News
Colorado Plains Medical Center Celebrates National Hospital Week
Don’t let the name fool you. Organizers say National Hospital Week isn’t a celebration of health care’s most recognizable buildings – it’s a celebration of the miracles that happen inside them.
“The medical profession is making miraculous strides in so many areas,” Michael Anaya, Chief Executive Officer of Colorado Plains Medical Center,” said. “We’re able to offer many patients new hope that eluded us even a few years ago. From the maternity ward to the recovery room, this is a place of new beginnings and we are all fortunate to be part of it.”
This inspiring side of medicine is depicted in the National Hospital Week theme for 2006, “Where Miracles Happen Every Day.” The annual event, slated for May 7-13, is designed to unite hospitals and highlight their role in communities from coast to coast.
“This year we have an additional reason to celebrate, as Colorado Plains Medical Center was selected by Solucient Top Hospitals for the national Solucient 100 Top Performance Improvement Leaders award for rate of improvement of hospital-wide performance and ability to increase the value of services for the community. This indicates the dedication our physicians, specialists, nurses, technicians and support staff, who all work as a team, have to ensure excellence in patient care,” notes Anaya.
National Hospital Week dates back to May 12, 1921 (fittingly held on Florence Nightingale’s birthday) when it was suggested by a magazine editor who hoped a communitywide celebration would alleviate public fears about the facilities. The idea caught on and the event expanded to National Hospital Week in 1953. Today National Hospital Week is the nation’s largest annual health care event.
In recent years, the commemorative celebration demonstrates that hospitals are foundations of the communities that built them and nurture them. According to Hospital Statistics, hospitals admit almost 37 million patients each year, treat another 117 million in emergency departments and see another 545 million for other outpatient needs. On any given day, 658,000 patients fill U.S. hospital beds. CPMC averages 40,000 patients every year and approximately 500-600 babies are born annually at the local hospital.
Colorado Plains is planning to celebrate and recognize their employees in a number of ways during National Hospital Week including: a tea on Monday hosted by the hospital Auxiliary members; a book fair on Tuesday that will generate funds for hospital equipment and events; an Operation Game Tournament on Wednesday; and on Thursday, a special gift will be presented to each employee as a token of appreciation for their service to the health care industry throughout the year. The week’s festivities will conclude on Friday with an employee and family picnic complete with inflatables, karaoke, and a talent contest.
For more information, call Sandy Engle, Director of Marketing and Business Development at Colorado Plains Medical Center, at 542—3346.