From Danville Regional Health System
Better Health Magazine Archives

I have always believed that the success of Danville Regional Health System should be measured in terms of whether or not we have helped the people of our community to be healthy. After all, this is the central mission of our health system.

By this measurement, 1999 was a very successful year. Over 11,000 people were admitted to our Medical Center as inpatients. Several thousand others were treated on an outpatient basis, either at our Medical Center or at one of our many outpatient healthcare facilities. Hundreds more were touched by the classes, seminars, and events we offered over the course of the year. Through these and many other avenues, we have indeed helped the people of our community to be healthy.

Though this is the ultimate measure of our success, I would be remiss not to report some of the specific advancements we made which contributed to increased health and wellness in the community. I believe that there were ten key things Danville Regional Health System did in 1999 that had a positive impact on the health status of the region:

We renewed and increased the intensity of our efforts to improve customer satisfaction. These efforts occupied more of our time and energy in 1999 than anything else. Our continuing goal is to improve the level of service we provide to you, our customers - which means providing more training, materials, and ongoing monitoring than ever before. We have already made great progress. Just one look at some of the nearly 40 letters each week generated by our new "Catch Me At My Best" program provides evidence that we are making positive changes in the way we care for patients and their families.

We took major steps to increase access to pediatricians to our community. We not only acquired one pediatrics practice, but also opened a second one at our Better Health Center - and recruited several new pediatricians to the area.

We added a second cardiac catheterization lab to our hospital to better serve the any members of our community who suffer from heart disease.

We developed a new Pulmonary Rehab program to help members of our community with breathing problems lead better, more productive lives.

We began offering radioactive prostate seed therapy, which is minimally invasive, less expensive, causes fewer side effects, and has a faster recovery time than traditional prostate cancer treatments.

We brought leading edge services to the community that are rarely seen at community hospitals. Dr. Ronald Hodges became the first physician in Virginia to do a hand surgery known as OrthoSphere® implantation. And we became only the second hospital in Virginia to acquire intermittent modulated radiation therapy technology.

We received approval from the Commonwealth of Virginia to proceed with the development of a new Women's and Children's Center.

We completed construction of a new MRI suite - increasing comfort and convenience for our patients.

We assisted in attracting 11 new specialists to the community.

And last, but not least, we established reserved parking for outpatients at Danville Regional Medical Center.

We are proud of the tremendous progress that has been made in the last year. Yet we know that this is just the beginning. We look forward to exceeding your expectation in the year ahead, as we strive to meet our goal of bringing better health to the community.

Danville Regional Health System Administration