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Let’s Keep Our Community Healthy
What Technology is Used to Disinfect Patient Rooms?
Limiting Added Sugars in Your Diet
Patient Story: Hand Therapy
Featured Video: Osteoporosis? You Have Options
Milford Regional Recognized Nationally for Value of Care
MyHealthLink Patient Portal
Connect with Milford Regional
Do You Need a Primary Care Physician?
Specialty Highlighted: Neurosurgery
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Let’s Keep Our Community Healthy
Since the COVID-19 challenge began, generous members of the community have reached out to help and show gratitude for the efforts of our frontline healthcare workers. Since the desire to help continues to grow, we asked our medical professionals how best to answer the question, “How can we help?” They all responded with the same answer: The best way for you to help us is to stay COVID-free.
If you, your family and friends do these three simple things, it will go a long way in turning the tide of this virus. Each of you can make a difference.
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Wear a Mask in Public
It has been proven in several studies that mask-wearing in public reduces the spread of COVID-19. Outdoors, indoors, wherever you encounter people you do not live with, wear a mask to be safe. Make sure the mask covers your mouth AND your nose. This is the single most effective way to stop the virus.
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Wash Your Hands
Wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds regularly during the day. Wash before and after touching your eyes, nose or mouth and touching your mask. You should also wash after preparing or eating food, after using the bathroom, sneezing or coughing, as well as entering or leaving a public place. If hand washing isn’t an option, use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. This practice kills the virus.
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Limit Gatherings
Limit gatherings to only people who live inside your household. When you must be outside of your home, always keep a distance of 6 feet or greater between you and anyone who does not live in your home. It’s hard to tell who has been exposed to COVID-19, especially those who are asymptomatic. Limiting gatherings is essential to controlling the spread of the virus.
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Please remain diligent with these three things, and ask your family and friends to do so too. The staff at Milford Regional will be extremely grateful for your help. |
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What Technology is Used to Disinfect Patient Rooms?
Take a look at one of the technologies in Milford Regional’s environmental services department. Nicknamed, "WALL-E" and "Rosie", these germ-fighting robots have taken Milford Regional to a whole new dimension in combating deadly pathogens and drug resistant organisms through the transmission of ultraviolet light.
Resembling R2-D2 from "Star Wars", the Xenex disinfection device uses pulsed xenon ultraviolet (UV-C) light that is 25,000 times more powerful than sunlight to destroy harmful bacteria, viruses, fungi and even bacterial spores. Studies show that the Xenex system is consistently 20 times more effective than standard chemical cleaning practices and effective against a variety of the most dangerous superbugs, including Clostridium difficile endospores (C.diff), norovirus, influenza and staph bacteria like MRSA. It has been credited for helping healthcare facilities in the U.S. decrease their MRSA and C.diff infection rates by more than 50 percent.
In just five to 10 minutes, the device can disinfect a patient room, patient bathroom or operating room (OR) by washing over the surfaces with UV-C light where germs reside without leaving a chemical residue. To disinfect a room after standard cleaning procedures are complete, hospital team members wheel the Xenex robot into the room, begin the automated sequence, and then leave the room.
The environmental services staff couldn't be happier about making "WALL-E" and "Rosie" an important part of their daily cleaning regime. They feel empowered because they can clearly see that they’re doing their part in preventing infections. Milford Regional has been recognized for patient safety measures many times during the last several years, so it makes sense that the Medical Center is incorporating this innovation in disinfecting technology to provide the best defense against acquired infections.
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Limiting Added Sugars in Your Diet
Sugar occurs naturally in some food such as fruit (fructose) and milk (lactose), but it is the sugar we add to our diet that we should control. The major sources of added sugars are regular soft drinks, candy, cakes, cookies, pies and fruit drinks (fruitades and fruit punch); dairy desserts and milk products (ice cream, sweetened yogurt and sweetened milk); and other grains (cinnamon toast and honey-nut waffles).
To tell if a processed food has added sugar, you need to look at the list of ingredients. Sugar has many other names. Besides those ending in “ose,” such as maltose or sucrose, other names for sugar include high fructose corn syrup, molasses, cane sugar, corn sweetener, raw sugar or syrup.
The Nutrition Facts label on food packaging was changed by the FDA a couple of years ago to help people make healthy eating choices. While the old label just offered a total "sugars" number, the new label calls out "added sugars" as well. That's because nutrition experts are less concerned about the natural sugars we consume in the form of fruits, vegetables and dairy products. It's the added sugars — often listed on ingredients labels as healthy-sounding agave nectar, honey, concentrated fruit juice or brown rice syrup, in addition to table sugar (sucrose) — that need to be limited.
