A
Year of Progress in Health Care…
Mercy Records Many Achievements in 2004
Mercy Medical Center — Sioux City marked an eventful year
of medical milestones and clinical progress in 2004.
“It was a very exciting, rewarding year for the entire
Mercy family as the hospital celebrated a number of healthcare
innovations and honors,” says Peter Makowski, Mercy’s
president and CEO. “We were blessed to realize many accomplishments
and great progress, thanks to the expertise and dedication of our
staff members and physician partners.”
Judging from news headlines during the past year, Mercy’s
regional and national reputation as a provider of world-class health
care became even more prominent.
Last spring, the National Committee for Quality Health Care (NCQHC)
awarded the prestigious 2004 National Quality Health Care Award
to the parent organization (Trinity Health, the Novi, Michigan
based healthcare network) with which Mercy Medical Center is affiliated.
The award, co-sponsored by Modern Healthcare magazine, is presented
to one U.S. healthcare provider each year that “embodies
a vision for quality that embraces innovation and forward thinking,
and establishes ways to measure and evaluate those processes to
benefit the community,” according to NCQHC guidelines.
In July, Mercy Medical Center was nationally recognized once
again with the 2004 Distinguished Hospital Award for Excellence
in Patient Safety. The award, conferred to just 88 U.S. hospitals,
placed Mercy in the top 2% in the nation for patient safety.
Cardiologists, emergency physicians and staff members at Mercy
continued to achieve some the best statistical outcomes in the
nation for early heart attack care. The most recent report from
the National Registry of Myocardial Infarction (NRMI) indicated
that Mercy’s median “door-to-dilation” time was
an impressive 69 minutes. The national average was 100 minutes.
Door-to-dilation time indicates the amount of time that elapses
between arrival at the hospital and the first inflation of the
balloon for the primary angioplasty procedure in a cardiac catheterization
(cath) lab.
During 2004, Mercy continued to expand and renovate its medical
facilities in order to further enhance its healing environment
with state-of-the-art services and patient-friendly amenities.
In January, healthcare professionals and community leaders dedicated
the new state-of-the-art Mercy Pediatrics Unit, designed for the
care of young people from infancy through adolescence. The new
12-bed unit on the ninth floor of Mercy’s
north hospital building offers a friendly, warm environment that ensures the
health and safety of young patients.
In April, Mercy dedicated its new Same Day Surgery unit, a comfortable,
state-of-the-art facility for patients and their families. The
expanded department includes 17 private rooms in a bright, contemporary
environment immediately adjacent to Mercy’s
Surgical Services Department. Patient rooms are freshly furnished with comfortable
recliners and modern patient carts. The unit is also equipped with some of
the most contemporary technology available to healthcare providers
and their patients.
In September, the ribbon was cut for the new
South Sioux City Mercy Medical Clinic. Located at 501 First Avenue
in South Sioux City, the newly built 10,000 square foot facility
includes an expanded patient waiting area, 12 examination rooms,
a treatment room, two nurses stations, an in-house laboratory,
a mammography screening area, and physician and staff offices.
In December, the James Buchanan Family Room, a comfortable, spacious
new addition to the hospital’s Dr. Joseph Washburn Oncology/Palliative Care Center was
formally dedicated. The newly designed environment for the families and loved
ones of cancer and palliative care patients was made possible by a gift from
community leader Barbara Aalfs in memory of her father, James Buchanan, who died
of cancer at an early age. Completion of the James Buchanan Family Room capped
a three-year, $400,000 renovation of Mercy’s oncology/palliative care center,
located on the southwest seventh floor of Mercy’s south hospital building,
Among other highlights noted at Mercy Medical Center in 2004:
- The Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons
(ACS) re- verified the Mercy Trauma Center as a Level II trauma
center, the only trauma care facility of its caliber in western
Iowa. Mercy first achieved ACS verification in 1998.
- The Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons
(ACS) granted continued approval to the oncology program and
tumor registry at Mercy, which is currently the only Siouxland
hospital to have a cancer care program that bears the prestigious
approval of the ACS. Surgeon reviewers gave the hospital multiple
commendations in such areas as outcomes analysis, prevention
and early detection, and cancer-related improvements.
- The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities
(CARF) reaccredited the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
programs at Mercy for a period of three years. Mercy is the only
hospital in the region to hold such accreditation, which is awarded
to organizations that show substantial fulfillment of the high
standards established by CARF.
- The Mercy Child Advocacy Center earned renewed accreditation
by the National Children’s Alliance (NCA), a highly regarded not-for-profit organization
whose mission is to establish and improve children’s advocacy centers across
the nation. Mercy’s center was the first child protection program in
the state of Iowa to gain national accreditation.
- Patients at Mercy began to benefit from the most advanced
radiological imaging available in Siouxland following the hospital’s
addition of a high-tech 16-slice Computed Tomography (CT) unit.
- Babies requiring special care in the Mercy Family Birth Center’s level
II nursery began to benefit from the most advanced and supportive microenvironment
available thanks to the hospital’s purchase of a Giraffe OmniBed.
- Believing in the power of the collective purse, a group of
Siouxland women launched the Mercy Alliance for Women’s Health, the region’s
first philanthropic giving circle. By December, the Alliance had awarded
more than $18,000 to community organizations and programs that seek
to enhance and strengthen healthcare services for women.
- The Mercy Medical Center Foundation launched a philanthropic
membership program to support Mercy Air Care (MAC), while also
lending financial support to local emergency services agencies
in communities across Siouxland.
- On Oct. 21, Mercy and the Breast Care Center welcomed more
than 1,700 Siouxland women to “Women’s Night Out,” a
relaxing, interactive and entertaining evening. Due to an overwhelming
response from women throughout Siouxland, tickets for the fourth
annual event sold out in just two days.
- A record crowd of nearly
500 patrons attended the Mercy Medical Center Foundation’s
2004 Fall Gala on Nov. 6 and raised more than $152,000 to benefit women and children’s
services at Mercy.
- Last fall, Mercy initiated a support group to give new mothers
a compassionate, respectful, supportive environment in which
they can discuss and overcome postpartum depression. In December,
a support group for those affected directly or indirectly by
Parkinson’s disease met for the first time at Mercy.
“While we take some time to reflect on our accomplishments
during the past year, we will also assure everyone that we will
not rest on our laurels,” Makowski concludes. “As we
begin a new year, we will continue to make every effort to raise
the quality of care available to Siouxland residents to an even
higher standard. Knowing that will be our objective, perhaps we
can look forward to celebrating and giving thanks for those exciting
innovations and milestones yet to come.”
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