When Scripps Health President and CEO Chris Van Gorder was a police officer, he sustained an injury that required him to frequent the hospital for about a year. Despite his long recovery, he remained positive, a feat he credits to the nurses who cared for him.
"I often reflect on that time, and the one thing positive that I always recall is the care I received — certainly from my doctors and therapists but mostly by the nurses who helped me from the moment I was wheeled into the emergency room to the nurses who helped me transition to my outpatient care," Mr. Van Gorder wrote in a May 9 staff memo obtained by Becker's Hospital Review. Mr. Van Gorder sent the note to Scripps staff and physicians in celebration of National Nurses Week, May 6-12.
While Mr. Van Gorder said the clinical treatment he received was excellent, he told staff what carried him through his recovery was the personalized care he received from nurses.
"The care was always skilled but to be honest, the things I remember most were the supportive words whispered into my ear when something painful was going to be done to me, to the holding of my hand when my nurse realized I felt very alone — and honestly scared. Many people helped me get through that time, but I still feel that gentle hand holding mine."
More articles on leadership and management:
3 more University of Maryland Medical System board members resign, including chairman
Florida Shriners hospital to lay off 60 employees
CMS website that compares physicians lacks adequate data