Find Innovative Health Care in Licking County, OH

Licking Memorial Health Systems

It sounds like science fiction: A hospital bed that tracks patient health, artificial intelligence that discovers hard-to-find breast tumors, a blood test that can tell whether you have had a heart attack. But this medical technology is not fantasy – it’s the stuff of everyday miracles at Licking Memorial Health Systems (LMHS). Here’s a look at the innovative health care in Licking County.

Technological Advancements Help Patients

From accelerating the way organ transplant recipients are matched with donors to practicing the less-invasive procedure of robotic surgery, patients are receiving better and faster diagnoses, medical and surgical care, and outcomes. 

“Offering the most advanced methods for patient care is vital to maintaining LMHS’ mission to improve the health of the community,” says Veronica Patton, vice president of development and public relations at Licking Memorial Health Systems. “Within the past few years, we have done our best to keep in step with the rapid advances (in technology). LMHS is fortunate to be financially stable enough to invest in new equipment and can react quickly when advanced technology becomes available.” 

Among those tech advancements: 

» iReferral launched in 2023 in partnership with Lifeline of Ohio, the organ procurement organization serving LMHS. The technology has streamlined the process of getting donor organs to recipients, replacing the slower manual system. 

» The Centrella Smart Bed monitors patient heart rate, breathing and movement, signaling any changes to nursing staff and helping to avert falls. LMHS was the first hospital in Ohio to invest in EarlySense, an innovative contact-free system to detect vital signs. When the makers of the smart bed purchased EarlySense technology and created the Progressa+ Smart ICU smart beds, LMHS received 13 out of the 500 manufactured in the U.S. 

» The Ocuvera system, another advancement in patient monitoring, uses 3D cameras to detect when a high-fall-risk patient attempts to get up on their own, notifying nurses, who can quickly get to the patient to help. The camera feed is limited to the patient’s own nurses and can be put in private mode. 

» Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Fusion Prostate Biopsy is one of several advances in imaging that have improved patient diagnosis and outcomes. Used in conjunction with traditional diagnostic tools for prostate cancer, it is able to target problem areas that might be missed. 

» Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System (LUCAS) is a mechanical chest compression-decompression aid to CPR and a valuable lifesaver for emergency departments and cardiac care units. 

» The Rover app is used around the hospital. Loaded onto a dedicated smartphone, it can convey information about medication orders, food service, lab results and more. 

» Perhaps most dramatic, the da Vinci Surgical System provides robotic assistance to surgeons, allowing them to see the operating field more clearly and reach areas that they could not unassisted. For patients this means less blood loss, smaller incisions, less pain medication and faster recovery. 

Health Care in Licking County Brings a Healing Touch 

How do medical and surgical staff who use this technology manage to keep up with rapidly changing advances? 

“LMHS has created a state-of-the-art training facility that utilizes an adult patient simulator to create real-life scenarios,” Patton says. “Apollo, a wireless mannequin, can be programmed to trigger patient behaviors and actions, including a heart attack. Many of the clinical staff spend an extended period at the training facility during orientation to learn to use the different technology available.” 

Clinical staff must attend an annual Skills Day at the training center. But patients don’t need to worry that, as technology plays a greater part in their care, they may lose the healing human touch. 

“LMHS employees are better able to interact with patients because the technology performs many time-consuming tasks that in the past would require a nurse, physician or caregiver’s focus instead of spending time with the patient,” Patton says. “The human element will always be needed in a health care facility.” 

Destination Wellness for Women

Mother of six, fitness instructor, registered nurse, Realtor and entrepreneur, Beth Bobinski can tell you a thing or two about being busy. But she can also tell you plenty about fulfillment. 

Through her various roles, she was highly engaged with wellness, but believed there was more to it than crunches and treadmills. As the founder and owner of Destination Wellness in Newark, she has watched a small idea grow into a vibrant community of women who share that vision with her. 

“I noticed, over the years, that we do a lot for others as women, but want to do some things for ourselves, like ‘I need to go to the gym’ or ‘I need to go to the hairdresser.’ We run all over the place,” she says. “So, I thought, why not put everything under one roof?” 

In September 2023, she opened Destination Wellness, a one-stop shop for all things self-care. 

“We have natural nails, mani-pedis, nutrition coaching, mental health counseling, aesthetics, Botox and other injectables, massage therapy, spray tanning and – on top of that – we offer more than 150 fitness classes a month,” Bobinski says. 

The impact of the space is significant. 

“It is 100% a community,” Bobinski says. “The biggest payoff of all is when a member says, ‘You have no idea what you have done for me.’”