Hospital shines under Joint Commission light

The Sonoma Valley Hospital has recently undergone an intense examination by the Joint Commission, on whose approval accreditation depends. The hospital has completed this stage of the process with high praise.
Hospital CEO, Carl Gerlach, reporting to the board at their regular meeting on Wednesday, June 25, praised his staff and all the people working at the hospital.  “I’m so proud of being here,” he said.  He told a little story that, for him, defined the attitude and accomplishments of the hospital employees. “Some people,” he said, “go to school and cram because they want to get a grade. Then there are those who study because they want to master it. And that’s what happened with the JC. The best thing I heard [from a staff member] was, ‘I’ll want to find out what they have to say, ‘cause we want to know how to do better.’”
He praised the hospital staff with superlatives of every kind. He said that when walking out with some of the examiners, one man, after looking at all the equipment and the whole physical facility, told Gerlach that he was impressed.
“With this hospital?” Gerlach asked the man. “The one on its last legs, gasping for financial breath? The one described elsewhere as being held together with duct tape?”  “Right,” the man said.  “It’s the people, not the adhesive.”
Emergency ward director, Robbie Cohen, one of several Gerlach praised by name, said, “The community should congratulate our staff. The medical staff did well. I think the surveyors expected to see things in disarray, but they were blown away.”
Board member Mike Smith said, “You have to understand how important this is. How difficult this is. It’s the equivalent of a full-scale audit of your business. It’s that arduous. And our people did a wonderful, wonderful job.”