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Six area hospital employees and three area physicians
were honored for their dedication to health care at a
luncheon hosted in November by the West Council of
the Alabama Hospital Association. Among them were
three DCH Regional Medical Center employees and one
Pickens County Medical Center physician.
Angie Shaw, RRT, Respiratory Care Department Adult
Clinical Care Coordinator; Kandie Brewer, RN, Cardiac
Surgical Unit Charge Nurse; and Libby Junkin, RT, (R)
(CT) (ARRT), Radiology Department Advanced Registry
Technician, were recognized as Hospital Heroes from
the Regional Medical Center for 2012.
Dr. William R. “Bob” Brooke II, PCMC Emergency
Department Medical Director, was named a Hospital
Physician Hero for 2012.
Awards and recognitions
The luncheon was
one of seven regional awards presentations held in No-
vember and December as part of AlaHA’s ninth annual
statewide Hospital Hero award contest. The contest
highlights health careers while recognizing the accom-
plishments and compassion of hospital employees.
Up to 10 state Hospital Heroes will be selected from
the local winners and honored at a banquet in Birming-
ham in February. One statewide Hospital Physician Hero
will also be recognized in February.
“This contest is one of our association’s most
meaningful events because it recognizes some amazing
people,” said J. Michael Horsley, FACHE, AlaHA Presi-
dent. “It’s often said that working in a hospital is more
than a job, that it’s a calling—and when you hear the
stories of what these heroes do each day, you realize
how true that is. They really are a special breed.”
Meet the Heroes
Ms. Shaw has 28 years of ex-
perience in adult critical care and has special training
in hyperbaric therapy. She has been with the Regional
Medical Center since 1983. She is the respiratory clini-
cal coordinator for respiratory students from four differ-
ent schools of respiratory therapy and a recipient of the
DCH Regional Medical Center Excellence Award.
Ms. Brewer, a recipient of the DCH Regional Medical
Center Excellence Award, has been employed at the
Regional Medical Center since 1994. She is a charge
nurse and preceptor on the Cardiac Surgical Unit. She is a member of the
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.
Ms. Junkin has worked in the Radiology Department at the Regional Medical
Center since 1983. She currently works as a 3-D technician in the CT imaging
area at the hospital. Ms. Junkin is also a recipient of the DCH Regional Medical
Center Excellence Award.
Dr. Brooke joined the PCMC active medical staff in 1982. He was named
Emergency Department medical director in 1994. In 2006, Dr. Brooke was
named an Employee of Excellence. In 2008, the PCMC Emergency Department
was renovated and expanded and dedicated and named in Dr. Brooke’s honor.
AlaHA, based in Montgomery, is a statewide trade organization that repre-
sents more than 100 hospitals and numerous other health care providers in
their efforts to provide quality health care.
Hospital Heroes!
DCH HOME HEALTH
Care Agency
has been ranked in the top 5 percent of
the home health agencies in the United
States by a national health care informa-
tion company.
The 2011 HomeCare Elite is a compila-
tion of the top-performing home health
agencies in the U.S. This annual review
identifies the top 25 percent of agen-
cies and highlights the top 100 and top
500 agencies overall.
The report ranked DCH Home Health
Care Agency in the Top 500 of the nation’s
almost 10,000 Medicare-certified home
health agencies, thereby placing it in the
top 5 percent. Winners are ranked by an
analysis of performance measures in qual-
ity outcomes, quality improvement and
financial performance.
RISING TO THE CHALLENGE
“It’s
increasingly challenging to manage the
cost-quality equation,” said Amanda Twiss,
CEO of OCS and My InnerView. “The 2011
HomeCare Elite winners demonstrate a
commitment to providing patients with
the best possible care while managing
their business efficiently and effectively.
This year, we updated our methodology to
reflect industry focus and, based on this
rigorous analysis, we congratulate DCH
Home Health Care Agency on being one of
the top home care agencies in the country.”
“We’ve ranked in the top 25 percent in
the nation since the study began in 2006,
and this is the fourth time we’ve been
named in the top 100 or 500 home health
agencies in the nation,” said Marcia Bai-
ley, Director of DCH Home Health Care
Agency. “Our patient satisfaction scores
have also been among the highest in the
country for several years.”
Ms. Bailey said the performance of
DCH Home Health Care Agency is due to
its affiliation with the DCH Health System.
“Because we’re part of DCH, we can at-
tract some of the best nurses in the area,”
Ms. Bailey said. “And because we’re con-
nected to DCH’s electronic health records,
we can offer much better care for patients
who are discharged from the hospital.”
Dr. George Miller, Medical Director
of DCH Home Health Care Agency, said
he was proud of the agency’s showing in
HomeCare Elite and in patient satisfac-
tion surveys.
“The recognition as a Top 500 Home
Health Agency in the country is especially
gratifying because it demonstrates that the
patients and fami-
lies who depend on
DCH Home Health
Agency are receiv-
ing excellent clinical
care and customer
service,” Dr. Miller said. “That has always
been the focus of the staff here at DCH
Home Health.”
HALLMARK OF COMPETENCE
“The
HomeCare Elite designation continues
to gain significance given the regulatory
changes and challenges that agencies face.
Agencies that have earned recognition
among the HomeCare Elite demonstrated
that they not only can adapt to an evolving
marketplace but continue to excel in both
clinical and financial outcomes,” saidMarci
Heydt, Product Manager for the post-acute
care business group, DecisionHealth. The
2011 HomeCare Elite is the only perfor-
mance recognition of its kind in the home
health industry.
The 2011 HomeCare Elite is brought to
the industry by OCS HomeCare, the lead-
ing provider of homecare information, and
DecisionHealth, publisher of the industry’s
most respected independent newslet-
ter,
Home Health Line
, and the
Complete
Home Health ICD-9-CM Diagnosis Coding
Manual
. The data used for this analysis
were compiled from publicly available
information. The entire list of the 2011
HomeCare Elite agencies can be viewed by
visiting the OCS HomeCare website
at
www.ocshomecare.com
.
ABOUT DCH HOME HEALTH CARE
AGENCY
DCHHome Health Care Agency
is accredited by The Joint Commission,
licensed by the state of Alabama and cer-
tified as a Medicare provider. DCH Home
Health offers skilled nursing care, physical
therapy, occupational therapy, speech ther-
apy, nutritional services, medical social
services and personal care. The licensed,
professional staff at DCH Home Health
Care can provide many services in the
home, including cardiac monitoring and
teaching, diabetes education and manage-
ment, pain management, medication edu-
cation and administration, and IV therapy.
In addition, DCH Home Health provides
several programs such as Safe at Home,
disease management and telemonitoring.
To learn more about DCH Home Health
Care Agency, go to
www.dchsystem
.com/homecare
.
DCH HOME HEALTH
CARE AGENCY RANKS
IN THE TOP 5 PERCENT
Angie Shaw, RRT
Kandie Brewer,
RN
Libby Junkin, RT
Dr. William R.
“Bob” Brooke II
W I N T E R 2 0 1 2
5
H E A L T H Y C O M M U N I T Y