New Dietitian Joins Staff at Elk Regional

Jill Smith, a Registered Dietitian and Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist, has joined the staff of Elk Regional Health Center.

“We are very excited to welcome Jill to our staff,” said JoAnn Schatz, the Director of Nutritional Services at Elk Regional. “She will be working directly with our patients to ensure that their nutritional needs are being met.”

“It is a pleasure to join the staff at Elk Regional,” Mrs. Smith said. “Patients with compromised nutrition can heal more slowly and can have longer recovery times. These conditions can contribute to extended hospital stays. My work gives me the opportunity to make a difference close to home – and that’s important to me.”

As a clinical dietitian at Elk Regional, Mrs. Smith will conduct nutritional screening assessments, provide nutritional consults as ordered by medical staff, and provide nutrition counseling and education for inpatients. She will also work with patients who have special dietary restrictions and create nutritional plans for patients who are diagnosed with conditions including weight loss, low body mass index, malnutrition, and pressure ulcers.

Eventually, Mrs. Smith will transition into outpatient nutrition.

Mrs. Smith has worked as a clinical dietitian since 2003 at facilities in Clarion, Pa. and in other locations throughout northwestern Pennsylvania.

In 2003, Mrs. Smith earned a degree in Dietetics from Gannon University in Erie, Pa. She holds several professional licenses, including licensure as a Registered Dietitian through the Commission on Dietetics Registration and licensure as a Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist through the Pennsylvania Board of Nursing. She also holds Food Employee Certification through the Bureau of Food Safety at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

Mrs. Smith, her husband Travis, and their daughter Ella, live in DuBois.

Elk Regional Announces Medicine Drop-Off Day

Do you have old prescription medications that you don't know how to dispose of properly? Mark your calendars for our Medicine Drop Off event on Saturday, April 28 between 8 a.m. and noon in the Education Center at Elk Regional Health Center.

Our pharmacists, working with the Elk County Recycling Center, will take your old medications and ensure that they are safely and properly disposed of ... free of charge!

We will accept and dispose of:

• prescription medications, including controlled substances
• over-the-counter medications
• vitamins and nutritional supplements
• veterinary medications; and
• epi-pens and inhalers.

Please follow these guidelines when you bring your medication in:

• all medicines should be in their original container; 
• the name of the medication must be visible on the label; and 
• you must use a permanent marker to black out your personal information, such as your name, address, or account number. 

Discover Relaxation Registration Now Open

Registration is now open for Discover Relaxation Within, a lifestyle improvement program designed to teach techniques for managing every day stress. The program is offered as part of the Wellness Program offered by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and is FREE for Highmark BCBS members!

During the four-week program, which begins April 5, participants will learn practical relaxation techniques and innovative stress management strategies that include coping skills, visualization, progressive muscle relaxation and humor therapy – tools designed to help participants learn how to “live more and stress less.”

Participants will receive a participant manual and stress management CD.

The program will be offered in the Cafeteria at Elk Regional Health Center’s St. Marys Campus. Each of the four weekly sessions begins at 5:45 p.m. and ends at approximately 7 p.m.

There is no charge for members of Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. For non-Highmark members, there is a $50 fee.

To register, call us at (814) 788-8564!

Tech Raffle Winners Announced

The Elk Regional Health System Auxiliary has announced the names of the St. Patrick's Day Tech Raffle winners!

Ben Franco (at right) won the first place prize, a 64MB Apple iPad II. Pam Hunt won an Apple iPod Touch, while John Reid won an Amazon Kindle Fire. Esther Brown won $100 in cash. Congratulations, winners!

Thanks to the support of our generous community, the Auxiliary was able to raise $2,000 toward its $250,000 pledge to The Elk Regional Capital Campaign and our building project!

Elk Regional Announces Community Health Screening

On April 14, Elk Regional Health Center will hold a Community Health Screening in conjunction with the Ridgway Area YMCA!

During the Community Health Screening, we will offer five inexpensive tests that will help you gauge your health and your risk for certain diseases, such as diabetes, colon-rectal cancer, prostate cancer and thyroid disease.

• Blood Analysis: $40
• Hemoglobin A1C (Diabetes Screening) : $15
• Colon-Rectal Cancer: $8 for a simple, at-home kit
• PSA Test (Prostate Cancer): $15
• Thyroid Test: $10

Please note that 24-hour fasting is required for these tests!

The deadline to register is April 11.To register, call us at 1 (800) 370-9640 Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Checks must be made payable to the Ridgway Area YMCA.

Let us help keep you healthy!

Welcome, Dr. Kelly!

