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Congratulations to DAISY Award winner, Anthony Rosas, RN

Posted on July 15, 2019March 30, 2023 by Workforce

As a designated Magnet hospital, Huntington Hospital is a recognized leader in nursing excellence. Every day, our nurses go above and beyond for our patients, and we are proud to recognize them for their efforts. Huntington Hospital’s recent DAISY Award winner, Anthony Rosas, RN was nominated by a patient who wrote the following:

I recently met Anthony Rosas, RN, at Huntington Hospital when I was a patient. It is my pleasure to recommend Anthony for the Daisy Award. My wife spent each night in the hospital with me during my ordeal. Based on our experience together, I can confidently nominate Anthony for such an award from a personal perspective. The professionalism in the day-to-day care I received from Anthony was really appreciated when I was not operating at 100 percent because the high blood pressure medication I was being prescribed was very aggressive. I am not proud to admit I was groggy and grumpy at times. I do recall from the moment he introduced himself as the nurse who would be caring for me when the shift change happened, Anthony took the time to go over my doctors’ orders, current medications, and my limitations without rushing. He did not offer the reflex responses. He demonstrated that he cared by listening compassionately and attentively to me, and even listened to my wife’s concerns. It wasn’t just the care that he provided to me but, to my wife and it made an enormous difference in our lives. I have no doubt that he was instrumental in getting me released from the hospital. He was compassionate about my anxiousness to be released but showed skillful care in collaborating with all who were involved to make my release from the hospital the smoothest transaction of the day. Two days before I was released, he showed great integrity when we discussed the consequences of wanting to be released before all the doctors responsible for my care were in agreement to do so-this was a big deal. It showed me his real character and proved him to be an outstanding role model in nursing. Please know that I am doing well and have completely recovered which without a doubt is from the excellent care I received at Huntington Hospital. Anthony personifies Huntington Hospital’s nursing core values of excellence, professionalism, integrity, collaboration and compassion. Any accolades he receives in connection with my letter are well deserved for the super-human work he does every day.

For more information about the DAISY Award, please visit: www.huntingtonhospital.org/daisyform.

Huntington Hospital Provides Over $120 Million in Community Benefits

Posted on July 9, 2019September 19, 2023 by Workforce

As part of its non-profit mission, Huntington Hospital provides significant benefits to the communities it serves, often in the form of health education, outreach, and low or no-cost hospital care for the uninsured and those with limited means. In 2018, the hospital provided an estimated total of $120,533,094 worth of health care services and support to residents of the San Gabriel Valley and beyond.

As the leading non-profit health care institution in the San Gabriel Valley, it is our responsibility to provide wellness support to those who are in need,” said Lori J. Morgan, MD, MBA, President and CEO, Huntington Hospital. “At Huntington Hospital, we take this commitment very seriously. I’m proud to share this report that details all of the ways we help create health and well-being for our family, friends and neighbors in the community.”

These community benefits include charity care for those patients unable to pay, as well as care expenses underwritten by the hospital that reflect the differences between the actual cost of the care and the amount of money received for patients covered by Medicare and/or Medi-Cal.

Community benefits support research, education, and training, including clinical research, graduate medical education programs, scholarships, and continuing education in nursing and many other disciplines as well as benefits directed to the community-at-large, such as seniors, other vulnerable populations or the underserved, and those suffering from specific diseases (such as heart failure).

In 2018, Huntington Hospital provided:
75,866 visits to Huntington Hospital’s Emergency and Trauma Center

5,876 visits to Huntington Ambulatory Care Center (for low or no-cost primary care and specialty care)

Weekly breastfeeding support groups for 3,120 mothers

1,862 free flu shots to members of the community

Support and referrals for 2,772 callers to Senior Care Network Resource Center

1,750 free health screenings and counseling, and free health education classes for 1,794 community members

These benefits, and many more, are described in detail in an annual Community Benefits Report submitted to the state each May. To review the complete 2018 Community Benefits Report, please visit: https://www.huntingtonhealth.org/community/community-benefit/

Huntington Hospital Receives Get With The Guidelines Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award

Posted on July 3, 2019February 22, 2020 by Workforce

American Heart Association Award recognizes Huntington Hospital’s commitment to quality stroke care.

