Banner Good Samaritan’s Charlie Thomas and others recognized as ‘Health Care Heroes’

Banner Health's quartet of the Business Journal's Health Care Heroes finalists were among the 28 professionals and volunteers honored by the newspaper. From left, Dr. Mark Smith, Innovator; Diane Drexler, Manager; Mae Jackson, Volunteer; and Charlie Thomas, winner in the Non-Physician category.

PHOENIX (Aug. 24, 2006) - Health care professionals from around the Valley were honored by the Business Journal as Health Care Heroes. There were 10 categories including innovator, nurse, physician, researcher/scientist, volunteer, lifetime achievement, community outreach, dentist, manager and non-physician. Multiple people were nominated for each category including four Banner employees:

• Charlie Thomas, Transplant Social Worker, Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center
• Mark Smith, Director of Telemedicine and Simulation Education Training Center, Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center
• Diane Drexler, Chief Nursing Officer, Banner Estrella Medical Center
• Mae Jackson, Volunteer, Banner Thunderbird Medical Center

Charlie Thomas was named the Health Care Hero in the non-physician category for his heroic efforts in Banner Good Samaritan’s liver transplant program. Thomas has been a social worker with Transplant Services since 1985, where he provides direct services to transplant patients and living donors. He also has been the Dialysis/Transplant consultant for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, providing consultation regarding Chronic Kidney Disease including dialysis, transplantation and organ donation with Native Americans.

Thomas developed the Arizona Public Policy Forum in 1994 and organized a grassroots effort to change State law to fund heart, heart-lung, liver and bone marrow transplants for the working poor through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). As a result, the Arizona Legislature and the Governor passed new laws in 1995 funding transplants for the working poor. Thomas has also been instrumental in developing State medication funding assistance for heart, liver and lung transplant recipients and increasing State medication funding for kidney dialysis and kidney transplant patients. He was instrumental in educating State law makers regarding the medical emergency created when State funding was eliminated for kidney dialysis for immigrants.

Thomas has an excellent reputation for his knowledge of organ donation and transplantation, kidney dialysis and health care policy regarding the poor and the working poor. He is truly an asset to Banner Health and the communities we serve.

Mark Smith, M..D., was nominated for Health Care Hero in the innovator category for his heroic efforts in Banner Good Samaritan’s telemedicine program and Simulation Education Training Center. Trained as an obstetrician-gynecologist, Banner now looks to Smith to advance our use of technology in ways that will allow us to care for our patients, with the highest degree of patient safety.

Fresh out of residency, Smith was actively trying to improve the standard of care in gynecological surgery. He was certain that surgery accomplished via a laparoscope was the next evolution in medicine. At that time, scopes were only used for visualization, and no one was performing surgery via this new equipment. By 1985, Smith began using laparoscopes for small surgical procedures. In 1988, he was the first surgeon in the Southwest to perform a laparoscopic hysterectomy. By the mid-1990's this surgery was well accepted and today laparoscopic procedures are common.

Today, Smith is Medical Director for Banner Good Samaritan's Telemedicine program, a program that he and his staff built from the ground up. Telemedicine led Smith to stumble upon his next challenge: Simulation Education for physicians-in-training. As a teaching hospital, Banner Good Samaritan has 250 residents and fellows at any one time, and graduates 50 new, much-needed physicians into our community annually. Every June, a new class of medical school graduates enters Banner Good Samaritan seeking experience and knowledge. These new physicians now have the opportunity to perfect their skills before they arrive at the patient’s bedside using virtual reality trainers and the latest generation medical mannequins that breathe, blink, code, seize, bleed and even speak the words of an unseen faculty member.

Smith is a experienced surgeon, a gifted medical fundamentalist and also a passionate teacher. The combination of these talents is evident daily in all that he brings to the workplace. Smith doesn't just train his residents, he has a personal investment in each of them. He is interested not only in their skills and competencies, but the whole of their life and residency experience. So, whether they have met him or not, the people of our local communities and those who live in the distant corners of the state will benefit from the medical and surgical innovations that Mark Smith delivered.

Diane Drexler was nominated for Health Care Hero in the manager category for her heroic efforts as chief nursing officer at Banner Estrella Medical Center. Drexler has created a new nursing team model that more effectively utilized the skills of the registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants, yet provides a ratio of one caregiver to every 2.5 patients – half the ratio in most hospitals. It is a model that has captured the interest of more than 150 other health systems across the country. Many of them have traveled to the Valley to visit and learn more about both the model and some of the new nursing processes and patient electronic charting systems that Drexler helped create and manages.

Drexler assembled a team of nursing leaders who could work together to create change that is better for patients, family and staff.  Finding those people is one thing, but helping them stay focused on the importance of this work when there is pushback from front line nurses or external forces is another. To maintain momentum, Drexler does two very important things. First, she meets weekly with nursing leadership at the hospital to talk about the progress of the new nursing model and other innovative programs. Second, she leaves her desk and walks the halls of the hospital at every opportunity – usually daily – and talks with patients, visitors and nursing staff to find out how things are going, what is working and what is not. She does this for all hospital shifts, not just during normal working hours. It is a time-consuming task, but one Drexler feels is critical to maintaining impeccable communication.

Drexler's impact has been felt most by our patients who have enjoyed the high nursing ratios and the quick response time from staff. Her regular presence on our nursing floors and in the surgical areas has helped her create a fantastic connection with those in our hospital. Staff feel more appreciated by her and both patients and visitors feel more important as a result of her visits.

Mae has volunteered at BTMC for 13½ years providing clerical support in Food and Nutrition Services, and most recently that of “Cuddler” in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Between her time volunteering at the hospital and other volunteer service she provides in the community, Mae has selflessly accumulated 9,656 volunteer hours while bringing joy, comfort, companionship and financial aid to others.

Mae not only provides volunteer hours within her own community, she also finds time to volunteer in a third world country. In 2005 and again in 2006, Mae volunteered to journey to Uganda, Africa, on a medical mission with Hope 4 Kids International. On Mae’s first visit to Uganda, she spent countless hours passing out reading material, medical supplies, glasses, food and clothing to individuals who visited the small medical center in the village she was assigned to. During her initial visit, Mae befriended a shy, young 13-year-old girl named Mary. With the assistance of an interpreter, Mae discovered the child was orphan and had very little schooling, as education in her country was a low priority. Mae’s heart compelled her to help this young girl; she agreed to become her sponsor. For a nominal fee each month, Mae provides food, clothing, shelter and school medical supplies for the child.