Mercy Southeast welcomes a new cardiologist, Raphael Ngengwe, MD, who will be serving the Cape Girardeau community. Dr. Ngengwe specializes in cardiac electrophysiology.
As an electrophysiologist, Dr. Ngengwe treats issues related to the heart’s electrical system, which controls the rhythm of the heart. Examples of these conditions include atrial fibrillation, ventricular fibrillation, atrial flutter and more. Dr. Ngengwe will be seeing patients at Mercy Clinic Heart and Vascular – Broadview.
“My philosophy of care is that what I do is more than a job or a career. It is a calling. A calling to help, heal and serve with the knowledge I was blessed to learn,” Dr. Ngengwe said. “I do not take this blessing for granted. ‘Voca’ in Latin means ‘to call’. I believe all I have achieved and all I have accomplished have been a calling to serve patients in what is my new home, Cape Girardeau.”
Dr. Ngengwe earned his medical degree at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in clinical cardiac electrophysiology, cardiovascular medicine and internal medicine. Dr. Ngengwe most recently served as an electrophysiologist with St. Bernard’s Heart and Vascular in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Dr. Ngengwe joins the Mercy Clinic Heart and Vascular team that includes every cardiologist who previously served SoutheastHEALTLH. They have finalized their agreements to continue serving patients as Mercy physicians.
“We are extremely pleased to officially welcome the highly regarded team at Mercy Clinic Heart and Vascular,” said Dr. Naresh Agarwal, chief medical officer for Mercy Southeast. “Our team of cardiology specialists will continue to provide exceptional heart care for patients in southeast Missouri as we further Mercy’s mission of healing.”
The board-certified team at Mercy Heart and Vascular includes cardiologists Bryan Beck, MD; Steven Carr, MD; Ali Farooq, MD; Chizor Iwuchukwu, MD; David Law, MD; and Munis Raza, MD. Working alongside these physicians are nurse practitioners Jena Scholl, APRN; Morgan Siemer, APRN; and Dawn Walston, APRN.
Mercy, one of the 20 largest U.S. health systems and named the top large system in the U.S. for excellent patient experience by NRC Health, serves millions annually with nationally recognized care and one of the nation’s largest and highest performing Accountable Care Organizations in quality and cost. Mercy is a highly integrated, multi-state health care system including more than 50 acute care and specialty (heart, children’s, orthopedic and rehab) hospitals, convenient and urgent care locations, imaging centers and pharmacies. Mercy has over 900 physician practice locations and outpatient facilities, more than 4,500 physicians and advanced practitioners and 50,000 co-workers serving patients and families across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has clinics, outpatient services and outreach ministries in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. In fiscal year 2023 alone, Mercy provided more than half a billion dollars of free care and other community benefits, including traditional charity care and unreimbursed Medicaid.
Administrator, Mercy Hospital Stoddard
Sue Ann Williams serves as administrator of Mercy Hospital Stoddard. She joined SoutheastHEALTH in 2013, most recently serving as chief executive officer of SoutheastHEALTH Health Center of Stoddard County in Dexter, Missouri. With more than 30 years of health care experience, she has served in many administrative roles in the region.
Education and Credentials
Williams is a past president of the Missouri Hospital Association, SoutheastHEALTH District Council. She is a certified medical practice executive and her professional affiliations include serving as a member of the Regional Healthcare Foundation and the Stoddard County Health Care Coalition.
SoutheastHEALTH December 2023 Health Briefs
Heart Saver CPR Certification Class
This is an instructor-led course that teaches adult and child CPR and AED use, infant CPR, and how to relieve choking in adults, children and infants. It will be held on Thursday, December 7, from 6 to 8 p.m. at HealthPoint Fitness in Jackson. This course teaches skills with the American Heart Association’s research-proven practice-while-watching technique, which allows instructors to observe the students, provide feedback, and guide the students’ learning skills. The course is for anyone with limited or no medical training who needs a course completion card for CPR and AED use to meet job, regulatory or other requirements. This class is not for healthcare providers seeking a BLS class. Cost of the class is $50 and includes a booklet. Participants can reserve a spot by calling or stopping by the front desk of HealthPoint Cape or HealthPoint Jackson. For more information, call 573-755-2301 or 573-986-4400.
Diabetes Self-Management Support Group
Southeast Diabetes Center hosts this free support group facilitated by Southeast’s Diabetes Educators. The programs are geared toward people who are living with diabetes and trying to control blood glucose. Friends and family members are also welcome. The meeting will be from 1 to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, December 12, at HealthPoint Plaza in Cape. This month, the program will be a “Winter Celebration.” Come ready to enjoy refreshments and fun, festive activities. To register, call the Southeast Diabetes Center at 573-339-0121.
Tobacco Cessation Programs
Creating a quit-tobacco plan may improve your chances of stopping for good. Having a plan helps prepare you for coping with the physical and emotional issues that often happen when you stop using tobacco, such as nicotine withdrawal and strong urges. Free Tobacco Cessation Classes will be held at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, December 13, in the Board Room at Southeast Health Center of Stoddard County. Reserve a space by calling 1-800-800-5123.
