Published on January 03, 2011
The Genesis Year In Review
It was a year of affiliations, awards and service in 2010 at Genesis. Here are the highlights of 2010:
JANUARY
Genesis Medical Center, Davenport, is the only hospital in Illinois or Iowa to be recognized for service excellence in 2009 under the J.D. Power and Associates Distinguished Hospital Program.™
A massive 7.0 earthquake turns a routine Haitian mission trip into a life saving effort for Genesis nurse Joy Sellers, who spends several days caring for the injured, initially using Genesis-donated medical supplies she had brought to stock the mission clinic. The quake kills more than 200,000 Haitians, injures another 250,000 and leaves some 2 million homeless.
For the third straight year, Genesis Health System is recognized by SDI as one of the nation’s Top 100 health systems for integrating services to improve quality and operate efficiently.
Genesis announces plans to open a Memory Disorder Clinic, the first of its kind in the Quad Cities, at the Genesis Health Group office of Neurologist Waseem Ahmad, M.D., 2526 41st St., Suite 1, in Moline.
FEBRUARY
Mercer County Hospital, Aledo, Ill., which first opened its doors on Feb. 1, 1950, marks its 60th anniversary.
Westwing Place at Genesis Medical Center, DeWitt, is the only nursing home in the region to be ranked as one of America's Best Nursing Homes by U.S. News & World Report.
GroupWise is extended to an additional 600 Genesis employees, giving every employee across the health system access to e-mail.
MARCH
The American Nurses Credentialing Center, an arm of the American Nurses Association, names GMC Davenport a member of the prestigious Magnet Recognition Program for excellence in nursing services. GMC Davenport becomes the first hospital in the Quad Cities, and just the fourth in Iowa, to retain its Magnet recognition, first awarded in 2005.
Genesis holds its first-ever health system-wide food drive, collecting more than 17,000 items totaling 13,000 pounds for the food pantries of Churches United.
Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, whose many charitable missions include putting teenage cancer units in Britain's oldest hospitals, tours the Genesis Oncology Unit and Infusion Center at GMC West Central Park.
APRIL
Flo Spyrow is named president of Genesis Medical Center, Illini Campus, and Ted Rogalski is named administrator of Mercer County Hospital in Aledo, Ill. In addition, Jeff Cooper, who had supervised the transition of Mercer County Hospital to GHS management, returns full-time to his duties as president of GMC DeWitt.
Genesis announces it is investing $2.9 million in the region's first angiographic operating room suite, to be located at GMC East Rusholme Street, to provide faster, safer and more accurate vascular care to the Quad Cities area.
W.G. Block shows off a new pink cement truck and announces it will donate $1 for every yard of concrete poured from it to benefit breast cancer care and awareness provided through the Genesis Center for Breast Health.
MAY
Eight nurses from Genesis Health System are among the 100 Great Iowa Nurses for 2010 honored at the sixth annual celebration in Des Moines. The eight Genesis nurses selected for the 2010 honor are: Linda Fennelly, Marji Franzen, Sue Goddard-Gerrald, Kathy Luallen, Christine Lynn, Angie Overton, DeShawn Schmidt and Sally Werner.
The Genesis Center for Breast Health is the first breast health center in Iowa and the first in the region to earn accreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), a program administered by the American College of Surgeons.
The Genesis Health Services Foundation begins a $150,000 fundraising effort to transform the drab second-floor roof above the operating rooms at Genesis Medical Center's East Rusholme Street campus into a captivating, therapeutic rooftop greenscape.
Genesis Health System, the Genesis Health Services Foundation, Clinton County Visiting Nursing Foundation and the Scott County Public Health Department announce that the Genesis Flu-Free Quad Cities effort will return for a third season in the fall.
JUNE
The Jackson County Regional Health Center Board of Trustees votes unanimously to enter into a hospital management services agreement with Genesis Health System, effective July 1.
A $2 million expansion and renovation of the Edwin A. Motto, M.D. Renal Dialysis Center, on the GMC East Rusholme Street Campus, is completed. The center, also marking its 40th anniversary, moves from the lower level to the first floor of Medical Office Building 1.
Genesis Health System is designated among the top 20 percent of health systems analyzed for quality of patient care and safety of patient care by Thomson Reuters.
JULY
Westwing Place at GMC DeWitt earns more national recognition in being named a recipient of a 2010 "Bronze-Commitment to Quality" National Quality Award, presented by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living.
Iowa Governor Chet Culver visits GMC East Rusholme Street for a technology tour to mark the organization’s 7th consecutive selection as one of the nation's "100 Most Wired" health systems.
Thanks to help from Genesis, the financial picture at Mercer County Hospital (MCH) shows significant improvement. Under a Genesis management services contract, MCH goes from a $1 million loss the previous year, to a profit of more than $500,000 for the fiscal year that ended June 30.
Davenport resident Ted Zeiner becomes the first patient at Genesis to undergo Induced Hypothermia, a first-in-the-Quad Cities therapy aimed at improving outcomes for adult patients surviving cardiac arrest.
