The American Cancer Society, WXTV Univision 41, and St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center team up to provide women with FREE Mammograms

Mammograms save lives. An estimated 17,100 new cancer cases will be diagnosed in Latina women this year. Mammography is currently the best screening test available for the early detection of breast cancer. American Cancer Society guidelines recommend that all women should have their yearly mammogram beginning at age 40.

This Valentine's Day, February 14th, the American Cancer Society, WXTV Univision 41, and St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, NJ, have teamed up to provide free mammograms to uninsured women in the Passaic County community.

Should you get a mammogram? Starting at what age? And what if you don't have health insurance – or the co-pay for the screening is too expensive? Sometimes mammography screening guidelines can get confusing for women about if, when, and how often they need this potentially life-saving screening. Many women are also unaware that there is financial help available if they don't have insurance.

Women who don't have insurance, or women who have expensive co-pays, are encouraged to call the American Cancer Society at 1.800.227.2345 to schedule their free mammogram prior to the "Amate a ti Misma" campaign on February 14th. Important to note - free mammograms for uninsured women are provided year round at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center and other facilities across the metro area through grants from the New Jersey Cancer Education and Early Detection (NJCEED) program. For information on breast cancer screening guidelines, or if you have been diagnosed and need assistance, call the American Cancer Society at 1.800.227.2345 or visit www.cancer.org.

Award demonstrates St. Joseph's commitment to quality care for heart failure patients

PATERSON, NJ (July 11, 2012) – St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center proudly received the Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure (GWTG-HF) Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) for its excellence in the treatment of patients with heart failure.

"We certainly take patient safety and quality of care very seriously and continue to make great strides in these areas. St. Joseph's staff is working hard at both hospital campuses – St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center and St. Joseph's Wayne Hospital – to improve our processes to advance patient safety and quality outcomes for the communities we serve. Our successes are evident as we continue to set new standards for patient care," said Maria Brennan, MSN, RN, CPHQ, Chief Nursing Officer, St. Joseph's Healthcare System, and Vice President, Patient Care Services, St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center.

A new type of hospital performance report card was distributed in June 2012 by the Leapfrog Group, an organization that surveys and reports on healthcare safety. This latest report card used Medicare information and data collected from a Leapfrog survey that aggregated 26 hospital safety indicators. The data was then turned into a letter grade for each hospital.

The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in collaboration with St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center (NYC) and Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago) has announced the receipt of funding from The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Innovation Challenge for an in-depth three-year evaluation of geriatric emergency services.

Known as GEDI-WISE, Geriatric Emergency Department Innovations through Workforce, Informatics and Structural Enhancements, the project will study the impact of leading edge geriatric services at three top tier tertiary academic urban medical centers.

"It's an honor to work shoulder-to-shoulder with Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center and Northwestern Memorial Hospital on such a noteworthy geriatric emergency services study," notes Mark Rosenberg, DO, Chairman of Emergency Services, Geriatric Emergency Services, and Palliative Emergency Care, SJHS.

"A pioneer in geriatric emergency services, St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center opened the state's and the northeast region's first dedicated Senior Emergency Department (SrED) in 2009. As a successful evidenced-based model, we've encouraged the development of similar programs throughout the United States – and they are taking hold. This study is significant because it will enhance the understanding and application of specialized senior emergency services nationwide," says Dr. Rosenberg.

According to the CMS Innovation Challenge Award announcement, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine GEDI-WIDE model "will use evidence-based geriatric clinical protocols, informatics support for patient monitoring and clinical decision support, and structural enhancements to improve patient safety and satisfaction while decreasing hospitalizations, return ED visits, unnecessary diagnostic and therapeutic services, medication errors, and adverse events, such as falls and avoidable complications."

"Together, through GEDI-WISE, we will evaluate Senior ED services at the three facilities and the overall impact on the health of this patient population, provision, and cost containment," adds Dr. Rosenberg. "It's a compelling study and we're proud to be part of it."