Sharing Mayo Clinic - April 2009 Archives

Greetings from Lab Medicine. My name is Jolene Summer Bolster and I am one of two placement coordinators for the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology (DLMP). I, along with Karen Fields, lead the DLMP's Laboratory Recruitment Program. This program involves visiting laboratory programs nationwide and presenting employment opportunities available at Mayo Clinic. We primarily target clinical lab science and medical technology majors, however, we are also interested in human-based biology and chemistry majors as well. In addition to recruiting, we screen applicants for laboratory technologist and laboratory assistant positions, identify candidates to be scheduled, place employees into appropriate laboratories, direct the Summer Lab Science Program, as well as a variety of other tasks and duties related to personnel in DLMP.

At first glance, you might think a Coding Specialist was an expert at announcing the codes heard frequently in the clinic and hospital corridors. "Code ...

When Jayson Werth was struck on the wrist by a pitch during the first spring training game of 2005 as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, he began an odyssey to overcome the injury and return to his promising career in major league baseball. Now Jayson is a member of the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies, and I had the opportunity to interview him yesterday before their home game against the Washington Nationals. Jayson recalled the pain, frustration and anxiety that brought him to Mayo Clinic in August 2006 to see Richard Berger, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon and wrist specialist. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7DVzKk7RAI

Doorman and Ambassador Patients often comment on the quality of Mayo Clinic employees. You typically hear statements about how the people who work here are friendly and helpful.  Well, that's a long tradition at Mayo. Let me introduce you to a colleague from our past, an employee who lived out the qualities that we strive for today. His name was Joe Fritsch, but he was such a great ambassador of our organization that everyone called him "Joe Clinic."  He was the Mayo Clinic doorman, and beloved by patients and colleagues alike.

When I think about my family’s history with the Mayo Clinic, I immediately think of the kitchen ceiling in my childhood home, where a pale orange circle about the size of a basketball is forever stained into the plaster. Most people probably wouldn’t even notice it’s there, but we do. It has a story, of course. Not an entirely cheery one, but we have a family philosophy that if it makes for a good story… you really can’t complain. My mother, Sharon, had her first tumor in her jaw just after my birth in 1973, and it cost her four teeth and a large chunk of jawbone. 1977 brought the birth of my younger sister, Britney, and another tumor. This one took a deeper, “U” shaped piece of the bone. A year later, a third tumor took the entire lower left quadrant of her jawbone, which was replaced with a metal rod. Winter always meant thick scarves wrapped around her head because the rod would get cold and radiate a monster ice-cream headache.

One of our committed allied health staff members in Arizona recently submitted a quote to the site Diversity Subcommittee for our Best Quote contest that ...

Nearly 100,000 men, women and children in the U.S. are on the national organ transplant waiting list awaiting a life saving transplant. About 100 new names are added to the list daily. On an average day, 77 people receive organ transplants in the U.S. But thousands more never get the call from their transplant center saying a suitable donor organ - and a second chance at life - has been found. "Organ donation is a generous and worthwhile decision that can be a lifesaving gift to multiple people," explained Thomas Gonwa, M.D., chair of the department of transplantation at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. "Thanks to the availability of these organs, along with regular blood donations that replenish the blood supply so critical to the transplant process, many people will live that might not otherwise have hope."

Have you ever wondered what happens to your blood after it's collected from the vein in your arm? I thought I'd enlighten everyone by giving some insight ...

Bright and early on Saturday, April 4, I found myself driving to Thunderbird Mountain Park in Glendale, Ariz., to meet up with a group of ...

Mayo  Clinic's use of social media was highlighted this morning in a story on ABC's Good Morning America (see the story). The story's focus was on medical organizations using Twitter, but that's just one of several social media tools Mayo Clinic is using to share in-depth medical information and to gather communities of Mayo Clinic employees, patients and their families. You can review posts in the social media category here on Sharing Mayo Clinic for some more detail on some of the platforms, but here's a quick list of ways you can take advantage of these tools.

I was told these words following a night in the ER where I received superior care/ treatment to determine if I was having and/or had a heart attackand yes I did. After 3 days in St.Marys, where I received the very best of care and was tactfully informed by my cardiologist that the condition of my arteries were "the worst he had seen in a long time," I was given the options of bypass, medication intervention or stents, which resulted in a collaborative decision to use 3 stents. I ended up with 1 stent, then spent 3 more days in St.Mary's precipitated by failing my initial stress test, and whinnying to the surgeon who put in the stent that I "will never be the same or be able to exercise."

Education has always been a part of my life. Beyond being a student at various times of my life, I have worked in the field ...