This past month was one of leadership transition in the president position at Kettering and Sycamore medical centers, including a new role for me and Anita Adams joining Sycamore Medical Center as the new president along with Mike Brendel returning as the chief nursing officer there. Our Kettering Medical Center Foundation has a new interim president, Russ Wetherell, whom
many of you know from his leadership at Grandview and Southview medical centers and as chief financial officer of the network. Terry Burns is in a new role as chief operating officer of the network. There have also been several other changes to the organization structure. It has been great to get reacquainted with many old friends and make new ones.
Patient volume continues to be high which is welcomed. It has created some operational stress and performance challenges, which are the focus of our improvement efforts. As we prepare for additional referrals from Troy Hospital, opening in June, effective use of current capacity will be even more important. Patient throughput and management of our capacity continues to be our number one priority and focus. This means we will continue emphasizing coordinated operations as an entire network, using our Network Operations Command Center, and promoting centers of
excellence and service lines to move patients to where we have the capacity and expertise to drive “best practice” performance.
One best practice continues to be an internal mantra as we seek to provide consistency and excellence to all our patients. Opening new access points in the communities where we serve will continue to be a priority with an eye toward the future when more services will be provided on an outpatient basis, tied together with electronic medical records, telemedicine, and monitoring capability. The communities and people we serve are seeking for Kettering Health Network to operate as a system while bringing health care local with connectivity and access through primary
care, emergency services, and diagnostic testing—all integrated into a single information system.
We need your feedback, ideas, and engagement! We are a team. Please participate in the Employee Engagement Survey this month. Some of our best ideas have come from this survey, and we make it a priority to study and learn from what you have to say.
Once again, thank you for welcoming me and others as we have taken new roles. Our strength as an organization is in you—our people. We lean on each other, and I’m proud to call you “old friends.”
Walter Sacket
President
Kettering Medical Center