TriHealth Bridge

June 07, 2022

 
Hi Team –
 
It is truly shocking that, for the third time in four weeks, I must open this Weekly Update by addressing our nation’s growing epidemic of random and deadly acts of gun violence. This time, because of two deadly shootings occurring in healthcare facilities, including one close to home in Dayton, and a weekend marked by no less than a dozen mass shootings – all resulting in the senseless loss of too many innocent lives. Once again, our hearts and prayers go out to all of the victims and their families impacted by these horrific incidents. Sadly, all of these appalling crimes share a common thread of untreated mental illness, coupled with readily accessible guns. As we do our part here at TriHealth to expand access to high-quality behavioral health services, which I have written about in previous Weekly Updates, we are also encouraged to see bipartisan work in Congress on common-sense gun reform – something that is supported by the vast majority of Americans. As Americans, we should all reach out to our elected officials to demand action on this growing public health and safety crisis. I have, and I encourage you to do the same!
 
Proactive Measures to Further Protect our Team Members and Patients
We also recognize that the violent incidents recently occurring at healthcare facilities are unsettling and unnerving to all of us who work in healthcare and have dedicated our lives to healing. I want to reassure you that TriHealth is doing everything possible to keep our team members, patients, physicians, and volunteers safe and well protected in every TriHealth facility across the region, ALWAYS.
 
More than two years ago, TriHealth leadership recognized the need to take an even more proactive role in evolving our workplace safety program and initiatives in response to the increasing frequency of these types of threats in our nation. Led by our best-in-class Protective Services team, we have established a comprehensive program of safety and security education and prevention designed to prepare and protect all those who work, practice, visit and receive care throughout our health system. The following are just a few of the initiatives that have been put in place in recent years: 
  • Increased presence of Protective Services staff, including a 30% increase in staffing and use of metal detectors, where appropriate, at certain TriHealth facilities.
  • System-wide prevention and protection awareness, communications, and training efforts deployed throughout our system, covering topics such as threat assessment, active-threat response, and personal and professional safety.
  • Increased training investment in our Protective Services team, including more than 1,000 hours over the past year alone for active-shooter drills in partnership with local law enforcement, as well as training in active threats, self-protection, protection of others, and de-escalation, to name a few.
  • Use of innovative technology to quickly lock down hospitals and other large sections of the system if necessary.
In light of the events of the past few weeks, we’ve also initiated the following efforts to support team members and further strengthen workplace safety:
  • Protective Services team members to attend leader team huddles/meetings at the local level to share information and answer questions.
  • Protective Services to deploy additional staff to support our team’s safety, including a combination of uniformed and non-uniformed officers who can quietly remain close to team members without alarming others.
  • TriHealth to host the first-ever Regional Healthcare Security Leadership Meeting this week to bring together area healthcare system representatives to discuss commonalities, trends, and strategies for enhancing workplace safety.
Our Protective Services team is fully equipped and has spent years preparing to respond to any situation to support our team’s safety and well-being. If you have any questions or concerns about your safety and security at TriHealth, or you would like to learn more about available training courses, please reach out to Rich Cinfio, System Director of Protectives Services, or the Protective Services Team. 
 
Growing Our Talent to Lead the Way in Getting Healthcare Right
In recent years, we have been very deliberate in our efforts to grow and develop talent internally – while strengthening diversity, equity and inclusion across the organization. And we have done this to support our bold vision of Getting Healthcare Right by building a great culture where team members and physicians most want to work and practice, and our community chooses to receive healthcare. As part of this commitment, I’m pleased to announce three new leader appointments that further strengthen our leadership team and culture and demonstrate this commitment in action!
 
Terri Hanlon-Bremer Appointed to the Role of TriHealth Chief Operating Officer
Terri Hanlon-Bremer, MSN, RN, who has been serving in the role of Senior Vice President (SVP), Employer Solutions and Population Health, since March 2021, has been appointed to the vacant role of TriHealth Chief Operating Officer (COO), reporting directly to me. As you may recall, when our previous COO left TriHealth now more than three years ago, I chose not to fill the COO role but instead took on these additional responsibilities. I knew then that it was important to take the necessary time to ensure we found the right leader for the role who both “fit” our culture and was deeply committed to our vision. Well, today, I am happy to tell you we have just that leader in Terri – someone who has the trust and respect of our entire organization and is unwavering in her commitment to our work of Getting Healthcare Right and further strengthening our TriHealth Way culture.
 
A registered nurse with a master’s degree in Nursing Administration, Terri has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare! She started her career in 1987 as a cardiac nurse at Bethesda Oak, later joining our TriHealth leadership team in 2007 as Chief Operating Officer of Corporate Health. She took on responsibility for our Population Health strategy three years ago and also managed our highly successful vaccination program throughout COVID. Terri has a unique ability to manage complex operational and strategic initiatives across our vast delivery system – often in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity – while elevating patient outcomes, team engagement, and customer satisfaction in the process. She has proven herself to be a true trailblazer on our journey to get healthcare right, always providing balanced and thoughtful leadership to ensure our strategies and initiatives can fulfill the Triple Aim Plus One – better care, better health, and better value, PLUS an enhanced practice and work environment! And Terri has won numerous regional and national awards and recognition for her talents and achievements at TriHealth, among them, most recently, Modern Healthcare’s 2022 Top 25 Innovators Award! As TriHealth COO, Terri will work closely with me and our system’s clinical and administrative leadership team to continue to elevate operational and Pillar Goal performance system-wide while helping to drive continued integration and acceleration of our population health agenda.
 
