Newsworthy

Dear Community Partners,

Here are today’s updates:

• Children’s Mercy Topeka at Stormont Vail Health to Open in October
• Pediatric Intensivist Satish Shah, M.D., Joins SVH Team
• Stormont Vail Entities Among ‘Best of Topeka’
• “To Your Health” on WIBW-TV Tonight: It’s flu shot time
• Marking a Milestone

Children’s Mercy Topeka at Stormont Vail Health to Open in October

Stormont Vail Health and Children’s Mercy Kansas City have taken the next step in our ongoing partnership to provide high quality pediatric specialty services for children and families in Topeka and the surrounding area. In early October, Children’s Mercy Topeka at Stormont Vail Health will open a new dedicated clinic at 909 S.W. Mulvane in Topeka.

Children’s Mercy began providing pediatric cardiology services at Stormont Vail in 2018, and in 2020 added pediatric diabetes and endocrinology and neurology services. The Children’s Mercy providers have been delivering these services in existing Stormont Vail clinics, but with the opening of Children’s Mercy Topeka at Stormont Vail Health all these services will be offered in a single location. There are plans to expand to telemedicine and other in-person specialty clinics in the future.

“Children’s Mercy and Stormont Vail share in a vision to support our patients by providing access to pediatric specialists close to home,” said Tracy O’Rourke, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “By partnering the excellence of Stormont’s pediatric team and services with Children’s Mercy, a premier children’s health system, we bring the highest quality pediatric care to our community.”

The 909 S.W. Mulvane location is where Stormont Vail Express Care Midtown was formerly located before it moved to 1516 S.W. 6^th Ave. The Stormont Vail Infusion Center continues to operate on the lower level of the building and it will remain there until 2023 when a new addition is completed on the north side of the Cotton O’Neil Cancer Center.

Pediatric Intensivist Satish Shah, M.D., Joins SVH Team

Stormont Vail Health is proud to announce that Satish Shah, M.D., has joined our team as a Pediatric Intensivist. Dr. Shah will work in intensive care or the emergency room, providing emergency medical care to children.

Dr. Shah’s approach to medicine is all about team work. From working with the patient’s family to those who are providing medical care to the child.

“It’s a bad time for the family too, so taking care of the family while their kids are in the ICU is important and very rewarding,” said Dr. Shah. “Help from the respiratory therapists, the dietitians, the pharmacists, and the nurses, of course. ICU is all about team work and as a physician, I need my team and their perspective.”

Dr. Shah believes respecting and hearing everyone’s input is how you keep the whole team motivated and working towards what is best for your patient. This, again, includes family members as well because everyone involved wants the same outcome.

Dr. Shah joins Stormont Vail from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston where he was a Fellow in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. Prior to that, Dr. Shah completed his residency in pediatrics at the University of Toledo, was a senior resident at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Nepal, and a pediatrics resident at All India Institute of Medical Sciences. He also earned a graduate certificate in Epidemiology & Biostatistics from the University of Toledo while he was going through his residency program. Dr. Shah is an avid speaker and guest lecturer, part of several honorary and professional societies of medicine, has earned multiple medical awards and scholarships, and is a published researcher. Welcome Dr. Shah, we are happy you’re here!

Stormont Vail Entities Among ‘Best of Topeka’

We are very excited to announce that Stormont Vail Health was named the winner in four categories of the 2022 Best of Topeka community choice awards, sponsored by The Topeka Capital Journal! Thanks to the dedication and care of our team members, the community has voted that we offer the:

• Best Urgent Care/Walk-In Clinic – Cotton O’Neil Stormont Express Care
• Best Family Practice – Stormont Vail Health Primary Care
• Best Hospital/Medical Center – Stormont Vail Hospital
• Best Pre-School – Building Blocks

We are also proud of our other team members who were among the finalists: Cotton O’Neill Pediatrics, Cotton O’Neill Weight Management Center, Jane C. Stormont Women’s Health Center, Stormont Vail Health Physical Therapy, Stormont Vail Health in Best Employer category.

We couldn’t be prouder of the hard work you put in every day to earn this recognition – congratulations, team!

 “To Your Health” on WIBW-TV Tonight – It’s Flu Shot Time

Learn about Stormont Vail’s flu shot efforts on tonight’s “To Your Health.” Dr. Ryan Vonderhorst, primary care physician in Manhattan, will explain the importance of getting a flu shot. Information about our drive thru flu shot clinics, as well as other special flu shot clinic times in Topeka and Manhattan will be shared. All of the clinic information is available online. The To Your Health segment will air at 10 p.m. on WIBW-TV, Channel 13. The segment will typically repeat at 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. Fridays on 13 News This Morning and be posted on wibw.com.

Marking a Milestone

Today marks the 500^th We Together message since I began using this forum to communicate with our Stormont Vail team and community. The first communication was sent March 17, 2020, as a method to share information about COVID-19 pandemic preparations our healthcare organization was taking.

Several days later, I began signing off on the communication with “We together.” Our organization and community was facing a challenging time – with questions surrounding this new virus and the clinical response, economic disruption, and tough decisions on how to best protect our patients, community and team. It was critical then, as it is now, to support and preserve our team. All of us, together.

The cadence of the communication has changed several times from five days a week to fewer days, depending on the COVID environment. Since March 2022, it is distributed on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and now, thankfully, we focus less on COVID and now provide information about many topics across our system. Thank you for your comments and suggestions concerning the communication. The intent always has been to be open and transparent.

We together,
Dr. Kenagy