On Friday, June 28, the Alzheimer’s Association is hosting its Spring Caregiver Conference at the Avalon Manor Banquet Center at 355 E. US Highway 30, Merrillville. The Alzheimer’s Association is inviting family members of those living with dementia as well as professionals to explore communication and behavioral management around persons with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

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Porter Regional Hospital will present the following free community wellness programs in June:

A Holistic Approach to Pain and Fatigue

Do you ache all over? Are you always tired? Join Family Medicine Physician Dr. Omer Ansari to learn about the integrative holistic approach for the treatment of chronic fatigue and chronic pain. This informative and practical presentation will help you learn of various natural treatment options.

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In honor of May being Stroke Awareness Month, Porter Regional Hospital’s Center for Cardiovascular Medicine will present “Signs and Symptoms of Stroke” at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 28 in the Cardiac Rehabilitation Department at Valparaiso Medical Center, 2000 Roosevelt Road in Valparaiso.

The free presentation will feature Porter’s Stroke Coordinator Nicole Stevens, RN, who will share key ways to reduce your risk of stroke and how to act FAST when a stroke occurs to save lives and brain cells.

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This past week was National Women’s Health Week. And from May 13-17, the Portage YMCA celebrated the ladies. Each day there were different activities and classes held within the YMCA and free screenings for people to participate in. They partnered with St. Mary Medical Center who helped to provide the educators and equipment necessary to make this week’s idea a reality.

“The Portage Y has partnered with St. Mary Medical Center in order to enhance the quality of life in the community through education about healthy living practices,” Danny Gonzales, RN and Health and Wellness Coordinator at St. Mary Medical Center, explained. “With the variety of total wellness opportunities that the YMCA has to offer and the hospital’s preventative screenings and education, this will help the community capture the ultimate balance of life.”

Read more: Portage YMCA Rocked...

Take a look at what's happening at Portage YMCA this week in honor of Women's Health Week! They are pulling out all the stops to make sure that the women of their community are as informed as possible.

Wednesday May 15 at the Portage YMCA, a St. Mary Medical Center Registered Dietitian discussed the benefits of eating healthy. A behavioral nurse also spoke on the topic: Riding the Waves of Stress, Anxiety and Depression.There were free muscle massage and a chance to win a "national women's health week" dryfit shirt. It's free and open to the public.

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Tonight, a lovely group of nurses and hospital employees of Porter Regional Hospital, along with the hospital’s CEO Jonathan Nalli and the Board of Commissions President John Evans, gathered once again to celebrate the work of Florence Nightingale, the famed nurse who essentially founded modern nursing.

“I really look at Florence Nightingale and what you all do as nurses as that dawn of healthcare careers that has grown and expanded based on evidence-based medical practice that has been so integral to the expansion of healthcare. So really this is a thank you to you all,” Nalli said.

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What do you do as the CEO of St. Mary?

It’s really about fulfilling our mission, I feel like I’m the steward of the organization during the period of time that I’m in my role, so for me it’s making certain that we’re meeting the health needs of the community and I know that’s also a very broad comment, but it encompasses everything from making certain that we have high quality physicians participating at the hospital, providing care to the community, making sure we provide the physicians and our staff with the best in technology and tools to achieve those goals, and last but certainly not least, always looking if we can expand our services in the local community because we are a community based facility here in the Hobart community, servicing not only Hobart but also the Merrillville community, Crown Point, Portage, Valparaiso, Lake Station and Gary.

Read more: An Interview with St....