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Naples Community Hospital Named In Us News & World Report

Naples Community Hospital has been named a “Best Regional Hospital” by US News & World Report magazine.

February 2, 2012

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February 2, 2012

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Congratulations!

For the first time in our history, Naples Community Hospital has been named a “Best Regional Hospital” by U.S. News & World Report magazine. We are now one of only 247 high-performing hospitals outside major metropolitan areas to receive this honor from U. S. News (www.usnews.com/bestregionalhospitals).

This distinguished recognition from a national, independent organization along with the many other awards we have received over the past decade is a testimony to the excellence of all of you—our physicians, nurses, support staff, board members, and volunteers.

U.S. News annually evaluates nearly 5,000 hospitals in 16 different medical specialties. Hard numbers stand behind its analysis in most specialties—death rates, patient safety, procedure volume, and other objective data. Responses to a national survey asking physicians to name hospitals they consider to be the best in their specialty for the toughest cases are also factored in.

U.S. News Health Rankings Editor Avery Comarow said the following about those who made the list: “Hospitals are what we call ‘high performers’ in at least one medical specialty. They are fully capable of providing first-rate care, even to most patients who have serious conditions or need demanding procedures.” Hospitals like NCH offer a high level of medical care to communities that otherwise might have limited options, he said.

The magazine ranked NCH as “high-performing” in Orthopedics, Geriatrics, Gastroenterology, and Ear, Nose and Throat. We have also been recognized recently as being among the top 10% of cardiac surgery destinations by the Society for Thoracic Surgery. These are but the most recent couple of NCH quality recognitions.

And when it rains, it pours. The National Research Corporation also informed us earlier this week that for the fifth year in a row, we were named in our county for the following four “Bests”—“Best Overall Quality, Best Overall Image/Reputation, Best Doctors, and Best Nurses.”

To translate all these distinctions to the most important level, my colleague Beth Martin received a call last week from a retired, 88-year-old OB/Gyn physician, who wanted to know the names of the physicians “who saved my life” last May after a near fatal auto accident. This retired physician shared that he didn’t remember the first week of his almost one-month stay at NCH, where he underwent two chest operations for a crushed sternum and many other surgical and medical procedures.

For the record (in alphabetical order) these are the physicians who served this patient so well: Dr. Henry Biggs, Dr. Kenneth Bookman, Dr. Howard Cohen, Dr. Paul Dorio, Dr. Malia Jackson, Dr. Yong Jae Lee, Dr. Steven Luke, Dr. Ismael Martin, Dr. Gustavo Medina, Dr. Christopher Mendello, Dr. Robert Pascotto, Dr. Luigi Querusio, Dr. Bruce Roy, Dr. Scot Schultz, Dr. Adolfo Soto, Dr. Brian Timm, and Dr. James Venable. Of course, this save would not have happened without our nursing staff, clinical support staff, and all the others responsible for the outstanding quality of our institution.

The awards are nice, but the real message is that these accolades reflect the compassionate, quality care that our over 4,000 colleagues and medical staff deliver 24/7. I’m proud to be a small part of this great team. Again, congratulations!

Respectfully,

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Allen S. Weiss, M.D., President and CEO