMB. all the same materials they will see in the hospital—from the syringes to the “In the hospital, it’s all about the patients. But here, it’s all about the students,” medicine carts. “The only thing we substitute is medication, and even those said Kilgore. “I’m always thinking about what the students really need and look real. We color the pills and make them look just like the actual drug.” what will be coming down the road for simulation—are we going to do start School of Nursing student Sophia Hashemi said her first visit to the Smart using virtual environments? Gaming? What are the most innovative ways Hospital during prospective student tours “sealed the deal” when it came for them to learn?” to choosing UTMB for her education. The hands-on learning, along with One thing Kilgore knows for sure: the new Health Education Center planned for guidance from professors, has given her more confidence when it comes to the UTMB Galveston Campus will bring further innovation and interdisciplinary providing care to real patients. collaboration. The five-story, 200,000-square-foot facility will include more “Instead of just memorizing and studying, we’ve actually walked through all simulation space and classrooms to accommodate increasing enrollments. the steps—starting with gelling in and establishing a therapeutic relationship It’s scheduled to open in 2019.

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R ES EAR C H

BY DONNA RAMIREZ

UTMB RESEARCHERS HAVE DEVELOPED NEW POTENTIAL VAC- “The optimal strategy for protecting people and animals against this deadly CINES that protect animals against the bacteria that causes the deadly disease would be through vaccination, but there are no FDA-licensed plague. These findings are detailed in NPJ Vaccines. plague vaccines available in the U.S.,” said Ashok Chopra, UTMB professor of microbiology and immunology. “We’ve been working to develop a vaccine The plague of Black Death infamy has had the power to strike fear in that will generate long-term immunity and protection against the plague.” people since the Middle Ages—and for good reason. Once someone begins to show symptoms, the disease progresses very quickly and is almost 100 percent fatal without prompt treatment. The World Health Organization has categorized the bacteria responsible for plague, Yersinia pestis, as a re-emerging pathogen because of the rising number of human plague cases globally. The bacteria cause three different kinds of plague: bubonic, septicemic and pneumonic.

By deleting and modifying certain genes, the UTMB researchers constructed new versions of the Y. pestis bacteria designed to provide immunity to the plague without making them ill. They then examined several aspects of the immune response after immunization and tested how long the immunization would protect mice and rats against the plague.

Overall, all three of the new possible vaccines stimulated long-lasting Unfortunately, antibiotic-resistant Y. pestis strains have been isolated immune responses capable of protecting animals from developing the from plague patients and can be engineered for use as a bioweapon, pneumonic plague as late as four to five months after vaccination. which is concerning since Y. pestis is classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a Tier-1 select agent. Select agents “In addition to how well a vaccine works to protect against disease, safety are materials that have been identified by the federal government as is another important aspect for vaccine development,” said Chopra. “We having potential for use in biological terrorism or warfare. The select have shown that our mutants [versions of the bacteria] are safe vaccine agents that pose the greatest threat to public health and safety are candidates as our detailed analyses showed no sign of damage to bodily tissues in the vaccinated animals.” labeled as Tier 1.

RES EARC H B R I E F S Compiled from press releases written by Donna Ramirez, Christopher Smith Gonzalez and Kurt Koopmann. Find out more at www.utmb.edu/newsroom.

New research by Dr. Ravi S. Radhakrishnan, associate professor of surgery and pediatrics and the John Sealy Distinguished Chair in Clinical Research, found that health insurance coverage and socioeconomic status could be indicators of mortality from sepsis in newborns. He presented his findings from a nationwide study at the 2016 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons in Washington, D.C. Researchers analyzed data from 3 million pediatric discharges over the course of three years, finding that higher numbers of newborns die from sepsis if their families have low income or no health insurance. These factors may be used to flag pregnant women whose infants may benefit from early intervention to protect against sepsis. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, sepsis in the early days of life is the seventh leading cause of death among infants in the U.S. UTMB’s Dr. Frederick J. Bohanon; Deepak Adhikari; Hemalkumar B. Mehta, PhD; Dr. Omar Nunez Lopez; Jonathan Wang; and Dr. Kanika A. Bowen-Jallow, also participated in the study.

