Adolescent Medicine Black History Month Contest Another Success
Thomas Martinko, M.D., director of the adolescent medicine program, brought the challenging competition to UF Health when he joined the department of pediatrics. He has organized the event here for the second consecutive year, as an extension of his long-running tradition.
Patients are encouraged to not only learn about Black History Month, but to in it by matching historic sports, political and pop culture figures to their accomplishments.
This year’s competition yielded 25 winners, more than double last year’s total, and the youngest winner was 11 years old. Prizes included tablets, Blu-ray DVD players, an acoustic guitar, a unicycle, hair styling products and a diving watch.
It is sponsored by the UF Health Adolescent and Young Adult Clinic.
Five, 10, 15 and 20-Year Service Employees Recognized
Pediatrics hosted its second annual service pin ceremony on March 5. The following employees were recognized for their dedication and commitment to the department.
Five-Year Service Pin Recipients:
- Connie Cauthen
- Glenda Cole
- Suzann Dukes
- Lisa Ehrbar
- Misty Gladden
- Patricia Horton
- Elizabeth LeFave
- Cynthia Mason
- Laura Monday
- Linda Phillips
- Mary Ryngaert
- Heidi Saliba
- Doris Tellado-Gonzalez
- Susan Artwich
- Jennifer Barry
- Krista Berquist
- Claudia Boehlke
- Janice Counts
- Christine Keeling
- Lee Ann Lawson
- Carissa Mitchell
- Jennifer Priest
- Regina Riley
- Dina Vouis
15-Year Service Pin Recipients:
- Vicki Campbell
- Larry Compton
- Patricia Flewelling
- William Lentzsch
- Tina Philipsberg
20-Year Service Pin Recipients:
- Lainey Bertisch
- Rosellen Dedlow
University of Florida’s GSD Program Garners National Attention; Closer to Reaching Fundraising Goal
ABC News highlighted the University of Florida’s Glycogen Disease Program and its director, David Weinstein, M.D.,on its World News Tonight “America Strong” segment.
The story centered around Jonah Purnazarian, a UF Health GSD patient, and his best friend, Dylan Siegel, who wrote a book, “Chocolate Bar,” to raise money for research. The pair was recently awarded UF’s first Young Philanthropist Award. The fundraising goal is to raise $1 million through sales of the book, which reached the $750,000 milestone on Rare Disease Day, a day organized to raise awareness for rare diseases such as GSD and their impact on patients’ lives.
Read the UF Health news article
As a result, the heart-warming story was also picked up by People Magazine over the last few weeks.
Pediatric Resident Recognized with Top Prize During UF Health’s Quality and Safety Week
Allison Ast’s, M.D., poster, which presented the improvements of antibiotic administration times in the UF Health Shands Pediatric E.R., was selected as the winner at last week’s Quality and Safety Week poster session. Congratulations to Dr. Ast, and her wonderful team Jennifer Light, M.D., William Slayton, M.D., Erik Black, Ph.D., and Carolyn Holland on this achievement and for making a measurable difference in the lives of our patients.
Publix Partners with UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital NICU to Provide Family Meals
Publix employees are preparing and serving dinner to NICU patient families every night this month. The meals are served in the NICU conference room, making them easily accessible to parents who don’t want to leave their child’s bedside for long. This is the third year Public has offered meals to families in the month of March, coinciding with the “March for Babies” March of Dimes walk.
Here’s a link to a recent story on the dinners.