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(Orlando, Fla). – Last night, 12 awards were presented at the Florida Hospital Association’s (FHA) annual Celebration of Achievement in Quality and Service Awards. Individuals and teams achieving notable success in improving patient care and contributing to their communities include:
A comprehensive initiative to connect vulnerable citizens to personalized medical resources
- A hospital team that cared for, and sheltered, Hurricane Michael victims despite the storm’s devastating personal impact
- An adaptive gym program to transform former rehabilitation patients into athletes
- A cancer survivor’s mother who now leads the Patient and Family Advisory Council at the hospital where her son received care
In addition, 18 hospitals were recognized for their work in the Hospital Improvement Innovation Network, an initiative funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to reduce patient harm and readmissions.
“Florida hospitals do so much more than treat illness and injury,” said Bruce Rueben, FHA president. “These leaders, teams and volunteers remove barriers to care for vulnerable populations, improve patient/provider communication, encourage healthy lifestyles and provide dependable support during emergencies. We are proud to recognize these anchor organizations in our communities.”
This year’s honorees included:
Caregiver of the Year: Tammy Caldwell, Lakeland Regional Health
Tammy Caldwell started her hospital career in housekeeping, but her love for mental health recovery led to her current role as recreation therapy assistant at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center. Earlier this year, Ms. Caldwell established the Changing Lives program, a monthly support group for sexual abuse survivors. As a survivor herself, Ms. Caldwell hopes to support others as they heal. View more.
Trustee of the Year: Sanford N. Cohen, M.D., Lee Health
Sanford N. Cohen, M.D., publicly elected former chairman of the Lee Health Board of Directors, has experience with large, complex organizations and understands the immense value of a public hospital. Dr. Cohen was instrumental in gaining support for the construction of Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida, the only comprehensive pediatric health care facility between Tampa and Miami. He also helped increase quality transparency and change the structure of the Physician Leadership Council to increase physician leadership in a more deliberative and organized process. View more.
Volunteer of the Year: Elise Bloch, Memorial Healthcare System
Elise Bloch spent five years in and out of Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital with her son, Franklin, who was diagnosed with ALL T-Cell cancer at age 6. Franklin beat cancer, but required numerous procedures, including an arduous bone marrow transplant. During the hospital stays, Elise came to understand the importance of families being educated about their loved one’s health condition and care. Today, Elise serves as the Patient and Family Advisory Council Chair, working alongside health care professionals to tackle issues that are easier to see from “the other side of the bed.” View more.
Best Hospital Workplace (Under 150 Beds): Ascension Sacred Heart Bay
In October 2018, Hurricane Michael forever changed the lives of Ascension Sacred Heart Bay’s staff and the Panama City community. Of the 200 patients hospitalized during the storm, not one suffered injury, and all were evacuated safely. Every staff member was affected by the storm, but none abandoned their post. Cafeteria workers cooked three meals per day for weeks after the hurricane and provided free food. While the inpatient floors had to be closed for three months due to damage, the emergency department never stopped seeing patients. Hospital leadership, staff and Ascension re-opened beds on January 2, 2019. In September, the hospital reopened 144 additional, private rooms. View more.
Best Hospital Workplace (Over 150 Beds): Moffitt Cancer Center
In 2012, Moffitt Cancer Center’s goal was to improve engagement scores on the annual team member survey. Efforts focused on improving leadership accountability, collaborative problem solving and transparency. Also critical to this strategy’s success was communicating focus areas for the full Moffitt team to rally behind annually. The numbers soared from the 19th to the 89th percentile among U.S. cancer centers in just six years, which ultimately improved patient experience and lowered staff turnover. View more.
Community Benefit Achievement (Under 150 Beds): West Kendall Baptist Hospital
The Healthy Hub, a wellness kiosk in the hospital lobby, provides a free service with no appointment and minimal to no wait time. The Hub provides visitors with a snapshot of their health, including blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, body mass index, exercise, nutrition and smoking assessment. The Healthy Hub nurse provides patients with their health score and education on how to improve their score. Referrals to primary care and a “green prescription” for improved wellness activities are also provided. Visitors are encouraged to follow up every three months to check their progress. To date, the Healthy Hub has completed more than 25,000 assessments. View more.