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There has been a three-fold increase in prescriptions of opiate painkillers among older adults for chronic pain not related to cancer.

Yong Fang Kuo, PhD and Dr. Mukaila Raji, professors of internal medicine in the Division of Geriatric Medicine, were awarded $1.4 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to conduct the first nationally representative study to examine variations in use of opiates in older adults and their relationship to outcomes, different state regulations and federal policy. The study will examine changes in prevalence, duration and dose of opiate use with a particular focus on policy changes for Medicare beneficiaries. The researchers will also assess differences in rates of opiate use across health care providers and determine patient and provider factors associated with

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RE SE A R CH

Other authors include UTMB’s Bethany Tiner, Jian Sha, Yingzi Cong, Michelle Kirtley and Jourdan Andersson. The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Jeane B. Kempner Foundation, the James W. McLaughlin Endowment Scholar Program and the UTMB Sealy Center for Vaccine Development.

opiate prescription. Lastly, the team will investigate the risk of adverse outcomes for opiate use, including falls, fractures, emergency room visits, hospital admissions and transition to assisted care facilities.

An estimated 50 to 100 million people are infected with dengue each year, resulting in nearly 500,000 severe life-threatening illnesses and 25,000 deaths. PeiYong Shi, PhD, professor of human genetics, has been awarded $460,000 from Gilead Sciences, Inc. to characterize and profile compounds that Gilead has identified as having antiviral activity against dengue. There are currently no approved antivirals for the prevention or treatment of dengue infection. This research will provide the data needed for further development of the identified antivirals.

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Although news coverage about the Zika virus began to slow down in September, several UTMB scientists have stayed busy conducting research about the virus and speaking to reporters. Scott Weaver, PhD; Nikos Vasilakis, PhD; Mariano Garcia-Blanco, MD, PhD; and Shannan Rossi, PhD were interviewed in October by reporters from The New York Times, Scientific American, Newsday, The Associated Press, The Verge and The Scientist.

In addition, a film crew from the PBS science program, “NOVA,” was on the UTMB Galveston Campus in late September to shoot a program that will feature the history of Zika. UTMB researchers Dr. Bob Tesh and Weaver will be featured in the program. No broadcast date has been set.

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BY KIRSTIANN CLIFFORD

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TIM ROBINSON’S ATTENTION TO DETAIL IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TRAITS HE ACQUIRED IN THE NAVY—and one that has helped him throughout his career.

His military state of mind is evident the moment I meet him at UTMB’s Wound Care and Hyperbarics Clinic in Dickinson. Opened in late April, the clinic provides specialized wound care treatment and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to heal serious infections and chronic wounds. HBOT takes place within a total body chamber, where breathing 100 percent oxygen under increased atmospheric pressure enhances the body’s natural healing process.

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AS A CERTIFIED HYPERBARIC TECHNICIAN, ROBINSON IS THE FIRST TO ARRIVE at the clinic at 7 a.m., making turbo-strength coffee and going through a series of checklists prepping for the first patients.

“There’s a certain discipline you must have in my position. Things must be done a certain way, at a certain time, in a certain order,” says Robinson as he grabs a clipboard and begins checking the air, oxygen and oxygen back-up systems. “I literally have checklists to make sure I do my checklists.

We follow demanding safety protocols—safety is our No. 1 priority.”

Robinson’s path to becoming a hyperbaric technician started at age 17 when he graduated from high school and went directly into the Navy. He spent four years as a weapons specialist and corpsman before attending college and qualifying as an underwater welder and a certified hyperbaric technician and diving medical technician.

Robinson says many who follow this path into medicine have a commercial or military diving background, while others simply want to learn about the mystique of hyperbarics.

Robinson’s path to becoming a hyperbaric technician started at age 17 when he graduated from high school and went directly into the Navy.

“It’s not voodoo medicine—it’s simple physics and physiology perfectly mixed into a recipe of healing,” says Robinson. “Almost every process in the body is oxygen-dependent in one way or another—from basic respiration to our ability to fight infection.

