A
15
Nurses honored
complete with a ‘‘patient’’
Gilbert D. Tough, president and
chief executive officer, Blue Cross
of Northeastern Pennsylvania,
announced recently that the
regional hospital service organiza-
tion, in cooperation with Pennsyl-
vania Blue Shield, has begun its
second consecutive, month-long
Drunk Driving Awareness Program
which urges motorists to refrain
from driving while under the influ-
ence of alcohol, especially during
the upcoming holiday period.
‘As a caring organization, which
serves the health care needs of
more than 645,000 subscribers in 13
counties of northeastern Pennsyl-
vania,” Tough said, ‘‘we would hope
that our message, ‘Don’t Drink and
Drive,” will be remembered by all
who sit behind the wheels of their
vehicles during this holiday season.
innocent persons who have suffered
serious injuries and, most impo.-
tantly, the lives of loved ones that
have been destroyed by careless,
inconsiderate drivers are part of
today’s road safety lessons that
cannot be over emphasized.”
Tough added that, in its attempt
to publicize the importance of the
Drunk Driving Awareness Program,
Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsyl-
vania and Pennsylvania Blue Shield
have launched a two-prong effort as
a means for urging public coopera-
tion. During the past week, more
than 100,000 brochures on ‘A Sensi-
ble Guide to Alcohol and You” were
mailed to business and industry
groups, and other community serv-
ice agencies, which cite suggestions,
tips, and other facts for persons to
consider before and after drinking
alcoholic beverages.
As a pre-holiday campaign
696-3868
Emergency Care at all hrs.
Parking On Premises
Day, Evening & Sat. Appointments
Mainline Building
121 S. Memorial Highway
Shavertown, 18708
(Next to Howard Duke Isaacs)
starter, Tough stated that a news
conference involved concerned area
principals who have endorsed the
program will be held in the Blue
Cross Building, Wilkes-Barre,
December 9, at 10 a.m. Addressing
media representatives will be
Tough, and the following partici-
pants: Ms. Donna F. Hooper,
project director of S.0.B.E.R. (Slow
on the Bottle, Enjoy the Road); Ms.
Alice Deats, president of MADD
(Mothers Against Drunk Drivers),
who will conduct a brief candlelight
vigil ceremony memorializing vic-
tims of drunken drivers; Thomas
M. Cesarini, associate director of
the Luzerne County Drug and Alco-
hol Abuse Program; David Lom-
bard of Clearbrook Lodge; Debbie
Ropers of the Luzerne County Court
Advocate Program; Luzerne County
Ditrict Attorney Robert Gillespie;
Lackawanna County District Attor-
ney Ernest Preate; Bernard Ott,
Seatbelt Program, and several local
and state officials.
Mercy gets
accreditation
Mercy Hospital, Wilkes-Barre,
has been awarded a three-year Cer-
tificate of Accreditation by the Joint
Commission on Accreditation of
Hospitals (JCAH). JCAH accredita-
tion is evidence of Mercy’s efforts to
provide quality health care for resi-
dents of the Wyoming Valley area.
To become accredited, Mercy vol-
untarily requested an on-site evalu-
ation by JCAH surveyors who
applied standards designed to fur-
ther the objectives of quality patient
care and the safety of the environ-
ment in which that care is provided.
These national standards represent
a consensus among health cre pro-
fessionals and are periodically
updated to reflect changes in health
care delivery.
JCAH is a private, not-for-profit
organization created by and com-
posed of health care professionals.
“If a nation is judged by how it
treats its aged citizens, we must don
a hair shirt of shame with 1 million
senior Americans victims of abuse
each year,” Senator John Heinz (R-
PA) said today, speaking in support
of legislation to create a task force
on elder abuse.
Heinz noted that while the 75-plus
age group is the fastest growing
segment of the population, and sta-
tistically the most at risk of abuse,
“we know so very little about the
extent of the problem, even less
about the causes, and nothing at all
about solutions.”” Government
spends less than $3 on protective
services for each elder abuse
victim, but seven times that amount
for child abuse victims.
In the five-county area of Pitts-
burgh, 162 cases of elder abuse were
reported in a 12 month period
ending June, 1985, Heinz said.
Although physical maltreatment
accounts for about 75 percent of
reported cases, many abusers of the
elderly employ more subtle means.
The Senator cited examples of an
85-year-old woman whose daughter
took her Social Security checks and
spent them on shopping sprees and
drugs, and the son who refused to
allow his elderly mother to eat.
As Chairman of the Senate Spe-
cial Committee on Aging, Heinz said
he is particularly sensitive to added
pressures created for family care-
givers by Medicare’s new method of
hospital reimbursement. Under the
Prospective Payment System,
patients come out of hospitals _
sicker, needing greater levels of
care for more extended periods of
time. :
‘Families burdened with such
heavy levels of care will experience
stress that can lead to abuse,” said
Heinz. Exacerbating the situation is
the absense of any coherent long
room routines
period
* pain control
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NURSING SERVICES DEPARTMENT
WILKES-BARRE, PA. 18764
That’s the slogan of the Mercy Travel-
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derly and physically impaired to un-
dergo physician-ordered = laboratory
tests without ‘having to" leave their
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« PROFESSIONAL, CERTIFIED,
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AND COLLECT OTHER NECESSARY
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» NO EXTRA CHARGE! YOUR
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JUST AS IF YOU HAD COME TO THE
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HOSPITAL'S LABORATORY.
o TEST RESULTS SENT
IMMEDIATELY TO YOUR
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Pediatric Mist Tents
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THIS IS NOW A REQUIREMENT
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MURRAY DOLPHIN, M.D., F.A.C.S.
PARK OFFICE BLDG. SUITE 110
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