Fall_____2014

Close-by CareFreestanding facilities offer needed services

Culture of Caring Frist Awards honor HCA’s commitment to excellence

A Decade of HopeHCA’s Hope Fund brings relief during hard times

Medical City Dallas’ Deirdre Traylor says the Hope Fund “kept her going” after surgery.

2 you fall | 2014

HCA Mission StatementAbove all else, we are committed to the care and improvement of human life. In recognition of this commitment, we strive to deliver high-quality, cost-effective healthcare in the communities we serve.

HCA ValuesIn pursuit of our mission, we believe the following value statements are essential and timeless.

We recognize and affirm the unique and intrinsic worth of each individual.

We treat all those we serve with compassion and kindness.

We act with absolute honesty, integrity and fair-ness in the way we conduct our business and the way we live our lives.

We trust our colleagues as valuable members of our healthcare team and pledge to treat one another with loyalty, respect and dignity.

We foster a culture of inclusion and diversity across all areas of our company that embraces and enriches our workforce, physicians, patients, partners and communities.

HCA

Chairman of the Board Richard Bracken

CEO R. Milton Johnson

Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs Jana J. Davis

Vice President, Communications Operations Jeff Prescott

Director of Communications Thad Taylor

Send comments to YOU.Magazine@hcahealthcare.com

Designed and Published by Parthenon Publishing

www.parthenonpub.com

President Bobby Stark

Chief Operating Officer Carlton Davis

Managing Editor Joe Morris

Creative Director Claire Hughes Dineen

E X E C U T I V E P E R S P E C T I V E

Fall 2014

As we look across HCA, what internally focused program best represents the spirit of our company’s mission and values? The HCA Hope Fund just might top the list.

The Hope Fund exemplifies our culture at HCA, and is a great example of why this is such a great place to work. It gives us a chance to make a difference in the lives of fellow HCA employees in a direct way — providing assistance when and where it’s needed most.

Many of us may associate the Hope Fund with “disaster relief” or in connection with events such as hurricanes or fires. But more than that, as you will read in this issue of YOU, the Hope Fund helps meet individual challenges across all walks of life and job functions.

You will get to know some of this year’s Hope Fund recipients through their own words. Although the circumstances behind their situations are difficult, these heartfelt stories personify the character and diversity of our collective workforce. And, you will learn more about the program’s cumulative impact over the years. The results speak for themselves, and should make us all proud.

As we prepare to celebrate the HCA Hope Fund’s 10th anniversary in 2015, we’d like to congratulate all HCA employees and contributors who continue to make the Hope Fund a premier example of how we take care of our own.

With more than 200,000 colleagues across 20 states, HCA can use your help to spread the word about the Hope Fund. You can stay informed, apply for help and give at hcahopefund.com. And we’d love your feedback so that the Hope Fund continues to grow and provide help where it is most needed. You may contact the Hope Fund staff at HopeFund@HCAHealthcare.com.

Thank you for your ongoing support and commitment to further the HCA culture of caring. And, thanks for all you do to improve the patient experience each and every day.

Sincerely,

John Steele Senior Vice President, Corporate Human Resources Founding Chairman, HCA Hope Fund

2014 | you fall 3

Centennial to build $96 million joint centerTriStar Centennial Hospital in Nashville has won state approval for a

new Joint Replacement Center of Excellence. The Tennessee Health Ser-vices and Development Agency gave the green light for the $96 million project, which will add 10 new operating rooms and 29 Med-Surg beds, and will also include a redesign of the emergency department.

“This approval is the first step in a journey that will allow TriStar Centennial to better serve the growing healthcare needs of patients in Middle Tennessee today and in the future,” said hospital officials following the approval announcement.

INSIDE

FEATURES

4 ESPP Returns

HCA employees can once again purchase company stock at reduced prices.

5 Child’s Play

Stuffed animal clinics make future visits to the hospital much less frightening for children.

6 A Decade of Caring The HCA Hope Fund ensures that help is there for employees who face major life issues.

10 Kid Friendly

From freestanding emergency departments to revamped programs and facilities, pediatric care is growing throughout HCA.

12 Culture of Caring The 2014 Frist Awards show, once again, the depth and breadth of HCA employees’ commitment to their facilities and communities.

15 Good MEWS Real-time patient monitoring is the latest technological advance to benefit HCA patients.

16 Focusing on Med-Surg

New advisory board ramps up training and other initiatives to attract and retain nurses.

17 Meeting the Challenge

A Parallon program is working to ensure a steady stream of qualified nurses for HCA hospitals.

18 Sharing the Wealth

Division-wide gatherings focus on developing the best patient-satisfaction strategies.

Steele named HR Executive of the Year

Human Resource Executive magazine has named John Steele, HCA’s Senior Vice President of Human Resources, as its 2014 HR Executive of the Year.

In naming Steele, the magazine called attention to all the changes HCA has undergone during his 20 years with the company, including going from a publicly traded company to a private one, and back again.

“I suspect that few chief human resource officers have been called upon

to manage the sorts of organizational change that John has confronted,” President and CEO Milton Johnson told the magazine.

The issue also calls attention to Steele’s role in developing HCA’s COO Development Program, which is identifying and cultivating the com-pany’s next generation of executive talent, and has led to similar efforts for CNOs and CFOs.

HCA to acquire Texas urgent-care provider

HCA has agreed to purchase Care-Now, an urgent-care provider with 24 facilities in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. The CareNow locations will be folded into the North Texas Division, which currently is made up of 11 hospitals.

“CareNow has a strong brand and will add an exceptional network of urgent-care centers and 130 physicians that complement our hospital, emergency and outpatient services in Dallas-Fort Worth,” President of Operations Sam Hazen said when HCA announced the purchase.

HCA NEWS

4 you fall | 2014

MANY HCA EMPLOYEES purchase stock through 401(k) plans, IRAs and other investment vehicles. Now they can add HCA stock to their portfolios at a signifi-cant savings, thanks to the new Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP). The main benefit of the ESPP is allowing an em-ployee to save for his or her future while also becoming even more of a stakeholder in HCA’s growth and success.

The ESPP allows eligible employees to set aside 1 percent to 15 percent of each paycheck, on an after-tax basis, to pur-chase shares of HCA stock at a 10 percent discount. There are four opportunities each year to buy shares.

YOU magazine talked with Travis Kulp, Director of Decision Support for TriStar

Health, about why he wanted to take part in the ESPP.

YOU: What was it about the ESPP that caught your interest?Kulp: When I began in 2009, the old plan was no longer available. When the com-pany began trading again in 2011, I was able to buy some stock then. But with the ESPP, we get the stock at a reduced rate, so there’s some insulation there if the price declines. You wouldn’t have that benefit if you were just buying it on the open market.

