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Friday, July 19, we - along with the rest of the world - were impacted by the largest IT outage in history when a botched software update from security vendor Crowd-Strike crashed millions of Windows systems. Healthcare, financial services, and airlines were the hardest hit. Many hospitals and clinics experienced significant computer disruptions leading to delays and cancellations. Our Information Systems teams were quick to react in the very early hours of the day. Without their exceptional efforts in quickly determining the issue and rapidly connecting to hundreds of servers to implement a fix, we would have started the business day in total downtime. Throughout the day and weekend to follow they applied a manual fix to over 400 impacted end user computers, with some remote users graciously bringing their devices to the Help Desk to be fixed. If this incident had not been managed aggressively and effectively, it would have caused a much more significant disruption to the care we provide and to our business operations. Thank you to Information Systems for your teamwork and tireless efforts to resolve this issue quickly and efficiently!
Friday, July 19, we - along with the rest of the world - were impacted by the largest IT outage in history when a botched software update from security vendor Crowd-Strike crashed millions of Windows systems. Healthcare, financial services, and airlines were the hardest hit. Many hospitals and clinics experienced significant computer disruptions leading to delays and cancellations. Our Information Systems teams were quick to react in the very early hours of the day. Without their exceptional efforts in quickly determining the issue and rapidly connecting to hundreds of servers to implement a fix, we would have started the business day in total downtime. Throughout the day and weekend to follow they applied a manual fix to over 400 impacted end user computers, with some remote users graciously bringing their devices to the Help Desk to be fixed. If this incident had not been managed aggressively and effectively, it would have caused a much more significant disruption to the care we provide and to our business operations. Thank you to Information Systems for your teamwork and tireless efforts to resolve this issue quickly and efficiently!
Caregivers from two departments worked together to develop a process that has been shared nationally. Garrett McSwain, RD, LDN, dietitian, spent two years working with the Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center team to create a nutrition-based wound care protocol that allows for earlier identification and assessment of wound healing. His work included data collection, research tracking, policy development and in-service staff training. Garrett shared the protocol during a national presentation titled, "More than skin deep: Nutrition management of the chronic wound." The presentation helped caregivers from around the country understand how to use wound care quality improvement data to develop and establish their own nutrition-based wound care protocol within an inpatient setting. Congratulations to everyone involved in this project for enhancing the quality of care available to our patients and for sharing your exceptional work with other providers to make a difference for patients across the country.
Caregivers from two departments worked together to develop a process that has been shared nationally. Garrett McSwain, RD, LDN, dietitian, spent two years working with the Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center team to create a nutrition-based wound care protocol that allows for earlier identification and assessment of wound healing. His work included data collection, research tracking, policy development and in-service staff training. Garrett shared the protocol during a national presentation titled, "More than skin deep: Nutrition management of the chronic wound." The presentation helped caregivers from around the country understand how to use wound care quality improvement data to develop and establish their own nutrition-based wound care protocol within an inpatient setting. Congratulations to everyone involved in this project for enhancing the quality of care available to our patients and for sharing your exceptional work with other providers to make a difference for patients across the country.
For the fourth consecutive year, the American Heart Association has presented Blessing Hospital caregivers with "Get With the Guidelines" Gold level recognition. Specifically, Blessing received a 2024 Gold Plus Award for meeting or exceeding national core standard levels of care in the treatment of stroke patients for two consecutive calendar years or more. Get With the Guidelines puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest research and evidence-based guidelines. The hospital also earned the Target: Stroke Honor Roll award for meeting specific criteria that reduces the time between an eligible patient's arrival at the hospital and treatment with a clot-buster drug; and a Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award for ensuring patients with Type 2 diabetes, who might be at a higher risk for complications, receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care when hospitalized due to stroke.
For the fourth consecutive year, the American Heart Association has presented Blessing Hospital caregivers with "Get With the Guidelines" Gold level recognition. Specifically, Blessing received a 2024 Gold Plus Award for meeting or exceeding national core standard levels of care in the treatment of stroke patients for two consecutive calendar years or more. Get With the Guidelines puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest research and evidence-based guidelines. The hospital also earned the Target: Stroke Honor Roll award for meeting specific criteria that reduces the time between an eligible patient's arrival at the hospital and treatment with a clot-buster drug; and a Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award for ensuring patients with Type 2 diabetes, who might be at a higher risk for complications, receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care when hospitalized due to stroke.
