e - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T16:17:14Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/e2020 visionhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/2020-vision2019-12-31T17:02:24.000Z2019-12-31T17:02:24.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:18pt;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960923278,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960923278,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960923278?profile=original" /></a></span><span style="font-size:10pt;"><em>Barb Schmidt of Boca Raton recommends taking a fresh approach to setting goals. <br /><strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:18pt;">Mindfulness guru shares tips for peacefully navigating</span> <br /><span style="font-size:18pt;">the new year</span></p>
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<p><strong>By Joyce Reingold</strong></p>
<p>As we dip our toes into this fresh new year, may we collectively resolve to forgo resolutions. So put down the pad and pencil, dear reader. Delete that list from your smartphone. It’s 2020 already. Time for a fresh approach.</p>
<p><br />And who better to show us a new way than Barb Schmidt, the Boca Raton-based mindfulness practitioner, teacher and author of the international bestseller <em>The Practice: Simple Tools for Managing Stress, Finding Inner Peace, and Uncovering Happiness</em>. As 2019 came galloping to a close, she stopped to share some thoughts on how to more peacefully and harmoniously navigate the new year.</p>
<p><br />“About five years ago, my daughter Michelle Maros, who runs Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life with me, said: ‘Mom, you know what I like instead of resolutions?</p>
<p><br />“‘I like setting an intention word that is kind of my guiding star, or my true north, or my highest ideal for the year.’ And I have found that to be magical,” Schmidt said.</p>
<p><br /> “Resolutions are usually external things: I’m going to exercise every day. I’m going to go on a diet. Where, if you choose a word, it comes from the inside. It’s like I’m sitting with myself in quiet, just for a minute or two, and asking, what do I really, really want? <br /> “So, I love that because I believe strongly in all of the work that I do, that we can really live our most successful, happy lives by living them from the inside out, not directed from the outside in.”</p>
<p><br /> In 2019, Schmidt chose truth as her intention word.</p>
<p><br /> “I wanted to make sure that I was in alignment with my truth, even if it was hard, even if it sometimes felt like I was making choices that weren’t necessarily in alignment and I had to regroup and go back and say: Wait a minute. This didn’t quite work. Let me start over again. It kept me on track and kept me in a place where I really wanted to be.”</p>
<p><br /> For 2020, she has selected trustworthy. “Life can be difficult, chaotic and stressful, and at the same time I have found that we truly can trust the process of life. It’s a great paradox, however, because our power comes from doing our best knowing that we can’t predict what will happen.</p>
<p><br /> “Through all of life’s difficulties, I’m always uplifted by the truth that we can absolutely handle things better than expected — and trustworthy reminds me of this.”</p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960924076,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960924076,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960924076?profile=original" /></a><em>Barb Schmidt leads a seminar with her daughter Michelle Maros. <strong>Photo provided</strong></em></p>
<p><br /> Schmidt and Maros are kicking off 2020 with two popular local events that reinforce the mission of their nonprofit organization Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life: “Furthering inner peace and wellness by educating and inspiring individuals and creating community through mindfulness practices, online resources and programs.”</p>
<p><br /> Schmidt, who is also known for her philanthropic work, will lead a four-part meditation study group, beginning Jan. 14, as part of Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life’s wellness series at Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute.</p>
<p><br /> Since Schmidt and the institute launched the series in April 2016, “we have welcomed nearly 4,000 people into our workshops and reached hundreds of hospital patients through our in-house television network,” said Maureen Mann, the institute’s executive director.</p>
<p><br /> Dr. Patricia Anastasio, a physician with Advanced Pediatrics of Boca, says the Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life programs have been transformational, reducing her stress and fatigue. “I now recommend mindfulness training to all of my friends and colleagues as the most important resource for reducing anxiety and preventing burnout,” she said.</p>
<p><br /> On Jan. 28, Maria Shriver, TV journalist, author and founder of the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement, will join Maros and Schmidt in an evening of conversation at Mindful Boca 2020, at the Keith C. and Elaine Johnson Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University.</p>
<p><br /> “I am over the moon, unbelievably excited to be bringing her in,” said Schmidt.</p>
