We have moved!

"Lifelines" is no more. Well, at least the Blogger version.

The VMC Foundation will now be blogging at our new website - www.vmcfoundation.org. You can find all the old content from "Lifelines" on the new site (plus lots of new stuff).

Thanks for reading.

General Surgical Teaching Excellence

VMC has long been an official teaching hospital of the Stanford University School of Medicine. And now, according to Stanford General Surgery Residents, it’s also their favorite.

Dr. Gregg Adams, Chief of Surgery at VMC announced today that Santa Clara Valley Medical Center has received the “Best Service” Award by the 2011 General Surgery Residents at Stanford. Interns, Second-Year Residents and Fourth-Year Residents all gave VMC top honors, after rotations that included stints at Kaiser, Stanford Medical Center, Lucille Packard and the VA.

The General Surgery Training Program at VMC is headed up by Dr. Adella Garland and Dr. Peter Cahill. Thanks to their work and others, VMC is the largest teaching hospital in the South Bay, having trained a quarter of all practicing physicians in Santa Clara County. It’s just another way that VMC benefits all residents of this valley, regardless of where they normally receive their healthcare.

VMC Nurse wins "Healthcare Hero Award"

At a ceremony this morning, the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal named Linda Richards, R.N. as a 2011 "Healthcare Hero." Linda serves as Program Director for the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Sexual Assault Response Team (SART). She was the only nurse to receive an award.

The VMC Foundation salutes Linda and all SART staff for the tireless and essential care they provide for the victims of sexual assault.

Read more about the event from the Business Journal here.

Good Samaritan gives 85 year old VMC patient birthday to remember

Greg Geier could hardly believe his eyes. Walking back to his office from the construction site, he spotted on older man lying face down on the sidewalk in front of Valley Medical Center.

The man was alone, and on this quiet morning, nobody else was in the immediate vicinity. Greg and his colleagues quickly rush to his side. The man had just left the hospital after a visit with his doctor, and apparently tripped.

“He was disoriented,” Greg said, “and banged up pretty bad.”

Greg quickly found a VMC staff person, who alerted the Emergency Department and arranged for his immediate transport. In just a few minutes, the man was gone.

Greg caught his breath, a carried on with his busy day. As the Piping General Foreman for F.W. Spencer and Sons, Inc., a major HVAC and sheet metal sub-contractor for the new VMC hospital wing, he had plenty of work to keep his mind occupied.

But something didn’t sit right with Greg.

He asked himself why this 80+ year old man in poor health was by himself at VMC? Did he have no family to accompany him to his appointment? And what would become of him now all alone in the Emergency Department? He didn’t even know this man’s name, but he couldn’t get the image of him laying facedown on the cold, damp concrete out of his mind.

“I just kept thinking about the guy and it really bothered me,” said Greg.

He also couldn’t help think of his own father, also in his 80s, who was recently injured after a nasty fall on a busy street. It was total strangers who helped get him to safety. Whatever it was, Greg decided that he needed to make sure this man would be ok.

So Greg returned to the hospital and spoke to VMC staff in the ED. He learned that the man had been hospitalized in the Medical Short Stay Unit (MSSU), where he would remain for the next few days, recovering from his injuries.

Greg found his way to the unit and explained who he was to the nurses. They were somewhat skeptical at first. Greg, after all, was not a family member or friend. And a construction worker looks nothing like a candy striper. But seeing no harm, they led Greg to the proper room.

Greg introduced himself.

The man was named Richard. A World War Two veteran, he used to ferry supplies via truck for the Army between the Bay Area and ports in Southern California. Now in his mid-80s, Richard was living alone in San Jose, his family long since gone. He explained that he had been visiting the doctor that day, when he tripped leaving the hospital. He was grateful for Greg and his colleagues for their help, and touched that Greg would even bother to visit him again in the hospital.

As the two men continued to speak, Greg learned that the very next day would be Richard’s 85th birthday. After a few more minutes of conversation, Greg said goodbye and left for the evening, thinking he had brought closure to the events of that morning.

And yet, once again, Greg just didn’t feel right. On the ride home, his thoughts drifted back to Richard, alone in the hospital – and on his 85th birthday, without family or friends.

So when Greg awoke the next morning, he decided to see Richard again. But this time, he would bring along a birthday card filled with the money he had in his wallet.

“I thought that maybe he could take himself out to dinner with it,” Greg said.

He grabbed a company sweatshirt for Richard and trekked over to his room in the MSSU.

This time, it was Richard who couldn’t believe his eyes.

“He was just beaming,” said Greg. “He was very thankful.”

The events caused a small stir on the unit, as nurses and other MSSU staff crowded into the room to see the scene unfold. By this time, the story of the friendly construction worker who had come to Richard’s rescue had brought smiles all around.

“It just felt really neat,” said Michelle de la Calle, R.N., the MSSU Nurse Manager. “Here is a person who is physically building our new hospital, but cares so much about our patients too.”

“It was just one of those things,” Greg said. “It felt like a calling. I just had to do it.”

TechCrunch profiles eLEGS at VMC

TechCrunch paid a visit to the Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Unit at VMC last week to profile eLEGS, the bionic exoskeleton designed to help paralyzed patients walk again. VMC is the first clinical testing site of the device in the United States. Thanks to the leadership of Dr. Akshat Shah and a terrific team of therapists and technicians from Berkeley Bionics, TechCrunch captured the amazing potential of this technology.

Watch the video to see eLEGS in actions.







The VMC Foundation is actively fundraising to support the testing of eLEGS of VMC. As VMC and Berkeley Bionics study how patients respond to the device, needed improvements can be made. Our goal is to make eLEGS available to all in need. Please consider a small investment to help us get there.

P.S. Don’t know TechCrunch? They are only one of the leading technology news sites in the United States. Make them part of your daily diet of news and information.

VMC Rehab and Burn Units Win National Quality Awards

Great news out of Omaha, Nebraska today - the VMC Rehabilitation Center and Burn Center received “5-Star” quality awards from PRC (Professional Research Consultants). PRC is an industry leader in healthcare quality data management, working with over 200 of America’s top hospitals.

The awards recognized inpatient services in the Rehab and Burn centers for “Overall Quality of Care.” These awards are based on the percentage of patients who rate the inpatient unit “Excellent” for the overall quality of care question. VMC needed to finish in the 90th percentile of hospitals surveyed nationally to win these awards.

We salute the amazing staff of the VMC Rehab and Burn Units. It’s one thing to be a hospital open to all regardless of ability to pay – but quite another to offer world-class care for those inside. At VMC, we do both.

The Great VMC Earthquake of 1906

105 years ago today, the Great San Francisco Earthquake nearly destroyed the hospital now known as Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. The damage, as you can see from the photograph above, was extensive.

Fortunately, VMC already has a jump on the next big one. Construction of a new, seismically-sound hospital wing (replacing buildings not quite as old as 1906) is well underway, set to open in 2014.

Check out our progress with some great pictures at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33577523@N08/with/5604697414/