The latest population health data from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control highlights an often overlooked fact: millions of Americans are living with daily pain. The Blessing Surgery Center team and Dr. Muhammad Sami Iqbal have responded - adding pain procedures to the menu of care available at the Surgery Center as of July 3, 2024. In addition, earlier this year the team added another robot to its stable of assistive technology - the Velys for total knee replacement, used by Dr. Darr Leutz. On the journey to reaching our Zero Harm goal, the Surgery Center team is delivering a surgical site infection prevalence rate goal of .18%, nearly 50% below the goal target rate. And speaking of reaching goals, the Surgery Center GI Team is close to exceeding its goal of having 3 out of 4 patient satisfaction domains at the 90th percentile. We recognize the caregivers of the Blessing Surgery Center for their willingness to expand their knowledge-base and skill set to bring patients the latest and safest care, and doing it with a commitment to exceptional customer service.
The latest population health data from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control highlights an often overlooked fact: millions of Americans are living with daily pain. The Blessing Surgery Center team and Dr. Muhammad Sami Iqbal have responded - adding pain procedures to the menu of care available at the Surgery Center as of July 3, 2024. In addition, earlier this year the team added another robot to its stable of assistive technology - the Velys for total knee replacement, used by Dr. Darr Leutz. On the journey to reaching our Zero Harm goal, the Surgery Center team is delivering a surgical site infection prevalence rate goal of .18%, nearly 50% below the goal target rate. And speaking of reaching goals, the Surgery Center GI Team is close to exceeding its goal of having 3 out of 4 patient satisfaction domains at the 90th percentile. We recognize the caregivers of the Blessing Surgery Center for their willingness to expand their knowledge-base and skill set to bring patients the latest and safest care, and doing it with a commitment to exceptional customer service.
This spring the Heart & Vascular Center team increased the number of patients who have received a new heart valve through the minimally invasive Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement or TAVR procedure to 200. The team's first TAVR procedure took place in December 2019. The 100th was done in June 2022, and the 200th was in April 2024. TAVR replaces failing heart valves. For many years that required open heart surgery. Some people are not candidates for surgery due to other health conditions. That's where TAVR can be a real life-saver for patients. It is a minimally invasive procedure, during which a new heart valve is placed via a catheter using X-ray guidance. No open-heart surgery required. In addition, the team recently achieved the accomplishment of discharging most TAVR patients from the hospital in one day compared to 3-5 for those who undergo surgical valve replacement. Thank you for the exceptional teamwork that makes Blessing the Provider of Choice for heart care in the region.
This spring the Heart & Vascular Center team increased the number of patients who have received a new heart valve through the minimally invasive Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement or TAVR procedure to 200. The team's first TAVR procedure took place in December 2019. The 100th was done in June 2022, and the 200th was in April 2024. TAVR replaces failing heart valves. For many years that required open heart surgery. Some people are not candidates for surgery due to other health conditions. That's where TAVR can be a real life-saver for patients. It is a minimally invasive procedure, during which a new heart valve is placed via a catheter using X-ray guidance. No open-heart surgery required. In addition, the team recently achieved the accomplishment of discharging most TAVR patients from the hospital in one day compared to 3-5 for those who undergo surgical valve replacement. Thank you for the exceptional teamwork that makes Blessing the Provider of Choice for heart care in the region.
Our Infection Prevention department has recognized our pharmacy team with a Zero Harm award for its work to reduce infections by monitoring cultures and recommending antibiotics based on antimicrobial stewardship practices. Each of our pharmacists completes a nearly yearlong antimicrobial stewardship certification program to ensure our patients receive antibiotics only when necessary. And when an antibiotic is appropriate, that the patient receives the right drug at the first dose at the right time for the right duration to reduce the risk of antibiotic resistance. This makes us unique because not all hospital pharmacies have an antimicrobial stewardship program this extensive. We are grateful for our pharmacists' commitment to keeping their knowledge on the cutting edge to protect us from "super bugs" that cannot be treated easily and for their contribution to reaching our Zero Harm goal.