Join us tomorrow, March 20, as we welcome a St. Marys native back to her hometown! Dr. Amy Kelly has joined the staff of Elk Regional Health Center and the practice of Dr. Dean Stokes. Beginning May 15, she will be seeing patients in St. Marys and in Emporium.

The welcome social will be held from 2-4 p.m. in the Education Center at Elk Regional Health Center's St. Marys campus.

We'll see you there!

It's Dress Down Friday at Elk Regional!

Today is dress-down day at Elk Regional! If you come in to the Health Center today, you'll see staff members wearing blue jeans. As part of the Elk Regional Gives Back program, our employees pay a small fee to wear jeans to work on some Fridays. Then, we divide up the money raised and donate it to local non-profit organizations who serve residents of Elk and Cameron counties!

The money we raised during the first quarter of 2012 will be donated to the Boys & Girls Club, the Crystal Fire Department, and ELCAM.

It's just one more way we're working to make a difference right here at home!

Registration Open Soon for Discover Relaxation Program

Registration opens Monday, March 19, for our Discover Relaxation Within program!

Classes begin April 5. Discover Relaxation Within is a lifestyle improvement program designed to teach techniques for managing every day stress. The program is offered as part of the Wellness Program offered by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield.

During the four-week program, participants will learn practical relaxation techniques and innovative stress management strategies that include coping skills, visualization, progressive muscle relaxation and humor therapy – tools designed to help participants learn how to “live more and stress less.”

Participants will receive a participant manual and stress management CD.

The program will be offered in the Cafeteria at Elk Regional Health Center’s St. Marys Campus.

Each of the four weekly sessions begins at 5:45 p.m. and ends at approximately 7 p.m.

There is no charge for members of Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. For non-Highmark members, there is a $50 fee.

To register, call (814) 788-8564.

Dr. Sorg Earns Medical Review Officer Certification

Maurus Sorg, M.D., a family practitioner at Elk Regional Health Center, has earned a five-year certification as a Medical Review Officer from the Medical Review Officer Certification Council, or MROCC.

The MROCC is an independent physician-based certification body that works to identify licensed physicians who possess the highest professional standards of medical expertise and the practical skills necessary to evaluate drug and alcohol test results in public and private sectors of the workplace.

In order to become MROCC certified, a physician must submit a detailed application and pass an extensive written examination.
Dr. Sorg’s new certification as a Medical Review Officer qualifies him to evaluate laboratory drug test results within federally mandated and non-mandated workplace drug testing programs.

Medical Review Officers are responsible for protecting the donor from a false accusation of illicit drug use when there is an alternate medical explanation for the laboratory result. The Medical Review Officer also assists organizations with policies and regulatory issues and provides services such drug test collections, breath alcohol testing services, coordination of laboratory services, laboratory performance testing, and preparation of summary reports for employers.

The Medical Review Officer Certification Council, or MROCC, is a 501(c) non-profit organization that was founded in 1992 to promote and preserve the highest quality of standards among medical review officers and their assistants. Having certified over 10,000 physicians as MROs and hundreds of qualified staff members as MRO Assistants, MROCC is the premier certification organization for those who serve within public and private workplace drug testing programs. For more information about MROCC, visit them online.

Elk Regional Welcomes St. Marys Native to Medical Staff

Elk Regional Health Center is proud to welcome Amy M. Kelly, D.O., a family practice physician and St. Marys native, back to her hometown. Dr. Kelly will join the practice of Dean Stokes, M.D. on May 15 and will see patients in both St. Marys and Emporium.

“I’m so excited about coming home,” Dr. Kelly said. “I have always wanted to come back. My husband and I have been waiting for this for a long time.”

Dr. Kelly’s husband, Brian Kellogg, is also a St. Marys native. Mr. Kellogg works for GrafTech International, formerly known as C/G Electrodes.

“It is my pleasure to welcome Dr. Kelly and her husband back to St. Marys,” said Gregory P. Bauer, the President and CEO of Elk Regional Health System. “As a St. Marys native, Dr. Kelly already has relationships with many of the people for whom she will be providing care. I know I speak for everyone at Elk Regional when I say that I am excited to welcome Dr. Kelly home.”

After having spent several years away from home, Dr. Kelly said being able to come home to practice medicine is “a real pleasure.”

“I have always loved the St. Marys community, so coming home is a real pleasure,” she said. “One of the best parts about coming home is that I have family here. My parents, Mike and Joyce Kelly, and my brothers, Chris and Andy, played a huge role in my success. If it hadn’t been for their encouragement and support over the years, there is absolutely no way I would have made it.”