YOU: How does owning stock affect your sense of ownership in the company?Kulp: It’s a good opportunity to be a part of HCA’s success. Everyone comes into

work every day and works hard, but this gives us some added incentive. I know I want my personal finances to do well. Now I can think about HCA not only as my employer, but also as a part of my own portfolio. The better I do, and the better my co-workers do, the more success the com-pany has. And now that means the more success I have in my investment as well.

OUR PEOPLE ESPP ReturnsEmployee Stock Purchase Plan offers HCA stock at a discounted rate

Travis Kulp Director of Decision Support for TriStar Health

For more information, log on to HCArewards.com and click on “ESPP” to learn more and access your account.

2014 | you fall 5

Child’s PlayStuffed animal clinics make hospital visits less scary for children

By following a stuffed animal through the hospital, children learn about different kinds of treatments and procedures in a non-threatening way.

“HEY, LET’S GO TO THE HOSPITAL! IT’LL BE FUN!” Try telling that to your average 5-year-old and see what happens. But thanks to a kid-friendly approach involving stuffed animals, several HCA hospitals have found a way to bond with children. Along the way, they also are educating both children and parents about the hospitals’ care offerings.

Mountain View Hospital’s Teddy Bear Clinic is one of many such events held at HCA facilities. On Aug. 6, the hospital welcomed a huge group of children that brought along a favorite stuffed animal, or were provided one by the hospital. Through a series of stops, the stuffed animal was examined and treated, allowing the child to learn how the hospital and its many services work, according to Nate Black, Director of Communications.

“People are really excited about this event,” Black says. “We had about 1,300 parents, children and community members. We got great feedback while they were here, and then also saw a lot of positive response on social media.”

Many departments join the funThis year’s tours began in the birth center, where each child’s

stuffed animal was weighed, measured and issued a birth certifi-cate. Then it was on to the nursery where the toy was dressed in ei-ther a “onesie” or a hat. The tour wound its way through the cardiac catheterization lab, radiology, and mocked-up operating and pediatric emergency rooms.

Along the way, the toy is assessed and treated by hospital staff members, who also explain what goes on in each area, and provide

handouts and other child-friendly educational materials. Groups are kept to around 15 people, so there’s plenty of attention for each child, as well as an opportunity to answer any and all questions.

In addition to easing worries that young minds may have about health care, the event is a great way to introduce the facility to parents and area residents, adds Ryan White, Director of Commu-nications for Timpanogos Regional Hospital, who was at Mountain View for the inaugural event.

“It’s a chance to get children into the hospital when they are healthy, so it’s a very non-threatening way to build brand aware-ness,” White says. “This way, if they ever do come back for an emergency-room visit or for a hospitalization, they are much more comfortable when they come through our doors.”

“When a mother comes in with her child, the hospital isn’t a happy place to be,” says Black. “This time, the child is actually the parent, with his or her own little patient. They are learning that when something is wrong, the hospital is a good place to get it fixed. We get to meet a lot of people, show what we can do, and make sure that Mountain View Hospital is top of mind for the parents in our community.”

“People are really excited about this event. We had about 1,300 parents, children and community members.”

6 you fall | 2014

A Decadeof CaringHCA’s Hope Fund brings welcome help when employees need it most

DEIRDRE TRAYLOR is a familiar face at Medical City Dallas Hospital. The surgical nurse has been there for more than 25 years, making sure patients get everything they need before, during and after surgery. When her own procedure for breast cancer resulted in complications that kept her out of work for an extended period of time, the Hope Fund was able to give her the care and support she so freely gives others.

“My reconstruction failed to heal properly, so I was out of work longer than I expected,” Traylor says. “My family faced some financial hardships. I did go back to work just before Thanksgiving, but money was still very tight. We had been given a turkey, and I thought that might be all we would have to eat!”

Even though she knew about the Hope Fund, like many people she thought it was for “catastrophic needs, like losing your home.” But after talking with her human resources representative and learning that the Hope Fund is there for a much larger scope of events, she applied for help.

“It didn’t take more than a week, if even that long, to process my request,” she recalls. “Without it, I really don’t know what I would have done. It helped us when we were in a really tight spot.”

“I’d had issues before, and never even thought about the Hope Fund,” she says. “I really think if people knew more about the Hope Fund, they would contribute more, because they really don’t know how much it does for people who are down and out.”

GENEROSITY AND COMMUNITY spirit are hard to miss in HCA hospitals. Bulletin boards in break rooms are loaded down with notices of charity 5K runs and walks, bake sales and myriad other fundraisers for worthy organizations. But there’s one organization just for HCA employees: the HCA Hope Fund.

What began as an outpouring of donations following Hurricane Charley in 2004 quickly became a centralized organization within HCA, thanks to forward-thinking leaders who realized that a single clearinghouse was needed to make sure that employees’ generous assistance found its way to those in need. In 2005, the Hope Fund began providing much-needed financial support to employees who have suffered losses ranging from personal or family illness all the way to the loss of their homes from natural disasters. Best of all, it’s easy to access: Employees can fill out a confidential form online.

The Hope Fund holds a particular appeal for Dr. Thomas Frist Jr., co-founder and Chair-man Emeritus, who says it reflects his family’s longtime philosophy on giving back.

“I learned the joy of giving as a young boy,” Dr. Frist says. “My father and mother were always involved in church, the Heart Associa-tion, our schools … so many things. It was expected of us, like brushing our teeth. As we built HCA, my father and I tried to bring those same values to the company, so that we have a platform to encourage us, and our employees, to make life a little bit better for others not as fortunate.”

“The Hope Fund allows us to build on the legacy of caring that epitomizes HCA,” says Jana Davis, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs. “Our employees lead in so many ways when it comes to charitable work within their communities. The Hope Fund allows them to lead within the company as well, and provide support for their colleagues at home and around the country.”

Let’s meet some employees who turned to the Hope Fund, and hear their stories.

Deirdre Traylor’s surgery complications caused setbacks

Deirdre Traylor says the Hope Fund helped her out of a tight spot.

2014 | you fall 7

OVER HER FIVE-YEAR CAREER with HCA, Emily Boyce had heard of the Hope Fund, but had never really paid that much attention to it, or what it does. In early 2012, that all changed.

“That January we moved from Las Vegas to Nashville as I began a new job within HCA,” says Boyce, a former ICU nurse at Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center who now is the Team Lead for training with the EPIC Project. “We have four boys: a 4-year-old, 3-year old, and 2-year-old twins, so that was stressful enough. Then about two weeks after moving here, we followed up on some hearing tests that two of my sons had failed. We were given a diagnosis that they had bilateral, moderately severe hearing loss, which was perma-nent. They were going to need to see therapists right away, and would be wearing hearing aids the rest of their lives.”

That was a tough blow, but she and her husband were able to get the boys into speech and occupational therapy right away, so that their development years could progress as normally as possible.

However, that meant a steady stream of home visits and other hands-on needs, which in turn prevented Boyce’s husband from finding a new job.