The Genesis stroke program receives a Silver Performance Achievement Award from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association in recognition of its success in implementing the "Get With the Guidelines" program.
The Genesis Spine Center, located at Genesis Medical Park, Maplecrest, opens to treat patients with all types of pain, including neck and back pain, sciatica, arthritis, fibromyalgia, whiplash and work-related injuries. The center is led by Celeste Miller, M.D., board-certified in both Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Pain Medicine.
AUGUST
Patients with early-stage breast cancer can now benefit from a new radiation therapy option, Electronic Brachytherapy, that reduces the traditional treatment of seven weeks to only five days. The Genesis Cancer Care Institute's new program, located at 1351 E. Kimberly Road in Bettendorf, is the first in the Quad Cities region.
The Genesis Heart Institute launches a Trans Fat Free initiative, asking restaurants to make their menu choices trans fat free. Restaurants taking the pledge will receive a sticker for their entry door and be listed on the Genesis Heart Institute website at www.genesisheart.com.
85 Genesis employees and family members participate in the seventh annual Xstream Cleanup at Rock Island's Sunset Park and along Duck Creek between Eastern Avenue and Brady Street in Davenport.
Local dignitaries attend the dedication of St. Ambrose University's new $11.5 million Center for Health Sciences on the campus of GMC West Central Park. Genesis provided more than $3 million in support for the project, including the donation of land and site work.
SEPTEMBER
Statistics show Illini Ambulance Service's new ambulance station on the Avenue of the Cities in East Moline has helped improve response times to the city's residents by more than 1 minute.
Former NASA astronaut Dr. David Hilmers, who flew four space shuttle missions, urges employees to embrace the organization's vision to be a national leader in health care quality and safety, during the 3rd annual Genesis Horizon Summit.
A nine-station HealthBeat exercise system, a gift from Genesis, is dedicated in memory of Paul Hilmers at DeWitt's Westbrook Park. Hilmers, a longtime DeWitt resident, served on the city's Recreation Commission and was instrumental in building its first swimming pool in the '50s.
The Center for Breast Health is renamed The Kenneth H. McKay, M.D., Center for Breast Health, in memory of the Davenport physician who was its first director.
OCTOBER
Genesis President and CEO Doug Cropper is one of 34 health care thought leaders from across the nation, and the only hospital executive from Iowa, to participate in the first-ever National Summit on Health Care Quality and Value in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
A repaired statue of Mary, the Blessed Mother, is returned to its spot in the historic Sacred Heart Cemetery on the campus of Genesis Medical Center, West Central Park. Other work in the cemetery includes removing two damaged trees and planting four new ones in their place.
Genesis Regional Rehabilitation becomes the only program in Iowa to earn accreditations for inpatient and outpatient spinal cord systems of care. In total, Genesis earns seven Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) accreditations after undergoing a rigorous peer review process and on-site survey.
NOVEMBER
For the second time in four years, GMC DeWitt earns national recognition as a 2010 Press Ganey Summit Award winner, for having customer satisfaction in the top 5 percent for three or more consecutive years. GMC DeWitt is one of only 24 hospitals to receive the award for consistently high patient satisfaction in the Emergency Department.
Genesis Medical Center, Davenport is named one of the nation’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals by Thomson Reuters for outstanding outcomes and efficiency. The East Rusholme Street campus is the only hospital in Iowa and the Quad Cities region to make the list that includes Mayo Clinic in Rochester and Phoenix, Cleveland Clinic Florida and other prestigious institutions.
The Mercer County Board votes 7-3 in a special meeting to approve a formal four-year affiliation between Mercer County Hospital and Genesis Health System. The vote follows a standing-room-only public hearing on the matter in Aledo, Illinois.
DECEMBER
Genesis Medical Center, Illini Campus is the recipient of the 2010 Lincoln Bronze Award for “Commitment to Excellence” in recognition of the hospital campus’ earnest efforts to adopt and apply continuous improvement principles.
A new Genesis Hospice program honors those who have served in the military, with a ceremony that recognizes a veteran’s sacrifice to the U.S.; honors them in the presence of their family; and allows the opportunity for a Genesis hospice chaplain to provide spiritual support.
Genesis Medical Center, Davenport is one of only a handful of heart centers in the nation to perform a minimally invasive surgery, called a Totally Thorascopic Modified Maze procedure, for patients with the most persistent kind of atrial fibrillation.
What once was an empty lot becomes a home when the 69th house of Habitat for Humanity Quad Cities is dedicated in Davenport. Construction of the 1,000 square-foot house is primarily the work of nearly 300 Genesis employees, who put in a total of approximately 1,120 work hours over 21 days between mid-June and early December.
Genesis is selected as a silver award recipient of the 2010 Iowa Recognition for Performance Excellence Awards (IRPE), Iowa's premier award recognizing innovation and performance excellence. Genesis receives a silver award for the second consecutive year.
