System Hospital News: January 2019
Atrium Medical Center
Nearly 300 people attended a community open house and 78 people celebrated a ribbon cutting December 6 for Premier Health’s new $4.5 million medical office building in Monroe. The 19,300-square-foot Premier Health Monroe Medical Center Office Building at 35 Overbrook Blvd. has space for eight Premier Physician Network primary care providers and will offer specialty services, marking yet another step in our regional growth. Relocating to the site is a practice that includes Drs. Dyrk Van Valkenburg, MD; Maurice Swanson, MD; Joe Burghard, MD; and Christopher Eppley, MD, and nurse practitioner Tricia Neu. Also at the Monroe site, Premier Orthopedics will open a satellite location that will include Richard Davis II, MD, who is fellowship trained in hip and knee replacements. When fully staffed, the Monroe location will have more than 20 employees with six of those positions being new.
It was announced to employees in December that the Diabetes Wellness Center in Middletown would close in 2019 as Atrium works to streamline patient care. Beginning February 15, patients of the Diabetes Wellness Center at 4218 Grand Avenue will be able to receive education and support from within Premier Physician Network practices and Premier Health’s Perinatal Partners locations in Middletown and Mason. Offering diabetes services within physician practices is part of Premier Health’s effort to streamline health care for patients and a part of a broader strategy to optimize the configuration of the health system to best meet the communities’ health care needs in the future.
The City of Middletown’s council on January 8 voted to approve a rezoning request from Kettering Health Network that clears the way for the health system to add inpatient beds across the street from Atrium.
Miami Valley Hospital
The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has recognized the Heart and Vascular Intensive Care Unit at Miami Valley Hospital with a third consecutive Beacon Award for Excellence. The hospital’s Heart and Vascular ICU remains the only unit in Dayton to earn this national three-year award with gold, silver, and bronze designations. The unit, which first received the award in 2012, is also the only cardiovascular ICU in Ohio to earn a Beacon Award for Excellence, and one of only 30 cardiovascular ICUs in the country to earn a silver Beacon Award for Excellence. The Beacon Award for Excellence recognizes unit caregivers who successfully improve patient outcomes and align practices with the AACN’s six Healthy Work Environment Standards, according to the association. Units that achieve this award meet national criteria consistent with Magnet recognition and other national quality awards. Miami Valley Hospital first earned Magnet status for nursing excellence in 2004 and recently received its fourth designation. With its latest designation, the hospital in Dayton joins an elite group of only 58 U.S. health care organizations – fewer than 1 percent of hospitals in the nation – to have earned four Magnet designations, according to the ANCC. Miami Valley Hospital is the fifth-longest sustaining Magnet-designated hospital in Ohio.
Miami Valley Hospital South opened the doors of a major expansion to keep pace with growing demand for its services. With a series of weekend events in December, officials with Premier Health and Miami Valley Hospital South gathered to officially launch the $60 million expansion on its campus in Centerville. A joint and spine center is the cornerstone of the project, which features expanded sports medicine, sports performance, and pain center services. Other expanded services will be emergency medicine, cardiology, and primary care. The expanded hospital will for the first time have a cardiac catheterization lab, as well as enough medical office space for dozens of additional physicians. Six operating rooms have been added, bringing the site’s total to 16. The expansion also includes 20 additional inpatient beds. As part of the activities, officials hosted an employee and physician private open house, a Miami Valley Hospital Foundation reception for donors, a ribbon cutting event, and a community open house.
The results of two important fundraising projects were presented to the Miami Valley Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees on December 10. This year, the individual giving campaigns at each Premier Health hospital transitioned to the Premier Health Employee Giving Campaign. More than 700 donors gave more than $164,000 to programs benefiting employees, patients, and volunteers. Donations funded the Employee Catastrophic Emergency Relief Fund, which provided $19,000 in assistance to employees in 2018. Also in 2018, 168 dependent children of MVH employees received $500 Mueller Youth Scholarships. Since 1990, the Mueller Society, now part of the Premier Health Employee Giving Campaign, has raised more than $3 million for employee programs, with just over one third of that total funding more than 2,368 scholarships. Additionally, proceeds from the 2018 Champions of Hope event totaled more than $58,000. Champions of Hope annually salutes and celebrates four extraordinary people in the fight against cancer. Proceeds from Champions of Hope enhance and expand integrative therapies for Miami Valley Hospital oncology patients, and also fund a snack cart and a discretionary fund for patients who face unanticipated expenses associated with their treatment.
The Becker’s Hospital Review weekly online column titled “Question of the Week” featured Miami Valley Hospital North Chief Operating Officer Mary Garman. She addressed how Premier Health thanks employees during the holiday season.
The quarterly Miami Valley Hospital Premier Proud Partnership Award was awarded to the Miami Valley Hospital Ambulatory Treatment Area/EAU, Miami Valley Hospital South Physical and Occupational Therapy, and the Miami Valley Hospital PICC Team. This award recognizes exceptional teams that consistently work together to improve results for Premier Health.
Miami Valley Hospital South welcomed the first baby to be born in Montgomery County in 2019. Jamie William Burns Jr. entered the world at 12:01 am to parents Jamie William Burns and Laniya Gresham, who told local news that they will never grow tired of telling him his birth story. Not only did nurses encourage Gresham to hold off a moment to have the baby on January 1 – the date is also the couple’s anniversary.
Upper Valley Medical Center
A retirement reception was hosted December 13 in the UVMC Cafeteria to honor cardiologist Cass Cullis, MD, who retired from practice in December. UVMC physicians, employees, retirees, and volunteers attended the event to express appreciation to Dr. Cullis for his many years of dedicated service to UVMC and his patients.
An Appreciation Breakfast was held December 3 in the UVMC Cafeteria to thank everyone for their hard work and dedication throughout the year. All employees, medical staff, and volunteers were invited to enjoy a complimentary breakfast served by UVMC executives and members of Management Forum.
A special holiday celebration was hosted for the UVMC family and hospital visitors the morning of December 15 in the hospital main lobby. The event, attended by more than 100 employees and their families, featured visits with Santa, photos in front of the majestic Christmas tree, refreshments, and holiday music.
The Miami Valley Today’s “Year in Review” publication published December 31 featured a column by Tom Parker, UVMC president, along with highlights of major UVMC accomplishments in 2018. Other special media coverage included human interest features on Elvira Gendler, Dr. Irina Gendler’s sister-in-law, who participated in the UVMC Delay the Disease program while visiting from California; on Bill Beck, a grateful recipient of care provided via the expanded UVMC Cardiac Catheterization Lab; and on UVMC’s “singing housekeeper,” Randy Graham.
UVMC Future Leaders in December teamed up with the Lincoln Community Center in Troy to host a gift card holiday drive to benefit children in the center’s after-school program. UVMC employees donated food gift cards for more than 70 local children in need.
Among other community partnership activities, UVMC sponsored the Main Street Piqua Holly Jolly 5K/10K Run on December 8 on the Piqua Bike Path; was a table sponsor for the Tipp City Chamber Annual Holiday Gala on December 5 at the Crystal Room in Troy; participated with speakers at Medical Careers Academy Career Week on December 6 at the Upper Valley Career Center in Piqua; and provided booths and speakers at the Women in STEM program December 7 at Edison Community College in Piqua. In addition, the UVMC management team hosted and staffed the Piqua Salvation Army Red Kettle at the Piqua Kroger store December 12.
Back to the January 2019 issue of Premier Pulse
