Remember the story about the frog in the pot of water? If the temperature goes up little by little, the frog stays put and it finally gets cooked. Well, the magic number there was 212 degrees! Windber Medical Center is right now at 210 degrees. We are COOKIN'!! But, in our case, it is not only positive, it is also amazing and exciting.
The Pennsylvania Mountains Healthcare Alliance recently received a $1+ million grant to begin connecting all of our hospitals together through fiber connectivity. The potential ramifications of this network are virtually limitless. They include the ability to do everything from provide disaster recovery for our network hospitals to all types of clinical and entrepreneurial activities.
WMC's as-yet-unannounced fund drive is already up to $2M, and our employees have donated more than $75,000 in the past few weeks. That's a million a month with months to go. These funds will allow us to put in our new emergency department, expand the obstetrics/nursery area, to add a new entrance from Somerset Avenue and much more. Thanks to everyone who has donated and to Attorney Tim Leventry, Campaign Chair, and the hard working team that is making this happen.
Due to the tireless work of Susan Ott and our Joint team, preparation for Joint Commission seems to be moving along very well, too.
The Windber Research Institute has finally begun to receive all of the grant funds that were caught up in bureaucratic bottlenecks over the past year and a half. This will ensure our continued expansion and growth with the addition of several new employees at both the research PhD and technical levels.
A new local company, Illumina, is providing our physicians with the opportunity to begin sophisticated clinical trials for their patients, potentially a national or international patient draw.
The new team at the Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center includes several RN's, our psychologist, and numerous other staff members. This combined team is making amazing progress. The new Woman'sCare program at the Breast Center is only two months away from formal launch, and will include several sophisticated new modalities, treatments and opportunities to help women in our area and around the world.
Financially, we are having the best year in our 102 year history. Of course, it is critical that our financial performance is at this level so as to allow us to purchase and install our new computer system. That project is making us all a little crazy, but is coming along very well, too.
So, for the nay sayers, the disbelievers, the cynics and the worry warts; all we can say is too bad, so sad.
WindberCare is thriving, patient numbers are growing, and nothing, absolutely nothing will get in the way of the wonderful optimism that our employees demonstrate toward our patients and stakeholders every day.
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