For immediate release, March 27, 2008
Contact: Dan Branyon, 864-725-4134
dbranyon@selfregional.org
A Senator, a Hospital CEO, and a Pharmacist Win
First Annual Lewis Blackman Patient Safety Champion Awards
COLUMBIA, S.C., March 27, 2008 - - Greenville Senator Ralph Anderson; M. John Heydel, president and CEO of Self Regional Healthcare, Greenwood, S.C.; and Patricia White, R.Ph., director of Pharmacy and Centralized Scheduling at AnMed Health, Anderson, S.C., have been named the winners of the inaugural Lewis Blackman Patient Safety Champion Awards.
Sponsored by the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA), Health Sciences South Carolina and PHT Services, Ltd., the awards were presented Wednesday night at the First Annual South Carolina Patient Safety Symposium held at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. The awards, established to recognize individuals who have advanced patient safety and health care quality in South Carolina, are named in honor of Lewis Wardlaw Blackman, a 15-year-old whose life was cut short in 2000 as the result of potentially preventable medical complications after an elective surgical procedure.
Presenting the awards was Helen Haskell, the mother of Lewis Blackman. A tireless advocate for patient rights, Haskell is the founder and president of Mothers Against Medical Error.
Senator Anderson is the winner of the Advocacy Award given to honor an individual outside of health care who has actively promoted improvement in the quality and safety of patient care in South Carolina. Senator Anderson has given his life to public service and the betterment of mankind. In recent years, health care has been a major focus of his Senate career. He works tirelessly with hospital administrators, health professionals, advocacy groups, and the public to promote better patient safety practices. He co-sponsored South Carolina’s first hospital infection disclosure act and recently authored the “Organ Donation Bill” designed to reduce the number of patient who die while waiting for an organ donation.
Heydel was awarded the Health Care Leader Award given to a hospital executive or manager whose vision, guidance, and support have played a critical role in better, safer hospitals. Heydel began his 40-plus year career in health care as a United States Air Force medic during the Vietnam War and later served as a respiratory therapist. These experiences have served him well in hospital boardrooms, where he has worked hard to promote patient and employee safety, first as president and CEO of Providence Hospital in Columbia and since 1998, at Self Regional Healthcare. Heydel is a pioneer and promoter of the ISO 9001-based Quality Management System common to business, but new to health care. Heydel is past chair of the SCHA Board of Directors and currently serves as the chair of the SCHA Quality and Patient Safety Advisory Committee. He also has served as chairman of the board of PHT Services, Ltd., one of the state’s top health care risk management firms.
Anderson resident, White is the winner of the Caregiver Award given to a direct caregiver whose passion for patient safety has resulted in changes that promote patient safety and quality improvement at the bedside. Drawing upon her experience as a pharmacist at AnMed Health and caregiver to older family members, White created the “Universal Medication Form,” a single page document for use by patients and providers to document and communicate a patient’s medications and thereby improve providers’ ability to deliver safe, appropriate care throughout the continuum of medical care. White first advocated the use of the form at AnMed Health. Its success inspired her to take it to the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA), where its patient safety benefits were quickly recognized, endorsed, and promoted to hospitals across the state. White worked closely with SCHA and McLeod Health in Florence, S.C., to train other hospitals and providers in the Universal Medication Form’s use.
About the South Carolina Hospital Association
Founded in 1921, the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) is the leadership organization and principal advocate for the state’s hospitals and health care systems. Based in Columbia, SCHA works with its members to improve access, quality, and cost-effectiveness of health care for all South Carolinians. The state’s hospitals and health care systems employ more than 70,000 persons statewide. For more information, visit www.scha.org.
For a 300 dpi electronic file of any or all of the Lewis Blackman Patient Safety Champion Award winners, please contact Patti Smoake at psmoake@scha.org or 803.796.3080.