TriHealth Bridge

May 24, 2022

 
Hi Team –
 
I often say, “TriHealth Rocks,” but seriously, TriHealth Rocks!! Last Thursday, the TriHealth “Highway to Health” band (which includes our own very talented Shane Borchers, Joi Carter, Kevin Connor, Carlos Crump, Kelvin Hanger, Rebekah Lawson, Emily Seitz-Pawlak, Charlie Stillings, and Dr. Tom Tami) performed in the ArtsWave CincyJams first annual Battle of the Bands fundraiser at Hard Rock Café Cincinnati, and they “hit the ball out of the park”! I was there with about a hundred TriHealth team members and family members to cheer them on as they battled against bands from some of the region’s largest companies, including Fifth Third, P&G, Messer, GE Aviation, and more. The packed audience voted with their applause, and Highway to Health took first prize!! And that’s not all – TriHealth also raised more donations for ArtsWave than any other corporate band! Now that’s TriHealth Spirit ...WOW!!!
 
Getting Healthcare Right through our Focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Tomorrow marks the two-year anniversary of the tragic death of George Floyd. Sadly, it is just one of many racially motivated acts of violence, hatred, and injustice we’ve seen across our nation in recent years, among them, the devastating mass shooting in Buffalo, NY, just ten days ago. As the region’s largest healthcare provider, one of the most important ways we can do our part to end racism and injustice in our community is through our commitment to get healthcare right for all those we serve, including and especially the marginalized and underserved. And we are doing just that through our long-standing commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). I’m proud to say we’ve continued to make meaningful progress in our bold DEI Framework for Action over the past several years, with the following notable milestones and achievements:
 
Create a More Inclusive Culture
  • Launched our cultural competency training – B.I.A.S. (Being Intentional About Seeing Others) in 2021 and successfully trained more than 500 physicians, leaders, and team members, with plans to expand this training to our entire team this Fall.
  • Launched our first Hispanic/Latinx Employee Resource Group (ERG), called SOMOS in 2021.
  • Fostered diversity in leadership through our bold system goal to increase hiring of underrepresented groups.
 
Recruit, Retain & Develop Diverse Talent
  • Hired or promoted women or people of color for 70% of our senior leadership positions since 2020.
  • Launched our B.O.L.D. (Building Our Leadership Diversity) Program in February 2022 with our first 15 participants. B.O.L.D. is dedicated to developing and preparing underrepresented team members to advance to the next stage of their careers within TriHealth.
  • Launched our School to Work program with Cincinnati Public Schools through generous support from bi3 and CommonSpirit. The program has graduated a total of 25 students from its first two classes, with many pursuing advanced education in healthcare because of this early exposure to healthcare.
  • Entered into a relationship with Meharry Medical College in March 2021, to host ongoing clinical rotations with third-year medical students. This relationship is aimed at attracting more diverse candidates into our residency and fellowship programs, and ultimately, into our physician community.
 
Advance Diverse Partnerships
  • Increased the number of minority, women and veteran-owned companies we do business with by more than 40% since 2020.
 
Reduce Health Disparities
  • Introduced R.E.A.L. (Ask every patient Race, Ethnicity, And preferred Language) training to all team members in 2021, as part of our work to consistently capture race and ethnicity demographic data at the point of registration, in order to identify and address disparities and ensure we provide equitable care and services to all of our patients.
  • Promoted Tira Williams, formerly Nursing Director at Bethesda North, to the role of Director of Health Equities and Social Determinants of Health within our Population Health division to provide the resources and day-to-day leadership to “move the dial” in fostering Health Equity.
 
Engage and Embrace Key Audiences
  • Expanded our support/sponsorship of, and participation in, major community events focused on promoting diversity and inclusion, and addressing health disparities, which this year includes:
o TriHealth Annual Celebration of Black History Month throughout February 2022
o 18th Annual Closing the Health Gap Health Expo at Washington Park on April 30, 2022
o Cinco de Mayo Mobile Mammography Van on May 5, 2022, at St. Julie Billiart Parish in Hamilton
o 19th Annual Cincy Cinco Celebration on May 7-8, 2022, hosted by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 
o Flag Folding Ceremony on May 26, 2022, at Hospice of Cincinnati Blue Ash
o Memorial Day Celebration on May 30, 2022, at Gate of Heaven Cemetery
o 34th Annual Black Family Reunion on August 20-21, 2022 
 
And all of this important work and our long-standing commitment to DEI are being recognized in our industry as a model for inclusive healthcare that reflects the rich diversity in our community! Last December, TriHealth received Modern Healthcare Magazine’s Top Diversity Leadership Award, which recognized TriHealth as one of 10 major U.S. health systems that are setting the standard and leading the way in advancing DEI. And we’re just getting started – stay tuned for more updates of exciting plans underway! 
 
