Calvary Hospital has received a Press Ganey Summit Award for a fourth consecutive year. The accolade indicates that Calvary is in the top 1% of all similar hospitals in the country for patient satisfaction.
Press Ganey Associates, Inc. gives their Summit prize to hospitals and other health facilities that sustain the highest level of customer satisfaction. Dr. Michael Brescia, the executive mddical director, explained that that families of patients, and patients themselves, fill out a large questionnaire that covers all aspects of care. Press Ganey then tabulates those results. In the most recent poll, Calvary ranked in the 99th percentile for overall patient satisfaction.
Frank Calamari, president and CEO of Calvary Hospital, said that consistency is to thank for the award, but also Calvary’s individual ethos and style of patient care. “For example, we do not restrain patients,” said Calamari. “It would be a lot cheaper to tie people down, but we don’t believe in that. We also want 24-hour visiting.” All restrictions on visiting time have been erased, which Calamari believes has made families of cancer patients far less stressed.
Calamari and other members of the hospital staff pointed to their at-home hospice care as a source of pride to many who work there. The hospital’s team of hospice nurses travel to all five boroughs to help patients in their homes.
Dr. Brescia, who is also one of the founders of the hospital, believes that the reason for the hospital’s success is that, “We are able to deal with the suffering of a patient, the spiritual and emotional as well as physical. The most difficult aspect to treat is grief. We have a whole separate department that deals with bereavement.”