“We suddenly had all the bills we were used to, plus all the new expenses relating to the boys’ diagnosis, and we were down to one income,” she says. “Even though we have insurance it doesn’t cover hearing aids, and those were about $2,500 alone.”

When the Hope Fund was recommended, Boyce wasted no time in filling out an application. She shared her story, submitted the necessary paperwork, and within two weeks received some much-needed financial help.

“I was extremely grateful, as that boost helped us get by during a very worrying time,” she says. “My sons are doing much better now, and are going to a special school for children with hearing loss. It’s all starting to work out. I feel like my employer, and my senior leadership, care about me. It makes me feel like part of a family.”

Emily Boyce’s family faced a medical diagnosis in the middle of a move

Emily Boyce says the Hope Fund made the difference when several major life events all happened at once.

8 you fall | 2014

When you contribute to the Hope Fund, your dollars go directly to our employees in need. Here is how much of an impact you are making with your support:

the HOPE FUND at Work

In 2013, the Hope Fund was able to provide this much in assistance. That’s 62% more than in 2012.

$2,371,180

100% of employee donations go directly to employee grants

were rebuilding when a disaster destroyed

their home

207 were recovering from

an illness or injury were healing after the

loss of a loved onewere finding safety

when their lives were shattered by violence

864 310 107

1,488 families helped in 2013:

$19.5 million in assistance has been provided to more than 16,000 families since 2005

58%of grants are given to families dealing with illness or injury

donors contribute to the Hope Fund

22,000+

2014 | you fall 9

A CANCER DIAGNOSIS, unfortunately, is nothing new to Sandy Carlson. She has a rare form, thymoma cancer, which causes tumors to form on the outside of her thymus, in the chest area. Her most recent diagnosis required the removal of several tumors on her heart, lung and stomach, and she turned to the Hope Fund for help with expenses that piled up during her treatment and recovery.

“I’d heard about the Hope Fund, but hadn’t accessed it for any help before,” recalls Carlson, a Registrar for Parallon who is based at West Valley Medical Center in Caldwell, Idaho. “I’d had medical problems before with the cancer, but it’s always been a ‘one and done’ thing and I’d been able to take care of all my needs. This surgery was going to be much more difficult, and I had to have it right away. I got in touch with our Hope Fund representative at the hospital and learned what I needed to do.”

Working with the Hope Fund was easier than she thought, and within a few days of sub-mitting her final application she found much-needed money in her checking account.

“It was a huge help, and it was quick,” she says. “My cancer is rare, and it comes back peri-odically. It’s always something I have to think about. I’ve been offered jobs where I might be paid more, but I’ve stayed at West Valley and Parallon because my co-workers are so wonder-ful, and HCA is such a giving organization. It’s nice to know that you have something like the Hope Fund to support you when you really need the help. You just don’t find something like it everywhere you might go to work.”

These stories and many, many more illustrate what the Hope Fund does best: It meets employees where they are, and offers the help they need at just that moment. It’s the helping hand in a dark moment, and it’s something that is very much unique to HCA.

“It would be easy to think that because of our size and scale, we don’t have a lot of con-nection between our facilities,” Carlson says. “The Hope Fund proves just the opposite. Even though a nurse in Texas may never meet a radiologist in Florida, they both are a part of a caring support network that is by, for and about HCA employees.”

Sandy Carlson’s recurring cancer led to new expenses

How It All BeganHope Fund was born from employee generosity

When Hurricane Charley dev-astated Southwest Florida, many HCA employees and their families were left with nothing. Reaction from their colleagues around the country was swift, with donations streaming into HCA to be sent along to victims so they could get back on their feet.

From that outpouring in 2004, the HCA Hope Fund was born. Realizing that the generosity of HCA employees would need to be channeled in order to do the most good, the company’s senior leadership moved to create an official entity that would support employees in times of crisis. (The 501(c)3 charity status was granted in July 2005.)

“It was during [Jack Bovender’s] leadership in the midst of Hurri-cane Katrina that the vision for the Hope Fund became a reality,” says Dr. Thomas Frist Jr. “We always knew that to be a company as large as we are, now with more than 200,000 employees, there would be needs among our family members.”

The fund is a public charity, so in addition to HCA employees, the company’s vendors, affiliated phy-sicians, patients and the general public may all make tax-deductible contributions. The Hope Fund is overseen by an independent board of directors made up of employees from all around the country, and all requests are kept confidential.

Sandy Carlson says the Hope Fund allowed her to focus on healing.

10 you fall | 2014

GOOD THINGS COME in small packages, and that includes HCA’s youngest patients. HCA facilities saw more than 210,000 births in 2013, and for the last several years, the company also has been working to grow its efforts in pediatric care. The results of those initiatives can be seen across the country.

In Texas, it’s new emergency departments and waiting rooms. In Tennessee, it’s new services and renovated patient floors and programs. Colorado soon will have a new, freestanding pediatric ED facility. Everywhere it’s bold, bright colors and a commitment to giving parents and children the services they want and need, as close and convenient as possible.

“Each community is different, and we want to meet the parents’ needs along with those of the community,” says Amy Casseri, Vice President of Pediatric Services, who recently joined the HCA team after more than a decade of working with nonprofit children’s hospitals and academic medical centers. “We have a longstanding

commitment to provide high-quality pediatric services. To do that, we have almost 90 NICUs and more than 20 PICUs, as well as pediatric care in most of our EDs.”

HCA facilities have close to 6 million emergency department vis-its annually, Casseri says, and about 20 percent of those are pediatric. So, she notes, it makes sense to expand pediatric access. She looks to do that many different ways.

“We are pulling together a pedi-atric planning process in the early

part of 2015 to grow our pediatric services and share our best practices,” she says. “One size doesn’t fit all. We have 12 children’s hospitals participating in our Pediatric User Group. The planning process should enable all hospitals to continue growing their services, and also benchmark each other overall while allowing different tailored strategies to meet individual hospital needs.”

Nashville’s Centennial broadens approachChildren have been born at TriStar Centennial Medical Center

since the mid-1980s, and the hospital has a Level III NICU. But once those babies go home, others take up their care. That’s chang-ing with the creation and evolution of The Children’s Hospital at TriStar Centennial, a growing children’s program that includes new care specialists, treatment areas and more.

“We are a 96-bed children’s hospital, which includes not only our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, but now a Medical-Surgical Unit and a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit,” says Joanne Ettien, COO. “As soon as we began to expand our children’s services in 2011 and in 2012, we saw our volume increase significantly. “

In 2013, the hospital opened Kids Express, an outpatient service for children that’s an extension of the pediatrician’s office, which further expanded services, Ettien says.

“When a parent takes a child to the pediatrician’s office and they need some lab work, or maybe fluids, then they can order those or several other treatments and have those provided by the Kids Express. Pediatric nurses staff it, and they pick up where the doctor’s office left off,” she explains. “And when the child is finished with treatments and services, those results are communicated back to the pediatrician, who still has ownership of the patient, and he or she makes a determination about next steps.”

