FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

South Miami, Florida, March 24, 2014 - - Larkin Community Hospital (LCH), one of Florida’s twelve statutory teaching hospitals and the largest osteopathic teaching hospital in the nation, has been selected as one of five organizations nation-wide to participate in the National Center for Trauma-Informed Care (NCTIC) initiative sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA).  This is a Pilot Hybrid and Onsite-Technical Assistance program from NCTIC—Virtual Learning Network, which focuses on successful implementation of Trauma-Informed Practices in government organizations, hospital health systems, and service systems.

Only five other organizations are participating in NCTIC: the Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents in Virginia, King County Mental Health Program in Washington State, On Our Own of Maryland, Inc., Ruth M. Rothstein Core Center in Chicago, IL, and Queen’s Treatment Court in New York.  Larkin Community Hospital was the only hospital in Florida to incorporate the program’s principles hospital-wide in 2012-2013, and has been selected due to their continuing success in incorporating trauma-informed principles.  The initiative is consistent with the hospital’s efforts to integrate innovative and successful approaches to treating patients who have experienced trauma.  Implementation of Trauma-Informed Practices differentiates Larkin Community Hospital as an organization that provides compassionate, holistic treatment approaches to identify and cure the underlying causes of pathology for a disease, leading to positive patient outcomes.

“We are proud to be part of NCTIC’s VLN program, and continue to be committed to providing innovative care to all patients and engaging them in ways that bring about the best results,” says Sandy Sosa-Guerrero, CEO of Larkin Community Hospital.

Hospital leadership chose the Trauma-Informed Care Team from all tiers of the administrative, clinical and educational teams. These key players are committed to mentoring future program participants to expand NCTIC’s program to other health systems and organizations.

The Trauma-Informed Care Team at LCH:

1. Natasha Anderson, MSW, Vice President of Outpatient Behavioral Health
2. Manuel E. Fernandez, D.H.Sc., ARNP- FNP-B,  Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer
3. Sandra J. Fujita, BSW, MSW, LCSW, RN, BSN, BC-PMHN, MSN, ARNP FNP-BC, Behavioral Health Director
4. Sirish Mulpura, MD, MPH, Director of Clinical Research
5. Victor Delgado DNP, ANP-BC, NP-C Adjunct Faculty

For more information about Larkin Community Hospital’s participation in NCTIC, please contact Natasha Anderson, MSW, Vice President of Outpatient Behavioral Health at nanderson@larkinhospital.com.

Media Contact Kristina Gaddy Mulpura 305-284-7770 Email: kgaddy@larkinhospital.com  

About Larkin Community Hospital: Larkin Community Hospital (LCH) is a 146 bed acute care hospital located in South Miami. LCH is one of 12 designated Statutory Teaching Hospitals in Florida and the largest teaching hospital for Osteopathic physicians in the United States, offering the largest number of training programs (offering training in 30 different specialties in total). LCH sponsors an allopathic residency program in Psychiatry. LCH presently offers an Associate Degree in Nursing at its Nursing School. 

Our hospital is also the home of:

• The Miami Neuroscience Center at Larkin, a state of the art facility which specializes in Gamma Knife Radiosurgery. This 25 member team, led by neurosurgeon Dr. Aizik Wolf, has performed over 8,000 procedures during the past 20 years. Gamma Knife is a non-invasive state of the art neurological procedure used to treat brain tumors, head and neck cancer, and neurological conditions such as trigeminal neuralgia and arteriovenous malformations.
• The Center for Advanced Orthopedics at Larkin, which specializes in advanced orthopedic surgery using the latest multimodal perioperative pain management modalities and state of art technology and instrumentation with advanced robotic technology. The center, led by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Carlos Lavernia, includes a robust outcomes-oriented research component with an ongoing prospective surgical registry and a comprehensive rehabilitation department.

LCH is the only hospital in Miami-Dade County with an Area of Critical Need designation by the Florida Board of Medicine.

Our facilities are a National Health Services Corps (NHSC) site designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The NHSC Loan Repayment Program offers primary care providers the opportunity to have their student loans repaid for serving communities in need. The NHSC Scholarship Program awards scholarships each year to students pursuing careers in primary care. In return, students commit to serving for two to four years upon graduation and completion of training.

For more information about Larkin Community Hospital, visit www.larkinhospital.com.