Jupiter Medical Center Foundation Surpasses Campaign’s Halfway Mark
$1 Million Gift Creates Dedicated Observation Unit
For people experiencing worrisome symptoms such as fainting, difficulty
breathing or severe chest, back or stomach pain, there is one widely understood
health care directive: Call 911 or head to your nearest emergency room.
What happens next, however, is not always clear-cut. Some emergency room
patients need to be hospitalized immediately. Others receive several hours
of monitoring and observation before either being admitted to the hospital
or cleared to go home.
To meet the needs of emergency room visitors who are being evaluated and
tested over periods that can range up to 24 hours, a growing number of
hospitals have created dedicated observation units. By freeing emergency
teams to focus on new arrivals and ensuring the availability of hospital
beds for admitted patients, such units help to improve care delivery across
the spectrum.
Thanks to a $1 million gift from
Jim and Louise Felcyn, Jupiter Medical Center will soon begin construction on the 18-bed James
J. Felcyn and Louise Brien Felcyn Observation Unit.
“The unit will be the setting for short-stay services such as heart
monitoring, enzyme panels and IV infusion for patients with dehydration,”
says Steven Seeley, chief operating officer and chief nursing officer
at Jupiter Medical Center.
“By allowing our teams to more efficiently triage and manage everyone
who comes through our doors, the observation unit will help us provide
the best possible care to all of our patients.”
Because people experiencing symptoms of heart disease are among the most
frequent visitors to emergency departments, the new facility holds special
significance for the Felcyns, both of whom lost parents to heart disease.
“We have been very fortunate and wanted to give something back,”
explains Jim Felcyn. After establishing a generous planned gift to Jupiter
Medical Center Foundation, the Palm Beach Gardens couple was seeking another
philanthropic opportunity that would make a more immediate impact.
“The hospital foundation team explained that the observation unit
was a critical need,” adds Felcyn, a retired software executive
who immediately understood the benefits the unit would deliver. “All
of the tremendous advances in technology and pharmaceuticals are not useful
until they are actually delivered to the people who need them.”
“What is going on at Jupiter Medical Center is incredible,”
says Louise Felcyn, a native Quebecer, who fondly recalls her experiences
as a summer nursing assistant in Quebec and has been fascinated by medicine
ever since. Thirty-one years ago, when she moved to Florida, Louise worked
as a volunteer at Broward Hospital in Fort Lauderdale; then later she
worked as an employee in risk management at Holy Cross Hospital. “We
are amazed by Jupiter Medical Center’s expansion, their partnership
with Mount Sinai, and all the other great things they are doing.
“We are just really pleased to have the opportunity to help the medical
center grow.”
Grateful Patient: Beatricia Herrick
At any age, spinal problems can be debilitating and keep you from doing
the things you love. Thankfully, with advances in minimally invasive spinal
surgery techniques and technology, and the expertise of world-class surgeons
like those at Jupiter Medical Center, we can surgically intervene to beat
back pain with an increasingly low risk of complications.
Thanks to the generosity of Beatricia “Bea” Herrick in making
a $1 million gift to Jupiter Medical Center’s Anderson Family Orthopedic
& Spine Center of Excellence for the purchase of cutting edge spine
surgery technology, Jupiter Medical Center is now capable of performing
even safer, less invasive and more efficient spinal reconstructive surgery.
Bea’s gift was made in honor of her late husband, Peter Herrick,
who received treatment at Jupiter Medical Center from orthopedic surgeon
Dr. David Campbell.
Peter, born in 1926, served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and
the Korean War, and graduated from Williams College. Later, he worked
his way up through the ranks of the banking industry, serving as president
and, ultimately, retiring as the vice chairman of the Bank of New York.
Known for his outgoing personality and active lifestyle, Peter was an
avid golfer, hunter and water sports enthusiast in his retirement. He
had a passion for music and played both the piano and ukulele.
When Peter first visited the Anderson Family Orthopedic & Spine Center,
Dr. Campbell felt that a low-risk, minimally invasive spine procedure,
designed to treat his lumbar spinal stenosis, could significantly improve
his quality of life and allow him to continue participating in the activities
that brought him joy. Peter underwent the surgery in the spring of 2012
and recovered very well, enjoying improved mobility and pain relief for
the last year of his life.