<p><br />A practitioner of mindfulness and meditation for more than 30 years, Schmidt has been on more than 100 retreats and studied with teachers around the world from Deepak Chopra to the Dalai Lama.</p>
<p><br /> “All of our work in January will focus around, how do we begin the year? … 2020 is going to be, I believe, an incredibly stressful, chaotic year with it being an election year,” Schmidt said. “We’ll be focusing a lot on what … are some of the really simple things that you can do to stay grounded, to relieve your anxiety and stress and not allow all of the chaos and the noise that’s going to happen in 2020 to take you down a rabbit hole of anxiety or stress or worry.”</p>
<p><br /> Untethering from technology is one key strategy. Most of us know we should do this more often, but as Schmidt asked the audience in her 2015 TEDx talk, “When was the last time you did nothing?”</p>
<p><br /> Putting electronics aside is a practice Schmidt strongly encourages in her presentations to high school students.</p>
<p><br /> “The biggest thing that I teach them is that in the morning, when you first wake up, before you pick up your phone, stay in bed for a minute or two and close your eyes and just breathe. And then follow the same routine to close out the day. Don’t take your phone to bed with you. … Close your eyes before you go to sleep and … name one thing that went really well for you in your day. There’s always something that went well. Find it and name it. And then close your eyes and go to sleep,” she said.</p>
<p><br /> “When you can disconnect from technology and disconnect from the external world, even for a minute or two, it realigns your brain. It realigns your ability to be able to manage and nourish your nervous system.”</p>
<p><br /> The students tell her it’s hard to do, but it’s working. “They’re seeing the results of the break, between feeling anxiety and stress and noticing, Wow, I feel a little bit calm in this moment,” Schmidt said. “And … just knowing, I really only need to do that for one minute. And when you try it you see that one minute is pretty powerful.”</p>
<p><br /> Schmidt says research shows that spending just 14 minutes — or 1% of each day — in mindfulness can help transform the other 99%. “Just taking a break is the most powerful thing we can do,” she said.</p>
<p><br /> “It truly is just finding that space throughout the day where I can be with me for a second here, for a minute there and just notice: What am I feeling? What do I want? What is happening for me in this moment? Where am I getting off track? The word brings it back. …</p>
<p><br /> “Mindfulness meditation — just sitting with oneself for no matter how long — is a great way to let that word kind of come back into focus.”</p>
<p><br /> Why not give it a try? But no need to call it a resolution.</p>
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<p><br /><strong>If You Go</strong></p>
<p>What: Mindful Boca 2020: An Evening With Maria Shriver<br />When: 6:30 p.m. Jan. 28 <br />Where: Keith C. and Elaine Johnson Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University<br />Cost: $125, orchestra seating; $100, mezzanine. <br />Registration is required; visit <a href="http://www.pmpl.eventbrite.com">www.pmpl.eventbrite.com</a>.<br />Information: 955-7227</p>
<p>What: Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life Wellness Series: Meditation Study Group <br />When: 6-8 p.m. Jan. 14, Feb. 11, March 10 and April 7<br />Where: Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital<br />Cost: $150. To register, visit <a href="http://www.pmpl.eventbrite.com">www.pmpl.eventbrite.com</a>.<br />Information: 955-7227</p>
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<p><em>Joyce Reingold writes about health and healthy living. Her intention word for 2020 is joy. Share yours, and column ideas, with joyce.reingold@yahoo.com.</em></p></div>Health Notes: Baptist Health merger with Boca Regional is completehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/health-notes-baptist-health-merger-with-boca-regional-is-complete2019-07-30T20:02:38.000Z2019-07-30T20:02:38.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p></p>
<p><strong>By Christine Davis</strong></p>
<p><strong>Boca Raton Regional Hospital</strong> has officially merged with <strong>Baptist Health South Florida</strong>.<br /> The final merger was announced on July 1, more than a year after Boca Regional began discussions with Baptist in hopes of elevating the hospital’s position as an academic referral center in South Florida.<br /> It was the final step in growing up for a beloved community hospital born out of tragedy in 1967. The poisoning deaths of two young children became the impetus for its funding. The town had about 10,000 residents at that time and a devoted group of volunteers with a mission.<br /> The new partnership ensures both not-for-profit organizations will continue to meet their mutual missions and commitments to elevate health care in an area that reaches across four counties.<br /> “Our organizations share the same calling to improve the health and well-being of individuals and deliver compassionate health care to our patients at the highest standards of excellence and safety,” said Brian E. Keeley, Baptist Health president and CEO. <br /> “We foresee an exciting future at Boca Regional Hospital that will cement its title as the preeminent health care provider in the community.” <br /> <br /> Boca Raton Regional Hospital has earned <strong>Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center</strong> certification from The Joint Commission, in collaboration with the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.