Personal Choice Dining provides patients with an expanded menu as well as more personalized and efficient service. As part of the program, all patients are assigned a personal host or hostess who serves as their “food ambassador” during their hospital stay. Before each meal, they review possible meal options and helps patients make menu selections that comply with any dietary restrictions or doctor recommendations. After returning to the kitchen and personally preparing the patient tray, the host or hostess delivers the meal to the patient.

“This program offers patients at The Miriam Hospital with more mealtime choices and flexibility. It’s part of our commitment to make each patient’s stay as comfortable and enjoyable as possible,” says Ira Brandstein, CEC, director of the food and nutrition department at The Miriam Hospital.

The Miriam is the only hospital in Rhode Island offering Personal Choice Dining, a program developed by Sodexo Health Care, the hospital’s contractor for food services.

“Because each host and hostess is assigned between 30 and 40 patients, they are able to build relationships with these patients, and in turn, patients are more comfortable asking questions or expressing any concerns,” said Margarida McFarland, manager of the hospital’s Personal Choice Dining program. “It’s our goal that each host or hostess becomes an integral part of the patient care team and an asset to each inpatient unit.”

Patients now have their choice of featured entrees, which range from lemon dill sole to a Waldorf salad. They also have the option of selecting items from the hospital’s “All Times Favorites” list, featuring such comfort food staples as macaroni and cheese, chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese, which are available all day.

Fresh kosher meals now available
The Miriam Hospital is now also offering fresh kosher meals to patients upon request. Under the direction of Rose Forrest of Daniel Catering, the meals offered will be strictly glatt kosher and under Va’ad supervision.

Meals include such varied dishes as baked polenta with fresh homemade tomato sauce and mozzarella, chicken paprikash, eggplant parmesan and grilled chicken and kasha.

The Miriam Hospital also will be providing special kosher food in the cafeteria during Passover.

According to experts at Bradley Hospital, it’s common for children to feel anxious about the unknown and they will look to their parents to provide support and comfort. “Children follow their parents’ cues, so if mom or dad seem stressed or are constantly talking about how worried they are, a child will pick up on that. But if parents cope well, their child will also cope better,” says Henry T. Sachs, MD, medical director at Bradley Hospital.

The key to helping children manage their anxiety is to address and acknowledge their fears without causing alarm or panic. “Reassure your child that everyone in the family is fine and that you will all work together to stay healthy. Being calm and confident will do wonders in helping a child feel safe and secure,” says Sachs.

He suggests parents proactively ask their children what they have heard about H1N1, which will indicate whether there are any rumors or misinformation that need to be addressed. Information and knowledge can help children feel a sense of control, so parents should also be prepared to provide some simple, age-appropriate facts about H1N1.

“Younger children will need equal amounts of fact and reassurance, but older kids and teens will likely have more specific questions or may need help separating fact from fiction,” Sachs says. “Although we want to shelter our children, it’s important to be honest and accurate about the situation.”

Sachs points out that these conversations also provide a good opportunity to remind children that good hygiene – particularly frequent hand-washing and covering coughs or sneezes – is the best way to stay healthy and avoid spreading disease, including H1N1.

Other ways parents can help ease their child’s H1N1 anxiety and help them stay healthy include:

• Make sure you are up to the date on the latest information on H1N1, including symptoms, vaccinations and how the disease spreads. The RI Department of Health website, http://www.health.ri.gov/, and www.flu.gov are good resources.
• Allow your children to express their feelings and let them know it is okay to be afraid or upset. Keep in mind that when children are uncertain about situations and feel frightened, they may need even more affection and attention.
• Even if the family’s normal routine is disrupted due to school or work closures, try and keep activities as consistent and normal as possible. Children are most comfortable when they can stick with their routines.
• Encourage healthy behaviors – such as eating well, getting a good night’s sleep, and playing outside – that can help children build a strong immune system.
• Remind your children not to share their food or drinks with others.
• Try to limit your child’s exposure to media coverage about the H1N1 virus.
• If your children are being vaccinated, remind them why this is important and how the vaccine will help keep them safe and healthy.
• Keep your children home when they are sick. They should remain out of school until they are free of fever for 24 hours without the use of a fever-reducing medication.

