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Every healthcare organization wants better health outcomes. But when it comes to Ohio-based Christ Hospital Health Network, that means aligning technological advances with compassion and care.
Whether it’s providing cardiac patients with a friend who understands what they’re going through, parents who have experienced a tragic loss a place to gather and grieve, or OBGYN patients options to minimize discomfort, the health network isn’t just expanding its footprint, it’s thinking more wholeheartedly about health. Here are just a few examples.
A Chance for a Heart-to-Heart
In October 2024, the health network landed the “Central Region Hospital of the Year” award in recognition of Mended Hearts, a volunteer-driven program that helps support cardiac patients through their recovery journeys.
Mended Hearts is composed of volunteers, most of whom have been exactly where current patients are sitting. They’ve experienced the same surgeries, treatments, fears, and doubts as current patients, providing peer-to-peer support for experiences that often have life-or-death significance.
A Place for Grief
The Mended Hearts program is just one example of the extra mile the health network has gone to bring a more human touch to the healthcare journey. The same month Christ Hospital received the accommodation for Mended Hearts, two new suites opened up at the system’s Mt. Auburn Birthing Center.
The two “Angel Suites” were created for families who lose a child during pregnancy or shortly after birth. It’s a quiet space for families who have already been through so much to grieve the loss of a child. Delivery units are traditionally vibrant and busy, welcoming new lives into the world. The Angel Suites provide a much-needed change of pace for heavy hearts.
“Working in the labor and delivery unit, we support parents during the happiest and hardest moments of their lives,” Charla Payne, nursing director of labor and delivery, told Local 12 News. “By offering these and other services, we can ensure that these families continue to feel the love and support from our entire team at the Christ Hospital. All of our obstetrical and neonatal nursing staff undergo specific training to help families deal with the complex emotions that come from losing a child.”
Laughing Away Anxiety
For those attending OBGYN appointments at Christ Hospital, nitrous oxide—laughing gas—is now offered to get through what can often be physically and emotionally taxing procedures.
“I think a lot of the procedures that we undergo, patients have so much anxiety coming into it,” Dr. Jenny Demos told FOX 19. “It’s helping both the anxiety and the pain medication.”
For procedures like IUD insertions or removals, LEEPs, colonoscopies, and endometrial biopsies, even the mention of the procedure is enough to elicit actual physical discomfort in patients. Add to that a traumatic event or a history of sexual abuse, and even the prospect of scheduling an OBGYN appointment can be too much for some to bear.
Demos told FOX 19 that she’d seen the benefits of nitrous oxide use for patients who had previously experienced great discomfort. The hope is that making procedures and exams more comforting and calming will ultimately provide better health outcomes.
Expanding to Meet the Need
In September 2014, Christ Hospital Medical Center opened its Liberty Township addition, a $20 million, 17,800-square-foot expansion that includes that addition of new devices for MRI, CAT scan, ultrasound, and mammography.
The expansion and new technology were desperately needed.
“The reason [for the expansion] is because we were 100 percent utilizing all of our equipment,” Debbie Hayes, president and CEO at Christ Hospital told the Journal News.
The hospital system is projected to screen more than 28,000 patients at the Liberty Township campus in 2025. Those screenings run a wide gamut: cardiovascular disease, orthopedics, oncology, urology, neurology, and women’s health.
Christ Hospital Medical Center serves a metro population of 187,000 people, and the hospital system is hoping to reach more of its patient base at their homes. The health network rolled out a free online program during Breast Cancer Awareness Month to help educate about breast cancer prevention and treatment.
This expansion has required significant buildout support from executive leadership like Paul Tallen, executive director of supply chain. The eleven-year veteran of Christ Hospital leads a team of over fifty to continue finding ways to help his organization provide more affordable care for patients.
The supply chain leader lives by the rule that nothing is certain except change, and that ethos has helped him thrive in a healthcare environment that is challenging by any metric. Tallen believes strongly in the mission of his organization, and successful projects like the Liberty Township expansion serve as signposts that he’s charting the right path for Christ Hospital.
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