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Letter to the editor

It has been an honor and a privilege to have been entrusted with the opportunity to serve you for the past nearly 30 years in our Emergency Department at St. Luke’s Hospital. We have all indeed been fortunate to have such a gem of a resource in our community.
As a healthcare team, we have taken care of your heart attacks, strokes, trauma and complex other emergencies. We have held your hands and comforted you in your losses and have celebrated with you in your recoveries. We have watched your children grow up and even birthed some of them in our department.
We have continued to stay on the cutting edge of medicine with the resources and equipment we were given. We have been here day and night, weekends and holidays, available to take care of your emergencies, big or small. All with a smile and the question, “How can I help?”
I have had the honor of leading a nationally award-winning department…in the top 2.5% nationally in terms of meeting and exceeding all national standards across the board. We have consistently exceeded national standards for all measures regarding throughput times, quality metrics, and patient satisfaction scores and have been awarded the achievement of “Top Performing Hospital” by our national partners.
It has always been a team effort – physicians, nurses, ER techs, radiology staff, laboratory staff, respiratory therapists, EMS, housekeeping, registration, dietary, central supply and pharmacy. Any needs that exceed our hospital’s resources are quickly stabilized and moved to a higher level of care. Lives are always far more important than any numbers. On this, you have had nearly 30 years of consistent and competent action, worth far more than any words.
We have all played an integral role in weaving the community fabric of our exceptional care, close to home culture. You will be seeing lots of new faces, among both the nursing staff and the physicians as your community hospital allies itself more closely with a regional neighbor. Nevertheless, you should expect to continue receiving the same high quality, personal and expert care to which you have grown accustomed in our small community emergency department.
I have been proud to call this my home and my life’s work. Thank you for entrusting us.

Alison VanFrank Owens, M.D.
Outgoing Medical Director

St. Luke’s Emergency Department