The American Heart Association recommends adults eat no more than six to nine teaspoons of added sugar a day, but Americans actually consume much more — about 17 teaspoons a day. Read more from the American Heart Association about tips to control added sugars in our diet. |
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Patient Story: Hand Therapy |
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Cyndi Paulsen lived a very busy life with a full-time job, a treasured son and she played guitar and drums with a local band. That life took a bad turn when she lost control of her motorcycle on the road. She was severely injured and required several surgeries. After wearing a cast for her broken wrist, Cyndi’s left hand became contracted and stiffened into a claw-like appendage – virtually unusable and painful. She contacted Milford Regional’s Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine facility in Milford and began working with one of the certified hand therapists. The special designation of Certified Hand Therapist denotes an added level of knowledge that can make a significant difference in the outcome of an injury. Read Cyndi’s story and learn more about our certified hand therapists. |
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Osteoporosis? You Have Options
Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by low bone mass and deterioration of bone tissue. It can lead to back pain and an increased susceptibility to fractures. It is a major threat to women who are 50 years of age and older, but it also affects one in five men. In this video, Milford Regional endocrinologist, Samir Kailani, MD discusses how abnormal hormone levels can affect the bones and cause osteoporosis and what medications can be taken to avoid the more serious complications of the disease.
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Milford Regional Recognized Nationally for Value of Care
Milford Regional is one of the top 100 hospitals in the country according to a new hospital index released last year that ranks hospitals based on value of care provided, quality of care and civic leadership. The Lown Institute Hospitals Index places Milford Regional as 86th nation- wide in its ranking of 3,300 hospitals and 300 hospital systems. The national list is based on a variety of factors including community benefits, pay equity and inclusivity, as well as mortality, re-admissions, patient safety, patient satisfaction, and avoiding the overuse of procedures with little or no clinical benefit.
There are 10 other Massachusetts hospitals joining Milford Regional in the top 100, including UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital (8) Boston Medical Center (11), UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester (24), Winchester Hospital (48), Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital in Boston (53), Health Care Brockton Hospital (75), Cambridge Health Alliance (88), Marlborough Hospital (94) and Baystate Wing Hospital and Medical Centers in Palmer (100).
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MyHealthLink Patient Portal
Milford Regional’s MyHealthLink provides access to your pertinent health information through our secure, online web portal. In addition, we have a MyHealthLink mobile app to make accessing your health information even easier.
Through the portal you can review laboratory and test results (current and prior years to compare), track medications and appointments, view discharge instructions and much more. If you are not registered for the patient portal, you can access it by going to our website, milfordregional.org and click on the My HealthLink portal button in the upper right corner of the homepage or use this link to go directly to the portal page. |
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Connect with Us
There are a variety of ways to connect with Milford Regional to stay up-to-date on hospital news and happenings. Become a Milford Regional Facebook fan or follow us on Twitter and get the latest news and health tips. If you like video, check out our YouTube channel to see patient testimonials, physician lectures, and COVID-19 related videos. How about recipes, photos, and all kinds of health ideas – see our Pinterest boards. You can also obtain lots of health information from our blog, TakeCare. In the blog, you can read many articles written by Milford Regional experts – our physicians, nurse practitioners and educators on numerous topics such as diabetes, maternity, nutrition, infection prevention, men and women’s health and more.
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Don’t forget to check out our website for information on our health services, news articles, patient stories, physician lectures and so much more. |
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Milford Regional's active medical staff, consisting of over 250 doctors, is highly qualified to treat you and your family through sickness and in health. Whether you need a primary care physician or a specialist, you can be assured of the best possible care.
Need a Primary Care Provider (PCP)?
If you need a physician, please call our Physician Referral Line at 1-888-DRS-HERE (1-888-377-4373). Our Referral Line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For a quick look, see our list of primary care providers who are accepting new patients. It is important to note that not all physicians accept all insurances. Please call the physician's office directly to find out if they accept your insurance plan.
Specialty Highlighted: Neurosurgery
Neurosurgery is the specialty concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of patients with injury to, or diseases and disorders of the brain, spinal cord and spinal column, and peripheral nerves within all parts of the body. Dependent upon the nature of the injury or disease a neurological surgeon may provide surgical and/or non-surgical care. They often treat neck pain and back pain, as well as many other illnesses affecting the nerves. We have two new neurosurgeons who have recently joined Milford Regional’s medical staff. Ziev Moses, MD and Justin Slavin, MD see patients at UMass Memorial Surgery at Milford located at 91 Water St. Appointments with either doctor can be made by calling 508-458-4250. Learn more about our neurosurgeons.
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508-473-1190
TTY/TDD: 508-473-5103
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