Inside This Issue:

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Healthy Inside and Out

WellBiz for Workplace Wellness

Meeting Calendar

Disaster Preparedness in NW Ohio Moves Forward with New Funding

Hospital Happenings

New CEOs Appointed

Mission of the Hospital Council

Hospital Council Board of Trustees and Associate/Affiliate Members

Healthy Inside and Out

The Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio (HCNO) and 23 regional member hospitals have jointly announced that their entire campuses will become tobacco-free. The campaign motto, “Healthy. Inside and Out.” was designed to emphasize and encourage healthy, tobacco-free environments inside and outside hospital grounds.

W. Scott Fry, president and CEO of HCNO, said the membership of the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio is pleased to lead the way to create healthier, tobacco-free environments in Northwest Ohio." It is our hope that our collective approach involving 23 hospitals in 13 counties will minimize confusion for patients and visitors, and encourage other industries to follow suit.”

Creating tobacco-free environments at area hospitals and medical centers should provide a number of benefits including reducing tobacco consumption, protecting non-smokers from second-hand smoke exposure and protecting those with asthma and other disabilities who are affected by smoke.

Effective January 1, 2008, all forms of tobacco use will be prohibited inside or outside of hospitals’ property. Employees, medical staff and hospital volunteers who use tobacco are not required to quit, but must refrain from using tobacco products while on hospital grounds. Patients, visitors and vendors will also be required to comply with the tobacco-free policy when on hospital property, including the parking lots and grounds. To assist patients and visitors who use tobacco products, participating hospitals will encourage patients and visitors to notify admissions staff if they use tobacco. At that time appropriate steps will be taken to make patients and visitors as comfortable as possible without tobacco during their hospital stay. “This just comes down to the mission of hospitals to be healers and promote health,” said Jan Ruma, vice president of HCNO. “It’s a part of their mission to create an environment that is healthy.”

The following member hospitals have committed to implement a tobacco-free campus policy by January 1, 2008:

The Bellevue Hospital
Blanchard Valley Hospital
Bluffton Hospital, Bluffton
Community Memorial Hospital
Firelands Regional Medical Center
Fisher-Titus Medical Center
Fulton County Health Center
Henry County Hospital
Magruder Hospital
Memorial Hospital
Mercy Healthcare Center
Mercy Hospital Defiance
Mercy Hospital Tiffin
Mercy Hospital Willard
Paulding County Hospital
St. Anne Mercy Hospital
St. Charles Mercy Hospital
St. Francis Health Care Centre
St. Luke’s Hospital
St. Vincent Mercy Children’s Hospital
St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center
University of Toledo Medical Center
Wood County Hospital

WellBiz for Workplace Wellness

The Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio’s Lucas County Healthy Communities Foundation (LCHCF), in collaboration with the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce and Harris HealthTrends, is pleased to introduce their latest initiative, WellBiz. Designed to raise awareness and demonstrate the value of workplace wellness programs to employers and employees, WellBiz aims to prevent illness and disease and to reduce health care costs and absenteeism while improving individual health and productivity. Employing a workplace wellness program like WellBiz enables organizations to save money and even produce a return on investment.

Companies chosen to participate in the new WellBiz program were announced at the Toledo Area Small Business Association (TASBA) luncheon on May 17. WellBiz companies include: Bollin Label Systems; Brooks Insurance Agency, Inc.; Fifth Third Bank; Roemer Insurance and Benefits; and Shumaker, Loop Kendrick, LLP. Harris HealthTrends and the LCHCF will provide participants with professional support to implement a state-of-the-art workplace wellness program designed to meet the needs of each company’s workplace. The WellBiz Demonstration Project will span 3 years and companies will receive logos, technical assistance, professional services and employee incentives valued at approximately $150 per employee for each year of the project.

Members of the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce with between 25 and 400 employees were eligible to apply to be a WellBiz Company, as long as they did not have a workplace wellness program in place and were committed to getting one started. Applications were accepted from March 15 to April 30. Originally, there were only 3 companies slated to participate, but because of the overwhelming response from Chamber member companies, the WellBiz project was expanded to 5 companies.

About the WellBiz Sponsors: The Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio’s Lucas County Healthy Communities Foundation and its sponsors—University of Toledo Medical Center, Mercy Health Partners, and St. Luke’s Hospital— work together to further community health improvement with a focus on measurable outcomes. Through the Foundation, more than half a million dollars has been committed to a variety of community-based activities that have led to improved health and quality of life in Lucas County. The Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio is a member-driven organization that represents and advocates on behalf of its member hospitals and provides collaborative opportunities to enhance the health status of the citizens of Northwest Ohio through programs such as the Lucas County Healthy Communities Foundation.

The Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce serves the Toledo area business community and promotes economic development in Northwest Ohio. The Chamber has a solid membership of over 3,600 businesses, spanning from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses with only one employee. The Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce - Building Your Business Strong and Building Our Community Strong.

Harris HealthTrends, a Healthways Company, is a leading national provider of personalized health management services. Harris HealthTrends works with participants to help them improve their health and reduce their health risks by making healthy lifestyle changes. In addition to personalized health management services, Harris HealthTrends provides consulting services, program/data integration and onsite fitness/rehabilitation center management services for clients nationwide.

