Orthopedic Surgeon, J. Kent Ferrari, M.D.

As a fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Ferrari is an expert in the surgical and nonsurgical treatment of bones and joints. He is especially skilled at treating sports injuries. During his fellowship training he worked alongside team physicians for the Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Minnesota Twins.

Most recently, Dr. Ferrari served as an orthopedic surgeon at the Center for Neurosciences, Orthopedics, and Spine (CNOS) in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota. He is highly skilled in latest techniques for joint replacement or partial-joint replacement in shoulders, hips, or knees. He also has expertise in arthroscopic shoulder surgery for rotator cuff or other injuries, and in arthroscopic knee surgery. Additionally he performs reconstructive ligament and cartilage surgery.

Before going into orthopedic surgery, Dr. Ferrari practiced as a family medicine doctor, which he says gives him a unique perspective as a surgeon. He uses a conservative, patient-centered approach, saying, “It’s very important that my patients understand all their options.”

Dr. Ferrari’s office is located at Mohave Desert Orthopedics at the Medical Professional Center on the KRMC campus. For more information, please call (928) 681-8681.

Pediatrician, Lyanna LaFredo, M.D.

As a pediatrician, Dr. LaFredo meets a great need in Kingman for more doctors who specialize in the medical care of children. She is highly skilled in diagnosing and treating complex medical problems and in providing routine health maintenance and preventive care to children aged 0 to 18.

Prior to coming to Kingman, Dr. LaFredo practiced in Columbia, South Carolina. Her approach to children’s medical care is to “give special attention to serious issues, but to make seeing a doctor as fun as possible for the child.” She works closely with the child’s parents or guardians to inform them of choices and involve them in every medical decision. She adds that she has “a deep respect for the parents’ cultural beliefs and authority when it comes to the medical care of their child.”

Dr. LaFredo’s office, Joshua Tree Pediatrics, is located at 710 Eastern, Ave., Suite F. For more information or to make an appointment, please call (928) 681-8706.

Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Erick L. Montero, M.D.

As a fellowship-trained cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Montero is highly skilled in performing heart, vascular, and lung surgeries using the latest technologies and advanced techniques. He will be joining KRMC’s recently-established cardiovascular surgery program as lead surgeon.

Dr. Montero comes to Kingman from Los Angeles, where he recently completed a three-year fellowship at the prestigious University of Southern California (USC) Department of

Cardiothoracic Surgery. USC is a world-renowned institution for state-of-the-art treatments for cardiovascular disease.

In joining KRMC’s medical staff, Dr. Montero brings a special level of surgical expertise to our community. His approach to medicine is patient centered. He involves his patients and their loved ones as part of his medical team and makes time to explain and teach them about the patient’s condition and options. He says, “Patients recover quicker after major surgery when they and their families are fully involved and everyone knows what to expect.”

Dr. Montero’s office is located at the Medical Professional Center on the KRMC campus. For more information, please call (928) 681-8520.

Because of my position at KRMC, I have the opportunity to hear about many special acts of service by our employees and volunteers almost every day. For many years, we have used a special program called A.C.E. (Acknowledging Committed Employees) to recognize staff members who commit “acts of kindness.”

Patients and fellow employees share stories on pre-printed forms about caring service or acts that go above and beyond to meet patients’ needs. Some of those stories are posted on a large board near our cafeteria for people to read. These stories inspire and encourage all of us who want to make a difference in people’s lives.

Just today, I received a note telling the story of one of our nurses who, when she discovered that her disabled patient lived in a small trailer with no air-conditioning, gave the patient money to buy a portable a/c unit. This example of unselfishness is not unique. I know of staff that have used their own money to buy clothes for accident victims, taken care of dogs for hospitalized travelers, and arranged a hospital wedding for a terminally ill patient. I can share hundreds of such stories that have occurred at KRMC over the years.

In my experience at KRMC and other healthcare institutions, I have come to realize that healthcare workers are some of the most compassionate people around. They provide a great service in sometimes very difficult circumstances. I hope you will join me in thanking and recognizing our quiet “heroes.” Their compassion for others makes our community a much better place for all of us.

The Golf Tournament is Back!

Back by popular demand, the KRMC Foundation Annual Golf Tournament will be held on Saturday, September 11th, at the Cerbat Cliffs Golf Course. There are numerous opportunities for you to get involved — but the slots are filling up quickly. We need to have everything wrapped up by August 1st so that we can get the promotional items ordered in time for the tournament.