With hyperbarics, every treatment saturates the body with pure oxygen [the oxygen concentration in air is 21 percent] at greater atmospheric pressure [similar to a SCUBA diving session].

The treatment helps push more oxygen further into the tissues, ultimately speeding the healing process.”

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While HBOT is known for treating diving-related injuries such as decompression sickness (“the bends”), Robinson says it’s also proven to help heal more than a dozen types of serious infections and chronic wounds, when used in combination with other treatments. The most common he sees are wounds caused by diabetes, poor circulation and bone infections.

As Robinson shows me the two “monoplace” chambers, which can accommodate one patient at a time, a nurse practitioner comes in to tell us the first patient has arrived. We walk to the front of the clinic and Robinson greets the patient, who has been coming for treatment five times a week for the past month. The two pick up conversation where they left off the day before. Today’s discussion centers around the recent Astros win and a story about the patient’s time as a former bomber pilot in the U.S. Air Force.

“I love the patient interaction aspect of my job,” says Robinson. “Standard procedure for wound healing is one ‘dive’ per day, five days per week for a total of 20 to 30 treatments. So I am with patients for months on a daily basis. I know about their cat, who won the baseball game in the Pee Wee League and what the grandkids are doing.”

Once vital signs are taken and a physician stops by, Robinson makes sure patients are comfortable before carefully pushing them into the chamber. He loads a movie on a DVD player to keep patients occupied during the 110-minute treatment.

“Mark time 08:30, leaving surface, Chamber Two,” says Robinson into a two-way radio. “Each dive is usually just under two hours.

We start with a 10-minute descent to compress the patient to ‘depth’ and finish with a 10-minute ascent. We call it a 110-minute profile.”

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ROBINSON SITS NEXT TO THE CHAMBER THE ENTIRE TIME, evaluating the patient, taking detailed notes and ensuring the chamber is running properly. He stays in close communication with clinic staff throughout the dive, who are trained to handle the chamber in emergency situations.

or adjunct therapy. We always encourage our patients to continue interacting with their physicians, taking their medications and letting us be part of their team to help them with their overall healing.”

“The people I work with every day are fantastic,” says Robinson. “We’re a multidisciplinary team of certified hyperbaric technicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, a physician assistant and physician specialists—including a podiatrist, dermatologist and vascular and plastic surgeons—who closely collaborate with infectious disease and orthopedic physicians, and occupational and physical therapists. The wound care we provide is an important adjunct to Robinson works closely with other members of the clinic, including (L-R) Christy Nunez, RN; Kristi Elliot, surgical care also offered.”

NP; and Monica Galvan, a patient service specialist.

After treating the two patients with HBOT, Robinson’s afternoon consists of wound care consults and dressing changes. I watch as he saws off a fiberglass cast designed to take weight off the foot in patients with diabetic foot ulcers. The patient comes in weekly for cast changes and Robinson takes pictures and measurements of the wound at each visit to document progress.

“We submit the photos and detailed documentation directly to the patient’s physician so they know everything we did and can make recommendations for next steps,” says Robinson. “Everything we do has specific physician orders—we don’t improvise or do anything without talking to them first.”

Once the dive is finished, the patient tells me how impressed he’s been with the staff and the results of hyper- Robinson says some UTMB physicians have already been referring baric treatment. After battling a chronic venous ulcer on his ankle patients to the wound clinic, and he hopes to continue building for more than two years, he’s finally noticed that the wound has those relationships, along with the clinic’s patient load—because been healing—and he hopes to one day be able to go swimming it’s that military mindset of attention to detail and genuine care in the ocean again. for each individual that saves limbs and lives.

Robinson’s day includes one other hyperbaric patient who devel- “If a wound doesn’t heal, some patients could lose their limbs—and oped a bone infection following open heart surgery. He’s quick to that could end with poor results if they have difficulty adapting to remind me that HBOT alone is not enough to mend non-healing their new situation,” says Robinson. “We give them the chance to wounds. avoid that. I get to see a wound from beginning to end and not many

“Hyperbarics is meant to be used in addition to other therapies,” he says. “So patients are also getting compression bandage changes, dressing changes, taking medications, etc., and we are a secondary,

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other clinics can say that. A lot of these patients have had wounds for years—not days or months. For them to come to our clinic and see their wound heal—it’s a relief for them and it’s great for us to see.”

