Mount Desert Island Hospital is the only hospital in the nation to earn the Overall Best Performer Award for patient satisfaction for nine consecutive years, said MDI Hospital President and CEO Art Blank at Monday’s 2010-2011 Annual Meeting.
The award is earned by scoring in the top five percent in the nation in patient surveys conducted by Avatar International, a national hospital patient consulting firm. “To win this award for nine years running shows that our commitment to excellence is omnipresent throughout the organization,” Blank said.
Community support continues to be vital to fulfilling MDI Hospital’s mission. For the year, MDI Hospital provided more than $3.8 million in free and uncompensated care, according to Vice President of Finance Brad Perkins.
The evening’s program also featured two leading physician-researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine who shared their thoughts on how the innovative collaboration between MDI Hospital and Penn Medicine will provide educational opportunities for medical practitioners at both organizations. “This is a shared vision to become better at what we do,” said Richard Shannon, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Shannon said three elements of the collaboration focus on the “quest for habitual excellence in this community” by bringing expertise from academic medicine, through service to best deliver that expertise and to “learn from the personal touch you (MDI Hospital) bring to care.”
The MDI Hospital-Penn Medicine Collaboration brings leading experts to Maine to share cutting edge procedures and practices, invites clinical staff members to the Emergency Department to share best practices, and offers experiential training opportunities for staffs at both institutions.
Also in Monday’s program, Nancy D’Agostino was presented with the Volunteer of the Year Award for her service in the Emergency Department assisting families of patients. The meeting concluded with the presentation of the Employee of the Year to Health Center Courier Mike Hamblen of Sullivan.
The Mount Desert Island Hospital Board of Trustees elected Michael W. Bonsey to a three year term as Chairman following Monday’s Annual Meeting. He takes over for Terry Musson, who has served as Chairman for the past three years.
Bonsey joined the Board in 2006 and has served as chairman of the finance and endowment committees. The MDI Hospital Board of Trustees is comprised of 19 members of the community who volunteer their time to oversee the management of the Hospital and Health Centers.
Bonsey said he is looking forward to seeing MDI Hospital through a challenging and eventful step in the organization’s history. “We have so many exciting projects going on right now including our collaborative efforts with University of Pennsylvania and Tufts University and deploying our physical plant assets to best meet the community’s health care needs. My goal is to see these projects humming along three years from now,” he said.