News
CORINTH, Miss. — Magnolia Regional Health Center (MRHC) has announced a new partnership with Lifeline Blood Services, marking a significant step forward in ensuring a reliable, local blood supply for patients in Corinth and surrounding communities.
Lifeline Blood Services, which has served West Tennessee for more than 75 years, is now expanding its mission to include MRHC as part of its growing service area. The organization will host regular mobile blood drives throughout the Corinth area and plans to launch expanded donor outreach efforts, local partnerships, and educational programs to promote the importance of blood donation.
“We are honored to welcome Magnolia Regional Health Center into the Lifeline service area,” said John Miller, CEO of Lifeline Blood Services. “This partnership allows us to further our mission of ensuring that every hospital and every patient has access to the blood products they need. Corinth and the surrounding communities can be proud that their donations will directly support their neighbors and loved ones.”
The new collaboration means a more responsive and streamlined blood supply system for MRHC — a development hospital officials say will positively impact patient care.
“We’re excited about this new chapter,” said Heather Mansel, BS, MLS (ASCP), MBA-HCA, Director of Laboratory Services at Magnolia Regional Health Center. “Partnering with Lifeline means a more streamlined, responsive blood supply for our hospital and ultimately better care for our patients. It also gives our local community a more personal connection to the donation process.”
Lifeline encourages all eligible individuals to participate in this life-saving effort. Blood donations collected through the new partnership will stay within the region, supporting patients locally and making every contribution more personal and impactful.
For more information or to schedule a donation, visit www.lifelinebloodserv.org or call 731-427-4431.
Magnolia Regional Health Center Among Nation’s Top Performing Hospitals for Treatment of Heart Attack Patients
American College of Cardiology NCDR Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award recognizes sustained, high level performance in quality of care
Corinth, June 20, 2025 – Magnolia Regional Health Center has received the American College of Cardiology’s NCDR Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2025. Magnolia Regional Health Center is one of only 323 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor.
The award recognizes Magnolia Regional Health Center’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that Magnolia Regional Health Center has reached an aggressive goal of treating these patients to standard levels of care as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations.
To receive the Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award, Magnolia Regional Health Center has demonstrated sustained achievement in the Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry for two consecutive years (2023 and 2024) and performed at the highest level for specific performance measures. Full participation in the registry engages hospitals in a robust quality improvement process using data to drive improvements in adherence to guideline recommendations and overall quality of care provided to heart attack patients.
“It is an honor to award Magnolia Regional Health Center with the Platinum Performance Award for their valuable national leadership and dedication to meeting comprehensive performance measures in patient care,” said Michael C. Kontos, MD, FACC, chair of the NCDR Chest Pain – MI Registry Steering Subcommittee, and cardiologist at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. “The receipt of this award indicates that Magnolia Regional Health Center remains committed to providing top quality, guideline-driven care for heart attack patients. Their success ensures patients are receiving the highest quality cardiovascular care.”
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that over 800,000 Americans suffer a heart attack each year. A heart attack occurs when a blood clot in a coronary artery partially or completely blocks blood flow to the heart muscle. Treatment guidelines include administering aspirin upon arrival and discharge, timely restoration of blood flow to the blocked artery, smoking cessation counseling and cardiac rehabilitation, among others.
“This award is a reflection of the unwavering dedication of our entire care team,” said Jim Hobson, CEO of Magnolia Regional Health Center. “It highlights our ongoing commitment to delivering exceptional, evidence-based cardiovascular care to the people of our community. We are proud to be recognized on a national level for the life-saving work happening every day at MRHC.”
“Our team has worked tirelessly to ensure every heart attack patient receives timely, precise, and effective treatment,” said Dr. Paul Volansky, Cardiologist at Magnolia Regional Health Center. “This recognition validates our commitment to not only meet but exceed national care standards. It’s about improving lives and outcomes—one patient at a time.”
Chest Pain ̶ MI Registry empowers health care provider teams to consistently treat heart attack patients according to the most current, science-based guidelines and establishes a national standard for understanding and improving the quality, safety and outcomes of care provided for patients with coronary artery disease, specifically high-risk heart attack patients.