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L E A D ER S POTLIGHT

Spotlight on Emily Blomberg, vice president, Professional and Support Services Emily Blomberg currently serves as vice president for Professional and Support Services. Her responsibilities include management of Radiology, Clinical Pathology, Pharmacy, Clinical Equipment Services, Food Services, Environmental Services, Rehab Services, Laundry and Transportation. She joined the UTMB family in August 2010 as the director of Health System Operations.

Prior to UTMB, Blomberg was director of business development for the Department of Surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. In this role, she worked to develop a strategic marketing plan, implement a regional strategy for physician outreach and referrals, develop a robust continuing medical education program, and manage a technical and design team through the development of a new department website. Before that, she served as a senior management analyst at Baylor College of Medicine

What does Best Care mean to you and how do you contribute?

Best Care to me means delivering quality care 100 percent of the time, no matter what. It’s everyone’s job. My contribution is to ensure that support services are fully integrated in the patient care experience and outcome.

What are the biggest challenges you face as VP for Professional and Support Services?

Keeping up with the rapidly changing world that is UTMB is a constant challenge. The growth and expansion of the Health System has been incredible.

I am so thankful for the team of professionals I am privileged to work with in support services. They handle change and challenge with skill, patience and alacrity.

What was your first job?

in Houston. She brings with her a rich experience of health care administration and a broad understanding of academic medical centers.

Originally from Minnesota, Blomberg received a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s degree in health care administration from the University of Minnesota.

and love to spend time with them. I am very active and love to be outdoors running, skiing, swimming, hiking and standup paddle boarding. I recently signed up for two half marathons this fall so we will see how that goes!

What’s something people would be surprised to know about you?

“Best Care to me means delivering quality care 100 percent of the time, no matter what. It’s everyone’s job.”

I started working when I was 15 as a waitress at a small diner in Rochester, Minn., called “Grandma’s Kitchen.” I worked every day after school and Saturday mornings. I put all my tips in a large Coke bottle bank and saved them for college. I absolutely loved working there, and still love going there for breakfast to this day, when I’m home! Unfortunately, my tips only paid for several courses at the University of Minnesota.

What do you like to do outside of work?

As Dave Matthews says, “Turns out, not where, but who you’re with that really matters.” I have a very close family and group of friends

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Emily Blomberg (second from left) with her brother, Josh, and parents, Raffaela and Robert.

Something people don’t know about me is that I love fishing. I grew up fishing in Northern Minnesota on Gull Lake with my dad, brother and dog, Bubba.

We would get up at 4 a.m. and hit the lake with our donuts, coffee and worms. My father was an expert angler and could always find the fish. When I was six, I hooked a 48-inch Northern Pike that almost pulled me out of the boat. Luckily, Bubba had a tight hold on my overalls and kept me from taking a morning swim.

What’s something you always wanted to do but have not done yet?

There are a gazillion things I haven’t done yet, with base jumping and cave diving leading the current list.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Tops on my list at the moment are Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. I really love to learn about the history and architecture of the area, not to mention the landscape is beautiful. I’d also like to spend a portion of my time there volunteering through Habitat for Humanity.

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P EO P L E

UTMB anesthesiologist and U.S. Army Colonel receives Legion of Merit award; attributes it to successful teamwork

BY KIRSTIANN CLIFFORD

For Dr. Joaquin Cortiella, it’s all about teamwork. From saving soldiers at war to building bioengineered lungs at work, teamwork is the constant driver of his success.

So, it was only fitting for the pediatric anesthesiologist and U.S. Army Colonel to point to others when he accepted the U.S. military’s prestigious Legion of Merit award on Sept. 10 at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

came home and received treatment for thymoma, a rare tumor of the thymus. However, treating the tumor led to pulmonary fibrosis. Cortiella knows he’ll need a lung transplant someday, but he stays too busy to dwell on it.

