Your feedback and suggestions...

Many of you have offered your suggestions and advice to me as we have undertaken this process to maintain the health of our hospital in these tough economic times.  Perhaps one of the most genuine questions I was asked was this..."How come it takes an economy shift to develop ideas to cut costs in departments?  With this change, I hope our company culture will change as well."  I couldn't agree more, and I believe it will!  

Hundreds of you have participated in our town-hall meetings, contributed suggestions, and made your opinions known about how we can improve our organization even in these uncertain economic times.  The level of openness and transparency that has been exhibited through this process is encouraging to me and I believe that it will continue to help strengthen our hospital as we move forward.  

Below is a summary of the key themes and suggestions that I received throughout this process. While we cannot or will not want to implement every idea that is listed here, I was impressed with the creativity and innovation shown in helping us to think through all of the options that we have to choose from.  While the list is not complete with every suggestion received, please understand that all ideas have been captured and I am working with our leadership team to prioritize those ideas that we can act upon.  We will also create an ongoing process so that we can continue to solicit and make good on your suggestions where possible. 

Without further ado, your suggestions...

Revenue/Growth

• Encourage all team members to utilize JHSMH facilities and physicians for their family healthcare needs.  Caring for our own will help us to grow our organization. 
• Focus on getting the word out in the community about the positive patient interest stories that happen at JH every day!
• Grow outpatient infusion and chemotherapy services throughout the system. 
• Ensure all ancillary testing from JHSMH facilities stays within our system (lab tests, MRI's, TPG physician referrals, etc...)
• Consider offering retail services to go along with inpatient and outpatient services offered at the hospital (ex. DME, women's boutique services, orthopedic supplies)
• Grow research program and patient accruals into approved protocols.
• Improve medical record process to ensure we are not losing charges throughout departments. 
• Consider adding new services downtown like bariatrics.
• Educate team members about the benefits of Pharmacy Plus.  Does everyone know that they will match the discounts and $4 prescriptions offered at Walmart, Meijer, etc?
• Adjust processes to fit in more patients into existing schedule.  Computer system won't let us do this now, even though we have the time to see more patients.  

Efficiency

• Decrease the number of meetings and length of time involved!
• Work with physicians to move patients through hospital to improve length-of-stay. 
• Improve turn-over time in the operating rooms so that more cases can be done during the day vs late add-ons.
• Have better screening process to stop inappropriate transfers from outside of organization.
• Better coordinate test schedules so results are available to discharge patients in a more timely manner. 
• Fix process of turning over beds after discharge so that next patient can be admitted. 
• Coordinate referral process at Frazier from inpatient to outpatient therapy.
• Streamline transfer process for psychiatric patients.  Patients stay longer at JH waiting for bed or acceptance at OPOP.  

Supply/Discretionary Cost Savings

• Post the cost of supplies we order and use on a regular basis so we can make informed decisions on helping to contain costs.
• Standardize types of equipment and supplies we use in the OR.   We will buy anything a physician wants even if we have another item that will do the same job.  
• Eliminate "Holiday Meal" for team members in 2009.
• No more turkeys or t-shirts!
• Cancel company picnic this year.
• Cut charitable donations made to outside organizations.
• Reduce choices in cafeteria and catering and reduce amount of money we spend on food.
• Don't allow departments to order non-essential luxury items like gourmet coffee, soda's, hot chocolates, etc.  I would hate to be DTO'd or lose my job while another department is drinking gourmet coffee!
• Consider eliminating meals in the physician lounges.
• Have individual supplies available along with kits.  Often we have to open a brand new kit when we only need one item from it.  
• Reduce paper consumption!  Excess PCARs, newsletters, computer reports, etc are printed out daily that are not needed and waste money.   Don't print off copies for meetings, make available online instead.
• Repair computers vs replacing them when broken. 
• Reduce office supplies that we use throughout hospital.  Standardize items that can be ordered so that all areas are using same supplies.
• Radiology films are printed out for each case in the OR and then thrown away.  Get PACs system in OR for viewing films online.
• Fix supply ordering process so we don't have to order more product than we need.  Sometimes we have to order a box or case when we only need a few items. 
• Reduce cell phone, pagers and blackberries costs.
• Utilize less linens.  We end up sending a lot of clean linen back to be washed because we take to much into patient rooms that doesn't get used.  Consider adopting policy like they have in hotels to clean linens.
• Ensure that we are charging for all supplies that we use!
• Look at the floor wax we purchase for cleaning, it is very expensive and there are cheaper cleaners available today.
• Change to paper medicine cups instead of more expensive plastic ones.
• Create a way for departments who have a stockpile of supplies to give them to other areas vs ordering new.

