The Oklahoma Hospital Association (OHA) board of directors has named Patti Davis president, effective Sept. 5. Davis replaces Craig W. Jones, who will retire Aug. 31 after 21 years leading OHA. Davis is only the fourth executive to lead the organization in its 99-year history.
We are excited about the selection of Patti to lead the OHA as we enter our 100th year of the association,” said David Whitaker, FACHE, OHA board chairman, chief administrative officer, Mercy-West Community. “Her experience in both small, rural hospitals and large, urban medical centers, as well as her past experience on the OHA staff will be a tremendous asset as we continue our important work strengthening hospitals across the state.”
Jimmy Leopard, FACHE, chair of the search committee and CEO, Wagoner Community Hospital, said “After an extensive nationwide search, Patti emerged as the best possible candidate to lead the organization. As both an OHA member and as OHA staff, Patti has been instrumental in a number of key OHA advocacy initiatives and we look forward to working with her as hospitals in Oklahoma face many challenges.”
“I am humbled to be selected for this position and I’m ready to get to work taking on the important role of leading the association into our next 100 years,” Davis said. “Every day, Oklahomans depend on our members’ services, and we must work to ensure the highest quality care is available to those who need it.”
Davis comes to OHA from OU Medicine, where she has served as senior vice president of external affairs, and prior to that, senior vice president of strategy and business development since 2013. She was executive vice president at the Oklahoma Hospital Association from 2001 to 2013, where she coordinated operations and special projects and led advocacy efforts on state and federal issues. She was OHA vice president, government relations from 1996 to 2001.
Before joining the OHA staff in 1996, Davis was CEO of Carnegie Tri-County Municipal Hospital. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Davis will complete her Master of Legal Studies in Healthcare Law degree at OU this fall.
While in Carnegie, Davis served as chairman of the OHA board of directors and received the association’s highest award, the W. Cleveland Rodgers Distinguished Service Award. She has also served on the Rural Health Association of Oklahoma board, the Medical Advisory Committee of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, and the Trauma Advisory Council for the Oklahoma State Department of Health.
Davis is a resident of Norman, Okla.

INTEGRIS is joining other hospitals and health centers around the country in a national effort to produce a stable supply of generic drugs. The venture is designed to address the growing frustration caused by persistent shortages of simple yet vital medications.
Utah-based not-for-profit generic-drug company Civica Rx is spearheading the initiative. “Drug shortages have become a national crisis, with patient treatments and surgeries canceled, delayed or suboptimal,” says Martin VanTrieste, chief executive officer of Civica Rx. “We thank these organizations for joining us to make essential generic medicines accessible and affordable in hospitals across the country.”
The benefit of the Civica Rx initiative is expected to be two-fold. Hospitals will not only have access to generic drugs that are frequently in short supply, but they will also be able to purchase those medications at a reduced cost. A savings that can then be passed along to patients.
“We are excited to be a partnering member in this venture,” says Tommy, Ibrahim, M.D., chief physician executive at INTEGRIS. “We enjoy a proud tradition of being a leading-edge health care provider known for a pioneering spirit that has paved the way for many medical firsts and technological advancements. We believe this initiative is another example of that. It is an innovative approach to providing quality, accessible, more affordable medicine to the citizens of Oklahoma.”
Civica Rx plans to bring 14 hospital-administered generic drugs to market in 2019. The overall vision is to become a model generic drug company that provides high-quality Food and Drug Administration-approved products at affordable prices.

by Bobby Anderson
Staff Writer

Karen Ritchie, RN, has seen the looks come across the faces of new patients walking into the Norman Regional Oklahoma Wound Center.
There’s the understandable fear, anxiety and trepidation that comes with a process that has the possibility of unthinkable outcomes – the loss of limb and possibly life.
As Norman Regional Health System’s diabetic limb salvage nurse navigator, Ritchie always has a smile, caring word and a message for those patients: There’s hope.
That was just one of the messages stressed by Dr. Desmond Bell, DPM, CWS, president and founder of the Save a Leg, Save a Life Foundation (SalSal) during his presentation “The Gift of a Second Chance.”
Bell’s presentation capped a month-long awareness campaign spearheaded by Dr. TaySha Howell and staff at the Oklahoma Wound Center.
“SalSal is about creating awareness in the community and educating patients as well as the medical community,” said NRHS cardiologist Dr. Archana Gautam. “For many years everyone knew about peripheral vascular diseases but nobody was aggressive at treating it.”
Ritchie says that in any given year Oklahoma is No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation in total amputations.
The statistics Bell shared are alarming with more than 65,000 major amputations performed annually for crucial limb ischemia (CLI) alone.
Within five years nearly 70 percent of those patients are dead.
FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
“Amputation should not be seen as a treatment option, but a treatment failure,” Bell said, quoting one of his colleagues.
The five-year mortality rate for a non-healing neuropathic ulcer is 45 percent.
Bell singled out the Oklahoma Wound Center as a national leader in promoting wound care awareness.
“Your group here has done a phenomenal job and I just can’t thank you enough,” he said. “You may not realize this but Norman … you all have been the model for what is to come and I’m sure what we’re going to accomplish you’ll look back on this day and be very, very proud in the next few years.”
After Bell addressed the group, patient after patient shared stories about their treatment journey at Oklahoma Wound Center.
“I drive a truck for a living and I was worried about not being able to do what I did,” said Eldon P., who presented with a diabetic toe. “I didn’t want to be in a wheelchair. It’s pretty scary and I went through some pretty rough times emotionally thinking I might lose a limb.”
The therapies, including hyperbaric oxygen dives, helped save his foot.
“It was a long journey, but well worth it,” said Carol T., beginning to tear up while sharing her diabetic ulcer story. “I definitely got the second chance message. There are things you take for granted until you could be missing it. I just thank Dr. Howell and her whole team.”
Bell said the SalSal Foundation is in its infancy, much like the Breast Cancer Awareness group Susan G. Komen Foundation was years ago.
That group started with a promise from one sister to another.
“Imagine what we could do if we had a dollar from every single person with diabetes in this country. It’s mindboggling but it’s achievable,” Bell said. “Five years from now we’ll look back and the things you all have done for our organization will be among the most impactful.”
Bell pointed out that the underlying factors such as diabetes and peripheral artery disease and obesity are more universal than cancer.
“If someone gets the word cancer thrown at them then all the wheels are set in motion and they become their own best advocate,” Bell said. “Yet our patients don’t understand what’s happening. They don’t understand the pain that’s ahead of them. It’s probably one of the most undignified ways to leave this world.”
“We have to do better, simply stated.”
Howell, wholeheartedly agrees and has a message for patients and clinicians.
“It’s so vital because either the patient doesn’t realize how serious it is … but also sometimes to primary care doctors the wound doesn’t look really infected, big or the patient doesn’t complain it hurts,” Howell said. “So a month goes by and another … and they get bone infection or no blood flow and it just blows up into some disaster where if they come when they first have a wound it’s so much easier to turn around.”
That’s why Ritchie loves her job, because she understands she truly saves lives. “It’s awesome. Wound care is very different than being a staff nurse or floor nurse,” Ritchie said. “With those patients they come in and you make them feel a little bit better and they are discharged and go on their way. With wound care they come in with wounds they know are going to take time to heal and you see them for weeks.”
“Once you know they’ve been successful – that’s the most awesome, most fulfilling feeling.”
“That’s what you went to nursing school for.”