<br /> “Our expertise in treating stroke through this minimally invasive, catheter-based technique helps improve patient outcomes,” said Brian Snelling, MD, director of cerebrovascular neurosurgery and stroke at Marcus Neuroscience Institute. “This capability also significantly adds to the spectrum of advanced stroke-related services offered at the institute.”<br /> <br /> <strong>Quantum Foundation</strong> recently funded $1.1 million to Palm Beach County programs aimed at access to health-related resources. Of the 12 honorees, <strong>Meals on Wheels of the Palm Beaches</strong> received $75,000 for its Meals for Veterans program. It supports lower-income, homebound, isolated veterans aged 75 to 95. <br /> In addition, <strong>Genesis Community Health Center,</strong> with sites in Boynton Beach and Boca Raton, received $100,000 to provide access to health resources and a medical home for underinsured and uninsured people in southern Palm Beach County. <br /> Also, <strong>South Tech Skills Academy</strong> received $35,000 to serve South Palm Beach County by providing hands-on training in its practical nursing and medtech program for a traditionally underserved student population.<br /> <br /> Florida is home to approximately 1.5 million military veterans and has the third-largest veteran population in the United States. Researchers from <strong>Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing</strong> have received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to form a primary care workforce of practicing registered nurses who understand the needs of military veterans. <br /> The project, “Caring-based Academic Partnerships in Excellence: Veteran RNs in Primary Care,” is designed to educate and provide clinical training for bachelor of science in nursing students in primary care and to provide professional development to practicing registered nurses in primary care.<br /> <br /><em>Sallie James contributed to this story.</em><br /><em>Send health news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com</em></p></div>Health Notes: Boca Regional Hospital rakes in awardshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-regional-hospital-rakes-in-awards2017-08-29T18:00:00.000Z2017-08-29T18:00:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p style="text-align:left;"><strong>Boca Raton Regional Hospital</strong> chalked up several honors recently. First, it was named a top-ranked regional hospital in U.S. News & World Report’s 2017–2018 annual review of best hospitals. It’s ranked 16th out of approximately 300 hospitals in Florida and sixth in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area. <br /> The report also rated Boca Regional a high-performing hospital in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, colon cancer surgery, heart failure and lung cancer surgery.<br /> The hospital also was singled out for being the first in Florida and one of only five centers nationally to non-invasively map irregular heartbeats in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation and other arrhythmias, who did not respond sufficiently to other medicines and related treatments. <br /> The Medtronic Cardio-Insight Noninvasive 3-D Mapping System was introduced at Boca Regional by Dr. Murray Rosenbaum, director of electrophysiology at the hospital’s Christine E. Lynn Heart & Vascular Institute. The system uses a 252-electrode sensor vest that the patient wears. The technology creates 3-D electro-anatomic maps of the heart by collecting electrocardiogram signals from the chest, and combines these signals with data from a computed scan of the heart. <br /> Using this new mapping technology, the electrophysiologist can position a catheter on the rotor centers to end the atrial fibrillation and restore the heart to normal rhythm. The Medtronic CardioInsight Noninvasive 3-D Mapping System at Boca Regional was made possible through a philanthropic gift by Ronald H. and Joanne Willens. </p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960739296,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960739296,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="600" alt="7960739296?profile=original" /></a><em>BocaCare President Amy Cole, Senior Operations Manager Zulma Jairala and Director Heidi Rowe display the plaques awarded to them by Senior Airman Raphael Angel Delgado III and Lenny Miller, Florida vice chairman of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve program. Delgado works at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. Photo provided</em></p>
