Gulf Health Hospitals Inc

Programs: Gulf health hospitals, inc. (ghhi) operates north baldwin infirmary (nbi), a 70 bed nonprofit acute care hospital in bay minette, baldwin county, alabama and thomas hospital, a 150 bed nonprofit acute care hospital in fairhope, baldwin county, alabama. Both hospitals provide services necessary to deliver essential health care to the gulf coast community regardless of race, creed, sex, national origin, handicap or age. North baldwin infirmary is a community hospital that serves a rural community in the northern part of baldwin county. Nbi offers a senior behavioral health program and long-term care at oakwood - north baldwin's center for living. During its time under ghhi, the organization has implemented 25 million dollars' worth of (continued on schedule o) expansions to improve the healthcare of residents of baldwin county. For the fiscal year ended march 31, 2017, north baldwin infirmary provided over 9,800 inpatient days of care, delivered 205 babies, performed over 2,550 surgeries & treated over 15,200 emergency cases in its emergency department. Nbi participates in the medicare and medicaid programs. Thomas hospital is the largest community hospital in baldwin county, alabama, one of the fastest-growing counties in alabama. The ability to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for health services in the community is critical to the long-term welfare of the patients thomas hospital serves. Ghhi leased thomas hospital in august 2005 from a public health care authority and immediately initiated efforts to assist thomas hospital in obtaining funding for hospital expansion and renovations. For the fiscal year ended march 31,2017 thomas hospital provided almost 41,000 patient days of care, delivered almost 1,300 babies, treated over 35,500 emergency cases in the emergency department, and performed almost 8,300 surgeries. Thomas hospital participates in the medicare and medicaid programs. Thomas hospital and north baldwin infirmary provide and/or participate in a number of monthly, quarterly, and annual community outreach/educational programs, support groups, health fairs, walks, and various screenings to benefit area citizens. The hospitals have sponsored a number of health fairs during the year across baldwin county in partnership with local government and corporate partners. These health fairs provided free health assessments, vaccinations, and wellness information to the community. They also sponsored a walk at lunch event to promote healthy habits in partnership with blue cross blue shield. North baldwin infirmary has served as the lead applicant and is a founding member of the north baldwin rural health network which focuses on improving the health of the community through a collaboration of providers and utilization of technology. The program is funded by the health resource services administration and has established several programs to improve the health of the community. The care transitions program provides free smoking cessation classes to the community helping 10 people successfully kick the habit in its first year. The baby bistro breast feeding support group was established to help increase breastfeeding rates and enhance the childbirth and breastfeeding classes that were being taught at nbi. The outcome has included increased breastfeeding rates from 10% when program started to 26% in 2016 serving 55 women. The organization provides approximately a dozen monthly support groups and annually organizes at least eight health related walks sponsored by one of the hospitals or a national organization such as the american cancer society, the american heart association, or the march of dimes. In 2012, infirmary health (an affiliated company) formed a volunteer committee to serve as a governing body for community involvement for the system, including thomas hospital and north baldwin infirmary. This committee, known as ihelp, helps better manage staff and organizational resources by establishing a process to evaluate community needs and ensure our community projects are in line with our mission. Almost 5,000 was raised for united cerebral palsy through employee t-shirt sales. Ucp is dedicated to advancing the independence of people with disabilities and offers a wide range of services for people of all ages, from early intervention to adult supported employment programs. In alignment with our community health needs assessment focus area of healthy weight, ghhi increased promotion and awareness of scale back alabama, a free statewide weight-loss program for adults ages 18 and older. More than 800 people (300 teams) weighed in at four of our hosts sites in an effort to scale back the pounds. North baldwin infirmary continues to serve as the host site for the north baldwin health science academy. North baldwin infirmary provides the school system with use of space that has been converted to a classroom for students to take classes monday through friday. The academy offers courses which provide a direct link to the healthcare industry with a goal of helping students become career ready. Students spend time in the classroom, and on-site, taking part in a rotation through the hospital, gaining a greater understanding of the various careers in the healthcare industry and what those jobs entail. North baldwin infirmary provided 13 internship opportunities within various hospital departments to students in the program to give them the opportunity to observe and have appropriate hands on experience in a clinical setting. Thomas hospital partnered with the baldwin county public school system to serve as the first host site (along with mobile infirmary) in the region for project search, an internship program for students with developmental disabilities, providing them with on-the-job training during their last year of high school eligibility. Directors, managers, and their departments volunteer to host interns in their areas by taking the time to coach and mentor students for approximately 750 hours per student. Thomas hospital provides an on-site classroom for daily use, an annual open house event, graduation ceremony, and various events providing gifts, certificates, invitations, refreshments, field trips, and marketing. Twenty-six interns are currently employed (six with infirmary health and affiliates). Thomas hospital hosted the 39th annual spring fever chase in fairhope. The race had more than 1,700 participants from 17 states. There were 165 volunteers. Proceeds totaling over 10,000 from the race went to six local schools. Nearly 550 cyclists took part in north baldwin infirmary's annual ride yellow charity bike ride in bay minette. Courses ranged from a six-mile tribute ride to a 10-mile course for new riders. For the truly athletic, a 20 mile or 37-mile course was available for experienced riders. The 62 mile course was cancelled due to weather this year. Rideyellow, the largest charity bike ride in alabama, began 11 years ago to raise cancer awareness and gather support for the mission of inspiring others to join the fight against the disease. The event had 200 volunteers, 220 first time riders' ages 11-81 with 6 states represented and 45 sponsors. Since its inception, rideyellow has donated more than 519,000 to various cancer charities. Infirmary health supports our local american cancer society with numerous fundraisers and events through volunteer, in-kind, and financial contributions such as: relay for life, making strides against breast cancer, chili cook-off, look good. . . Feel better support groups, reach to recovery, and numerous other american cancer society events throughout the year. Employees wore pink on "think pink thursdays" in october to raise awareness of breast cancer. The campus was painted pink with banners and signs creating awareness of breast cancer and the importance of early detection. North baldwin infirmary and thomas hospital employees have a team each year for the making strides against breast cancer walk, and infirmary health serves as a flagship sponsor for the event which had more than 20,000 participants, and raised over 400,000 for breast cancer. Ghhi had 70 employees participate and raised over 23,000. North baldwin infirmary and thomas hospital also have american cancer society relay for life teams and raise money through employee payroll deductions and hospital fundraisers. The north baldwin team won the biggest bank award, with 7,300 raised, and the best booth award at this year's relay. With the goal of bringing awareness to american heart month and heart disease, infirmary health provided free screenings to 271 community members. Employee volunteers from nbi and th helped provide cholesterol, weight, and blood pressure checks. Employees also wore red on fridays in february in honor of national heart awareness month. Banners were placed at hospital entrances and special e-signatures were created for employee emails to build community awareness. T-shirts were also available to purchase th