Excela Health: Sacrifices, Dedication, and Growth in a Tough Economy

Excela Health: Sacrifices, Dedication, and Growth in a Tough Economy

By Brianna Cain

Edited by Ruby Nemec

Abstract

Excela Health is a new health system consisting of four hospitals in Southwestern Pennsylvania. They’ve been highly ranked, having made several improvements and gained innovative technology to keep giving the best care they can. They have volunteers ranging from teens to senior citizens and retired workers. Excela has remained flexible in its struggle to keep its patients and workforce happy. They’re looking to expand to meet the increased demand as the sole provider in Westmoreland County.


Looking back through the books of Pennsylvania history, one of the oldest non-profit institutions was created by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond; both raised money to help fund the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1751. Back then and since then, wellness has been a crucial part of our culture. Helping people is what it’s all about. You can walk into any medical facility in our area and you will see many different people all together in one room, all waiting to be helped: an elderly man with a son and his teenage grandchild, a woman in a wheelchair with her sister-in-law, a husband with his expectant wife - all sexes, all religions, and all races.

Locally, Excela Health has its brand printed all over our region of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Walking up the streets of Greensburg, you will see a sunset view of a magnificent hospital looming on top of the hill. The streets are spattered with signs with the words “Excela Health” on them. What many may not know is that although we see these signs everywhere, Excela Health is quite new, it was freshly merged in 2004. Excela Health was built by striving to improve the health and well-being of every life in the community—through these efforts toward more accessible, innovative patient care and outreach services—maintaining its structure toward excellence and integrity for years to come.

Excela Health has made great progress in just six years. According to Answers Corporation, Excela Health is a relatively new health system consisting of four hospitals: Westmoreland Regional, Jeannette, Frick, and Latrobe. They also have outpatient treatment, women’s care clinics, specialty care in areas such as heart disease and cancer treatment, as well as physical rehabilitation. They offer home and hospice health care and even an ambulance service, not to mention a multitude of physician practices and businesses which serve Westmoreland, Indiana, and Fayette counties (Excela Health).

This health system has taken on a lot recently. According to Hospital Data, Excela has been ranked higher than the state and national average for heart attack and surgical care (Excela Health Westmoreland Regional).

Excela leaders are dedicated to making several improvements to keep up with giving the best care they can. They’ve added a new, lavish, maternity floor to their Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg, and according to staff writer A.J. Panian for the Tribune Review, Excela Health has taken in the latest in innovative medical technology.

A.J. explains, “The story I reported for the Sept. 19, 2009 edition of the Tribune Review on the da Vinci Surgical System was as interesting to work on as it was educational.” The da Vinci Surgical System is a cutting-edge technology tool for non-invasive robot-assisted surgery. “I learned a good deal about this cutting-edge surgical tool that, at that time, was to be the only model to have been used in hospitals region wide at Excela Health Latrobe Hospital.” A.J. says.

Excela was set to become the first health system in Western Pennsylvania to bring da Vinci to its floors. The da Vinci can reach into parts of the body that were not easily discovered with just surgical scalpels. This technology will be especially beneficial for surgery focused in the abdominal and pelvic area. Therefore, it is said that these non-invasive surgeries will yield quicker patient recovery time and the possibility of post-op complications and infections (Panian). In my interview with A.J., he went on to tell me about Excela Health’s employees, “Excela Health’s officials, staff, and doctors were extremely helpful in conveying details about the da Vinci and why its use at the facility was so important.”

Speaking of employees, many may not know, but the Excela Health Board of Trustees are actually a group of community leaders who work without pay; they see Excela Health as a community asset for Western Pennsylvania. As seen in the Daily Courier, a Murrysville man is joining Excela Health's board, his name is Ronald Ott. He has been named the first president of both Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg and Jeannette Hospital. Like Franklin, Ott began from the ground up. He actually worked as a nurse assistant at St. Francis Hospital in Pittsburgh and after working with patients, he realized he could do more for them by going further with his medical career. "Westmoreland Hospital has become a major player in the health care industry," Ott said in the Daily Courier article (McGee).