NOTE: Some information provided by the National Association of School Psychologists and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Shah has been an active member of the CCFA New England Chapter Advisory Committee for many years, serving as chair from 2004 to 2007. He is currently chair of the Board of Governors for the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), was ACG Governor for Rhode Island from 2002 to 2006, and received the ACG’s Freshman Governor’s Award. Shah has also been named one of Rhode Island’s “Top Doctors” in gastroenterology by Rhode Island Monthly several times.

A clinical associate professor of medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Shah is actively involved in teaching medical students, residents and gastroenterology fellows. He has authored more than 90 articles, book chapters and abstracts, in addition to giving many presentations across the country on IBD. As a researcher, Shah has been involved with several multi-center clinical trials focusing on new therapies for IBD, is co-principal investigator for the Ocean State Crohn’s and Colitis Area Registry (OSCARR) and is collaborating to develop an IBD Center at Brown University.

Shah graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Brown University and received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in gastroenterology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. As part of his fellowship, Shah was awarded a Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Fellowship for Physicians.

A fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology, Shah is a member of the American Gastroenterology Association, American Medical Association, American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Rhode Island Medical Society, and Rhode Island GI Society. He is a partner with Gastroenterology Associates, Inc. in Providence and currently resides in Sharon, MA.

Lifespan instituted the Excellence in Research Award in Judge Selya’s name in 1999 to honor the first Lifespan Board Chairman for his commitment to academic medicine. The award recognizes research excellence at the level of the independent investigator and serves to enhance the visibility and role of research within the Lifespan community.

A psychologist at The Miriam Hospital’s Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center and an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, McCaffery was honored for her research on the relationship between genetics and behavioral factors in both cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.

“Dr. McCaffery is a rising star in the Lifespan research community who truly personifies the spirit of this award,” said Judge Selya. “She is obviously a skilled and effective researcher and teacher who has already accomplished much in her academic career. Her research contributions could someday play a major role in our battle against devastating illnesses like obesity, heart disease and diabetes that affect millions of Americans each year.”

Selya added, “We are extremely fortunate to have such a talented investigator on board who will continue to build our position as a major national research center.”

McCaffery’s most recent study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, shed some light on the biological factors that may contribute to weight loss maintenance. According to her findings, people who have successfully maintained a significant weight loss may learn to respond differently to food cues than normal weight or obese individuals, leading researchers to believe that brain activity could influence behaviors – including food intake – that promote long-term weight control.

Earlier this year, McCaffery was lead author on a study that found genetic factors might predict depression in heart disease patients. Because the genes identified were related to the vascular system, the findings suggest that vascular health – which includes the body’s network of blood vessels, arteries and veins – may be a predictor of depression in individuals with heart disease.

McCaffery’s past research interests include twin and family studies, genetic and environmental associations between depression and smoking behavior, environmental contributions of socioeconomic status to health behaviors and cardiovascular disease, and specific variants in DNA that predict physiological responses to psychological stress.

A resident of West Greenwich, McCaffery received her undergraduate degree from Colgate University and her doctorate in clinical and health psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. She remained in Providence after serving as a clinical intern with the Brown Clinical Psychology Training Consortium, and has been a staff psychologist with The Miriam since 2001.
McCaffery is the author of nearly 40 peer-reviewed papers and has served as principal investigator and co-investigator on numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health. She serves on the editorial board of Psychosomatic Medicine and is a consulting reviewer for a number of top medical journals, including the American Journal of Cardiology, Archives of General Psychiatry, Journal of the American Medical Association, Annals of Behavioral Medicine and Circulation. McCaffery is also a member of the American Psychosomatic Society, American Psychological Association and The Obesity Society.

“We’re committed to maintaining and honoring the Jewish heritage and history of The Miriam Hospital,” said Arthur J. Sampson, executive director of The Miriam Hospital. “Rabbi Hodgetts brings a wealth of experience, knowledge and passion to our team and will be a valuable resource, not only to our staff, but also to the community that we serve.”

