Adena Health System: Called to Serve our Communities in 2020

The year 2020 has been unlike any other, with a global pandemic taking hold just a few months in, disrupting life as we knew it and leaving everyone adjusting and searching for what is considered the new normal. The year for Adena Health System was no different, but the physicians, advanced practice providers and caregivers across the nine-county region that Adena serves learned to adapt, innovate and strive in the face of ever-changing conditions brought on by coronavirus. 

Across the country, the health care industry was pushed to its limits financially, balancing the care needs of those with the virus and those without while maintaining the physical and mental well-being of the health care heroes along the frontlines. Elective surgeries and procedures were even temporarily shut down at one point by the Governor to preserve valuable personal protective equipment and staffing resources. 

Despite all these challenges and demands, Adena persevered. The Health System not only kept its promise to safely care for patients across south central and southern Ohio, but it also grew its presence in local communities, expanded its technology to meet the new needs of patients and built upon existing partnerships to bring more specialized care closer to home for patients and their families.

“This has definitely been an unprecedented year, one that none of us have seen in all our years in healthcare,” said Adena President & CEO Jeff Graham. “Adena’s mission is ‘called to serve our communities’ and I am so proud of the way our providers and caregivers have answered that calling. They not only have responded, but proactively met the challenges of this virus every day to safely provide care our region can trust. It is the strengths and talents of every person who calls themselves an Adena caregiver that we are in the position we are today. We can look towards 2021, not only with hope and promise, but with a foundation of clinical and operational excellence that will lead us for years to come.” 

Adena continued to enhance how it delivers care to patients throughout the region, achieving numerous industry accolades and announcing additional growth. These included:

• Adena Regional Medical Center (ARMC), for a second consecutive year, being named one of America’s 250 Best Hospitals for 2020 by Healthgrades®;
• The Health System being named a Gallup Exceptional Workplace. Now a five-time winner, Adena was one of just 38 organizations in the world to receive this distinction in 2020;    
• ARMC’s Maternity Program being named to Newsweek’s 2020 list of Best Maternity Care Hospitals;
• ARMC being awarded an ‘A’ in the Spring 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade;
• Adena Health Center - Woodlands and Adena Community Pharmacy - Woodlands opening to make care more accessible for Chillicothe’s downtown and east end residents;
• Expanding care in Pickaway County, with the opening of Adena Urgent Care - Circleville;
• Adena Family Medicine - Ironmen Clinic opening to the public to provide more localized care in Jackson County; 
• Adena and Nationwide Children’s Hospital expanding an ongoing partnership to now include 24/7 newborn and pediatric inpatient coverage and other expanded specialty services at ARMC;
• Continuing construction of the new Adena Orthopedic and Spine Institute, scheduled to open on the campus of ARMC in summer 2021;
• Adena Health System receiving positive news from several nationwide credit rating agencies with Moody’s Investors Service affirming the Health System’s A3 rating with a stable outlook and S&P Global assigning its A- rating with a stable outlook; and
• The addition of 29 new physicians and advance practice providers across multiple service lines delivering even more options for comprehensive care. 

“These, and so many other accomplishments over the past year, are keeping care accessible and close-to-home for our patients and families,” added Graham. “While COVID-19 created unique challenges for safe care delivery, I am so proud of our Health System’s response to this virus and many of the initiatives we have implemented as a result, such as telehealth services; curbside labs and testing; expanded specialty services and use of our critical access hospitals in Greenfield and Waverly. These moves, and more, will have lasting positive impacts beyond the pandemic as we continue to be a trusted healthcare partner for our region.”      

For more about Adena Health System, visit us at adena.org, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter @adenamedical.