Huntington Hospital has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

Huntington Hospital earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.

“Huntington Hospital is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative,” said Arbi Ohanian, MD, medical director of Huntington Hospital’s Comprehensive Stroke Program. “This designation is the result of the hard work of our team and their committed to delivering advanced stroke treatments to patients quickly and safely.”

Huntington Hospital additionally received the association’s Target: Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.

“We are pleased to recognize Huntington Hospital for their commitment to stroke care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national chairperson of the Quality Oversight Committee and Executive Vice Chair of Neurology, Director of Acute Stroke Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

About Get With The Guidelines®

Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with tools and resources to increase adherence to the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 6 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.

Congratulations to April’s DAISY Award winner, Rachel Klitzner, RN

Posted on June 17, 2019February 27, 2023 by Workforce

Huntington Hospital’s April DAISY Award winner, Rachel Klitzner, RN, was nominated by a patient who wrote the following: “Rachel was an extraordinary nurse. She embodies everything a nurse should be. She was extremely caring, empathetic, compassionate and supportive. Not only was she attentive to my needs, she offered me the same kind of attention and care any mom needs. She didn’t make me feel like I should know what I should be doing and offered reassurance when I was on the right path. Rachel was sensitive and displayed excellent bedside manner skills when addressing sensitive information. She conveyed a lot of understanding and empathy when listening to my response. My previous experience as a new mom had not been positive. Rachel reminded me that there are still great nurses out on the floor that share my same philosophy and vision of nursing. I commend Rachel for her nursing skill and dedication to service. I hope Huntington Hospital is able to see how lucky you are to have her. I hope you will take care of her and appreciate her work. She is in fact a rarity that is worthy of being recognized and valued. Nurses like her bring prestige.”

Congratulations, Rachel! Thank you for your personal, supportive and compassionate care to our patients.

For more information about the DAISY Award, please visit: www.huntingtonhospital.org/daisyform.

Exer Urgent Care now open in La Canada Flintridge

Posted on June 3, 2019September 15, 2023 by Workforce

Exer Urgent Care has opened a new medical facility in La Cañada Flintridge, located at 475 Foothill Blvd. at the intersection of Foothill Blvd. & Gould Ave., near CA-210. Built and staffed by Huntington Hospital’s ER physicians, Exer Urgent Care is the ER alternative which offers patients more on-site medical services than most urgent care centers.

With on-site X-Ray, IV, Lab, Splinting, Laceration Rooms, Diagnostics and other on-site services at each location, Exer is designed for those with urgent or serious but non-life-threatening conditions. Each facility is equipped to handle 80 percent of the cases daily in a local ER, for a fraction of the price and with minimal waiting.

“We are so proud to welcome Exer La Cañada Flintridge to our families, friends and neighbors in this community,” said Lori J. Morgan, MD, MBA, president and chief executive officer, Huntington Hospital. “Our collaboration with Exer locations in La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena, helps us expand our health and wellness services so our community receives the right care, in the right place, at the right time.”

Each facility is open seven days-a-week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with little-to-no waiting and last patients are registered daily at 8:30 p.m. Exer accepts most PPOs, most HMOs, Medicare and offers affordable payment options for those with minimal or no health insurance. For more information, please visit: www.huntingtonhospital.org/exer.

Ramen Chmait, MD, performs groundbreaking fetal surgery at Huntington Hospital to help repair spina bifida

Posted on May 28, 2019February 22, 2020 by Workforce

Today, STAT News, a daily news site that reports on health, science and medicine, shared a story about a groundbreaking fetal surgery procedure to help repair spina bifida in the womb. Ramen Chmait, MD, neonatal surgeon, and his team performed this innovative fetal surgery at Huntington Hospital in February. The article follows the family’s journey, with details on the procedure under the care of Dr. Chmait and a team of physicians at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and USC.