Facilities

• Start a "green" program for the hospital.  We don't recycle enough!
• Turn off lights and computers at night to conserve electricity.  Install motion detectors in bathrooms so lights don't stay on all day.
• Make sure equipment works so we don't lose productivity.
• Turn off power to eICU cameras that are no longer being utilized.
• Keep the hospital clean and in good repair so that patients will want to come back.
• Lock thermostats so that we aren't paying extra to heat or cool hospital in areas that aren't occupied.
• Understand whether it makes sense to build new facilities when we still have capacity elsewhere in the system.
• Stop the automatic sprinklers when its raining out.  
• Plant perennials vs annuals for landscaping so we don't have to replace each year. 

Personnel & Benefits

• Delay or cancel raises for 2009 for all team members.  [Note: It has already been decided and communicated that Leaders will not be given raises this year.]
• Pay "Best in Care" loans to nurses that government stopped paying.
• Offer early retirement/health benefit option to team members that are interested in this opportunity.
• Eliminate pension contribution and 403b match funds this year. 
• Protect pension plan benefits for those vested in program. 
• Cancel Baylor (+1) program.  
• Cancel Healthy Choices benefit reimbursement/discount.  
• Create pay-for-performance program for team member raises going forward. 
• Have everyone give back $X per pay-period to organization.
• Start a program where team members can donate money or PTO to help organization.
• Require non-clinical personnel to take time off without pay like the city government was made to do. 
• Reduce number of days accrued for PTO. 
• Charge team members to park in garage.  [I'm not touching this one!]
  

Staffing

• Make sure that we offer staff that are being DTO'd in one area the opportunity to work in other areas where they are short staffed.  We may not need to hire as many people if we do this! 
  
• Reduce overtime and agency personnel utilization.
• Allow part-time team members to sign-up for shifts before full-time team members get overtime.  
• Eliminate incentive pay for working weekends/holidays.  Everyone should have to work their fair share and a select few shouldn't get extra when most others do not.  
• Be more selective in hiring process.  We keep hiring people that are not a good fit and they leave in a few months after we have spent time and money training and orientating them.
• Reduce corporate overhead and management positions.

As you can see, the comments run far and wide, and we will not be implementing every idea that is listed here.  Nonetheless, there were several areas where we seemed to have a strong consensus throughout our meetings and suggestions.  This will be very helpful as we work to finalize the plan that we will commit to as an organization.  While I would hope that we could achieve all of our savings through non-labor related initiatives, it is unlikely that this will be the case.  However, as a result of all the ideas that have been generated, I am confident that we will be successful in our goal to preserve jobs and minimize the need for layoffs.  I look forward to your continued thoughts, ideas, and support as we put the finishing touches on our plan...thank you! 

Your feedback and suggestions...

Update on our economic discussions...

The last few weeks have been a true testament to the commitment and spirit of our team. Hundreds of you have participated in our town-hall meetings, contributed suggestions, and made your opinions known about how we can improve our organization even in these uncertain economic times. As promised, below is a copy of the letter that I sent out to our team members today updating them on our continued progress.

Dear Jewish Hospital and Frazier Rehab Team Members,

Over the past few weeks, I have written to you regarding the economic situation that our hospital faces.  In addition, through our town hall meetings, I’ve had the chance to hear directly from you on your thoughts, concerns and ideas for addressing these situations.  Your input has been essential to me in understanding the magnitude of opportunities that we have the ability to focus upon and I am grateful for the active engagement everyone has shown in supporting this effort.  

The level of openness that we have had in this process has been a welcomed change that will serve us well as we carry forth our plans.  However, with this openness we have also faced the challenge of reacting and responding to media inquiries about our communications and upcoming plans.  From my perspective this is a good thing.  Every organization is facing similar challenges in this economy, but not every company is dealing with their solutions in an open and transparent manner.  While outcomes may be similar, I believe that involving everyone in the decision making process is an important step in developing an open culture that supports change done with you versus change done unto you.  

