Civista Health is proud to once again sponsor the Survivor’s Reception, A Celebration of Life, and kick-off for the annual Relay for Life of Charles County. The Survivor’s Reception will be held on May 11, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., at Regency Furniture Stadium.

The reception is about you and your fellow survivors—no formal program—just an opportunity for you and a guest to stop by and enjoy light hors d’oeuvres, music, and fellowship!

Click here to RSVP no later than May 3. Please include your full name and address, date of original diagnosis, type of cancer, and T-shirt size.

Join us for the 17^th Annual Civista 5K Run/Walk for Wellness on Saturday, April 28^th, as we kick off Celebrate La Plata Day. The scenic 3.1-mile course starts at La Plata Town Hall and winds through neighborhood streets surrounding Civista Medical Center and Downtown La Plata. This is a chip-timed, USATF-certified course. Awards will be given for the top male and female, as well as the top 3 places in each age bracket. Participants pre-registered by April 3 will receive a free commemorative t-shirt, and all participants will enjoy a huge post-race brunch.

Runners: $30 until April 13; $35 as of April 14

Walkers: $25 until April 13; $30 as of April 14

Children 10 and under: Free

Pre-registered runners and walkers may check in between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. on race day or the week
before by scheduling a pre-race pick up at the Foundation
Office by calling 301.609.4132.

Click here to register now!

Civista Health will present Strong People Stay Young, a class led by a certified exercise physiologist on the benefits of adding strength training to your “to do” list, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18. Participants must sign a fitness waiver to take the class.

This class is free, but space is limited and pre-registration is required. Please call 1.888.332.4847 or click here to register.

Strong People Stay Young
Wednesday, April 18, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Civista Medical Center, Nagula Conference Room #2
Free. Pre-registration is required.

It’s the hottest vitamin of the year…Vitamin D. Learn the latest research, how to determine your required daily amount, as well as the roles of diet, supplements, and the sun in obtaining the optimal level for your body. This class will give specific advice on needs based on your individual age, gender, and health.

This class is free, but space is limited and pre-registration is required. Please call 1.888.332.4847 or click here to register.

Vitamin D Update
Wednesday, April 18; 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Civista Medical Center, Nagula Conference Room #1
Free. Pre-registration required.

As a partner with the University of Maryland Medical System, it gives us great pleasure to announce that the University of Maryland School of Medicine has just completed the most comprehensive full-face transplant ever performed—including transplantation of the teeth, tongue, and upper and lower jaw.

The 36-hour operation took place at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore and involved a team of over 150 nurses and staff.

You can watch the complete news conference below:

National Doctors Day is March 30^th. Please join us as we celebrate and honor the physicians who care for us every day. We wish to express our gratitude for the care and dedication these special professionals provide for our community. Thank you, Doctors!

Click here for help finding a physician, or call 888.332.4847.

Civista Medical Center is in ongoing contract negotiations with its registered nurses who are represented by the Service Employees International Union, the largest labor union in North America.

Civista’s nurses are part of SEIU Local 1199. Core demands being made by the nurses’ union include excessive pay raises, maintaining higher than market premium pay programs, and annual leave benefits.

Civista, as part of its good faith negotiations over the past few months, has made major concessions. It has made an offer with no take-backs that maintains the nurses’ above-market premium pay program, annual leave, and an increase to base pay with step increases that will result in a 3.25% increase to the nursing payroll for each of the next three years. This offer is extremely generous, and unheard of in today’s economic climate, when many government workers and private sector employees have gone without any pay increases for the past few years. This year the federal government’s pay raise is expected to be well below one percent.

Despite this the nurses voted on Wednesday, March 14, to authorize picketing and a possible strike if the union’s demands are not met. As Charles County’s only hospital and a not-for-profit organization, Civista has a fiduciary and civic duty to manage the hospital, a valuable community asset, in a manner that balances the provision of quality health care with the need to maintain a financially viable organization capable of providing the highest level of care possible.

Civista has entered into these negotiations responsibly and has strived to treat all of its employees fairly and equitably which is reflected in the proposal made to the nurses’ union. Civista firmly believes its compensation proposal to the nurses’ union bargaining committee is both fair and equitable. Despite this year’s strong financial performance the hospital is still recovering from prior operating losses. We need to plan for possible cuts in federal government funding to comply with the new health care law and reduced rates set for hospital services by the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission.

The only disagreements on the table are union demands for increased compensation above and beyond what Civista has offered. This is not a staffing issue. Civista has not made any staff reductions and employs a staffing model in line with industry norms. The hospital routinely uses agency nurses to backfill when staff are unavailable to work. The nursing vacancy rate at the hospital is a low four percent.

In the event of a strike by the nurses’ union, Civista is well prepared to bring in highly trained, skilled registered agency nurses to staff the hospital. There will be no impact on patient care and the hospital will be open and fully operational.

Civista is committed to achieving a fair contract for all parties involved, one that supports the Medical Center’s ability to provide quality and affordable care and also allows us to attract and retain the best nurses in our community.

Civista Health is proud to offer Look Good…Feel Better on Monday, March 26, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Look Good…Feel Better is a free program that teaches beauty techniques to women who are actively undergoing cancer treatment to help combat the appearance-related side effects of radiation and chemotherapy. Learn about make-up, skin care, nail care, and how to deal with hair loss with wigs, turbans, and scarves. The class includes a free make-up kit to use during and after the workshop.

This class is free, but pre-registration is required. Click here or call 1.888.332.4847 to register.

Look Good…Feel Better
Monday, March 26, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Civista Medical Center, 1 North

The quote in Wednesday’s (03/14/2012) Maryland Independent article “County colorectal cancer rate higher than state, region” stating “Deaths from this sort of cancer are entirely preventable” was quoted incorrectly. Early detection is important to identifying and treating colorectal cancer and for that reason Civista Health is working with the Charles County Department of Health and other community partners to educate the public on how to access screening programs and treatment options.

Young childhood cancer survivors appear more likely to have other issues too. Infants and toddlers who have been treated for cancer tend to reach certain developmental milestones later than do their healthy peers, say researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The findings show that delays may occur early in the course of treatment and suggest that young children with cancer might benefit from such early interventions as physical or language therapy.

Compared to children who had not had cancer, children treated for cancer before age 4 progressed more slowly in vocabulary, cognitive functions such as attention and memory, and motor skills. However, having cancer did not appear to affect children’s social and emotional development. Their ability to respond to their parents was comparable to that of their peers who did not have cancer. Also unaffected by cancer was the ability to engage in make-believe play, such as pretending to pour and serve tea, which typically develops between 12 and 18 months of age.

“In the early years, when children go through such tremendous growth, they arguably are more sensitive to biological and environmental influences than adults are,” said first author Marc H. Bornstein, Ph.D. “Our intent was to assess how cancer might affect a child’s quality of life.”

“In recent years, survival rates for many types of childhood cancer have increased,” Dr. Bornstein said. For this reason, quality of life for young cancer survivors is a major concern.

Note: Statements and conclusions of study authors that are published here are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect this hospital’s policy or position. This hospital makes no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability.