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Pinnacle Doctor Performs Mission Work in Mongolia

Crown Point, Indiana – November 7, 2008 – Dr. Brent Jacobus, physician-owner and medical staff president of Pinnacle Hospital and physician-owner of Winfield Family Practice, recently traveled to Darkhan, Mongolia with a team of twelve healthcare professionals. They set up a medical clinic to treat malnutrition, respiratory disorders, skin disorders, hypertension, arthritis, asthma and other third world illnesses. Dr. Jacobus’s organization named Vital Injection is dedicated to offering medical care, food, clothes and the advancement of the Christian mission to developing areas of the world.

During the two-week missionary trip, Vital Injection treated approximately 350 patients living in unsanitary conditions with access to poor medical care. “With a shortage of supplies, patients often must bring their own to the hospital to be used. And physicians need to be bribed to render care to patients,” says Dr. Jacobus. “Even if there is a willing physician on staff, it doesn’t mean the patient will receive adequate care. In one instance a child needing immediate attention at the ER was met by an intoxicated physician.”

The team also brought Beanie Babies donated by Ty on their mission to Mongolia. “Something like that, when you show a child love, when you show people you care, they listen,” says Dr. Jacobus. “It’s like at Christmas when you give a gift—you get more joy by giving the gift to someone and seeing them receive it and seeing their joy than by receiving any gifts.”

Vital Injection organizes a yearly mission, usually in the summer months when it’s easier for volunteers to get off work and travel. Vital Injection has taken its mission and medical care to India, Africa, Russia in addition to Mongolia. “We plan to go back to Mongolia next summer,” says Dr. Jacobus. “We’ll go through China and stop at an orphanage in northern China that we know needs some help.” Dr. Jacobus, along with his partner, Dr. Brett Brechner, were recently presented with the 2008 Volunteer Service Award on behalf of President George W. Bush.

A physician-owned hospital with 53 local owners, 150 physicians on staff and more than 160 employees, Pinnacle’s low patient to nurse ratio affords patients better care, quality outcomes and a higher satisfaction level. According to the Physician Hospitals of America (PHA), 98 percent of patients are satisfied with care at physician-owned
hospitals.

Pinnacle’s commitment to a patient-focused hospital is evident in the hospital’s wide array of services and programs including:

Hospital
Offers a range of physician specialties from family practice, neurology and radiology to orthopedics, urology and cardiology. Spacious, private rooms with made-to-order meals are among the amenities provided to all patients.

Urgent Care Center
Provides access to medical services for minor injuries and illness with a waiting time measured in minutes, not hours.

Diagnostic Imaging Center
Provides imaging technology including High Definition Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), 64-Slice CT Scans (Computerized Tomography), Digital X-Ray, Ultrasound and soon to be added Nuclear Medicine.

About Pinnacle Hospital
Pinnacle Hospital, a physician-owned hospital located in Crown Point, Indiana, offers individuals and families in northern Indiana and Illinois outstanding healthcare in an intimate, patient-centered environment unlike any other in the region. Pinnacle opened in June 2007 and is owned by 53 local physicians. With 18 beds and five operating suites and a patient to nurse ratio of 4 to 1, each patient receives the highest quality of care available. A unique collaboration of multi-specialty physicians and medical practitioners, Pinnacle brings together excellent medical and surgical care with an unrivaled dedication to personal service and respect for each person. Pinnacle’s full range of physician specialties includes family practice, gastroenterology, surgery, cardiology, dermatology, nephrology, pain management, podiatry, allergy and urology. www.pinnaclehealthcare.net.