Amy Casseri Vice President of Pediatric Services

OUR FACILITIES

Kid FriendlyPediatrics grows across HCA through expanded

services and facilities

Rocky Mountain’s Dr. Steven Rothenberg is an internationally known pediatric surgeon.

The new CT and X-ray rooms at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center provide plenty of visual distraction for children as they receive their procedures.

2014 | you fall 11

Centennial also has added in-house pediatric intensivists and hospitalists, as well as pediatric neurologists, surgeons and specialists.

Denver’s ongoing growth comes in all sizes

Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children (RMHC) left its longtime home within Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center (P/SL) for a $128 million facility adjacent

to the adult hospital in 2010, becoming a full-service children’s hospital. Since that time, the facility has continued to cement its reputation as a leading comprehensive pediatric healthcare provider and the anchor hospital in HealthONE’s Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children system of pediatric care.

Media attention due to extraordinary care for unusual cases, such as a rare case of bubonic plague treated in the PICU and this year’s severe outbreak of enterovirus 68, has placed this HCA affili-ate on a national stage for health care.

Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children has also become known for its family-focused care.

“Continuity of care and increased access for families is a real differentiator for us,” says Maureen Tarrant, President and CEO. “RMHC takes a ‘hub and spoke’ approach with our affiliated hospitals and with other systems that want to align with us. The more we can do to treat children where they live, the more we want to explore those options.”

One such effort to grow the system of care is a freestanding pediatric emergency department at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children at HealthONE’s Sky Ridge Medical Center, slated to open in the fall of 2015.

“Ours is one of the biggest hospitals in Colorado for obstetrics services, so it’s important to have a vibrant pediatrics strategy,” Tarrant says. “A new entrance for the Sky Ridge women’s center is adjacent to the pediatric ED, so every woman who comes there to deliver a baby is going to see all the pediatric services available and be assured that the hospital has resources to partner with the family for the lifetime health of their child.”

Another initiative to increase access to high-quality specialty pe-diatric care is the partnership between Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children and National Jewish Health, headquartered in Denver and the nation’s leader for respiratory care over the past 115 years.

They do things big in TexasTaking care of new mothers and their babies is day-to-day

fare at The Women’s Hospital of Texas, but keeping those babies coming back as they become toddlers and small children is a new, and greatly anticipated initiative,” says Jeffrey Mills Jr., Pediatric Center Director.

“We are building a floor onto our facility and doubling our emer-gency department space,” Mills says. “We have a 124-bed NICU and we’ve done 10,000 deliveries per year in the last two years. But because we haven’t had a place to take care of those children once they’re not babies anymore, we can’t capitalize on the great relationship we have with those new parents.”

There are several pediatric offices adjacent to the hospital

campus, and those doctors have been clamoring for this move. “It’s really just the logical move for us, because we have a great

deal of subspecialty support due to our NICU, and we have those great relationships with pediatricians,” Mills notes. “Now, when I think of all those kids coming down the hall to see a new brother or sister, I know we can take care of them as well.”

At Clear Lake Regional Medical Center, The Women’s and Children’s Center now boasts Bay Area Houston’s only children’s emergency department and PICU, which greatly expand pediatric services for the community, says Andrea Harrow, CNO.

“We have a 10-bed PICU and Med-Surg pediatric floor, but what really sets us apart is the pediatric emergency room,” Harrow says. “It has a separate entrance from the waiting room and goes back to the pediatric area, so it’s a lot less traumatizing for the children.”

Clear Lake’s pediatric subspecialties include cardiology, criti-cal care, endocrinology, infectious disease, nephrology, neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedic trauma, plastics and craniofacial surgery to meet the needs of our pediatric patients, according to Harrow, who says this gives the hospital a lot of options when it comes to pediatric treatment.

“This allows us to scale our services to very specific community needs, and offer specialties from a world-class hospital,” she says.

And at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center, an entirely new pediatric program has taken shape.

It will offer emergency, inpatient and intensive care services for children, with a 10-bed emergency department, eight-bed Med-Surg inpatient unit and six-bed PICU staffed by pediatric hospitalists and intensivists, as well as specialty physicians, all with pediatric-specific training.

“As a hospital that promotes the health and well-being of women and their newborn babies at St. David’s Women’s Center of Texas, it makes sense to offer families a continuum of pediatric hospital services,” says Allen Harrison, CEO. “With the launch of this new program, we are offering a choice to many who have expressed a desire to receive care for their children at a St. David’s HealthCare hospital, including parents of babies born here.”

These and many more programs show that HCA is more than capable of tailoring its approach to fit the community, but also acting quickly when the need is apparent, adds Casseri.

“Each market has unique needs. It’s not just new facilities or expanded infrastructure,” Casseri says.

“It’s not just pediatric physicians and national specialists in subspecial-ties who can be hard to find — and are in great demand. It is about balancing pediatric best practices across the organization, while understanding the unique needs of the individual hospital and the market. Our commit-ment is how do we meet the needs in our communities, and then taking the steps to make that happen.”

12 you fall | 2014

XXXXXXXXXOUR PEOPLE

EVERY YEAR, A GROUP of employees at every HCA facility is faced with an unenvi-able task: How to choose the employee, volunteer and physician who best repre-sent the goals of outstanding patient care, community involvement and going the extra mile every day?

It gets even harder at the division level, when those exemplary people face another round of evaluation, and then finally are narrowed down to three national winners.

But that’s what the Frist Awards are all about. Every employee, volunteer and phy-sician makes a difference, but by singling out these extraordinary talents, everyone around them becomes even more inspired. Meet the 2014 Frist Award winners, as well as the two runners-up in each category.

Employee Recipient

Amanda BohannonRedmond Regional Medical CenterWHEN PEOPLE hear Amanda Bohannon’s story, they feel empathy and compassion. Then they find out what she does for

others, and those feelings shift to amazement.When Bohannon joined Redmond RMC

a decade ago, she was the single mother of two young daughters, Marlowe, 11, and Allison, 7. Marlowe suffered from Sanfilippo syndrome, a fatal disease that slowly destroys the brain and other organs. Bohannon’s co-workers were thrilled when Marlowe received a trip to Disney World through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and then overwhelmed when they saw Bohannon begin to do volunteer work for the organization as her way of paying back the kindness.

Over time, Bohannon’s network of “wish children” grew even as her own family did. In between volunteering for the United Way and many hospital-related events, she read an article about a widowed police officer with two young sons, one with Gaucher’s disease. The two met, and six years ago they married.

Even as her daughter Marlowe passed away in 2012, Bohannon was able, with her family’s support, to return to school and become a nurse. Why this profession? So she could care for others. She now works in Redmond’s Critical Care Unit, where she was so well-loved as a student she received the hospital’s Outstanding Achievement in Clinical and Academic Performance Award upon graduating.

