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
Building Healthy Communities
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, Neb.
In this conversation, Angela Hewlett, M.D., professor of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and medical director of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, explains how her team helped monitor and care for Americans exposed to the Andes hantavirus strain, the only known hantavirus capable of person-to-person transmission.
Building Healthy 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.
Building Healthy 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.
Ensuring Access to Care
Cottage Hospital, New Hampshire
Sharon Hospital, Connecticut
In this conversation, leaders from Cottage Hospital and Sharon Hospital (part of Northwell Health) share how specialized geriatric behavioral health programs are helping older adults receive compassionate, comprehensive mental health care close to home.
Ensuring Access to Care
Springfield Hospital
Springfield, Vt.
A new service at a critical access hospital in rural Vermont is strengthening neurological care in the community.
Ensuring Access to Care
Hackensack Meridian Health
Hackensack, N.J.
The Metropark Health & Wellness Center is the first comprehensive health and wellness facility in the nation to be located within a major transit hub, offering convenient access to care for commuters and nearby residents.
Benefiting Communities
Corewell Health
Michigan
Corewell Health and the Champions of the Heart Foundation are joining forces to expand emergency preparedness and lifesaving training across Michigan, aiming to equip more residents with the skills needed to respond to cardiac emergencies.
Benefiting Communities
Cheyenne Regional Medical Center
Wyoming
Cheyenne Regional Medical Center (CRMC) has partnered with GamFin, a national nonprofit focused on financial recovery from problem gambling, to offer free, confidential financial counseling to Laramie County residents harmed by problem gambling.
Benefiting Communities
Southwest Health
Platteville, Wis.
Southwest Health's Kevin Carr, M.D., family medicine physician, and Melissa Carr, M.D., OB/GYN, reflect on the joy of practicing medicine together, delivering babies side by side, and caring for generations of families in rural Wisconsin as a father-daughter duo.
Innovation, Research, and Quality Improvement
Community Memorial Hospital
Hamilton, N.Y.
Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton, New York, is transforming spine surgery by introducing robotic technology, led by neurosurgeon Dr. Nicholas Qandah.
Innovation, Research, and Quality Improvement
Mercy Hospital St. Louis
St. Louis, Mo.
Mercy Hospital St. Louis is now using a cancer treatment that sounds more like science fiction than modern medicine: “Bubble clouds” and sound waves are being deployed to destroy liver tumors — painlessly.
Innovation, Research, and Quality Improvement
Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare
Clinton, Mo.
A surgeon at Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare in Clinton, Mo., has completed the world’s first knee replacement surgery using a new miniature robotic system.
Prevention and Wellness
Dartmouth Health Children’s
Lebanon, N.H.
Dartmouth Health Children’s has launched a new season of its “Heads Up” mental health awareness series focused on children, titled “Heads Up: Foundations for Youth Mental Health.”
Prevention and Wellness
University of Pennsylvania Health System
Philadelphia
In this conversation, Elinore Kaufman, M.D., medical director of the Penn Trauma Violence Recovery Program, and Michele Volpe, chief operating officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, share how hospital-based violence intervention programs are helping patients heal physically, emotionally and socially after traumatic injury.
Prevention and Wellness
CommonSpirit Health
Chicago, Ill.
For millions facing substance use disorders, stigma isn’t just harmful — it’s a barrier to survival. In this conversation, three leaders from CommonSpirit Health explore how the organization is confronting stigma head-on through education, storytelling and culture change. They also reveal how shifting language, training and grassroots efforts are helping patients feel seen and heard on their road to recovery.
Workforce
Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns
San Diego, Calif.
At Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns in San Diego, Nick Saade, M.D., saw the patient experience from a different perspective — as a husband and expectant father.
Workforce
In recognition of #HAVHope Day on June 5th, Sarah Hunter, president of Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, explores the innovative approaches her team is using to reduce workplace violence. From a simple but effective buddy system to stronger partnerships with public safety agencies and community leaders, hear real-world solutions that help healthcare workers focus on what they do best — caring for patients.
