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- DRMC's "Here for our community" site
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- Consultant's report to Commission
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- DRMC Wikipedia
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- Nashville Biz Journal
- DRMC "Danville News & Views"
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Blog Archive
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2007
(182)
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February
(31)
- Letter to the editor...."Let's Do It Danville!"
- Technical difficulties
- "We can take it back"
- A few words from "behind the curtain"...
- Very well put...this deserves to be on the front p...
- Well...? Part Deux
- Letter to the editor - Dr. Smith on improvements i...
- February's City Council meeting...update
- Well...?
- Notes from all over
- Any volunteers...?
- It's been a crazy week...
- How about a little good news?
- Citizens Commission...
- Pssst....
- Talking amongst ourselves is great....
- So....What's your take?
- We couldn't agree with you more, Bill.
- "We get letters..." Lotsa letters in Sunday's R&B
- "A time for answers"
- Deja vu....all over again
- "We have other choices"
- Followup article in the R&B today
- Local media coverage of Feb 6 Council meeting
- WTF?
- High fives all around....there's good news after all!
- Stay tuned....
- Lifepoint/DRMC coverage in Martinsville today….
- The R&B....and contact your City Council
- Okay gang...let's show a little class
- From the outside looking in...
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February
(31)
Letter to Employees, February 7, 2007
Dear DRMC Associates, Physicians and Volunteers:
Thank you for all your efforts to provide healthcare to the citizens of the Dan River Region. Providing healthcare, saving lives, and improving the quality of the lives of our friends, family and neighbors is a high calling, and you are answering that call each and every day. Delivering on the high expectations of those we serve is a tremendous responsibility, shared by everyone – physicians, nurses, technical and support staff, volunteers, managers and administration.
It’s no secret that to be successful in meeting this responsibility, we must work together. We have seen in our Emergency Department the good things that can happen when staff, physicians and management work together effectively. The reduction in wait times and fewer patients leaving without treatment are ample proof. You should all be proud of this accomplishment.
It is our hope that all of us on the hospital team, and indeed the entire community, can come together around Danville Regional and make it a source of genuine pride and positive economic activity for this area. Coming together is way overdue.
When Mr. Bill Carpenter, CEO of LifePoint and three other corporate officers were in our hospital in January, they openly apologized for mistakes made at the onset of the hospital sale. Knowing what they know at this point in time, they would have definitely done things differently. LifePoint has committed the support and resources needed to make DRMC a hospital of which we all can be proud. In addition, we, as leaders in different areas of the hospital, commit our time and energy to that same goal.
The important thing to remember is that on one person or small group can make this hospital successful. It will take the support and commitment of every single one of us who are connected to DRMC in any way. We need your help to make this happen.
Going forward won’t be easy. Any organization of this size and complexity has issues.
But it is time to move on, and move ahead. Constructive suggestions are always OK, and in fact welcomed, because there is almost always more than one “right way” to accomplish goals. Bitter, destructive criticism isn’t OK. There’s a reason they call it “holding grudges,” because the only person who feels bad is the one holding them. It’s time for us to let these go.
Good things can happen if we channel our energies on positive activities. Never has this been more important than now.
During 2006 and 2007 $26 million is being invested to create some good things – the build out of the 5th and 6th floors, the new radiation/oncology equipment, addition of PACS and a new state of the art CT machine. These improvements, coupled with your caring approach, will provide better, more complete care for our patients, close to home.
Recent patient satisfaction scores have improved, and will continue to improve as long as we focus our efforts on providing the best care for our patients and support for each other. We also fully recognize the importance of improving staff and physician satisfaction, and the positive impact this will have on the patients we serve.
We also have a big challenge that will require everyone’s best – our Joint Commission accreditation review, which will occur sometime in the next couple of months. When you think about it, it is not a stretch to say that the lifeblood of this community is dependent upon Danville Regional maintaining Joint Commission accreditation.
Joint Commission accreditation is a key to the continued success of one of the largest employers in the region, and the place where the majority of our citizens come to receive healthcare. An accredited hospital makes the community more attractive for residents who already are here, and also for those people and their employers who are looking for a good place to live, work, play and invest. It also directly impacts the livelihood of all associates and physicians.
