Story ideas, interview requests and inquiries

Please begin all story ideas, interview requests and inquiries with Geoff Thomas, Media Coordinator, Lutheran Health Network. He may be contacted at (260) 435-7122 or via e-mail at gthomas@lutheran-hosp.com. LauraMarie Carmody and Lizette Downey are Communications Coordinators for the Lutheran Health Network. Both serve in a media support role and spearhead special events. LauraMarie is in the office Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Lizette is in the office Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each may be contacted at (260) 435-7107 or via e-mail at lcarmody@lutheran-hosp.com and ldowney@lutheran-hosp.com respectively. Our department serves Lutheran Health Network facilities in Fort Wayne including St. Joseph Hospital, RediMed urgent care clinics, Dupont Hospital, Rehabilitation Hospital of Fort Wayne and Lutheran Hospital. Community Relations is open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Media Access Policy
POLICY SUMMARY: It is the policy of the Lutheran Health Network that all arrangements for interviews and photographs/video with patients, family members and associates must be made through the Community Relations Department. Community Relations will contact the individual(s) the media is interested in interviewing and make arrangements according to their wishes. If an interview is granted, a team member from Community Relations will accompany the media representative while at any Lutheran Health Network facility to ensure proper consent forms are signed and patient confidentiality is maintained.

PURPOSE: The Lutheran Health Network has designed a policy to help our hospitals protect patient confidentiality while at the same time facilitate requests from the media in a prompt and consistent manner. These policies are also designed to help us comply with regulations for the release of patient information.

This policy has as much to do with the patients and associates who are not involved with the request as those who are. Ultimately, working through our department makes the process much more efficient for anyone facing a deadline. Our department also consists of team members with more than 50 combined years of service in the fields of journalism and corporate communications. Tapping into our expertise is almost always going to help you develop a stronger story in the long run.

Patient Condition Updates
For patient condition updates during the day, members of the media may call the Lutheran Health Network Community Relations Department at (260) 435-7119. Generally, that request will be forwarded to Geoff Thomas. If the patient is listed in the hospital directory, we may provide the one-word condition critical, serious, fair, good or released as long as the reporter asks for the patient by name and has the correct spelling. Without written authorization, that is the extent of the information the hospitals are allowed to release. "Stable" is not a condition by itself.

After normal office hours, the media is instructed to get condition reports from the nursing department at the specific facility where the patient has been taken. That process involves calling the switchboard and asking for the nursing representative responsible for fielding these inquiries. Those team members are listed below.

After-hours needs
We have a rotating on-call schedule for after-hours issues requiring the Lutheran Health Network Community Relations Department. That individual may be contacted through the switchboard operators via any of the numbers listed below.

Lutheran Hospital	(260) 435-7001	(ask for nursing supervisor for after-hours patient condition updates)
St. Joseph Hospital	(260) 425-3000	(ask for house manager for after-hours patient condition updates)
Dupont Hospital	(260) 416-3000	(ask for house supervisor for after-hours patient condition updates)