As a member of the Rhode Island Board of Rabbis, Hodgetts works with other rabbis in the Providence community to ensure that Jewish patients at The Miriam Hospital receive optimal spiritual care. She is also available as a Jewish resource for other chaplains and chaplaincy students as part of The Miriam’s relationship with the Chaplaincy Center in Providence.

“I am honored to be a part of a topnotch hospital with such strong Jewish roots that understands the essential role of spiritual care in medicine,” said Hodgetts. “I look forward to working alongside staff who are very energized and committed to providing quality care to patients, and for whom work is not just a job, but in many cases a calling.”

A graduate of Cornell University, Hodgetts received her MBA from Harvard Business School and spent many years in the field of organizational behavior and human resource management. In May 2009, Hodgetts received her ordination as rabbi from Hebrew College Rabbinical School. She completed several chaplaincy and rabbinic internships at organizations throughout New England, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She currently resides in Chestnut Hill, MA.

Hurvitz joined The Miriam Hospital Board of Trustees in 1974, serving as both a trustee and an officer, in addition to numerous committee assignments during his tenure. Upon completion of his term as trustee in 2004, he joined The Miriam Hospital Foundation Board, where he co-chaired The Campaign for the Next Generation. The campaign, the largest in the hospital’s history, raised more than $30 million to support the construction of the Victor and Gussie Baxt Building – a patient and surgical services center housing ten state-of-the-art operating rooms, a 25,000 square-foot radiology suite and 36 private patient rooms.

“Arthur Hurvitz has been a mentor for so many of us who volunteer at The Miriam. He leads by example in establishing the highest standards for quality and philanthropy,” said Edward D. Feldstein, chair of The Miriam Hospital Board of Trustees.

“Because of Arthur, we have an outstanding new building and are recognized nationally as a leader providing the highest quality of hospital care among academic medical facilities,” Feldstein added. “We are proud of Arthur for all he has done, and we thank him for permitting us to honor him as The Miriam Person of the Year.”

Hurvitz and his wife, Joyce – both strong supporters of nursing education at The Miriam – also established the Hurvitz Nursing Scholarship Fund, which has provided ongoing education for the hospital’s award-winning Magnet nurses.

It is common for the prostate gland to become enlarged as a man ages. According to the National Institutes of Health, there were 4.5 million physician visits for prostate enlargement in the United States in 2000. An enlarged prostate can press on the urethra and cause urination and bladder problems. The cause of this condition – known medically as benign prostatic hyperplasia – is unknown, although it does not raise the risk of prostate cancer.

Eligibility for the study includes men between the ages of 40-85 who:

Are being treated with testosterone for low testosterone levels (hypogonadism).

Have a prostate specific antigen (PSA) – a protein found in prostate cells used as a measure to screen for prostate cancer – of 1.5 or greater.

Participants will receive either an active medication called dutasteride, which is FDA-approved for reducing an enlarged prostate, or a placebo. Dutasteride has not been approved to prevent the enlargement of the prostate and is the focus of the research study.

The research study will be conducted over a one-year period and will involve office visits and blood tests at no charge. Participants will be compensated for their participation.

For more information, or to enroll in the study, please contact Laurie Given, RN, at 401-793-4636.

Rena R. Wing, PhD, director of the WCDRC and a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, is the principal investigator on these grants.

Funding for three of the grants was made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), including a highly competitive NIH Challenge Grant. Only 200 NIH Challenge Grants were awarded to researchers nationwide out of approximately 20,000 applications.

“Obesity continues to be the number one health risk facing Americans, and the health consequences and financial burden of this epidemic are devastating,” Wing said. “We are grateful for the support our team has received, which will help strengthen and build on our research programs to develop and study innovative obesity prevention and treatment strategies.”

The largest grant – nearly $6 million over five years – was awarded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to compare two behavioral interventions to prevent weight gain in young adults. According to Wing, young adults experience the greatest rate of weight gain – approximately one to two pounds per year – putting them at increased risk for weight-related health problems, such as heart disease.

