image_pdfimage_print
It has been an historic year for Memorial Healthcare System, starting with the opening of the new Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital – the first, free-standing pediatric hospital in Broward County –and moving ahead with a poignant vote in which the South Broward Hospital District Board of Commissioners adopted the lowest millage rate in its history, a 41 percent decrease from the previous year.
 
The highlights for the year also included the on-going success of the Pediatric Cardiac Transplant program, the opening of a new 80-bed tower at Memorial Hospital West and accolades that positioned Memorial Healthcare System and its hospitals in a league of their own.
 
A Grand Opening
On July 21st, more than 5,000 people were on hand as the new Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital opened its doors to the community. The $140 million facility, along with its existing spaces inside Memorial Regional Hospital, serves the area with leading-edge technology, compassionate care and the expertise of an extensive network of more than 650 board-certified, pediatric specialists. Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, which has been in operation since 1992, also celebrated the first anniversary of its Pediatric Cardiac Transplant program. To date, four successful heart transplants, including a four-month old baby girl, have been completed.
 
Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital also “grew” services beyond South Broward with the expansion of U18 Sports Medicine. Now, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Division of Pediatric Orthopaedics and U18 Sports Medicine are meeting the growing demand for pediatric and adolescent orthopaedic care and sports medicine from two locations – the original facility at Memorial Hospital Miramar and now in Coral Springs. The new location offers orthopaedic, imaging and rehabilitative services, in addition to providing both primary and complex tertiary pediatric orthopaedic and sports medicine care.
 
New Bed Tower Supports Memorial Cancer Institute
The opening of the Memorial Hospital West new 80-bed tower marks a milestone for the Memorial Cancer Institute, with 40 beds dedicated to inpatient oncology and bone marrow transplant. Since its inception in 2007, the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) program has saved and enhanced the lives of dozens of transplant patients through outpatient care. Recognizing the need that many extremely ill patients had for inpatient care, Memorial Hospital West applied for and received a certificate of need from the state to provide this service.
 
Currently, the BMT program performs autologous transplants using the patients’ own stem cells. In the near future, doctors will begin performing allogenic transplants using blood cells from bone marrow donors and eventually from public umbilical cord blood and stem cell banks.
 
In The Spotlight
Focused on patient safety, quality and service, Memorial Healthcare System hospitals received national recognition and accreditations this year from industry leaders. Memorial Regional Hospital was the only Florida hospital awarded the 2011 American Hospital Association-McKesson Quest for Quality Prize®. The award was based on the hospital’s culture of quality and efforts to achieve the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) six quality aims: safety, patient-centeredness, effectiveness, efficiency, timeliness and equity.
Memorial Hospital West and Memorial Hospital Pembroke were among the Top Performers on Key Quality Measures — heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care — from The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of healthcare organizations in the United States.
 
Memorial Hospital Miramar received a 2011 Summit Award® in the Patient Satisfaction – Inpatient category from Press Ganey Associates, Inc. Only 37 hospitals made the cut nationwide in the “Inpatient” category, and Memorial Hospital Miramar is the only one in Florida to receive this award. The Rehabilitation Institute of South Florida at Memorial Regional Hospital South and the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Pediatric Rehabilitation Unit were re-accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) for the adult brain injury program, adult stroke specialty program, adult comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation, pediatric comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation and outpatient medical rehab for adults and pediatrics.
 
Committed to promoting a healthier environment for patients, visitors and employees, Memorial Healthcare System facilities and all its campus throughout South Broward took a bold step and became “tobacco free” on November 17, the Great American Smokeout Day.
 
For the third consecutive year, Memorial Healthcare System has been named one of Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work in Healthcare. On the 2011 list of top 100 employers from across the nation, Memorial is sixth among large companies (1,000 or more employees) and the highest-ranking South Florida healthcare provider.
 
As a fitting end to a stellar year, the new Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital campus was renamed the Frank V. Sacco campus, in honor of Memorial Healthcare System’s top leader, president and chief executive officer.