Newsworthy

Dear Community Partners,

Here are today’s updates:

• LGBTQIA+ Pride Celebration in June
• A Focus on Safety: Falling Number of Falls
• Current Status at Stormont Vail Health

LGBTQIA+ Pride Celebration in June

PRIDE Month and the LGBTQIA+ human rights movement (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual) is celebrated each year in the month of June. LGBTQIA+ Pride Month is a movement that celebrates gender and sexual diversity. During this month, we increase society’s awareness of the issues that people in these populations face. We can do this by promoting dignity, equal rights, and self-affirmation.

Pride Month was developed in the aftermath of the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City. The riots were a series of violent confrontations beginning June 28, 1969, between police and gay rights activists outside the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village.

The celebration has expanded from a day to a month of events in which communities may host pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts. During this month we can recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on our history and our communities.

A Focus on Safety: Falling Number of Falls

When the COVID-19 pandemic first reached our hospital in March of 2020, it introduced all forms of new challenges to providing our usual high standards of patient care. Patients who had been admitted with the virus were weaker and tired more easily. Existing staff shortages were exacerbated by positive tests and quarantines, while other team members were asked to cover areas of the hospital that were new to them, and may have different processes. As a result, our fall rate jumped almost one full fall every 1,000 patient days in the second quarter (April-June) of 2020. This improved in the next quarter as the pandemic briefly subsided, but when it roared back as winter hit in October of 2020, we experienced another increase.

Since that quarter, however, staff and leaders have addressed the problem head on, from multiple fronts. Utilizing feedback from team members at weekly fall reviews, we have looked at every aspect of the patient’s stay, from the first moment they enter the hospital to the moment they leave. From the floor of the bathroom to the ceiling tiles above the bed, nothing has been overlooked. As a result, we have had five consecutive quarters with a better fall rate than the previous quarter. This culminated in the week of May 30 – June 4 where there were zero inpatient falls in a week for the first time in over a year.

We are also experiencing success in reducing falls at the unit level. In the first quarter of 2022, 5 North, with a complex patient population, managed to beat the NDNQI fall rate mean for Adult Medical units for the first time in over two years, actually finishing in the top 25% of the 1,038 Magnet Adult Medical units that submitted for the quarter. 6 South had similar success, ranking just outside the top 10% of the 1,090 Magnet Adult Medical-Surgical Combined units that submitted for the quarter.

Our entire Falls Committee, which reviews all falls and develops initiatives to prevent falls, expresses their sincere gratitude for everyone’s efforts in helping reduce the fall rate. Without every single team member’s attention to our patient’s safety, this would not be possible. Likewise, we appreciate all of the efforts and focus on safety by the Falls Committee.

Current Status at Stormont Vail Health

• 8 inpatients are COVID-19 positive.
• 75% of recent COVID-19 admissions are unvaccinated or had last dose/booster more than 6 months ago.
• COVID-19 inpatient discharges (previous week): 16. Deaths: 0.
• 5 COVID-19 positive patients in the outpatient Enhanced Primary Care program.
• 18.7% of people tested for COVID-19 at Stormont Vail facilities the past seven days were positive. This is up from 16.6% last week.
• 24 team members and 7 providers on contact leave for COVID-19. This totals 31 this week compared to 23 last week.
• 105,054 vaccinations (included boosters) administered.
• To schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment:
  • Use online scheduling assistant at stormontvail.org/covid19/vaccine
  • Call (785) 270-4786.

We together,
Dr. Kenagy