“An Evening for Healers” Celebrates Healers & Heroes

Lola MagazineCommunity, Lola Shreveport

At this year’s upcoming An Evening for Healers event that will be held at the Shreveport Convention Center on Thursday, May 2, attendees will hear the stories of three patients from across the state who experienced life-changing medical emergencies, and meet the heroes who brought them hope and healing right here in Shreveport.

This will be the 9th annual An Evening for Healers, a fundraising event that supports LSU Health Shreveport and the most critical needs of the health sciences center, making it possible to continue the mission of educating tomorrow’s healthcare professionals, delivering outstanding patient care, and conducting promising research.

LSU Health Shreveport faculty physicians provide life-saving care to patients, like the ones who will be featured at Healers, at the Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport Academic Medical Center, North Louisiana’s only Adult and Pediatric Level 1 Trauma Center verified by the American College of Surgeons. What makes a Level 1 Trauma Center so unique? A Level I Trauma Center is a comprehensive regional resource and specialty care facility that is capable of providing extensive services to treat severe injuries. With the specialty care available and record response time provided by the trauma team, a patient’s survival rate can be dramatically increased.

Having access to a Level 1 Trauma Center is not only crucial for patients in the region, but also for the educational
mission of LSU Health Shreveport as an academic medical center to train physicians. LSU Health Shreveport offers
two emergency medicine residency programs, with the Emergency Medicine Family Medicine (EMFM) residency being one of only six in the nation. The American College of Surgeons evaluates and confirms that certain resources are available in order for a Trauma Center to receive Level 1 verification.

A Level 1 Trauma Center must have 24-hour in-house coverage by general surgeons dedicated to trauma care and prompt availability of physicians who specialize in specific areas such as orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology, internal medicine, plastic surgery, oral and maxillofacial, pediatric and critical care, in addition to actively training residents, providing continuing medical education opportunities, and participating in research initiatives related to trauma care. The Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport Academic Medical Center also serves as a referral resource for nearby regions.

Support for Healers

Past events have welcomed more than 800 attendees each year and raised nearly $2 million to support LSU Health Shreveport. Funds raised have gone towards purchasing new physical therapy rehabilitation technology, supporting
student research programs, enhanced technology in the student simulation center, and recruiting and retaining outstanding faculty that help to enhance LSU Health Shreveport’s mission to teach, to heal, and to discover. Doctor Ed and Mary Pat Morgan will chair this year’s event. Ed is an Orthopaedic surgeon in private practice with Willis-Knighton and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthopaedics at LSU Health Shreveport. Mary Pat is a graduate of LSU School of Nursing and a community volunteer. Their daughter, Ali, is a second year medical student at LSU Health Shreveport.

“We are excited and proud to participate in this event benefiting LSU Health Shreveport! The evening celebrates the incredible dedication and strength of our community of healers. It is also a wonderful opportunity to showcase how our community’s support directly impacts the growth of the health sciences center, which in turn enhances healthcare for all of us,” said Ed and Mary Pat Morgan.

It is truly with the support of the community that LSU Health Shreveport is able to continue saving lives and training physicians, which is especially critical as our nation faces a physician shortage.

“I look forward to An Evening for Healers each year. We are deeply appreciative of the financial support received through Healers, and the opportunity to educate the community on the impact our health sciences center has here in Shreveport/Bossier and beyond. It is an honor to recognize the first responders, doctors, allied health professionals, and nurses who provide patients with live-saving care every day,” shared G. E. Ghali DDS, MD, FACS, FRCS (Ed), LSU Health Shreveport Chancellor.

Additional specialty services provided include:

• St. Jude Affiliate Clinic at Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, one of eight St. Jude Affiliate Clinics in the United States
• Burn Center, the only burn facility in North and Central Louisiana
• Heart Failure Service Line
• Epilepsy Clinic
• Cystic Fibrosis Clinic, which is one of two in the state of Louisiana
• Outpatient Ventilator Clinic
• Center for Voice, Airway and Swallowing, the only of its kind in the region
• Sickle Cell Anemia Clinic
• Bone Marrow Transplants
• Facial Nerve Center
• Pediatric Rheumatology and Urology
• Cleft Palate Team
• Pediatric Concussion Clinic

HOW TO ATTEND

When: Thursday, May 2
Where: Shreveport Convention Center
Itinerary: 5:30 welcome reception & 7:00 dinner
Tickets: $150 per person
Sponsorships: start at $2,000
For more information, visit www.lsuhsfoundation.org/healers