Inspired by Marlowe, Bohannon wanted to find a way to help other families deal-ing with loss. So she created “The Sweet Cocoon,” a nonprofit foundation building a respite house for families with disabled or seriously ill children. The name comes from a poem she wrote for Marlowe, telling her daughter that she was wrapped in a sweet cocoon, but would emerge a beautiful but-terfly in heaven.

Bohannon is seeing to it that children like Marlowe, and their families, have a bit of heaven on earth right now.

Finalist: Elizabeth DendySt. David’s North Austin Medical CenterAS A NURSE, Elizabeth Dendy works every day to bring hope and healing to her patients. On her own, however, she’s expanded that care and compassion to communities around the world.

As a founding member of Drops of Grace, a nonprofit charity begun in 2008, Dendy and others work to provide medical and other assistance in areas where a healthy life may be difficult to achieve. So far, the group has worked in Malawi, the Congo and Nicaragua, and provided relief after natural disasters in Galveston and Round Rock, Texas, as well as Joplin, Mo.

Although her work overseas and domes-tically has been largely medical, Dendy

Culture of Caring

Frist Awards recognize and honor HCA employees’

extraordinary efforts

2014 | you fall 13

has learned to do roofing, hang drywall, lay floors and more. She also lends her time and talents to Camp Agape, a sum-mer camp for children who have lost a loved one. At the hospital, she has gotten the nursery department to provide gently used baby blankets, shirts and hats for use in Africa. In short, she goes where she is needed, and does all that she can.

“We are so lucky to have Liz as a val-ued member of our team,” says Yvette McDonald, MS(N), RNC-NIC, Director of Women’s and Neonatal Services. “She is a talented nurse, a dedicated co-worker and a phenomenal humanitarian. We are proud of her years of service to us as well as the community.”

Finalist: David HoskingThe Harley Street Clinic, London, EnglandTHE VALUE of a good education isn’t lost on David Hosking, who has helped 11 students — and counting — with their schooling, including setting up appren-ticeships to help disadvantaged young people learn a career skill. He’s also given time and support to adolescents dealing with behavioral and other issues. And as a Sanitation Porter at The Harley Street Clinic, he goes out of his way to make sure not only the facility sparkles, but also that its patients and staff have his full time and attention.

Just how willing is he to jump in? Consider this: A patient once had become quite agitated, and staff was having a hard time calming him down enough to take his medication. “It looked like it was going to turn into a major clinical issue,” recalls Neil Buckley, CEO. “David was passing, stopped and took the patient aside and sat and spoke with him. Much to the amaze-ment of the clinical teams, he managed to calm the patient enough so that he took his medication and so avoided a potential problem.”

Away from the clinic, Hosking currently is funding an education for two Filipino students and one Ugandan student. Of the 11 students he has helped, two are now qualified IT consultants and one is a counselor for children living with AIDS. He also has bought a shop in Uganda that sells clothing, and it’s run by another one of his education recipients. All profits go to fund others’ education. In fact, all Hosking asks is that those he helps pay it forward to assist others.

A few years in the United States working with adolescent males with substance, emotional, behavioral and developmental issues led to an ongoing interest in helping that population. He now hopes to work with the Metropolitan Police in London with outreach to that group, as well as to gang members and the homeless.

“Life does not stand still for David; he looks for the opportunities that life holds in trying to help people and make other people’s lives better,” Buckley says. “His focus is never on himself but what he feels he can do and does for others.”

Physician Recipient

Dr. Harry McCoy IIILewis Gale Hospital —MontgomeryONCOLOGY IS one of the toughest fields in medicine, so any doctor could be forgiven for wanting to leave illness and death

behind at the hospital door. That’s what makes Dr. Harry McCoy III all the more remarkable.

Dr. McCoy has devoted decades not to just treating cancer patients, but helping them and their families deal with the psychological and emotional aspects of the disease. He charted the path as the first hematologist/oncologist in the community, and has become known and loved through-out the New River Valley over the years for the time and attention he devotes to his patients.

In addition to his own practice, Dr. McCoy lends his time and talents to supporting cancer patients throughout the community. That has taken the form of helping bring Sojourn Center, a communi-ty-based, nonprofit hospice, from concept to the planning stages, as well as devoting his energies to helping create a new cancer center in the area. He also has helped treatment providers and the community learn together through his work with the Palliative Care Partnership of the New River Valley’s annual conference.

For Dr. McCoy, partnerships are essential to cancer treatment, whether between patient and caregivers, community and hospital, or physician and family members.

He holds hands, gives hugs and gently and carefully explains treatment issues. He’s described as a friend, not just a physician.

Dr. McCoy speaks of cancer as a “life experience. There’s a difference between curing, which we cannot always do, and healing, which he says is about “the soul, and making peace in our hearts, which is something each of us can do.”

To his family, colleagues and many friends, he is a special soul.

Finalist: Dr. Coleman ArnoldParkridge Medical CenterTRYING TO PINPOINT the community Dr. Coleman Arnold serves would be like trying to make the world smaller. You could try, but it would be impossible.

Throughout his career, Dr. Arnold has been a strong advocate of medical mission work, taking at least one trip nearly every year of his career with AMG International and other Christian mission organizations. From Africa to Papua, New Guinea, to Guatemala, with many stops in between, he has brought hope and healing to people around the globe. And while he’s on the ground, he is tireless — at one point, work-ing with a team to perform 44 surgeries in four days.

Two of his four children have become physicians, and he exposed them to medical mission work early on. He also has pushed to create a surgical mission trip component into the surgical resident rota-tion at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Chattanooga.

When home in Chattanooga, he lends his time and talents to the Chattanooga/Hamilton County Medical Society’s Project Access, a group offering medical care to the working poor.

Finalist: Dr. Bipinchandra R. ChudgarDoctors Hospital of AugustaHAVING DELIVERED more than 2,500 babies, Dr. Bipin Chudgar knows a lot about caring for women at a crucial point in their lives. He also is a tireless advocate for women and girls who are fighting cancer, and his work has made a lasting difference in the Augusta area.

The native of India relocated to the United States in 1977 along with his wife, the late Dr. Daksha Chudgar, and then to Augusta in 1989. In addition to serving as Chairman of the Department of OB/GYN

14 you fall | 2014

and many other roles at Doctors Hospital, he also has been a tireless volunteer within the community.

Most notable of those efforts is his work with the Lydia Project, which provides outreach services for women and girls deal-ing with cancer. When Dr. Daksha Chudgar died from the disease in 2009, Dr. Chudgar donated the seed funds to build a cancer support center next to the hospital, the Daksha Chudgar Lydia House care center. Now women receiving cancer treatment have a place nearby to go for financial and other help, including free overnight stays for those from rural counties..

“Dr. Chudgar’s extraordinary actions have improved patients’ quality of life and contributed to the basic human dignity of women and girls fighting cancer physically and financially,” says Michele Canchola, Executive Director of the Lydia Project. “His compassionate care has saved lives. His contribution to this community is a legacy of ongoing support.”

