LC Memorial recognized

Lake Charles Memorial Health System has been awarded on Newsweek’s list of America’s Best-In-State Hospitals 2024.

This prestigious award is presented by Newsweek and Statista Inc., a statistics portal and industry ranking provider.

The America’s Best-In-State Hospitals 2024 ranking was created to identify the top hospitals at the state level. Hospitals from all states were eligible for the ranking and included in the nationwide survey. The 25 states with the most hospitals according to the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) were surveyed individually.

The remaining states were grouped into 4 regions: Northeast, Midwest, West, and South. Leading hospitals from these states were considered accordingly. Four data sources were used for the evaluation: nationwide online survey, quality metrics data, patient experience and PROMS implementation survey.

Board members announced

Lake Charles Memorial Health System and The Foundation have announced the 2024 Board of Trustees and Directors.

Lake Charles Memorial Health System 2024 Board of Trustees: Denise Rau, chairperson; Louis Todd, chairman-elect/vice chairman and secretary; Neil Aspinwall, EdD, past chairman; Devon Hyde, president/CEO and assistant secretary; Dawn Johnson, treasurer; Benjamin Azevedo, MD, medical staff president; Alyson Jones, MD, medical staff president-elect; Edward Bergen, DO, medical staff past president.

The trustees are Mitch Adrian, William “Randy” Condos Jr., MD, Clifford Courville, MD, Amanda Ellington, MD, Joe Miller Jr. and Judge Gene Thibodeaux.

The Foundation of Lake Charles Memorial Hospital 2024 Board of Directors Community Leaders: Garrett Stine, Stine, LLC, chair; Will Henning, First Federal Bank of Louisiana, vice chair; William Brent III, SWLA Center for Health Services; Megan Hartman, Phillips66; Heather Hohensee, Tellurian Inc.; Jerry Pierrottie, Safety Council of Southwest Louisiana; Calvin Thibodeaux, Entergy; Claire Pumpelly, Pumpelly Tire; Nancy Jordan, community leader; Jonathan Cernek, Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.

Lake Charles Memorial Health System Leaders: Devon Hyde, president & CEO; Dawn Johnson, CFO, treasurer; Dallas Kingham, legal counsel, secretary; Bernita Loyd Brown, vice president; Sol Halliburton, executive director, philanthropy; Michael Ardoin, assistant administrator; Scott Daigle, director, radiology; Karen Kleinman, director, Heart & Vascular Center; Rae Gardner, nursing director, oncology; and Denise Rau, hospital board chair.

BBB announces board members

The Better Business Bureau Serving Southwest Louisiana’s board of directors has announced its newly appointed officers for 2024.

Cheyenne Boudreaux of Mission Flares and Combustion will serve as chairperson; Stacey Corbello of COR Wealth Management as vice president, Matthew Welsh of West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital as secretary, Darrel Metoyer of Boyd Gaming will serve as treasurer, and Jennifer Istre of First Horizon Bank as ex ocio.

The following individuals will serve as board members at-large: Christa Comeaux of Lakeside Bank, Amanda Cox of Latter & Blum, Brett Downer of O’Carroll Group, Kay Fox of Beauregard Electric Cooperative, Inc., Adam Guinn of Port Aggregates, Robert Soileau of J&J Exterminating, and Jason Williams of Pat Williams Construction.

Kody Cannon of Sigler, Arabie & Cannon Attorneys at Law will serve as Counsel to Board.

Newly inducted members are James Hurley, The Firm of Louisiana; Jeremy Soileau, Bolton Ford; and Garret Coates, Home Building Materials.

Griffins project coordinator

The Arts & Humanities Council of Southwest Louisiana is pleased to announce Ashanti Griffin as their newest project coordinator.

With a background in planning and fundraising, Griffin brings an abundance of experience and passion to the community of Southwest Louisiana.

Ashanti grew up in Sulphur, but moved to Lake Charles shortly after graduating high school. She is a graduate of Sowela Technical Community College with a degree in business administration and is continuing her education at McNeese State University.

She has worked in the events, fundraising, and marketing industry for many years.

Maternity ward recognized

Lake Charles Memorial Health System is proud to be recognized by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana with a Blue Distinction® Centers+ (BDC+) for Maternity Care designation, as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program. To earn this designation, each facility must deliver quality care, safely and cost-effectively.

The Blue Distinction Centers for Maternity Care program plays a key role in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s National Health Equity Strategy aimed at reducing racial health disparities across the care spectrum and improving patient outcomes for all Americans. To align with this strategy, the Blue Distinction Centers for Maternity Care program enhanced its quality and measurement standards to recognize higher-quality facilities that have taken action to respond effectively to obstetric emergencies, reduce racial disparities, and improve maternal health outcomes.

Based on data from the current designation cycle, facilities designated under the Blue Distinction Centers for Maternity Care program demonstrate higher-quality care compared to non-Blue Distinction Center facilities, with overall average rates of 26% lower episiotomies, 60% fewer elective deliveries and 17% lower cesarean births—all of which point to healthier outcomes for patients. BDC+ designated facilities also exhibited an average savings of 21% for maternity care.

VP of physician services named

Lake Charles Memorial Health System welcomes Charles “Charlie” J. Lathram III, FACMPE, CCP as the new vice president of physician services. Lathram has 30 years of healthcare management experience.

In this role, Lathram will leverage the network of providers and their specialties to ensure access to quality health care for the community, service offerings, and operational excellence.

After receiving his bachelor’s in psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Lathram began his career in health care administration by managing an ophthalmology practice. By the age of 26 he was managing a 16 provider OBGYN practice. Since then, he has played pivotal roles in transforming multiple physician practices into thriving networks of healthcare delivery systems.

Prior to joining Memorial, he most recently served as the chief executive officer for Galen Medical Group in Chattanooga, Tenn.