Jasmine Christian, HR business partner for East Los Angeles Doctors Hospital, shows off one of the Pipeline-branded water bottles ordered for employees as a Hospital Week gift. The blue water bottles will be distributed at picnic events planned for each hospital May 13-17.
The month of May is a special time of the year for those of us in healthcare. While we appreciate the hard work of all Pipeline Health employees throughout the year, we celebrate Nurses Week and Hospital Week with special thanks for the deep dedication our employees bring each day.
Robert Allen, CEO, Pipeline Health
A year or so ago we did a survey of our employees. They told us something wonderful that we already sensed. They – you – said you come to work to serve the community.
It’s a privilege to serve the communities around us – underserved communities with individuals who definitely need us. They are individuals who may not be able to receive care anywhere but in our Pipeline hospitals. And, among all of us, we share the belief that our patients need – and deserve – safe quality healthcare, no matter their economic status.
This year – as we celebrate our employees during Nurses Week and Hospital Week – I hope you will take pride in knowing that our hospitals are, in fact, expanding our service to our communities. The last year has been full of changes and challenges, and we have met those challenges by seizing opportunities to provide even better care to our patients.
A few examples:
- The Behavioral Health Unit at Coast Plaza Hospital opened in August. We have worked toward our final licensing to receive patients on an involuntary basis – such as individuals who might be referred through law enforcement – as well as those patients we see now on a voluntary basis. We expect to receive that licensing any day now to meet a significant community need.
- We recently began a new vascular surgery program at Memorial Hospital of Gardena, expanding the portfolio of care we can provide there.
- Our Patient Hub transfer center has expanded our service area by facilitating the transfer of patients to our hospitals from other facilities that may not have capacity. In the month of April, the staff facilitated successful transfers of a record 163 patients.
- By this summer we will launch an intensivists program at all four hospitals to provide expanded medical expertise to our patients.
- We are exploring the feasibility of creating a ventilator-weaning program at East Los Angeles Doctors Hospital, which would be a unique program in our service area.
- We also are looking at ways to expand our presence in the community to promote our hospitals and services and help individuals access care from us.
In addition, we are planning now for new investments in equipment – investments that we need for enhanced care of our patients.
While we care for our patients, we also are looking at new ways to care for our employees. In January we launched a revamped New Employee Orientation program to ensure a warm welcome and information about our health system as a whole.
In recent weeks we held the first in a quarterly series of breakfasts for new hires to check in with their hospital CEO and discuss how things are going.
Speaking of recruitment, we’re proud that our hospitals have hired some 173 new employees since Jan. 1 – a great accomplishment made through the collaboration of our Human Resources team and nurse managers.
We also recently brought our Rehabilitation Services team in-house, as we did with the Security team at Memorial Hospital of Gardena. These services are important to the care we provide, and we welcome these new employees to the Pipeline family.
In short, our employees are our most valuable resource. We wouldn’t be Pipeline Health without you.
Our nurses will be celebrated at the Nurses Week Breakfasts planned for each of our hospitals this Friday. And, I look forward to seeing and thanking many of you in person at the Hospital Week picnics scheduled next week.
I hope each of you will take part in the activities planned for your enjoyment, knowing that your dedication is appreciated by me, by our Pipeline leadership, and by the patients you serve with compassion.
5.9.2024