Workforce
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.
Building Healthy Communities
Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital, part of MaineHealth, is working to ensure children have access to quality oral health care, even before a child gets their first tooth.
Building Healthy Communities
Los Alamos Medical Center
Los Alamos, N.M.
For area residents of Los Alamos, New Mexico, a terrific new option is available to treat sleep disorders with the opening of a new Sleep Lab during the summer of 2024 that greatly expands treatment capabilities in the region for sleep disorders.
Building Healthy Communities
Banner Desert Medical Center
Mesa, Ariz.
Patients nationwide express a strong preference for health care services that are delivered under one roof whenever possible, and Banner Desert Medical Center has responded with brand new clinic designed to cater specifically to the needs of expectant mothers and their unborn babies.
Building Healthy Communities
Banner - University Medical Center Phoenix
Phoenix, Ariz.
The incredible gift of organ donation has saved countless lives over the years. Now, a new center in Arizona has opened to ensure proper care and treatment for the generous donors themselves.
Building Healthy Communities
Rady Children’s Hospital
San Diego, Calif.
Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego called the surge of children coming into its emergency department with behavioral health needs “unprecedented,” and responded by placing mental health professionals in primary care practices.
Building Healthy Communities
Denver Health
Denver, Colo.
Denver Health is integrating basic dental services into patient care routines, pulling aside the traditional wall between the two disciplines.
Building Healthy Communities
Rochester Regional Health
Rochester, N.Y.
Rochester General Hospital
Rochester, N.Y.
Saint Vincent Hospital
Erie, Pa.
The rare solar eclipse that arced across a wide swath of the U.S. on April 8 briefly turned millions of pairs of eyes to the sun — and kept many hospitals and health systems on their toes preparing for contingencies.
Building Healthy Communities
Intermountain Health
Salt Lake City, Utah
Intermountain Health invited “The Defensive Line,” a group of professional athletes who have struggled with their own mental health issues, to talk with high school students in Las Vegas’s Clark County School District about the importance of addressing mental health.
Building Healthy Communities
Lifepoint Health
Brentwood, Tenn.
Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth, N.H.
In this conversation, Joanne M. Conroy, M.D., CEO and president of Dartmouth Health and 2024 AHA board chair, talks with Jeremy Musher, M.D., chief behavioral medical officer at Lifepoint Health, about common obstacles in the behavioral health field, including access and reimbursement, as well as ways to approach mental health stigmas.
Ensuring Access to Care
A trip to the hospital emergency department can be overwhelming for anyone, but for individuals with autism, the stress can be significantly heightened.
Ensuring Access to Care
Navajo Health Foundation - Sage Memorial Hospital
Ganado, Ariz.
As the only Navajo psychiatrist on the 27,000 square mile Navajo Reservation, Dr. Richard Laughter breaks down accessibility barriers for his people by blending Native cultural practices with Western behavioral health care.
Ensuring Access to Care
In March 2024, the Home Hospital team at Yale New Haven Health marked a milestone by caring for its 1,000th patient. That patient, Debbi Kinell, knew of the program since her mother had been one of the program’s first patients shortly after it was launched in 2022.
Ensuring Access to Care
In this conversation, Tracey Lavallias, executive director of behavioral health at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, discusses potential solutions to make access easier for patients.
Ensuring Access to Care
Sharp Grossmont Hospital, in La Mesa, Calif., integrated age-friendly health care into their emergency department and saw significant changes in areas like readmission rates and retention of staff.
Ensuring Access to Care
Talk to a hospital leader and they’ll tell you the story of their impact on the community they serve. Learn how hospitals and health systems go above and beyond for their patients by visiting aha.org/tellingthehospitalstory.
