Baystate Health

We are honored to share that Dr. Zoha Khan has been named Hospitalist of the Year at Baystate Franklin Medical Center. “The prestigious award, determined by the votes of her nursing colleagues and the wider care team, is a testament to Dr. Khan’s outstanding commitment to teamwork and patient care,” says Dr. Ben Freda, Chief of Hospital Medicine at Baystate Franklin Medical Center. As a nocturnist, Dr. Khan takes on the critical responsibility of cross covering the hospital and managing medical admissions during the overnight hours. Operating in a setting where she often navigates patient care with a more streamlined team, Dr. Khan consistently demonstrates exceptional communication and leadership, ensuring that every patient receives the highest standard of care. “When Dr. Khan is on overnight, the nursing staff breathes easy. We really feel like we are part of a healthcare team,” shared one of Dr. Khan’s nursing colleagues. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Khan for this well-deserved recognition.

"I have been a nurse for 10 years! To be honest, when I was little, nursing was not something I had in mind. However, when I went to Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School, they required all students to participate in “exploratory” which included taking part in each shop for a week before deciding which one we wanted to establish with. Funny enough I was actually dreading my week in the health shop because I feared it would be boring compared to the more hands-on shops I had already experienced. Little did I know then that it would end up being my chosen career path. Once I started in the health shop something clicked and I knew that is where I wanted to be. Over the years of doing clinicals, I was able to explore many different parts of the health field, but I always gravitated back to a career in nursing. I know it sounds cliche, but I grew up knowing I wanted to do something to help others. What interested me was that nursing has such a broad impact on the lives of others and there are so many different paths to take in nursing. The most rewarding part of the work I do is being able to help not only our patients but my team as well. I cover three practices: Baystate Primary Care-Palmer, Baystate Medical Practice - Quabbin pediatrics-Palmer, and Baystate Convenient Care-Palmer. I love the small-town vibe here at Baystate Wing Hospital. I have been coming here since I was a child for my own healthcare, and this is where I started my career in the field of healthcare. We have such a great friendly group of team members and colleagues here. I always joke that it’s nice to get to know patients and visitors when you're walking in the hallway at Baystate Wing, it’s nice to share a smile with them and help them find where they are going. My words of wisdom for new nurses and novice leaders are to be confident in their abilities and never feel you can’t ask for help. Always be open to learning new things and new ways to approach a situation or a skill. I always keep in mind a quote I heard years ago- when you stop learning, it’s time to retire!" - Sara Kosnicki, Clinical Supervisor #MyBaystateStory

Baystate Medical Center has been ranked among Massachusetts’s top ten Best Hospitals for the 2024-2025 ranking year. According to U.S. News and World Report, Baystate Medical Center was ranked #1 in the Springfield area and #7 among the 104 hospitals in the state. Sam Skura, president of Baystate Medical Center and senior vice president of Hospital Operation for Baystate Health, shares, "This placement is a result of the hard work and dedication of our team. We are proud of our work and continue our commitment to top-quality patient care.” Read more about this achievement: https://bit.ly/4dwpz5q

Engaging dialogues, impactful site visits, and a shared commitment to community health - we were honored to host Massachusetts Secretary Edward M. Augustus Jr. and Senator Adam Gomez on a journey through the collaborative initiatives of Revitalize CDC. From addressing housing habitability concerns to health inequities, together, we can ensure healthier environments for today's community and generations to come. Thank you, Revitalize CDC, for your continued collaboration with Baystate Health, the BeHealthy Partnership ACO, Holyoke Medical Center, C3 (Community Care Cooperative), Trinity Health of New England/Mercy/Wellsense and the Public Health Institute of Western MA. Read more about the visit: https://lnkd.in/gsm-sjJr

A warm congrats to Erin Sevilla, our most recent Baystate Medical Center Daisy Leader Award winner. Erin is nurse manager of VAST (Vascular Access Service Team) and has worked tirelessly to combine two service lines into one comprehensive program. See these excerpts from her award nomination by a colleague: “Erin Sevilla, nurse manager, has grown a whole new department since 2022 after combining two service lines into one (VAST was created to blend the IV and phlebotomy teams). Erin has been a supportive and engaged leader who demonstrated care and compassion to listen to the needs of her staff when they expressed angst as they worked under a new model. Erin supported their transition with gentle patience and positivity. Her calm demeanor and levelheadedness make her easily approachable. Erin has been collaborative with Nursing and Value Analysis in trialing and/or supporting new product rollouts that have decreased hospital costs and directly improved patient safety. She acts as a liaison between the VAST team and the inpatient bedside nurses as well as the nursing unit leaders. Erin does "in the moment" teaching to help nurses perform bedside care…she is an integral member of the CLABSI Task Force and is considered one of the content experts. When asked for assistance with CLABSI concerns, she is quickly willing to prepare documents or PowerPoint slides to help illustrate a learning need or data point. …Erin and her VAST Team members have recently engaged nurses with a fun and interactive learning experience. They are wearing a t-shirt printed with the major blood vessels and heart. They have all the CVAD lines attached to the t-shirt, showing where the lines are placed inside the body. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and staff are learning so much! We are blessed to have Erin as a leader. Her calming energy and passion for "all things VAST" is a gift to all of us and we are stronger because of all Erin does to support our nursing teams and patients!” Thank you, Erin for the outstanding effort you have made to create a successful Vascular Access Service Team!

