Our Accomplishments

PHYSICIAN RECRUITMENT

• St. Edward Mercy Clinic recruited 10 physicians in the past year. The Clinic employs over 70 physicians in a broad range of specialties across many communities in western Arkansas. The Clinic is a not-for-profit, wholly-owned subsidiary of the St. Edward Mercy Health System.

• St. Edward Mercy Clinic adds location in the Greater Fort Smith Region. St. Edward Mercy Clinic now offers primary care at locations in Fort Smith and Van Buren.

 

UNIQUE SERVICES/PROGRAMS

• St. Edward Mercy adds neonatal transport to services offered. The neonatal transport vehicle transfers infants requiring the services that only a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit can provide, from other facilities to the St. Edward Mercy Medical Center NICU. The St. Edward Mercy Medical Center offers the only Level III NICU in the region.

  The addition of the NICU Transport to the St. Edward Mercy NICU is a vital step in meeting the region’s growing need for intensive care for neonatal patients. The ability to keep infants and their families close to home while receiving care is crucial to meeting the needs of the community St. Edward Mercy serves.

  The specially-designed transport vehicle was purchased with funds raised by the St. Edward Mercy Auxiliary. The vehicle contains specialized equipment designed to handle the needs of a critically-ill infant. The vehicle is staffed by a specially-trained Transport Team, which will include a respiratory therapist and Registered Nurse.

• Breathing Easier Together, a smoking cessation program hosted by the St. Edward Mercy Health System, expanded its services to Scott and Crawford Counties. The previous program covered only Sebastian County.

 

• St. Edward Mercy Medical Center celebrates the 20th anniversary of offering Mercy Mammography Van service. The Mercy Mammography Van has provided approximately 28,000 mammograms since its debut. 

  Two vans have been utilized during the past 20 years. The first was purchased in 1988 with the second purchased eight years ago. The combined mileage for both vans is over 175,000 miles. The van travels to locations throughout six counties: Sebastian, Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, and Yell. The purpose of the van is to provide convenient mammography service to women in all locations.

NEW ADDITIONS

• St. Edward unveils new neurosurgery suite. The neurosurgery suite is specially designed to accommodate cranial tumors and biopsies using Stealth (image guided navigation system), spinal cord tumors using Stealth, cervical laminectomy, lumbar laminectomy with fusion using the anterior or posterior approach, discectomy, and microdiscectomy. St. Edward Mercy Medical Center anticipates performing 350 to 400 neurosurgeries in the first year.

  With the new equipment, imaging technology and the PACS system, the neurosurgery room needed more space and a better layout. The operating room is fully-integrated. The additional neurosurgery suite allows the Medical Center to perform two neurosurgeries at one time. The neurosurgery suite is specially designed to accommodate neurosurgery. The suite was built to invest in the latest technology to better utilize all components involved in neurosurgery.

• St. Edward Mercy Medical Center goes “green” with its launch of an electric car on-campus shuttle service called St. Edward Mercy Auxiliary Mercy Go Getters. The St. Edward Mercy Auxiliary purchased two blue Global Electric Motorcars e6 vehicles to provide an on-campus shuttle service for patients and visitors of the St. Edward Mercy Medical Center.

  The battery-electric vehicles will provide service Monday through Friday. The zero-emissions vehicles seat six and are equipped with six 12-volt maintenance-free gel batteries plus a 7.0 horsepower motor.  Both vehicles operate simultaneously during the week by driving through the parking lots looking for those in need of assistance.

• St. Edward Mercy Hospice Inpatient Unit was licensed by the Arkansas Department of Health effective July 9, 2008. The new Hospice Inpatient Unit offers a family room, family kitchen, washer and dryer, and adjoining rooms for family members of patients. The Unit will also offer unlimited visitation hours. The St. Edward Mercy Hospice Unit has 12 beds. The St. Edward Mercy Hospice Inpatient Unit was dedicated on June 23, 2008.

 

• In March of 2008, St. Edward Mercy opened the Wound Care and Hyperbaric Department. The Medical Center currently has two wound care / hyperbaric nurses and a hyperbaric tech. Physicians, nursing and hyperbaric staff are trained in their respective areas. 

