With the Grammys behind us and the Oscars yet to come, the entertainment world’s awards season is in full bloom. In the Valley, the healthcare industry is enjoying its own awards season of sorts. Since the New Year, honors, grants and fellowships have been heaped upon local players in medicine. National healthcare ratings company HealthGrades bestowed the Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award upon both Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills and Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center. The two hospitals were among 270 in the nation to win the honor. “Glendale Memorial is proud to be a recipient of the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence for seven years in a row,” stated Kim Strange, the hospital’s interim president. “This recognition reinforces our commitment to providing the highest quality care for the community.” HealthGrades has independently analyzed the clinical quality performance of hospitals across the country in 26 procedures and diagnoses for seven years. This means that each year the analysis has been conducted, Glendale Memorial has come out on top. For four years now, Holy Cross has been included among HealthGrades’ top 5 percent of hospitals for overall clinical quality. “The two key reasons for our continued high quality performance are our phenomenal nursing team and our medical staff,” Holy Cross Chief Executive Kerry Carmody stated. “Being the only Nurse Magnet hospital in northern L.A. County allows us to recruit and retain the very best nurses. The teamwork and respect between our nurses and our physicians drives excellent quality outcomes and high patient care quality.” The American Nurses Credentialing Center gives Nurse Magnet status to hospitals with nursing staffs that meet the highest standard of patient care, nursing practice and quality patient outcomes, according to Holy Cross. The fact that Glendale Memorial and Holy Cross topped HealthGrades’ list of hospitals means that patients admitted there are 27 percent less likely to die and 8 percent less likely to suffer from major complications, according to HealthGrades. The HealthGrades study included 5,000 hospitals. Those awarded by the ratings company also improved patient outcomes in more procedures and diagnoses than other hospitals by an average of about 18 percent. Dr. Rick May, the HealthGrades senior physician consultant who authored the ratings study, called Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence “an unparalleled group.” “They should be commended for their relentless commitment to exceptional patient care,” May stated. “Patients should expect and demand the same level of care at all hospitals.” Over in Santa Clarita Valley, the staff of Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital is also celebrating winning an award. For the third straight year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has given the hospital the Medal of Honor for its rate of organ donation. Henry Mayo is one of 23 Hospital Association of Southern California member hospitals to have received the award at the fourth annual Organ Donation and Transplantation National Learning Congress. Hospitals that won the award attained a life-saving organ donation rate of 75 percent or more over a year. Henry Mayo’s successful organ donation rate was 78 percent. “We’re honored to receive this recognition again this year,” stated Henry Mayo President and CEO Roger Seaver, “but the real heroes are the individuals who choose to give the gift of organ donation.” University Grant Thanks to a $240,000 grant from the California Wellness Foundation, California State University, Channel Islands, hopes to add more nurses to the shrinking pool of such healthcare professionals in Ventura County and beyond. The grant will go towards the Nursing Pipeline Program at CSU Channel Islands, which aims to help students from ethnic minorities apply for the school’s baccalaureate in nursing program. “The severe nursing shortage in Ventura County has been a serious challenge for local healthcare providers. For this reason, creating accessibility through scholarship support to aspiring CSUCI BSN students is now more important than ever,” stated Nichole Ipach, director of University Development. Funding from the California Wellness Foundation,an independent, private foundation with a healthcare mission,will allow CSU Channel Islands to provide 10 full scholarships to Nursing Pipeline Program participants who are admitted into the baccalaureate in nursing program. CWF’s $240,000 grant will be paid over three years and support Nursing Pipeline students through 2014. Next year, CSU Channel Islands will graduate its first group of BSN candidates. Dentist Honored At Oak Park Dentistry for Children, which serves Western Los Angeles and Ventura counties, there is celebration following Dr. Yazdan Alami’s recognition as a fellow by the College of Diplomates of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. To boot, Dr. Alami is also now overseeing the pediatric dental clinic and operating room of the Westwood campus of the University of California, Los Angeles. This move follows Alami’s appointment to the faculty of UCLA’s pediatric dentistry program. “Dr. Alami brings an extraordinary talent to our faculty,” said Dr. Kenneth Troutman of UCLA. “His outgoing, yet professional personality creates immediate rapport with students, parents and their patients. He will be a tremendous asset to UCLA’s program.” As for his fellowship appointment by the College of Diplomates, Alami earned the honor by passing a two-day written test and oral examination given by the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. Oak Park Dentistry founder Lisa Brennan, D.D.S., believes that the recognition Alami has received captures the quality of dental service he provides. “These honors underscore Dr. Alami’s dedication to pediatric dentistry both in honing his own skills to continually provide the best care to Oak Park Dentistry for Children’s patients, and in grooming the next generation of pediatric dentists,” Brennan remarked.
