October 1998 Newsletter Volume 1, Issue 2 October 1998 IEPR Coordinator Corner Jean French EECP Center of Northwest Ohio Site 16 This month we are spotlighting Jean French, coordinator for EECP Center of Northwest Ohio. It is the biggest recruiter for the registry with over 90 patients. Jean is the Administrtive Director of the EECP Center of Northwest Ohio and is responsible for all aspects of EECP in this office. She handles patient screening, scheduling, insurance reimbursement, marketing, coordinating the IEPR information and occasionally treating patients. Jean is also the Office Manager for Comprehensive Heart Care, Inc. When Jean is not at the office, she is an active wife and mother of two boys in high school. Jason, 17 and Joe, 15, participate in football, basketball, baseball, and soccer at school. In her spare time, Jean's hobbies include reading, needlework, and cooking. Jean has been married for 26 years to Jim, who is the administrator of a retirement community. Jean and Jim also cater on the side for 20 to 700 people at one time! In addition to catering, she cooks dinner every Thursday for her sons' football team, around 50 hungry players! The Toledo/Northwest center has been open for just over one year. Due to the enthusiasm of Dr. James Roberts, Jr., the center has grown from 1 to 3 treatment systems. The center currently treats between 25 and 30 patients per day - starting at the bright and early time of 6:15 a.m. and will continue until 9:30 p.m. if necessary. The center does have a waiting list of about 15 to 20 people. In addition to the information kept for the IEPR and Vasomedical, Inc., the center tracks pre-EECP and post-EECP treadmill times and some specific pre-EECP and post-EECP drug information. You can visit the Northwest center's web site at tarwww.heartfixer.com for more information on their statistics, insurance information, and some of the center's own case histories. Articles Gladly Accepted! Contributions to the newsletter are welcome! Fax or email an article or an idea for a feature to: Nichole Dwyer Phone: 412-624-3764 Fax: 412-624-3775 Email: dwyer@edc.gsph.pitt.edu Form Compliance Contest Huge Success! Contest held for month of September paves way to 100% compliance Congratulations to all the winners of the form compliance contest! The centers that had 100% compliance on both screening logs and Pre-EECP forms are: 16 - Jean French - EECP Center of Northwest Ohio; Toledo, OH 26 - Nicole Heagle, RN - Whitaker Wellness Institute; Newport Beach, CA 28 - Robin Reade, RN - The Heart-Lung Center; Hawthorne, NJ 29 - Joanne Giordano, LPN - Cardiology & Medicine Associates, Inc.; Vero Beach, FL 35 - Michelle Esposito, RN - Cario-Pulmonary Continuum; Manhasset, NY 37 - Jeanna Reinard, LPN - Brookville Hospital; Brookville, PA Winners received a fruit basket. Honorable mentions were awarded to those who had 100% compliance on either the screening logs or the Pre-EECP forms: 10 - Debbie Fitzgerald - United Hospital Medical Center; Port Chester, NY 13 - Karen Manzo, RN - HeartCare Centers of Ohio; Columbus, OH 14 - Kim Prouty, RN - UCSF Moffit Hospital; San Francisco, CA 18 - Pauline Cooke, RN - HealthCorp of America; Atlanta, GA 23 - Louanne Tempich, LPN - UPMC; Pittsburgh, PA 31 - Beth LaRose, RN - EECP of Northern Virginia; Reston, VA 36 - June Christy. RN - Nebraska Heart Institute; Lincoln, NE Honorable mentions received a tin of popcorn. Congratulations to all the coordinators for a fantastic month of compliance! New Arrivals! Congratulations to the new mothers of the IEPR! April Gregg, LVN of Whitaker Wellness Institute in Newport Beach, CA had a baby girl, Kayla Suzanne Johnson, 6lb. 15 oz. on August 27. Ozlem Soran, MD of UPMC in Pittsburgh, PA had a baby girl, Katre, 7lb. 15oz. on September 22. Congrats to the mothers and thanks for the extra IEPR help! Recruitment Chart New IEPR Centers! A warm greeting to our newest centers: Marion Cardiovascular Institute in Ocala, FL; led by primary physician, Dr. Amad Qamar, and coordinator, Scott Owen, RN. UPMC Century Cardiac Care in White Oak, PA; led by primary physician, Dr. Daniel Jovanovich and coordinator, Judi Scheponik, RN. UCSD Medical Center in San Diego, CA; led by primary physician, Dr. Ori Ben-Yehuda and coordinator Johanna vanDijk, RN. Welcome aboard! AHA Scientific Sessions November 8-11, 1998 Dallas, TX The American Heart Association Scientific Sessions are being held November 8-11, 1998 in Dallas, Texas. There will be an investigators' meeting Tuesday, November 10th at 12:00 p.m. A buffet lunch will be served. Because of the scientific nature of the meeting, participation is limited to investigators and coordinators. The latest update on the registry data will be presented. The meeting will be held in the 'San Antonio A' room at the Adam's Mark Hotel. Europe Meets Vasomedical and Enhanced External Counterpulsation The XXth Congress of the European Society of Cardiology in beautiful