“I’m very proud and honored to receive this award,” said Cortiella.

“But it’s always been about the team. It’s not so much an individual award to me—the things that I have accomplished came as a result of working with others. Whenever we completed a successful mission, it was because of a number of people, not individuals.”

In addition to providing patient care and conducting research with Joan Nichols, PhD—which he says, hopefully, may lead to a transplant in a human being made from a bioengineered lung in the next 5 to 10 years—Cortiella has played a key role in developing simulator training for reservists and troops going overseas.

The Legion of Merit is given to members of the U.S. Armed Since 2008, he has been assigned to the Medical Readiness Forces, as well as to military and political figures of foreign Training Command. He directs the Command’s simulator trainnations, who provide “exceptionally meritorious service.” It’s ing exercise, which prepares deploying Combat Support Hospione of the U.S. military’s most distinguished awards, ranking tals for theater-specific injuries using scenarios and advanced just below the Silver Star. It and the Medal of Honor are the “I enlisted before 9/11—but medical simulators at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. when a good friend of mine only two decorations issued as neck wear.

“We wanted to focus their training on specific things they died in the second tower in Cortiella originally enlisted in the Army Reserves Medical Corp would see,” said Cortiella. “For instance, we knew that IEDs the World Trade Center, it then in 1997. After obtaining his MD degree from Boston University, [improvised explosive devices] are very common and lead to became even more important completing a master’s degree in public health from Harvard, orthopedic and neurosurgical injuries, as opposed to trauma to me that I had joined.” and working with some of the best physicians in the Boston that is chest-related. You don’t see bullet wounds as often. area, he decided it was time to give back.

By preparing the hospital personnel for the types of casualties they’re likely to “I had gotten all this training at important institutions in Boston. I said ‘I’m pretty experience during their mission, we could identify weaknesses pre-deployment good at this stuff, and the people out there fighting for our country should get the and bring everyone up to speed before heading into a warzone.” best,’” Cortiella said. His decision became even more personal in 2001. “I enlisted before 9/11—but when a good friend of mine died in the second tower in the World Trade Center, it then became even more important to me that I had joined.”

Cortiella’s 17 years in the Army Reserves took him all over the world, including Kuwait, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Haiti and Iraq. He learned to stay calm and treat patients while mortar rounds flew overhead—and he learned that to do a good job, it takes a team.

He was first deployed to Kosovo in 2000, serving as an anesthesiologist for the 399th Combat Support Hospital. The main function of the support hospitals, which are made up of a series of climate-controlled tents, is to treat traumatic injuries that require surgery and stabilize the wounded for transport to a fixed medical facility.

“The 399th had a lot of good people that went in there for similar reasons,” said Cortiella. “I will never forget sitting in a C-130 airplane and realizing that all of a sudden we were going into war. But for all of us to get out of our comfort zones and perform up to a level that anyone could be proud of—it was amazing to be part of that. I’d do it again without even thinking twice.”

Cortiella earned many awards throughout the years, including the Bronze Star in 2007 for his service in Iraq. But in 2010, he had to shift his focus to the home front, after a mass in his chest was detected during a deployment in Iraq. He

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Cortiella says his involvement with the training is part of the reason he received the Legion of Merit. But even then, it took a group of people to make it a success.

“Everything I do—building lungs, providing patient care, developing training for reservists going overseas—it’s not just one person, it’s many of us working together toward achieving a common goal,” he said.

Veterans at UTMB Currently, 1,151 UTMB employees (9.5 percent of the total employee population) have self-reported as veterans, with the largest proportion of that group working within the Health System, followed by Academic Enterprise and Correctional Managed Care. About 5 percent of UTMB students are self-reported veterans, with the majority in the School of Nursing.

UTMB’s Veterans Resource Group (VetsRG) is open to all employees and students, regardless of veteran status, with the primary objectives of assisting veterans with their military-to-civilian transition through education, networking and career development opportunities; and educating non-veterans on the importance of creating inclusive learning and working environments for all. For more information, visit https://hr.utmb.edu/ diversity/veterans or email veterans@utmb.edu.

