Deborah
Burger, R.N. December 16,
2015
Co-President
California
Nurses Association
2000
Franklin Street
Oakland, CA
94612
Re: Another Leapfrog Group “A” for Tri-City Medical District
Dear Ms. Burger,
Thank you and your
entire staff and membership of the California Nurses Association(CNA) for all
that you do for others, especially our Veteran’s, I really appreciate it!
At this time I would
also like to thank you and your members at Tri-City Medical District(TCMD) for
their outstanding work measured in the quality of care given to their customers
and recently recognized again by the Leapfrog Group as an “A” level performance,
actually, for the fifth consecutive year.
Recently it was noted
that the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit has not had a Centerline Associated Bloodstream Infection in over five
years. One of the comments from a recent auditor from the Joint Commission, “should
my family or I need a hospital, this would be the one”!
How do these
accomplishments help our Veterans, according to the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services Healthcare Associated Infections(HAI) are preventable, the
closer we get to prevention at any facility the higher the bar is raised for the
industry-wide tolerance of occurrences.
The unique aspect of
the accomplishments at TCHD concerning healthcare safety, it is a community
hospital, the demographics of its patients are not an attribute, although much improved
and committed to delivering quality care its leadership has had its share of
challenges, the facility is over fifty years old so the successful component to
delivering safe and efficient healthcare, yes, it is a profitable facility, is
the staff, your members.
My advocacy for the prevention
of HAI in our Veteran’s hospitals is actually pretty easy, all I have to do is
encourage and support the staff at TCMD in the prevention of HAI, the inspiration
for this letter of thanks to you, the CNA leadership and membership that
populate TCHD and every Veteran’s hospital in our nation.
Sincerely,
Michael Slavinski http://h-a-i-5.blogspot.com/
"If we can
improve the quality of care, that will translate into lower cost," Anthem
President Pam Kehaly said. "These are real dollars”
