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VNS Counseling Program Gets Komen Foundation Grant



Bergen, PacifiCare Make Most-Admired Lists; Perigon Goes Online

VNA Home Health Systems, the oldest nonprofit home-healthcare service in the county, announced a $15,000 grant (renewable for two years) from the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to help expand its childhood bereavement program, Necessary Steps.

The program provides counseling to children in young families to deal with the death of a loved one. Often when a parent dies in the family, the surviving spouse is counseled, but the children are not, said Heather Wood Ion, VNA president and CEO.

Within the past year, the program has received numerous requests for VNA’s social workers to provide training at schools around the county. One social worker went to Columbine High School in Colorado to lend a hand when students returned to school in the fall following the highly publicized shootings there.

“Children have grief issues, too,” Ion said. “I think that we need to recognize that the more children face violence, the more we have to face bereavement issues.”

VNA was founded in 1947.

Two OC Firms Admired

Fortune magazine in its March issue published lists of America’s most-admired companies. Two OC firms made the top 10 of two lists: Bergen Brunswig was No. 7 on the wholesalers list (also No. 7 last year), and PacifiCare dropped from the No. 4 position last year to No. 7 this year on the healthcare list. The list was compiled after asking executives, directors and securities analysts to select five companies they admired most, regardless of industry.

The 10 most-admired healthcare companies, from top to bottom: WellPoint Health Networks, United HealthCare, Cigna, Aetna, Tenet Healthcare, Columbia/HCA Healthcare, PacifiCare Health Systems, Foundation Health, Humana and Caremark Rx. Some movers were Cigna, which moved up from No. 6 last year; Aetna, up from No. 9; Tenet down from No. 3 last year to No. 5; and Humana down from No. 6 to No. 9.

Bits and Pieces

Perigon Medical Distribution Corp., Laguna Hills, announced the release of an e-commerce storefront for online transactions. The system will allow users to search an online catalog, check pricing and inventory and place an order. Customers will have access to four portals: longtermcareworld.com, homecareworld.com, medpracticeworld.com and medsupplyworld.com Irvine-based Micro Therapeutics’ Onyx Liquid Embolic System was used for the first time at two medical centers to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms. The procedures were performed at Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre at the University of British Columbia and at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation Medstone International Inc., Aliso Viejo, a distributor and manufacturer of lithotripters used to treat kidney stones, has retained Coffin Communications of Sherman Oaks to manage its investor relations program MyHealth2000.com, a health and wellness information web site, has added information to debunk several of the most popular Internet health myths, such as e-mail-spread reports that antiperspirants cause breast cancer and that the artificial sweetener Aspartame can cause seizures. Go to www.myhealth2000.com/get/aprilfool for the information Mallinckrodt Inc., a medical-device manufacturer, was able to keep its Irvine operations from relocating to the firm’s other sites in Mexico and Ireland because of assistance from local and state agencies as well as discounted electricity rates from SCE Allergan Inc. was named as a corporate sponsor for the World Congress and Exposition on Disabilities to be held Nov. 10-12 in Atlanta. The WCD is an expo to bring together disabled persons and those who are involved in their care and development. Allergan representatives will be on hand to answer questions about its products to treat eye diseases and about Botox, which is used to alleviate muscle spasms (and of course, to smooth out facial wrinkles,but that’s an off-label use) I-Flow Corp., Lake Forest, introduced two pain-management products at last week’s American Society of Regional Anesthesia in Orlando, Fla. The two products are Gertie Marx Spinal Tray, which officials say has increased the accuracy of spinal-block procedures, and EpiStar Combined Spinal and Epidural System, which is designed to allow a catheter position to be verified before a spinal injection is made The 2000 Spring Scientific Session of the California Dental Association has been scheduled for April 14-16 at the Anaheim Convention Center. The three-day event will feature exhibits, symposia, lectures and workshops geared for dental and allied professionals. Call CDA’s Lynne Randolph at (800) 736-7071 ext. 4570.

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