By Mark Doyle
It’s been a year of expansion and advancement at Holy Cross Health in Fort Lauderdale. Here are some of the top accomplishments from 2023:
New Facilities: The Holy Cross Health Center at the YMCA on Sistrunk Boulevard opened and Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick took a tour. Led by a family nurse practitioner, the center offers primary care, physicals, immunizations, preventive care, diabetes education and prevention, on-site lab work and more, to address social determinants and health inequities in communities of greatest need.
The Holy Cross Rehabilitation Institute of Rio Vista relocated to a new, upgraded facility at 12 S.E. 12th St. in Fort Lauderdale, offering treatments for post-operative and nonsurgical orthopedic conditions; sports medicine injuries; balance conditions and gait dysfunction; and vestibular and concussion rehab.
New Programs: This summer we launched the University of Miami / Holy Cross Health Summer Surgical Scholars (S³) Program. Five high school students, who are related to a Holy Cross Health team member, participated in this two-week pilot program, where they observed surgeries in the operating room, learned how to do suturing and knot-tying, used the laparoscopic simulator, made rounds with residents and attendings, interacted with patients in the emergency department and attended resident lectures.
Holy Cross Health also launched a Culinary Medicine Program to help the community learn about nutrition, cooking techniques and kitchen equipment. In partnership with Florida Health and Nutrition Coalition and the South Florida Hunger Coalition, we hosted the inaugural Food is Medicine Jumpstart Session featuring keynote speaker Dr. Scott Angle, University of Florida interim provost and nationally recognized food is medicine pioneer, and guest Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a supporter of Florida’s Food is Medicine Bill.
Recognitions: Administered by the American College of Surgeons, the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers again granted accredited status to our Michael and Dianne Bienes Comprehensive Cancer Center.
For the 13th consecutive year, Holy Cross Health received an award from the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Program. We received the organization’s Get With The Guidelines® – Heart Failure Gold Plus and Target Stroke: Honor Roll Elite Gold Plus quality achievement awards and were recognized on the Target: Heart FailureSM Honor Roll and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll™. For the second consecutive year, Holy Cross received the Advanced Therapy Award for performing successful thrombectomies in less than 90 minutes after the patient’s arrival to the hospital.
Based on how Holy Cross performed in mortality, safety of care, readmissions, patient experience and timely and effective care, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services awarded us four out of five stars in its Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings system.
U.S. News & World Report named Holy Cross a High Performing hospital for Diabetes, Heart Attack, Heart Failure, Hip Replacement, Knee Replacement and Stroke on its 2023-2024 Best Hospitals list, the highest distinction a hospital can earn for U.S. News’ Best Hospitals Procedures & Conditions ratings. Holy Cross also made Newsweek’s lists of America’s Best-In-State Hospitals 2024 and America’s Best Ambulatory Surgery Centers 2024.
Our longstanding partnership with ArtServe was recognized with an Impact Award. Since 2018, we have displayed the works of South Florida female artists at the Dorothy Mangurian Comprehensive Women’s Center at Holy Cross HealthPlex.
Fundraising Success: The Outpatient Rehabilitation Center was renamed the Jon and Helaine Ayers Rehabilitation Institute in honor of the couple’s generous $2 million donation. With this gift, we’ll renovate and invest in state-of-the-art equipment to provide specialized care for patients with neurological, oncologic and orthopedic conditions.
The estate of former Holy Cross Health patient Michael A. Close pledged more than $1 million to advance cardiac and vascular care and Audrey Millsaps and the Millsaps Charitable Trust’s donation of $250,000 supports the Institute for Nursing Excellence, enabling us to enhance educational and leadership programs.
The Guerrieri Family Foundation’s latest donation brings their total donation to more than $7 million. This new gift will fund the renovation of the Holy Cross Medical Complex at 4701 N. Federal Highway, which will be renamed the Guerrieri Family Medical Complex. Renovations include multiple primary care physician offices and exam rooms designed to enhance the patient and physician experience.
Technological Advancements: Holy Cross Health debuted a new bronchoscopy suite designed to accommodate the state-of-the-art Ion endoluminal system, a robotic bronchoscopy machine used to get biopsy samples of lung nodules. We also purchased a fluoroscope, which enables physicians to do a 360-degree real-time scan of the patient while performing a biopsy using the Ion system.
Mark Doyle is Chief Executive Officer, Holy Cross Health.