“We know it gets harder to lose the weight as you get older, so preventing weight gain during young adulthood is critical to curbing the obesity epidemic,” added Wing.

The goal of Wing’s two-year, $930,320 NIH challenge grant, also funded through NHLBI, is to develop and test an innovative Internet-based program to improve patient adherence to behavioral weight loss regimens. Based on the findings of previous Miriam research studies, this program will use interactive, multimedia technology to capture several of the critical elements of effective behavioral weight loss programs. If the program is successful, it would provide a critical resource for physicians to use with their patients.

Federal funding will also support the following new studies:

Can increased sleep help with weight control?
This study, funded by the National Cancer Institute, will look at the parallels between the current epidemics of obesity and short sleep duration. Although epidemiological studies have documented a link between the two, there have been no intervention studies to date examining the impact of changes in sleep duration on changes in body weight. This study would develop an intervention to increase sleep duration and to determine whether increasing sleep alone, or in combination with a weight loss program, can have positive effects on eating, exercise and ultimately weight control.

Lifestyle intervention to treat erectile dysfunction
This ARRA-funded study will support the development of a National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) multi-center clinical trial to study the connection between erectile dysfunction (ED) and lifestyle interventions, such as weight loss and increased physical activity. ED affects approximately 30 million men in the United States and can be an early warning sign for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Recent studies suggest that lifestyle interventions may offer a promising approach that could improve ED as well as reduce CVD risk. Miriam researchers will develop a proposal for a full-scale clinical trial to determine whether an intensive lifestyle intervention results in greater improvement in ED.

The Look AHEAD continuation: Impact of weight loss intervention on Type 2 diabetes

This NIDDK grant, funded by ARRA, will provide supplementary funding for Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) to enhance retention and expand the outcome measures in this trial. Look AHEAD is a randomized, multi-site clinical trial examining whether weight loss achieved through an intensive lifestyle intervention can reduce CVD and CVD-related death among overweight individuals with Type 2 diabetes.

Gene X behavior interaction in the Look AHEAD study
In a related study, Wing and colleague Jeanne McCaffery, PhD, also of the WCDRC, will try to identify specific genes that predict individual differences in weight loss achieved in behavioral interventions. These genetic factors may shed some light on why some individuals are successful and others struggle to achieve weight loss. This study, which is also funded by NIDDK, will include participants in the Look AHEAD trial.

The ARRA of 2009, passed by Congress in February, opened up funding opportunities for new projects as well as supplemental funding for projects that already are well on their way to achieving significant results. The NIH Challenge Grant program is designed to spur new areas of research in 15 broad scientific areas the agency believes will benefit from a jumpstart or in which scientific challenges need to be overcome, including behavioral change and prevention.

The main goal of The Miriam Hospital’s Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center is to foster high quality research on the prevention and treatment of obesity. Their research programs use a multidisciplinary approach that focuses on healthy eating, exercise, and modifying behavior to promote weight loss and maintenance. For more information about these and other related research projects, please visit www.weightresearch.org or call 401-793-8950.

There is growing evidence that physical activity interventions can contribute to improved mood, quality of life, reduced fatigue and increased vigor among cancer survivors. That’s why researchers with The Miriam Hospital’s Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine are conducting several studies with survivors of all forms of cancer, including breast cancer, to identify effective ways of promoting physical and emotional health following cancer treatment.

Moving Forward Together 2
This study, led by Bernardine Pinto, PhD, is a follow-up to Moving Forward Together, a groundbreaking pilot study that provided some of the first evidence that community volunteers can successfully deliver a research-based physical activity program to breast cancer survivors. In Moving Forward Together 2, researchers from The Miriam Hospital will train community volunteers from the American Cancer Society’s Reach to Recovery program – who are breast cancer survivors themselves – to deliver a telephone-based physical activity intervention to women requesting Reach to Recovery services.