Grief Support Group: ‘Grief Rituals’
The SoutheastHEALTH Grief Support Group will meet from 1:30-3 p.m. on Wednesday, December 20, at HealthPoint Fitness in Cape. Topic for this month’s meeting is “Grief Rituals.” For more information about this support group, call Southeast Hospice, 573-335-6208.
About SoutheastHEALTH
At SoutheastHEALTH, the region's premier healthcare system in southeast Missouri, patients receive excellent care of the highest clinical quality, close to home. Within the SoutheastHEALTH network are 48 care locations in 11 communities, including hospitals, primary and specialty care clinics representing 52 clinical specialties and extending care for patients in a four-state area. Learn more at SEhealth.org.
Know Your Risks
Regular mammograms help find cancer in its early stages, when it's usually easier to treat. In fact, when breast cancer is detected before it spreads, the average 5-year survival rate is 99%. Women aged 45 or older should get regular mammograms, according to the American Cancer Society. Women with a high risk of breast cancer should start screening earlier.
At the new Southeast Women’s Integrated Health and Southeast Breast Health, located at 650 South Mount Auburn Road in Cape, women of all ages receive excellent care. Many essential women’s services come together in warm and welcoming surroundings. Personal relationships matter to us—so we'll get to know you as a person, not just a medical file.
Every woman has some risk for developing breast cancer. Separating the myths from the facts can help you stay smart about the disease.
SoutheastHEALTH today celebrated the completion of a sweeping renovation of 1708 Lacey, located directly across from the hospital. The four-story building will house several services, including greatly expanded quarters for its rapidly growing Reference Laboratory Services.
SoutheastHEALTH President and CEO Ken Bateman said the 1708 renovation is a part of a multi-million project that is the largest in the history of SoutheastHEALTH. The $30 million Southeast Behavioral Hospital in Cape Girardeau was completed in March 2021. The $25 million Southeast Center for Integrated Services located on South Mount Auburn Road opened in January 2023 and is home to Southeast Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, Southeast Women’s Integrated Health and Southeast Breast Health.
Work now underway includes $50 million for sweeping renovations of 1708 Lacey, renovation of the Emergency Services Department and conversion of semi-private rooms to private rooms within the hospital. Planning is under way for a $20 million Ambulatory Surgery Center on the West Campus featuring surgical suites for specialties that include orthopedics, general surgery, women’s health and more.
“With the opening of 1708 Lacey, we are continuing to grow to serve our region in the best possible way. We are positioned to provide a wide range of both clinical and non-clinical services well into the future,” Bateman said, adding that SoutheastHEALTH will continue to identify new opportunities that will benefit our patients and region.
Services located in 1708 Lacey include, on the ground level, MRI Services, Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab and Facilities Management. Southeast Reference Lab Services occupies the first floor, Human Resources and Education Services are located on the second floor and a Training Center is located on the third floor. That space includes a classroom for new employee orientation or other large events and a skills lab.
Southeast Reference Lab Services
Lauren Thomas, executive director of Laboratory and Outreach Services at SoutheastHEALTH, said Southeast established a partnership with Abbott Laboratories in 2020 to bring COVID testing capabilities to our region, allowing Southeast to continue to treat patients during the pandemic.
Since 2020, Southeast has upgraded instrumentation to Abbott’s newer technology, the Alinity. This is a family of instruments that, for SoutheastHEALTH, includes instruments for Chemistry, Immunoassay, and Molecular testing. Their partnership encompasses laboratories at Southeast Hospital, Southeast Cancer Center, Southeast Health Center of Stoddard County and now the Southeast Reference Lab. “While a hospital lab performs initial general patient testing, a reference lab has an expanded test menu capable of testing lab samples sent from another lab or institution,” she explains.
The Reference lab will include new software programs as well, most recently with the Abbott AlinilQ AMS, Indexor, and Inventory Management. Drinda Swanson, district manager, Chicago District, Abbott Core Diagnostics, explained that these digital health solutions allow the lab to better manage flow of data through the entire laboratory process, leading to standardized decision making, a reduction in errors by automating manual processes, an alleviation on the impact of staff shortages and a reduction in operational costs.
Phenomenal Growth
“The growth we have experienced with our Outreach Lab has been nothing short of phenomenal and we recognized the need to establish Reference Lab services,” Thomas added. She noted that Southeast currently works with 238 outreach lab sites locally and over 100 client locations extending to 17 states throughout the nation. “With these newest technologies, we now have the ability to support additional growth to expand across the country at Southeast Reference Laboratory.”
In the coming months, Southeast Reference laboratory will be one of the first locations in the United States to install new lab automation system. These types of systems use robotics to transport patients’ blood tubes from one area of the lab to another, eliminating manual workflows and freeing up lab staff to focus on quality and accuracy of patient testing services.
About SoutheastHEALTH
At SoutheastHEALTH, the region's premier healthcare system in southeast Missouri, patients receive excellent care of the highest clinical quality, close to home. Within the SoutheastHEALTH network are 48 care locations in 11 communities, including hospitals, primary and specialty care clinics representing 52 clinical specialties and extending care for patients in a four-state area. Learn more at SEhealth.org.