Hundreds of ideas have been shared with me over the course of the last few weeks at the town halls and through emails, voicemails and blog comments.  The suggestions varied from recommendations around compensation, benefit and pension changes to supply cost savings, “green” initiatives for our facility, and everything in between.  Given the high numbers of suggestions, I have posted a summarized list of recommendations on my blog for all to view (www.hlifeblog.com).  Please take a look at these ideas and feel free to continue to share your thoughts and comments. 

From the comments we’ve gathered, I am confident that we will create a plan of action that will be fair, effective, and achieve our goal of protecting jobs as much as possible.  As a result of your help, support, and input this plan will continue to keep our organization strong and healthy throughout this economic storm that our nation is weathering.  

The ideas you have shared will be used to create our final action plan and I am reviewing these ideas with system leadership to finalize our collective recommendations.  We will be sharing the final decisions around the plan to be implemented at the beginning of next week.  I sincerely appreciate the engagement that all of our team members have shown during this time.  Working together as a team does indeed make a difference!

Sincerely, 

Martin J. Bonick

President & CEO

Jewish Hospital & Frazier Rehab Institute

Update on our economic discussions...

That Volunteer Spirit...

With all of the concern of rising unemployment rates, furloughs and companies cutting positions, there is one group of people that has just kept on giving unconditionally- our volunteers!

On Tuesday, we celebrated and publicly thanked 175 special people that volunteer their time to the hospital to help us advance our mission and vision to achieve excellence and improve the lives of those we serve!

Without these ambassadors, our hospital could not provide the level of service to our patients and guests that we so greatly depend upon. From helping lost guests find their way, to transporting patients, and lending a supportive ear to a patient that is lonely or confused, our volunteers play a vital role in the day-to-day fabric of our organization.

One special individual, Elise Essig, was recognized as our volunteer of the year. Elise epitomizes the definition of loyalty as she has been faithfully giving of herself and her time since 1972, volunteering more than 5,000 hours over the past 37 years! Over this past year, Elise and her colleagues together have volunteered 16,500 hours of service to the hospital, a pretty humbling statistic for the rest of us.

I hope those of you reading along will take a moment this week to show appreciation and thank our volunteers for their many contributions. They are part of the team that is helping to make us the best health system in America! - Thank YOU!

That Volunteer Spirit...

Louisville's Healthcare Family Tree

On Friday, I had the pleasure to attend an event sponsored by Louisville's Health Enterprises Network. The occasion was the unveiling of the 2009 Family Tree of Healthcare related entities. This latest update of the family tree has 428 companies represented, up 100 from just a couple years ago. From hospitals and medical groups, to technology, research and academics, to billing firms, insurance companies and everything in between, the healthcare industry's reach is far and wide across the community.

Both the Governor and Mayor were present to share their remarks with the crowd. It was noted that of Louisville's top 25 companies, 10 of them are in within the health care sector. While we are all feeling the negative effects of the economy on our own businesses, the message was a positive reminder of the impact that health care plays in the local economy.


The question I have is whether or not this is really a good thing? While it is nice to see the local economy growing through the investment of resources in health care, Federal spending on health care continues to rise faster than inflation and contributes significantly to our national debt.

The lack of integration and information technology in health care ultimately drives up costs and decreases quality. However, rather than expending the resources to fix the root of this problem, dozens of spin off companies have been born to help us "deal" with the inefficiencies and fragmentation of the health care system. Instead of fixing problems, we have invented new band-aids to help us survive.

With health care reform being a top agenda item on the President's domestic agenda, it will be very interesting to see if we can unravel all that has been created to keep the nation's health care machine lumbering forward. While I certainly wish no ill will to the great number of people and companies that are genuinely trying to help make health care better, it would be nice to see true reform that would streamline the current bureaucracy and align all of the competing entities vying for the same health care dollars. Maybe then we could focus all of our attention and resources on providing the very best possible quality and service to the patients that depend on us.

Louisville's Healthcare Family Tree

Update on our economic discussions

I recently wrote about the economy and its affects on our organization. Over the past week I have hosted several town-hall meetings with our team members and plan on hosting several more this week. I have been overwhelmed (in a good way) with the amount of suggestions, support, and engagement of our team in stepping up to the plate to help us find new and innovative ways to deal with the economic pressures and realities that all businesses are facing today. To date, I have received dozens of emails, notes, and suggestions on how we can pro-actively deal with improving our operating performance. Together, we will be making a plan based on these suggestions about how to change the way we operate going forward.

I feel fortunate to have such a wonderful team of people to work with as I know our success will be tied to our level of commitment and support of each other. Below is the update letter that I sent out to our team this morning, I welcome your thoughts and feedback!

