Bluffton Hospital cardiopulmonary department has received an additional three-year term of accreditation by the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) in Echocardiography in the area of Adult Transthoracic.
This accreditation demonstrates the hospital’s ongoing commitment to providing quality patient care in echocardiography.
Echocardiography, or echo, is used to assess different areas of the heart and can detect heart disease or signs of serious conditions.
When practicing hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, you are not only protecting yourself, you are taking measures to protect others
Posted by Fred Steiner on May 27, 2020 - 6:43am
By Colleen Abrams, Infections Preventionist
Blanchard Valley Health System
Proper hand hygiene is the number one way to prevent the spread of infection, any time of the year. This is particularly important during winter months.
According to the Ohio Department of Health, this flu season alone, there have been over 5,400 influenza-related hospitalizations in Ohio. You can take measures to prevent illness at any time of the year by taking the following minimum measures every day:
By Maria Slack, MD, MMSc
This spring allergy season could be the worst yet, or at least that is what you might hear or be feeling. Every year is particularly bad for allergy sufferers, but are spring allergies this year really worse?
While it’s true that allergies are on the rise and affecting more Americans than ever, each spring isn’t necessarily worse than the last. The prevalence of allergies is surging upward, with as many as 30 percent of adults and up to 40 percent of children having at least one allergy.
Blanchard Valley Health System (BVHS) has been accepted and registered as a participating site in Mayo Clinic’s Expanded Access Protocol for Convalescent Plasma Program for treatment of patients with COVID-19.
Researchers believe that convalescent plasma (CP), which refers to blood plasma collected from people who have recovered from COVID-19, may help patients with advanced illness from COVID-19.
The antibodies in the plasma may have the ability to help patients fight the virus and recover more quickly.
Bluffton Hospital has initiated COVID-19 testing for all patients coming to the hospital for scheduled surgeries and procedures.
This is a change from the previous practice of testing only those exhibiting symptoms of the disease and referred by their primary care physicians.
The hours of operation for pre-surgery and procedure swabbing at Bluffton Hospital follows:
• Mondays through Fridays – 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Weekends – 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Persons need to contact their physician to schedule a pre-surgery or procedure swabbing.
Blanchard Valley Health System (BVHS) is now offering antibody testing for COVID-19.
Patients who would like to know if they have had COVID-19 should contact their primary care provider who will then order a test through the BVHS outpatient laboratory.
Unlike the nasal swabs that test for active COVID-19 infections, the antibody test is taken through a blood draw. The antibodies will typically show-up about one to two weeks after someone has been infected with COVID-19.
