From May 12-19, Southwest Memorial Hospital will be participating in National Hospital Week, celebrating those who work in health care and who are “dedicated to providing quality care to patients who visit health care facilities,” and are inviting the community to participate.
“It’s a way that we can come together and recognize everybody in one week,” said Meghan Higman, Southwest Health Systems director of Inpatient Services and Education. “We have games and competitions, and this year we’re doing a community food drive, which is internally a competition.”
The randomly drawn teams of hospital employees will compete throughout the week to see who can gather the most food items to donate. The winning team will receive a pizza party.
The first community event is a 5k run/walk that will kick off hospital week on Saturday, May 11. The 5k will start and end at the hospital, with check-in beginning at 8:30 a.m.
The 5k will begin at 9 a.m. Families and leashed dogs are invited to participate. Registration can be done online, but preregistration is encouraged. All who are interested are welcome to join.
Registration can be completed online at https://forms.office.com/r/yYmGDMup3u
Throughout the week, starting May 12, hospital employees will participate in activities based on a certain theme.
“On each day, employees are encouraged to dress up as the theme and participate in a daily activity,” Southwest Health System Marketing Specialist Jaycee Hart told The Journal. “Some examples include cowboys versus aliens with a team roping event, heroes versus villains with a heads-up game and country versus rock with a ‘name that tune’ event.”
Coffee carts, an ice cream bar, pancake breakfast and a frito pie lunch are also planned to treat the staff.
“It’s just a time to celebrate health care and celebrate the people that make health care happen,” Higman said. “My big goal is emphasizing that health care workers deserve a time to be recognized for their hard work and dedication to the community, and this is that opportunity to give back and say thank you and have recognition for them.”
The food drive will take place May 13-19. Nonperishable food items can be donated in bins at the main entrance of the hospital, in the cafeteria and at the community picnic that will take place on Friday, May 17.
Most needed food items include peanut butter, jelly, canned tuna and chicken, canned fruit, gluten-free items, healthy snacks (nuts, dried fruits, granola, crackers, snack bars, etc.), as well as ramen, salad dressing, “hearty” soups, spaghetti sauce, shortening and cooking oil.
The community picnic will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will include free frito pie for attendees. There will also be games, prizes and more. Attendees are asked to bring their own chairs or blankets.
In addition, the hospital will be holding a birthday party at the picnic for all babies born at Southwest Memorial in the past year. Cake will be provided to those families and their friends at noon.
Higman shared that a bouncy house will be present at the picnic, and EMS and the flight for life team will have a set up as well.
“We’re having tacos and inviting people to bring their blankets and their lawn chairs and come to hang out and visit and meet people from the hospital,” Higman said.
Hart shared that National Hospital Week is a way for the community to honor health care workers.
“National Hospital Week provides a chance to showcase our health system, health care workers and the innovative ways they support and engage with our community. This annual event celebrates the history, technology and dedicated professionals that make health care facilities examples of trust and caring,” Hart said.
Community involvement is key, especially for hospitals and health care resources in rural communities.
“It is important for the community to be involved so we can all come together to celebrate health care in our small area. We are lucky to have the amount of health care services we do in our small rural area and this is a perfect time to celebrate that,” Hart said.
