Hi Team –

 

I hope you are staying warm and safe as we manage through this week’s frigid winter weather! While it may be cold outside, here at TriHealth things are “heating up” as we start the second half of fiscal year 2024 with important accomplishments and continued advances in our work to Get Healthcare Right. Here are the latest highlights...

 

Despite yesterday’s chilly temperatures, I  joined many TriHealth team members, physicians, and leaders, along with our mayor and other community leaders in the 49th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. March through downtown Cincinnati from the Freedom Center to Music Hall. It was inspiring to witness and participate in an event that brought together our entire community – all races and creeds – for the singular purpose of honoring and carrying on Dr. King’s legacy of love, justice, inclusion, and equality for all.

 

As presenting sponsor of the MLK Commemorative Program, TriHealth once again delivered on our promise to bring the very best, “surprisingly human” care to ALL those in need. Following yesterday’s March, we provided free, on-site health screenings at Music Hall to hundreds of attendees who experienced firsthand how we “see, hear, and heal” every person we serve. In fact, one gentleman who attended last year’s MLK March and participated in our screenings stopped by our booth again this year, but this time to share that his blood pressure – which was severely elevated then – is being well managed at 117/60 because of our referral. He thanked us for “saving his life”… now that’s Getting Healthcare Right, one patient at a time! Click here to check out more pictures from the day’s events.

 

From last week’s blood drives through yesterday's national holiday, we proudly honored and celebrated Dr. King’s teachings and recommitted to our own journey to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging both within TriHealth and throughout the entire community we serve. It was Martin Luther King who first said, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” And those words have been an inspiration and call to action to all of us as we work together to eradicate health disparities!

 

I’d also like to thank and recognize all of our team members and physicians who made personal sacrifices to ensure that our patients were well cared for and served over the long holiday weekend by working in our hospitals, emergency departments, ambulatory campuses, Priority Care locations, and even many of our TPP physician offices. While TriHealth observes Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday for ALL team members, we also continue to “see, hear, and heal” those patients who want and need to be seen on MLK Day for scheduled office appointments, elective procedures, and urgent and emergency care. And this is made possible because of those selfless team members and physicians who work on this paid holiday. We appreciate you and your dedication to serve our patients, always!

 

As I’ve shared many times before, partnerships are literally part of TriHealth’s DNA. Our health system was formed more than 25 years ago when Good Samaritan and Bethesda Hospitals came together in partnership to create TriHealth to more effectively serve Cincinnati as an integrated, patient-centered, regional health system. Since that time, TriHealth has continued to forge clinical and strategic partnerships with the “best of the best.” By combining strengths with other like-minded organizations while breaking down traditional “competitive” barriers, we are expanding our impact and helping to Get Healthcare Right for an ever growing part of our community. And, we are doing so in the most efficient and effective ways possible across our full continuum of care by minimizing duplication and leveraging clinical expertise and geographic footprint. Recent examples include our groundbreaking affiliations with the Cleveland Clinic Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute, Beacon Orthopedics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Mayfield Brain & Spine, The Urology Group, St. Elizabeth Healthcare, and many more. 

 

And so today, I’m pleased to share our latest exciting partnership which will further expand TriHealth’s clinical influence and ability to improve the health of even more members of our community. Last Friday, TriHealth’s Hospice of Cincinnati (HOC) unveiled its fifth and newest inpatient unit, but this time at The Christ Hospital. Terri Hanlon-Bremer, TriHealth Chief Operating Officer, and Gayle Mattson, HOC President, joined The Christ Hospital leadership and physicians in the ribbon cutting for the new HOC inpatient unit.

 

Inpatient hospice centers provide short-term and crisis care for terminally ill patients who are unstable or whose symptoms cannot be controlled in the home or other care sites. This new unit will allow for The Christ Hospital emergency and hospitalized patients to transition quickly and comfortably to specialized hospice care without the inconvenience and sometimes the risk of being transported to an offsite hospice location. Patients can also be admitted from their homes and other locations in the community directly to the new hospice unit.

 

And in the coming weeks, we will be sharing the details of yet another exciting partnership which leverages our vast clinical capabilities and regional footprint to better serve one of the most vulnerable populations – the frail and elderly, so stay tuned…  

 

Forging this unique partnership with The Christ Hospital further strengthens HOC’s position as the region’s leading provider of hospice and palliative care, while extending our mission to provide the best and most meaningful end-of-life care to patients, families, and the broader community. 

 

A BIG thank you to the nearly 7,000 team members and physicians who have already completed the 2024 TriHealth Engagement Pulse & Safety Survey! Now with only four days to go, we are hoping to hear from our remaining team members! So, if you haven’t done so already, please take just a few minutes to complete the confidential survey before the process closes this Friday, January 19! Your feedback is essential to help us continue to invest in improvements that most matter to you – all to ensure we make TriHealth an even better place to work, to practice, and to receive care!

 

As a reminder, there are three easy ways to take the survey:

Don’t forget to tune into Bridge tomorrow at noon for our first Team Member Town Hall of the new calendar year! We’ll share important updates on our work to Get Healthcare Right, celebrate wins, and answer your questions – with some cool TriHealth prizes for those who join the conversation! So be sure to email your questions to TownHall@trihealth.com and we’ll include them in our discussion. Click here to check out the agenda. 

 

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” – Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Because of you – our 13,000+ team members and physicians – and your dedication to our sacred calling to “care,” we can answer that question at TriHealth with a sense of pride and purpose. Together, we are improving the health of those we serve, every day... always! Thank you for living our values of service and fulfilling our work to better the lives of others in our community!