Greetings,
It’s hard to believe I’ve been with the Sonoma Valley Hospital community for one year, but so it has been, and as I look back, we’ve had quite a ride. I’d like to take this time to review some of our year’s achievements, and bring you up to date on our facilities upgrade plan and some new initiatives we’re launching.
As you know, we have been working straight out over the last year to finalize our facilities plan to be able to achieve compliance with the State-mandated seismic safety requirements while maintaining the hospital on its existing site. Our final plan represents a cost-effective way to modernize the facility to better serve the residents of Sonoma Valley while ensuring continuity of operation throughout the construction period.
In June, the Planning Commission approved our plan and just last week, the Design Review Committee approved our design. So, we’re set to go!
Here are some milestones you’ll see coming up:
• August, 2011 – If you’ve noticed the interruption in the smooth flow of our SNF services due to some deferred maintenance issues, that is all in the past. SNF will be back to normal and we will resume the room upgrades, thanks to continuing donations from our wonderful patients.
• September, 2011 – We’re repainting the entire building with a special anti-moisture – elastomeric – paint. So we’ll have a new, fresh look, sealed from moisture, heading into winter.
• September, 2011 – Prima doctors move into their own building on First Street West. This will give doctors and patients an improved environment for quality care.
• October, 2011 – Our Physical Therapy department moves to their new, spacious building on Hwy 12.
• Early Fall, 2011 – relocation of our loading dock will give us one consolidated area for deliveries, creating more efficiency all around.
• November, 2011 – the South Lot will be paved and ready for parking and staging construction equipment.
• January 2011 – Our MRI trailer will be moving to its semi-permanent location – pending its move into the building sometime in 2014. The new location will provide greater patient convenience and enhance our welcoming look.
Beyond construction, as I look back over the year, we can take pride in the range and significance of our accomplishments. We are fast becoming a culture of quality and safety here in Sonoma Valley Hospital. We are proud to say we’ve once again received our three-year accreditation from The Joint Commission. In addition, our quality and patient satisfaction scores, as measured by industry standard, Press Ganey, moved from 67 percent patient satisfaction in August of 2010 to 84 percent – a level we’ve held for the last nine months.
That’s impressive by any standard, and a tribute to our new Chief Nursing Officer, Goni Naidoo, and our outstanding team of nurses and doctors, and also our Quality team, which is tracking every aspect of our performance.
Our partnership with Marin General is starting off with exceptional cooperation and benefits on both sides. Their financial help has been generous and amazingly effective. They provided us with our new CFO, Rick Reid, who has put us on a straight and narrow budget plan which we are all confident will see us to stability in the coming year. MGH CEO Lee Domanico visited the Leadership team last week and gave the leaders a warm welcome and candidly answered all questions. It turns out we will have much to share on both sides. He emphasized that the strength of the affiliation will help both hospitals to flourish in the coming days of increased competition for health care services and especially in competing with the looming giants, Sutter and Kaiser. He also stressed that the cooperation between our two hospitals will help provide both our communities with an extended range of health care services and excellent quality – at reduced cost.
With our new energy, we have a new logo – which you may have seen in the Fourth of July parade, and a new look to our graphics. Hot on the griddle is a new website, and we’re all anticipating that in early Fall.
Our new family practice physicians, Dr. Bozzone – who has been on leave with her new baby – and Dr. Malik, who is fast becoming a favorite with families, are a strong addition to our health care team. Dr. Perryman, our amazing general surgeon and bariatric specialist, is changing lives. Dr. Brown, our new orthopedic surgeon, along with the whole Total Joint Replacement team (Dr. Weiss, Dr. Harf, Anesthesiologist Dr. Licata, Nurse Navigator Janet Alexander and the whole physical therapy team) is putting people back on the path to active wellness. We are so grateful to them, and pleased with the work Prima Medical Group is doing to recruit and maintain these vital members of our community.
Finally, we’ve launched a three-month emphasis on health care for seniors and are planning a new “Active Aging” series of classes on balance, mental acuity, nutrition and home safety. We’re finalizing plans for a new Medically Oriented Gym for seniors and staff members, which will work in tandem with our cardio-rehab service. We’ve been visiting and listening to the needs of local retirement communities, and we’ve been sending out Dr. Brown and Occupational Therapist Bill Casey and others to speak about their specialties to seniors – all of whom have questions, which these two are great at answering. As you’ve seen from our flyers and the news articles, we’re giving a presentation at Vintage House on Thursday, July 28, so that the Total Joint Team can help everyone understand about joint pain and learn the many options there are to avoid or correct it. Join us!
So we are moving fast, we’re working hard, and every step we’re taking is to serve and bring health and healing to you and our whole community. We look forward to the coming year and in health and happiness for you all!
Sincerely,
Kelly Mather
Chief Executive Officer
Sonoma Valley Hospital