From simple acts of kindness, to being present during delicate aspects of people’s lives, healthcare workers perform heroic deeds. Every day they bring professionalism, passion and dedication to their work and to those in their care.
Across the nation, hospitals in small towns and big cities are celebrating their history and their future. At St. Luke’s Hospital, we too have joined the celebration known as National Hospital Week, May 11-17.
National Hospital Week is a time when people in our community can give recognition to a group of individuals who don’t ask for it, yet perform an important community service everyday. It takes head, hand and heart to do their jobs. Everyday our hospital staff comes to work, not knowing what to expect, but ready for anything.
We may be treating a young mother suffering with breast cancer, or an elderly resident with a broken hip, a little one with high fever, or a lonely widow suffering depression after losing the love of her life. We are here and we provide care for emergency appendectomies, screening colonoscopies, mammograms, infusions, joint replacements, chronic diseases, dementia care, heart attacks and broken bones. The list goes on. We must be ready for any of these patients all of the time.
Please don’t let the name fool you. National Hospital Week isn’t just a celebration of healthcare’s most recognizable buildings – it’s a celebration of the miracles that happen inside them. Healthcare has changed tremendously since 1929, when St. Luke’s Hospital was founded. Amazing technology and advances in treatment have served us well during our life time, but the attention and compassion of our staff here at St. Luke’s Hospital is what truly sets us apart.

To better serve our friends and neighbors, St. Luke’s Hospital affiliated with Carolinas HealthCare System in 2008 for management assistance and purchasing power. We have benefitted from the strength and stability of a larger system, but we are proud to remain a private, not-for-profit community hospital governed by our local Board of Trustees.
St. Luke’s Hospital is fully accredited by The Joint Commission, and we are proud to meet strict requirements for patient care and safety. Every day St. Luke’s Hospital offers a 24-hour, physician-staffed Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit, Medical/Surgical Unit, Orthopedic Unit, Peri-operative Surgical Services and Geriatric Psychiatry, both inpatient and outpatient.
Our hospital also provides physical, occupational, hand and speech therapies in a beautiful new 5,500 square foot therapeutic gym where we are known for providing one-on-one care with a licensed rehab professional.
To assist our physicians in diagnosing illness and monitoring patient outcomes, we have a full service laboratory, in-house pharmacy, respiratory therapy and radiology services that include the latest in digital imaging for CT Scan, MRI, nuclear medicine, mammography and bone density testing.
Other vital departments for patient care and hospital operations are St. Luke’s Physician Network, Medical Records, Social Workers and Case Managers, CAP, Quality, Education and Infection Prevention, Environmental Services, Central Supply, Patient Access and Billing, Accounting, Information Technology, Human Resources, Dietary, Engineering, Materials Management, volunteers and our hospital Foundation.
Our medical staff specialties include: general and orthopedic surgery, ophthalmology, family practice, urology, gerontology and psychiatry. Courtesy and consulting staff specialize in cardiology, dermatology, dentistry, emergency medicine, neurology and radiology.
For a 25-bed community hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital has countless reasons to celebrate our purpose, our service and our success. On Wednesday, we celebrated with a refreshing cup of ice cream, topped with a variety of syrups, nuts and fruit.
To an outstanding group of people who work in this building, I’ll raise my cup of ice cream and wish you all a Happy National Hospital Week! Because of you, St. Luke’s Hospital is here to celebrate exceptional care, close to home.

– article  submitted
by Kathy Woodham