Inspire, Fall 1993

Dr. Martin Clark, vice president for development at Cedarville College, completed the Institute for Education Management program at the Graduate School of Education, Harvard University. The four-week course at Harvard's Boston campus includes intensive course work and lectures six days each week. Walt and Lorraine Hoffmann led the first Cedarville College MIS team to Russia in June. The team of 12 flew into Moscow, spent two weeks in Russia and the remaining time in the newly formed CIS country of Belarus. The team members played instruments, sang in English and Russian, performed mimes, and shared Christ with the people of Russia. Mr. Hoffman, assistant professor of management and marketing in the Department of Business Administration, preached salvation messages. Well over 100 people, both young and old, accepted Christ as personal Savior during the team's three week ministry with a local pastor. Lorraine is the office manager for the Personnel Department at the college. Grads Provide Leadership at Atlantic City Medical Center ursing graduates Randy '85 and Meredith Collins Johnson '87 are meeting change and challenge in their health care positions at Atlantic City Medical Center (ACMC) in New Jersey. Randy is the clinical manager of pediatric special care, a 15-bed pediatric inpatient noor, and all pediatric outpatient care. His position includes supervising 25 staff members- RNs, LPNs, aides, and secretaries. Besides his supervisory and nursing duties, Randy serves on many committees including total quality management, customer service, inpatient care office management group, pediatric committee, and education and orientation for new staff. With his emphasis on total quality management, Randy is developing a self– government model of management for his nurses in the areas of budgeting, staffing and quality assurance. ACMC has recently been recognized as the regional area leader in pediatric care, serving over 40,000 children in the emergency department each year. Randy's past experience at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital and Health Hill Hospital in Cleveland serves as a solid base to his position at ACMC. Meredith directs the Center for Health Care Research at ACMC. This new emphasis at the Center includes responsibility for all medical research. Currently she is seeking a National Institute of Health grant for the Center. Meredith also works with the geriatric ambulatory care population part-time. She serves on the institutional review board for the protection of human rights in research, is a member of the nursing council for the ambulatory care division, and chairs the case management care mapping committee. Meredith served as assistant director of nursing at the Welsh Home in Cleveland before she and Randy came to ACMC in November 1992. Randy and Meredith were confident that the Lord wanted them at ACMC. "We were immediately identified as professionals because of our background and educational experience," renects Meredith. In fact, when the administrator for Ambulatory Care at ACMC learned that Meredith had earned her degree at Cedarville, she hired her on the spot. The administrator's daughter is a junior education major at Cedarvil le College, so she knew about the caliber of Cedarvi lie's graduates. "Cedarvi lie has opened a world of opportunity in ways we could never have imagined . Our career opportunities alone in the health care field are limitless," Meredith adds. The Johnsons sense that their holistic approach to medicine has furthered their ministry and gained the respect of their peers at ACMC. "We see the patients as whole people 6 FALL '93 who need emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual support," states Meredith. The Johnsons attribute their ability to assess people holistically to their Cedarville education. "We did feel some uncertainty about being in the first class of nursing graduates at Cedarville. But upon entering my first job, I realized my skills and education were superior to most and equal to any other of my colleagues," reflects Randy. Randy and Meredith also appreciate the variety of extracurricular experiences Cedarville offered them which helped build the leadership skills they have needed in the medical field. As undergraduates, the Johnsons were active in Christian ministry, music, and drama. Through ACMC, the Johnsons are able to further their education at the University of Pennsylvania. Randy will earn his master's degree as a pediatric practitioner and clinical specialist with the goal of developing pediatric intensive care skills. Meredith will complete her master's program as an adult practitioner with an emphasis in adult care. This program allows her to earn a doctorate as well. ACMC is recognized for being technologically advanced in medicine. The CEO was recently asked to give a presentation on managed health care to a health care subcommittee headed by Tipper Gore. With medicine's emphasis on preventative health care, wellness, a shift to inhome service, and the growth of general practitioners, Randy foresees two major challenges facing the nursing and hospital professionals. First, hospitals will have to work more closely with the communities they serve in a preventative mode. This will involve identifying the points of service currently available, beginning programs such as Health Start, and increasing home care nursing. The second challenge will be in the area of management. Following the PACE concept (patients are the center of everything), it will be a challenge to maintain staffing and budget numbers. Randy and Meredith have returned to Cedarville to talk to nursing students about the joys and pitfalls of a nursing career. They try to prepare students for odd-hour shifts, weekend and holiday work loads, going from no money to a good steady income, and what to look for when applying for a nursing position in a hospital. They have also shared the art of nursing with Cedarville College students. "Nursing has finally turned from a science to an art form," states Meredith, "and that is an exciting change in our chosen field of service to the Lord." Grad Opens Family ractice In Cedarville ittle did Richard Smith realize when he completed his B.A. in chemistry in 1980 that he would return to Cedarville to become the village family practitioner. After graduation, Rick and his wife Susan Felts '80N moved to Athens, Ohio, where he earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Following his internship and then his residency in family medicine at Grandview Hospital and Medical Center in Dayton, Rick began a four-year commitment with the U.S. Air Force in 1987. The family was stationed at Tyndall AFB in Florida where Dr. Smith served in family practice and later as chief of family practice. The Lord seemed to send people who carried heavy burdens to Rick and Sue. Their church asked them to teach a Sunday school class for these special people. Rick informally referred to the class as "rebuilders," and taught basic biblical principles. While Dr. Smith was at Tyndall, he had two deployments outside the U.S. In 1989 he was supporting physician to the 823rd Red Horse Squadron, a special forces civil engineering squadron deployed to the Honduras. For two months he provided medical care for the 300-man heavy construction team and was able to practice village medicine for Hondurans in the area. During five months of Rick's final year of service, he was emergency department physician in an air transpOitable hospital deployed to Saudi Arabia in support of Desert Storm. He says this was a time when he was able to commit everal passage of Scripture to memory. After his discharge in August 1991, Rick took Sue and their three sons back to Roanoke, Virginia, where he had grown up. (Joshua is now 12, Daniel, I 0, and Ezekiel, 3. Zechariah, 16 months, has since joined the family , and the Smiths are looking forward to the birth of their fifth child in November 1993.) They settled in nearby Pulaski, quickly got involved in a local church, and continued their commitment to homeschooling the children. Rick joined the medical staff of Pulaski Community Hospital as staff physician in the Emergency Department. Meanwhile, the village of Cedarville had been without a physician since the retirement of Dr. Donald Kyle '28 in 1986. The village had constructed the Kyle Medical Center which houses a dentist and an optometrist, but had never been able to secure the services of a full -time replacement for Dr. Kyle. Mike Stephens '80, now president of Greene Memorial Hospital, was instrumental in convincing the Smiths to come back to Cedarville. One obstacle was housing. Pat Lee, payroll supervisor at Cedarville College and longtime friend of Rick and Sue, learned of a house that would meet their needs. So the Smith family moved back to Cedarville, and Dr. Smith began his family practice in January 1993. He also serves as a Patterson Clinic physician at the ollege. Both the village and the College are pleased to welcome Dr. Smith and his family back to edarville.