AHA Stat Blog

Learning mental health first aid could ease the exacerbation of behavioral health conditions during the COVID-19 public health emergency, writes Katherine Bunting, chief executive officer of Illinois-based Fairfield Memorial Hospital. Learn more about the importance of knowing how to respond and training opportunities.

There were 54 million U.S. residents 65 or older in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The agency projects that number will grow by nearly 30 million (to 84 million) by 2050. 

August is traditionally the time to take a break, go on vacation, or just slow it down and relax for a bit. For many people, that’s off the table this year. COVID-19’s impact on health, our economy and our ability to gather in groups has been a game changer for people’s personal plans.

Sustaining hospitals and health systems and positioning them for success moving forward is a chief focus of Navigating a New Reality: Health Care Leaders Confront the Future, a three-day virtual conference, Sept. 14-16, sponsored by the AHA Center for Health Innovation and the Society for Health Care Strategy and Market Development .

There is yet no peace treaty or declaration of surrender in our own war with COVID-19, but we too must look ahead and start planning for what health care should look like in a post-pandemic world.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals remain cornerstones of their communities, as they’ve always been. They continue to serve and heal, provide jobs, food, social services and education around sound health practices. 

Rural hospitals, already facing enormous challenges, quickly adapted when COVID-19 reached their communities. In this blog, John Supplitt, senior director of AHA Rural Health Services, points to the many examples of rural teams using innovative measures to improve quality of patient care during the pandemic.

A divided Congress. A lapsed deadline to pass important legislation. And uncertainty about how the situation will end.

The AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence (HAV) initiative, in partnership with the National Mass Violence Victimization Resource Center (NMVVRC), debuts a collection of new resources for hospital and health systems to support victims and communities impacted by mass violence incidents, including a web resource and webinar series.

A Renewed Call to Dare All for Our Country

There’s a poignant moment in Hamilton: An American Musical in which a despondent George Washington laments the long odds of his revolution, “a powder keg about to explode” unless he receives an immediate infusion of the supplies and reinforcements he was initially promised at the war’s start.

COVID-19 has disproportionately affected communities of color throughout the nation, with minorities more likely to be infected and severely impacted by the virus. But its effect is more than physical.

With COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths on the rise in much of the country, negotiations on the next COVID-19 relief package are picking up in the Senate.

By Elisa Arespacochaga and&nbs

In 2016, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and former Archbishop Desmond Tutu spent one week together in deep discussion about joy. How to obtain it and hold on to it in a changing and often chaotic world.

Congress returns to Washington, D.C., on Monday, and the stakes are extremely high. The Senate will begin serious negotiations on the next COVID-19 relief package, and we expect Congress to pass legislation before the August congressional recess.

Raymond Waller, hospital administrator at Ascension Brighton Center for Recovery in Brighton, Mich., and 2020 chair of AHA's Behavioral Health Council, looks at substance use rates, stigma and the lack of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) behavioral health care providers. Read more in this guest blog about the work hospitals and health systems can do now to help future generations.

Now more than ever, the leadership of nurses and physicians is invaluable to the teams, organizations and patients they serve. They help those around them keep perspective, and their vision and guidance pave the road to a healthier future.

The sight of families re-emerging to gather at community playgrounds and pools brings mixed emotions. While it’s gratifying to see people enjoying themselves again, it’s also clear that COVID-19 is not in the rearview mirror, as spiking infection rates in many states demonstrate.