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.
Member Resource: Building and Maintaining Public Trust and Confidence
Share these new resources with your communications and leadership teams.
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.
All Stories
Ensuring Access to Care
HaysMed, Gove County Medical Center, Scott County Hospital, Clara Barton Medical Center
Kansas
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.
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.
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
Alaska Native Medical Center
Anchorage, Alaska
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 has a new outpatient program to address the growing mental health needs of older adults in northwestern North Dakota.
Benefiting Communities
University of New Mexico Hospital Children’s Psychiatric Center
Albuquerque, N.M.
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
Hackensack Meridian Health
Edison, N.J.
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
Children's Hospital Colorado
Aurora, Colo.
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
Children’s Mercy Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
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.
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
University of Washington Medicine, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Seattle, Wash.
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
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
UAMS, Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas
Arkansas
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.
Hospitals and health systems can't meet growing patient demand without full leveraging advanced practice providers (APPs).
Workforce
University of Michigan Health-West
Michigan
At University of Michigan Health-West, a unique family story is unfolding through the work of four dedicated nurses from the Bos family.
Building Healthy Communities
University of Washington School of Medicine
Seattle, Wash.
If you could predict your biological risk of death, would you want to know? Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle have developed a resource that does just that and more.
Building Healthy Communities
Hartford HealthCare
Hartford, Conn.
Hartford HealthCare’s Diabetes and Endocrinology program offers classes, individual counseling sessions, monthly support groups, resources and special events designed to help people with diabetes take care of themselves and prevent long-term complications.
Building Healthy Communities
Juno, a 66-pound blonde with four paws, a sassy smile and a fondness for carrying stuffed animals in her mouth, spent six years providing comfort and companionship to patients and staff members at Norton Healthcare in Louisville, Ky.
Building Healthy Communities
MaineHealth
Portland, Maine
At MaineHealth, increasing access to healthy food in the community starts at its hospital campuses.
Building Healthy Communities
CommonSpirit St. Elizabeth Hospital
Fort Morgan, Colo.
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.
Building Healthy Communities
UConn Health
Farmington, Conn.
Saving lives is the impetus behind a community outreach and engagement breast cancer screening program led by UConn Health, based in Farmington, Conn.
Building Healthy Communities
Southeast Colorado Hospital District
Springfield, Colo.
Many daily commutes are on the ground — car, train, bikes — but what if you took to the air? Dr. Charles Frankum has spent over two decades flying himself to some of the most remote hospitals in Colorado and Kansas, including the Southeast Colorado Hospital District in Springfield, Colo.
Building Healthy Communities
MaineHealth Maine Medical Center
Portland, Maine
The MaineHealth–Preble Street Learning Collaborative (PSLC) was founded by MaineHealth Maine Medical Center, Preble Street — a nonprofit social service agency — and other community partners to provide outreach, engagement and safe, person-centered care to those experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Building Healthy Communities
Monadnock Community Hospital’s Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) program is closing care gaps in the rural community of Peterborough, N.H., and the eastern Monadnock region.
Ensuring Access to Care
Children’s Nebraska
Omaha, Neb.
The American College of Surgeons awarded the designation following a rigorous evaluation of the hospital’s trauma program, recognizing its ability to provide the highest level of comprehensive, 24/7 care for critically injured children.
Ensuring Access to Care
Sanford Health
Sioux Falls/Rapid City, S.D.
Storks delivering babies may be a flight of fancy, but a real South Dakota maternal-fetal medicine specialist flies hundreds of miles each week to reach rural patients who would otherwise face hours-long drives for specialized care.
Ensuring Access to Care
Arkansas Children’s Hospital
Little Rock, Ark.
Arkansas Children’s Hospital is utilizing telemedicine to expand access to care and support rural hospitals that lack pediatric cardiac MRI and CT expertise.
Ensuring Access to Care
Northern Cochise Community Hospital
Cochise County, Ariz.
In rural Cochise County, Ariz., many older adults struggle with limited incomes, chronic health conditions, and scarce access to essential resources. Geographic isolation and high poverty rates among seniors make basic needs — such as adult incontinence supplies — difficult to afford.
Ensuring Access to Care
Clifton-Fine Hospital
St. Lawrence County, N.Y.
Clifton-Fine Hospital in St. Lawrence County, N.Y., adjacent to the Canadian border, was long challenged by low patient numbers and an outdated, cramped emergency room so small and crowded that staff struggled to treat multiple patients with space or privacy.
Ensuring Access to Care
Oklahoma Children’s Hospital
Oklahoma City, Okla.
Ranger’s care journey was a long one — from Durant, Okla., to Austin, Texas, and finally OU Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City.
