Emory-Adventist makes honor roll; delivers Christmas presents

On Thursday, while the elves were busy at the North pole making toys and detailing his sleigh, Santa made a brief appearance at .

Old Saint Nick stopped by to help counselor, Cheryl McFadden, load her sleigh with presents from hospital employees and patients for some of the less fortunate families at the school. Each year, Emory-Adventist Hospital sets up an “Angel Tree” so employees can select a child to adopt for Christmas.

"Griffin values our long-standing partnership and the dedication of Emory-Adventist to serving community needs,’’ said Griffin Middle School Principal James Snell. “Thank you, Santa and Emory-Adventist, for making the holidays brighter for those in need."

Griffin Middle School and Emory-Adventist Hospital at Smyrna are part of the Cobb Chamber’s Partners in Education program.

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Emory-Adventist Hospital at Smyrna has been named to the Georgia Hospital Association’s (GHA) Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) Core Measures Honor Roll. Emory-Adventist Hospital is one of 15 hospitals in Georgia to be placed in the Chairman’s category, the highest on the list.

The honor roll is based on clinical data provided by the federal Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS), which administers the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid programs. The data was collected from July 2010 to June 2011.

“This is a great accomplishment for Emory-Adventist Hospital,” said Joseph Parker, president of GHA. “This recognition further underscores the commitment of the Emory-Adventist Hospital staff to ensuring that every patient receives the best, most effective health care possible.”

Hospitals are required to submit care data to CMS, which details how well a hospital’s caregivers adhere to a list of Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) core measures. These measures are the clinical processes of care that are known to be the most effective methods of treatment for surgical patients and patients who have suffered heart attacks, pneumonia and heart failure.

For instance, a recommended treatment to help prevent a heart attack is to take aspirin either before or upon arrival at the hospital, as well as at discharge. A suggested treatment for pneumonia is to administer an antibiotic within four hours of a patient’s arrival.

It is recommended that surgery patients are given an antibiotic one hour prior to surgery to prevent infection. The VBP core measure is a composite measure that determines whether or not a patient received the right care at the right time. A hospital’s adherence to these recommended clinical practices usually leads to better outcomes.

“It is our mission to ensure that each of our patients receives the right care at the right time and this recognition validates this,” said Dennis Kiley, chief executive officer of Emory-Adventist Hospital at Smyrna. “This honor is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our staff who are constantly working to make excellent care even better.”