Sponsorship for the golf tournament includes:

• Driver Sponsor, $5,000: Your logo appears on the sleeve of the tournament golf shirt and placement on all flyers, advertising, and prominent sign­age at the tee box.
• 3-Wood Sponsor, $2,500: Your logo appears on the tournament golf cap and placement on all flyers, advertising, and prominent signage at the tee box.
• 5-Iron Sponsor, $1,000: Your logo appears on tournament towel and placement on all flyers, advertising, and prominent signage at the tee box.
• Putter Sponsor, $300: Hole sponsorship with prominent signage at the tee box.

The scramble format allows you to pick your own four-person team! The $100 per player entry fee includes green fees with cart, shirt, cap, towel, and award luncheon. Cash prizes for first through fifth place, longest drive, closest to the pin, putting challenge and more!

All proceeds from the event will be used to support the operation of the new Joan & Diana Hospice Home in Kingman. Call Scott Kern at 681-8656 for more information. We look forward to seeing you there!

The next Hospice Volunteer Training has been scheduled to begin in July

KRMC Hospice requires that all hospice volunteers meet the hospital employee health and background check requirements and receive 30 hours of training on hospice related topics.

The training is scheduled to begin Tuesday, July 20th and continue to Tuesday, September 21st. A “graduation” ceremony will be held on Tuesday, September 28th.

Classes will be held each Tuesday from 5:30 PM until 8:30 PM. Make-up arrangements will need to be made for classes missed.

After the training is completed the volunteer can be assigned a patient and make home visits or volunteer at the Joan & Diana Hospice Home. There is a large variety of volunteer opportunities for a hospice volunteer.

Please call Cindy at 692-4680 if you are interested in attending the July training or a future training!

Shopping Around

The gift shop at Kingman Regional Medical Center is entirely run by volunteers, from the buyers, to the cashiers, to the people that dust the shelves and put out the wonderful merchandise.

Because it’s a non-profit shop, there is no sales tax. The money that the gift shop makes is used to benefit KRMC through donations of purchased equipment for hospital departments, and scholarships for students pursuing careers in medical fields.

The gift shop offers a wide variety of merchandise: fresh flowers, baby items, greeting cards, candy, balloons, stuffed animals, jewelry and other personal items. The buyer is always looking for new and different items to offer in the shop.

The shop also carries used books for sale. The books are all donated by KRMC staff and members of the community. All the money made from the sale of used books is placed in the scholarship fund for college students. Donations of used books are always welcome.

The gift shop hours are Monday through Friday, from 8:00 to 4:45, and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4:00. Stop by to see the specials, gift ideas and fun shopping.

These systems have been in place in areas such as our emergency, pharmacy, lab, and radiology departments for a while now. They allow your doctor to quickly assess X-rays, prescribe medicines, and control dosages in a way that speeds up drug delivery time and helps guard against accidental drug over- or underdoses.

Because of the success of these systems, KRMC is beginning the next phase — a three-year project to more fully integrate automation and accident-prevention into all parts of patient care, from admission to treatment to discharge. And since the technology uses a standardized format, your medical records will be easily available to other doctors and in other hospitals — and those hospitals will be able to share information with KRMC.

In the future, we’ll be seeing even more improvements such as these:

Electronic Medical Records

Charts, lab reports, medications, and other information will be kept on computers in a secure digital format. These records will combine with X-rays, CT scans, and other imaging results to provide easy access to updated information about any patient. This helps you doctor see the “big picture” and make better decisions for your healthcare.

Electronic Provider Orders

Prescriptions, tests, and so on will be requested digitally, and those requests will automatically be checked against your health history. If there’s a possibility of conflict (such as two different drugs interacting with each other), your doctor will be warned. This will help prevent medication errors. Also, since the dosage requests will be sent digitally, there’s much less chance of too much (or too little) medication being administered due to hard-to-read handwriting or faxes.

Hospital Medication Management

This system helps ensure that you get just the right amount of drugs at just the right time — not too much, not too little, and not too soon or too late. It also helps guarantee that the drug being given is what was ordered by your doctor.

All these systems communicate with one another, so there’s much less chance of medical errors taking place. Better still, your doctor will always have your medical records immediately available — you won’t have to make sure to pick up a copy of your lab reports or X-rays before going in for a check-up. Even if you’re visiting a specialist, you won’t have to worry about taking your records along with you.

We’re pleased to be doing these things to improve patient healthcare and safety — your healthcare and safety — and as we continue making changes to our systems, we’ll print updates in HealthWise and on the KRMC Journal at azkrmc.com/blog.