Dear Jewish Hospital and Frazier Rehab Team Members,

I recently wrote to you about the status of the economy and its resulting effects on our system. I am very pleased and encouraged with the responses I have been getting from each of you with ideas on how we can weather this storm as a team. For all of you that have submitted your ideas, they have not been forgotten! I am working on compiling all of your suggestions into a document that I can share and utilize as we put our final touches on the final plan that we will implement.

As I work to compile the results of your feedback, I want to take a moment to share more detail about some of the actions that have already been taken to proactively deal with our situation. As we have discussed, the majority of dollars we spend are related to staff and supplies. Together, these two areas account for approximately 70% of our spending. As we budgeted and planned for 2009, we assumed that we would experience higher patient volumes the first quarter of the year as we have seen in previous years. This was not the case and therefore we find ourselves overstaffed for the number of patients we have to care for. We have no choice but to flex our staffing in order to stabilize the hospital around our operating volumes.

Over the past eight weeks, we have already begun to make changes to help lessen the overall impact to our team. Below are some examples of how we are trying to proactively manage this situation.
· Replacement positions: Each month we lose about 1.2% of our team members to attrition (retirement, relocation, or moves to another job or position). In an organization of our size, this means that we lose 35 - 45 people each month from the hospital. To help with overstaffing, we have greatly slowed down the re-hiring process in areas where our volumes are tracking below budget. Every position that is vacated is closely questioned and asked whether or not that position is vital to patient care and whether the position should be posted and re-hired. The less people we hire means the less people affected by potential downsizing, DTO, etc.
· New positions: Newly created positions that were budgeted for, but have not already been filled, were removed from the open positions report. New positions will only be filled as needed to justify patient care, increases in volume, or other special needs to the organization.
· Daily staffing: Daily productivity meetings are being held with the executive and management team to ensure each unit or department is staffing to volume and to ensure we have the appropriate number of team members in the right place, at the right time. Departments that are already over their daily targets will not have positions approved to be refilled until there is a clear plan in place to address the variance.
· Overtime: Overtime hours are being closely monitored. Overtime will be reduced as much as possible for areas whose volumes or work loads are declining and may be increased in areas where we are delaying the refilling of positions.
· Supplies: While we cannot cut back on the level of care or the supplies we use to take care of our patients, we all know that there are pockets of opportunity that lie throughout our hospitals to improve efficiency and thereby reduce our costs. Great improvements have been achieved in terms of reducing overall patient length-of-stay, but we know that there are additional opportunities to improve the amount of resources we consume. Our supply chain team is working to identify opportunities to improve our pricing, vendor selection and quantity of supplies used to reduce our overall spend in this category. If you know of an area where you believe we are wasting supplies, please bring this to the attention to both myself and your manager.
· Other expenses: I have asked the management team to eliminate discretionary spending wherever possible to help add to our cause (travel, meals, memberships, donations, etc). I know we do not spend a great deal in these areas to begin with, but every little bit helps.

Even with these actions, we are still not projecting to be where we need to be related to our budget and further measures will need to be taken in order to keep us on track. As I mentioned last week, I have begun a series of town-hall meetings and the feedback from the early sessions has been positive. I appreciate everyone’s willingness to help the organization think of new ways to weather the economic storm we find ourselves in while realizing that, in order to do so, we all must be willing to make some personal concessions. If you have not had the opportunity to attend a session, I have added a few new sessions this week. I would encourage you to attend or give me your feedback via email, voicemail, or through my online blog. I will send out an update when the meetings are finished to summarize and highlight some of the key themes that have been suggested.

I know this is difficult news to deal with, but I am very confident that we will be successful based upon the feedback I have been getting thus far. During this time, I am asking each of you to recommit yourselves to the difficult tasks ahead of us while realizing that none of our current obligations change. We must continue to uphold the highest standards around quality and safety. We also cannot lose focus on providing excellent service to our patients and physicians. If we can enhance the level of quality and service we provide, I am convinced we can grow our patient volumes and organization even in these difficult times. Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Martin J. Bonick
President & CEO
Jewish Hospital & Frazier Rehab Institute

Update on our economic discussions

D2B Kudo's

Despite all that is going on in our country, when you stop and put things in perspective, few things in life are as serious as they seem. As one of our team members said to me in the elevator, "Today is a great day, I woke up and I'm able to live another day!" It was a warm reminder to keep the important things in life in perspective, like our health and well being!

