Lakewood Team M.E.D.S. Wins a National HRSA Award
The federal agency HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration), an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Health Resources and Services Administration), has given a national award to Team M.E.D.S. of OHI (Ocean Health Initiatives), a federally qualified health care center, with locations in Lakewood, Toms River, and Manahawkin.
Team M.E.D.S. (Medication, Education, Drugs, Safety) under the leadership of OHI pharmacist Vijay Vohra received the Gold Team Leadership award as part of the PSPC (Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative) for its work in helping to improve the health, safety, care and management of high risk, high cost, complex patients, suffering from multiple chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, hypertension and high cholesterol, among others.
The ultimate goal of Team M.E.D.S., which began participating in PSPC in 2008, is to help patients achieve improvement in their health outcomes and to focus on medication safety and management, making sure medications are being prescribed appropriately and safely.
Out of the more than 300 teams that participate in PSPC, OHI’s team was one of five that received the Gold Team Leadership award. PSPC is a national effort to improve the quality of care delivered in the United States through the integration of health care providers and primary care services with clinical pharmacy services.
Dr. Theresa Berger, CEO of OHI, said, “HRSA continually expands its expectations of the goals and clinical outcomes for PSPC teams. Our goal is to get the patients healthy and instill a desire for healthy living and self management.”
The members of OHI’s Team M.E.D.S. include pharmacist Vijay Vohra, pharmacist and team leader; Israel Arroyo, chronic care coordinator; Dr. Gilbert Fleisher, chief medical officer; Diane Klimik, RN, director of nursing; Dr. Shira Meyer; Dr. Kristyn Phelps; Rosemary Faughnan, RN; Lynn Walker, RN; Mary Washington, LPN; Bob La Forge, director of infomatics; Dr. Theresa Berger, CEO and president of OHI; and Hannah Maldony, chief compliance officer and PSPC coach.
For more information, contact Douglas Clark at 732-719-9026 or email PromotionsDept@ohinj.org.
About Ocean Health Initiatives
OHI is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) federally qualified health center (FQHC) with locations at 101 Second Street, Lakewood; and 301 Lakehurst Road, Toms River; and 333 Haywood Road, Manahawkin. OHI provides comprehensive preventative and primary health and dental care to Ocean County uninsured and underinsured populations on a sliding-fee scale, based on an individual’s or family are ability to pay. Services include pediatrics, maternal and child health, prenatal, WIC, universal immunizations behavioral health, dental, family medicine, internal medicine, OB/GYN, podiatry and social services.
OHI has a bilingual staff available to assist patients and callers. To become a patient of OHI, call a representative in the Call Center at either 732-552-0377, Toms River, or 732-363-6655, Lakewood. Visit www.ohinj.org. for further information.