The Excela Health System is truly becoming exceptional in several areas, gaining several rewards and gaining some recognition for their efforts. Presently, Excela’s Frick Hospital has about one hundred volunteers that range in age from teens to senior citizens, including retired workers, who want to contribute to something worthwhile. Another story in the Daily Courier, described the great outpouring of volunteers they have coming in to help at Frick Hospital. Here, volunteers greet the public, escorts patients, and help with errands (Forbes). This gives many in the community a sense of empowerment and purpose in their later years. Excela truly has grasped this idea from the get go.

Along with all the volunteers, Excela also has a steady workforce. In that workforce are thousands of health care workers who seek to impact the lives of others. One of the recent recognitions was a Gold Star Award for outstanding care that was given to Excela’s Special Care Nursery by Unison. Unison's Gold Star program was designed to reward health care providers for a commitment to professional excellence and Excela's Special Care Nursery is one of nineteen across Pennsylvania to be honored with this prestigious Gold Star (Excela Health Nursery).

Regardless of the workforce, Excela also has three sustainable charitable foundations. These foundations exist to benefit Excela Health's hospitals and health care services. They are the Frick Hospital Foundation, the Westmoreland Hospital Foundation, and the Latrobe Area Hospital Charitable Foundation. These foundations have distributed millions of dollars to enhance services and equipment through the donations of generous area residents, businesses, community foundations, and others (Giving). It is truly the basis of any non-profit and is a proud example of who the community of Excela Health is.

Although Excela Health has accomplished a lot over the few years it has been merged, like every great brand, it has come across some pitfalls and made some sacrifices along the way. Excela Health will eliminate inpatient services at its Jeannette hospital as it adds sixty beds to its Westmoreland Hospital. Excela’s Jeannette Hospital will instead be used as an outpatient diagnostic and imaging service, while its emergency department will be turned into a full-service urgent care center (Paterra). Although these changes are unfortunate, they may impact Excela’s community in a more efficient way, by making direct emergency care more accessible for everyone without wasting money for unproductive services.

Excela Health has remained flexible in its struggle to keep its patients and workforce happy. Although changes like this will ultimately lead to layoffs, the organization managed to break even in the fiscal year of 2009 despite a bleak economy, as reported in the Tribune Review (Reeger). Excela is even looking to expand the emergency department at its Westmoreland Hospital as part of a five million dollar project intended to meet increased demand for that area. With this expansion project, Excela Health’s Westmoreland Regional Hospital is especially thriving, due to its proximity to Route thirty in Greensburg/Irwin (Stiles).

Excela Health is the sole provider of health care in Westmoreland County, the largest county in the state, which explains the great need and struggle for this brave, young health care system. In less than a decade, Excela Health has made a huge pursuit in a multitude of ways. This medical group has not cut corners; they have been flexible for the sake of their groundswell of patients, their streams of employees, and their network of regional players. Excela Health has truly demonstrated what a non-profit is and what a successful non-profit can do for a community in need.

Works Cited

“Excela Health Careers and Employment.” Indeed, 2010. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.

“Excela Health Nursery earns gold star.” The Daily Courier, 28 Dec. 2009. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.

“Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital.” Hospital Data, 2010. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.

“Excela Health.” Answers Corporation, 2010. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.

“Giving.” Excela Health Corporate Services, 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.

“The Pennsylvania Hospital.” Independence Hall Association, 1995. Web. 6 Mar. 2010.

Forbes, Marilyn. “Unselfish acts help Excela Health Frick Hospital.” The Daily Courier, 26 Dec. 2009. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.

McGee, Tom. “Murrysville man named Excela president.” The Murrysville Star, 16 Apr. 2009. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.

Panian, A.J. “Excela gets latest technology for minimally invasive procedures.” The Tribune Review, 9 Sept. 2009. Web. 2 Mar. 2010.

Panian, A.J. The Tribune Review. Personal Interview. 6 Mar. 2010.

Paterra, Paul. “Inpatient services out at Excela Health's Jeannette hospital.” The Tribune Review, 27 Jan. 2010. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.

Reeger, Jennifer. “Excela Health grateful to break even during downturn.” The Tribune Review, 18 Dec. 2009. Web. 2 Mar. 2010.

Salamon, Lester M. America's Nonprofit Sector: A Primer. New York: The Foundation Center, 1999. Print.

Stiles, Bob. “Excela plans expansion of Greensburg hospital's emergency room.” The Tribune Review, 21 Nov. 2009. Web. 2 Mar. 2010.