HJAR May/Jun 2025

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  MAY / JUN 2025 29 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalAR.com the inaugural Ritter Family Foundation schol- arship, the medical school and the foundation announced. The Ritter Family Foundation scholarship was established last fall to financially support med- ical students who are from the Delta region of Arkansas and/or aspire to ultimately practice in the region. The foundation is operated by Rit- ter family members as well as current and retired employees of E. Ritter & Company, a fifth-genera- tion, family-owned business founded in 1889 and headquartered in Marked Tree, Arkansas. “The Ritter Family Foundation is passion- ate about helping address the needs of Arkan- sas communities like the ones that multi- ple generations of our family have served for decades,” said Erik Kesting, E. Ritter & Com- pany CEO. “NYITCOM at A-State’s commitment to improving access to healthcare in rural Arkan- sas aligns perfectly with our foundation’s mis- sion. We are incredibly proud to support NYIT- COM at A-State’s future physicians through this scholarship.” Scholarship applicants were required to sub- mit a brief essay explaining why they aspire to practice in a medically underserved Arkansas community. Grubb, a Paragould native who completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Ala- bama before returning to Northeast Arkansas for medical school, plans to specialize in emergency medicine upon graduation from NYITCOM. Baptist Health UAMS Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic Offering Inspire Therapy Baptist Health UAMS Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic in Little Rock is now offering Inspire ther- apy, an obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) treatment option for those who cannot use Continuous Pos- itive Airway Pressure (CPAP) therapy. OSA affects 22 million Americans. When left untreated, OSA can cause vehicle and workplace accidents, worsening mood and memory, stroke, heart attack, and even death. It occurs when the airway collapses during sleep and blocks the flow of oxygen to the brain. The brain senses a lack of oxygen and wakes the body up just long enough to take a breath, then falls back asleep. This cycle repeats throughout the night and causes poor, disruptive sleep. Inspire therapy is a mask-free solution for people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who have tried and struggled with CPAP. Through a simple-to-use system including the Inspire implant, remote, and app, Inspire therapy enables patients to control their OSA treatment from the palm of their hand. Inspire works inside the body with a patient’s natural breathing process to treat sleep apnea. Mild stimulation opens the airway during sleep, allowing oxygen to flow naturally. The patient uses a small handheld remote to turn Inspire on before bed and off when they wake up. The safety and efficacy of Inspire was evaluated during a clinical trial. Five-year trial outcomes show patients using Inspire experience signifi- cant reductions in sleep apnea events and sig- nificant improvements in quality-of-life measures. There have been over 150 peer-reviewed publica- tions on Inspire. These publications show results consistent with those seen in the trial. The first step is to schedule a consultation with the team at Baptist Health UAMS Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic. Providers will discuss a patient’s current therapy, provide details on Inspire, and answer their questions. JustinM. McLawhorn, MD, Joins UAMSWinthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Justin M. McLawhorn, MD, a Vanderbilt-trained dermatologic oncologist and skin cancer surgeon, has joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute as director of dermatologic oncology. McLawhorn specializes in the treatment of skin cancers, including melanoma, basal cell carci- noma, and squamous cell carcinoma. Double board-certified in internal medicine and derma- tology and a fellowship-trained dermatologist, he is skilled in treating many skin cancers with Mohs micrographic surgery. McLawhorn trained in Mohs surgery and derma- tologic oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center after completing a residency in derma- tology and an internship in internal medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Cen- ter. He received a medical degree from UAMS, graduating in 2017 as the class valedictorian. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Hen- drix College. Before joining UAMS, McLawhorn was in private practice at Little Rock Dermatology Clinic, P.A. McLawhorn, who also sees patients at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, is accepting new patients. CHI St. Vincent Launches NewWebsite to Enhance Patient Experience CHI St. Vincent announced the launch of a new website experience to enhance digital access to care. Visitors to chistvincent.com will be automat- ically redirected to a new digital home for CHI St. Vincent within commonspirit.org, providing an updated and enhanced patient-centered digi- tal experience. This transformation creates a seamless, patient- centered online experience by integrating mar- ket-specific hospital websites into a unified plat- form. As part of this effort, users accessing the site from Arkansas will be geolocated and shown content tailored specifically to CHI St. Vincent, ensuring easy access to relevant information about services, locations, and providers. CHI St. Vincent is the second market within CommonSpirit Health to adopt this advanced digital platform. The redesigned site is built to adapt in real time, offering patients a more per- sonalized, intuitive, and efficient way to manage their care journey. Key features include locally cus- tomized content, improved provider profiles high- lighting clinical expertise, and detailed location pages with comprehensive facility information. Additional enhancements include a simplified Justin M. McLawhorn, MD