Telling the Hospital Story 2026 Flip Book

Download and share examples reflecting hospitals' deep commitment to meeting community needs today while preparing for the challenges of tomorrow.

New Resources: Building and Maintaining Public Trust and Confidence

Member Resource: Building and Maintaining Public Trust and Confidence

Share these new resources with your communications and leadership teams.

A female physician laughs with a family at a community event

Hospitals Leading the Way to a Healthier America

Hospitals have always been at the heart of community health empowering healthier, happier lives for all.

AHA Launches New Multimedia Advertising Campaign to Promote Hospitals

The campaign includes a commercial that will run on national, cable, and digital TV and digital advertising.

Resources Spotlight Crucial Role of Rural Hospitals and Health Systems

The AHA released new resources to help rural hospitals and health systems share their stories and highlight the vital role they play in their communities.

Creative repurposing saves heart during double-lung transplant

Old technology — applied in new and novel ways — can still be a lifesaver.

Telling the Hospital Story: All Hospital Stories

Explore the amazing stories of hospitals going above and beyond to care for their patients and communities throughout America. Search by location using state, category, or hospital name in the interactive map below, or sort stories by category using the filter.

Telling the Hospital Story Home

Telling the Hospital Story Media

All Stories

Ensuring Access to Care

HaysMed, Gove County Medical Center, Scott County Hospital, Clara Barton Medical Center
Kansas

7 Kansas rural hospitals form network to strengthen independence, advance value-based care

Seven independent rural hospitals have joined forces to launch the Kansas High Value Network, a new collaborative organization designed to expand access to care, improve clinical outcomes and reduce operating costs while preserving local governance.

Ensuring Access to Care

Jefferson Health
Philadelphia, Pa.

Care Without the Wait: Rethinking Access to Healthcare

In this conversation, Baligh Yehia, M.D., president of Jefferson Health, shares how the organization is rethinking healthcare access through same-day cancer care, virtual primary care, home-based services, and expanded access to clinical trials.

Ensuring Access to Care

LCMC Health
New Orleans, La.

Bridge to Care: Better Care Transitions for Opioid Use

This conversation shares how integrated care models, addiction consult services and peer navigators are improving care transitions and increasing access to evidence-based treatment.

Benefiting Communities

Patients sit in a group speaking with a health worker in scrubs

Alaska Native Medical Center
Anchorage, Alaska

Alaska Hospital Creates a Healing Environment for Patients in Recovery

In Anchorage, hospital beds are increasingly occupied by patients who are medically ready to leave but have nowhere to go while they wait for short-term nursing and rehabilitation services. To help address this growing challenge, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium is building a new skilled nursing facility on the Alaska Native Medical Center campus.

Benefiting Communities

CHI St. Alexius Health Williston
Williston, N.D.

CHI St. Alexius Health Williston launches behavioral health program for older adults

CHI St. Alexius Health Williston has a new outpatient program to address the growing mental health needs of older adults in northwestern North Dakota.

Benefiting Communities

A therapist sits with a child using emotion flashcards

University of New Mexico Hospital Children’s Psychiatric Center
Albuquerque, N.M.

New Mexico hospital's Children’s Psychiatric Center enhances behavioral healthcare for children and adolescents

The University of New Mexico Hospital has completed a major expansion and modernization of its Children’s Psychiatric Center in Albuquerque.

Innovation, Research, and Quality Improvement

Patient sits next to his hospital bed eating a hospital meal

Hackensack Meridian Health
Edison, N.J.

How NJ's Largest Health Network is Fixing an $8B National Crisis in Parkinson's Care

Hospital care for people with Parkinson’s disease costs nearly $8 billion annually and places about one in six hospitalized patients at significant risk for an avoidable complication due to healthcare systems that are not designed to meet their unique, time-sensitive needs.

Innovation, Research, and Quality Improvement

A physical therapist working with a young girl patient

Children's Hospital Colorado
Aurora, Colo.

Colorado hospital helps develop national standards for cognitive and developmental care in sickle cell disease

Children’s Hospital Colorado helped the National Alliance of Sickle Cell Centers develop new national standards to improve how developmental and cognitive challenges are identified and managed in people with sickle cell disease (SCD).

Innovation, Research, and Quality Improvement

woman's hands holding a red plastic heart

Children’s Mercy Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri

Heart transplant gives Kansas teen new outlook after lifelong cardiac battle

A 16-year-old Kansas patient is looking toward a future with fewer health limitations after receiving a heart transplant at Children’s Mercy Kansas City.

Prevention and Wellness

Cone Health
Greensboro, N.C.