Community Benefit Achievement (Over 150 Beds): Ascension St. Vincent’s
Tie for Winner
Ascension St. Vincent’s Medical Mission at Home is challenging the Jacksonville community to improve its health through an annual event where resources and patients in need come together. This program is not simply a one-day event. If patients need follow-up care, their charts are marked for case management to schedule appointments with pre-approved providers, regardless of their income or insurance status. In addition, patients are connected to medical homes. Every year, more than 400 associates volunteer at the event. This year, $170,000 of in-kind labor, facilities, transportation, medical care, and more were provided. Ascension St. Vincent’s paid for what could not be donated. View more.
Community Benefit Achievement (Over 150 Beds): Orlando Health Tie for winner
Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC) sees an average of 49 patients per year with a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Once these patients graduate from ORMC’s rehab program, few to no options exist to continue building strength and wellness. Unfortunately, they often regress as a result. Through a grant from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, adaptive fitness equipment was purchased. Orlando Health approached South Orange CrossFit (SOCF), and today, individuals with SCI are integrated into mainstream CrossFit classes using both regular and adaptive equipment. These patients are now constantly improving their health outcomes and have transformed into athletes. Most importantly, they have found a community and a sense of belonging. View more.
Innovation of the Year in Patient Care (Under 150 Beds): Nemours Children’s Hospital
In summer 2017, a cross-functional process improvement team investigated Nemours Children’s Hospital’s overstay days. The team identified several barriers to discharge, such as understanding the medical equipment at home, transportation options and access to home health nurses. By addressing these questions at the start of a patient’s stay, the team was much more likely to have everything in place when discharge orders were signed. View more.
Innovation of the Year in Patient Care (Over 150 Beds): Ascension St. Vincent’s
Also a community benefit winner
Medical Mission at Home brings dozens of community resources and hundreds of volunteers together under one roof to provide much needed health and social services to individuals in need. When patients visit Medical Mission at Home, they are given a personalized walk through of the health care system. Each patient or family is paired with a navigator, who guides them through the event, ensuring they visit each station that fits their specific needs. This year’s Mission provided care for 335 adults and 42 children. View more.
Leadership in Quality & Patient Safety (Under 150 Beds): Kindred Hospital South Florida – Ft. Lauderdale
The Interdisciplinary Care Transition Team (ICT) meeting is a leadership collaboration in which the complete patient care plan is reviewed multiple times a week with patients and families, then modified as necessary to meet the patient’s current health care needs. The team discusses the most current clinical updates and information relating to changes in patients’ condition, discharge planning and addressing patient/family concerns. View more.
Leadership in Quality & Patient Safety (Over 150 Beds): Memorial Healthcare System
Memorial’s chief nurse executive received critical input from nurses, nurse leaders, physicians and patients through 15 focus groups. The result was the Nursing Strategic Plan, which focuses on five imperatives to raise quality of care and improve safety. Just 18 months later, Memorial is seeing tremendous results. View more.
Hospital Improvement Innovation Network Awards
Award of Excellence in Patient Safety: Hospitals meeting the improvement goals in at least 80 percent of measures tracked.
- Gulf Coast Medical Center
- HealthPark Medical Center
Champion Award in Patient Safety
Chasing Zero Infections: Hospitals achieving the most significant reductions in hospital-acquired infections
- Under 100 beds
Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital Gulf
Doctors’ Memorial Hospital
Jay Hospital
Madison County Memorial Hospital
- 100-249 beds
Memorial Regional Hospital South
- 250+ beds:
AdventHealth Daytona Beach
Cape Coral Hospital
Pressure Injury Prevention: Hospitals maintaining zero hospital-acquired pressure injuries for the past 24 months
- AdventHealth Fish Memorial
- DeSoto Memorial Hospital
- Health First Cape Canaveral Hospital
- Hendry Regional Medical Center
- South Lake Hospital
Falls Injury Prevention: Hospitals maintaining zero falls with injury for the past 12 months
- Broward Health North
- Memorial Regional Hospital South
Sepsis Prevention: Hospitals achieving the biggest drop in sepsis mortality
Readmissions Prevention: Hospitals making the greatest strides in reducing readmission rates for the past 12 months.
About the Florida Hospital Association
The Florida Hospital Association comprises over 200 hospitals and health systems from across the state. Through representation and advocacy, education and informational services, we support the mission of our members to provide the highest quality of care to the patients we serve. For more information, visit www.fha.org.
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