As reported in STAT News: It’s a long surgery — it takes a full hour just to insert the trocars, remove amniotic fluid, and inflate the uterus, Chmait said. The procedure went smoothly. Assisted by pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Jason Chu from Children’s Hospital LA, Chmait dissected out the spinal cord and nerves that were exposed. As he operated, he could see the cerebrospinal fluid leaking out in large drops. Chmait and Chu gently placed the spinal cord back in position and covered the opening in the baby’s back with a collagen patch. Chmait then sewed the baby’s skin over the patch and replaced the amniotic fluid that had been withdrawn.

Throughout the six-hour procedure, Arnuf (the father) waited anxiously outside. As soon as the operating team came out, he knew it had gone well. “It was like an ’80s flick where the basketball team wins the championship,” he said. “There were high-fives all around. They didn’t even have to say a word.”

To read the article, please visit:

‘She’s wiggling her toes’: New fetal surgery for spina bifida may be safer for both baby and mom

Congratulations to Dr. Chmait and his entire team on this groundbreaking achievement!

Huntington Hospital Receives an ‘A’ for Patient Safety for the Spring 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade

Posted on May 16, 2019November 30, 2022 by Workforce

Huntington Hospital was awarded an ‘A’ from The Leapfrog Group’s spring 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. The designation recognizes Huntington Hospital’s efforts in protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care. The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization committed to improving health care quality and safety for consumers and purchasers. The Safety Grade assigns an ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ or ‘F’ grade to hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms to patients in their care.

“We are so pleased to have received another A safety grade from the Leapfrog Group, the gold standard in patient safety,” said Lori J. Morgan, MD, MBA, president and CEO, Huntington Hospital. “This grade is a testament to the outstanding efforts of our nurses, physicians and employees who provide safe and excellent care to our community every day.”

“To be recognized nationally as an ‘A’ hospital is an accomplishment the whole community should take pride in,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Hospitals that earn an ‘A’ grade are making it a priority to protect patients from preventable medical harm and error. We congratulate hospital leaders, board members, staff, volunteers and clinicians who work so hard to earn this A.”

Developed under the guidance of a national Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.

To see Huntington Hospital’s full A grade and details, and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org and follow The Leapfrog Group on Twitter and Facebook.

About The Leapfrog Group

Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey collects and transparently reports hospital performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog’s other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections.

Renée Ying joins Huntington Hospital’s Board of Directors

Posted on May 1, 2019September 15, 2023 by Workforce

Huntington Hospital announced today the election of Renée Ying to its board of directors. She will be serving on Huntington Hospital’s philanthropy and quality committees.

“Renée has been deeply involved in the Pasadena community –as a business leader and in charitable organizations and causes,” said Lori J. Morgan, MD, MBA, president and CEO, Huntington Hospital. “I greatly value her experience, insight and counsel on our board of directors.”

Renée was born in Taiwan and moved to California in 1980. She attended California State University, Los Angeles for her master’s in business administration. In 1985, Renée founded Engineering Design House with her late husband, Jeffrey. The company provided design services to aerospace companies and developed commercial ready products with aerospace technologies. In 1991, Renée and Jeffrey founded I/O Controls Corporation to offer advanced control systems for transit buses and specialty vehicles. The control system, DINEX system, revolutionized the industry and was the start of the “smart bus” era.

As the Chairwoman of I/O Controls, Renée continues to empower the organization to be innovative, create value, and exceed expectations. Renée has traveled extensively and has also given her time to assist as orphanage aids in Tibet, Hospital for Street Children in Cambodia, and other local projects.

“I’m honored to be joining Huntington Hospital’s board of directors,” said Renée. “I have seen firsthand the benefits the hospital provides our community, and I’m looking forward to working with my fellow board members to help continue to bring world-class, high-quality healthcare for generations to come.”

Renée has two grown children and lives in Pasadena.

