This week, River Parishes Hospital celebrates National Hospital Week. This special, week-long commemoration brings health care professionals and their communities together to recognize the work of hospital employees who dedicate themselves to improving the health and well being of people across the country.

The first formal observation of National Hospital Week occurred in 1921, and the American Heart Association and its state affiliates and member hospitals have carried on the tradition of recognizing hospital employees each year for nine decades. The theme of National Hospital Week in 2014 is “Compassion, Innovation, Dedication: The Commitment Continues.” This idea is alive and well at River Parishes Hospital.

“From our clinical teams to our environmental services, IT and administrative teams, everyone at River Parishes Hospital exemplifies this year’s National Hospital Week theme every day,” said Robert Marshall Jr., Chief Executive Officer at River Parishes Hospital. “Our staff shows compassion for our patients, is driven to find innovative ways to improve the care we provide to enhance our patients’ experiences, and is dedicated to going above and beyond in serving the residents of the River Parishes area. We are excited to recognize National Hospital Week and take time to honor the unwavering commitment our hospital team has to our patients and community.”

We are proud to have served our community for nearly 32 years. Our team of more than 286 employees plays an integral part in providing a range of healthcare services and programs to our residents. This past year, we have invested more than $600,000 to ensure our patients have the quality services that they need and deserve. In 2013, we expanded the services available at River Parishes Hospital and welcomed several new physicians to our prestigious medical staff. We implemented new support services to enable our patients to take a more active role in their healthcare and implemented new electronic health systems both in the hospital and in our physicians’ offices to provide our patients with a single record that includes all of their health information.

We were busy in 2013. Here are a few of the healthcare services and programs we’ve implemented last year:

• We were excited to introduce the Ortho-Vitros 5600, which is one of the newest clinical, chemistry and infectious disease laboratory instrumentations on the market. Its specimen handling system is safe and efficient, giving us the highest quality with the fastest turnaround time. It also allows us to expand our in-house menu to include rapid in-house infectious disease testing.

• We expanded our occupational medicine services to offer our industrial clients more physicians and more convenient locations to turn to for their employee health needs. We now have six clinicians to choose from at three locations throughout LaPlace and Destrehan.

• We launched a mo  bile version of our hospital website to provide our residents with access to our doctors and healthcare services in the palm of their hands. Our residents can now find a doctor, get directions to the hospital, learn about hospital services, search for a career and get quick access to valuable health-related information through their cell phones.

• We were pleased to welcome three Ochsner cardiologists to our medical staff last year – Dr. Lewis Siegel, Dr. Zola N’Dandu and Dr. David Liff. They are accepting new patients in LaPlace. We also welcomed a number of other physicians, including specialists in anesthesiology, cardiology, emergency medicine, neurology, pathology and radiology.

• We recognize the value of “Meaningful Use” and implemented necessary electronic health record systems both in the hospital and throughout our physicians’ offices so each patient has one, single healthcare record that is complete and up-to-date.

• We installed the Athena Health System in our physicians’ offices where patients can set up a secure account to schedule their appointments online, complete necessary medical forms ahead of their visit, email any follow-up questions directly to their physician, view their patient care summaries and keep their health information electronically rather than on paper. Physicians can access the portal to order their patients’ medication electronically rather than making patients drive to the pharmacy to drop off the prescription.

Later this year, the hospital will go live with a computerized physician order entry system. The CPOE system will enable our physicians to access their patients’ medical information online from anywhere in one organized location, and will provide them with enhanced clinical decision support at the point of care, including alerts of duplicate orders, drug allergies and drug to drug interaction information. It will also allow them to directly enter orders into the hospital’s computer system rather than having them handwritten.

“We are proud to be a part of this community,” said Marshall. “Our physicians and clinicians are committed to caring for our residents’ healthcare needs. We will continue to look for new ways to provide additional services and programs to our patients.”

Please join us at River Parishes Hospital in celebrating National Hospital Week and recognizing our physicians and staff who continuously strive to improve the health of the River Parishes area.