Castle Medical Center: One of the Best Places to Work in Hawaii

Castle Medical Center was named one of the top 25 Best Places to Work in Hawaii by Hawaii Business Magazine and the Hawaii chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Hawaii Business Magazine and SHRM survey employees of companies nominated for the award, and Best Companies Group research firm analyzes the data and determines which companies come out on top.

Central Valley General Hospital recently opened a new Rural Health Clinic to serve the residents of Huron, Calif. Previously, area patients received health care services only on a weekly basis via a mobile clinic. The community now has access to a full-time clinic with primary care, immunizations, lab, physicals and women’s health services. The office will be staffed with a pediatrician and two nurse practitioners who will provide family practice and obstetrics services.

South Coast Medical Center is offering its patients a special kind of healing in the form of several friendly, well-mannered dogs. The hospital’s Animal Therapy Program is assisting patients with the healing process by bringing joy and companionship to old and young alike. In addition, the program helps increase patients’ emotional well being, promotes healing, provides socialization benefits and generally improves the quality of life for patients and staff members. Animal therapy is included in the Planetree patient-centered model of health care, of which the Laguna Beach, Calif., hospital is a member.

Simi Valley Hospital recently held a "Topping Off" ceremony for its new Patient Care Tower. The event celebrated the placement of the final—and highest—structural beam in the framing process of the tower. Approximately 100 people—including employees, physicians, hospital and foundation board members, community leaders and Southern California residents—witnessed the event, which was held in earlier this year. Many guests arrived early to add their signatures to the final beam before it was raised into place.

San Joaquin Community Hospital recently introduced a new program focused on helping patients and family members cope with serious and advanced illness, including end of life issues. The purpose of the Palliative Care Program is to increase patient/family and physician satisfaction and help all those involved meet their care goals. In the planning stages for more than a year, the Bakersfield, Calif., hospital’s program was launched in January.

Glendale Adventist Medical Center has launched a new service for cancer patients, their families and its Southern California community. Ingeborg’s Place Apart, which is located in the hospital’s Center for Cancer Services, offers a resource center for cancer patients and allows visitors to access a variety of specialty image enhancement products and patient education materials. It is a free community service made possible by the friends and family of Ingeborg Genevieve Nord Zerne, who worked at the hospital as a nursing educator before succumbing to pancreatic cancer.

Feather River Hospital has partnered with Paradise Adventist Academy in Paradise, Calif., to help students with their education. The facility has established the Feather River Hospital Science Scholarship Fund, which provides two annual scholarships to academy students. The hospital hopes the program will encourage students to consider the medical field as a career and return to the Paradise area after they have completed their training.