Our Infection Prevention department has recognized our pharmacy team with a Zero Harm award for its work to reduce infections by monitoring cultures and recommending antibiotics based on antimicrobial stewardship practices. Each of our pharmacists completes a nearly yearlong antimicrobial stewardship certification program to ensure our patients receive antibiotics only when necessary. And when an antibiotic is appropriate, that the patient receives the right drug at the first dose at the right time for the right duration to reduce the risk of antibiotic resistance. This makes us unique because not all hospital pharmacies have an antimicrobial stewardship program this extensive. We are grateful for our pharmacists' commitment to keeping their knowledge on the cutting edge to protect us from "super bugs" that cannot be treated easily and for their contribution to reaching our Zero Harm goal.
Blessing Health is committed to helping employees achieve their career goals. To that end, we recognize six of our coworkers who recently graduated from the Chamber of Commerce Leadership Institute in Quincy and Hannibal. During the program, participants attend sessions on a wide range of topics - including local history, non-profits, entrepreneurship, manufacturing and government - and gain firsthand knowledge of critical community issues by engaging with local experts. Our graduates were Kiona Wright, Organizational Development; Taylor Hockman, Information Systems; Rachel Vogel, Quality and Performance Improvement; Kristen Powell, Marketing; Abby Whiston, Patient Access; and Krystle VonderHaar, General Surgery Office Manager at Blessing Health Hannibal.
The Illini Community Hospital team was recently recognized by the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network for being among the top 10 critical access hospitals in the state for patient satisfaction. Upon receiving the award, Illini leader Holly Jones recognized that exceptional patient satisfaction was an organizational goal, and that she was proud of the commitment of her staff in exceeding patient expectations. In addition, Holly noted that several service lines within Illini have patient satisfaction rates between 90 and 98%.
The Illini Community Hospital team was recently recognized by the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network for being among the top 10 critical access hospitals in the state for patient satisfaction. Upon receiving the award, Illini leader Holly Jones recognized that exceptional patient satisfaction was an organizational goal, and that she was proud of the commitment of her staff in exceeding patient expectations. In addition, Holly noted that several service lines within Illini have patient satisfaction rates between 90 and 98%.
For kids, a bicycle is freedom. But without the proper training, it is also an accident waiting to happen. For years Blessing Health Hannibal and Hannibal Clinic Health Services - assisted by wonderful volunteers - have hosted Ride Cool, featuring a safety obstacle course and helmet giveaway. Thank to Dr. Susan Meidl, the rest of the Blessing Health Hannibal team and community volunteers - including the Hannibal Early Bird Kiwanis - for making safety a part of the summer fun in Hannibal and surrounding communities.
For kids, a bicycle is freedom. But without the proper training, it is also an accident waiting to happen. For years Blessing Health Hannibal and Hannibal Clinic Health Services - assisted by wonderful volunteers - have hosted Ride Cool, featuring a safety obstacle course and helmet giveaway. Thank to Dr. Susan Meidl, the rest of the Blessing Health Hannibal team and community volunteers - including the Hannibal Early Bird Kiwanis - for making safety a part of the summer fun in Hannibal and surrounding communities.
One of our "mission critical" services is behavioral health. Helping our communities maintain mental health is as important as improving their physical health. We offer the only inpatient adult and child adolescent units in the region as well as an extensive outpatient care menu including the BEST Self Center's partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs. In addition, the Behavioral Health team is active in the community, sharing life-changing information with the people where they are in their journey. During May, Mental Health Month, the team turned up its passion - sharing its message of help and hope with fellow employees as well. We thank them for their tireless efforts to reduce the stigma associated with seeking mental health care and their compassion for those in need.
One of our "mission critical" services is behavioral health. Helping our communities maintain mental health is as important as improving their physical health. We offer the only inpatient adult and child adolescent units in the region as well as an extensive outpatient care menu including the BEST Self Center's partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs. In addition, the Behavioral Health team is active in the community, sharing life-changing information with the people where they are in their journey. During May, Mental Health Month, the team turned up its passion - sharing its message of help and hope with fellow employees as well. We thank them for their tireless efforts to reduce the stigma associated with seeking mental health care and their compassion for those in need.