Dear Community Member,

In April, we opened the North Building and Kittredge Surgery Center at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. We are proud to add this four-story facility to our campus. Its presence allows us to expand our surgical capabilities, take care of patients in spaces that are private and comfortable, (32 single-occupancy patient rooms comprise the new North 3 wing), expand our world-class Joint Replacement Center and build 21st-century Laboratory capacity. On the surface, we have constructed a new building, but this milestone in our history is more than that. This addition symbolizes the many initiatives that are taking place at Cooley Dickinson that create and sustain community care. For these we can all be proud as Cooley Dickinson’s physicians and employees continue an ongoing pursuit of being a national model for community hospitals.

In the past two years, Cooley Dickinson Hospital has been recognized nationally for our work in delivering quality care to patients. Cooley Dickinson have been profiled in Newsweek magazine and recognized by CareScience™ as one of only six hospitals in the country to achieve both Select Practice National Quality Leader status, a distinction given to the top 1 percent of hospitals nationwide, and designation as a top-performing hospital in three out of seven categories. We are leaders and mentors to others in a national program that was introduced by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to prevent unnecessary deaths in hospitals. In addition, with strong support from our medical staff, we have expanded our cardiovascular services and oncology/cancer care program and in July, opened the Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery Program at Cooley Dickinson. Representing primary care and a range of medical specialties, more than 100 new physicians have joined Cooley Dickinson since September 2004. And we seek to add the highest caliber doctors to a remarkable medical staff. We continue to recruit experienced nurses and other talented staff to provide care to the increasing number of patients who are choosing Cooley Dickinson for their care.

Cooley Dickinson Hospital has embarked on a process with advice from the Dartmouth Center for Evaluative Clinical Sciences and IHI on how to transform the care we provide at the bedside. Nurses, physicians and other clinical staff lead this effort to drive quality, patient safety and process improvement. The mantra of these improvements is patient-centered care. The commitment demonstrated by these staff members and physicians has already provided meaningful changes in how our work is done.

Cooley Dickinson Hospital is doing great things, but we are not done yet. Until now, the organization has had great staff working around facility issues rather than having a facility that helps staff provide the best of care. Our new facility provides easier flow in our operating rooms, easier placement of patients and provides a state-of-the-art facility for our specialists. Patients benefit from increased privacy, more streamlined nursing care and a more pleasant environment for their loved ones and relatives.

Though we are proud of our accomplishments to date, we know that providing quality healthcare takes continuous improvement and that it is our job to keep the focus on providing quality medicine. At Cooley Dickinson, we will continue to pursue the highest standards when it comes to delivering patient care.

Building a model community hospital is more than a slogan. This phrase represents a vision that we hold —and that others within our organization —share. This means that we would be comfortable sending our loved ones to Cooley Dickinson because we know they would get world-class care here. It means that care is technically excellent and resources to tertiary partners are available. It means that Cooley Dickinson is an environment where people are committed to doing what is right for every patient every time.

We are proud to be making a great community better.

Craig N. Melin
President/CEO,
Cooley Dickinson Hospital