Mike Everett Takes on Expanded Responsibility for TriHealth’s Growing Ambulatory Care Network
Mike Everett, President and COO for our Bethesda Butler and McCullough-Hyde Memorial hospitals, will assume expanded leadership responsibility for TriHealth’s 13 major Ambulatory Care Centers across the region. As care continues to shift to the ambulatory setting, Mike will lead the essential work of aligning our best-in-class Ambulatory Network with system and region strategic priorities while building greater consistency around an unparalleled ambulatory patient experience delivered across our 13 ambulatory campuses. Mike joined TriHealth as Executive Director for Bethesda Butler and McCullough-Hyde in June 2019, and over the past three years, has established himself as a proven leader in achieving strategic, financial, operational, and programmatic objectives for both hospitals while fostering the TriHealth Way culture. To ensure that Mike has the necessary time to take on this vital ambulatory leadership position, we will be separating the role of President and COO for both hospitals into two distinct hospital president and COO roles. Mike will serve as President and COO of McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital and the System Executive for the TriHealth Ambulatory Care Network, reporting to Steve Mombach, SVP of Ambulatory Services and Construction, in his ambulatory role, and John Ward, SVP of the Bethesda North Region, in his hospital leadership role.
 
Jeremiah Kirkland Transitions to President and COO of Bethesda Butler Hospital
Jeremiah Kirkland, who has served as President and COO of Good Samaritan Hospital Evendale, will now move into the role of President and COO of Bethesda Butler, reporting to John Ward. Good Samaritan Hospital Evendale will transition from an acute care hospital to an Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) later this summer as part of our Orthopedics joint venture with Beacon, which will operate two Beacon and two TriHealth ACSs. Jeremiah will maintain his leadership responsibilities for Women’s Health as he takes on this new role at Bethesda Butler. Jeremiah joined TriHealth in 2018 as Senior Executive for the Women’s Service Line and has developed a name for himself as a passionate advocate for change and making a difference. He has helped to champion our diversity, equity, and inclusion work throughout his career at TriHealth, serving for a time as our Interim Chief Diversity Officer. He was also instrumental in the creation and development of our nationally recognized School-to-Work program. 
 
Each of these leaders has a strong track record of success and accomplishment at TriHealth, coupled with a deep commitment to living our values and role modeling the TriHealth Way as servant leaders for our team members and patients. And their appointments are a shining example of the power and value of developing our own team members while taking our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion to the next level. And it’s because of this commitment, and our investments in the TriHealth Way, that we now have such a strong pipeline of talent internally to draw from to fill key leadership positions at all levels. Over the past three years, nearly 95% of all senior leadership positions have been successfully filled from within TriHealth…what a testament to our people and our culture! Please join me in congratulating Terri, Mike, and Jeremiah on their new and expanded roles and wishing them all the best!
 
COVID Update
New COVID cases continue a steady rise nationally, regionally, and locally, including here at TriHealth, where we’re seeing an uptick in those testing positive for COVID, including patients, team members, and physicians. This increase in cases appears to be due to the rising prevalence of Omicron subvariants, including BA.4 and BA.5. We remain encouraged that vaccines, boosters, and oral anti-viral medications are doing their part to keep most of these infections from turning into severe illnesses and hospitalizations. However, this current uptick in new cases reminds us that COVID has not gone away, and we must continue to be vigilant with our proven safety and mitigation practices to keep our caregivers and team members healthy, safe, and ready to serve our patients. As part of this commitment, and following discussions with our infectious disease and infection prevention experts, we are taking the following additional actions: 
 
Postponing the June 14-15 Leadership Development Institute (LDI)
We have made the decision to postpone our upcoming June 14-15 Leadership Development Institute (LDI), and reschedule it for August 9-10, 2022, when we are hopeful COVID case rates will have returned to safer levels. This will ensure we continue to put safety first by avoiding the unnecessary risk and the possible exposure created by bringing our 1,000 leaders together for two days at a time when case rates are on the rise.
 
Evaluating Whether New Prevention Measures are Needed to Slow Transmission Rate
As we monitor this increase in new case rates, we continue to collaborate with the region’s other health systems to evaluate and seek CDC guidance on the possible need to temporarily reinstitute targeted safety measures (such as mask-wearing in non-clinical healthcare settings) to help control this increasing transmission rate within our system. This is similar to how we approached previous challenges throughout the COVID pandemic – by working together as a region to make the best and safest evidence-based decisions for the health and safety of our team members, physicians, and patients. I plan to update you on these discussions in coming Weekly Updates.
 
While these continue to be challenging times for our country and our world, I am so grateful to be working alongside each and every one of you as we fulfill our sacred mission to heal, to improve health, and to provide compassionate care and a sense of well-being to every individual we serve. There is no more important work than this, and there is no greater team anywhere to accomplish this work than YOU! Thank you for who you are and all you do as ONE TEAM, TRIHEALTH STRONG to make our community and our country a healthier, brighter and better place to be. 
 

 

 

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