Ensuring Access to Care
CommonSpirit Health
Chicago, Ill.
Even the most experienced health care leaders can feel lost as patients. In this conversation, Ji Im, system senior director of community and population health at CommonSpirit Health, explores why seamless navigation, community partnerships and human connection are essential to reducing friction and improving the health care experience.
Ensuring Access to Care
John Muir Health
Walnut Creek, Calif.
Mental health is a top community health need nationwide. In this conversation, John Muir Health's Jesse Tamplen, vice president of care coordination, and Jamie Elmasu, director of community health improvement, explain how community health assessments (CHAs), data-driven planning and nonprofit partnerships, are expanding access to patients who need it most.
Ensuring Access to Care
M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center
Minneapolis
As pharmacy closures accelerate nationwide, M Health Fairview is proving what’s possible when a health system steps up.
Benefiting Communities
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland Clinic is bringing its Hospital Care At Home program to Northeast Ohio, offering eligible patients the option to receive hospital-level acute care without leaving their homes.
Benefiting Communities
ChristianaCare
Wilmington, Del.
Someone struggling with substance use disorder may not know how or where to ask for help. Since 2008, Project Engage from ChristianaCare in Wilmington, Del., has brought help to them.
Benefiting Communities
Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center
Boise, Idaho
Saint Alphonsus, in partnership with Canyon County Paramedics and the American Red Cross, has launched Idaho’s first ground‑based EMS whole‑blood transfusion program.
Benefiting Communities
University of Illinois Chicago
University of Illinois Chicago's Pauline Maki, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry, psychology, and obstetrics and gynecology, and Makeba Williams, M.D., professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, unpack why menopause care is finally having a breakthrough moment.
Benefiting Communities
Allegheny Health Network and UPMC
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Pittsburgh officials expect up to 500,000 visitors to flood the city for the 2026 NFL Draft April 23-25, bringing routine medical needs as well as risks tied to large crowds, alcohol use and possible emergencies.
Benefiting Communities
In this conversation, Mary Kate Daly, senior vice president and chief of community health of the Patrick M. Magoon Institute for Healthy Communities at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, explains how long-term investments, powerful community partnerships, and a first-of-its-kind community health hub are leading to better outcomes for kids in Chicago and beyond.
Benefiting Communities
Intermountain Health
Utah and Idaho
Intermountain Children’s Health has launched the nation’s largest pediatric Telestroke network, giving children in Utah and southern Idaho rapid access to stroke experts through virtual consultations.
Benefiting Communities
AtlantiCare
Egg Harbor Township, N.J.
AtlantiCare EMS has expanded its trauma care capabilities by launching a Ground Whole Blood Program, allowing paramedics to administer whole blood transfusions directly at emergency scenes.
Benefiting Communities
Baylor Scott & White Health
Texas
Improving community health requires more than clinical care alone.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Hartford HealthCare
Hartford, Conn.
In this Leadership Dialogue conversation, Marc Boom, M.D., president and CEO of Houston Methodist and the 2026 AHA board chair, speaks with John Santopietro, M.D., senior vice president at Hartford HealthCare and physician-in-chief of its Behavioral Health Network.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Washington
When it comes to liver cancer, you may already know classic risk factors like cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis B and C viruses. But a Seattle-based epidemiologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center is investigating a lesser-known potential contributor that may not be on your radar: solar jet lag.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Doernbecher Children’s Hospital
Portland, Ore.
Enhanced infection prevention measures in neonatal intensive care units have been shown to significantly reduce the spread of hospital‑acquired viral infections among highly vulnerable infants, according to a study led by Oregon Health & Science University.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
University of Iowa Health Care
Iowa
University of Iowa Health Care is expanding its support for growing families with a series of major upgrades to maternal and newborn services, including a newly enhanced postpartum unit and a state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Duke University School of Medicine
Durham, N.C.
In this conversation, Duke University School of Medicine's Jonathan Posner, M.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and Matthew Engelhard, M.D., P.h.D., assistant professor of the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, break down the "Duke PMA" — an AI-powered predictive model designed to identify adolescents at high risk for psychiatric illness.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Banner Thunderbird Medical Center
Glendale, Ariz.
Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in Glendale, Arizona, has become the first hospital in the western United States to adopt the Aesculap Aeos Robotic Digital Microscope, marking a significant step forward in surgical innovation.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
University of Missouri Health Care
Columbia, Mo.
What began as a routine sports injury for a Missouri college soccer player quickly escalated into a life-threatening medical crisis, ultimately leading to a complex, leg-saving effort at MU Health Care.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
WellSpan York Hospital
York, Pa.