For more information about Huntington Hospital’s leadership, please visit: https://www.huntingtonhealth.org/about-us/

Amy Polverini, MD, Named Director of Breast Surgery at the Huntington Cancer Center of Huntington Hospital

Posted on April 9, 2019February 22, 2020 by Workforce

Huntington Hospital has announced that Amy Polverini, MD, has been named director of breast surgery at Huntington Cancer Center. In this role, Dr. Polverini will be responsible for medical oversight and advancement of the breast surgery program at Huntington Cancer Center.

Dr. Polverini was first introduced to Huntington Hospital as a volunteer in high school. While at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, she was the recipient of multiple honors and awards including a scholarship from the Department of Biology Bioethics and Science Research Fellowship at USC Keck School of Medicine. Dr. Polverini went on to receive her medical doctorate from Keck School of Medicine, which included a surgery rotation at Huntington Hospital. She completed a general surgery residency at Harbor UCLA, and training in breast surgical oncology at City of Hope

“I’m so happy to have joined Huntington Hospital as the director of breast surgery,” said Dr. Polverini. “I truly believe that patients in our program have access to something special: world-class facilities and a superb, multidisciplinary care team, a breadth of support services that can’t be matched by larger hospitals in the area, and a sense of community.”

Dr. Polverini is board certified by the American Board of Surgery and has additional training as a physician consultant in wound care. She is actively involved in breast cancer clinical research.

At the Huntington Cancer Center, we are your partner for every step of breast cancer. We are renowned for our breast cancer expertise and we invite you to learn about our excellent physicians, treatments and integrative oncology. We are also known for our extensive support services, ranging from support groups and an appearance center to integrative oncology offerings that incorporate complementary medicine and techniques.

For more information, please visit: www.huntingtonhospital.org/cancercenter

Congratulations to March DAISY Award winner, Mariya Ransom, RN

Posted on April 5, 2019February 27, 2023 by Workforce

As a designated Magnet hospital, Huntington Hospital is a recognized leader in nursing excellence. Every day, our nurses go above and beyond for our patients, and we are proud to recognize them for their efforts. Huntington Hospital’s March DAISY Award winner, Mariya Ransom, RN, labor and delivery, was nominated by a patient who wrote the following:

During my stay on labor and delivery, I received care from more nurses than I can remember. Out of all those names and faces, Mariya always stood apart since the first day she was assigned as my nurse. I could sense that she genuinely cared about the importance of the role she played and cared about her patients. She wasn’t just counting down the hours while doing the minimum until she goes home. My stay was filled with a rollercoaster of emotions. The whole experience was nerve wracking and filled with anxiety, uncertainty, and often times sadness. The words enjoyable, comfortable and pleasant are not words I would have ever thought to use when describing my lengthy hospital stay; however, when Mariya was my nurse, she did just that. She went above and beyond to make sure I was comfortable and well taken care of. She provided amazing tips and tricks to help make my long-term stay much more enjoyable, comfortable and pleasant. Mariya was the one who taught me to elevate my arm, which had an uncomfortable IV, with a pillow to increase circulation and make it less irritating. When I complained about how uncomfortable I was from the straps of all the monitors, she made a wrap from a pillowcase which helped tremendously. She also took her time to explain to me what she is looking for on the monitors. The times she spent to better understand me and my situation felt genuine and productive, which I believed led to a more personalized and attentive care. Not only did Mariya take the time to make me feel like I had her undivided attention, she also went above and beyond to make sure my husband, who was staying with me, knew what was going on and also took the time to get to know him and make him feel comfortable as well. No matter how busy the unit was, she would always check-in with me and my husband to give us updates and what to expect next, such as assessments, medications etc. This simple action made me feel like I could depend on her if any emergencies were to come up. In fact, the nights when Mariya was my nurse were the nights that I felt most comfortable and knew that I could get a peaceful night’s rest. Mariya went above and beyond even after I transferred off the unit and was no longer in her care. Mariya was so kindhearted and caring that she would visit me during her break time to follow-up and make sure I was doing well. While she didn’t have to do this, the fact that she did strengthened my conviction to nominate her for the DAISY Award. My lengthy stay at Huntington Hospital would not have been the same without her.

For more information about the DAISY Award, please visit: www.huntingtonhospital.com/daisyform