In June, Professional Research Consultants recognized the KRMC emergency department with two National Excellence in Healthcare awards. Professional Research Consultants (PRC) is in its 30th year of providing marketing research for hospitals across the United States.

The KRMC emergency room received a Platinum PRC Achievement Award for its dramatic improvements in patient satisfaction. The platinum award is PRC’s highest recognition of hospitals nationwide for achievement in improving care according to patient perceptions.

Additionally, KRMC was named as a 2010 PRC 4-Star Hospital for patient perception of emergency care. This designation is given annually to hospitals that score within the top twenty-five percent of hospitals nationwide whose patents rate the ER as “excellent” for overall quality of care.

These awards are based on ongoing PRC research, which involves confidential telephone interviews with patients to assess their perceptions of the care they received. The research findings are then presented to KRMC on a weekly basis to use in continuous improvement and enhancement of services and patient care.

In 2004, PRC began measuring patient satisfaction at the KRMC ER. At the time, the ER ranked low when compared to other hospitals nationally. Under the direction of ER Director, Janet Gode and ER Medical Director, Dr. Michael Ward, the KRMC emergency department began many structured initiatives to improve.

Since then, the KRMC ER has dramatically reduced emergency room wait times while improving the quality of patient services. These improvements are reflected in consistently higher patient satisfaction scores (see graph). Now, the KRMC ER ranks among the top twenty percent of hospital emergency departments nationwide for patient satisfaction. This is an extraordinary team accomplishment that not only involves the excellent ER staff but others throughout the hospital and community.

These achievements are not the end, however, as the KRMC ER continues to work on additional improvements. According to Ms. Gode, “Our ER is still a work in progress. No time to sit back and watch. We remain proactive and closely watch our weekly measurements. If there is a drop in one of the areas, the team is advised and we immediately take steps to figure out why. We then involve whomever it takes within the hospital to make immediate changes to correct the problem, which often involves new and creative team approaches.”

In congratulating the ER team, KRMC CEO Brian Turney said, “I really appreciate the efforts of our ER medical and administrative directors, Dr. Ward and Janet Gode, and their teams to improve our ER services in recent years. PRC’s awards recognize those efforts. I have challenged the ER team to continue their efforts to make our ER even better.”

Mr. Turney also thanked the community, saying, “I appreciate the thousands of patients who have taken the time over the years to provide us honest feedback about their service. That feedback is critical in helping us focus on the necessary changes to improve our services.”

Digital Mammography

KRMC was one of the first hospitals in the state to offer digital mammography testing for screening and diagnosing breast cancer. This technology is seen as the biggest advancement in mammography in 30 years because the digital tests are clearer and more accurate than conventional mammography.

Multislice CT Scanners

KRMC has three Computed Tomography or CT scanners, including a 64-slice unit. These scanners enable practitioners to take images of the anatomy in multiple “slices,” which produces exceptionally clear three-dimensional images of internal structures.

MRI Systems

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to visualize soft tissue structures in the body. Unlike CT, it uses no ionizing radiation, but rather magnets and radio waves to create images. KRMC has two MRI systems, one of which is a powerful 3T MRI — one of only a few in Arizona, which produces a much stronger magnetic field than conventional MRI systems. It is highly useful in neurological (brain), musculoskeletal (body), cardiovascular (blood vessels and heart), and cancer imaging.

PET/CT Scanner

KRMC has the only Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) scanner in the region. By merging PET and CT together, this technology offers state-of-the art capability for pinpointing cancer in the body. Additionally, PET/CT shows promise for diagnosing other conditions, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and congestive heart failure.

KRMC’s Expert Radiology Team

Even with sophisticated technology for producing medical images, accurate test results still require the skilled expertise of doctors called radiologists. These doctors receive many years of specialized training in the interpretation of medical images for identifying injury and disease in the body’s systems.

KRMC recently signed on three radiologists from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN: Drs. Wade Alleman, Kale Bodily, and Christopher Johansen. Starting in July, they will join KRMC radiologist Dr. Warren Mays to provide comprehensive radiology services at KRMC.

Radiology is a very competitive field in medicine. Those who gain entrance are often at the top of their medical school class. Only the best of the best are accepted at the Mayo Clinic — which means that patients at KRMC will have access to one of the most highly-skilled radiology teams in the region.

Nationally Accredited Imaging Services

The American College of Radiology (ACR) has accredited all KRMC diagnostic imaging modalities, which include MRI, CT, ultrasound, digital mammography, PET/CT, and nuclear medicine. The ACR accredits each imaging modality separately. It can be common for hospitals to be ACR accredited in a few modalities; but it’s much rarer to be accredited in all of them.

