June 4, 2019

Dementia & Alzheimer’s Experience Workshop for Family Caregivers to be held June 13 in Jacksonville

Ben Boulden

The Schmieding Home Caregiver Training Program of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) is offering a free Dementia & Alzheimer’s Experience: Take a Walk in Their Shoes workshop June 13 in Jacksonville for family members who are providing unpaid care for an older adult with dementia. The workshop will be held from 10…

May 28, 2019

Survivor Throws Strike Against Stroke after ‘Amazing’ Recovery at UAMS

Ben Boulden

UAMS Chancellor, Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, left, and stroke survivor Timothy Raines take a moment to display their baseballs before heading to the pitcher's mound.

Even before he threw a ceremonial strike-out pitch at UAMS Strike Out Stroke Night at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock on May 23, Timothy Raines already felt like a winner.

May 23, 2019

Better Breathers COPD Support Group to Meet June 7 in Jonesboro

Ben Boulden

Tayna Walker, APRN with St. Bernards Clopton Clinic Pulmonology, will be the guest speaker of the Better Breathers COPD Support Group at 11 a.m. June 7 at Nettleton Baptist Church-NEA Fairgrounds, 7001 E. Johnson Avenue in Jonesboro. Walker will be speaking on accessing resources and how to prepare for a primary care office visit. The…

May 18, 2019

UAMS Graduates 864 Health Care Professionals

Ben Boulden

Degrees or certificates were awarded to 864 graduates of the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) five colleges and graduate school May 18 during a commencement ceremony at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.

May 16, 2019

Dementia Care Workshop for Family Caregivers to be held May 23 in Jonesboro

Ben Boulden

The Schmieding Home Caregiver Training Program of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) is offering a free Dementia Care Workshop May 23 in Jonesboro for family members who are providing unpaid care for an older adult with dementia. The workshop will be held from 11 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at Total Life Healthcare,…

May 14, 2019

Alzheimer’s Support Group to be held May 21 at UAMS Center on Aging-Northeast

Ben Boulden

The UAMS Center on Aging-Northeast in Jonesboro will hold a free Alzheimer’s Caregiver Support Group meeting at 4:30 p.m., May 21 at the center, 303 E. Matthews, Suite 201. To register or for more information, call 870-207-7595. The Center on Aging-Northeast is part of the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging at the University of…

May 13, 2019

UAMS Northeast Regional Campus Names Eight New Family Medicine Resident Physicians

Ben Boulden

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Northeast Regional Campus has announced the names of the eight new resident physicians who will begin practicing medicine in Jonesboro on July 1.

Arkadelphia Man Strikes Out Stroke by Bowling

Ben Boulden

After treatment at UAMS for a stroke, Timothy Raines found bowling helped him recover from its effects.

May 13, 2019 | Timothy Raines didn’t have any rehabilitation or physical therapy after experiencing a stroke. Instead, after UAMS treated his stroke, he turned to bowling for his recovery.

May 8, 2019

Arkansas Travelers to Host ‘Strike Out Stroke Night’ May 23

Ben Boulden

To help Arkansans learn how to survive stroke, the Arkansas Travelers are making May 23 “Strike Out Stroke Night” in partnership with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) stroke program. A helicopter will bring Sanjeeva Onteddu, M.D., a UAMS stroke neurologist, to North Little Rock’s Dickey-Stephens Park to deliver baseballs for the game’s…

