Louisiana Business: Cheniere, Women Blogs, Education Consultant, Corps, Rural Health

Rural Hospital

Reaching a milestone in its ongoing work with the Louisiana Rural Hospital Coalition (LARHC), Dairyland Healthcare Solutions said today that it has launched the first exchange of patient information between Delhi Hospital and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) in Shreveport.

This event is part of a multi-year, state-sponsored initiative to provide electronic health records and telemedicine services to rural Louisiana residents whose communities were distressed by Hurricane Katrina. Working in collaboration with the LRHC, Dairyland is close to completing technology installations at four other rural hospitals in northern Louisiana. Dairyland is facilitating the creation of individual electronic medical records, enabling the delivery of telemedicine and other healthcare services to people who otherwise may not receive care when it is needed.

This initiative—which ultimately will connect all 44 LARHC members to LSU Health Sciences Centers and enable the electronic exchange of a patient’s medical record to provide data for real-time diagnosis and treatment—was made possible by funds appropriated in 2007 by the Louisiana Legislature. Former Senate President Dr. Don Hines and Representative Francis Thompson spearheaded the effort.

“In effect, this program will enable many thousands of people in these rural Louisiana communities to receive the equivalent of a ‘virtual house call’ from a highly trained specialist at LSU Health Science Center in Shreveport,” explained James Burgess, CEO of Dairyland. “Without electronic records, these individuals would have to travel hundreds of miles for specialized medical care. In addition, with so many paper medical records lost during Hurricane Katrina, we now have a way to make sure this never happens again. It’s a privilege to have Dairyland technology selected for this landmark work that is essential to healthcare delivery in rural Louisiana,” Burgess said.

As part of its work with rural hospitals, Dairyland is scanning and capturing as much individual patient data as possible from healthcare facilities where care was provided anywhere in the state. Initially, the information gathering will focus on the northern part of the state. Information will include the name/location of the facility providing care; tests that were conducted and the results of those tests.

Currently, Dairyland financial and clinical solutions are deployed or being installed in four of the first seven rural hospitals participating in this initiative. The company—which has been a major presence in small community and rural hospitals for nearly 30 years—provides a fully integrated suite of solutions that links patient, clinical and financial data and provides the information management infrastructure for sharing data within a hospital’s healthcare delivery system.

According to LARHC CIO Jamie Welch, “This project requires the aggregation and potential exchange of an enormous amount of data across many locations. We felt it was imperative to have technology partners who truly understand the unique challenges of rural hospitals and can work effectively and efficiently with this volume of data and number of sites,” she explained. “Dairyland’s experience makes them ideal for an initiative of this size and complexity.” she added.

Chemiere Energy

Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. (AMEX:CQP) reported a net loss of $14.5 million, or $0.09 per limited partner unit (basic and diluted) for the three-months ended March 31, 2008. This compares to a net loss of $0.7 million, or $0.00 per limited partner unit (basic and diluted), for the period March 26, 2007, inception of operations, to March 31, 2007.

Women Blogs

According to news sources, “a recent release of a new social media benchmark study of more than 6,000 women by BlogHer, in conjunction with Compass Partners, shows that 36.2 million women actively participate in the blogsophere every week, with 15.1 million publishing and 21.1 million reading and commenting”

Corps of Engineer

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in coordination with our local partners, is holding a hurricane preparation and response exercise May 13 designed to rehearse the Corps’ response plan and improve coordination.

Attendees will see the gates and pumps in action. Behind the scenes our emergency response teams will also be faced with various simulated emergencies to practice reactions to unforeseen crises and refine response times. In addition, we will have our local government liaisons in the emergency operations centers in the 13 coastal parishes and teams deployed to our alternate command post and reserve emergency operations center in Vicksburg, Miss. and Port Allen, La., respectively.

Education Consultant

After alleged incidents involving current and former staff members and students at the Louisiana School for the Deaf first came to the attention of State Superintendent Paul Pastorek, his message was clear, "I wanted everyone at the school to know that we will to do whatever it takes to address these problems as well as ensure that we have done everything possible to prevent them in the future. Now that we have experts in place to support our staff, we're going to receive a complete assessment of the situation and take their recommendations on improving the safety of this school."

The School has hired Dr. Alan Cohen, Medical Director and Founder of the National Deaf Academy, in Mount Dora, Florida. "Dr. Cohen is an expert in dealing with social and behavioral issues facing deaf and hard-of-hearing children," said Kenneth David, Director of the Louisiana School for the Deaf. "We're honored that he would work with us to improve how we serve our students."

Prior to his current role at the National Deaf Academy, Dr. Cohen served as Medical Director at La Amistad Reside! ntial Tr eatment Center and Laurel Oaks Hospital in Orlando, FL. He began his career as Director of Adolescent Services at Springfield Psychiatric Hospital in Leesburg, VA.

Also brought on board to assist is Dr. Cynthia Ashby, School Director of the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf, and Dr. Reginald Redding, Director of the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf.

Superintendent Pastorek has scheduled a closed-door meeting this Tuesday with parents to receive their concerns and suggestions on how to provide the supervision needed at school and at home to improve student safety. "Overall, there are a lot of good things happening at this school. Lately that good has been dulled by some very troubling incidents. This process is going to be open and transparent to our families, and we'll share our findings with them as soon as possible."

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