ACR accreditation means that KRMC has passed rigorous review processes and meets stringent national standards for quality diagnostic imaging.

KRMC is proud to be the region’s leader in diagnostic imaging services. With the latest technology combined with the skilled expertise of our radiology team, patients at KRMC have access to some of modern medicine’s most-advanced imaging tests for detecting illness and injury.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, please contact the KRMC Imaging Center at (928) 692-2727.

The guests visiting the Hospice Home were also offered the opportunity to tour some of our services at the hospital such as our Cancer Center, Cardiac Cath Lab, Wound Healing & Hyperbaric Medicine Center, and Sleep Disorders Center. I had told my Director of Public Relations, Jamie Taylor, that I didn’t think many people would want to take the extra time to do this — boy, was I wrong. I was surprised and pleased at the number of people who elected to take the extra tours.

As people, some of them long-time Kingmanites, viewed and learned about the services, comments such as “I had no idea this was available”, or “I am really impressed”, or “KRMC has really grown and changed” were heard regularly. It confirmed to me that we need to do more to share with our community what KRMC has to offer.

When I joined KRMC in 1985, it was a struggling hospital that faced some significant challenges. I had come to the hospital to complete my one-year administrative residency and then leave the community. Well, it didn’t quite work out that way, and I can honestly say that it has been wonderful to be able to observe both KRMC and the Kingman community grow, change, and improve over the past 25 years. I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to become the CEO and help guide this organization in striving to accomplish its mission and vision. I feel fortunate to have been able to be a small part of the changes that have taken place over the years.

I would invite you to learn more about us. Visit our health fairs, open houses, and website (www.azkrmc.com). If you would like a personal tour, we would be happy to provide that as well. Just contact our Public Relations department at (928) 681-8656. What you will discover is that KRMC has become the largest, most comprehensive provider of healthcare in northwest Arizona, as well as the region’s leader in patient satisfaction.

— Brian Turney

Located at 812 Airway Avenue on 1.7 acres donated by the Lingenfelter family, the 9,850-square-foot home will provide hospice services to those individuals who are dying from a terminal illness but do not have a caregiver, or live too far out of town to obtain hospice service. Much of the furnishings and artwork in the home were donated by the Becker family.

Over 200 guests were treated to special appetizers from KRMC Nutritional Services catering, and music provided by pianist Lorraine Hunt, while they toured the beautiful new facility.

After the ribbon cutting and tours of the hospice home, guests were invited to take a ride on the KRMC patient transportation van over to the hospital, where hot appetizers were served and tours were provided of the Wound Care Center, Cardiovascular Center, Acute Rehabilitation, Second Floor East and the newly-remodeled gift shop in the main hospital. Music in the lobby was provided by Jeremy Foss, acoustic guitarist.

The tours then continued to the KRMC Cancer Center and Sleep Lab, ending in the lobby of the Medical Professional Center, where desserts by Victoria Pratt were served and area physicians were available to meet and greet.

The KRMC Foundation would like to extend its heartfelt appreciation and thanks to those individuals and businesses that have helped to make the Joan & Diana Hospice Home a reality, including the Kingman Hospital, Inc. (KHI) Board of Directors for their support of this project. Fundraising for the home has been on-going for the last five years with events such as the Route 66 Race for Hospice and the annual golf tournament. The home is named in honor of Joan Becker and Diana Lingenfelter, whose families gave in excess of $750,000 each to help build the home. In addition, the following major donors have provided donations of $5,000 or more including Elizabeth White, Bill & Patricia Malcolm, Betty Grounds, Krystal Burge, Monica Busch, June Schultz, Pamela Liss-Burdett, Soroptimist International, KRMC Volunteers, Bob and Carma Yost, and the KRMC Medical Staff.

Donations of in-kind services and materials for the project were provided by Acton Welding, Ambient Edge, Associated Engineering, AWE Corporate Interiors, Buxton Drywall, Cerbat Door Shop, Craig Plumbing, Craig Fire Protection, Desert Construction, European Techniques, Gonzalez Wall Systems, Highland Glass, Homestyle Furniture, Jewett Acoustics, Kraft-Wright, McMillin Painting, Mohave Engineering, Morfeld Ray Architects, Northwest Securities, Paragon, Pro-Tek, R&M Excavation, Riviera Carpet, Roof Doctor, Simplex-Grinnell, Smith Seckman Reid, Inc., T.R. Orr, Inc., Unisource Energy Services, Vision Landscaping, Walker Electric, Western Technologies, and Zorn Masonry. Artist Fred Lucas donated a beautiful original painting that is hung above the fireplace.

