Competitors Feel the Burn, but This Race Is Only a Challenge

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/26/AR2008032601476.html

By Susan Singer-Bart
Gazette Staff Writer
Thursday, March 27, 2008; Page GZ05

Emergency room physician Ellen Smith's co-workers at Montgomery General Hospital in Olney often promise to join her weekend adventures of rappelling, kayaking, biking or hiking, but they never do. Consequently, Smith, 44, of Damascus, created a virtual way for them to participate. She calls it Dr. Smith's Employee Healthy Sports Challenge.

Each month, Smith posts a new map on an easel and invites her colleagues on virtual adventures, such as an Iditarod sled race across Alaska or a kayaking trip across Niagara Falls. For each 10 minutes of exercise they complete on their own, participants get to move their pin one-half mile on the map. December's route was 15 miles, and January's was 18 miles, but now the group, which numbers more than 80, has progressed to 30-mile routes.

"I wanted to have a way for people to be proud and demonstrate their progress," Smith said. This way, everyone can benefit from exercising without undertaking the extreme sports she enjoys, Smith said. Yoga, Pilates, walking and playing basketball all are eligible workouts.

The challenge has generated some good-natured competition at the hospital, even among those who had never exercised, Smith said. And those who already were working out feel challenged to do even more. "I'm motivated to see how my peers are doing and moving my pins on the map," said Kevin Mell, the hospital's vice president for human resources.

Randy Bursar, supervisor of nuclear medicine, said he has become more consistent in his treadmill and Bowflex machine workouts. "This is the best thing they've come up with here," said Bursar, one of the few to finish the challenge each month. This month, participants are "traveling" through Spain on the route of the Vuelta a España, a three-week bicycle race. "I always said I was going to [exercise]," said Barbara Boyds, an administrator in the performance improvement department. "Now, I finally did." Boyds spends most of her workday at a computer. She now exercises on a treadmill three times a week and does Pilates twice a week.

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Doctor shares love of sports, exercise

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

By Susan Singer-Bart | Staff Writer

http://www.gazette.net/stories/032608/damanew60401_32355.shtml

Dr. Ellen Smith’s coworkers at Montgomery General Hospital in Olney often say they will join her on her weekend adventures of rappelling, kayaking, biking or hiking, but they never do. So Smith has created a way for them to join her in spirit as they exercise in their own way. She calls it Dr. Smith’s Employee Healthy Sports Challenge.

Since December, Smith has posted a new map on an easel each month and invited everyone to join her on adventures such as a virtual Iditarod sled race across Alaska or on a kayaking trip across Niagara Falls. For each 10 minutes of exercise they complete, participants move a pin one-half mile on the map. December’s route was 15 miles and January’s was 18 miles, but now the group, which numbers more than 80, has progressed to 30-mile routes. ‘‘I wanted to have a way for people to be proud and demonstrate their progress,” Smith said. She wants everyone to know they can get the benefits of exercising without participating in the extreme sports she enjoys. Yoga, Pilates, walking and playing basketball all offer good workouts, she said. Each virtual race participant is entered into a monthly random drawing for prizes donated by Montgomery General.

The prizes include golf and tennis balls, backpacks, weights and certificates to local restaurants. ‘‘I’m motivated to see how my peers are doing and moving my pins on the map,” said Kevin Mell, the hospital’s vice president for human resources. The experience has generated some good-natured competition, he said. ‘‘It’s very competitive, even [among] people who never exercised before. ... It’s really caught on,” Smith, an emergency room doctor, said.

For those who had always exercised, the challenge pushes them to do more. ‘‘It kind of challenged me to be consistent,” said Randy Bursar, supervisor of nuclear medicine. ‘‘This is the best thing they’ve come up with here.” Bursar is one of the few to finish the challenge each month. He does it by working out on a Bowflex machine and a treadmill. ‘‘My nuclear medicine team exercises here as well, and we tease and motivate each other,” Bursar said. This month, participants are ‘‘traveling” through Spain on the route of the Vuelta a Espana, a three-week bicycle race. ‘‘I always said I was going to [exercise]. Now I finally did,” said Barbara Boyds, an administrator in the performance improvement department. Boyds spends most of her workday sitting at a computer. Now, she exercises on a treadmill three times a week and does Pilates twice a week.

