In the first quarter of 2023, I’ve been thinking a lot about numbers – though not always the numbers you might expect.
We’ve spent a lot of time over the past few years talking about them: Numbers of COVID patients in our hospitals. Numbers of vaccinations given. Numbers that make up our operating margin, revenues, expenses and costs of travel labor.
These are all important, no doubt about it.
But I have been reflecting on some different numbers that I believe better depict St. Charles’ impact on Central Oregon and illustrate our mission in action.
To provide the care our communities need, it takes more than 4,500 caregivers working side-by-side on the frontlines and behind the scenes. While I can’t possibly list all contributions from every department, I wanted to share a few that stand out.
In 2022 ...
- We provided almost 100,000 patient visits in our Emergency Departments at all four hospitals – that’s a new patient every 13 minutes
- We provided more than 80,000 respiratory therapy procedures – a 70% increase from two years ago
- Our ambulatory clinics welcomed nearly 440,000 visits by people seeking care across a wide variety of specialties
- Our Food Services teams served more than 1 million meals across all campuses. That equates to a line of cafeteria trays side-by-side stretching from Redmond to Portland and back again
- We activated the trauma team nearly 1,000 times last year – or an average of three times per day
- The Lab team completed 1.2 million tests
- Our Pharmacy filled more than 102,000 prescriptions, up 28% from the year before
- Our Urgent Care teams provided 48,000 patient visits – an increase of more than 9,000 over the previous year
- The Palliative Care team helped 1,500 patients through more than 3,000 visits
- More than 2,200 babies were born in Bend and Madras
- We created and processed almost 2.8 million pounds of dirty linen – that’s roughly the same weight as nine blue whales!
When I think about these statistics, I know that excellent patient care and the many services that support it simply isn’t possible without our incredible employees, physicians, providers and volunteers.
I am enormously proud to support them and to lead this great organization.
Sincerely,
Steve
