Let's Break Ground!

I would like to introduce Marsha Ingle, community education specialist as one of our guest bloggers. Marsha - take it away...

On a hot Thursday evening, the community celebrated the groundbreaking for Texas Health Azle’s new Outpatient Services and Education Building. There were carnival games, food, prizes and even a text messaging contests. Many families were also able to pick up some school supplies for the new school year. As we celebrated on the dirt where a building stood just a few weeks ago, I had to reflect a bit about the past.

The old Lester’s building is gone and some small part of me is sad to see it go. During the last nine years, I have many fond memories of working and teaching in this one of a kind place. I would like to list a few things I will miss about the dearly departed building. First are the many poles. As many know, these poles support the ceiling since there were not many walls. While teaching exercise or line dancing classes, it was always fun to “dance around the poles.”

The second thing I will miss about Lester’s is the really cool basements. There were doors in the floor which lead to a staircase into the basement. It was always fun to carry items up and down the stairs wondering if I secured the doors so they would not fall. Of course, after the first time of NOT securing the doors, it was much easier to remember!


In light of all the many things I will miss about the old building, I try to comfort myself with thoughts of what I will be gaining. There will be three classrooms instead of one. With more space, we can offer more options such as support groups. Organizations, such as the Alzheimer’s Association, have already been in contact to discuss future endeavors. What a comfort it must be to know there is support available if someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia related illness. Support groups can not only help the affected person, but also the family and the caregivers. What a wonderful service to offer the community of Azle.

In addition to the new classes, there will be the latest in audio visual aids. Of course, it will be hard to retire the overhead projector. It is also time to retire the VCR. This may not mean much to most people, but it was getting very difficult to find VCR tapes. It is even tougher to find cassette tapes. Recently, I was talking to a sales person about music for my line dancing class. I asked it the music was available in the cassette tapes. He asked, “Available in what?”

I could go on and on. I could even talk about the additional parking when the project is complete. Imagine coming to the hospital and NOT circling several times for a parking spot. I cannot fit into one article all of the many great things about the new building. So, I will just leave you with the best thing about the new building. With more space and better equipment, we can teach more people how to have better health. What better investment can there be.



- Marsha Ingle

Texas Health Azle receives quality award

I am very excited to let you know that Texas Health Azle has been recognized by the Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Awards program. Our hospital has received the highest award possible, the Award of Excellence. Out of 227 participating Texas hospitals, only 27 were presented with the Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Award of Excellence! The award recognizes hospitals that are active in quality improvement and have an outstanding appropriate care measure (ACM). For acute care hospitals, the ACM consists of 24 quality indicators: eight AMI, four heart failure, seven pneumonia and five surgical care measures.

To earn the Award of Excellence, a hospital had to achieve or maintain performance between 90 and 100 percent on the Appropriate Care Measure, and to have met all other awards requirements. These included passing validation of three quarters of data (quarters 1-3, 2008), having mortality scores within the projected range and submitting the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey (HCAHPS) data.

I especially would like to thank each staff member for their personal contributions – whether it was ensuring that aspirin was given to a heart attack patient on arrival, completing smoking cessation education prior to discharge or giving prophylactic antibiotics to surgery patients, their hard work has not gone unnoticed. It is because of their collective efforts that we have been recognized for demonstrating excellence in health care quality through our improved performance on national quality measures.

Even better than the award, however, is the knowledge that we provide outstanding quality patient care. When the national quality measures of the awards program are implemented 100 percent of the time, patients’ lives are improved and may even be saved.

I am proud to be a part of this wonderful healthcare team and have a great deal of pride for what we have accomplished!