Sometimes, the simplest of gestures can make the biggest impact on a patient or family’s day. That is the case with our recent Baystate Medical Center DAISY Award winner, Ashley Putnam. Ashley was nominated by a fellow RN on her unit, for her genuine kindness and compassion when working with an agitated patient. “Ashley was caring for a patient who was becoming increasingly agitated throughout the day,” the colleague wrote. “This particular patient was in a double room and expressed feelings of frustration because nobody came to visit her, while her neighbor had many visitors. When dinner came, Ashley spent her whole break time eating a salad with both of the patients in the room. When I walked by, Ashley cheerfully said ‘we’re having a family dinner!’ This simple act was very inspiring and that patient was no longer agitated after that dinner. This is just one example of how she goes above and beyond every day to create compassionate connections with her patients. Ashley is very deserving of the DAISY award.” Congratulations, Ashley for this thoughtful and compassionate gesture that truly helped this patient!

Celebrating a milestone at Baystate Franklin Medical Center! Kudos to our dedicated volunteer, Peter Brush, on clocking in an amazing 10,000 hours of service. Thank you for all you do! Learn more about our volunteer opportunities: https://lnkd.in/e8P9ttXs

We are pleased to welcome Dean Sanpei Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, Baystate Health. With more than 20 years of experience, Dean is an experienced leader in health care strategy and business development with strong legislative acumen as a former Utah State Representative. Most recently he served as CSO at Centura Health, a network of 25 hospitals, 5,000 physicians, and ambulatory care settings in Colorado, Kansas and Utah. At Centura, he led enterprise strategic planning and implementation, service line development, revenue growth, and the crafting and passage of state public policy that significantly expanded health insurance coverage in the state. Prior to Centura, Dean spent almost two decades working in strategy for Intermountain Health, nationally renowned for true integrated delivery system development, value- and risk-based care, and clinical outcomes. While at Intermountain, he was also a Utah State Representative where he served his constituents by leading the appropriations process including transitioning the Medicaid program to accountable care and population health. “Dean brings valuable experience from within the healthcare industry, as well as in-depth perspective on health care legislation from his time as a Utah representative. Most importantly, he has a passion and purpose for mission and community and his leadership strongly aligns with Baystate’s core values of respect, integrity, teamwork, and lifelong learning,” said Peter Banko, Baystate Health President and Chief Executive Officer.

Our team at Baystate Medical Center is demonstrating that environmental stewardship translates to better patient care. The Electrophysiology and Cardiac Catheterization Lab has been honored with the Gold Environmental Excellence Award, recognizing our outstanding waste diversion efforts over the last year. As part of a select group of hospitals to receive this award, Baystate Medical Center is a leader in growing sustainability programs to reduce the environmental footprint of our delivery of care. A key component of our sustainability success is the reprocessing program in the EP and Cath Lab. This program facilitates the collection, recycling, and reprocessing of single-use medical devices that would otherwise end up in landfills. These items are sent to our reprocessing partner, Stryker’s Sustainability Solutions, where they undergo thorough inspection, cleaning, functional testing, sterilization, and packaging to ensure safe reuse, following strict FDA guidelines. And the results are remarkable— we've diverted over 1,200 pounds of waste and mitigated nearly 1,500 metric tons of carbon monoxide emissions. Additionally, we've saved an estimated $500,000 this year in repurchasing our now-reusable donated supplies and products at a discounted rate. Paul Hocking, director of Heart & Vascular Procedures and Invasive Services, who initiated the program two years ago, is thrilled with the results and shares, “This program significantly impacts our operations. It reduces costs and benefits the community by minimizing landfill waste. Stryker estimates that 60 tons of medical waste were diverted from landfills last year alone, and they've planted 150 trees in our name.” Not all medical devices are eligible for reprocessing. The FDA regulates which items can be reprocessed and repackaged, enforcing rigorous quality checks to ensure they remain fully functional. As reprocessing technologies advance, the variety of equipment that can be recycled and reused will continue to expand. Many of the devices and products donated by the EP and Cath Lab contain valuable computer chips and rare metals. Among the most commonly donated items, aside from blood pressure cuffs collected hospital-wide, are steerable introducers and intracardiac echo probes. These sophisticated devices are essential for guiding catheters into the heart and performing ultrasounds to visualize cardiac structures. Our commitment to sustainability through the EP and Cath Lab's reprocessing program exemplifies how healthcare institutions can lead in environmental responsibility while enhancing patient care and operational efficiency.

Three of our hospitals were recently recognized nationally for our commitment to providing high-quality stroke care. Baystate Medical Center, Baystate Franklin Medical Center, and Baystate Wing Hospital have received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Gold Plus quality achievement award. This award recognizes hospitals for their commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines, ultimately leading to more lives saved and reduced disability. Read more about this achievement: bit.ly/4dGSYta