Washington
The Machines Arrive in Rural Washington: How AI is Helping Improve Health Equity
Three Rivers Hospital is leveraging Washington state’s renowned skill in technology to deploy artificial intelligence and machine learning in service of identifying an
Ensuring Access to Care
Three Rivers Hospital is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to help improve cancer survival outcomes in central Washington’s rural Hispanic population.
Ensuring Access to Care
Kaiser Permanente. A young black sitting in an apartment at a table working on a laptop, viewed through a fire escape window
At Kaiser Permanente hospitals, which can be found in eight states and the District of Columbia, care teams understand that whether or not you have a roof over your head makes a paramount impact on your health. Not only does being unhoused exacerbate existing health issues, but poor health can lead to a loss of housing in some cases.
Ensuring Access to Care
The health system is focusing on four strategic pillars to guide its work: Experience (of patients, employees and others); Education and Research Mission (through learning and innovation); Stewardship (to build healthy communities and public trust); and Operational Excellence (to attain financial stability)
Benefiting Communities
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
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
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
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
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
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
Valleywise Health
Phoenix, Ariz.
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.
Benefiting Communities
People in need of immediate help with mental health issues have a new option for treatment with the opening of the Behavioral Health Center at Lancaster General Hospital.
Benefiting Communities
In this Leadership Dialogue conversation, Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health and 2025 AHA board chair, talks with two health care leaders, Lynn Hanessian, former chief health strategist at Edelman, and Robert Trestman, M.D., Ph.D., chair of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Carilion Clinic.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Arkansas
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) performed the state’s first minimally invasive procedure to treat severe tricuspid regurgitation, a life-threatening condition caused by a leaky heart valve.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
North Country Hospital
Newport, Vt.
North Country Hospital launched a point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) initiative in 2024 to improve care delivery and patient outcomes.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Inova Health System
Fairfax, Va.
In this conversation, Inova Health System's Toni Ardabell, chief of clinical enterprise operations, and Sage Bolte, Ph.D., chief philanthropy officer and president of the Inova Health Foundation, share how aligning philanthropy with mission and clinical priorities allows Inova to accelerate innovation, expand high-acuity services, and invest in the programs that change lives.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
UMass Memorial Medical Center – Children’s Medical Center
Worcester, Mass.
Robin — an interactive, human-assisted robot — is an innovative tool that’s helping make hospital visits less stressful for pediatric patients at the UMass Memorial Medical Center – Children’s Medical Center.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, part of Yale New Haven Health
New London, Conn.
An expectant mother needing spinal surgery was treated successfully thanks to skillful surgeons and outstanding coordination among clinical teams at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London, Conn.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Renown Health
Reno, Nev.
Renown Health in Reno, Nev., one of only 250 transplant centers nationwide, recently reached a historic milestone by successfully performing its first living donor kidney transplant.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Children’s Memorial Hermann Health Hospital
Houston, Texas
Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital has expanded its facility dog program by welcoming two new canine companions, Stephan and Boris, to its pediatric care team.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Cedars-Sinai Health System
Los Angeles, Calif.
Like many health systems, Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles found itself facing access and administrative challenges — long wait times for patients, time-consuming paperwork for doctors. To address these concerns, they launched an artificial intelligence-powered virtual platform called Cedars-Sinai Connect which, according to a recent study, showed positive results when compared to traditional physician recommendations.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Nebraska Medicine
Omaha, Neb.
Nebraska Medicine has become the first medical center in the world to use allogeneic CAR T-cell therapy to treat multiple sclerosis (MS).
Prevention and Wellness
MaineHealth
Portland, Maine
At MaineHealth, increasing access to healthy food in the community starts at its hospital campuses.
Prevention and Wellness
Henry Ford Behavioral Health Hospital
Detroit, Mich.
In this conversation, Zaira Khalid, M.D., senior staff geriatric psychiatrist at Henry Ford Behavioral Health Hospital, discusses the unique physical, emotional, and social needs of patients over 65 and more.
