NOTE: This message was emailed to all Ballad Health team members from Alan Levine, President and CEO of Ballad Health, on Tuesday, July 26. Dear colleagues, The national nursing shortage, and shortages of other clinical and nonclinical healthcare professionals, continues to be a chronic problem for hospitals, nursing homes and other sites of care. Ballad Health and our post-acute facility friends continue to be impacted by these shortages – all of which impact our patients, availability of beds and our ability to discharge patients to post-acute facilities. In fact, just yesterday, I read a national story in U.S. News which cited that 87% of nursing home providers are facing shortages with half citing severe shortages; 98% are struggling to hire staff and 73% are concerned they will have to close their facilities. More than 400 nursing homes could close this year, according to the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living.  Hospitals are not immune. Just…

NOTE: This message was emailed on Sunday, June 26, 2022, from Alan Levine, Chairman and CEO of Ballad Health, to all team members Dear Colleague: As always, I want to share with you our most sincere gratitude for the incredible work each of you do. I know the pressure of the labor shortages continues to take its toll. While progress is slow, I can tell you that there has been some progress in terms of hiring and reducing turnover systemwide. We will continue to lean in with our initiatives to hire more nurses and nursing support, and will continue to listen to you as good ideas are shared for how we can continue to reduce turnover. As you may recall, Ballad Health last March announced a two-part bonus we wanted to provide to all team members, with the first part being paid out in March, and the second part being paid out in July. In…

NOTE: This message was emailed to all Ballad Health team members from Alan Levine, CEO and President of Ballad Health, on May 29, 2022. Dear Colleague: Gen. George Patton once said, “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God such men lived.” Those are incredible words spoken by arguably one of America’s most revered military leaders. And he is right.  Each Memorial Day, as we celebrate the time with our families and contemplate the sacrifices made by so many for our freedom, it is easy to forget the time we are spending, the food we are eating and the comforts we are enjoying were all paid for by the blood and suffering of those who gave their lives for people they didn’t even know. And so, yes, General Patton was right. For if these brave men and women did not ever live, who then would have been…

NOTE: This email was sent from Alan Levine, president and CEO of Ballad Health, to all Ballad Health team members on Thursday, May 5. Dear Colleague, Tomorrow marks the beginning of a special week of recognition as Ballad Health celebrates each of you during National Nurses Week and Healthcare Week.  Nurses Week officially begins Friday, May 6, and runs through Thursday, May 12, while Healthcare Week starts on Saturday, May 8, and concludes Saturday, May 14. This year, I think all of us would agree that no matter what you do, whether a nurse, a technician, or even a non-clinical team member, we all contributed in a special way over the past two years to care for our communities. Each of us has had to call upon strength from within that perhaps we didn’t even know we had. We all had to balance our servant hearts with the needs of our own loved ones. On behalf of…

NOTE: This message was emailed on Thursday afternoon, April 7, from Alan Levine, Chairman and CEO of Ballad Health, to all team members: I have directed that our Information Technology department implement a forced password change for ALL Ballad Health email system users. At some point shortly, you will be required to change your password or you will be unable to access the system. There has been an increase in cases of attempts to access our email system, which can only be interpreted to mean there is increased risk of our systems being compromised.   THIS IS VERY SERIOUS. Effective today (Thursday, April 7, 2022), it is Ballad Health policy that your Ballad Health password, for any Ballad health application, may not be similar to, or identical to, any of your personal passwords for any of your personal devices or emails. While Ballad Health cannot require you to disclose your personal email passwords to us,…

NOTE: This message was emailed to all Ballad Health team members on Saturday, March 26, 2022, from Alan Levine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ballad Health. Good Morning: Yesterday, a nurse who formerly worked at Vanderbilt University Medical Center was convicted by a jury in Nashville of negligent homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult related to a 2017 incident in which she administered the wrong medication, resulting in the fatality of a 75-year-old patient. She was acquitted of the charge of reckless homicide, which the prosecution was seeking. This is a tragic case all the way around, and I know there are many questions. I’d like to share my thoughts with you, and perhaps give you some encouragement. In this particular case, the nurse was attempting to administer Versed, which as we know is commonly used throughout our hospitals, and is withdrawn from our Omnicell system. Instead of withdrawing Versed from the Vanderbilt…

NOTE: This message was emailed on Wednesday, Feb. 16, to all Ballad Health team members from Alan Levine, Ballad Health’s chairman and chief executive officer.   Dear colleagues: Good morning. I have a couple of important things to announce to you, and some updates – most importantly, the new, major investment Ballad Health is planning to make in a massive expansion of affordable childcare for our team members. More on this below. As always, though, I would like to begin my message by saying thank you. Each of us contributes to the improvement of human life and the human condition through the work we have chosen to do. And without a doubt, our calling in healthcare has been tested over the past two years as we have each pitched in to serve our region. More than 450 team members, including all the way up to our senior leadership, have volunteered in our Helping Hands program to assist frontline caregivers. Nurses and volunteers…

NOTE: This message was sent by email on Feb. 2, 2022, to all Ballad Health team members from Alan Levine, chairman and chief executive officer of Ballad Health.   Dear Colleague: Each day over the past month – as I am sure many of you have done – I’ve prayed the number of new COVID cases would peak and begin to decline. I’ve prayed for this because I don’t want people to suffer and I worry for the people on our team who, each day, encounter all the terrible challenges that come along with COVID. As the Omicron Variant has ripped through our region, our healthcare team has done everything we could – and can do – to take the best possible care of our friends and neighbors in the Appalachian Highlands. Did you know that, even as our team has taken care of thousands of people inside our hospitals suffering with COVID, we also have a…

NOTE: This message was emailed on Friday, Dec. 24, 2021, from Alan Levine, Ballad Health chairman and chief executive officer, to all Ballad Health team members.   Dear Colleague: One year ago, as 2020 came to an end, we all began to feel the hope that came with the announcement of a new vaccine – something we had prayed would end the pandemic, and allow us to return to a sense of “normal.” We wanted to see our families and neighbors healthy. We wanted to see our kids in school, flourishing. We wanted to see people who had worked hard once again receive the blessing of economic success and reward. And, as people committed to serving others, we wanted to get back to the business of caring for all the people we knew needed us. Speaking only for myself, I’ve learned that my plans, however well-meaning, are often very different than the plan God has. And often,…

This message was emailed to all Ballad Health team members on Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021:   Dear Ballad Health Colleague: A couple of thoughts, and then a few important announcements. I urge you to read to the end of this message. As we approach the holiday this week, and the coming season, I am reminded of the gift of reflection as we each hopefully take whatever moments we can with those we love. Each of us has our own faith. In my faith, I believe God doesn’t give us more than he knows we can handle. In the past two years, each of us has been tested in so many ways, and this only reaffirms my belief that within each of us is so much good, and within each of us are capabilities we did not even know we had. Grief, triumph and thankfulness That’s what I am thankful for as I reflect. Whether it is…