ENDO ALL STARS

CGH Medical Center Digestive Disease Center, Sterling, Ill.

The Digestive Disease Center (DDC) was established in 1981 within CGH Medical Center, a 125- bed, not-for-profit, municipally owned acute-care hospital in northwestern Illinois. What makes this team special? Simply put, it’s the staff. They bring a wealth of experience and skill to their patients with the personal touch of a friend and neighbor.

“Back in the early 1980s, we were called the ‘GI Lab’ and worked out of one small room in the emergency department,” says Valerie Schweiss, RN, BA, department director. “There was one nurse; scopes were borrowed from the gastroenterologist’s office and carried back and forth across the parking lot each day or night, rain, snow or shine. We gradually purchased our own instruments, added staff, and moved to several different locations within the hospital.” Each location posed new challenges for basic things like storage, plumbing, light, and proximity to the primarily inpatient population. “Back then, when asked by friends or family what hours we worked, we would tell them ‘full-time, part-time, sometimes, no-time, all-the-time, anytime,’ to describe how we covered the 24/7 demands of a specialty area with only a two full-time and two part-time nurses. A sense of humor and having a passion for what we were doing kept us going.”

The DDC team is actively involved in improving the health of their community with an ongoing colorectal cancer awareness campaign started in March 2000. DDC staff has volunteered in partnering with the CGH Foundation and community resources departments to raise more than $140,000, so the underserved population can receive free or reduced-cost screening flexible sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy. Recently, they began handing out ‘buddy bracelets’ to colonoscopy patients, who in turn pass them along to someone else who might benefit from a screening colonoscopy.

This spring, team nurse Karen Dunsworth, a community health nurse specialist, was the guest speaker on a local Hispanic radio program. Through an interpreter, she provided colorectal cancer awareness education to the Spanish-speaking community, and fielded questions from listeners who called in during the show.

“As in most GI units, we have many patients who return for follow-up procedures. Often, our patients tell us they look forward to their return visit because of their prior experience with us, as though they are guests in our home,” continues Schweiss. “DDC’s ambience of respect, dignity and caring is subtle, yet powerful when combined with the quality of our state-of-the-art facility, instruments and dynamic staff.”

“As their director, I am constantly delighted by the great privilege I have to be associated with this rarified team of women,” raves Schweiss. “Day after day, my staff applies scientific knowledge to the art of nursing practice, facilitating a uniquely human interaction between nurse and patient, usually in private where no one hears or sees, with no fanfare or accolades, making a difference one person at a time.”

Byrne Medical salutes the members of the CGH Medical Center Digestive Disease Center for their hard work and commitment to exemplary patient care. The team will receive a commemorative plaque in celebration of their EndoNurse All-Star recognition.

Honorary All-Star
JulieAnne White — Winner of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation’s Volunteer of the Year Award 2003-2004

Champion triathlete JulieAnne White already had a collection of first place medals when she stepped up to the starting line at the Hawaiian Ironman event in 1993. Holding records for the Ironman distance as a Canadian and British citizen, she was on the list as a Hawaiian Ironman Top 10 performer of all-time; she had twice won the Canadian Ironman, the New Zealand Ironman, and the Ironman Series World Championships; the previous year she had placed second in the Hawaiian Ironman — the most prestigious race in the sport of triathlon. This was her year to win. As she began, she had no idea what would the race would hold for her.

As she crossed the finish line — in seventh place — she collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, and diagnosed with an ischemic colon that had been misdiagnosed six weeks before as an ovarian cyst. She almost died.

“After the completion of the Ironman in 1993, I was rushed to emergency surgery. Within 12 hours I had half of my large intestine removed and I was suffering from peritonitis and my system was septic,” she says. After three surgeries, JulieAnne suffered from malabsorption, scar tissue, and adhesion. This is an extreme example of leaky gut syndrome resulting from intestinal trauma and subsequent surgery.

JulieAnne’s nutritionist suggested Seacure® to repair her damaged intestine, promote proper absorption, and break the cycle of inflammation that was sure to continue for the rest of her life. In her own words: “The results have been wonderful, my strength returned and my health has been wonderful. I returned to running in competitions, and am now able to train and compete with the same success I enjoyed before my surgeries.” JulieAnne recently defended her second consecutive title at the Big Sur International Marathon in Monterey, Calif. She also works as a licensed massage therapist, nutritionist, and coach, and sponsors a Web site devoted to increasing intestinal health awareness, particularly among athletes, at www.semicolon.org. Currently, JulieAnne is working on “Celebration of Hope for Children,” a benefit dedicated to raising funds for children afflicted with Crohn’s and UC/intestinal disease.

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