HJBR Mar/Apr 2021

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  MAR / APR 2021 37 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalBR.com will download a list of all the anonymous tokens associated with positive COVID-19 cases and checks them against the list of anonymous tokens it has encountered in the last 14 days. If there’s a match, the app will notify you with further instruc- tions on how to keep you and the people around you safe. “Louisiana’s free, easy-to-use phone app will give our residents the information they need to fight COVID-19 and protect their loved ones with- out compromising anyone’s privacy,” said Court- ney N. Phillips, MD, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health. “Like wearing a mask, washing our hands, and social distancing, COVID Defense is one more measure we can all take.” COVID Defense works in three easy steps: 1. Download the application: Download the free app in the iPhone App Store or Android Google Play Store. Add your phone to Louisiana’s exposure notifi- cation system to get COVID-19 exposure alerts and to protect those around you. 2. Opt in anonymously: Once you opt in, COVID Defense will gen- erate an anonymous token for your device. To help ensure these anonymous tokens can’t be used to identify you or your loca- tion, they change every 10-20 minutes. 3. Get notified if exposed: On a daily basis, your phone downloads a list of all the anonymous tokens associated with positive COVID-19 cases and checks them against the list of anonymous tokens it has encountered in the last 14 days. If there’s a match, the app will notify you with further instructions on how to keep you and the people around you safe. For more information or to download the appli- cation, visit coviddefensela.com. BRG’s Pennington Cancer Center Offers NewTechnology for Prostate Cancer Patients Baton Rouge General’s Pennington Cancer Center is utilizing an innovative technology that helps patients with prostate cancer avoid some of the negative effects of radiation therapy. Last week, the first patient at Pennington Cancer Cen- ter was treated using SpaceOAR VUE Hydrogel, a radiopaque gel that creates a temporary space between the prostate and the rectum, minimiz- ing the potential side effects and damage of radi- ation therapy. “Providing SpaceOAR VUE Hydrogel as an option to further protect normal tissues dem- onstrates Pennington Cancer Center’s ongoing commitment to providing the best possible care to our patients by offering the latest innovations,” said Andrew Lauve, MD, radiation oncologist. Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in American men. More than 183,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, and more than 60,000 of these patients opt to treat the condi- tion with radiation. However, due to the proxim- ity of the rectum to the prostate, prostate radia- tion therapy can cause unintended damage to the rectum. With SpaceOAR Vue Hydrogel, the treatment team has the option of using computerized tomography (CTs) scans for treatment planning when magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is deter- mined to be too harmful. “Prostate cancer patients may have medical conditions or past surgeries that prohibit the use of MRI to gather the necessary anatomic infor- mation we need to develop a radiation treatment plan for their cancer,” said Zack Smith, director of radiation oncology. “The SpaceOAR VUE Hydro- gel gives our team a great option to depend solely on CT in these cases, and also provides another valuable targeting landmark to guide the 30-42 treatment sessions typically prescribed for prostate cancer.” Louisiana Department of Health Announces Leadership Changes Jimmy Guidry, MD, state health officer and medical director for the Louisiana Department of Health, retired on Dec. 31. In his more than 30 years with the department, Guidry has also served as the assistant secretary for the Office of Public Health and the Acadiana Region’s medical direc- tor. His 24 years as state health officer is the lon- gest tenure for this role in Louisiana history. “Thank you to Dr. Guidry for his tremendous work on the behalf of all Louisianans. He has worked tirelessly for the people of Louisiana through many catastrophes, among them Hurri- canes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike, Laura and Delta, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the great floods of 2016 and the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Courtney N. Phillips, MD, secretary of the Louisi- ana Department of Health. “As we prepare to close this extraordinary year, I am grateful that Dr. Guidry can retire know- ing that we hold the COVID-19 vaccine — the first step toward ending the pandemic — in our hands. Though we will greatly miss his warmth and wisdom, we truly wish him all the best as he closes this chapter of his life,” Phillips added. Assistant State Health Officer and Region One Medical Director Dr. Joseph Kanter, who also is currently serving as interim secretary for the Office of Public Health, will serve as the next state health officer and LDH medical officer. He will continue assisting as interim OPH assistant secretary as LDH continues recruitment efforts to fill this role permanently. Howard J. Raphael, MD, Joins North Oaks FamilyMedicine North Oaks physician Howard J. Raphael, MD, joined North Oaks Family Medicine in Hammond. Certified by the American Board of Family Medicine, Raphael has practiced medicine for 28 years. He is returning to North Oaks Fam- ily Medicine from North Oaks Walk-In Clinic in Walker, where he treated patients for 11 years. In total, he has practiced medicine with North Oaks clinics for a total of 21 years. His previous experience also includes three years in private practice, during which time he remained on the North Oaks medical staff, as well as service as an active duty physician in the U.S. Air Force for three years, achieving the rank of Major. “My ‘golden rule’ is to involve each of my Howard J. Raphael, MD