Working in partnership with local American Cancer Society chapters, approximately 15-20 volunteers will be trained to offer the 12-week program, which consists of weekly phone calls with survivors to encourage them to engage in more moderate-intensity physical activity. A comparison group of breast cancer patients will receive emotional and informational support as part of an extended, 12-week version of traditional Reach to Recovery services.

Researchers will assess physical activity, fatigue and other outcomes throughout the program. If the physical activity program is found to be effective, there is a potential for dissemination among the 13,000 Reach to Recovery volunteers across the country. Moving Forward Together 2 is funded by the National Cancer Institute. For more information, contact Gail Agronick, PhD, at 401-793-8162 or Gail Agronick

Stride for Women
This research study, funded by the National Cancer Institute, is designed to help women who have a first degree relative with breast cancer become more physically active. Throughout this 12-week study, participants will regularly receive exercise information that has been shown to be effective in helping people become more physically active.

Women between the ages of 18 and 65 who have a mother, sister or daughter diagnosed with breast cancer are invited to join the study. Participants must be a healthy female who is not a regular exerciser and does not have high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, heart disease or any type of cancer. For more information, contact Santina Horowitz at 401-793-8124 or Santina Horowittz.

Survivors Step into Motion
This study is testing a website designed to help young adults between the ages of 18-39 who have completed treatment for any form of cancer become more physically active. Young adult cancer survivors who participate are randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group will receive access for 12 weeks to a website that provides them with information about physical activity, including the benefits to cancer survivors who exercise, tips for becoming and staying active and lists of local resources such as hiking trails. The website also provides a way for participants to log their exercise goals and exercise performed. A comparison group will receive information about other cancer-related websites that may be helpful.

To be eligible for the study, participants must have been diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 18 and 39, been diagnosed with cancer in the past 10 years and currently be in remission. This study is funded by the National Cancer Institute. To learn more, contact Santina Horowitz at 401-793-8124 or Santina Horowitz.

Survivors RENEW
The Survivors RENEW study is testing out a combined exercise and relaxation program designed for young adult cancer survivors between the ages of 18 and 39. The program includes weekly telephone coaching to assist participants in becoming more physically active and learning mindfulness meditation – a form of relaxation. Young adult survivors who participate in the study are randomly assigned to either receive this 12-week program right away, or after a delay.

Eligible participants must have been diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 18 and 39, been diagnosed with cancer in the past five years and currently be in remission. This study is funded by the American Cancer Society. To learn more, contact Lynn Bucknam at 401-793-8233 or Lynn Bucknam.

Under the direction of Howard Safran, MD, a specialist in pancreatic cancer, Lifespan’s oncology clinical research department will recruit patients from both Rhode Island Hospital and its partner, The Miriam Hospital, to evaluate a new vaccine designed to activate the immune system. The vaccine, called NewLink Genetics’ HyperAcute Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine, will be used in patients who have already been treated surgically, and will be used along with conventional therapy.

The clinical trial will allow Safran and other researchers to evaluate treatment response and monitor any side effects. It will examine the potential of the vaccine to stimulate the immune system to respond to the patient’s own cancer cells, with the hope of extending survival rates, improving quality of life and reducing the chance for tumor recurrence.

Traditionally, the body’s immune system does not fight cancer cells on its own because cancer cells differ only slightly from normal cells. As a result, it is difficult for the body’s immune system to identify and attack the cancer cells’ abnormal proteins. Vaccines such as the one used in this study are meant to boost the immune system’s ability to identify “foreign invaders,” and generate an immune response.

Individuals who are 18 years and older who have been diagnosed with Stage I or II pancreatic cancer, have undergone surgical resection of the pancreas and show no evidence of disease following surgery may be eligible to participate in the trial. Additional criteria must also be met and eligibility for participation will be determined by the research team. Participants will receive vaccine treatment for six months, during which blood samples will be drawn on a monthly basis. Patient follow-up visits will be scheduled every two months for the remainder of the first year, and every three months for the next two years.

The trial is sponsored by NewLink Genetics, located in Ames, IA. For more information, patients should call Howard Safran, MD, through the Lifespan Oncology Clinical Research Office at Rhode Island Hospital at 401-444-8856.