Vienna, Austria was Vasomedical's first participation in a major internatinoal cardiology conference. There have been research systems in Erlangen, Germany for several years, but this meeting provided the opportunity to introduce this technology to the European cardiology community. Many of the western European cardiologists attend the ACC and AHA and are familiar with EECP. This meeting gave the cardiologists the opportunity to come face-to-face with Vasomedical and Enhanced External Counterpulsation. The continuous, live treatment demonstration elicited a wide range of reactions from incredulity to fascination, from unabashed laughter to attentive interest, from outright rejection of its potential to carefully considered acceptance of its usefulness as a very real and very viable alternative to the invasive treatments for cardiovascular disease. The giggling notwithstanding, the physicians' response was overwhelmingly positive, as was that of the other healthcare professionals attending the meeting. Nurses were particularly interested in this non-invasive therapy; several brought the physician with whom they worked to our stand (booth) to learn more about EECP. Five abstracts were accepted for poster presentation, further enhancing EECP's visibility at this prstigious European Congress. Dr. Dierck Werner of the Univeristy of Erlangen-Nuremberg presented three abstracts: "Pneumatic external counterpulsation: a new treatment for selected patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease"; "Blood pressure changes during external counterpulsation"; and "Improvement of renal perfusion and function by pneumatic external counterpulsation". "Quality of life benefits in the enhanced external counterpulsation clinical consortium" (data compiled from the Patient Profiles submitted by the EECP treatment centers in the United States) was presented by Dr. William Lawson, Stony Brook University Hospital, New York. Dr. Peter Cohn, also of Stony Brook, presented for the MUST-EECP investigators, "The treatment of angina pectoris refractory to revascularization procedures using enhanced external counterpulsation in a multicenter study (MUST-EECP)". Copies of these abstracts are available from Vasomedical (800-455-3327, ext. 128). It was rewarding and fun bringing EECP to European colleagues, sharing their enthusiasm for the technology and nurturing anticipation for becoming participants in the IEPR. - Gudrun Lang, RN, BSN Manager of Clinical Affairs, Vasomedical, Inc. New Coordinators The IEPR Coordinating Center would like to thank the following coordinators for 'taking over' the duty of coordinator for their center. Nicole Heagle, RN became interim coordinator at Whitaker Wellness Institute, Newport Beach, CA. Scott Elrod, EMT became coordinator at EECP Center of South Florida, Hollywood, FL. Michael Muehlendorf, LVN became coordinator at BCS Heart, College Station, TX. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication! Common Form Errors The most common error on forms received from IEPR centers is missing data! Please note that if any information is unavailable to you - it is acceptable to write N/A on the forms. Another common error is with the completion of the post-EECP form. Please be advised that if a patient misses or stops treatment for 5 or more data, the course is considered completed. If and when the patient returns to complete their course of treatment, another series of pre- and post-EECP forms must be completed. This is a decision that was made by the Steering Committee when the registry began. Thank you for your cooperation. Any questions please call Lisa Kennard at 412-624-5217 or Nichole Dwyer at 412-624-3764. Follow-up Reminder: Follow-up is to be completed for each patient's first course of treatment in the registry. If a patient has subsequent courses of treatment, the follow-up is dated from the last day of treatment for the first course. Just when you thought it was safe to go back to your everyday work........ The IEPR Coordinating Center is sponsoring another contest! The International EECP Patient Registry needs a logo! The logo should include the name of the registry and represent the registry and its functions. Use your creative minds and develop a spectacular logo! The contest is open to all staff members of the IEPR, including investigators, coordinators, physicians, and therapists. Winners will be announced in the next newsletter! Follow-up Reminder: Chairman of Steering Committee Jonathan R. Jaffe, MD, FACC Editorial Staff: University of Pittsburgh Nichole Dwyer, BA Elizabeth Kennard, PhD Design and Production Nichole Dwyer, BA Sponsor Office: Vasomedical, Inc. Anthony Peacock, Vice President of Clinical Affairs Gudrun Lang, RN, BSN, Manager of Clinical Affairs IEPR Coordinating Center University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health Epidemiology Data Center Sheryl F. Kelsey, PhD, Principal Investigator, Registry Director