Zeeland Community Hospital Honored with Top Patient Safety Award

ZEELAND, Mich., March 14, 2022 – Spectrum Health Zeeland Community Hospital has received the highest patient safety award from the Economic Alliance for Michigan for the fourth consecutive year.

The awards recognize hospitals in Michigan that consistently achieve high performance marks and improvements in patient safety and quality of care.

In observance of National Patient Safety Awareness Week, the Economic Alliance for Michigan (EAM), a nonprofit group comprised of Michigan’s largest employers and unions, announced the recipients of the 2022 EAM Hospital Patient Safety Awards today.

“Receiving this award for the fourth consecutive year demonstrates that protecting our patient’s safety has always been and remains our top priority,” said Bill Hoefer, president of Spectrum Health Zeeland Community Hospital. “Even during a pandemic, our team has remained vigilant and dedicated to preventing hospital-acquired conditions from occurring. Congratulations to our team for achieving this safety standard.”

Zeeland Community Hospital is one of just 13 hospitals in Michigan who earned an EAM Hospital Patient Safety Award, a decrease from 18 recipients the previous year. Spectrum Health United Hospital in Greenville also received the excellent rating.

“There is little doubt the pandemic contributed to a decreased level of patient safety. Hospitals had to deal with exuberant numbers of critical ill patients, along with an overworked and burned-out staff,” said Bret Jackson, president, EAM. “Hopefully, all medical providers can put safety related practices they learned during the pandemic to protect patients well into the future.”

Hospitals receiving the Excellence Award participated in the annual Leapfrog Group survey and maintained all “A’s” with Hospital Safety Grade in four consecutive grading terms (Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021).

Zeeland Community Hospital has received 11 consecutive “A” grades dating back to 2016.

“Thank you and congratulations to all our well-deserving award recipients for their dedication to transparency and patient safety,” stated Jackson. “Your hard work, not only saves lives, but also saves dollars for patients and employers.”

People are at the heart of everything we do, and the inspiration for our legacy of outstanding outcomes, innovation, strong community partnerships, philanthropy and transparency. Corewell Health is a not-for-profit health system that provides health care and coverage with an exceptional team of 60,000+ dedicated people—including more than 11,500 physicians and advanced practice providers and more than 15,000 nurses providing care and services in 21 hospitals, 300+ outpatient locations and several post-acute facilities—and Priority Health, a provider-sponsored health plan serving more than 1.3 million members. Through experience and collaboration, we are reimagining a better, more equitable model of health and wellness. For more information, visit corewellhealth.org.

Contact:
Alexis Bolo Neal
Senior Communications Specialist
Email: alexis.boloneal@corewellhealth.org