The entire Methodist Hospital campus in Arcadia will be smoke-free (or smoker-free) in the near future, an initiative announced Thursday morning (March 15, 2012) by new President/CEO Dan Ausman.
Dan Ausman
Speaking in front of more than 40 attendees at the monthly Arcadia Chamber of Commerce Networking Breakfast in the Sunset Room of the Santa Anita Golf Course, sponsored by Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary, Ausman said as the community health care provider, Methodist needs to lead by example and not have patients see hospital staff smoking. Although it may sound counter-intuitive, Ausman says the hospital wants to encourage a healthy lifestyle and offer suggestions for taking steps to prevent illness so that residents will make fewer trips to the hospital.
He also said Methodist Hospital will be more pro-active in “figuring out” the health of the community in order to serve them better. He said the three primary areas of focus of Methodist are quality of care and services, safety, and patient satisfaction.
Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary sponsor banner at check-in table.
Health care, including the co-called “Obama Care,” is also an important issue that Methodist needs to figure out how to navigate for patients as well as its own staff. Ausman said Methodist pays $10 million in health care for the hospital’s own staff of 2,000 employees and their 2,500 dependents. “We can’t afford increases in premiums,” he said. He also said that with “no substantive change coming from D.C.,” the hospital needs to “figure out how to navigate our own future.”
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— By Scott Hettrick