<p> <br /> In other news at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, medical staff coordinator Senior Airman <strong>Raphael Angel Delgado III</strong> awarded members of the hospital’s BocaCare Physician Network with the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Patriot Award. The Department of Defense’s Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve program offers resources in career development and assists in the resolving of conflicts that may arise from an employee’s military obligation. <br /> After serving in the U.S. Air Force, Delgado transferred into the U.S. Air Force Reserves to get a degree in the medical field. While in the reserves, he was hired at the hospital. He credits his superiors with providing opportunities to members of the military. <br /> <br /> Congratulations to <strong>Maureen Mann</strong>, executive director at Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute. She received the 2017 St. George National Award from the American Cancer Society for her service toward the society’s mission and goals. The distinction was awarded to 23 volunteers from across the country. <br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960739477,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960739477,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" width="104" alt="7960739477?profile=original" /></a> Mann, who has been associated with the society for more than 15 years, has held positions on committees and was a Florida division board member since 2006. She was the board chairwoman in 2015 and is currently secretary to the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network national board of directors.<br /> <strong>Joshua Rothenberg</strong>, DO, was appointed to Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s medical staff and BocaCare physician network as director of regenerative medicine for BocaCare Orthopedics. Rothenberg, a musculoskeletal joint and interventional spine specialist, is board-certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation and trained in sports medicine. <br /> He received the 2017 McLean Outstanding Resident/Fellow Award and the 2016 American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Resident Scholarship Award. <br /> <br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960739079,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960739079,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" width="102" alt="7960739079?profile=original" /></a> And a final piece of news from Boca Raton Regional Hospital: <strong>Dr. Thomas Genuit</strong> was appointed to its medical staff and BocaCare physician network. Genuit is a board-certified general surgeon who is fellowship-trained in surgical critical care and trauma. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Surgery and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Critical Care Medicine. <br /> <br /> <strong>Delray Medical Center</strong> has been recognized by Healthgrades as a 2017 Gynecologic Surgery Excellence Award recipient, placing it in the top 10 percent of hospitals evaluated, for providing outstanding quality outcomes in gynecologic surgery. <br /> To help consumers evaluate and compare hospital performance in gynecologic surgery, Healthgrades analyzed outcome data for patients in 17 states from 2013 through 2015.<br /> Patients treated in hospitals receiving the Gynecologic Surgery Excellence Award had, on average, a 47.6 percent lower risk of experiencing a complication while in the hospital. During that time, if all hospitals in the states included in the analysis performed similarly to hospitals receiving the Gynecologic Surgery Excellence Award, 15,557 in-hospital complications could potentially have been avoided.<br /> <br /> In August, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University celebrated its seventh <strong>White Coat Ceremony</strong> as it officially welcomed the 64 members of the class of 2017. The incoming class received their first doctor’s white coats, marking their entry into the profession of medicine, and they each received a Humanism in Medicine lapel pin. <br /> The keynote speech was delivered by Dr. Darin P. Trelka, assistant professor of integrated medical science and director of anatomical programs at the college, and the 2017 recipient of the University’s Distinguished Teacher of the Year award. <br /> Members of the class were selected from 3,667 applicants. Fifteen percent of the class received their bachelor’s degree or master’s degree from FAU. Florida residents make up nearly 90 percent of the incoming class.<br /> <br /> This summer, 10 Florida Atlantic University medical residents began hands-on lessons at <strong>Genesis Community Health</strong>. They are tasked with examining, diagnosing and treating patients, while under the supervision and direction of Dr. Cornelia Charles, assistant professor of integrated medical science in the university’s internal medicine residency. <br /> The residents program at Genesis is part of the Graduate Medical Education Consortium with the university, established in 2011 by Bethesda Health, Boca Raton Regional Hospital, Tenet’s Delray Medical Center, St. Mary’s Medical Center and West Boca Medical Center.<br /> The consortium provides access to clinical settings for health care education, research and patient care services to support and enhance the college’s clinical training programs for residents.<br /> <br /> <strong>Kindred at Home</strong>, a national provider of home health and hospice services, has introduced a specialized program for heart and lung patients available to residents in Palm Beach County. Kindred at Home Cardiopulmonary offers advanced home health treatments and education to heart and lung patients, helping them to better manage their conditions, live more independently and reduce their hospital and emergency room visits. For information, call 886-1500.<br /> <br /> <em> Send health news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.</em><br /></p></div>