Volunteer Recipient

Branton “Brant” T. ChillThe Children’s Hospital at OU Medical CenterIF YOU’RE looking for Brant Chill when he’s volunteering at The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center,

listen for children laughing, and then look down. Chances are he’s on the floor, playing a game, telling a story, and in general making a tough time better for patients and their families.

In fact, fully immersing himself in whatever he’s doing sums up Chill’s life as a volunteer, a firefighter, a husband and a dad. At The Children’s Hospital, he holds babies, talks to teens, and does whatever he can to make everyone he touches feel less alone.

In his professional life, Chill is a firefight-er with the Nichols Hills Fire Department, where he put in a 48-hour shift as a first responder following the 2013 tornadoes. He then put in a full shift the next day volun-teering at the hospital. He literally suits up and shows up whenever patients want to meet a real, live firefighter.

But even with a busy career and volunteer schedule, family is first for Chill, who is married to his high school sweet-heart, Lauren, and proud father of two young daughters. When his brother’s son was hospitalized with a terminal illness, he was tireless in his efforts to help the family through an extraordinarily painful time.

Most telling about Chill is that for all his efforts in support of groups, he remembers the importance of caring for the individual. When he found out a long-term patient was a Superman fan, he went out and found a costume to give the young man. Everybody needs a superhero, and for The Children’s Hospital family, that is Chill.

Finalist: Patricia (Pat) A. SheltonMemorial Hospital JacksonvilleAFTER 25 YEARS of working as a Family Counselor Supervisor for the Florida Dept. of Children and Families, no one would have blamed Pat Shelton if she wanted to stay away from high-emotion situations. But instead, she chose to devote herself to her community’s needs once again by volunteering at Memorial Hospital Jacksonville.

Specifically, Shelton has given more than eight years of service to the hospital’s chaplain program, being a source of com-passion and support for patients and their families. She also is “on call” most Wednes-day evenings, which means she’ll come to the hospital if needed between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. the next morning.

In addition to her spiritual duties, Shel-ton is also the needles behind one of the hospital’s most popular programs — baby caps for newborns. She crochets caps, and has also taken her talents abroad thanks to mission work in Nicaragua

and Guatemala.“The plan for the time was primarily

focused on feeding the poor,” says Dr. Paul White, pastor of Faith Bridge church. “At her own initiative, she assembled a group of local women and taught them knitting skills, and also helped them develop a pattern for creating and selling valuable products on the market.”

Finalist: Mauricette (Marie) A. EgbertDenton Regional Medical CenterTHE LEGEND IS Tammy Wynette never gave up her cosmetologist’s license, even after she was famous and wealthy. Marie Egbert may not be a country music star, but she’s equally reluctant to put down her snips — or cut back her volunteering.

A beauty salon owner for more than 25 years, Egbert provides care for family mem-bers and is a kidney cancer survivor. And for the last five years she has been a weekly fixture at Rambling Oaks, a nursing home in Flower Mound, Texas, where she cuts and styles hair for the residents. What’s more, she and members of her church take part in “Dress a Girl Around the World,” where they work to make sure as many little girls as possible, wherever they live, own at least one dress.

At Denton Regional, Egbert is a hospital ambassador, manning the front desk and greeting all who come through the door.

“Hospitality, compassion and service are not merely items on a resume for Marie Egbert,” says Francene Vahlenkamp, Bible Study Coordinator of the Denton Christian Women’s Connection.

“These are elementary to her personality. Caring is not what Marie does; caring is simply what Marie is.”

OUR PEOPLE

During the Frist Awards, HCA facilities raising the most funds for the Hope Fund during the previous year also are honored. From left: Retreat Hospital - William Wagnon, CEO; Zachary McCluskey, COO and Campaign Leader Tiffani Smith. West Valley Medical Center - Betsy Hunsicker, CEO, and Campaign Leader Senta Cornelius. Medical Center of Plano - Campaign Leader Joy Dover and Charles Gressle, CEO; HCA Chairman of the Board Richard Bracken.

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OUR CARE

THE ADVENT OF VitalsNow brought about bedside computer-ized recording of patient information. Now add the Modified Early Warning System, or MEWS, to that data stream and it’s easy to see why Kelly Aldrich, Chief Nursing Informatics Officer, says that it’s a brand-new day at HCA facilities.

“We now have truly real-time, medical service patient monitor-ing,” Aldrich says. “This is something we’ve been unable to do before. With VitalsNow we are able to take vitals and record them automatically in real time. MEWS means that we have added analyt-ics to that, so we can predict if a patient is going to experience a problem based on any changes from the previous set of vital signs.”

That blending of data and analytics in a real-time setting means safer care for all patients, because it gives clinicians hard data to add to their own expertise when it comes to assessing a patient’s care.

“Our clinicians know what to do if a patient’s condition deterio-rates, and this moves those actions back in time,” Aldrich explains. “Even with real-time monitoring, we were limited to using the infor-mation we had in that moment. With MEWS, we can look at trends and data in a predictive way. That means we can take action six or eight hours earlier — sometimes even more.” Next level of care

Here’s how it works: When a patient’s vitals are taken, usually every four to six hours at a minimum, that data goes into the Meditech system through VitalsNow at the bedside. (This includes heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate and level of conscious-ness.) Once into Meditech, data is accessed by the MEWS platform, analyzed and a notification is sent to the nurses’ station, where a special dashboard is monitored. If MEWS detects a problem for a particular patient, it sends an alert to the dashboard while also

paging a rapid-response team as well as the charge nurse.“We now have a new kind of deployment based on predictive

data,” Aldrich says. “It’s taking the vital signs that nurses take and putting that information through an evidence-based model that uses analytics to calculate if, and when, that patient is going to have a problem.”

Benefits are tangible and immediate

As MEWS has been implemented throughout HCA facilities, caregivers are reporting very positive outcomes.

“There are some great stories,” Aldrich says. “The response teams are at the patient’s bedside if there is a change in the MEWS score, and they are assessing those patients long before a problem presents itself. Consequently, the teams are able to figure out what’s needed, such as a call to the physician, or additional

tests. But whatever it is, the actions are being taken long before there’s ever potential for a negative outcome.”

During the last couple of years, more than 700 nursing units have adopted MEWS and VitalsNow. That’s meant real change, especially to areas such as Med-Surg, where advanced analysis was not previ-ously part of the patient-monitoring process.

“Real-time monitoring has been an established routine in critical care for some years, but until 2012 it wasn’t always available in Med-Surg and other non-critical care units,” Aldrich says.

Good MEWSReal-time patient monitoring becomes possible with advanced new technology

Kelly AldrichChief Nursing Informatics Officer

16 you fall | 2014

created Medical-Surgical Director’s Advisory Board, composed of one Med-Surg director from each of HCA’s 14 divisions, is now discussing issues and advising HCA on strategies that will improve patient outcomes and nursing practice.