A BIG THANK YOU to Tashawna Otabil, TriHealth Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, the entire DEI team, and all of our ERGs for their dedication and leadership as we work together to make TriHealth the most diverse, equitable, and inclusive place to work and receive care!
 
Magnet Survey Ends on a High Note in Good Samaritan Region
Earlier this month, appraisers from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) completed their virtual assessments of Bethesda North region hospitals and ambulatory sites as part of a rigorous, four-year re-designation process to renew our system Magnet status. Last week, the second half of the Magnet virtual survey was completed for our Good Samaritan region hospitals and ambulatory sites. This time, a team of three appraisers completed 45 group interview sessions and 25 nursing unit tours – once again “rounding on” and speaking to literally hundreds of our nurses, team members, and leaders. Feedback from the appraisers was again very positive, with the following notable themes:
  • Strong positive and supportive culture at TriHealth.
  • Heard ‘loud and clear’ that team members appreciated how TriHealth collaborated with staff using incentives and rewards to address staffing needs during COVID to avoid mandating extra shifts.
  • Heard ‘over and over’ how staff appreciated their managers and the presence of leadership throughout the pandemic.
While we won’t receive our official Magnet re-designation decision until later this summer, I’m confident that a celebration is in our future! THANK YOU to our amazing Good Sam and Bethesda North region teams, as well as system team members and physicians for all you do to make these exceptional survey results possible!
 
Correction on TriHealth Leapfrog Results
Last week, we mistakenly failed to include McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital as among the four TriHealth hospitals receiving an “A” safety grade in the latest Leapfrog Safety Rating report. And while Good Samaritan Hospital at Evendale did not make the Leapfrog list, as we noted last week, this is simply because it does not have enough publicly reported data to be eligible to be rated by Leapfrog. The fact that all four of our hospitals that are able to be rated achieved “A” safety grades underscores our entire system’s commitment to patient safety and zero harm on our journey to become a High Reliability Organization. Congratulations to all!!
 
COVID Update
COVID cases continue a moderate rise in the region. Here at TriHealth, we have 14 COVID inpatients with one patient on a ventilator, and an 18.7% positivity rate, which is about one in five symptomatic patients tested at TriHealth over the past two weeks. The region’s health systems are also seeing a slight uptick in staff who are out sick with COVID, but encouragingly, disease severity and hospitalizations remain low. We are monitoring this situation daily at TriHealth and in the region, and are prepared to respond in the unlikely event we experience a spike in hospitalizations. The high level of immunity, coupled with the availability of vaccines, boosters, and oral anti-viral medications, appear to be keeping COVID in check. To provide more specific guidance about how we maintain strong immunity levels in the community, I recently spoke with Dr. Steve Blatt, Medical Director for Infectious Diseases, who shared the following...
 
Patients over age 50 are currently eligible for a second COVID vaccine booster, if it has been at least four months since the last booster. Second boosters are strongly recommended for immune-suppressed patients and for patients over age 65, especially those with medical conditions (such as diabetes, obesity, chronic lung, kidney or liver disease) that put them at higher risk for severe COVID. The CDC also recently recommended a second booster for everyone over age 50, due to the rising incidence of the Omicron variant in the community, although so far, this has not significantly impacted hospitalization rates. 
 
If you or a family member is eligible for a second booster, you can schedule your booster appointment at TriHealth through MyChart.
 
Celebrating Memorial Day and Our Armed Service Heroes
This coming Monday we celebrate Memorial Day, a day to honor and remember all the women and men who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving our nation in the Armed Forces. At TriHealth, we are proud to take this opportunity to also extend our deep gratitude to all of our own physicians and team members who have served or are currently serving our country, many of whom are members of our TriHealth Armed Forces Groups and Supporters (TAGS) ERG. In honor of all those who have bravely served our country, our TAGS ERG will be sponsoring two Memorial Day tributes that I hope you can join us for:
  • Thursday, May 26th:  Memorial Day Flag Folding Ceremony at Hospice of Cincinnati Blue Ash at 1:00pm 
  • Monday, May 30th: Memorial Day Community Ceremony at Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery from 9:30 – 11:00am
Wishing you a very safe and enjoyable first holiday weekend of the summer! And a special thanks to all of our team members and physicians who will serve our patients throughout the Memorial Day Weekend. 
 
 

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