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Source: Nashville Post
Author: Hannah Herner
Date: September 25, 2024
Ascension Saint Thomas West officials have announced a $22 million renovation is underway at the West Nashville hospital.
Investments include $9.2 million to add patient rooms in the emergency department, $7.8 million to improve cardiac operating rooms and $2.5 million to bolster cardiac care services. In addition, the hospital will build an Advanced Clinical Learning Center for nursing education.
Initial planning for the project began in 2019, according to a press release, but faced delays because of the pandemic. The total renovation is now set to be completed by July 2025. Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown also saw renovations completed in September 2023.
“We care for the most complex cardiac cases coming into our emergency department,” said Dr. Shubhada Jagasia, president and CEO for Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital.
“Most hospitals admit somewhere around 15-20 percent of patients from their emergency departments, within our full service emergency department we admit around 40 percent. These are high-acuity and complex cases that we manage daily. Our emergency patients get immediate care and advance diagnostics that can be life saving right here in our four walls. This is why we are concentrating on these very necessary improvements.”
HCA donates $600K to Meharry
HCA Healthcare announced Monday that it will provide $600,000 to Meharry Medical College.
The funding will support internships and scholarships for students as part of the HBCU’s school of applied computational sciences, according to a press release.
Internships will take place at HCA’s Information Technology Group. The donation is part of the Nashville-based health care company’s pledge to give $14 million to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). HCA also donated $1.5 million each to Tennessee State University and Fisk University during the last several years.
“We are thrilled to continue our support of Meharry Medical College and provide additional opportunities for graduate students to further their education through scholarships and internships,” said Mitch Edgeworth, president of the HCA Healthcare TriStar Division. “Our organization is committed to increasing access to health care careers across the Middle Tennessee community.”
VUMC publishes CTE study
The Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center recently helped to publish a study on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) along with the Football Players Health Study at Harvard University.
A survey of 1,980 former NFL players found that one of every three of them believe they have the condition. The study also found that cognitive issues were more common in people that believed they had CTE. Symptoms of the condition can include aggression, memory loss, impaired judgment, anxiety, suicidality and eventually, progressive dementia.
CTE can only be diagnosed after death, but even the belief that one has CTE can be impactful, according to study authors.
“Understanding the proportion of former players who think they have CTE — and identifying the common symptoms in those who believe they have CTE — is an important step for helping these individuals receive medical and mental health treatment,” said Douglas Terry, co-director of the Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center.