Dr. Kelly earned a degree in osteopathic medicine at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Philadelphia, Pa. in 2008. She earned her undergraduate degree in Biology from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa.

She worked as a student physician at Elk Regional Health Center between October 2008 and May 2009 and performed her residency at Altoona Regional Health System in Altoona, Pa. While there, she was named chief resident.

Since May 2010, Dr. Kelly has worked with the Improving Performance in Practice Collaborative, a statewide initiative designed to establish statewide guidelines for the treatment of chronic diseases.

She is a member of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians, the Student Osteopathic Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Osteopathic Association.

New Construction Pictures Released

We are excited to release new pictures of our construction project! Visit us on Facebook to view pictures of our new Maternity Unit, which is on-schedule to open this summer. And, as a special treat, you can also view the very first pictures of our new third floor! Construction is on-time and on-budget, and we can't wait to open our new patient units!

CNI Earns Highest Achievement in We Honor Veterans Program

We are pleased to announce that the hospice program at Community Nurses, Inc., an affiliate of the Health System, has earned the highest achievement in the We Honor Veterans program. This makes CNI the FIRST organization in Pennsylvania, and only the 13th in America, to earn this level out of a field of nearly 1,300 home health organizations.

We Honor Veterans is a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs. The We Honor Veterans program has partnered with hospices and Veterans Affairs facilities to launch this pioneering program focused on improving end-of-life care for veterans.


In America today, there are 26 million veterans. A full 25 percent of all deaths in the United States are veterans. More than 1,800 veterans die each day. However, the U.S. Veteran’s Administration cares for a minority of Veterans at the end of life – 96% die in the community; and only 33% of Veterans are enrolled to receive benefits.

It imperative that a collaborative effort is needed to identify veterans with life-limiting illnesses and connect them with the many services and benefits available to them. Through We Honor Veterans, Community Nurses' Hospice program is committed to providing Veterans and their families with the appropriate care and community resources to make their last weeks and months together a meaningful experience.

The We Honor Veterans program follows a four-level process with activities geared towards providing access to comprehensive, compassionate care for Veterans with life-limiting illnesses.

Level 1 focuses on providing veteran centered education for staff and volunteers and identifying patients with military experience. An orientation to the We Honor Veterans program has been presented to the Community Nurses hospice team, staff and volunteers. A Military History Checklist is now utilized with each patient admitted to hospice services.

Level II builds professional and organizational capacity to provide quality care for veterans. New Community Nurses employees and volunteers receive orientation on veteran-specific health issues, and education is provided to staff on the experiences of veterans from different war eras. Utilizing the Military History Checklist upon patient admission, Community Nurses staff can identify specific needs that may be related to the veteran’s military service, combat experience or other traumatic events, and utilize special resources to help support these Veterans and their families.

To complete Level III, Community Nurses developed and strengthened relationships with Veterans Affairs medical centers and other veteran organizations. Contact has been made with the Directors of Veterans Affairs in our area to educate them on the We Honor Veterans program.

In addition, Community Nurses has reached out to Veteran of Foreign War organizations, Rides for Vets, the Erie Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the James E. Van Zandt Medical Center in Altoona, and numerous other veterans organizations to spread the word about the services offered through their hospice program for military veterans. Community Nurses initiated a Hospice Vet-to-Vet Volunteer program connecting volunteers who have had military experience with patients who are military Veterans. Volunteers who are Veterans can form a camaraderie that develops a special bond of trust and understanding with the patient. Volunteers also participate in recognition and pinning ceremonies held at nursing homes to extend appreciation to the Veterans for their service.

Level 4 of the We Honor Veterans program strives to increase access to hospice and palliative care for veterans in our communities. A presentation was made to the Elk County Commissioners to educate them on the We Honor Veterans program and to encourage collaboration between Community Nurses and all services and organizations available to our area Veterans. Community Nurses participated in the first monthly outreach meeting at the office of Pennsylvania Rep. Matt Gabler to assist veterans in access to care.

Karen Leithner, RN, Hospice Manager, made a presentation before a Congressional briefing in Washington, D.C., to inform our government representatives about the importance of the We Honor Veterans program and how it has impacted our local community. At the Community Nurses office, policies and procedures have been revised to include Veteran specific information and a survey has been initiated for families of patients to determine if Veteran issues were addressed and to assist with any further needs.

For more information on the We Honor Veterans program, visit them online or contact Community Nurses at (814) 781-1415 or email them.

Pictured are Rebecca Nelson, CEO, Don Fleming, Board President, and Karen Leithner, RN, Hospice Manager, with the We Honor Veterans Level 4 Achievement certificate.