Patients Benefitting from Enhanced Quality of Care at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital

(Far Rockaway, NY – May 20, 2019) St. John’s Episcopal Hospital (SJEH) announced today that Del Joiner, Vice President and Chief Quality Officer, has been awarded the United Hospital Fund’s (UHF) Excellence in Health Care Award. The recognition signifies the enhancements in quality of care, patient safety, and patient experience that have taken place at SJEH since Jerry Walsh took the helm as Chief Executive Officer in mid-2015.

“I am pleased that UHF has recognized Mr. Joiner for his contributions to developing, leading, and implementing strong customer-focused, organization-wide performance improvements at St. John’s,” says Walsh. “This award is a result of our determination to continuously improve to ensure that we provide the best patient care possible.”

SJEH is seeing improvements in patient care resulting in shortened hospital stays in which admitted patients receive needed care and are able to go home or leave the hospital in a shorter amount of time than in the past ; reductions in patient readmissions for the same illness; improvements in patient satisfaction; and more.

In addition to the recognition from UHF, the hospital has been acknowledged by the American Heart Association for providing quality care, and received the organization’s Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Gold Plus award–an award recognizing hospitals that apply the most up-to-date treatment guidelines to improve patient care and outcomes.

SJEH has also made great strides towards becoming a designated Baby-Friendly Hospital through the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI)–a global program led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF to promote practices that protect and support breastfeeding.

Additionally, the hospital is working towards achieving Planetree Certification for Excellence in Person-Centered Care –an accreditation that represents the highest mark of achievement for creating an organizational culture that engages patients, families, staff, and the community to improve overall health and well-being.

“Providing our patients with the best health care possible is our number one priority,” says Donald Morrish, MD, who was appointed the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer in July of 2018. “Within the past 3.5 years, we have made tremendous strides in improving the quality of care and patient experience at St. John’s, and we will continue to do so.”

About St. John’s Episcopal Hospital

St. John’s Episcopal Hospital is the only hospital providing emergency and ambulatory care to the densely populated, culturally and economically diverse, and medically underserved populations of the Rockaways and Five Towns in southern Queens County and southwestern Nassau County, New York. Celebrating over 110 years of community care, the 257-bed facility provides people of all faiths with comprehensive preventive, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitative services, regardless of ability to pay.