Dr. Juri McDowell is the winner of the 2018 Alton Memorial Hospital Chairman’s Award. Dr. McDowell, chief of Anesthesiology at AMH, was honored at the annual Physician’s Appreciation Dinner, held recently at the Post Commons in Alton.

The Marquette Catholic High School girls volleyball team got satisfaction beyond just a victory over Brussels High School on Sept. 27. The Explorers also hosted “Volley for Music” to benefit the Music and Memory program at Alton Memorial Hospital’s Center for Senior Renewal. The evening brought in more than $1,000 cash, $280 worth of iTunes gift cards and 32 CDs.

Amy Kasarda, a nurse in Alton Memorial Hospital's Women's Health and Childbirth Center, is this year's AMH nominee to the BJC Health Hall of Fame. Amy has used Weight Watchers to help her lose more than 100 pounds since the summer of 2017.

Alton Memorial Hospital and BJC Medical Group are expanding their presence in Madison County with a new medical office building that will soon be under construction in Bethalto. The building will replace the Family Physicians of Bethalto office and will be located on the south side of Route 140, just east of its current location. At nearly 9,000 square feet, the new structure will be four times the size of the current office. It will be able to accommodate five providers; the current space has room for only two.

A few days of renovation work with no disruption to patient care have resulted in a spruced-up Alton Memorial Convenient Care.

Penny Krause has had quite a year at Alton Memorial Hospital. The manager of Respiratory Therapy, the Sleep Lab and Neurodiagnostics worked hard to get the Sleep Lab accredited and was also a key figure as AMH transitioned to the EPIC electronic medical record system. She also learned how to fly an airplane and became a pilot.

Joanna Krajewski is right-handed and never gave much thought to how important her left arm was – until she broke her left elbow in a fall earlier this year. But thanks to several sessions with Callie Feldman, an occupational therapist at Alton Memorial’s Human Motion Institute who specializes in hand therapy, Joanna is regaining strength and mobility.

Breast cancer treatment is taking another step forward at Alton Memorial Hospital with the addition of a prone breast board. Funded by the AMH White Cross Auxiliary, the prone breast board assists in providing comfortable and reproducible patient positioning for treatments.

Resident-directed care is the trend inside skilled nursing communities, and Jennifer Popp is looking to amplify that as she takes over as administrator at Eunice Smith Home.

Alton Memorial Hospital is excited to welcome Dr. John Pargulski to the AMH medical staff and St. Louis Cardiology Consultants. He is now accepting new patients in the St. Louis Cardiology Consultants office in Medical Office Building A (Suite 102) on the AMH campus. Please call 618-462-6612 to schedule an appointment today.