Efforts cover a large group“Med-Surg is the largest population of nurses within

HCA, and they have a substantial impact on the largest number of patients,” says Sissy Stevinson, CNO Council representative and Vice President of Human Resources. “The work these nurses do greatly affects the patient’s experience, as well as the nurse’s engagement. Med-Surg also is an entry point for many nurses. They have some of the largest patient loads within our facilities, and there has been some indication that they often feel underappreciated. We are targeting solutions to address the concerns of these nurses and aim to improve our Med-Surg nurses’ experience.”

The idea for the Med-Surg council originated with Sam Hazen, President of Operations, who also has been a moving force behind the Excellence in Medical-Surgical Nursing Initiative and its various education, training and workplace-improvement components.

Sammie Mosier, AVP for Nursing Practice, is lead-ing the Med-Surg Advisory Council. “The enthusiasm and commitment of this group of nurse leaders is just amazing,” she says. “The group has already been instrumental in guiding deployment decisions related to the Excellence in Medical-Surgical Nursing Initia-tive. They are also helping to define the criteria for the Medical-Surgical Unit of Distinction that will be launched in 2015. “

For example, in the Advisory Council’s first meeting this past summer, the need to encourage certification (a part of the overall initiative) was a key focus.

“We want our Med-Surg nurses to see themselves as specialists, ” Englebright says. “There is a unique body of knowledge to Med-Surg nursing; they see every-thing. We want new nurses to come in, get that experi-ence, and then find the area that appeals to them, but we also want nurses to stay in Med-Surg and hone their assessment and organizational skills. The Med-Surg units build the culture that prepares nurses for many different roles, and that is a huge benefit to the organization. This is one way we can be sure patients get great nurses on every patient care unit.”

“We want new nurses to come in, get that experience, and then find the area that appeals to them, but we also want nurses to stay in Med-Surg and hone their assessment and organizational skills.”

Focusing on Med-Surg

New advisory board hones in on training, retention and other core issues

OUR PEOPLE

HCA’S NURSES ARE KEY to the success of every facility, regardless of their specialty or in which area they work. But because different functional areas have different requirements when it comes to patient care, the com-pany has focused on specific care areas to drive significant improvements in clinical effectiveness, service efficiency, and employee satisfaction.

That approach has worked well for Emergency Department and Operat-ing Room nurses, and now HCA is focusing on Med-Surg Nursing. A newly

From left: Jane Englebright, Sammie Mosier, Kelly Aldrich and Dian Adams.

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A NATIONWIDE NURSING SHORTAGE means that students are snapped up at graduation, if not before. This highly competitive market for specialty nurses is great for recent graduates, but it also means that hospitals are recruiting from a small pool of qualified nurses while little is being done to grow the pool itself.

That often means newly graduated nurses may be underemployed because they face a “Catch-22”: They can’t get hired for specialty floors without experience, but they can’t gain specialty experience without getting hired.

To help new graduate nurses gain the experience needed to begin work in specialty areas, Parallon’s Workforce Solutions business unit has implemented the Specialty Training Apprenticeship for Registered Nurses, or StaRN, program. The 13-week program combines classroom instruction along with simulations and hands-on clinical training. Parallon worked with the East Florida Division for more than a year, then went live in Tampa last June with a class of 52 recent nursing school graduates placed at 10 hospitals within the West Florida Division.

Hospitals pay a placement fee that cov-ers the program’s costs. And to participate, the nurses agree to a two-year commitment at the sponsoring hospital.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Jim Ostmann, RN, MBA, Director of Specialty Education for the Workforce Solutions unit, who worked as a paramedic

and nurse before moving into nursing education and training. “It’s a foundation and model that we can scale into different specialties, such as the emergency depart-ment and NICU nursing, and that’s really huge. There are other programs around, but none with this level of detail and blended learning incorporated into it, along with national standards.”

National standards, proven methodsThat last bit is key, because the nurses

who finish this program will not only have specific, hands-on experience in their chosen specialties, they also will have achieved several certifications in areas including basic life support, advanced cardiac life support and the NIH’s Stroke Scale program. The program also uses the TeamSTEPPS training developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That, along with some cultural lessons around patient safety and communications, makes well-rounded nurses, Ostmann says.

“It’s not just sitting around a classroom,” he notes. “We are training the nurses in patient care beyond what they learned in school. We train them on the equipment that our facilities use — not just on how to use it, but also troubleshooting, so they know their way around right away.”

StaRN’s goal is to address the long-standing gap between nursing school and actually practicing at the bedside, Ostmann adds. Up to now, on-the-job train-ing has attempted to fill that need, but it’s time-consuming, costly and often leads to higher rates of turnover.

Better, faster patient careThrough the training and simulations,

which include American Association of Critical-Care Nurses curriculum and six to seven weeks of clinical preceptorship, the new nurses are standing on their own much faster. In addition to the savings around training, that also means that patients are getting the benefit of their expertise.

“StaRN’s value to HCA is that it is providing a consistent, structured and standardized national curriculum for newly licensed registered nurses,” says Ostmann.

“We have a lot of markets where there are new graduates who can’t work because they don’t have the experience. This pro-gram bridges that gap, and after 13 weeks, the nurses can begin working in specialty areas on day one.”

OUR CARE

Parallon Program Meets Nursing Shortage Challenge

StaRN provides, effective, efficient onboarding process for new HCA nurses

Nurses are trained beyond what they learned in school. This program bridges the experience gap and lets them begin work in specialty areas now.

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OUR CARE

Sharing the WealthDivision-wide gatherings bring patient-satisfaction strategies to the forefront

IMPROVING THE PATIENT EXPERIENCE isn’t just a catchphrase at HCA facilities. It’s the focus of every employee, and thanks to some comprehensive planning sessions, best practices are being shared across the entire company.

The Mountain Division, for example, added a patient experience day to its annual January leadership meeting four years ago, says Rebecca Hunter, Vice President of Strategy and Planning, as well as Patient Experience Lead, for the division.

“Earning the loyalty and preference of our patients remains our toughest challenge,” Hunter says. “As we begin each year we feel it is appropriate to literally put the patient first by spending time creating a shared vision on why it is important, where we are headed, and how we are leading initiatives around the patient experience in a way that simultaneously develops a culture neces-sary to support positive patient experiences.”

The event brings together hospital representatives from across the division to showcase their best practices, as well as ideas they

tried that didn’t pan out as well as they might have liked. Patients and family members also address the gathering, and share both positives and negatives. Then there are roundtable discussions where people can interact on a more personal level.

“We bring in hospital- and practice-based physician leadership, and representatives from Parallon, ambulatory surgery and imag-ing centers, contact and transfer centers, IT&S … everyone we can so we can talk about all the different tools at our disposal to help us reach our common vision,” Hunter says. “We understand that different hospitals may need different approaches, but when everyone is sharing what’s working for them, then they can all take that information and tailor it to their needs. People really appreciate that opportunity, because our hospitals are geographi-cally far apart and this is a chance for them to collaborate on tough challenges with their peers, as well as remember what mat-ters most to all of us — the patients who trust us with their care.”

