Blog
National Nurse’s Day 2022
National Nurse’s Day on May 6 is the annual kickoff of National Nurse’s Week. On this day, we applaud and acknowledge the vital role nurses play in society. “Rooted in Strength” is the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) theme for this year’s Nurse’s Day celebration, while the American Nurses Association (ANA) is focusing on…
Read MorePublic Health Analyst Series: Virgie’s Journey
For as long as I can remember, my biggest goal in life was to make an impact in people’s lives. In middle and high school, I enjoyed my math and science classes the most. Combined with my desire to help people, I decided early on that becoming a doctor (particularly a pediatrician) would be my…
Read MoreClimate Change: Taking Action for Equity
Climate change is impacting human lives and health in a variety of ways. It threatens the essential ingredients of good health – clean air, safe drinking water, nutritious food supply, and safe shelter – and has the potential to undermine decades of progress in global health. Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause…
Read MoreChange a Life, Be a Mentor: My Mentorship Experience
Each day of the American Public Health Association’s National Public Health Week (NPHW) focuses on a theme considered essential for the future success of public health as a whole. The Tuesday theme for NPHW 2022 is Public Health Workforce: Essential to our Future. I understand how critical workforce development is to public health, but I…
Read MoreToward Health Equity in Transfusion Medicine
One of the most significant risks transfusion patients face is an adverse reaction to blood products such as whole blood, red blood cells (RBC), platelets, and plasma. A number of factors can trigger an adverse reaction, but the most prevalent cause is RBC product incompatibility. Every year blood product transfusions benefit millions of patients, but…
Read MoreNational Public Health Week is April 4 – 10: “Public Health is Where You Are”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have a better understanding of the concept of public health compared to several years ago. Public health has become highly politicized over the course of the pandemic, yet public health agencies and professionals work every day to protect and promote community health. Lantana is proud to employ many…
Read More2021 Annual Retreat: Two Perspectives
Just when we thought our Annual Retreat couldn’t look any different (read about last year’s virtual retreat here), we introduced the first hybrid retreat, an in-person and virtual congregation of employees. One group of Lantanians traveled back to Tucson to our beloved Tanque Verde Ranch, while the rest convened virtually via Microsoft Teams, joining the…
Read MoreMaternal Health Day of Action: Getting the Information Needed to Drive Change
Women in the United States die before, during, and after childbirth at a higher rate than any other developed nation in the world—a sobering fact highlighted by Vice President Kamala Harris on December 7, 2021 for the first-ever Maternal Health Call to Action Summit. In her opening remarks, Harris stated we know Black and Native…
Read MoreU.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week: Moving Forward from COVID-19
Each year, we observe U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week (USAAW) and honor Lantana’s continued partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This year again we provide an update on the nation’s primary system for tracking inpatient antimicrobial use and resistance: the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Antimicrobial Use and Resistance (AUR) Module. USAAW is an…
Read MoreOctober is American Pharmacists Month: What are Lantana Pharmacists Up To?
The Lantana pharmacists have been busy on work beyond the pharmacy, from optimizing how we get medication data out of electronic health records (EHRs) to supporting nursing home reporting of vaccination data. We are working to get healthcare data out of EHRs so that it’s understood faster and better. We are working to understand medication…
Read MoreCelebrating Infection Prevention Week: What is an Infection Preventionist?
Often dubbed (somewhat mockingly, I would say) the “hand hygiene police,” Infection Preventionists (IPs) are tasked with a broad set of responsibilities aimed at preventing and controlling infections within healthcare settings. One of an IP’s biggest responsibilities is healthcare-associated infection (HAI) surveillance and submission of HAI data to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NSHN) to…
Read MoreCelebrating Lantana Nurses
After a year of when the pandemic dictated most decisions, we can finally see the light at the end of a dark tunnel. A vaccine! It has been a long year of learning, adjustments, sacrifices, and much more. We have adjusted (mostly) to new “co-workers,”—spouses, pets, and children. The nurses at Lantana continue to be…
Read MoreEarth Day 2021: Lantana Partners with My Green Doctor
Lantana is celebrating Earth Day 2021 by announcing a new partnership with My Green Doctor, an environmental sustainability program for healthcare practices. Our greenLantana initiative works on improving the long-term environmental benefits and sustainability of our own business operations and the wider health information technology industry. We see the flows of information as key leverage…
Read MoreThe “Us” in Climate Justice
Our health is affected by climate change and its consequences, such as natural disasters and extreme weather. Just last year alone, wildfires burned the western US, Australia, the Amazon rain forest, Siberia, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The COVID-19 pandemic traveled the world due the perfect storm of a loss of environmental buffers…
Read MoreVaccinating the Community
No matter how far away a nurse gets from the frontline, we remain nurses at heart. A perfect example of this is our very own, Robin Williams, RN and Zabrina Gonzaga, RN. Zabrina practiced as a nurse and then as a nurse practitioner for 10 years prior to becoming a nurse informaticist in 2006, and…
Read MoreCoffee Talks with Liora: Advancing Racial Equity
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spotlight health disparities/inequities in the US. Hear what Lantana’s CEO, Liora Alschuler and the DIG leads have to say about addressing theses disparities and the advancing racial equity.
Read MoreThe PHIG Supports National Public Health Week April 5-11, 2021
Public health was thrust into the spotlight with the emergence of COVID-19. The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. Over a year later, we’re still grappling with its impact. National Public Health Week (NPHW) is April 5-11 this year. The overall theme is Building Bridges to Better Health. Our…
Read MoreDIG for Change: A Year of Diversity and Inclusion
Following our annual retreat in November 2019, Lantana created the Diversity and Inclusion Group (DIG) to promote policy changes and encourage diversity and inclusion company wide. We came up with the idea for the DIG during the retreat gallery walk session on the topic of Community. This discussion sparked interest in a focused effort on…
Read MoreSomewhere Out There is a Tiny Lantana Forest
One morning, a happy email from Marte, our Administrative Guru & Event Coordinator, popped into my inbox about trees: “From our items we have ordered from Eco Promotions, they have planted another tree on our behalf.” My first thought was, “Cool,” and my second thought was, “Wait. Another tree? We have more?” Among Marte’s many…
Read MoreLantana 2020 Retreat: This Time It’s Virtual
The planning for our annual Company Retreat this year started out just like every other year. We had our dates and our location, and we were working on logistics (food, daytime activities, nighttime activities, room accommodations, meeting room details, etc.). Then COVID-19 came. We continued to press forward with planning, since we were still several…
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