For Immediate Release: May 7, 2007

For More Information Contact:

Lori L. Henshey

Publications Coordinator

West Virginia Hospital Association

304/353-9747

Fax: 304/344-9745

NATIONAL HOSPITAL WEEK RECOGNIZED MAY 6-12, 2007

CHARLESTON, WV – National Hospital Week will be recognized across America the week of May 6-12. The Week is sponsored nationally by the American Hospital Association (AHA) and recognized locally by the West Virginia Hospital Association (WVHA). This week, hospitals all across West Virginia will recognize Hospital Week with various public activities and events. This year’s theme, Care You Count On, People You Trust, honors hospital employees and recognizes the confidence they inspire within communities. It is a reminder of the crucial role hospitals play in peoples’ lives 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“National Hospital Week,” said Joe Letnaunchyn, President and CEO of the West Virginia Hospital Association, “is a celebration of healthcare workers in West Virginia. The Association recognizes, supports, and takes great pride in, the important role employees bring to our hospitals and healthcare facilities and their outreach to each and every community.”

In West Virginia, dedicated healthcare workers care for their communities in many ways. For example, Boone Memorial Hospital, in rural Madison, has just received, for the second year in a row, a grant from the West Virginia affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Susan Shreve, Executive Director for Information Services and Grants at Boone wrote and won the grant, which will bring the message of We Care for You to the Madison community. Boone Memorial will use the funds to host multiple community educational events and health fairs to education women about the importance of regular mammograms.

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Fairmont General Hospital’s Palliative Care Program helps terminally ill patients and their families make the right decisions during an end-of-life experience. Hospital workers use several end-of-life modules from the End of Life Nursing Education Consortium in California to enhance their professional healthcare role in the death and dying experience.

Not to be forgotten are the special services offered regularly in hospitals throughout West Virginia. These include community healthcare fairs; free cancer and blood pressure screenings; seminars on such topics as CPR and corporate health; continuing education; support groups; and wellness centers.

The formal observation of National Hospital Week occurred when Calvin Coolidge issued an official presidential proclamation in the late 1920s. Since that time, the AHA and its affiliated state hospital associations have carried on the tradition of recognizing hospital employees for one special week each year. National Hospital Week has since become the nation’s largest annual healthcare event, recognizing the work of hospitals and promoting greater awareness in the community through public tours, activities and educational programs.

The WVHA is a not-for-profit statewide organization representing 73 acute and specialty hospitals and health systems across the continuum of care. The WVHA supports its members in achieving a strong, healthy West Virginia by providing leadership in healthcare advocacy, education, information and technical assistance, and by being a catalyst for effective change through collaboration, consensus building and a focus on desired outcomes.