July 2021

PM&R General Rehabilitation at the VA

By Dr. Judith Kosasih

THRIVING is the theme for the VA PM&R General Rehab team during this transition time that has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Milwaukee VA was one of first facilities nationwide to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to patients/Veterans and providers. In fact, the PM&R physicians received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccinations on the same day that former VP Mike Pence received his first vaccine live on TV in mid-December 2020. Throughout the following months, the VA has led in its vigorous efforts to expand vaccination administration for interested Veterans of all ages, Veterans’ spouses, caregivers, and VA employees. In early May 2021, almost 60% of our Veterans have either received a vaccine from Milwaukee VA (over 40,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines) or have reported that they received it in the community. In addition, approximately 8,000 doses have been administered to VA employees.

PM&R providers have continued to adapt to the constant whirlwind of operational changes at the VA. PM&R outpatient clinic has made steady progress towards new normalcy with close to 100% clinic scheduling, including face-to-face visits and virtual options of video visits, phone visits, and electronic consults.

The CARF CIIRP inpatient program started to take outside admissions in April 2021 (with specific COVID-19 precaution guidelines). We continue to utilize virtual communication for team huddles and interdisciplinary team meetings/staffings. Selected patients are set up with VA Video Connect (VVC) capability as part of discharge process to promote outpatient virtual care.

In Spring 2021, PM&R actively participated in multiple Pre-Cerner Current State Review Focus Group virtual meetings, in preparation for the future implementation of new Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) at the VA. With a target go live in 2023, Cerner EHR will be a big change in our current VA practice with Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS).

We are grateful and hopeful for the future and continue to look forward to the time when we can finally see ALL of the friendly smiles that have been hidden behind the face masks!

In March 2021, Milwaukee VA was the first VA in VISN 12 to successfully complete the Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit regarding Long Term Opioid Prescribing performance metrics. As part of the Pain Management Team, PM&R/Dr. Kotsonis is the leader of this initiative along with Anesthesia Pain Clinic.
Dr. Cheng successfully passed his ABPMR part II/oral board exam for PM&R board certification in October 2020.
Congratulations to all of our graduating PM&R residents and fellow for their truly outstanding research projects presented at Research Day, held on June 2! The quality of their research projects is exceptional. Many thanks to their research faculty mentors, Dr. Durand and Meghann for supporting their research initiatives over the last 2-3 years.

Congratulations to our Graduating PM&R Residents and Fellow!

We celebrated our graduating Residents' and Fellows' accomplishments at a delightful gathering hosted by Dr. Braza on June 17. Thank you to all those who joined via Zoom.

Adaptive Sports Updates

Our residents have done it again. Every year, our PM&R residents and faculty step up to perform a valuable community service by providing medical support to adaptive sports events. With decline in COVID-19 cases, sporting events have started opening back up. On May 20-23, the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association (GLASA) held their Great Lakes Games in Milwaukee, where athletes with disabilities of all ages competed in powerlifting, swimming, air rifle, and track and field.

On June 5-6, the Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association (WASA) held their annual Big Cheese Classic Wheelchair Basketball tournament in Beaver Dam. Despite being an hour away from Milwaukee, our residents and faculty covered our partner program’s flagship tournament. They were there to cheer on the team and provide medical support ranging from scrapes to lacerations to dislocations. We want to thank Dr. Ryan Stefanzyk for his leadership in organizing the resident schedule. Shout out to all the residents, Drs. Meghan Caballero, Chris Ng, Tyson Sessions, Laruen Shuda and our attendings Drs. Carrie Jones, Ken Lee, Beth Weinman, and Chris White. We also had a student, Sarah Meeuwsen, join us.

Welcome new PM&R Residents and Fellows !

Spinal Cord Injury Fellow

Spasticity Fellow

Congratulations Dr. Elizabeth Camenga on her wedding!

Elizabeth Camenga and Timothy Lawton tied the knot on May 2 in Elizabeth’s childhood church. They met about twelve years ago at a church camp. In 2017, they started emailing and noticed that they were potentially equally nerdy. Tim is an electrical engineer; Elizabeth has a physics major; and both love history. Neither of them had dated before, but gave long-distance dating a whirl in 2018. Tim moved from his home state of Rhode Island in March 2020, ten days before Wisconsin's first Safer At Home order. Wedding planning during COVID-19 was not fun, but ~85 people were able to attend in person and dozens more virtually. Thankfully, they have not heard any reports of an outbreak!

Kaia Calhoun Photography

Congratulations to the Kosasih family !

Despite COVID-19-related barriers, Dr. Kosasih was able to fulfill her ‘dream’ to participate in the MCW tradition where she, an MCW alumni parent, gowned her son during the MCW Medical School Class of 2021 Virtual Hooding Ceremony on May 19, 2021.

Congratulations to the Jones Family!

Welcome Isabella Marie Jones! She was born on June 5, 2021 at 11:21 pm, at 7lbs 3 oz. and 19.5 inches. Mom and Baby are doing well. Congratulations Dr. Jones !

Have news to share with your PM&R colleagues? We would love to hear from you for our next issue, so please email any recent publications, awards, presentations, shout-outs, pictures, etc. to Beatriz Envila at benvila@mcw.edu.

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