HEALTH BRIEFS
Sacred Heart announces new finance VP

DePaulis

Hugh DePaulis has joined Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola as vice president of the Finance Department. He comes to Sacred Heart from St. Joseph's Mercy Oakland Hospital, a 478-bed facility in Pontiac, Mich., where he was employed as a controller since 2001. He also was employed as a controller for two years by St. Joseph Mercy Macomb (Trinity- Health) in Mt. Clemons, Mich.

DePaulis earned his bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Eastern Michigan University in 1982. He has been employed in the field of hospital finance since 1986, when he began as a senior reimbursement analyst at Detroit Receiving Hospital. He also was employed as a tax analyst prior to entering the healthcare arena.

During his career, DePaulis has been credited with many accomplishments, including implementing a cost-savings program that made St. Joseph Oakland a benchmark facility for cost containment; heading up a team that created an online financial reporting tool; and creating a portfolio analysis tool to allow for financial analysis of service lines, Diagnostic Related Groups (DRGs), patient type, attending physician, and more.

Naval Hospital offers school physicals

The Pediatrics Department at Naval Hospital Pensacola is setting aside a Thursday afternoon this month for appointment only school physicals for its enrolled TRICARE-Prime customers. School-physical appointments for students in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida; and Baldwin County, Ala., will be between the hours of 1-4 p.m. on Thursday July 26.

Appointments may be scheduled by calling the hospital ¹s Appointment Line at (850) 505-7171.

For information specifying state-approved forms contact the County Health or Board of Education departments.

GoldenCare explores robotic surgery

Gulf Breeze Hospital GoldenCare will present a seminar on robotic surgery, July 24, beginning at 7:30 a.m. in the hospital's cafeteria.

Robotic surgery is redefining the way doctors provide treatment in the operating room. Baptist Health Care is now utilizing the da Vinci S HD Surgical System to provide patients with an alternative to both traditional open surgery and conventional laparoscopy. This state-of-the-art technology enables surgeons to perform some of the most complex and delicate procedures through thimble-sized incisions with unmatched precision. Patient benefits of robotic surgery include less pain, less blood loss, less scarring, a shorter recovery time and a faster return to normal daily activities.

For reservations, please call (850) 469-7897.

Learn to cope with grief and loss

Covenant Hospice will offer a free coping with grief and loss seminar from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, July 17 at Bay Breeze Retirement Center, located at 3375 Gulf Breeze Parkway.

Those who attend will learn methods of coping with grief, how to work through a loss, and will gain an understanding of the grief process.