Rocky Top ready to begin its Horses for Heroes program

Rocky Top Therapy Center will be kicking off its Horses for Heroes program with a thank-you celebration honoring MAG 41 and the 14th Marines at 2 p.m. Nov. 8.

The event will mark the start of the program, which will use equine-assisted psychotherapy and therapeutic riding to aid veterans who have suffered emotional trauma or physical disabilities in the line of duty. The programs also are available to spouses, children and families of veterans, and funding comes through Operation Healthy Reunions, the Mental Health Association of Tarrant County and other organizations. Program Director Kim Mills can be reached for more information at 817-379-5717.

The celebration will be at the therapy center at 660 North Keller Smithfield

Road in Keller, and reservations for the event can be made by calling 817-379-5717. More information is at www.RockyTopTherapy.org.

JPS hires executives

The JPS Health Network has hired or has named several new executive leaders for the system.

Regina Berman worked with the JPS system earlier this year as a quality improvement consultant, and she has been hired as senior vice president of quality and case management. She was previously executive director of performance improvement at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, N.J., working with the medical center as well as medical centers at New York University, Cornell and Mount Sinai. She has a graduate degree with a concentration in delivering patient care services and quality from NYU.

Nora Frasier, a registered nurse, was named chief nursing officer, and she comes to JPS with more than 15 years of executive health care experience. She was most recently at Baptist Medical Center in San Antonio, where she served as CNO. Prior to that, she was vice president/chief nurse executive at CHRISTUS Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi. Frasier earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Texas and her master’s degrees in business administration from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

Scott Rule, an attorney, was hired as vice president of planning and analysis. Rule previously was associate general counsel for Think Cash Inc. in Fort Worth, and he’s also served as associate general counsel for State National Companies in Fort Worth. He’s spent nearly 20 years providing counsel to business organizations and also served in the U.S. House of Representatives as assistant district manager of the 30th Congressional District. He has served as a city council member for Willow Park, and he holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Baylor University, a master’s degree in business from Texas Tech University, and a law degree from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law.

David Salsberry was named the new chief financial officer for JPS, and he is joining from his position as senior vice president of finance, clinics and hospital for Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Salsberry also has served as vice president of finance and CFO for West Virginia University Hospitals in Morgantown, and he has spent time as a consultant in the Republic of Albania assisting the country’s Ministry of Health with developing a long-term reconstruction of the Albanian health system. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management information systems from West Liberty State College and a master’s degree in health care administration from Kent State University.

Kathleen Whelan, who was director/service line administrator for cardiovascular services at JPS, was named vice president of operations for the system. Before joining JPS, Whelan was service line administrator of cardiovascular services at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, Ill. She also has served as a committee member for the American Heart Association Heart Walk in Chicago and Detroit for 17 years and as a board member on the Greater Detroit Area health Council. Her bachelor’s degree is from Ferris State University, and her master’s degree in health care administration is from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Alzheimer’s educational seminars set

The Alzheimer’s Association-North Central Texas Chapter, in partnership with the UNT Health Science Center and the Area Agency on Aging of Tarrant County, will present two educational seminars during the remainder of this year.

On Nov. 6, the seminar will be titled “Making the Change: Moving a Relative with Memory Loss,” and the session will include tools for knowing when it is time to move a person and how to choose the most appropriate senior care facility.

“Making the Holidays Happy” will be Dec. 4 and will focus on how to make the most of a holiday season for a person with dementia and the family members involved in that person’s care.

The sessions will be from 10-11:30 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth at 1000 Penn St. The classroom is in the newly-constructed education wing, on the south side of the church building, and the seminars are free but registration is encouraged. For information, call Shelly Young at 817-336-49494.

Campaign promotes hands-only CPR

On Oct. 28, the American Heart Association and the Ad Council launched a multimedia public service advertising campaign that encourages the use of hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR without mouth-to-mouth breathing.

Hands-only CPR includes calling 911 and then pushing hard and fast in the center of the chest of an adult who has collapsed and is unresponsive. This pumping continues until professional help arrives, and hands-only CPR can be an effective strategy to help decrease the survival rates for sudden cardiac arrest.

On Nov. 17, eighth grade students from Arlington will be taken to the Dallas Cowboys Stadium to learn CPR with the American Heart Association and the city of Arlington. This is a part of the CPaRlington initiative, focused on educating residents of the city about how to perform CPR.

Professor selected as mentor

Mary Lou Bond, distinguished teaching professor at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Nursing, was selected as a faculty mentor in the National League for Nursing Johnson & Johnson Faculty Leadership and Mentoring Program.

A competitive application process matches five early- and mid-career faculty members with five NLN Academy of Nursing Education fellows to work together on individual leadership development and group projects to be presented at the 2010 NLN Education Summit.

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