Eastern Long Island Hospital: Measure of Quality
Hospitals
Saturday, 01 December 2007
Eastern Long Island Hospital: Measure of Quality - Health Executive - RedCoat Publishing
Success is measured by community response at this community hospital.
What is the secret ingredient that places an 80-bed community hospital among the nation’s top performing hospitals for the treatment of heart attack patients? It is the caring culture, according to CEO Paul Connor.

“In my 32 years in healthcare, I have never seen a higher or more consistent level of caring across an organization,” he said. “It’s a cultural phenomenon that has nothing to do with me or my predecessors. This extra measure of caring is precious and must be nurtured to achieve exceptional customer service resulting in high quality, high touch, compassionate care.”

Eastern Long Island Hospital: Measure of Quality - Health Executive - RedCoat Publishing
Paul Connor, CEO
Eastern Long Island Hospital (ELIH) was established in 1905 and is the first and oldest hospital in New York’s Suffolk County. One half of the hospital’s business includes adult medical/surgical clinical programs, as well as a full service laboratory, ED, and radiology department. The other half supports a full spectrum of behavioral health services, including acute psychiatry, acute detox, a sub-acute 28-day rehabilitation program, and an outpatient addiction program.

As a way to bring attention to the hospital’s diverse services, as well as the unique culture of the ELIH staff, Connor and his team developed the Putting the Care Back in Healthcare program. The program fosters the extra measure of caring delivered by the hospital’s staff, recognizing the added steps all employees take to ensure patient comfort and understanding.

“Strong customer service is a highly sought after commodity in both the hospitality and healthcare industries,” said Connor. “This culture is embedded in our roots, which puts us in the enviable position of fostering the commitment to caring that exists in our workforce, measuring its success, and reflecting it back to our employees.”

New alliances
One-third of the population in the towns of Southold and Shelter Island is aged 65 and older, making Greenport, NY a popular retirement destination. Located more than 110 miles from New York City, it’s also considered a vacation destination. “We have the oldest population per capita in the entire state, which is magnified by our distance from any major cities,” said Connor. “When we look at what direction to take the hospital, the age of our population is a major consideration.”

Even though age was not a deciding factor when ELIH entered into the University Alliance with Stony Brook University Hospital in 2005, enhanced geriatric care was a result. As one of the largest of four counties on geographic Long Island, Suffolk County has a similar population to nearby Nassau County. However, its healthcare resources are considerably different.

“Nassau County has five tertiary hospitals while Suffolk County only has one, which is Stony Brook,” said Connor. “We needed to promote our tertiary hospital and grow services across Suffolk County to stop out-migration.”

The affiliation led the hospital to become full consortium partners with Stony Brook’s Long Island Geriatric Education Center (LIGEC). Established in 2002, LIGEC addresses the fact that roughly 13% of Long Island’s population is 65 or older, a number predicted to double by the year 2030. “We’re developing additional educational programs aimed at key areas in the treatment of our geriatric population,” said Connor. “The programs will be held at various venues on the North Fork and will be sponsored by Stony Brook and ELIH.”

Building on its experience working with LIGEC, ELIH found a partner in the town of Southold, which has a social-model adult daycare and a wide variety of geriatric programs. Through a grant with Health Partners of New York, ELIH and Southold developed a geriatric mental health program that, with time, will move patients into a case-management program to address their social and physical needs. Eventually, those patients will be assigned a case manager to monitor their improvements and make sure they stay on track.

“The geriatric mental health program is the foundation for our vision of a geriatric center of excellence,” Connor said. “There is no revenue stream for this program. We simply want to improve the lives and health status of our geriatric population on the North Fork.”

Ins and outs
Although outreach continues to be a major emphasis for ELIH, its administration is not forgetting to pay attention to inhouse needs. In 2005, the hospital’s Second Century Capital Campaign was launched with four initiatives: surgery, patient care, digital imaging, and infrastructure preservation.

“Hospitals traditionally center on patient care, but if you don’t have a facility with a good structure, how can you deliver that care?” asked Pat Kiernan, director of the ELIH Foundation and community relations. “Our $5 million capital campaign is the first initiative of our new foundation and has a piece-by-piece structure.”

Since launching Second Century, the foundation has raised $750,000 for the hospital’s surgery department, including equipment for its orthopedist, gastroenterologist, ophthalmologist, vascular surgeon, and the recently hired urologist. “With the surgical initiative, we ensure our surgeons have the tools necessary to perform high quality surgeries for our patients,” Kiernan said in October. “Our next fundraising effort is aligned with October’s designation as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.”

The foundation is looking to raise $450,000 for mammography equipment and to build a dedicated mammography suite, an integral part of the digital imaging initiative of the Second Century Campaign. The digital mammography unit is expected to be operational by February 2008, keeping the needs of the community in the forefront of strategic planning at this community hospital.
 
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