For some though, that very livelihood is threatened by heart disease and heart attack. According to the American Heart Association, approximately every 65 seconds someone in the US dies from a coronary event. As a major cardiovascular institute in Kentucky and part of the only system accredited chest pain center in Louisville, being prepared for a patient having a heart attack is something that we must be in a constant state of readiness.

From the time a patient presents to the Emergency Department having a heart attack (specifically an ST segment elevation myocardial infartion or STEMI) to the time they are wheeled into the Cardiac Cath Lab, are prepped, and have a catheter inserted into the heart to unblock the culprit lesion causing the attack is the time measurement used to determine an organizations effectiveness in providing emergency cardiac care. The term for this process is called the "Door to Balloon" time otherwise known as "D2B."

In our never ending pursuit of clinical excellence, reducing our D2B time is a process that our team has placed great focus on and as a result we have seen great improvement. To do this takes practice, coordination, and most of all teamwork between the Emergency Department, Cath Lab and our physicians. One new addition to help speed this process in Louisville is a partnership between the local hospitals and EMS that allows paramedics in the field to transmit EKGs in the field to the hospital while in route so that an interpretation can be obtained and the heart attack team can be activated before the patient even arrives to the hospital.

The saying is "time is muscle" and every minute counts when dealing with these most critical of situations. Current standards state that an organization must have a D2B time of 90 minutes or less in order to be meeting national guidelines. Today our team received its first EKG transmission from EMS and as a result accomplished a D2B time of 48 minutes for one of our patients having a heart attack - nearly half the national standard!

To all of our team members and physicians who have studied, practiced, and refined our processes to be able to deliver the best care possible to our patients, today should be seen as a great reward for your efforts. I thank you for your commitment and more importantly I know the families of our patients thank you for helping to save the life of a loved one today! Great work!

D2B Kudo's

Effects of the economy on our hospital

As we all continue to hear about the challenges businesses are facing across our city and the country, it should come as no surprise that the health care industry finds itself in the middle of the same economic storm as everyone else. Below is the letter I sent out this morning to our team members as the first of a series of discussions we are beginning to address the impact the economy is having upon us and the realities of our economic situation. In just a few hours, I have already received almost a dozen replies and look forward to hearing many more from our team and others who are facing the same challenges. I will continue to keep you updated on the feedback I receive as we go forward.

I'd also like to give special thanks to Paul Levy for demonstrating how to lead in difficult times with transparency and respect. His leadership is making a huge impact on the future of health care in a positive way!


Dear Jewish Hospital and Frazier Rehab Team Members,

As we close the first quarter of 2009, I wanted to begin a series of conversations with you about the status of the economy, our ever-changing regulatory environment and their impact on our organization. I’m sure each of you knows our country is in one of the most significant economic recessions in modern history. At the same time, we are under ever increasing regulatory scrutiny that challenges the way we do business. Together, these facts are forcing hospitals across the country to find new ways to conduct business in order to survive.

Due to the economic pressures on the stock market that began in 2008, our organization’s investment income experienced a significant loss and we have also had to make a multi-million dollar contribution to maintain our pension plan, both of which took major reserves out of our “savings account.” This income has typically been used to help fund capital purchases, equipment, and building projects and was used to replenish our savings account when operational earnings fell short.

At the same time, regulatory changes related to inpatient rehab care have significantly limited both the types and number of patients we can continue to treat at Frazier. Due to a tightening around medical necessity criteria and something called the “60% rule,” we can no longer admit some patients to Frazier that we used to be able to care for in the past. As a result, Frazier’s admissions and census have continued to decline from prior year’s performance. As such, I announced to the Frazier team members on Friday that we will be closing the 9th floor of Frazier and relocating the patients cared for on that unit to the remaining three units at Frazier in order to maximize care and staffing efficiencies.

Furthermore, our outpatient business has declined an average of almost 5% throughout the hospital as patients delay or cancel procedures and tests due to their own personal economic issues. Further complicating the issue is the fact that our level of bad debt is increasing due to the number of patients seeking care from us that no longer have insurance or the ability to pay their health plan co-pays and deductibles.

As you can see we are in what many describe as the “perfect storm” for health care. In order to secure the organization’s long term stability, we need to begin taking immediate actions to do business differently as we continue throughout this year and next. Earlier this year, our Board approved a budget that would result in an operating margin for the system of 0.6%. This margin is already a challenge for a system of our size and after the projections of the first quarter, we are finding ourselves needing to reduce our costs by approximately $20 million just to maintain that same level of income margin.