Smith, 44, of Damascus always enjoyed sports, but her husband, Jeffrey, a former professional football player in the Canadian Football League, introduced her to long-distance cycling. Their children, Dan, 15, Ben, 13, and Sarah, 11, also enjoy sports, the doctor said. The boys play football and Sarah plays soccer. Sarah also enjoys rock climbing, Ben enjoys biking and Dan enjoys kayaking.

Smith runs at least twice a week with horses and dogs on the trails around Damascus. Four of the eight to nine dogs she runs with are hers; the horses belong to her friends. ‘‘A human running an 8- or 9-minute mile is the same as a horse trotting,” Smith said. ‘‘I can feel their breath coming out of their nostrils; they’re right behind me.”

Smith hopes to spread her enthusiasm for exercise to others. She said sports opportunities are easily available in Montgomery County, including those that people might not have considered, such as kayaking. A kayak can be rented for $6 per hour at Black Hill Regional Park, she said. In April, Smith will begin a monthly lecture series on sports-related topics for hospital employees. This summer, the hospital plans to hold a lecture series for the community on how to re-enter sports. ‘‘We want to promote good health,” Mell said.

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Dr. Smith was quoted in the Winter 2007 - Montgomery General -- FOR YOU HEALTH, pp 8-9

An example of how our merger with MedStar Health will
Benefit ourCommunityMontgomery General Heart Patient Saved in Partnershipwith Washington Hospital Center.

http://www.gazette.net/images/Anna/MGHSpring08.pdf

The patient was only 52 years old, but presented to the Montgomery General Hospital emergency department with severe chest pain. Based on Montgomery General’s Chest Pain Center protocol, the EKG was done within 10 minutes and the diagnosis of a heart attack was established. Unfortunately, the patient’s blood pressure dropped and he developed shock. The decision was made to transfer him emergently to another MedStar Health facility, the Washington Hospital Center.

The Society of Chest Pain Centers accredited Montgomery General in 2006.It was the 4th hospital to receive such a designation in the state of Maryland. This requires implementation of evidence-based protocols and close cooperation with EMS on the front end, and transport services on the back end, if warranted. According to Roger Leonard, M.D., Vice President for Medical Affairs at Montgomery General,“ This is precisely why we sought formal accreditation, to elevate our level of care especially when critical services are needed.”

Within minutes, a Medical Shock Trauma and Resuscitation (MedSTAR) helicopter was on its way.“With one call, Washington Hospital Center’s transport service, a component of MedSTAR - the Level I Trauma Center at WHC, took care of everything,” says Dr. Rob Lager, an interventional cardiologist with Cardiology Associates. “In the blink of an eye, the system was activated. MedSTAR gathered the team and alerted the supervisors. The process is very streamlined, very protocol driven, and very fast.” When the chopper arrived at Montgomery General that Saturday morning in January, the patient’s condition was tenuous. “Unfortunately, he was not stable enough to transport,” says Dr. Ellen Smith, an emergency department physician who was treating the patient. Together, Dr.Smith, members of the ED staff, and the MedSTAR medics worked to stabilize him. Once the patient was transferred into the helicopter, the MedSTAR team took over.

During the transport process, the MedSTAR helicopter team kept doctors at the Hospital Center apprised of the situation.“One of the great things about MedStar is the way their communications work,” says Lager. “You get moment-to-moment reports about where they are in transit.” Those reports allow medical personnel to mobilize and start treatment as the patient is wheeled in.

When the patient arrived at the Hospital Center, his blood pressure was “almost undetectable,” according to Lager. As the patient went into cardiac arrest a second time, medical staff used a defibrillator and performed CPR, keeping him alive. An angiogram showed a blockage in one of the patient’s major arteries and Lager opened it up with a stent.“His heart rhythm was stable and his blood pressure was no longer falling, but he wasn’t completely stable,” says Lager.

Heavily sedated and on a ventilator, the patient did not respond to verbal prompts for several days.“Even after we turned off the sedation, he wasn’t waking up,” says the doctor.“On Wednesday, I went into the unit and said, ‘If you can hear me, squeeze my hand.’ He gave me a big squeeze. It was such a great feeling – one of those experiences that remind you why you do what you do.”

MedStar Health’s helicopter transport service has airlifted more than 40,000 patients. It is staffed round-the-clock with surgeons and medical flight staff specially trained in the complexities of trauma care, the MedSTAR program is consistently named one of the country’s best Level I Trauma centers.