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PEOPLE

BY CHRISTOPHER SMITH GONZALEZ

Dr. Herman Barnett III went from World War II fighter pilot to becoming the first African American admitted to medical school in Texas.

Dr. Edith Bonnet might have never become a doctor, and one of the first woman interns at John Sealy Hospital, if her beau had made it to the train station.

Along with a distinguished medical career in El Paso, Dr. Felix Miller also spent a day in 1911 patching up soldiers in Pancho Villa’s army while bullets whizzed by.

These and many more stories of UTMB School of Medicine alumni who graduated between 1893 and 1953 are on display at the Moody Medical Library through January. The stories are told through photographs, letters, diaries and other materials that make up part of the Truman G. Blocker, Jr. History of Medicine Collections at UTMB.

Marlin, archivist at UTMB. “We hope that this is the first in a series of exhibits recognizing UTMB alumni.”

Artifacts and documents from 15 different School of Medicine alumni are on display on the third floor of the library. The exhibit begins with Dr. Thomas Terrell Jackson, a member of the second graduOn display at the Moody Medical Library are Dr. Henry Schmidt’s notes from 1896 on his experiments with the X-ray machine. Doctors and students built the first X-ray machine in Texas at UTMB. The notes ating class, and are part of an exhibit on UTMB School of Medicine alumni. continues with “ This exhibit the stories of men shows the long-term impact that a lot of these people have had and women who broke through barriers, were witnesses to hisand the contributions they’ve made to society,” said Robert tory and pushed the practice of medicine forward.

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P EO P L E “I’m a little scared of what may be coming but I think this is the right thing for me to be doing so know I’ll be alright.” Only six weeks later, she lamented that she “failed in a Materia Medica quiz and am doing very poorly in Anatomy and Chemistry. It’s baffling to work hard and get nowhere.”

Bonnet graduated from UTMB in 1926 and applied to be an intern at Harvard University and at John Sealy Hospital. On display is a letter from Harvard University telling Bonnet they were not accepting women “due to the fact that we have not the proper housing facilities.”

Medical saddle bags that belonged to Dr. Thomas Terrell Jackson, a member of the UTMB medical school’s second graduating class in 1893, are on display as part of the exhibit. Jackson used the saddle bags during the Spanish-American War and they still contain some of the equipment and medicine he would have used to treat soldiers.

Visitors can read pages from the diary of Dr. Howard Dudgeon, a member of the class of 1899 who was an intern at John Sealy Hospital during the devastating 1900 Storm.

“I stood at one of the big windows in the surgical ward and watched the beautiful, large cottonwood trees that lined the walk in front of the hospital go down one by one…It looked like the very anchors of night had failed because darkness blew in upon us before its accustomed hour,” Dudgeon wrote.

Also on display are one of the first silicone breast implants created by Dr. Thomas Cronin and a replica of the first X-ray machine in Texas created by professors and students at UTMB.

When UTMB also rejected her and another woman graduate of UTMB, Francis Vanzant, the two appealed the decision and took their case all the way to Gov. Miriam “Ma” Ferguson, the first woman governor of Texas. The state Legislature would rule that a state school could not discriminate against women, and Bonnet and Vanzant became the first women interns at John Sealy Hospital.

The Blocker Collections was recently awarded a grant from the Portal to Texas History to digitize the Edith Marguerite Bonnet, M.D. Papers, which will be available online next year.

“I think the reason why so many people have connected with Dr. Bonnet’s collection is because it is a story of self-doubt, struggle, perseverance and ultimately, success,” Marlin said.

If you go: School of Medicine Alumni History Exhibit Third floor of Moody Medical Library on UTMB’s Galveston Campus Open weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through January 2017

A well-known name in Houston, Barnett was the first African-American to attend UTMB’s School of Medicine. As a child Barnett dreamed of becoming a doctor and learning to fly.

He flew as a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen in World War II. After the war he applied to medical school. At the time, no African-American had been enrolled at UTMB but with the help of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which was paying for Barnett’s tuition through the G.I. Bill, Barnett was able to officially enroll as a student at UTMB. Marlin explained that Barnett still faced many more challenges and some ugly instances of racial discrimination, but he would go on to be a distinguished physician in Houston, serving on the State Board of Medical Examiners and being elected president of the Houston School Board.

