Sacred Heart celebrates trio of rural health awards
On a day in which the temperatures dipped into the low 40s, the 140 staffers at Ascension Sacred Heart Gulf were pleased to learn that they each will be receiving fleece jackets as a token of appreciation for their work in achieving a prestigious award for the hospital.
The jackets, funded from both the hospital and a donation from the all-volunteer Ascension Sacred Heart Gulf Guild, celebrate that the hospital has earned a 2024 Performance Leadership Award for excellence in Quality, Outcomes, and Patient Perspective.
In the Nov. 21 press conference to announce the award, Kelly Beach, RN, BSN, the hospital’s administrator and chief nursing officer, said the Catholic, non-profit is the only rural hospital in the state to receive recognition in all three categories, and the only facility in Florida to be recognized for its Outcomes.
Compiled by The Chartis Center for Rural Health, the Performance Leadership Awards recognize top quartile performance (i.e., 75th percentile or above) among rural hospitals in Quality, Outcomes and/or Patient Perspective.
“These recognitions show the dedication our associates have to our patients and their families”, said radiologist Kunal Jani, MD, chief medical officer for Sacred Heart Gulf. “We truly live our mission of serving all persons through holistic care, each and every day.”
The Performance Leadership Awards are based on the results of the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance Index, a comprehensive and objective framework for assessing how rural hospitals are performing. These benchmarks are relied upon by rural hospitals, health systems with rural footprints, hospital associations, and state offices of rural health to measure performance across multiple areas impacting hospital operations and finance.
“The Performance Leadership Awards capture the commitment, diligence, and innovation with which America’s rural hospitals approach the delivery of care within their communities,” said Troy Brown, network consultant, The Chartis Center for Rural Health. “It’s a tremendous honor to be able to recognize the efforts of this year’s award winners and celebrate their achievement as part of National Rural Health Day.”
National Rural Health Day, celebrated on the third Thursday of November, recognizes the unique health care challenges faced by rural communities, and how programs and policies help to address these challenges.
In addition to primary care and specialty care for everyday health needs, as well as 24/7 emergency care for serious and life-threatening injuries and illnesses, Sacred Heart Gulf offers minimally invasive procedures, imaging, lab tests and rehabilitation services, all on one campus. To learn more visit ascension.org/GulfFL.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.