HJBR Sep/Oct 2020

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  SEP / OCT 2020 63 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalBR.com receive the specialized care they need by provid- ing easy access for families and referring providers within their communities,” says Jonathan Brouk, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Children’s Hospital New Orleans. “By invest- ing in bricks and mortar through satellite locations across the state while also growing our pediat- ric specialists, we have been able to provide one high standard of care for more children, including those who need specialized care in Baton Rouge.” NewResidents Start in BRG’s Family and Internal Medicine Programs Baton Rouge General (BRG) welcomes 20 new doctors to its family medicine and internal medi- cine residency programs. The physicians will complete their residency training at BRG’s Bluebonnet and Mid City cam- puses, which provide a clinical setting for internal medicine, family medicine, emergency medicine, critical care medicine, anesthesia, psychiatry, and general surgery residency programs. “Our family medicine and internal medicine res- idency programs at BRG have been in place for decades, but never has it been as important as the past few months to have our residents working side-by-side our doctors to care for patients,” said Dr. Venkat Banda, chief academic officer. “They’ve been the backbone of our community’s response to this pandemic, and we are proud to call yet another group of young doctors our own here at Baton Rouge General.” Joining the family medicine residency pro- gram are Jeremy Adel, MD; Patrick Bergin, MD; Mervina George, MD; Alakananda Mukherjee, MD; Ifeoma Okponyia, MD; Sitara Satish, MD; Valeria Soegaard, MD; and Jeffrey Thiebaud, MD. Joining the Internal Medicine Residency Pro- gram are Sai Bandaru, MD; Rachel Ducote, MD; Gift Echefu, MD; Chris Forester, DO; Ash- ley Capace, MD; Rameela Mahat, MD; Yara Mouawad, MD; Christina Patterson, DO; Ankush Raju, MD; Raghu Rudraraju, MD; Alyssa Vicari, MD; and Ashley Zboril, MD. Through its education programs, the hospital trains annually more than 500 medical students, residents, fellows, nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, certified registered nurse anesthetists, and radiation technologists, and provides instructional locations for medical students from other schools, including Tulane and LSU. Nicole Telhiard Named Nightingale Nurse Administrator of the Year Our Lady of the Lake Chief Nursing Officer, Nicole Telhiard, DNP, CPN, NE-BC, was recently named the Louisiana State Nurses Association (LSNA) and Louisiana Nurse Foundation (LNF) recipient of 2020 Nightingale Nurse Administrator of the Year Award. Recipients of the Nurse Admin- istrator of the Year Award serve in key nursing leadership roles, administer the business/patient care activities of a health organization, and man- age other personnel who have achieved demon- strated excellence during the past year. “Nicole is a visionary leader and tireless advo- cate for the nursing profession. She cares deeply for the more than 3,000 nurses who work across our facilities and recognizes and values the con- tributions of the teammembers and departments who support nursing each day,” said Stephanie Manson, chief operating officer at Our Lady of the Lake. “Nicole is an extraordinary colleague, leader, and mentor, and we are pleased she has been recognized by LSNA for her tremendous work on behalf of her profession and our ministry.” LNF serves as the research, education, and char- itable entity of the Louisiana State Nurses Asso- ciation. The primary focus of LNF is to promote professional nursing through academic schol- arships; professional development; recogniz- ing nursing accomplishments; and supporting nurses through the Nurse Relief Fund and Nurse Recovery Program. LSNA’s mission is to foster high standards for professional nursing practice for all registered nurses and advocate for quality health- care for the citizens of Louisiana. Telhiard also was recently named the recipi- ent of the American Nurses Credentialing Cen- ter (ANCC) 2020 Certified Nurse Award - Nurse Executive.  Scott Promoted to North Oaks Director of Patient Services Edna Scott, MSN, RN, has been promoted to director of patient services for North Oaks Med- ical Center. Scott is a 29-year veteran North Oaks employee. She brings 15 years of supervisory experience to her new role helping to oversee the clinical care provided to patients across the healthcare continuum. In making the announcement, North Oaks Chief Nursing Officer Kirsten Riney said, “Edna brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the nurs- ing leadership team, and I look forward to work- ing with her to engage our staff in the provision of high-quality, safe healthcare for our community.” Since 2017, Scott has served as nursing oper- ations manager for North Oaks Medical Center. Additional management experience includes ful- filling the roles of nursing support supervisor in 2016 and medicine unit coordinator for 10 years. She also worked in direct patient care as a charge nurse on the telemetry unit. While in nursing school, she gained experience as a nursing assis- tant, also on the hospital’s telemetry unit. Scott completed a master’s degree in nurs- ing through the University of Phoenix based in Edna Scott, MSN, RN Nicole Telhiard, DNP, CPN, NE-BC