NEWS BRIEFS: Forum to promote wellness for women

Southern Regional Health System will host "Women Connecting Women: Wellness for the Whole Woman" on May 12 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park.

The forum will include seminars on physical and mental health, financial security, career development and family life. There will also be exhibits, health screenings, home-improvement demonstrations and drawings for prizes.

Actress/singer and breast cancer survivor Diahann Carroll will be the featured speaker.

The registration fee for the seminar and luncheon is $75. A portion of the proceeds will go toward a new breast cancer center at the Southern Regional Health System's Spivey Station satellite campus in Jonesboro.

For information, call 770-991-8004 or go to www.southernregional.org/womensforum.

INFLUENZA CENTER CONTRACT: The National Institutes of Health has awarded Emory University School of Medicine a $32.8 million contract over seven years to establish a Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance. The award includes a subcontract to the University of Georgia. The center will be one of six national influenza centers.

The Emory center will study how influenza viruses adapt to new hosts and are transmitted among hosts, and will analyze human immune responses to influenza vaccination and infection.

BEACON AWARD: Gwinnett Medical Center has earned the Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence, given by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses to recognize the nation's top hospital critical care units. Units that receive the award were honored for their high-quality standards, exceptional care of patients and their families, and healthy work environments.

TOP 10 RANKING: The health law program at Georgia State University's College of Law has been ranked 10th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in its America's Best Graduate Schools 2008 edition.

The Center for Law, Health & Society, the only nationally ranked health law program in the Southeast, focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration and community involvement.

The center's joint degree program with Georgia State's J. Mack Robinson College of Business allows graduate students in law and business to pursue degrees concurrently in law and health administration.

JOURNEY THROUGH CANCER: Cancer Wellness at Piedmont presents "Celebrating Life and Spirit on the Journey Through Cancer" on May 23 at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta.

Dr. Jeremy Geffen, an oncologist and author, will speak. Geffen wrote "The Journey Through Cancer: Healing and Transforming the Whole Person." Registration, book sales and signings will start at 6:30 p.m.; the lecture starts at 7 p.m. The event is free, but registration is required. For information, call 866-900-4321.

AWARD-WINNING HOSPITALS: Several metro Atlanta hospitals have been recognized for outstanding performance in health care.

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta has been named No. 30 among the Top 125 Learning Organizations of 2007 by Training magazine.

Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta has received the Distinguished Hospital Award for Patient Safety, according to independent national research by HealthGrades. Piedmont Hospital was listed among the top 5 percent nationally for patient-safety outcomes.

WellStar Cobb Hospital in Marietta has been designated a Five-Star Community Value Provider by Cleverley & Associates, a health care financial-consulting firm. According to the firm's State of the Hospital Industry 2007 Edition, five-star hospitals are in the top 20 percent of the 4,425 acute-care hospitals surveyed.

Piedmont Fayette Hospital in Fayetteville received a 2006 Quality and Patient Safety Award from the Partnership for Health and Accountability and the Georgia Hospital Association Research and Education Foundation. The first-place award was given for the hospital's initiative to reduce blood-culture contamination rates.

WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta has earned a Top CARE Hospital Award from the Georgia Hospital Association's Performance Measurement System, CARE. The award is GHA's gold standard for excellence in patient care and recognizes WellStar Kennestone for maintaining its standing in the top quartile of its peer group for at least three years.

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