National Hospital Week set for May 7-13

Don't let the name fool you. Organizers say National Hospital Week isn't a celebration of health care's most recognizable buildings -- it's a celebration of the miracles that happen inside them. According to Ron Ott, president and chief executive officer of Fitzgibbon Hospital, the medical profession is making tremendous strides in many areas.

"Because of those advances, we're able to offer many patients new hope that may have eluded us as recently as a few years ago," Ott said. "From the Women's Center to the surgery recovery room, Fitzgibbon Hospital is a place of new beginnings and we are all very fortunate to be part of it."

This inspiring side of medicine is depicted in the National Hospital Week theme for 2006, "Where Miracles Happen Every Day." The annual event, slated for Sunday, May 7, to Saturday, May 13, is designed to unite hospitals and highlight their role in communities from coast to coast, officials said.

"We are truly proud of our medical staff, nursing staff and all our employees who provide quality healthcare to our patients and work hard to meet the mission of improving the health of the community," Ott said in a news release.

Fitzgibbon Hospital is a private, not-for-profit, community based hospital that constantly strives to fulfill its mission, which is "to improve the health of the community." That mission has spread far since the early days of the hospital, when ground was broken on Brunswick Street in Marshall in March of 1922 for construction of the original John Fitzgibbon Memorial Hospital.

The organization now includes a full range of inpatient and outpatient services; five clinics; several outpatient clinics and community services that include home health, hospice and Homemakers & More services.

Operations also include the Buckner Wellness Center; The Living Center, a long-term care facility with its own Alzheimer's Unit; a state-of-the-art rehab facility complete with an aquatic therapy pool; a nine-bed skilled nursing facility and more.

Marshall Mayor Connie Latimer said the community should be proud of the area's primary health care facility.

"The community is extremely fortunate to have facilities like Fitzgibbon Hospital and to have the services it provides," she said.

Ott said community support always has been, and will continue to be, a very important component in the success of Fitzgibbon Hospital.

"We are pleased that our community is so supportive and has always been so much a part of what we do," Ott said.

National Hospital Week dates back to 1921 when it was suggested by a magazine editor who hoped a communitywide celebration would alleviate public fears about the facilities.

The idea caught on and today National Hospital Week is the nation's largest annual health care event.