Denver and Wichita focus on employee infrastructure

Hospitals in Wichita and Denver have benefited from a partner-ship with the Studer Group that’s designed to achieve sustainable improvement in patient perception of care, says Mary Berrigan, Vice President of Service Excellence for the Continental Division.

“In Denver, we call our process the ‘Culture of Excellence,’ and in Wichita it’s the ‘Culture of Always,’” Berrigan says. “As a part of that, we have quarterly Leadership Development Institutes, or LDIs, that serve as a venue for educating, teaching and developing

“There are new, higher standards for behavior and communication. We are working together to do what we do every day in ways that better serve our patients.”

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leaders. Coaches are assigned to each hospital to support leaders as they implement the evidence-based leadership practices that are being taught.”

Post-meeting evaluations also have helped planners do more to address specific needs. Improving supervisor-employee communi-cation is always high on the list, as is finding ways to balance and prioritize workloads.

“We know that a huge, cultural change has to happen, and that has to happen for every single employee,” Berrigan says. “There are new, higher standards for behavior and communication. We are working together to do what we do every day in ways that bet-ter serve our patients. Our goal is to have our hospitals reach the 90th percentile for the HCAHPS grand composite. At that point, we will know our patients are getting the care and service they expect each and every day.

“We know that people are recognizing the evolution in what

is required to be a true leader in our organization and they are looking at their own ability to be successful in their roles,” adds Rebecca Adix, Vice President of Human Resources for the divi-sion. “That has spurred enthusiasm at our LDIs. Our leaders are getting comfortable standing in front of their peers, sharing best practices, or saying they need help and asking for ideas. We are increasingly fostering a collaborative effort throughout our divi-sion, which has been wonderful.”

None of these efforts are meant to be short-term programs, as it can take months for these changes to work through to higher HCAHPS scores. Still, Adix and Berrigan say that many hospitals already have a leg up.

“Our hospitals that already had a strong culture around service excellence are gaining traction much faster,” Adix says. “But facili-ties are making progress once the issues are discussed and action steps are put into place.”

After attending the Mountain Division Patient Experience Symposium earlier in 2014, members of the Patient Experience Team at Timpanogos Regional Hospital wanted to engage staff more effectively in improvement efforts.

The idea of taking the division-wide effort and shrinking it down to hospital size was floated, and CNO Sandy Ewell said she would back it if the directors would pull together a team to bring the idea to life. David Haskell, Director of Cardiovascular Services, Brett Kay, Director of the ED, and Rob Hicks, RN, Nurse Practice Committee Chairperson, agreed to be team leaders and soon had all departments ready to participate in a “Wizard of Oz,” themed event.

With 314 employees in attendance — nearly 50 percent of total staff but almost 100 percent of direct caregivers, along with representatives from ancillary and support departments — the event was a big success. Front-line staff engaged in role-playing skits of the “good” and “bad” witch, demonstrating poor and excellent service levels.

“Dorothy” (Terri Rhodes, Med-Surg Director) went in search of staff with a heart to care, the courage to act, and a brain to engage in the effort.

Other participants and speakers included Ewell as the “Scarecrow,” HR Director Tim Black as the “Cowardly Lion,” and Education Director Ruthann Jarvis as the “Tin Man.”

Each staff member signed a yellow-brick commitment card, outlining something he or she would change in their practice beginning with the very next shift. The bricks were built into a yellow brick road that runs along the walls of the cafeteria as a symbol of that shared commitment and change effort.

Timpanogos Regional Hospital Finds Cinematic Inspiration

WHEN HIS MILITARY SERVICE ENDED, Mike Viti took a posi-tion at HCA, thanks to its strong veteran-recruitment program. However, his thoughts never strayed far from those still in combat, and the thousands of men and women who have given their lives during the Global War on Terror.

So, along with several longtime friends from the United States Military Academy and active-duty service, many of whom also are HCA employees, he launched Mike’s Hiking for Heroes, a walk across the United States to honor every service member who has died during the Global War on Terror. Starting in April 2014, Viti embarked on a cross-country walk that includes a kilometer in each of their names — more than 7,100 in all — while rais-ing funds to build permanent memorials in their hometowns. Viti planned to walk 25 miles, six days a week to make the final destination: opening kickoff at the Army-Navy game in Baltimore on Dec. 13.

“Mike and I served together, and played football together at West Point,” says Matt Hernandez, Project Manager in HCA’s East Florida Division. “Our paths have crossed in many different ways, including working at HCA. This company provides great health care to the communities we live in, and we bought into the concept of that noble cause.”

After Viti came up with the concept, he fleshed out the hike’s logistics with other friends and former colleagues, and the event began to take shape. All along, the end goal remained clear.

“We lost soldiers, teammates, classmates and friends, and that motivated us to do something more. This wasn’t just about

putting on a backpack and hiking,” Hernandez says. “Mike wants this to be a powerful and sustainable thing, and really do something that creates a permanent memorial to the legacies of our fallen heroes. Our goal is to honor the individual legacies of each and every one of our fallen in a celebratory way for the life they lived and the legacy they have left with us.”

A marriage on the roadFor Laura Viti, who is Division Director of Clinical Pharmacy

for HCA’s Far West Division, marriage to her high school sweet-heart has always meant some separation. She and Viti lived apart while each was in college and then during his yearlong deploy-ment to Afghanistan. This time around, she notes, “we’re going through it together, and I’m able to see him about once every three weeks.”

“We’ve had eight years apart in the 13 years we’ve been together, but like every one of them, this year is nothing short of a bless-ing. Getting to meet the Gold Star families and American patriots throughout this hike has changed both of our lives forever and is a huge reason why Mike has founded the nonprofit Legacies Alive to continue honoring the legacies of our American heroes.” (For more information on Legacies Alive and its goals and mis-sion, visit www.legaciesalive.com.)

The road is its own rewardFor Viti, the journey really is more important than the

destination. Although he had to resign his HCA position in order to start the hike, he knows the company is behind him and his team. And every day, he says he meets and talks to people who provide not only encouragement, but also inspiration.

“It’s so powerful, meeting with the Gold Star families that have connected to the project,” he says. “HCA is the pinnacle of health care because of its service to communities. The sacrifices of our fallen heroes and their families are for the greater good of each community in America as well.”

ONE PARK PLAZANASHVILLE, TN 37203

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PAIDHCA

THE HCA WAY

Honoring the FallenHCA puts its muscle behind

Mike’s Hiking for Heroes

For more information and to track Mike’s progress, visit www.mikeshikingforheroes.com. You can also connect via Facebook (Mike’s Hiking for Heroes) and Twitter (@fhafmikeshike).

Over the course of Mike’s Hiking for Heroes, Mike Viti has met many veterans who have thanked him for his efforts.