Chairperson's File

2025 AHA Board Chair Tina Freese Decker headshot.

Blog posts from 2025 AHA Board Chair Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health, and past chairs.

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. 
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. 
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.
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.
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.
The AHA releases Stem the Tide: Opioid Stewardship Measurement Implementation Guide, a new data-driven guide as the “how to” part of the Stem the Tide initiative. It connects knowing to doing, offering hospitals and health systems actionable ideas for program development and implementation.
“I just can’t imagine going back because people recognize the value of this.” That’s what Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said recently about the increased use of telehealth, signaling that doctoring from a distance — which has shown itself to be a lifesaving…
Among the many lessons we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is the critical importance of leadership.
Any way you cut it, this has been a very tough few weeks in our country. We have witnessed a colorful tapestry of Americans voicing loud opposition to the systemic injustices and institutional racism. We’re also seeing centuries’ worth of wounds being opened and spilling into our streets — and…