Hi everyone. I'm Dana Jay and this is Henry Ford health system news,
a new newscast. We bring you every couple of weeks.
Our goal each time is to tell you about the accomplishments of Henry Ford and
the people who make them possible.
We start by shining the spotlight on a major recognition for our team.
You may have heard in March Henry Ford hospital nurses learned the exciting news
that they'd earned the magnet designation,
the highest honor in nursing for the first time in the history of the hospital
and our health system,
the socially distanced team got the call just as they were going to battle with.
COVID-19. Even as we continue to navigate the pandemic,
we're taking a moment to look back at how laying the groundwork for achieving
this distinction of excellence prepared our team for the toughest challenge of
their careers. Registered nurse,
Monique Morris is back on B6 family medicine at Henry Ford hospital.
She knows it's where she belongs. Even after a personal battle with COVID-19.
I said, I'm a nurse. That's what I am. And I would like to return to work,
to practice as a nurse.
It's that commitment embodied by every nurse on every floor of the hospital that
the magnet appraisers recognized when they visited during the final stage of the
designation process,
Morris has seen that can do spirit from every angle.
I was blessed to have ended up in the same place where I work.
She was among the first critically ill COVID-19 patients at Henry Ford hospital
spending nine days on a ventilator.
She says her return to work was emotional.
She eased back in by screening the same colleagues who cared for her while she
was so sick, the amount of emotions, because the people that I saw,
I remember them from taking care of me because of their eyes.
They were covered in gowns and goggles and Seychelles. And you know,
I go to screen them and I look at their eyes and I go, you took care of me.
You were my nurse,
Sharon Alejandriaa nurse unit educator for interventional radiology says
magnet designation was a booster shot of confidence.
As the pandemic took over the hospital,
as she reflects pride in emotion wash over her,
I have felt for years that were magnet status. Um,
but knowing that, you know,
we're recognized what it is and the value of that, um,
made it easier for all of us to know we're in this together and that
we all,
we will make it through only 8% of hospitals in the United States raise the
magnet flag,
demonstrating an extraordinary commitment to professional development
collaboration. And of course, patient care.
It takes years to lay the foundation,
chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care services, Gwen Gnam.
So achieving magnet is a culture. It's a journey.
It's not a project that you complete in X number of months.
You have to set up a culture of excellence and professionalism,
and always trying to strive for more and continuous improvement with COVID cases
at Bay, there's now time to reflect and celebrate the accomplishment.
Nurses are getting their magnet pins to wear with pride,
a symbol of their excellence and ability to handle whatever comes their way.
I think going on the magnet journey helped us build our resilience.
It helped us build our team and I've never seen the kind of teamwork that we saw
during the pandemic while magnet is a nursing designation.
It's something the entire Henry Ford hospital team can take pride in.
Gnam says the committee noted a culture of collaboration and mutual respect.
Volunteers are stepping up to help put an end to the pandemic by volunteering
for the Moderna vaccine trial.
Henry Ford is the only healthcare system in Michigan chosen to participate in
the double blind study. Victor McFadden,
who recently retired from environmental services at Henry Ford is among the
first enrollees to get the vaccine.
He says his plans are on hold due to the pandemic and he wants to help.
So retired. I was moving in March.
I have everything packed, ready to go.
Then this happened and it's devastated the whole
world and the fire can a jump start, give it a jump.
Start to try to find some, some type of way to get this over with.
I'm all willing to do it.
Researchers at sites across the country are working to enroll 30,000
volunteers as quickly as possible.
Researchers are particularly interested in recruiting healthcare workers and
people over the age of 65. For more information on the study,
you can go to Henry ford.com/modernavaccine.
This year to Henry Ford medical group physicians are marking a major milestone
50 years with Henry Ford. That's dr.
Rihad Farah and dr. Ghaus Malik from their current Henry Ford photos.
And here they are when they were just a little bit younger, dr.
Farah began his career as a resident at Henry Ford hospital in 1970,
since then he's dedicated his professional life to advancing the field of
urology publishing scores of journal articles and receiving many awards and
accolades.
He served as an active member of the Henry Ford hospital medical association,
executive committee since 1983. When dr.
Ghaus Malik came to Henry Ford as a resident, 50 years ago,
he planned to return to Pakistan once he was done training in neurosurgery,
but he tells me fate and a couple of mentors stepped in along the way.
The first day, July one.
1970. I remember at that time,
they were only 84 program places that offer training in neurosurgery.
And there was only one doctor Robert Knighton.
The mentor seen here in the middle who urged Malik to stay in Detroit.
Once he finished his training.
I felt an honor to be asked by my
chairman to actually join the department and be part of the
facility for faculty at Henry Ford,
which offered not only just the practice opportunity,
but offered educational opportunity training
residents, as well as researcher opportunities.
Over the years, Malik has trained more than 75 neurosurgeons,
not including the dozen or so currently in residency at Henry Ford.
The favorite is when you see young people come in,
who are not exposed to that discipline,
and you provide them the opportunity
to learn not only just the science,
but the practice of it, the ethics of it,
patient doctor relationships, those are very,
very critical issues.
Malik would also team up with another chairman of neurosurgery,
James Ausman to advance neurosurgery around the world.
Often traveling in every corner of the globe to teach Malik is noted for
treatment of cerebral aneurysms, arteriovenous, malformations,
and complex tumors that has brought patients from every part of the world to his
operating rooms at Henry Ford hospital and Henry Ford West Bloomfield hospital.
The first person coming in here was from Argentina.
It was, uh,
a physician who had a very
complex, um, blood vessel malformation.
I asked Malik what stands out when he looks back on his time with Henry Ford
medical group?
I think the character of the institution, uh,
really stands out, uh,
be able to collaborate with the rest of the
physicians for the care of patients, uh,
getting consultations, getting advice, getting the support,
and similarly providing that support to the other physicians.
As they have for 50 years,
his colleagues can continue to count on his support and his patients can count
on his expertise.
You know, people ask me, patients ask me and so forth. Uh, doc,
you're not going to retire.
And my standard answer is I haven't thought about it.
And no one has suggested to me.
Dr. Malik has been recognized with a number of awards and honors.
He's a member of the society of neurological surgeons and he received the Henry
Ford medical associations, lifetime achievement award,
not to mention all three of his children,
plus a daughter-in-law have worked alongside him at Henry Ford West Bloomfield
hospital.
This time our featured photo comes from Henry Ford allegiance hospital,
that's labor and delivery nurses,
Stacy Steenrod and Sarah Halsey reuniting with baby Arya and her mom.
When the nurses first met Arya,
she was breached and they delivered her curbside.
That's the kind of quick thinking expertise that just land at Henry Ford
allegiance hospital, a Newsweek magazines,
annual list of the best maternity hospitals in the country.
You don't have to win an award to send us your photos.
We just want to see what you and your team are up to.
So send us your pictures or your story ideas to newstips@hfhs.org.
Thanks for watching. And I'll see you around.