Sarasota Memorial HealthCasts Sarasota Memorial HealthCasts

More than half of women and almost one in three men suffer a sexual assault with violence in their lifetimes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Board-certified sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE) help these patients through every step of the process. Sarasota Memorial has a special program to ensure these SANE nurses are available around the clock at all 3 ECC locations. Elizabeth Kovach, RN, explains how the program works and why it's so important to the community.

What might not seem like a traumatic injury, can sometimes be incredibly dangerous to people taking blood thinners. Casey Howell, RN, Sarasota Memorial's trauma injury prevention coordinator explains what people should be on the lookout for and how these injuries are treated.

There are many options for parents when deciding where to deliver their babies. Pam Beitlich, Executive Director of SMH Women and Children's Services explains the benefits of delivering in a hospital with a NICU, while also allowing parents choices for their birth plan.

Patients with sleep apnea are often recommended lifestyle changes, and prescribed at CPAP for sleeping. However, what happens to patients who cannot tolerate the CPAP? Peter Vosler, MD, a head and neck surgeon at Sarasota Memorial discusses a surgical option for these patients.

Ensuring patients receive the best possible care, multidisciplinary care conferences at Sarasota Memorial gather dozens of experts to review each patient's diagnosis and treatment plan. Richard Brown, MD, medical director for the Brian D. Jellison Cancer Institute explains what exactly these "tumor boards" are, how they work, and why they improve patient outcomes.

Minimally invasive spine surgery isn't right for every patient but when it is used, these procedures are muscle sparing, and often have faster recovery time. Sasha Vaziri, MD, is a neurosurgeon in Sarasota trained in minimally invasive spine surgery, and discusses the advancements made to help patients have great outcomes.