IU Health Starke Hospital to Celebrate National Doctor’s Day Today

Tomorrow is National Doctor’s Day, but the staff at IU Health Starke Hospital is getting a jump on the festivities by celebrating today.

“We take one day, in this case March 29th, to celebrate what the physicians do for us and our relationship and partnership is very important with the medical staff,” said CEO Linda Satkoski. “We may take one day to celebrate but obviously it’s all year long. We work together to build the future of health care here at Starke Hospital and the community.”

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Doctor Appreciation Week this Week at IU Health Starke Hospital

Dr. Alfran

This week is Doctor’s Appreciation week at IU Health Starke Hospital. Today, Dr. Almuhannad Alfran, a Hospitalist at the Starke hospital is in to talk about his area of responsibility.

We asked Dr. Alfran what constitutes the responsibility of a Hospitalist.

“A Hospitalist is a physician who has special training in managing patients who are admitted to the hospital,” said Dr. Alfran. “You can call them specialists in hospital medicine or treating patients in the hospital. A lot of times they are internal medicine and family practice physicians but with more particular experience and training in managing the more critically ill patients. Patients who are admitted to the hospital are usually sicker and need a lot more attention than patients who you see in the office. Sometimes with these patients, you need to go back in ten minutes to take care of them rather than telling them to come back in a week. They need a physician to be available should that moment come.”

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Starke County Council and Hospital Administration Discuss Future of Hospital

IU Health Starke Hospital (formerly Starke Memorial Hospital)

A contingent from Indiana University Health Starke Hospital attended the Starke County Council meeting Monday night. Among those in attendance were CEO Linda Satkoski, Vice President of Operations, Dave Hyatt, and the hospital’s attorney, Jim Kaminski, plus several Community Board members.

The purpose of the appearance was to solicit comment to a document sent to the Council concerning the lease of the hospital by IU Health LaPorte Hospital. Five years into a lease that is set to expire in 2016, the hospital hierarchy is interested in forming a government committee to monitor short and long term plans for the health facility.

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Dr. Sukhija Encourages Heart Cart Exams for Heart Health

Dr. Rishi Sukhija

Heart diseases are at an epidemic stage in the United States and I.U. Health-LaPorte and Starke Hospitals are providing early screenings for a number of related ailments.

Cardiologist, Dr. Rishi Sukhija, talked with Ted Hayes recently about Heart disease at I.U. Health-Starke Hospital and in the course of the conversation, discussed the importance of arranging for a Heart Cart exam. The Heart Cart will be at I.U. Health-Starke on Saturday, March 19th from 8:00-11:00 a.m. CT.

“We’ll do several tests for cardiovascular risk assessment and diagnosis where we can detect heart and vascular disease early and by doing so, we can slow down the progression of same at an earlier stage.”

Dr. Sukhija said that we need to watch our diets.

“To prevent cardiovascular disease, we have to cut down saturated fats in our diet and increase consumption of fruits and vegetables.”

A Heart Cart exam is by appointment only. Call (219) 326-2626 to schedule an exam. The cost is only $100 for the testing. It would cost over $1000 if you had the tests done individually.

New Name of Starke County Hospital Getting Positive Response

Linda Satkoski (L) helps present the new Indiana University Health flag to the community

“All seems to be positive!” That was the word from Indiana University Health-Starke Hospital CEO, Linda Satkoski, about the name change of our local hospital. WKVI talked with Satkoski last week, and again asked about the build up to the name change.

“When the IU, Riley and Methodist Hospitals in downtown Indianapolis joined, they became Clarian in 1997,” explained Satkoski. “In 1998, LaPorte Hospital joined the Clarian system. Then in 2009, when LaPorte Regional Health System purchased Starke Memorial Hospital we became part of the entire system also.”

When asked about why the name change occurred, she replied, “That means it’s an assurance to the public that they will be getting the same care, same education, same research availability across the system. It really is all about the assurance that we can guarantee to our patients. They will receive the same standard of care across the system.”

Community Hospital Board President, Ben Bennett, has been out and about and reported positive feed back on the name change.

“Ben told me he was quite excited,” stated Satkoski. “He said he’s been out and about in the community and has been getting very a positive response. He said that the IU Health name really brings a lot of recognition.”

Indiana University Health-Starke Hospital. The new name of the former Starke Memorial Hospital.