  The hyperbaric chamber has a 40.5 inch internal diameter, the largest in the industry, which provides added comfort and significantly reduces the incidence of noncompliance due to claustrophobia.  This state-of-the-art unit allows St. Edward to comfortably and effectively treat all patients including the bariatric population.

 

ACCREDITATIONS & AWARDS

• St. Edward Mercy Medical Center’s Rehabilitation Center was awarded a three-year term of accreditation by the Commission on Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) – Continuing Care Accreditation Commission (CCAC). St. Edward Mercy is the only inpatient rehabilitation center in the region that is CARF - CCAC accredited.

  Only seven facilities in Arkansas hold this accreditation with the next closest facility being located in Hot Springs. St. Edward Mercy voluntarily put itself through the rigorous peer review process and demonstrated to the CARF surveyors during the on-site survey that it is committed to conforming to CARF - CCAC’s accreditation conditions and standards.

• St. Edward Mercy Medical Center was named as a 2008-2009 Consumer Choice Award Winner by the National Research Corporation (NRC). The award identifies hospitals which healthcare consumers have chosen as having the highest quality and image in over 250 markets throughout the United States. This is the fifth year in a row that St. Edward Mercy has won the Consumer Choice Award.

 

• St. Edward Mercy Medical Center received two awards from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) at the Fourth Annual Learning Congress and Medal of Honor Ceremony held in Nashville. The Medical Center received the Medal of Honor for Organ Donation and an award for the number of organs transplanted per donor.

  Hospitals with eight or more potential organ donors during the 26-month award period ending in May 2008 and sustained a donation rate of 75% or more from among eligible donors for at least a year were eligible for the Medal of Honor. The winning hospitals came from a pool of 716 hospitals that met eligibility criteria. Only 412 hospitals were honored.

  The Medical Center was also recognized for achieving and sustaining a donation rate of 75% or more of eligible donors and achieving the goal of 3.75 organs transplanted per donor. St. Edward Mercy was one of only 86 hospitals in the country to receive both awards and the only hospital in the state of Arkansas to receive both awards.

• St. Edward Mercy earned the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care’s “Validation” and “Best Achievement” awards. Hospitals were eligible for four types of Quality Awards: “Best Achievement,” “Most Improved,” “Validation” and “Innovator.” Results for “Best Achievement,” “Most Improved,” and “Validation” were determined based on quality-of-care data submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. St. Edward Mercy was one of two hospitals in the PPS category in the state of Arkansas to receive the “Best Achievement” award.

 

• St. Edward Mercy earned a financial incentive tied to meeting certain Core Measures goals set by Medicaid.

• St. Edward Mercy Medical Center Cancer Program maintains accreditation from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (COC). Approval by the COC is given only to those facilities voluntarily committed to providing high quality comprehensive cancer care making available all of the various medical specialists involved in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

  Patients receiving care at a COC-approved hospital ensures that patients will receive:

• Quality care close to home
• Comprehensive care offering a range of state-of-the-art services and equipment
• A multi-specialty, team approach to coordinate the best treatment options available to cancer patients
• Access to cancer-related information, education, and support
• A cancer registry that collects data on type and stage of cancers and treatment results, and offers lifelong patient follow-up
• Ongoing monitoring and improvement of care
• Information about ongoing clinical trials and new treatment options

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

• St. Edward Mercy Health System, presented a check in the amount of $50,000 to the Cancer Support Foundation, for A Helping Hand for Cancer Support, a program offered by the Donald W. Reynolds Cancer Support House.  

  Each year, Mercy awards Mercy Caritas grants for community-based programs that improve community health and well-being, with particular concern for people who are economically poor. A Helping Hand for Cancer Support seeks to solidify and expand the mission of the Donald W. Reynolds Cancer Support House to provide emotional support and emergency financial assistance with particular emphasis in Logan, Franklin, and Scott counties.

• St. Edward Mercy handled $23.42 million in charity cases. The Medical Center saw approximately $6 to $7 million dollar increase in charity care from 2007 to 2008.

• St. Edward Mercy has donated funding to 30 organizations in the Fort Smith community.

• Mercy Foundation was able to provide $1.9 million for equipment and program support to the St. Edward Mercy Health System in 2008.