HEALTH BRIEFS
Classes available for cardiovascular disease

Blanchard

Baptist Health Care Cardiovascular Services is offering Heart Healthy classes for heart disease patients, families and people at risk. Classes are designed to help individuals understand lifestyle factors that increase the risk of heart disease, help reverse the disease and coping mechanisms.

n March 7- Heart disease and risk factors

n March 14 - Relaxation

n March 21 - Eating for a healthy heart

March 28 - Hypertension and congestive heart failure

Classes are located in Baptist Health Care Tower 1, Ste. 103, 1717 N. "E" St. All classes are offered at three different times during the scheduled day: 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Participants MUST RSVP. The cost is $5 per class, or a series of eight different classes is $25.

Blanchard named President of FACH

William Blanchard, MD, pediatric cardiologist and m e d i c a l director of N e m o u r s C h i l d r e n 's Clinic, was r e c e n t l y elected as President of the Florida Association of Children's Hospitals, a Council of the Florida Hospital Association. This Council is comprised of the medical and administrative directors of all 13 children's hospitals in the state of Florida and serves to facilitate comprehensive health care for children. This collaborative effort of children's hospitals seeks to accomplish this mission by focusing on patient care, research, education and child advocacy.

Brewer

During his two year term, Dr. Blanchard will lead the organization in their quest to improve the health of children in Florida through increased access to timely, appropriate and child centered care. Dr. Blanchard also currently serves as the medical director of Sacred Heart Children's Hospital and is an honorary life time member of the Board of Directors, American Heart Association, Florida-Puerto Rico.

Naval Hospital pharmacy to close Friday afternoon

Naval Hospital Pensacola's healthcare computer system will be down for maintenance late Friday, March 16, which certainly will affect the Pharmacy's prescription-processing on Saturday, March 17.

However, the Pharmacy will open and close at its regularlyscheduled Saturday times: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Pharmacy's prescription filling computer system will be a part of the scheduled maintenance down-time.

Pharmacists and technicians will be required to process prescriptions manually. The draw-back will be that byhand filled prescriptions will take longer to process than the average 35 minute wait-time the Pharmacy has been providing.

The Naval Hospital Pharmacy produces on an average of 3,000 prescriptions a day - the second-highest number of filled prescriptions for any other Navy Medicine facility worldwide.

Brewer joins GB Hospital Emergency Dept.

Priscilla Brewer has joined Gulf Breeze Hospital as emergency department clinical manager. She brings with her nine years of leadership experience in trauma services.

B r e w e r earned her b a c h e l o r 's degree in nursing at the University of North Alabama in Florence, Ala. She earned her master's degree in nursing administration at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She is certified in emergency nursing.

Brewer transferred to Gulf Breeze Hospital from affiliated facility Baptist Hospital where she worked in the emergency trauma department. During her tenure there, she served as a clinical manager, emergency services director, trauma program manager, and Baptist LifeFlight nurse. Brewer completed paramedic certification to become a Lifeflight crew member.

The Florence, Ala. native left her hometown expressly to work at Baptist Hospital. She learned of a job opening for trauma program manager on the internet and traveled to Pensacola for the interview. As she toured the facility, she immediately felt welcome.

"I feel very lucky to work with such a talented group of people," said Brewer of the Gulf Breeze Hospital team. "The emergency department staff is dedicated to providing the best care to patients as quickly as possible."

In addition to her responsibilities at the hospital, Brewer continues to serve as a crew member for Baptist LifeFlight. She said the work is exciting and is a way to be involved in serving the community.