We need to place a tremendous amount of importance and urgency around preparing for Joint Commission, because accreditation is vital to all of us. While some might think loss of accreditation hurts LifePoint, the real losers are those of us who live and work in this community. We must join together to protect one of our most valuable community assets. Our region’s economic recovery depends on it.
So we go back to our original points: we are fortunate to be in a position to serve others, which is a tremendous responsibility we accept every day. All of us want to make this a better place to work, and a better place for our neighbors to receive treatment. We are committed to supporting you and know that together we will make DRMC the very best it can be. We appreciate each of you.
Sincerely,
Dr. Betty Jo Foster
Chairman, DRMC Advisory Board
Arthur M. Doloresco
President/ CEO
Richard A. Smith, M.D.
Chief of Staff
16 comments:
Could Sentinel Event please explain succinctly just what the Joint Commission is and why it is important? Not all of us work at the hospital. Thanks.
From their website: "Our Mission: To continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations."
They are the predominant standards and accreditation authority in healthcare...over 15,000 organizations participate, so it's a pretty good yardstick for the quality of the accreditation.
http://www.jointcommission.org/AboutUs/joint_commission_facts.htm
Was this a mock survey or were they reslly there? Maybe we have a big surprise headed our way!!!
No, this is not a mock inspection. Three inspectors arrived this morning and they will be here for four days.
If they look closely enough, I'm sure there will be LOTS of surprises to talk about!
There will be NO surprises......there will be truth. And , the truth will be that all that is found can not be attributed to LifePoint. Some of the findings will illuminate things which have been wrong before you and I ever heard of a for profit hospital in our community
How is it then that when we were a not-for-profit organization we were fully accredited by JCAHO with vey few if any deficiencies?
Before DRMC was sold, we didn't have to worry about patient safety on a daily basis. And, we didn't feel the need to report conditions to JCAHO and ask for help!
Before we were sold.......someone "took care of" the endless tasks of perpetual readiness for JCAHO.
As for patient safety, then and now, EVERYONE that interacts with a patient has had to be concerned for patient safety. It's part of the caring process
We are mostly the same people(except for allof the one's gone or lost.) as when it was a real hospital, aka before lifepoint.We didn't have these massive problems problems sure , these NO. The only variable is Lifepoint and the deception in tow.
Follow the link below to view JCAHO inspection results for DRMC "Pre-LifePoint".
Soon we'll be able to see how we have faired since March 2004.
http://www.qualitycheck.org/QualityReport.aspx?hcoid=4718&x=history
How interesting! Joint Commisions shows up just a few days after that so called pump you up letter from Betty Jo, Richard Smith, and Art. Scare tactic 101.
Prior to LifePoint....TWO(2)years of surveys with accreditations with requirements for improvements.
Then 1 year with perfect accreditation; Thank you former CNO Elaine Griffiths!!One who realzed that even the pre LifePoint DRMC had ISSUES with nursing.
But, let's see what comes of the current visit. I am sure there will requirements for improvement.Again, NOT all can be attribited to LifePoint.
It is beginning to smell very fishy on this web site....a whole lot of what can we do about this, let's talk stuff along with alot of defending lifepoint from various postings...is this site and sentinel event just another ploy from the spin dr.,who created all the PR for lifepoint????? Sentinel event knows way too much, way too fast and is very articulate and computer savvy...wtf
The site meter shows a lot of action from various places in Tennessee, homebase for Lifepoint. I think what the pro-Lifepoint postings show is that this blogsite is being taken seriously. That's good. You should continue to feed in your arguments against Lifepoint. My own view is that NOTHING will really change until Lifepoint is run out of town.
No, this blog is a tool developed by the CEO's of Moses Cone Health Sytem and Carillion Health Systems to incite the locals in hopes of a cheap buyout.
I got a real laugh out of the above posting...MCHS would not waste their time or money on this, they don't need DRMC, they made their offer and were turned down. They can give excellent care to all patients willing to go 45 Min. South. It takes more time that that to go across town to hospitals in most major cities. Also you can go to Annie Penn Hosp. in Reidsville in about 15 min. and you will be transported to MCHS by Carelink. Also you can bet that MCHS is not in bed with Carillion, another for profit hospital.biker.
I am glad someone could detect the sarcasm and cynicism of the comment about the two CEO's plan !
It is an idiotic, far fetched expression of an opinion much like many others throughout these postings.
Mission accomplished.
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