National Hospital Week celebrates community, employees

Cary Medical Center celebrated National Hospital Week with a number of programs engaging the community and honoring hospital employees who marked significant milestones in their careers at the hospital. The hospital began the week by distributing flowers to all in-patients on Sunday, May 11 and to Cary employees who worked on Mother’s Day. The week ended with the annual employee longevity awards banquet at the Caribou Inn and Convention Center on Friday evening where 67 employees with more than 750 years of service were honored.
Kris Doody, RN, MSB, FACHE, and chief executive officer at Cary said that Hospital Week demonstrates the bond between the hospital, the community and employees.
“It is wonderful that we have National Hospital Week to really step back and reflect on the relationships that are so important to Cary Medical Center,” said Doody, who attended the week’s events. “We are a community hospital in the broad sense, serving many patients from throughout The County and we value so much the connections we have made with individuals and organizations.”
Events during National Hospital Week also included a recognition luncheon for the Caribou Fire and Ambulance Service.  The service was named EMS Service of the Year for Region 5. Tuesday night the hospital hosted a large crowd in the Chan Center to view the film, “The Genius of Marian” a documentary on one family’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. On Wednesday, May 14 Cary held its Hospital Week Clergy Appreciation Luncheon where Rick Duncan discussed the Aroostook House of Comfort, the new hospice house being developed for the county.
On Thursday morning, representatives of local media attended the annual ‘Media Breakfast,’ and National Hospital Week Jeopardy Game. The Aroostook Republican and News defended their title after winning the trophy in 2013 and 2012. On Thursday and Friday of Hospital Week Cary senior management, public relations and nutritional services departments provided an employee appreciation barbecue to all shifts at the hospital and also served the night shift at the Maine Veterans Home.  Throughout the week hospital employees brought various food items in support of the Hospitals Against Hunger initiative, a collaborative effort of Cary Medical Center and the Aroostook Medical Center.
Other events during the week included a Tuesday morning press conference where hospital officials announced the launching of the “Cary Kids Cook” program. Walmart has funded the project with a $50,000 grant. The program aims to assist families who are struggling with the cost of eating a healthy diet.
The true highlight of Hospital Week was the 90th Anniversary Seniority Luncheon held at the Caribou Inn and Convention Center on Thursday, May 15. Nearly 200 members of the hospital’s Seniority Program (a membership program for people age 50 and older) attended the luncheon which was designed as a special event of the hospital’s 90th Anniversary Celebration. A special focus of the event was the attendance by 17 individuals over 90 years of age. Doody said that the luncheon was really unforgettable.
“This was truly a remarkable event,” said Doody, whose mother is a member of Seniority. “To see so many of our Seniority Members getting out to enjoy each other’s company, hear the wonderful piano music of Dan Ladner and to gather all of the 90-plus-year-olds in one place, I don’t think this has ever been done before.”
In addition to entertaining the crowd with popular piano tunes, Ladner also addressed the audience speaking of his life as a young boy and how music became his passion.
“I think that to enjoy a long and healthy life we must have a passion about something, whatever it is it has to be that something that gets us up every day and keeps us going,” said Ladner.
All 90-year-olds and older were presented with an ‘Achievement of Life’ Award. A group photo and individual portraits were also taken.
On Friday evening, during the Longevity Awards Banquet, Gregg Collins, chairman of Cary’s board of directors, had high praise for hospital staff and spoke very optimistically about the future of the hospital.
“This has been a very exciting and busy year at Cary,” said Collins, who is vice president of the S.W. Collins Company.  “We have recruited two full-time oncologist/hematologists, and a second full-time orthopedic surgeon. These are very important developments and speak well for our future.” Collins also recognized the hospital staff for numerous awards that have been received by the hospital in 2013.
“It is because of your efforts that Cary is off to such a great start in 2014. Our board of directors takes great pride in your performance and particularly compliments our staff for the recognition provided by national companies that evaluate hospital performance.”
Cary has been named a HealthStrong Hospital by iVantage Analytics, and has been recognized by HealthGrades by scoring in the top 10 percent of hospitals nationwide in patient satisfaction. Cary also received the 2014 award for “America’s Best Breast Centers” by Women Certified and just recently learned that it received an A in patient safety from the Leapfrog Group. In the announcement, the Leapfrog Group informed the hospital that it was one of only 250 hospitals nationwide to earn an A score for five consecutive reporting periods.
The last event of hospital week was a special health care historical exhibit at the Caribou Historical Museum. The exhibit will run for the next month and features artifacts from Dr. Jefferson B Cary and other items.