A hospital milestone
HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital’s Structural Heart Team, and Dr. Keshav Ramireddy and Dr. Rami Akel recently completed their 100th Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair (TEER), according to a news release.
TEER is an innovative procedure that has significally reduced the risk of heart failure in the patients who have undergone the treatment, the release said.
As technology and experience has grown, recent studies have demonstrated excellent outcomes after the TEER procedure and proven efficacy in reducing the mitral valve regurgitation.
In TEER, a clipping device is used. This is a minimally invasive approach through the femoral vein to treat the leakage of the mitral valve without having to conduct open-heart surgery.
After transcatheter valve repair, patients typically recover in the hospital and go home the next day.
HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital is one of only four programs in the Tampa area to have completed 100 TEER procedures, the release said.
31Hospital achieve an ‘A’
All AdventHealth hospital locations in Highlands, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties have achieved an “A” patient safety grade by the Leapfrog Group, according to a news release.
The safety grade is awarded based on a hospital’s performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections, and other harms to patients in their care.
AdventHealth implemented and enhanced several division-wide processes to keep patients safe, including elevating best practices in bar code scanning as a safety net to assure that the right patient receives the right medication every time. This effort is just one of many initiatives in place to ensure patient safety.
The hospitals in the West Florida Division to receive an “A” include: AdventHealth Carrollwood, AdventHealth Dade City, AdventHealth Lake Placid, AdventHealth North Pinellas, AdventHealth Sebring, AdventHealth Tampa, AdventHealth Wesley Chapel and AdventHealth Zephyrhills.
Enhanced mental health help
Through a partnership with AdventHealth, BayCare, Tampa General Hospital, the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, and USF Health, and supported by the Hillsborough County Commission, Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, and Tampa Bay Lightning Foundation, Tampa Bay Thrives announced new access points for individuals seeking short-term appointments for their mental health, according to a news release.
The Let’s Talk line, launched last year, provides the first step in helping callers figure out what support they might need for their mental health.
This new extension to service now has several additional options to connect directly to help. This includes:
- short-term telehealth bridge counseling for individuals facing long wait times to get into their first appointment. This service is provided by the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay and the University of South Florida Department of Psychiatry.
- an appointment at one of 10 local AdventHealth Express Care at Walgreens locations, where a staff member will assess needs and provide referral to a telehealth counselor for additional support
- a referral to a licensed counselor at Tampa General’s Urgent Care powered by Fast Track on Water Street in Tampa, to help navigate next steps
- a connection to a licensed clinical social worker at Northside Behavioral Health Center who will provide in-person help to pave the path to feeling better
All of these options are available by calling Let’s Talk at 844-YOU-OKAY. The confidential support for mental health is free and available 24/7.
