Wednesday, February 23, 2022 | Vol. 3, No. 2
Happy Almost Mardi Gras
It’s just a few more days until we get to celebrate a real Mardi Gras for the first time in two years, and we’re positively abuzz at the prospect.

You know the drill: King cake and cold fried chicken on the parade route, blinky beads and feather boas, purple, green and gold everything – and above all, the fun kind of masks.

This year, we at STHS have an additional reason to celebrate. In addition to experiencing the lowest COVID counts since the beginning of the year, one of our colleagues – Nursing Supervisor Brent Blazevich – has been invited to ride on a special “Hometown Healthcare Heroes” float in the Carnival in Covington parade on Fat Tuesday.

We invite you to come out to see him. You’ll find all the details in the news feed at StTammany.health.

We also urge you to party responsibly with regard to drinking as well as all the COVID protocols you by now know so well.

Most of all, though, we encourage you to have fun.
 
After the challenges of the past two years, you’ve earned it.

Laissez les bon temps rouler! Finally! 
He did it on a whim. It might have saved his life.
Al Templet knew it was there. His daughters made sure of that, teasing him about it when they went to the beach or the pool.
 
But that weird freckle on his chest was merely that, right? A weird freckle. Nothing to worry about.

“Didn’t bother me. It wasn’t raised or anything. Just a dark, weird-shaped freckle,” the 61-year-old Metairie resident said. “I guess I’ve been having it for years.”

The thing is, not all freckles are created equal. That’s a lesson Mr. Templet learned in March 2021 when – after participating in the Tour De Lis charity bike ride – he and wife Charlene decided to take advantage of a free skin cancer screening.

Here’s his story.
Fat Tuesday hours announced

Here’s hoping you won’t need us on Mardi Gras, but if you do, we’ll be here. Here are the operating hours for St. Tammany Health System facilities on Fat Tuesday (March 1).
5 heart attack warning signs

February is American Heart Month, and to mark the occasion Dr. Bekir Melek wrote a column listing 5 below-the-radar warning signs of heart attacks in women. How many do you know?
Simply the best

Congratulations to Dr. McCall McDaniel of St. Tammany Health System’s Bone and Joint Clinic, who earlier this month was named one of four winners of the Professional Women of St. Tammany’s 5th annual Women’s Choice Awards.
Giving back

On Monday (Feb. 21), members of the all-volunteer St. Tammany Hospital Guild presented St. Tammany Health System and St. Tammany Hospital Foundation leadership with their annual donation, this year in the amount of $41,000.