IU Health has released a new free smartphone app that makes it easier to add healthier habits to your daily routine.
The “My Healthy Habits” app is loaded with features that can help you turn positive behaviors into daily habits. Preprogram your list with healthy habits and it will help you keep up to date. If you would like to eat more fruits and vegetables, being more active and getting more sleep, a push notification will remind you to do your healthy habit.
IU Health La Porte and Starke hospitals proudly announced this week that they were recently awarded with the STAR Program Certification, a certification that qualifies the two hospitals to offer the STAR Program, a state-of-the-art cancer rehabilitation program to help survivors recover from the side effects and aftereffects of treatments.
STAR Program Certification is an offering of the Massachusetts-based healthcare company Oncology Rehab Partners and provides hospitals and cancer centers with the tools needed to quickly and effectively implement evidence-based cancer rehabilitation services for survivors suffering from post-treatment symptoms such as pain, fatigue, weakness, and emotional distress.
IU Health Starke and La Porte hospitals welcomes a new director of quality, patient safety, and satisfaction. Registered Nurse Sharon Rundle will oversee the departments, which includes infection control for both hospitals. On top of that, she will oversee the cancer registry program as well as handle nurse coordination, education, and research programs affiliated with Michigan Hematology Oncology in Westville.
Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, IU Starke Hospital is offering $95 mammograms for women. IU Health Starke Hospital’s Community Relations Director Ted Hayes recently spoke with local gynecologist Dr. Lyjia Strachan about the importance of breast cancer checks.
IU Health LaPorte and Starke hospitals are offering discounted screening mammograms throughout the entire month of October.
The baseline screening mammogram is exclusively offered for $95 at IU Health LaPorte Hospital, IU Health Diagnostic Imaging at Lifeplex in Plymouth, IU Medical Offices at Lifeworks Business Park in Michigan City, and IU Health Starke Hospital in Knox.
An open house has been scheduled for a new IU Health LaPorte VNA Services office on Wednesday, Oct. 17 from 1 to 6 p.m. CT. The new office is at 5955 E. 600 N. in Hamlet.
This is a new branch office where highly-trained staff will be on hand to offer support to those who need to recuperate at home or in an assisted living residence, instead of a long hospital stay or nursing home.
Come show your support for the volunteers that will be helping 15 local seniors move into their new homes on Saturday. IU Health will be partnering with Northwest Indiana Community Action Corporation and Community Services of Starke County for the Safe at Home project.
This project is designed to help seniors with low income own their own home and provide them with the basic necessities and safe surroundings that they need.
The event will be held on Saturday at IU Health’s billing center located at 11 S. Main St. in Knox. The event will begin at 8 a.m. CT.
IU Health Starke Hospital is partnering with Community Health Services of Starke County and Northwest Indiana Community Action to help raise awareness of the importance of the prevention of falls with independent seniors.
On Saturday, Oct. 6, IU Health will attempt to reduce the number of falls among seniors by teaming up for the Safe at Home event to make home modifications to over 150 seniors’ home across Indiana. If you would like to help in making these modifications to seniors’ homes in the area, go to the old Home Health building on 11 S. Main St. in Knox where a light breakfast will be offered and assignments will be given at 8:15 a.m. Lunch will be served at noon. Call Ted Hayes at 772-1198.
IU Health LaPorte Physicians are now offering InQuicker, an online tool to speed up your wait at the doctor’s office.
Visit iuhealth.org or iuhealth.org/starke to book an appointment online at Pedatric Care at Founder’s Square and Primary Care at LifeWorks Business Park in LaPorte and in Michigan City, or hold your place online to be promptly seen by a healthcare professional at After Hours Care at Founders’ Square and Urgent Care at LifePlex in Plymouth using InQuicker.
Mark Savage, director of occupational services for IU Health, spoke to the Starke County Chamber of Commerce members Wednesday night about the rising cost of health care for the employees of the business.
Savage contended that employee healthcare costs are going to increase for employers if their workforce does not become healthier, and he said employers can anticipate a total healthcare cost increase of 6.2 percent this year over 2011.
With record-breaking highs yesterday, many communities in the area established cooling centers to provide citizens with a place to cool off. Visitors to the Starke County 4-H Fair had to tolerate high 90-degree temperatures that felt hotter than 101 degrees with the humidity.
Fortunately, IU Health Starke Hospital put its Health Mobile to good use providing visitors with a place to go to get out of the sweltering heat and take a break. Hospital Interim President David Hyatt said the Health Mobile will help stave off heat exhaustion for fair-goers.
IU Health is ranked 16th on the U.S. News and World Report Honor Roll for best hospital.
To be included in the honor is the top distinction reserved for the best medical centers across the country that have the highest skill and unparalleled capacity to address the most challenging medical cases.
A Kindergarten Countdown informational meeting is scheduled for tomorrow for students entering the Knox Community Elementary School Kindergarten program. Starke United, IU Health and the Knox Community School Corporation are sponsoring a Kindergarten Camp in June and this meeting will help explain the function of the camp. Director of Curriculum and Instruction at the Knox Community School Corporation, Peggy Shidaker, has more.
Members of the Starke County Board Commissioners and County Council met Tuesday evening in a special session with representatives of IU Health Starke Hospital to discuss options available for operation of the healthcare facility. The County leases the aging building at the corner of U.S. 35 and Culver Road to IU Health, which operates the hospital.
