Emergency Services
St. Francis offers 24-hour emergency services, including an accredited Chest Pain Center, trauma unit, the Northeast Kansas Poison Center and a helipad and partnership in LifeStar, an air ambulance service. Call 785-295-8091.
LifeNet
When a person has a heart attack, time is of the essence to make sure the patient is treated quickly and heart muscle is preserved.
St. Francis Health Center, Cardiology Consultants of Topeka PA and American Medical Response (AMR) have partnered to offer the community the Medtronic Life Net Receiving Station to improve treatment times for heart attack patients.
Since October 2007, AMR has had the capability to send a diagnostic 12-lead EKG from the ambulance to a physician in the St. Francis Emergency Department, who can read the EKG and forward it to a cardiologist’s personal digital assistant, computer or fax machine with a single mouse click for a quick diagnosis. If it’s determined the person is having a heart attack, the cardiologist and cardiac catheterization lab staff can be en route immediately so they can arrive at the Emergency Department at about the same time the patient does.
This technology is particularly important after hours and on weekends when physicians and cath lab staff are not routinely in the hospital. The standard of care for heart attack patients is to open the blocked artery with a balloon, or stent, as quickly as possible to preserve heart muscle. The time it takes for the patient to go from arrival to the Emergency Department to the opening of the artery in the cardiac catheterization lab is known as ‘door-to-balloon’ time. This time correlates well with patient outcomes and therefore every effort is made to minimize this time.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services standards advise that at least 75 percent of heart attack patients should have door-to-balloon times of 90 minutes or less.
Life Net Process Features
• AMR transmits 12-lead EKG.
• ED screen flashes and audio screens activate.
• ED physician reads the EKG and determines whether it is a myorcardial infarction (heart attack) and transmits the EKG to the cardiologist on duty.
• ED calls the cardiologist and activates the Cath Lab.
• Patient arrives and treatment begins immediately.
Our Emergency Department ProfessionalsSt. Francis collaborates with Bluestem Emergency Care PA to provide high-quality emergency care services.
Bluestem Emergency Care (BEC) Physicians
Dr. Rebecca Hierholzer has been with our staff since June 2007. Dr. Hierholzer attended college and medical school at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, Mo. She completed her residency at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo. She is an ABEM member.
Dr. James Lasseter has been on staff since January 1998 and is the medical director. He graduated from Pittsburg State University and completed medical school at KUMC. He completed his residency at St. Francis Via Christi in Wichita, Kan. His clinical interests include international emergency medicine and wilderness medicine. Dr. Lasseter is a member of ABEM.
Dr. Richard May joined Bluestem in January of 2009. Dr. May relocated from Oberlin, Kan., where he was a board-certified family practitioner. He attended medical school at KUMC. He completed his residency in Phoenix, Ariz. His clinical interests include endoscopy and urgent care.
Dr. Randall McAllister is the president of BEC and has practiced here since June of 1994. He completed undergraduate and medical school at the University of Kansas. He completed his residency at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is board certified in internal medicine and is also a member of ABEM. His clinical interest is in performance improvement.
Dr. Marianna Poulose joined BEC in January of 2007. She graduated from the University of Kansas and completed graduate school at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her medical degree from the University of Health Sciences in Kansas City, Mo. She completed her residency at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, Mo. Dr. Poulose is an ABEM member and her clinical interests include cardiology, physician wellness and patient satisfaction.
Dr. Kennen Thompson has worked part time for BEC since August 1996. He works full time as a family practitioner in Topeka. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and a minor in chemistry, math and physics. Dr. Thompson completed medical school at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. His residency was held in Des Moines, Iowa. He is board certified in family medicine. His clinical interests include obstetrics and gynecology, sports medicine and asthma.
Bluestem Mid-Level Practitioners
Mary Meek, physician assistant, has been with BEC since 1997. She graduated from Wichita State University. Mary is an NCCPA member.
Brett Simnitt, physician assistant, has been with BEC since August 2003. He graduated from Wichita State University’s Physician Assistant program. Brett is also an NCCPA member and works in the medical field that he enjoys most-emergency medicine.
BEC added three new physician assistants in 2008: Michelle Wine, Kara Joice and Ashley Mohr, all graduates of Wichita State University.
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