Hospice volunteers — making a difference every day

Hospice volunteers do important and rewarding work, and are the backbone of the hospice team. Twelve volunteers are about to complete their 30 hour training and another session will begin late summer.

Why should anyone consider being a hospice volunteer? Following are comments from some of our hospice volunteers:

• It really doesn’t take much time to make a difference in a dying patient’s life. It feels good to know that I’ve been able to help provide some comfort to a dying patient and able to give.

• Because Hospice does such great work for those in need. Many times we will never know the impact we have made on a Hospice patient or family because of their trying times. Everyone has talents and gifts they can use and can be applied in a way to give back to their community.

• End-of-life support is as important as beginning-of-life support.

• It is very rewarding. You meet wonderful people, friends for life. It makes you feel good about yourself. You will get more out of volunteering than your patient.

Interested in being part of the next training session? Call Cindy Kramer, Hospice Volunteer Coordinator, at (928) 692-4680.

Radiologists are skilled physicians who are experts in the interpretation of medical images such as X-rays; MRI, CT, and nuclear medicine scans; mammograms; and sonograms. They are specially trained to identify injury and disease in any of the body’s systems, whether bone, tissue, organs, or blood vessels.

Radiology is a very competitive field in medicine. Those who gain entrance in the field are often at the top of their medical school class. Only the best of the best are accepted at the prominent Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. We’re proud to introduce KRMC’s skilled radiology team.

Wade G. Alleman, M.D.

Dr. Alleman will begin at KRMC on July 1, 2010. He is a graduate of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota. He did his internship at Carilion Health System in Roanoke, Virginia and residency in diagnostic radiology at the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Medicine, also in Rochester.

Kale D. Bodily, M.D.

Dr. Bodily is a graduate of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota. He did his internship at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah and residency in diagnostic radiology at the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Medicine, also in Rochester. He will start at KRMC on July 1, 2010.

Christopher Johansen, M.D.

Dr. Johansen is a graduate of the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis School of Medicine. He did his internship at Deaconess Hospital in Spokane, Washington, and residency in diagnostic radiology at the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota. While at Mayo, he also served as chief resident of the Mayo radiology program. He will relocate to Kingman in 2011 after completing a one-year fellowship in women’s imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Warren L. Mays, M.D.

Dr. Mays is a skilled diagnostic radiologist with over 15 years’ experience in the field, five of those years at KRMC. He is a graduate of the Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He did his internship at the University of Nevada-Reno VA Medical Center and residency in diagnostic radiology at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in New York City. Additionally, he completed a fellowship in neurosurgery at Lincoln Hospital and Mental Health Center in Bronx, New York.

Many people in our area are not aware that Kingman Regional Medical Center is a teaching hospital. As such, we provide residency training to doctors specializing in family medicine. While training here, these doctors provide medical care to people of all ages at KRMC’s Family Medicine Residency Center.

Residency is a stage of medical training for doctors who have already completed medical school. During their residency, they receive in-depth experiential training serving patients while working under the supervision of a licensed physician.

At KRMC, there are ten family medicine residents practicing under the supervision of three licensed physicians. Since they specialize in family medicine, the resident doctors provide a full array of medical services to people at every stage of life— from infants to the elderly.  In addition to treating illness and injury, they also provide immunizations, laboratory services, well-woman health checks, vasectomies, skin biopsies, EKGs, arthritis injections, and osteopathic manipulation.

There are many advantages to receiving medical care from resident doctors at the KRMC Family Medicine Residency Center, which include:

• All patients have at least two physicians involved in their care, a resident physician and an experienced teaching physician.
• As part of their training, resident doctors take extra time with their patients.  As a result, their patients receive comprehensive, attentive, and thorough care.
• Anyone who is ill can usually see one of our resident physicians the same day they call for an appointment.
• KRMC’s Family Medicine Residency Center is open some evenings and weekends to accommodate working family schedules.

When you see a KRMC resident physician, you can be assured that you are receiving high-quality medical care. Under the supervision of skilled licensed physicians, these enthusiastic young doctors are dedicated to serving patients with skill and compassion as they train for lifelong careers in medicine.

The KRMC Family Medicine Residency Center is located at 1790 Sycamore Ave in Kingman.  Please call (928) 692-4625 for an appointment.