Attack of the munchies at 3 a.m.? Not a problem at WellSpan Health York Hospital, which has introduced Fresh Take Eatery, an AI‑powered robotic kitchen that provides 24/7 access to hot, healthy meals for patients, visitors, and staff, ensuring fresh, on-demand food options at any hour.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Houston Methodist Hospital
Houston, Texas
Houston Methodist Hospital researchers are reshaping how clinicians think about traumatic brain injury (TBI) by looking beyond the brain itself.
Prevention and Wellness
In this conversation, Thomas Ahr, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Hospital Sisters Health System, details how the health system is prioritizing prevention, supporting staff after incidents, and turning safety into a leadership responsibility.
Prevention and Wellness
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Kaufman
Kaufman, Texas
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Kaufman is strengthening community wellness through its Healthy Education Lifestyles Program (HELP), an initiative designed to give patients both clinical support and practical health education.
Prevention and Wellness
Cottage Hospital
Woodsville, N.H.
Designed as a “caring and sensitive environment,” the Ray of Hope unit at Cottage Hospital addresses behavioral health needs associated with aging.
Prevention and Wellness
Mass General Brigham
Boston, Mass.
Mass General Brigham is investing $9 million through its Community Health Impact Funds to address rising food insecurity in Boston and the surrounding cities of Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop.
Prevention and Wellness
University of Tennessee Medical Center
Knoxville, Tenn.
Naming a baby is a big decision. Naming two babies takes it to another level. Naming two preemies while hundreds of miles from home is something most parents don’t even want to think about, but that’s the situation Isaac and Kaitlin Carver found themselves in when Kaitin’s water broke at 28 weeks pregnant.
Prevention and Wellness
Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital
Virginia Beach, Va.
The Unique Boutique at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital is a store with an exclusive clientele. Shoppers aren’t celebrities or fashion icons; instead, they’re patients who are experiencing medical-related hair loss.
Prevention and Wellness
Beacon Health
South Bend, Ind.
In this conversation, Beacon Health System's Kimberly Green Reeves, vice president of community impact and partnerships, and Cassy White, director of community impact, share how data, care coordination and community involvement are helping reduce infant mortality in Michigan and Indiana.
Prevention and Wellness
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Little Rock, Ark.
Nurses from the Arkansas Center for Women & Infants’ Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have launched an outreach initiative to support postpartum mothers.
Prevention and Wellness
Care New England Health System
Providence, R.I.
As people age, bone mass starts to decline — for some, beginning as early as their 30s — and can be exacerbated by medical conditions, medications or lifestyle choices. Weak bones can lead to osteopenia and osteoporosis, which is called a “silent” disease because a person typically does not have symptoms and may not know they have the disease until a bone breaks.
Workforce
East Alabama Health
Opelika, Ala.
Maintaining a trained workforce is one of the greatest challenges facing rural hospitals today. In Alabama, the shortage is particularly and increasingly severe, especially when it comes to nurses. East Alabama Health is addressing the problem in multiple ways.
Workforce
In this conversation, Thomas Ahr, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Hospital Sisters Health System, details how the health system is prioritizing prevention, supporting staff after incidents, and turning safety into a leadership responsibility.
Workforce
Decatur Memorial Hospital
Decatur, Ill.
Decatur Memorial Hospital (DMH) is celebrating a major milestone as its Nurse Anesthesia Program reaches 60 years of educating skilled professionals for Central Illinois and beyond.
Workforce
Loma Linda University Children’s Health
Loma Linda, Calif.,
For Heather Kono, a pediatric oncology nurse at Loma Linda University Children’s Health in California, her journey with the hospital began long before she put on scrubs.
Workforce
Unity Medical Center
Grafton, N.D.
What was once going to be empty space is now used for everything from staff meetings to community medical events, but its main purpose is serving as the Rural Medical Education Center, supporting Unity's commitment to health care education at all levels.
Workforce
UW Health
Madison, Wis.
Medical personnel from the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing are receiving clinical training from UW Health in Madison, Wis., giving the airmen a reliable and ongoing learning platform and ensuring their readiness to support local and global missions.
Workforce
UAMS Medical Center
Little Rock, Ark.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Nursing has earned preaccreditation to establish the state's first nurse-midwifery program, expanding maternal and reproductive health education for students.
Workforce
Essentia Health-Fargo
Fargo, N.D.
Essentia Health-Fargo recently celebrated a major milestone with the graduation of the first participant to complete its newly launched registered surgical technologist apprenticeship program.
Workforce
NYC Health + Hospitals
New York, N.Y.
In 2019, nurse turnover at NYC Health + Hospitals reached a staggering 46%.