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ST. LOUIS (Dec. 11, 2006) — Dr. Isabelle Kopec was recognized by the St. Louis Business Journal as one of its Healthcare Hero finalists. Dr. Kopec, vice president and a founder of Advanced ICU Care – a company connecting critical care physicians (intensivists) to hospital ICU patients using telemedicine technology – was honored in the Healthcare Innovation category.
Advanced ICU Care is the first private group to deliver this eICU® technology – along with board-certified intensivists and experienced critical care nurses – to ICU patients in community hospitals. By using remote computer monitoring and caring for patients via bedside cameras and microphones, Dr. Kopec and Advanced ICU Care’s 20-plus team of intensivists and critical care nurses provide around-the-clock care and monitoring for ICU patients in hospitals as far away as Wisconsin. Studies show that this model of care helps to save lives and shorten ICU stay.
“Dr. Kopec is truly a healthcare innovator, but she’s also an everyday hero for extending her expertise in critical care medicine to ICU patients across the country,” said Mary Jo Gorman, M.D., MBA, chief executive officer of Advanced ICU Care. “As a practicing intensivist, she provides the very best care for patients and their families, as well as continued support and guidance for the patients’ local caregivers.”
In addition to her role at Advanced ICU Care, Dr. Kopec is also chair of the department of Critical Care Medicine and president of the medical staff at SSM - DePaul Health Center in Bridgeton, Missouri.
“Dr. Kopec has led a number of quality improvement initiatives at DePaul, all designed to improve patient care and safety,” said Melinda Clarke, president of SSM - DePaul Health Center. “Above all, she is dedicated to ensuring that critically ill patients receive the best possible care. This has been the center and full focus of her medical career,” she added.
About Advanced ICU Care
Advanced ICU Care is a medical service company that provides high-quality remote critical care to patients in the intensive care units (ICU) of community hospitals. Through a technology platform developed by VISICU, local hospital ICUs are linked with Advanced ICU Care’s eICU Operations Center in St. Louis, Missouri. This operations center is staffed by highly trained, board-certified intensivists (critical care medicine physicians) and critical care nurses who together have cared for more than 30,000 patients. Collectively, Advanced ICU Care’s medical staff brings more than 75 years of clinical experience as well as expertise in hospital compliance initiatives, educational programs, and the development and implementation of protocol and care pathways.
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eICU® is a registered trademark of VISICU, Inc.