Barnett said he “hoped to see the day when it was no longer news when someone became the first black to do anything.”

Marlin said particularly interesting to many current students are stories like those of Bonnet.

Chance had a part in bringing Bonnet to UTMB: “Lefty,” the man she was to marry, never showed up to an arranged meeting, so instead of marriage Bonnet chose medical school. But determination and hard work played a much larger role in her story.

Bonnet’s diary chronicles both her successes as well as the struggles she faced as a student. On her first day of class she wrote,

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Robert Marlin, archivist at UTMB, demonstrates how doctors at UTMB would have used an early version of an X-ray machine. A replica of the X-ray machine first built in 1896 is on display at the Moody Medical Library.

Dr. Felix Miller, a member of the class of 1899, was a student at UTMB when he helped his professors, Drs. Seth Morris and William Keiller, design and build the first X-ray machine in Texas.

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Top tips for holiday food safety

By Bill Anchondo, executive chef, UTMB Food and Nutrition Services • Wash your hands with running water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling foods, especially raw meat and eggs.

Food prep surfaces, such as countertops, cutting boards and utensils also need to be washed with hot soapy water after preparing each food item.

‘Tis the season for parties and family gatherings where food is served— but the merry festivities can quickly turn south if the food makes you or others sick. Make sure you serve a safe and healthy holiday meal by keeping the following tips in mind:

• Don’t leave food out. It’s one of the biggest holiday food safety problems. Once everyone has dished up, set your oven at 175 degrees and put all the hot food back in it. The oven can act as a “holding box” for several hours to keep food out of the “danger zone,” which is between 40 degrees and 140 degrees. Refrigerate leftovers at 40 degrees or below as soon as possible to prevent foodborne illness.

• Prep the day before. Make traditional dishes such as green bean and sweet potato casseroles the day before and refrigerate.

That way, you can pop them in the oven on Thanksgiving day. It will save you time, stress and the risk of leaving a bunch of perishable or potentially hazardous ingredients on the counter while you make one dish at a time.

• Use care with stuffing. Don’t stuff the turkey the day before you cook it—that’s asking for bacterial growth. Stuffing should be prepared and stuffed into the turkey immediately before it’s put in the oven. Even better, bake your stuffing in a separate casserole dish.

• Get a thermometer. It’s the only way to know for sure whether your turkey has been cooked properly. Once the thickest part of the turkey thigh reaches 165 degrees and holds that temperature for more than 15 seconds, the turkey is done.

• Use thermal bags if traveling to minimize temperature fluctuations. Remove food from the stove/oven just before leaving home and transfer it to a thermal container or insulated bag. When you arrive, reheat hot foods to a safe temperature.

• Avoid cross-contamination. When grocery shopping, storing food in the refrigerator or preparing meals, keep raw eggs and meat away from other foods that won’t be cooked.

Cook the turkey below other dishes in the oven and consider using color-coded cutting boards, such as a red cutting board for meats, white for ready-to-eat food and green for produce.

• Eating leftovers. As a rule of thumb, proteins such as turkey are OK to eat for up to three days after being cooked. Starches and other leftovers are good for four to five days. When in doubt, throw it out.

• Freezing leftovers. Use specially marked freezer bags with a double zipper. The trick is to make it as airtight as you can. Any air that is left will cause ice crystals to form, resulting in freezer burn.

PA RTING SHOT

Just shred it

Louis Perrin, a senior security analyst with the Office of Information Security, shreds a computer hard drive as part of the “Shred it” event on Oct. 19 at the Moody Medical Library Plaza. The UTMB community was invited to bring in personal hard drives and old media to watch as they were dropped into a hefty industrial shredder and demolished into unrecognizable pieces. The Office of Information Security recommends shredding items such as hard drives to eliminate the chance of your information getting into the wrong hands. For more information on cyber security and how to protect yourself, your family and UTMB, visit www.utmb.edu/infosec.

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