Stamford Hospital

Hospital
Name = Stamford Hospital
Location = Stamford, Connecticut
Country = US
Beds = 305
Affiliation = NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System in conjunction with Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons| Certification = Level II | Speciality = Community hospital
Founded = 1896
Website = http://www.stamfordhospital.org |

Stamford Hospital is a private, nonprofit, community and teaching hospital in Stamford, Connecticut, with 440 affiliated doctors.

The hospital has 305 inpatient beds in medicine, surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, psychiatry, and medical and surgical critical care units.

As of 2005, Stamford Hospital had a total of 2,254 employees. ["2006 Book of Business Lists, Facts and People" published by "The Fairfield County Business Journal" and "The Westchester County Business Journal" of Westfair Communications Inc., White Plains, N.Y., early 2006, "Fairfield Hospitals" list, page 57]

Tandet Center, a nursing home next door to the main building, was operated by the hospital before the nursing home recently was sold. Sixty-five workers at the Tandet Center and another 100 at the hospital are represented by the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, affiliated with the Service Employees International Union.

The hospital provides care with no deductible for workers who use the hospital's own services.

Brian Grissler is president of the hospital.

In early 2007 the hospital started a "Familial Colorectal Cancer Registry" for individuals and families with a history of colorectal or associated cancers. The private registry is the first of its kind in Connecticut. Registry members can get general screening information and updates on the latest research along with access to the registry Web site. ["Greenwich residents could benefit from state's Colorectal Cancer Registry", article (no by-line) in "The Greenwich Post", March 23, 2007]

To amuse patients, some volunteers at the hospital roam the halls dressed up as clowns, calling themselves Health and Humor Associates (or "HAHA"). [Parry, Wynne, "HAHAs sprad laugher to hospital patients", article, "The Advocate" of Stamford, Connecticut, December 20, 2007, Stamford edition, pp 1, A4]

The hospital plans to expand its Emergency Department in a $40 million project. The project received $358,623 in federal funding from the 2008 federal budget. [Porstner, Donna, "Stamford to get $7M from feds", "The Advocate" of Stamford, Connecticut, Stamford edition, page 1]

The hospital has five buildings on a site of about 20 acres, mostly fronting West Broad Street. The physician's building was constructed in the 1920s. The Whittingham Pavilion opened in 2001. The average hospital room is small at convert|250|sqft|m2. Most new, state-of-the-art hospital rooms as of early 2006 were 500 or convert|600|sqft|m2. The hospital's newer maternity ward has rooms of 600 to convert|700|sqft|m2.Sciaudone, Christiana, "Stay or go? Hospital considers its options", "The Advocate" of Stamford, January 8, 2007]

In early 2006, the hospital actively considered moving to a new, undetermined site, ideally 30 to 50 acres. A move would have allowed for easier maintenance of buildings and easier expansion, hospital officials said. They estimated the cost to build a new hospital somewhere between $250 and $500 million.

Awards and recognition

In 2004, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations gave the hospital won the annual Ernest A. Codman Award for creating a protocol to maintain correct blood glucose levels in critically ill patients. The new protocol cut the death rate among those patients by 29 percent and shortened time spent in the intensive care unit by 11 percent.Lee, Richard, "Healed Hospital: Ernst & Young lauds CEO for getting health system off life support", news article, Business section, "The Advocate" of Stamford, Connecticut, July 26, 2007, pp C1, C2]

The American Nursing Credentialling Center in 2005 gave the hospital an award for excellence in nursing services. Stamford Hospital was one of 168 hospitals in the country to receive the award. In 2007 Ernst & Young LLP gave Grissler, the hospital president, its Entrepreneur of the Year award in the "social enterprise" category.

Cardiology services

The hospital's 32-bed Cardiology Department expanded its services in August 2005 when the hospital began offering emergency angioplasty. By early 2007, the hospital will be able to perform open heart surgery and elective angioplasty. The Richard & Hinda Rosenthal Cardiology Unit recently opened, a 24-bed unit that gives "more acute cardiac patients (care) in a warmer, more home-like environment," according to the hospital. The unit will include eight beds for patients who need additional specialized care."Stamford Hospital is the hospital with a heart," by Nancy Robinson, article in "Healthy Connections" advertising supplement to "The Advocate" of Stamford and "Greenwich Time", page 10July 30, 2006]

Tully Health Center

The full, official name of the center at 32 Strawberry Hill Ave. is "Daniel P. & Grace I. Tully & Family Health Center" after the Tully family who made a significant donation to The Campaign for Stamford Hospital. The Center opened in the spring of 2002 at the site of the former St. Joseph's Hospital and includes diagnostic imaging services, ambulatory surgery, the Women's Breast Center, the Heart Institute, the Professional Pharmacy, the Southern Connecticut Vascular Center, the Immediate Care Center, outpatient services for mental health patients, and the Health & Fitness Institute.

Other locations

* At 26 Palmer's Hill Road, the hospital has the Rehab Center, the Children's Health Center, adult day services and Skill Source.
* In June 2006 the hospital announced the opening of the Darien Imaging Center to provide outpatient radiology services at 6 Thorndal Circle.

Alliances and partnerships

* NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System
* The hospital is a major teaching affiliate of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons for teaching programs in internal medicine, family practice, psychiatry, obstetrics/gynecology and surgery.
* The Planetree Alliance, a group of hospitals nationwide focused on patient-centered care.

History

The hospital opened with 30 beds on May 7, 1896 in a mansion on East Main Street, just west of the railroad bridge. [http://www.stamfordhospital.org/tsh/tsh_about_history.html] Stamford Hospital Web site, Web page titled, "About Stamford Hosptial: History" Excerpted from: The Story of Stamford Hospital 1896-1971 by Mary Updegraff; publisher, Stamford Hospital, 1971; accessed August 23, 2006]

John Clasen, a farmer and former state legislator, town assessor and school board member, gave the initial funding for the hospital by selling some of his property. Clasen got the idea to start a hospital from his friend and attorney, Edwin L. Scofield (later the second mayor of Stamford) when Clasen consulted him about how he might contribute funds to some public cause. Clasen raised about $45,000 from the sale of the property.

Clasen's only conditions for the money were that the new institution would be named Stamford Hospital, be nonsectarian andnot discriminate in receiving patients.In 1954, Edgar L. Geibel, a graduate of the Yale School of Public Health, became the chief administrator of the hospital, a position which he held for 23 years until his retirement in 1977. Under his leadership, the hospital experienced significant change and growth, including the 1966-1969 construction of the hospital's signature white pavilion wing designed by Perkins & Will.

Recent history

In the seven years from 1994 to 2000, the hospital lost money in six, including a $22 million loss in one year, and by about 2001 the hospital's pension plan was under funded by $40 million. Brian Grissler became the president and chief executive officer of the hospital in 2001. About 200 employees were laid off in 2002 and 2003, and the hospital was losing market share. The hospital's finances began to improve, and revenues in 2007 were $357 million. That year Ernst & Young LLP gave Grissler its Entrepreneur of the Year award in the "social enterprise" category.

See also

* List of hospitals in Connecticut
* Greenwich Hospital is in neighboring Greenwich, Connecticut.
* Norwalk Hospital is in Norwalk, Connecticut, on the other side of Darien.

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.stamfordhospital.org Stamford Hospital Web page]
* [http://www.nehceu.org/ District 1199, SEIU, a union representing some employees]
* [http://www.dph.state.ct.us/ Connecticut Department of Public Health]
* [http://www.dph.state.ct.us/OPPE/Quality/Hosp_Comparison_2004.pdf Hospital Performance Comparisons] a report released in February 2006 by the state Department of Health