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) is the global leader in transforming cardiovascular care and improving heart health for all. As the preeminent source of professional medical education for the entire cardiovascular care team since 1949, ACC credentials cardiovascular professionals in over 140 countries who meet stringent qualifications and leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. Through its world-renowned family of JACC Journals, NCDR registries, ACC Accreditation Services, global network of Member Sections, CardioSmart patient resources and more, the College is committed to ensuring a world where science, knowledge and innovation optimize patient care and outcomes. Learn more at www.ACC.org .
Effective November 11, 2024, patients will no longer need to visit the Medical Records department to request their records. We encourage you to utilize electronic methods for accessing records. However, if a paper copy is required, requests can be made at the main admissions desk located at Entrance A. This update is designed to enhance convenience and efficiency for all patients.
Visit our Medical Records page for more information.
The advent of more urgent care centers has been a boon for busy hospital emergency rooms and patients. It relieves the emergency room from seeing less-than-serious conditions and provides patients with more timely diagnosis and treatment. The question remains: When to go to your primary care physician, an urgent care center, or the emergency room?
What Are The Real Differences?
The main differences between Primary Care, Urgent Care, and an ER involve the services provided, the wait time, and the cost.
If you are ill, consider these three before you decide where to go. Of course, the most important one is the services. Are you critical? Are you in severe pain? Are your symptoms life-threatening? The answers to those questions should determine your decision. Let’s get more specific.
Main Purposes of Primary Care
Your primary care physician (PCP) is the person who oversees your general health. You come to rely on and trust them. Unless you move away or your insurance changes, most adults remain with their primary care provider.
Your PCP gets to know you and monitors your general health. They diagnose and treat your illnesses, provide vaccines, and coordinate specialist referrals.
They care for anything, including sprains, pulled muscles, sore throats, flu, chronic diseases like diabetes, and sinus infections.
Your primary care physician can handle all concerns that are not emergencies or need immediate care. Visiting the same doctor for all your medical needs gives them a better picture of your health, which equates to a consistent and stable level of care.
What Is A True Emergency?
The purpose of a hospital emergency room is to save lives. With the increase in urgent care facilities, only the severe cases should go to an ER unless you have no choice. Many Americans visit the emergency room, and many of those visits are unnecessary. The CDC tells us that 30% of ER visits are non-urgent.
You will be triaged at a hospital ER, meaning a nurse will determine the urgency. That will dictate how long you will wait.
If you are having a heart attack or a stroke, you must get immediate care, so call 911 or go directly to an ER.
Some other situations that necessitate an ER visit include seizures, a high fever that won’t break, injury to the neck or spine, poisoning, head injury, a deep wound, drug overdose, burns, electric shock, bleeding that won’t stop, broken bone with punctured skin, vomiting blood, unconsciousness, severe allergic reaction, breathing problems.
The following include some instances where a visit to the ER is critical:
1. Chest pain
2. Trouble breathing or speaking.
3. Paralysis
4. New onset confusion
5. Head or back injuries
6. Consistent bleeding or vomiting
7. Loss of consciousness
8. Sudden, severe pain, such as a headache or stomach ache
9. Choking
10. Poisoning
11. Major burns and cuts
12. Broken bones
13. Any injury that is limb or life-threatening
Express Care Visits
A visit to an express care location in Corinth is recommended when you cannot get an appointment with your family doctor and your symptoms are non-life-threatening. Express care centers offer extended hours and provide more immediate care.
Occasions and symptoms include fever and colds, cough and sore throat, cuts that require stitches, earaches, UTI, diarrhea and stomach pain, flu symptoms, minor burns, dehydration, sprains and strains, small cuts, a mild asthma attack, animal bites, plus others.
If the urgent care provider thinks your symptoms are more serious, they will direct you to the ER.
If you, or someone you love, is ill or has a minor injury, don’t wait in an emergency room for hours.
Deciding Where to Go
If you are experiencing symptoms and need care, contact your primary care provider first. If you need more immediate care and cannot visit your primary care provider, a visit to urgent care may be a great option. If you are experiencing a life-threatening situation or are experiencing any of the more severe symptoms listed above, visit the ER.
If you’ve ever had a kidney stone, you are not alone. One in 10 Americans will have one in their lifetime. Most stones pass on their own, but when they don’t, you may need treatment, such as lithotripsy for kidney stones.