May 3, 2019

FCC Commissioner Impressed by UAMS Digital Health Initiatives

Ben Boulden

May 3, 2019 | UAMS’ pioneering work in bringing health care to those who need it through digital health applications has drawn the attention of a top federal official who traveled from Washington D.C. to UAMS recently to see for herself. Jessica Rosenworcel, a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, visited April 29 with UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA; guests of the university; and leaders of UAMS’ new Institute for Digital Health & Innovation, including institute director Curtis Lowery, M.D. “We are 46th out of 50 states in health outcomes,” Patterson said. “UAMS needs to change that for the better, and we won’t do it just by staying in Pulaski County.” Telemedicine allows health professionals to diagnose and treat patients not physically present by using telecommunications technology, such as live video. It allows UAMS to extend its presence beyond its main campus and regional campuses. The creation of the institute, under the leadership of Patterson and Lowery, was announced in February and builds upon several telemedicine programs already in place, including ANGELS for high-risk pregnancy, AR SAVES for stroke, STAR for rural School-Based Health Centers and more. The institute connects the majority of hospitals and clinics across the state with telemedicine through interactive video and other digital services. Lowery gave a brief presentation to Rosenworcel about the history of digital health and telemedicine at UAMS. Lowery, Tina Benton, B.S.N., and a small team of clinicians and staff in 2003 founded ANGELS to bring maternal-fetal medicine to women with high-risk pregnancies who did not live near such a specialist. ANGELS (the Antenatal and Neonatal Guidelines, Education and Learning System) is an innovative consultative service for a wide range of physicians including family practitioners, obstetricians, neonatologists and pediatricians in Arkansas. An ANGELS obstetrician can talk to a pregnant mother via a live video connection and watch an ultrasound image of her baby from a local hospital so she can avoid traveling to Little Rock hours away. Lowery said the institute is doing a pilot study to see if ANGELS’ live video consultations can help during an emergency labor-and-delivery. “That’s the only way you’re going to do anything about it,” Lowery said. “By the time you transfer a mother from that smaller hospital, we might lose her because of excessive bleeding. I think in the next year we’re going to explore the idea of delivering blood by using drones. It could make a real difference when a hospital doesn’t have the blood for a massive loss.” Rosenworcel said she was intrigued by the idea of using drones to facilitate the transportation of blood and transplant organs. During her visit, she observed a live ANGELS consultation with a pregnant mother in another Arkansas town and toured the 24-hour call center that routes calls for ANGELS and other telemedicine programs like Arkansas Stroke Assistance through Virtual Emergency Support (AR SAVES). Renee Joiner, B.S.N., AR SAVES director, briefed Rosenworcel about the stroke telemedicine program. UAMS started AR SAVES in 2008 to provide telemedicine consultations with stroke neurologists at any time via live video. Through this service, almost 2,000 patients have received a clot-busting drug that often restores complete function to the patient. Arkansas recently fell to seventh in the nation in the number of stroke deaths per capita after many years in first place, a huge improvement credited in part to the efforts of AR SAVES. “I went down to Crossett on Friday and met a 27-year-old gentleman who had a stroke and went to the Ashley County Medical Center,” Patterson said. “He was treated through AR SAVES. Without this, he probably would have been a paraplegic and unable to work.” Rosenworcel learned about the trauma telemedicine program and the School Telemedicine in Arkansas (STAR) program, the first-ever effort to bring telemedicine care to Arkansas’ rural School-Based Health Centers. STAR two years ago rolled out the Healthy Now initiative for obesity reduction and prevention. Graduate students from the University of Central Arkansas and a UAMS nutritionist engage the students in one-on-one telemedicine encounters. “We piloted the program in the Magazine School District,” said Alan Faulkner, a program manager for the institute. “With two groups of participating students, 51% in one group reduced their weight, and 66% in another group reduced their weight.” Rosenworcel said she found those numbers to be very impressive. She was also given an overview of the Arkansas e-Link network by network director Roy Kitchen. The network was created from a $102 million grant awarded in August 2010 to UAMS and partner institutions through the federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program Comprehensive Community Infrastructure grant. Led by UAMS, e-Link uses high-speed data transmission lines to connect about 400 community institutions for videoconferencing between medical professionals, patients and doctors and others along with the real-time exchange of patient data and readings. “Your approach has been great,” Rosenworcel said. “Instead of building a network and then finding problems to solve with it, you identified many real problems in public health and specific ways a digital health network can be used to solve them.” Rosenworcel especially enjoyed being able to meet an ANGELS patient via live video and observe the patient’s telemedicine consultation. “We are becoming one of the most connected states in the nation, and we believe with that we can use digital health to improve the health and quality of life of Arkansans,” Lowery said.

UAMS’ pioneering work in bringing health care to those who need it through digital health applications has drawn the attention of a top federal official who traveled from Washington D.C. to UAMS recently to see for herself. Jessica Rosenworcel, a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, visited April 29 with UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D.,…


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