National Hospital Week is May 10-16. This year’s theme, “Where Health Comes First,” honors the hope and healing hospitals provide to their communities.
That is highlighted in 2020 by the crucial role hospitals are playing in response to COVID-19.
At Regional One Health, we’re celebrating our entire team for their contributions during this challenging time, as it takes every employee working together to provide exceptional care.
National Hospital Week celebrates the crucial role hospitals play in their communities – not just by healing patients through world-class medical care, but by offering hope and optimism.
This year, these contributions resonate more strongly than ever, as hospitals find themselves on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Regional One Health celebrates National Hospital Week May 10-16, we are recognizing the many ways our employees make this year’s theme of “Where Health Comes First” a reality.
It takes every employee in every department to put health first through a world-class patient experience. Our entire team is involved, whether we are fighting a pandemic, providing lifesaving care at our Centers of Excellence, expanding world-class primary and specialist care, or innovating to serve vulnerable Memphians and discover medical breakthroughs.
For Regional One Health and most hospitals, this year’s National Hospital Week is defined by a single issue – COVID-19, which has thrust health care workers into an unprecedented situation.
However, as Regional One Health President and CEO Reginald Coopwood, MD noted, it is by no means a situation they are unprepared for.
As health care professionals mark National Hospital Week in 2020, it is marked by a single issue – COVID-19. Regional One Health and other hospitals have stepped up to provide hope, healing and public leadership during this unprecedented time.
“We watch as firefighters charge into burning buildings, and we call them heroes – but no firefighter goes into a burning building without training and the right equipment,” Dr. Coopwood said. “Now, it’s our turn, and are calm and ready because we have prepared our whole lives for these moments with our education and training.”
Regional One Health has stepped up not only to care for our patients, but to collaborate with the city’s other major health care systems to provide public health leadership.
Leaders in Memphis’ medical sector have united to prepare for an influx of patients, secure essential equipment, establish policies to reduce the spread of the virus, and educate the public on how to stay safe. This work is ongoing as the COVID-19 threat continues to evolve.
“The health care community has been asked to confront COVID-19 head on, and I know we will get through this no matter how hard it gets,” Dr. Coopwood said. “I am proud and honored to be the leader of such a great group of caregivers – the greatest environmental services team in the world, the best dietary staff, best emergency department in Memphis, best nurses and doctors.”
Dr. Coopwood said every employee at Regional One Health contributes to successful outcomes for our patients, and National Hospital Week is an opportunity to recognize that team effort.
COVID-19 has required all hospital employees to step up, from following enhanced cleaning procedures to offering remote or online services to providing screening for symptoms and infection.
At Regional One Health’s main hospital and satellite locations, doctors, nurses, therapists and other clinical staff provide direct patient care, but they are not alone in impacting patients’ lives. The patient experience also includes the professionals who schedule appointments, greet patients when they arrive, clean rooms, serve food, package prescriptions, process payments, etc.
During the COVID-19 threat, all of these employees have been called on to adjust how they serve our patients, whether by safely screening patients for symptoms, following enhanced cleaning procedures to reduce the spread of the virus, adhering to social distancing, offering remote and online service, creating drive-up prescription pickup, etc.
The pandemic response has shown how each employee contributes to providing the hope and healing that is the hallmark of our nation’s hospitals.
At Regional One Health, we are proud to be a place “Where Health Comes First,” and we are grateful to the employees who work hard every day to make that happen.