NEWBERRY — The Newberry County Memorial Hospital has unveiled a list of new awards they have received this year, some of which have become annual awards for the hospital.
The first award was a Zero Harm Award from the South Carolina Hospital Association. Newberry County Memorial Hospital was recognized for six clinical topic areas, meaning the hospital has gone so many months without these six infections: C. diff • Hospital Wide • 36 month, SSI Hip • Hospital Wide • 24 months, SSI Colon • Hospital Wide • 12 months, CLABSI • ICU • 60 months, MRSA • Hospital Wide • 66 months, SSI Abdominal Hysterectomy • Hospital Wide • 72 months.
“We have the honor to award you with a Zero Harm Award — zero harm being preventable harm. Zero harm being a goal and Newberry Hospital has made it a goal. When you look back over the past five years, Newberry Hospital has been recognized for a dozen clinical topics that have been infection free,” said Diana Zona, executive director, Quality and Patient Safety SCHA. “So certainly zero harm is not new to you all.”
For those six clinical topic areas, Zona said going as long as 72 months without infection — in that topic — is amazing.
“This is not about the healthcare professionals who are providing or doing medical errors, it is about those systems and processes that are in place to either prevent, recognize or quickly recover from that medical error. That is what zero harm is all about,” she said. “In South Carolina, you and others have become leaders in this effort. We are not aware of another state that focuses on zero harm like this.”
Bruce Baldwin, CEO of Newberry County Memorial Hospital, presented another award given to the hospital this year. Becker’s Hospital Review, for the fourth year in a row, has named Newberry Hospital in the top 100 great community hospitals.
“This list includes independent community hospitals as well as facilities affiliated with large health systems. Some hospitals serve expansive rural geographies, while others care for small communities outside of large cities. Many of the hospitals have been recognized for their clinical quality, operational excellence and economic influence on the surrounding areas. For the purposes of this list, Becker’s defines a community hospital as a facility with no more than 550 beds,” Baldwin said. “The Becker’s editorial team selected hospitals for inclusion based on several outside rankings and ratings organizations, including IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals, iVantage Health Analytics and The Chartis Center for Rural Health’s Top 100 Rural and Community Hospitals, National Rural Health Association recognition, CareChex ratings, Leapfrog Group grades, Healthgrades awards and CMS stars — among other considerations.”
The awards didn’t stop there, Healthgrades (an online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals) has awarded Newberry Hospital five star ratings in three areas this year — total knee replacement (ninth year), hip replacement (second year) and hip fracture treatment (sixth year).
“The care our staff provides the patients while here is far and above, some of the patients will tell you this is a boutique hospital — just a great place to be,” said Kay Traylor, RN, director of Inpatient Services.
Baldwin said that these 2019 awards are just an example of the quality care Newberry Hospital provides.
“I could not be more proud to be the CEO of this hospital. The last five years we’ve come a long way, and we continue to work on improving,” he said.