I have some wonderful news to share with you. Rideout Memorial Hospital has been recognized by HealthGrades as being among the top 5% of the nation’s hospitals in pediatric patient safety and Fremont Medical Center received a 5-Star rating for maternity care for the third consecutive year! HealthGrades’ Pediatric Patient Safety Excellence Award was received after HealthGrades studied more than 2,000 hospitals in 19 states and independently assessed five million patient records from 2006, 2007 and 2008 to identify hospitals that outperformed their peers based on objective criteria.

This is the first time HealthGrades has studied pediatric patient safety in American hospitals. Their assessment included the following eight pediatric patient-safety incidents: accidental puncture or laceration, pressure ulcer, avoidance of collapsed lung, postoperative hemorrhage or hematoma, postoperative respiratory failure, postoperative sepsis, postoperative wound dehiscence (wound-site breakdown), and central venous catheter-related infections. The top-performing hospitals had a 29.48% lower risk, on average, of experiencing one or more of these events compared with all other hospitals. If all hospitals performed at this level, more than 6,000 pediatric patient-safety events might have been avoided over the study’s time span. And, Fremont Medical Center received it’s third-straight 5-star rating for excellence in maternity care. The 5-star rating places FMC, which brought more than 2,000 babies into the world last year, in the top 15% of the hospitals studied. These awards are a direct result of our medical staff, nurses and employees working together to provide excellent service and care for our patients. In fact, we are one of only four hospitals in California to receive the Pediatric Patient Safety Excellence Award and be 5-Star rated in Maternity Care in the same year.

These honors not only validate the hard work we do, but they are also great reminders of how well we serve our community in meeting our mission. I am extremely proud of every FRHG employee, and today, I am particularly proud of our maternity and pediatric departments for these special honors. Your hard work, dedication, and passion have been recognized. So congratulations, keep up the tremendous work, and thank you for representing our organization so brilliantly!

Terri Hamilton, CEO, Fremont-Rideout Health Group