Prevention and Wellness
Women & Infants Hospital
Providence, R.I.
In this conversation, Women & Infants Hospital's Shannon Sullivan, president and chief operating officer, and Caron Zlotnick, Ph.D., director of behavioral medicine research, discuss the stigma surrounding maternal mental health.
Prevention and Wellness
Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital
Lebanon, N.H.
Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital’s accredited Sleep Center offers treatment for sleep disorders in adults and children who are over age 3. The hospital, part of Dartmouth Health, serves communities in the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire.
Prevention and Wellness
The Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center (ACNC) is celebrating three decades of groundbreaking research that has significantly improved the health and development of children worldwide.
Prevention and Wellness
Dartmouth Health
Lebanon, N.H.
The Aging Resource Center, part of the health system’s Geriatric Center of Excellence, offers free educational classes, support and services to improve the minds, bodies and spirits of older adults and their families.
Prevention and Wellness
St. Joseph Hospital
Bangor, Maine
More than half of women and nearly one in three men have experienced sexual violence involving physical contact during their lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Prevention and Wellness
Kent Hospital
Warwick, R.I.
Kent Hospital’s Spaulding Rehabilitation teams offer inpatient and outpatient services, caring for patients recovering from sports injuries, stroke, traumatic brain injury, amputations, concussions, Lyme disease, Parkinson’s disease and more.
Prevention and Wellness
Elizabethtown Community Hospital
Elizabethtown N.Y.
To reduce social isolation and loneliness among older adults and help improve their health and well-being, Elizabethtown (N.Y.) Community Hospital launched the Community Friendship Volunteer Program in fall 2024.
Workforce
Endeavor Health
Evanston, Ill.
In this conversation, Dylan Panuska, PsyD, clinical psychologist and manager of behavioral health integration with Endeavor Health, showcases examples of how workforce productivity, retention and patient satisfaction are positively impacted by a key factor: integration.
Workforce
University of Maryland Medical System
Eastern Shore, Md.
More than 1 million people in Maryland live in medically underserved areas — mostly on the state’s rural Eastern Shore. The University of Maryland School of Medicine aims to change that.
Workforce
In this conversation, Joanne M. Conroy, M.D., CEO and president of Dartmouth Health, and 2024 chair of the AHA Board of Trustees, shares how Dartmouth Health has implemented workforce solutions that can be successful anywhere.
Workforce
In this conversation, Kimberly Wozneak, national lead for Age-Friendly Health Systems, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, discusses how the VHA is weaving four foundational age-friendly principles into its care to support the growing number of aging veterans.
Workforce
East Alabama Medical Center
Opelika, Ala.
East Alabama Health, like many health systems, is facing a shortage of nursing professionals. To address the problem, EAH didn’t have to look far – just to their own employees.
Workforce
UW Health, Madison, Wis.
American Family Children's Hospital, Madison, Wis.
In this special Veterans Day conversation, Anne Mork, R.N., vice president/chief nursing officer of ambulatory and nursing support services at UW Health, and Luke Sticht, former vice president and chief nursing officer of American Family Children's Hospital, discuss the wealth of knowledge that military health care professionals can bring to organizations, and how their service experience keeps them focused on the mission to care for others.
Workforce
In this conversation, Michelle Schweitzer, NP, executive director of advanced practice providers at WakeMed, discusses the growing role her APP colleagues play in health care delivery, and how the rise of these unique caregivers benefits both patients and providers.
Workforce
In this conversation, Stacey Ouellette, director of Behavioral Health Integration with Maine Behavioral Healthcare, discusses the positive impact integrated care has had on workplace productivity and satisfaction, and how it's made their teams more connected across the organization.
Workforce
Petersburg Medical Center
Petersburg, Ala.
Petersburg Medical Center in Petersburg, Alaska, has ushered in a new era of breast cancer detection with the arrival of its advanced 3D mammography machine.