Grateful for the care Peter received, Bea’s gift allowed Jupiter
Medical Center to purchase an Isocentric C-Arm, a tool that allows surgeons
to reconstruct CT images and 3-D reconstructions to enhance spinal navigation
during surgeries, eight upgraded Stryker Neuro Drills, and a Jackson Spinal
Modular Table System. The funds also purchased a simulated shower and
tub area, a PRO2 upper body exerciser and lower body recumbent bike, and
two MOVEO XP exercisers for use in the rehabilitation gym located within
the Orthopedic & Spine Center.
The new 3-D visualization equipment will lower the risk of wound complications,
infections and damage to surrounding tissue in reconstructive spine surgery,
while simultaneously improving the procedure’s minimally invasive
factor. The equipment is already making waves at Jupiter Medical Center,
where Dr. Raymond Golish, Medical Director of Research and fellowship-trained
orthopedic spine surgeon at Jupiter Medical Center, recently performed
a complex reconstructive lumbar surgery that would otherwise have been
done only at an academic medical center.
Although Jupiter Medical Center has long been a regional leader in orthopedic
and spine surgery, the hospital’s facilities can now be classed
within the “top tier of medical centers doing spinal surgery,”
according to Dr. Campbell. Bea’s generous gift on behalf of her
loving husband, and because she so appreciated the compassion and care
that Dr. Campbell and the Jupiter Medical Center team showed to him, will
go a long way toward ensuring that others, just like Peter, will have
access to high-quality health care for generations to come.
Advancing Technology—Your Donations at Work
As a nonprofit, Jupiter Medical Center relies on the generous contributions
of donors to acquire leading-edge technology and remain a world-class
medical provider. Here are two examples of your donations at work.
Blue Light Cystoscopy – Improving early detection
Bladder cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers with an estimated
73,500 new cases each year. In the U.S. alone, it’s the fourth most
common cancer in men. Like most cancers, early detection offers the best
hope for survival.
Today, early detection has been greatly improved with Blue Light Cystoscopy.
Jupiter Medical Center is the first Florida hospital to permanently install
this advanced technology for patients.
“Blue Light Cystoscopy is a wonderful piece of technology once only
available at academic medical centers,” explains Dr. R. Neill Borland,
Medical Director of Genitourinary Oncology at Jupiter Medical Center.
“Donations have brought this exciting development here to our local
community and now we can help local residents.
”Blue Light Cystoscopy with Cysview has been shown to outperform
traditional white light technology in detecting tumors. A fluorescent
agent, or “dye,” is put into the bladder, after which the
physician uses the cystoscope to view the area.
The combination of dye and the blue light better defines tumors. This allows
for better identification of small or subtle tumors. It also helps to
ensure a more complete removal of the tumor.
3-D Laparoscopy – View of the future, here today
3-D technology is emerging as an important tool in the operating suite.
Rather than using two-dimentional imaging, a 3-D view greatly improves
the depth and spatial perception for surgeons, leading to better outcomes.
Jupiter Medical Center is the first in Florida and one of a handful of
hospitals nationwide to offer the 3DHD Vision System by CONMED for laparoscopic
procedures. “The generosity of donors has elevated the quality of
care and equipment here at Jupiter Medical Center,” says Dr. Jefferson
Vaughan, Medical Director of the Institute for Metabolic and Bariatric
Surgery at Jupiter Medical Center.
Dr. Vaughan began using the 3-D, high-definition camera as an addition
to the laparoscopy tower in his surgeries. He uses 3-D laparoscopy in
surgeries such as bariatric and hiatal hernia repairs.
Compared to open surgery, laparoscopic approaches offer reduced pain, shorter
recovery times and better cosmetic results. The 3DHD Vision System restores
the surgeon’s natural visual asset and depth perception, which studies
have shown leads to a significant reduction in error rates.
With the help of 3-D technology, surgeons like Dr. Vaughan can experience
this improved perspective, while maintaining the important, less-invasive
aspects of laparoscopic surgery.