As a result of the above, we have some hard decisions that need to be made in the month of April to help us address the financial impact of the economic crisis and regulatory changes. As such, I want to solicit your ideas and opinions as we go about implementing a plan so that you are aware of, understand the rationale and have the opportunity to be involved in helping us decide how we will do business differently going forward.

Many ideas have already been shared with me advising how we might deal with this problem just as other hospitals and companies are dealing with similar issues. Rather than just implementing these ideas, I’d like to develop a plan with your input and get your thoughts on these ideas, as well as others we may not have thought of yet.

To further discuss these issues and solicit your feedback, I am planning to host several town-hall meetings beginning next week. If you cannot make these meetings, you can always share your thoughts with me directly via e-mail, voicemail, or through my blog at www.hlifeblog.com (which can be done anonymously if you wish). Your input does matter to me, so please reach out and share your thoughts and ideas to ensure we come up with the best plan possible for Jewish Hospital and Frazier Rehab.

As an organization, we have always been known as being innovators and leaders in our field. Now is the time to utilize those traits to help us through this difficult period to protect our mission, vision and the financial health of our organization and our future. With the support of all our team members, we will weather this storm. I thank each of you for your contributions and support and as always, I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Martin J. Bonick
President & CEO
Jewish Hospital & Frazier Rehab Institute

Effects of the economy on our hospital

Times like this are why we practice disaster drills!

As I was finishing up some computer work in my office just before 6pm tonight, the power went out suddenly after a lightening flash downtown. Anyone that has worked in hospital for any length of time has probably found them self in a similar circumstance and at first I didn't think too much of the situation. Our emergency generators came on instantaneously as they are supposed to and I would have expected business to continue without much interruption. Nonetheless, I left my office to begin checking on our Emergency Department and Critical Care Units and then I heard the overhead page of "Code Red - Surgery Center." All of a sudden your thought process changes. I quickly headed to the surgery department and found myself to be the first on scene from outside of the department (or so I thought) and quickly scrambling with the staff to try and understand what exactly was happening. The staff smelled smoke in one of the operating suites, but could not pinpoint the source and alertly pulled the fire alarm box. At the same time as I arrived another alarm for one of the medical gasses went off in the same area. At this point others began arriving on the scene, but to my growing frustration, we still could not get engineering to respond to help determine what was happening. One of our environmental supervisors then told me there were more alarms going off in other areas of the building. With the surgery department contained I left to move to the generator room in the basement where there were reports of smoke. By now the fire department had arrived on scene and were assisting to track down the various alarms and engineering finally turned up as well.

To bring everyone up to speed on what was actually occurring, the lightening strike downtown took out the power grid for the downtown medical district. As our generators kicked in, some of the exhaust made its way into some of the external ventilation ducts which is why our staff began to smell "smoke." As the fire alarms were pulled, the elevators shut down as they are supposed to, but they shut down while several of our engineers were en route to other calls thus trapping them in the elevators! This is why they weren't responding to the emergency as I expected, and admittedly probably the only good excuse I can think of in a situation like this! We practice a lot of scenarios, but this was one I honestly hadn't considered. One physician noted that he has practiced at our hospital for 18 years and never seen anything like this. Of course we will do a post-incident debriefing as a result of this event, and I will be interested to see how we go about developing contingency plans around this lesson learned. I will leave that topic for another post....

To the credit of our leaders that were still in the building and all of our team members caring for our patients and the hospital, they performed remarkably under these stressed conditions. Respiratory therapists quickly attended to our ventilated patients, nurses secured battery-power for our VAD patients, the OR crew kept our patients safe by switching to portable gas tanks, and so-on, all without a single adverse event to our patients! As the situation returned to normal and power was restored, I finished my rounds and was able to talk to some of our staff and physicians. Through my conversations, my belief and respect for our team members commitment to our patients was solidly reaffirmed. I heard stories of people speeding back into work to pitch-in and help their co-workers, med/surg nurses volunteered to come to the ICU to help tend to our most critical patients, and even as I write tonight our bio-med and IT staff are continuing to restore the multitudes of computers, monitors, and equipment that were affected by the power outage. To each of you I give you my heartfelt thanks and admiration for demonstrating excellence in action - Thank you all for an exciting evening!

Times like this are why we practice disaster drills!