Alliance Receives $825,813 Grant

For the fifth year in a row, the Northwest Ohio Strategic Alliance for Tobacco Control was awarded a grant by the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation (OTPF) to continue its efforts in tobacco prevention and cessation in Northwest Ohio.

The Northwest Ohio Strategic Alliance for Tobacco Control is a network of many diverse organizations from Northwest Ohio counties. With grant funds, the Alliance subcontracts with its members to implement the Northwest Ohio Tobacco Control Plan based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs and the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation guidelines. In the U.S., tobacco use is a leading preventable cause of death and disease. In Northwest Ohio, the Alliance is the leading resource for reducing tobacco use.

The one year $825,813 grant is providing funding for direct services to youth through tobacco prevention programs and to adults through cessation services. The grant will also further advocacy efforts for tobacco-free schools and worksites, tobacco prevention coalitions and other tobacco use reduction activities.

Meeting Calendar

HCNO Legislative Symposium
September 14 - 12:00 Noon
The Pinnacle

Trauma Symposium
October 4 - 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 pm
UT Medical Center

Disaster Preparedness in NW Ohio Moves Forward with New Funding

Ohio Homeland Security Region I, NW Ohio, has received Health Research and Services Administration (HRSA) health care disaster preparedness funds through a grant awarded to the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio from the Ohio Department of Health in the amount of $1,262,714 for fiscal year 2006-2007. The 33 HRSA hospitals in the region were offered an allocation of $9000 to further their individual disaster planning efforts and the remaining monies are being used for grant administration, regional trainings, regional supply caches, and planning and coordination with non-hospital healthcare providers. The Ohio Department of Health has emphasized the importance of integrating physician’s offices, clinics, long-term care facilities, and other health care providers into the regional mass casualty response planning efforts. The regional hospitals continue to meet monthly and have finalized and exercised the Northwest Ohio Medical Response Plan, which outlines the formal process for establishing and maintaining coordination between regional hospitals, public health departments, and emergency management agencies during disasters. The hospitals are also working to complete the 17 required elements for National Incident Management System (NIMS) compliance. Future funding for disaster planning will be based on achieving NIMS compliance and the emphasis for this grant year has been on completing NIMS training requirements. An Executive Disaster Advisory Panel has been formed to enlist the help of hospital CEOs to further disaster preparedness in Northwest Ohio. All 33 hospitals participated in the 2007 Northwest Ohio Functional Exercise conducted in May. For more information, please contact the Regional Health Care System Coordinator, Kathy Silvestri, by phone at 419-842-0800 or email (ksilvestri@hcno.org).

Hospital Happenings

St. Luke’s Hospital opened the first tobacco treatment center in Northwest Ohio in January 2007. The center offers a wide range of services for youth and adults including: inpatient interventions; individual and group outpatient treatment for adults; prevention programming for local schools; an alternative-to-suspension program for students caught smoking at school; and treatment services for youth who use tobacco. Employees at the Center are Mayo-Clinic-trained tobacco treatment specialists. The Tobacco Center is located on the hospital’s campus at 6005 Monclova Road.

Additional projects for St. Luke’s include the building of a new comprehensive diabetes care center. The Diabetes Care Center will be Northwest Ohio’s first integrated center for patients with this disease. Frank Bartell III, St. Lukes Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer, announced in December 2006 that the treatment center is expected to open for patients the summer of 2008.

Blanchard Valley Health Association has changed its name and address to Blanchard Valley Health System, 1900 South Main St., Findlay effective January 1, 2007.  In addition, the Blanchard Valley Regional Health Center in Findlay has been renamed Blanchard Valley Hospital, and Blanchard’s hospital in Bluffton is now called Bluffton Hospital. The hospitals’ name changes came in part from recommendations from an outside consulting firm, focus groups and from online voting by employees and the public. With new and distinctive names, both hospitals will be able to establish their own unique identities.

New CEOs Appointed

Clifford Harmon assumed the position of President of Magruder Hospital effective June 1. Mr. Harmon comes to Magruder from Hocking Valley Community Hospital in Logan, Ohio, where he was President. He succeeds David Norwine, who is retiring after 30 years with the hospital, the last 14 of which were as President and CEO. Mr. Harmon holds an MPH in Hospital Administration from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, a Master’s of Science in Biochemical Research from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Ohio State University in Columbus.

James A. Wermert was appointed CEO of Mercer Health by its Board of Governors effective June 27. Mr. Wermert has been employed with Mercer Health for 25 years. He holds both a Master of Science degree majoring in Administration, and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Cincinnati, as well as a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Ashland University.

Michael McEachern became President and CEO of St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center on January 2. He comes to St. Vincent from Sisters of Charity Providence Hospitals in Columbia, S.C., where he was Executive Vice President & COO. He replaces Samantha Platzke, who served as interim CEO after Jeffrey Peterson left in August to become CEO of Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis. Mr. McEachern holds a Master of Science in Healthcare Administration from the University of Houston and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Lamar University.

Carol Whittaker assumed her role as President and CEO of St. Charles Mercy Hospital in Oregon on Dec. 16. She has served Mercy Health Partners for more than 30 years, most recently as Regional Vice President for Patient Care Services. She replaces David Ameen, who left to become CEO of Paradise Valley Hospital in Arizona. Carol holds a Master’s Degree in Health Services Administration from Central Michigan University, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Toledo.