General news
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Schuylkill Medical Center East Norwegian Street and Schuylkill Medical Center South Jackson Street have
received the Get With the Guidelines® - Heart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The recognition signifies that both Medical Centers have reached an exceptional goal of treating heart failure patients according to the guidelines of care recommended by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology.
This marks the second year that the South Jackson Street Medical Center has been recognized with the Gold Quality
Achievement Award and the first year for the East Norwegian Street Medical Center. In addition to the Gold Plus
Award, the South Jackson Street Medical Center has also been recognized as Target Heart Failure Honor Roll
Hospital. Target Heart Failure focuses on three key areas of patient care: Medication Optimizaiton, Early Follow-up Care Coordination and Enhanced Patient Education.
To qualify for the Target Heart Failure Honor Roll, hospitals must demonstrate 50% or greater compliance on spedific measures within those key areas. The vision set for Target: Heart Failure is to improve quality, care transitions and outcomes for patients with heart failure.
Get With The Guidelines helps Schuylkill Medical Center Staff develop and implement acute and secondary prevention guideline processes to improve patient care and outcomes. The quick and efficient use of guidelilne procedures can improve the quality of care for heart failure patients, save lives and ultimately, reduce healthcare costs by lowering the recurrence of heart attacks. "Recent studies show that patients treated in hospitals participating in the American Heart Assocation's Get With The Guideines-Heart Failure Program receive a higher quality of care and may experience better outcomes," said Lee
H. Shwamm, M.D., Chair of the Get With The Guidelines National Steering Committee and director of the TeleStroke and Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. The teams at both Schuylkill Medical Centers are to be commended for their commiotment to improving the care of their patients."
"We are very proud of the efforts of our staff in achieving this prestigious and important award from the American Heart Association," noted Cathy Sophy, RN, Administrative Director of Quality. "Schuylkill Health is dedicated to making
care for heart failure patients amont the bst in the country. "The American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines Heart Failure Program Helps us to accomplish this goal," she said.
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Quandel Construction Group, Inc., a local construction firm, with an office in Williamsport, was recently
selected to serve as Construction Manager at-Risk for the $4 million Short-Term
Rehabilitation Addition to The
Williamsport Home Senior Living Facility, located in Williamsport, PA.
Quandel's scope of work involves a 14,000 square foot addition and approximately 5,000 square
feet of renovations. Construction has begun and full occupancy will occur in
the early first quarter of 2014. The renovations will occur in the midst of
ongoing senior living operations and will result in improvements throughout the
common space at the interface with the new addition.
About Quandel
Quandel was established in 1882 in Minersville, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania and is
presently under the leadership of fourth generation management with our
Chairman & CEO, Noble C. "Bud" Quandel, responsible for our corporate
direction since 1977. We have been providing our services for 131 years,
including construction management, general construction and design-build
services.
In addition to our office in Minersville, we maintain offices in Harrisburg, Pottsville,
Wormleysburg, Scranton and Williamsport, Pennsylvania; Abingdon, Maryland;
Alexandria, VA; Columbus, Cincinnati and Zanesville, OH; Chicago, IL and
Minneapolis, MN.
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On April 22, 2013 an estimated one billion individuals from nearly 200 countries will recognize and celebrate
Earth Day with the hopes of getting one step closer to dealing with our planet's
most pressing environmental challenges. In an effort to help reduce unnecessary
waste generated by paper envelopes, A. Rifkin Co. is promoting the use of its
Keyless Security™ Mail Pouches as an Earth-Friendly alternative.
The patented security bags provide users with a low-cost and easy-to-use solution for protecting mail and
documents as they are transported by private couriers or the United States
Postal Service. To secure the bag's contents, users simply insert an individually numbered, one-time-use security
seal into the built-in Keyless Security™ closure. Any unauthorized access or tampering will
quickly be noticed due to the lack of a security seal or the presence of a differently numbered or broken seal.
A recent 8-year comparison study showed that one Rifkin security bag could replace 2,080 plastic or paper
envelope alternatives. This could generate a cost savings of up to $500 per bag and untold benefits for the environment.
Commitment to the Environment
In addition to the global impact benefits of specifying reusable security bags, you can feel confident knowing that
A. Rifkin Co. is at the forefront of the green manufacturing initiative. The Company recently installed 434 solar
panels on the roof of its 69,000 square foot manufacturing facility. The 230-watt REC Solar Panels harvest sunlight and transfer energy through one centralized inverter with a maximum efficiency of 98.3%. The system now
produces roughly 117,000 kilowatt hours of power and will measurably reduce
annual emissions and dramatically change the company's long-term carbon footprint.
A complete line of reusable security bags can be purchased directly from the Company's website, www.arifkin.com.
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Quandel Construction Group, Inc., a local construction firm, was recently chosen to provide project
representation and support services to the Department of General Services' (DGS)
Bureau of Construction for their new Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency
Headquarters on Elmerton Avenue in Harrisburg. Coincidentally, this site
is immediately adjacent to the PSECU Headquarters project being managed by
Quandel.
Quandel's scope will involve on-site
representation for DGS, as well as scheduling and estimating activities. Work
on the project is to begin in May 2013 and be completed in early 2015.
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With a strong drive for helping others succeed, as well as an unrelenting work ethic, it should come as no surprise that Northeast PA Manufacturers & Employers Association and Council President Darlene Robbins has become one of the area’s top business professionals. She was recently honored in The Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal’s Top 25 Women in Business edition.
Robbins says that her enthusiasm for serving the members’ needs became the cornerstone of her success. She served as executive director of the Manufacturers & Employers Association of Schuylkill County in 1985. Through hard work, determination and an ear that’s always open to members’ needs, the association flourished to become a regional Manufacturers & Employers Association with member companies from over 20 counties.
“Our workforce development programs were so successful that the growth yielded an incorporation of our 501(C)(3) charitable organization (now known as the Northeast PA Manufacturers & Employers Council). The YES Northeast Certificate Program, offered by the Council, was recently identified in the Governor’s Manufacturing Advisory Council recommendations as a best practice model,” she said.
Her first and foremost mentor is God. Her parents taught her the values of patience, persistence, respect, honest, integrity and accountability.
“My own children enable me to understand these values and their importance in my personal, as well as professional, life,” she said.
She would like to continue to be a mentor to young professionals and women in the workplace and, most importantly, a good role model for her children and grandchildren.
Congratulations Darlene!
