Around And About The Otis Health Care Center

Community Qualitative Healthcare Assessment Scores High Marks

Area residents and second homeowners are encouraged to attend a public meeting that will be held at the Townshend Town Hall on Thursday, November 18, to discuss the draft community healthcare report for Grace Cottage. After public input is received at this meeting, the draft will be finalized and published on Grace Cottage’s website on January 1, 2005, and available in hard copy format on January 25, 2005.

This community reporting process is an outgrowth of the Vermont legislature’s Act 53, and involves all 14 hospitals in Vermont. The report includes the cumulative results of satisfaction surveys completed by patients after they leave the hospital (conducted by a national organization called Press Ganey), quality measures determined by the Centers for Medicare Services, and surveys completed by members of the community, either on Grace Cottage’s website, or in interviews with volunteers or Grace Cottage staff members.

The results of the 26 surveys completed on the web and the 47 personal interview surveys were almost uniformly positive about Grace Cottage. The information gathered will be incorporated into a statewide health resource allocation plan, and used to update Grace Cottage’s strategic plan.

92% of all respondents rated overall healthcare services at Grace Cottage as either “excellent” or “very good”. Comments about Grace Cottage almost unanimously fit into one or all of the following categories: “friendly, professional atmosphere that makes patients feel safe and cared for”. “Compassionate and community-oriented.” “Dedicated staff, excellent doctors and nurses, personal care.” “Comfortable, bright, homey.” When asked what could be done to improve services, 50% of the respondents identified eldercare as an area that needs more focus in the West River Valley.

An appreciative family member writes: When we walked into the Grace Cottage Emergency Room for treatment of a problem my husband was having with his ear, the doctor said to us, ‘Don’t worry about paperwork or payment right now—money isn't first around here, health is.’ My husband and I looked at one another and we both almost had heart attacks— we’d never experienced anything like this before!” Cathy Fratino Westport, CT