As many in our community know, Hospice of Memorial Hospital hosts Camp Fearless each June. Camp Fearless is a weeklong program to help children age 6 – 16 understand how to cope with the loss of a loved one. If your child is struggling to cope with the loss of a loved one, I would highly recommend Camp Fearless. Also, check out these tips that could help your child through the bereavement process.

If you know anyone in the Memorial Hospital IT Department, I’m sure you’ve heard them talk about “meaningful use” on a number of occasions. But what does the term meaningful use mean? Why is it so important?

Memorial Hospital continues to get positive feedback on patient satisfaction surveys. Patient surveys are vital to understanding the needs of our patients. Positive results reinforce the successes of our associates; negative results are equally important, as they show us opportunities for improvement. We generally receive results 30 – 60 days after a patient returns his or her survey, so the data is generally a couple months behind.

Memorial Hospital is currently undergoing a $6.9 million complete technology overhaul. This technology improvement initiative has been nicknamed “Project ASPIRE” (Achieve Safety and Productivity by Improving Quality and Reducing Errors). Most aspects Project ASPIRE will directly affect patient care.

Memorial Hospital measures patient satisfaction through HCHAPS surveys, as well as with Press Ganey surveys. Our scores have been improving steadily over the past six to eight months. The data I’m referring to in this blog is one to two months old because there is generally a four to six week lag from the time the data is received and when we have access to it.

Did you know that Memorial Hospital associates have a mental health benefit that is free of charge? Summit Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is Memorial Hospital’s mental health counseling service, which benefits Memorial associates, but is also utilized by many other businesses in the area.

The Importance of the Survey

With hospital reimbursement for services becoming more and more in-line with patients’ perception of care, the quality of health care provided at Memorial Hospital has never been more important. Hospitals nationwide are now sending standardized Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) surveys to patients, the results of which are reported publicly.

Hospice benefits are available under Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurances. Under the hospice Medicare and Medicaid benefit, all medications, supplies and durable medical equipment related to the patient’s primary hospice diagnosis are supplied free of charge. Also included in the hospice reimbursement is the cost for the nurses, social workers, spiritual advisor and visits from hospice volunteers. The hospice benefit also covers bereavement services for the family up to thirteen months after the death of their loved one. Most private insurances also cover all-inclusive items related to the hospice diagnosis.

Having a job title, Director of Service and Organizational Excellence, one might conjure up images of an over achieving perfectionist. While this is true in both my professional and personal life (my family suffering the brunt of these personality traits), things do not always turn out as I plan. As any good perfectionist would do, when I had my children I set very high expectations for myself as a mother. I have now developed my humorous “List of Shame” to include those moments as a mother when my humanity was most evident. 

Clue: This chef is the Co-Owner and Pharmacist at Grund Drug Co

We want your help to reveal the chefs that will be at our Cookin' Men event this Saturday, February 11! Think you know who this local community leader who will be donning his chef hat is?