Pregnancy and the Heart: Why Teamwork Matters

Maternal mortality remains a critical challenge in the United States, and many pregnancy complications are linked to chronic health conditions, including cardiovascular disease.

Prevention and Wellness

Cancer patient in hospital bed smiling at health worker

University of Washington Medicine, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Seattle, Wash.

Seattle hospital screening program connects patients to lifesaving cancer care

The University of Washington Medicine and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center Colorectal Cancer Screening Program is helping more people detect colorectal cancer early through at-home tests, clinician outreach and patient navigation support.

Prevention and Wellness

NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue
New York

The First Chapter: Literacy and Bonding in the NICU

In this conversation, Gabriela Jimenez Thompson, program lead of Our Story Begins at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, and Liliana Escobar, R.N., NICU head nurse at Bellevue Hospital Center, share how the Our Story Begins program uses books, reading, language and nurse education to strengthen NICU parent engagement, bonding and early childhood development.

Workforce

A nurse hands a newborn to a mother in hospital bed

UAMS, Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas
Arkansas

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences develops new toolkit to help hospitals integrate doulas

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Institute for Community Health Innovation has launched the Advancing Doulas and Perinatal Teams Toolkit, a new resource designed to help hospitals better integrate doulas into maternal care teams and improve outcomes for mothers and infants.

Workforce

M Health Farview
Minneapolis, Minn.

How APPs Can Ease the Healthcare Workforce Crisis

Hospitals and health systems can't meet growing patient demand without full leveraging advanced practice providers (APPs).

Workforce

Linda Bos and her three daughters — Lydia Hollemans, Naomi Palmbos and Anika Bos — each serve in different areas across the Michigan Health-West health system.

University of Michigan Health-West
Michigan

Under one roof: A family of nurses working throughout University of Michigan Health-West

At University of Michigan Health-West, a unique family story is unfolding through the work of four dedicated nurses from the Bos family.

Benefiting Communities

Avera Health team stands in front of food pantry shelves

South Dakota clinics and hospitals offer pantries to help feed community

What do you do when people in your community are food insecure, but they don’t qualify for federal food assistance programs? Make food available to them in places they can easily access — like clinics and hospitals. Avera Health is collaborating with Feeding South Dakota, Avera Research Institute and Avera’s Community Partnership in a pilot program to offer clinic-based food pantries, known as Wellness Pantries, to patients in Sioux Falls and Parkston, S.D.

Benefiting Communities

Children sit in a playroom wearing VR headsets

Virtual reality headsets help pediatric patients relax, explore

A donation of virtual reality headsets to for pediatric patients at Sanford Medical Center Bismarck has opened new pathways to pain management, anxiety reduction and mental stimulation.

Benefiting Communities

A box full of personal care items sits on a table

CommonSpirit St. Elizabeth Hospital
Fort Morgan, Colo.

Hospital provides toiletries, clothes, and other necessities to community members through its Care Closet

CommonSpirit St. Elizabeth Hospital's Care Closet is a compassionate initiative aimed at improving the health and well-being of vulnerable individuals and families in the community.

Benefiting Communities

A young boy sits stacking blocks as a carer looks on

Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital Opens New Autism Clinic

Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital has opened a new Applied Behavior Analysis Clinic in Riverton, Utah, that aims to address the growing need for autism services in the community.

Benefiting Communities

Agree to Agree poster shows two men stand side by side talking.

Intermountain Health partners with Ad Council to address firearm injuries among youth

The Ad Council, in partnership with Intermountain Health and a coalition of health care and business leaders, has launched the social impact program "Agree to Agree," an initiative to reduce gun-related tragedies affecting children and teens.

Benefiting Communities

Leadership Dialogue Series: The Importance of Advocacy and Storytelling in Rural Health

In this Leadership Dialogue conversation, Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health and 2025 AHA board chair, talks with Lori Wightman, R.N., CEO of Bothwell Regional Health Center, about the challenges that rural hospitals and health systems face.

Benefiting Communities

Rural care provider secures critical funding to stay open and serve patients

A grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development has prevented the impending closure of Bucktail Medical Center and preserved its ability to deliver essential care to thousands of rural residents of central Pennsylvania.

Benefiting Communities

St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center
Boise, Idaho

Idaho’s First Hospital-at-Home Program Showing Promising Results

The St. Luke’s Hospital at Home program, launched in late 2024, provides hospital-level care to patients in the comfort of their homes.

Benefiting Communities

One of the Vargas quadruplet rests in a bassinet

Valleywise Health
Phoenix, Ariz.

Stellar care helps identical quadruplets to thrive in Arizona

Rachel and Marco Vargas recently welcomed four identical baby girls at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix, a rare occurrence with odds estimated at one in 40 million.