Individuals working in District of Columbia hospitals strive every day to deliver compassionate, quality and safe patient care. DCHA is honored to highlight the incredible work of our member hospitals and their champions. DCHA will present awards to two individuals; one clinical and one nonclinical, who are working to transform health care through leadership, collaboration, and improvement strategies within their hospitals and who exemplify a dedication to continued delivery of essential services, a commitment to patient safety, and unwavering efforts to delivering quality patient care.

Award nominations must showcase how individuals go above and beyond normal daily work to manage and support hospital staff, patients, caregivers and the community. Awards will be presented during the Health Care & Innovation Summit on October 30, 2024. Complete nominations by June 21, 2024.

It’s time to move beyond being ‘military-friendly’ and take the next step: becoming truly military-ready. Understanding the challenges veterans face while transitioning out of active service and into civilian careers is critical to successfully onboarding, engaging, and retaining US veterans. In this webinar Military Connected will dive into these topics, in order to help attendees take the first step towards properly serving America’s military-connected community. An open Q&A will be conducted at the end of the webinar to answer any questions, or provide further insight.

 

Howard University Hospital’s Commitment to the Community

Since the hospital’s inception, advancing health equity has been central to Howard University Hospital’s (HUH) mission. HUH sponsors numerous programs and initiatives to promote overall wellness and educate individuals on their health care needs and options to ultimately improve the overall health of the community:

Faith-Based Partnerships

By partnering with religious communities across the area, HUH is able to connect with individuals in a place they trust. These efforts are enabling HUH to improve individuals’ access to care before they are faced with a health care crisis, including much-needed mental and behavioral care.

Emphasis on Prenatal Care

Leadership at HUH has identified maternal health as a key area of focus. HUH’s diverse clinical faculty are dedicated to helping expectant mothers with lower family incomes overcome barriers in accessing maternal health care. Too often expectant mothers in the DC area struggle with prioritizing their prenatal care as they face challenges with managing employment, caring for their families, and struggling with lack of transportation. These barriers can result in greater risk for mothers and babies of birth in crisis; therefore, HUH has invested in a higher level NICU and has embraced a number of programs to improve access to prenatal care for expectant mothers, including birthing classes, nutritional education, and support wellness check adherence.

Nutrition Education

HUH recently participated with an online cooking show to educate individuals in the community on how to prepare nutritious and healthy meals on a budget. The goal is to help educate families to eat more healthfully while keeping grocery costs low. This program was launched to reach families and individuals who live in DC’s Ward 7 and Ward 8 who face sustained hardship.