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Gibson General Hospital Receives American Heart Association's Gold Award

Gibson General Hospital receives American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines

Gold Performance Achievement Award

Gibson General Hospital (Princeton, Indiana) has received the Get With The Guidelines (GWTG) – Heart Failure Gold Performance Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. GWTG is a hospital-based quality improvement initiative designed to help save lives and reduce healthcare costs by ensuring that hospitals administer treatment based on the program's proven evidence-based guidelines and procedures in caring for heart failure patients.

Gibson General Hospital received the gold award for completing 24 consecutive months of participation in GWTG at levels exceeding core standard levels of care in treating patients with heart failure. The GWTG program recognizes hospitals if 85 percent or more of their heart failure patients are treated and discharged according to specific guidelines set forth by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology. The hospital was awarded the silver award in 2008 following 12 consecutive months of exceeding these aggressive standards.

"We will continue our efforts to build on our success in treating heart failure patients with continued implementation of this valuable program," said Dr. Krishna Murthy, medical director of Gibson General Hospital's Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation program. "We are pleased to be recognized once again for our dedication and achievements."

Under GWTG-Heart Failure, heart failure patients are started on aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, aspirin, diuretics and anticoagulants in the hospital. They also receive alcohol/drug use and thyroid management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before being discharged. Gibson General Hospital has successfully implemented these quality measures for more than two years.

"The full implementation of national heart failure guidelines recommended care is a critical step in preventing recurrent hospitalizations and prolonging the lives of heart failure patients," said Gregg C. Fonarow, MD, national chairman of the GWTG Steering Committee and director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center. "The goal of the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines program is to help hospitals like Gibson General Hospital implement appropriate evidence-based care and protocols that will reduce disability and the number of deaths in these patients."

According to the American Heart Association, about 5.2 million people suffer from heart failure. Statistics also show each year more than 57,000 people will die of heart failure.

"Gibson General Hospital is committed to making our care for heart failure patients among the best in the country," said Emmett Schuster, president & CEO of Gibson General Hospital. "Our participation in the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure program demonstrates this commitment and helps us accomplish this goal by making it easier for our professionals to improve long-term outcome for these patients."

GWTG-Heart Failure helps Gibson General Hospital's staff develop and implement acute and secondary prevention guideline processes. The program includes quality-improvement measures such as care maps, discharge protocols, standing orders and measurement tools. This quick and efficient use of guideline tools will enable Gibson General Hospital to improve the quality of care it provides heart failure patients, save lives and ultimately reduce healthcare costs by lowering the recurrence of heart attacks.

The American Heart Association presented the GWTG-Heart Failure Gold Performance Achievement Award to Gibson General Hospital April 28, 2009. 

Alliant Management Services congratulates Gibson General Hospital for their excellent performance in heart failure care!

Topping Out: Hospital Places Final Steel Beam in Construction Project

Elkin—In a ceremony held at Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital on Tuesday, the final steel beam was placed in the organization’s $48 million project to add a new Emergency Room, Intensive Care Unit, and Patient Tower.Medical staff, employees, board members, and construction crew signed the 300 lb. beam, then gathered on the site to watch as it was hoisted into place by crane.As the pinnacle of the event, Chief of Staff Dr. Skip Whitman and Chairman of the Board Mike Stanley, were harnessed and raised to the beam to tie on the Hugh Chatham flag. More than 100 onlookers applauded the ceremonial “topping out”.Many of these had attended the project’s groundbreaking ceremony on June 26^th.

In building construction, “topping out” is a ceremony held when the last beam is placed at the top of a building.Often, flags or streamers are tied atop the beam.Longtime a common practice in Europe, topping out gained popularity in the United States in the 19^th century, and remains as a milestone practice today.

Those present commented about feeling part of the project as their signatures will be forever etched into the construction of the Hospital.Chairman of the Board Mike Stanley said, “This is history making-- all of us take great pride in our Hospital and we were honored to celebrate our progress in a very momentous occasion.”

Construction on the new ER, ICU, and Patient Tower is scheduled for completion in December of 2009.A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held at a date to be announced.The public will be invited to this event.Please watch for details about the event in local media, The Communique’ news magazine, and on the Hospital’s website www.hughchatham.org.

Hospital medical staff, employees, board members, and construction crew gathered at the final steel beam before it was placed at the top of the construction project by crane.

Dr. Skip Whitman, Chief Medical Staff, and Mike Stanley, Chairman of the Board, wave to the crowd on the ground after tying the Hugh Chatham flag onto the final steel beam.