Kidney Stone Basics
Kidney stones are hard objects made of calcium and other chemicals found in the blood. Normally, your urine contains dissolved minerals and salts, but sometimes, those minerals build up and can crystallize, forming stones.
Those stones start out tiny, but in some cases can grow quite large, making it difficult for them to pass through your urine. There are multiple types of kidney stones, varying by the minerals they contain. Calcium stones are the most common, accounting for around 80% of kidney stones.
In some cases, small kidney stones won’t cause any symptoms and they’ll pass through the body on their own. As stones get larger, though, they’re more likely to cause symptoms, which may include:
- An intense need to urinate
- Blood in the urine
- Burning sensation when urinating
- More frequent urination
- Nausea and vomiting
A common cause of kidney stones is low urine volume caused by dehydration. Diet can also play a role, and medical providers may recommend a different diet if you experience kidney stones more than once.
If you are obese, have a medical condition affecting the parathyroid gland or have certain bowel conditions, you may also be at a higher risk of developing kidney stones.
How to Treat Kidney Stones
If you’re experiencing symptoms that may be related to a kidney stone, your medical provider will likely order an ultrasound or a CT scan.
In many cases, kidney stones require no treatment. Your provider may recommend simply waiting to see if the stone passes on its own, particularly if your pain is manageable. You may be given a medication designed to relax the ureter and allow the stone to pass through.
If the stone is large, if it’s interfering with kidney function, or if you’re experiencing pain and other symptoms, your provider may recommend surgical intervention. There are many types of surgery to remove kidney stones, but extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is the most common.
During a lithotripsy procedure, a surgeon sends shock waves to the kidney stone. The surgeon uses X-ray or ultrasound to ensure precise targeting of the stone, and as the waves bombard the stone, it breaks into fragments. This allows passing stone fragments to travel out of the body through urine, which may take weeks. You may be given a small strainer to catch those fragments when urinating so that they can be tested to determine the type of kidney stone.
Surgeons often use general anesthesia during lithotripsy since the shock waves can cause mild discomfort. Patients are usually discharged from the hospital on the same day as the procedure and can resume normal activity within a few days.
When you need a surgical procedure, Magnolia Regional Health Center has you covered with a full spectrum of surgical services.
Looking for physical activity that is easy on your joints and good for your heart? You might want to try swimming.
Swimming as exercise is a full body workout that also strengthens the heart muscle over time. Swimming also offers many other health benefits, since it burns a lot of calories, helps you sleep better, improves breathing and circulation, lowers blood pressure, helps manage stress, and boosts your mood. Plus, swimming is a workout that can be tailored to nearly anyone, regardless of health status or age.
Swimming and the Joints
If you regularly experience knee pain or pain related to other joints in the body, you may wonder how you can get the exercise you need. When you have joint pain, it’s often related to some type of arthritis, which causes inflammation around the joints.
While exercise might be the last thing on your mind when you have arthritis, regular exercise can help limit your discomfort. The trick is to find an activity that gets your heart pumping and your muscles working but is also gentle on your joints.
Swimming can be the right exercise. Swimming has been shown to improve joint flexibility, limit stiffness, and improve mobility in those who have arthritis and similar conditions.
Exercising in water, as you do when swimming laps or doing other swim workouts like water aerobics, is joint-friendly because the water reduces the amount of stress on the joints. With the buoyancy of the water to support your body, you’re also able to get a better range of motion and move your legs and arms more easily.
Is Swimming a Good Option for Me?
Swimming can be a viable workout for nearly anyone. In addition to being a good option for those who have arthritis, water workouts can also be beneficial if you:
- Are recovering from an injury
- Have a chronic condition, such as multiple sclerosis, that causes disability
- Live with asthma or other lung health issues
If you have a heart health issue or you’re recovering from a coronary bypass or other heart procedure, you may also reap the benefits of swimming. Exercising is important to keep the heart healthy, but if you have a cardiovascular condition, it requires a careful and steady approach. Swimming can be a great option.
With swimming and other water workouts, you can easily modify the routine to lower the intensity when needed. During a swim, you get a good cardiovascular, full-body workout, which helps the heart recover and strengthen. If you’re recovering after a heart procedure or aren’t sure whether swimming is a safe choice for you, talk with your medical provider before diving in.
Have a surgical procedure planned for the near future? Learn why it’s important to make sure your heart is healthy as you prepare.