Orlando, Florida – Sebasticook Valley Hospital – Courtesy Van Service in Pittsfield, Maine has been named an INNOVATION Award winner in healthcare service quality for 2007 by Avatar International, a leader in healthcare research and consulting. This award is based on the results of the hospital’s patient surveys.
In making the announcement, Michael Everett, PhD, Avatar Founder and CEO said, “Innovation is often thought of as merely brilliant ideas. However, true innovation encompasses the hard work required for turning those ideas into reality. Sebasticook Valley Hospital is to be congratulated for first – listening carefully to the voice of patients, second—to thinking about how the patient experience could be dramatically improved, and last – going the extra mile and working hard to implement the innovative changes. Sebasticook Valley Hospital is also to be congratulated for fostering a culture where innovation can take root.”
The innovation began with a moment of eureka experienced by SVH President/CEO John C. “Jack” May. He explains, “I was having my car serviced and they offered a shuttle service to their customers. A light went off as I thought, ‘If this can be done for auto repair customers, how can we do this for our patients? We provided the access to healthcare but I knew there were many people without access to transportation. I knew we could find a solution and we did.”
May charged SVH Vice President of Finance Randy Clark with the development of the transportation project and within a matter of a few months, the SVH Courtesy Van Service was launched in May 2006. Director of Patient Accounts Emily Edgar oversees the day-to-day operations with Duane Humphrey as full-time and Terri-Jean Grant as part-time drivers and SVH ambassadors. The SVH Patient Account employees added dispatching to their duties and Monday through Friday ensure that outpatients are scheduled for the appropriate days, times and SVH services. The SVH Courtesy Van now routinely provides more than 300 free rides per month for people from their homes to SVH services such as to Sebasticook Regional Family Care office visits in Clinton, Newport and Pittsfield, rehabilitation visits to Newport and Pittsfield, and to all non-emergency outpatient services on the hospital campus. The hospital operates an ambulance service for emergency transportation.
In 2006, Avatar launched an Innovations Award process for hospitals to submit best practice for improvements attained in the previous year for patient surveys. The first awards were in 2007 and 2006 achievements. The theme of “Bold, Daring, and a little Gutsy” emerged from the innovation award winners, with the innovation coming from the who and how, not the what. This included doing what others say can’t be done, doing what others are not doing, going where others haven’t gone, overcoming barriers, and creating the energy to keep it going.
Avatar is the premier provider of hospital surveys in the healthcare industry. The company has served healthcare nationally for over twenty-five years in quality improvement and customer service training. |
|
