May 17, 2022
Hi Team –
Today, our hearts are heavy as we witnessed, yet again, the devastating effects of bias, bigotry, and hatred this past weekend with the racially targeted mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, that resulted in ten deaths and three wounded, eleven of whom were African American women and men. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. And again, we stand in solidarity to condemn this senseless and brutal act of violence and racism, and recommit ourselves to do whatever is necessary to end discrimination and violence forever. Sadly though, this is another tragic reminder that our work to foster racial equality and end systemic racism in our nation, and in our local communities and workplaces, is far from over. As we reflect on this tragedy here at TriHealth, we do so with an unwavering commitment to further advance our very intentional work of creating an even more inclusive, just, and healing culture by continuing to acknowledge and overcome implicit bias, actively develop cultural competencies within our teams, reduce health disparities within our communities, and recruit, retain, and develop diverse talent that reflects the community and patients we serve. In the coming weeks and months, Tashawna Otabil, our Chief Diversity Officer, and I will be sharing more about our bold Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) “agenda” and what’s ahead as we continue to do our part to end racism and bring about true and lasting justice for all.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
–Dr. Martin Luther King
Healthcare Heroes Week Recap
I hope you enjoyed last week’s many celebrations of YOU – our incredible TriHealth Healthcare Heroes!! As I rounded throughout our system, I was touched by the heartfelt stories so many of you shared about the deep gratitude and respect you have for your fellow team members, and all the meaningful ways you and your colleagues “showed up” for each other over the past two years, all to provide exceptional care for our patients at their time of greatest need! These stories serve as such a proud reminder of what makes TriHealth great…our PEOPLE!!!
Among last week’s many highlights was the unveiling of our 2022 Healthcare Heroes t-shirt at our special Healthcare Heroes Week Town Hall on Tuesday. As one small measure of the anticipation and interest in this contest, more than 5,000 team members voted, and nearly 5,700 t-shirts were ordered within the first 24 hours of availability!! Now that’s a new record and speaks volumes for the sense of camaraderie and pride we all share as ONE Team, TriHealth STRONG! Congratulations again to our contest winner, Mackenzie Sholtis, Access Associate at Good Samaritan Hospital (see pic to the left), as well as our two runners-up, Matt Alexander, Multimedia Designer in Marketing Communications, and Shannon Hughes, LPN in Pain and PM&R. If you haven’t done so yet, be sure to order your super comfortable t-shirt by May 24.Another fun highlight from the week was getting to hear from you personally during our town hall. In fact, we received so many great shoutouts – more than 300 during the 35-minute event – we could not read them all, so we decided to post them on Bridge for everyone to enjoy. Take a minute to hear what your team members had to say! And click here for a photo recap of all the exciting Healthcare Heroes Week celebrations that took place across the system.
Getting Healthcare Right – Two Big Wins!
As part of our work in getting healthcare right, we are sharply focused on continuously providing better and safer care, which is foundational to achieving the Triple Aim. So, I’m thrilled to share two major wins that indicate our hard work is paying off...
- TriHealth Achieves Leapfrog “A” grades for all four hospitals! For the first time since the Fall of 2019, all four eligible TriHealth hospitals – Bethesda Butler, Bethesda North, Good Samaritan, and McCullough-Hyde – earned “A” grades, the highest rating possible, in the Spring 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Safety report!!! This achievement is truly remarkable on several fronts. As a system, we again received the most "A" grades in Cincinnati, outpacing other local healthcare systems, and we are among only 30% of all U.S. hospitals in the nation to achieve "A" grades. Even more impressive is that we achieved these stellar scores for the care we provided during the worst of the pandemic when we were stretched to our limits, caring for more than 250 COVID patients daily in our hospitals, in addition to all of our non-COVID patients!! What a true testament to our team members’ commitment to safety, reliability, and exceptional patient care, always!
- TriHealth Cardiac Surgery Program Achieves Highest STS Rating for Third Straight Year! And if that weren’t impressive enough, last week we also learned that our TriHealth Cardiac Surgery Program, on the Bethesda North Campus, achieved a 3-star rating – the highest rating possible – from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) for the third year in a row! And for the first time, this STS ranking covers three years (1/1/2019 - 12/31/2021), and, once again, our cardiac care teams excelled in every area, achieving the 3-star rating for all four metrics (avoidance of mortality, avoidance of major morbidity, use of IMA (internal mammary artery), and use of medications), as well as overall quality. This means that TriHealth consistently performs in the top-tenth percentile of all cardiac surgery programs in the country based on clinical outcomes! TriHealth is the only cardiac surgery program in Cincinnati, and among just a handful in Ohio, to achieve this prestigious “3-Star” rating. And all credit for this achievement lies with our amazing team members and physicians, and their unwavering commitment to provide the safest and best cardiac care, anywhere!
School to Work Class of 2022 Graduation
Congratulations to the 15 Cincinnati Public School (CPS) high school students who graduated last week from our innovative School to Work program (STWP)! This unique workforce development and DEI initiative currently provides up to 20 CPS junior and senior high school students per class with real-world healthcare experience, a paycheck, and academic credit as they work beside our own team members and rotate through an array of clinical and support departments at Good Samaritan Hospital. Equally important, the program provides young, underrepresented minority students with exposure to a wide range of career opportunities in the field of healthcare. Initiatives such as the STWP will play an increasingly important role in building a “pipeline” of more diverse talent and future healthcare professionals who better reflect the rich diversity and differences of our community and those we serve. And as I shared earlier this year, thanks to the generous support of our two sponsors – CommonSpirit and bi3 (Bethesda Inc.’s grantmaking initiative) – this program is now fully funded by an endowment, which will allow us to more than double program enrollment to 40+ students per class going forward, as well as provide scholarships to pursue health careers at our Good Samaritan College of Nursing & Health Science and other schools upon program graduation.
COVID UpdateCOVID cases in the region are up a bit (75 per 100,000 per week) driven by the BA.4 and 5 variants, but thankfully, hospitalizations remain relatively flat due to high levels of immunity and availability of highly effective antiviral medications. And this is likely to be what our new “endemic state” norm will look like as we coexist with COVID for the foreseeable future. FDA/CDC meetings on pediatric COVID vaccines will start in early June. In addition, the FDA/CDC is having comprehensive vaccine discussions, with the hope of developing a once-a-year COVID vaccine program similar to flu vaccinations.
Thank you for all you do to lead the way in getting healthcare right for each other and our community, and join me in celebrating the impressive progress we are making together!