Chair File: Celebrating Hospitals for Providing Healing, Health and Hope

This week is National Hospital Week. It’s a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate health care professionals working at the more than 6,000 hospitals, health systems and health networks across the United States. No other organizations offer the level of service and care that hospitals provide 24/7/365 to our communities.

Each year, more than 33 million people are admitted to U.S. hospitals, and about 137 million people receive care in hospital emergency departments. Hospital teams deliver 3.5 million babies annually in the U.S. These numbers illustrate the extensive impact our nation’s hospitals and health systems have on our lives.  

Yet if you ask patients about their hospital experience, they likely will call out a particular nurse — likely more than one — or perhaps a physician, therapist or other health professional who provided kind, compassionate care that made all the difference in healing and recovery.

I encourage you to share stories describing the many ways that your hospital or health system is making an impact in people’s lives and in your communities — this week and throughout the year. Visit AHA.org for ideas and for social content to use and customize. And be sure to use #WeAreHealthCare when sharing stories on social media so together we can amplify the message about impact.

Whether delivering babies, performing lifesaving procedures, providing cutting-edge therapeutic treatments, mending broken bones, conducting health screenings — and completing hundreds of other tasks while offering compassion and hope — hospitals and health systems are vital to the health and well-being of individuals, families and communities.

Thank you to the devoted, hardworking, skilled, resilient and caring people at the heart of America’s hospitals and health systems.