Media Room

Wellstar Health System,  which has the largest trauma network in the state, has announced that the Wellstar Kennestone Hospital Trauma Center has been verified as one of only four Georgia Level II Trauma Centers by the American College of Surgeons (ACS). This achievement recognizes the Trauma Center's dedication to providing optimal care for injured patients.

Building on Wellstar’s commitment to healthcare excellence, the system was also named a top-five finalist for the American Hospital Association’s 2021 Quest for Quality Prize and had 130 physicians – representing almost 26% of the total list – named as Georgia Trend “Top Doctors.”

Largest Trauma Network in Georgia Adds LII Trauma Care Verification for Wellstar Kennestone

Wellstar operates the largest trauma network in Georgia, with Wellstar Kennestone’s new state-of-the-art emergency department, which opened in July 2020, being one of the largest and busiest in the nation. Kennestone provides comprehensive trauma care, with 24/7 access to on-site trauma, critical care trained surgeons, and a wide range of surgical subspecialties to consistently meet the needs of the most seriously injured patients following the highest care, quality and safety standards.

Established by the ACS in 1987, the Committee on Trauma’s (COT) Consultation/Verification Program for Hospitals promotes the development of trauma centers. Participants provide the hospital resources and level of care necessary to address the needs of all injured patients across the entire trauma continuum of care. Trauma center verification provides a structure for trauma care that can raise the overall level of performance throughout a hospital.

This prestigious verification recognizes the Wellstar Kennestone Trauma Center’s commitment to providing the highest quality of care for injured patients, spanning community outreach and injury prevention efforts, emergency trauma, operative care, critical care, and rehabilitation.

"Receiving this verification further validates the exceptional life-saving care we provide at Wellstar Kennestone for patients who have suffered from all ranges of traumatic injury," said Mary Chatman, Wellstar Health System executive vice president and president of Wellstar Kennestone and Windy Hill Hospitals. "We are so proud of the Trauma Center team's commitment to ensuring that all patients get the appropriate care in a timely and coordinated manner because our communities rely on Wellstar to provide the very best care for every person, every time."

Trauma is the leading cause of death and disability between ages 0-44 and the fourth leading cause of death overall. According to the Georgia Trauma Foundation, nine main causes account for 92.1% of trauma in Georgia. The leading causes of major trauma are motor vehicle crashes (37.7%); falls (22.2%); gunshot wounds (8.0%); motorcycle crashes (5.4%); pedestrian incidents (5.2%); assaults (4.3%); accidents (4.0%); stab wounds (2.9%) and all-terrain vehicle crashes (2.4%).

Top Five Finalist for National Quality Award

As an additional indicator of excellence, Wellstar was one of only five national American Hospital Association 2021 Quest for Quality Prize finalists. The award recognizes healthcare leadership and innovation in providing, improving, and advancing health in communities.

Nominees are highlighted for partnering with community organizations to improve health outcomes, developing new models of care, and collaborating with patients to design the patient care experience. One way that Wellstar addresses vital community needs to enhance health and wellness is via the Wellstar Center for Health Equity (WCHE). Over the past year, the WCHE orchestrated multiple, high-impact initiatives, including free pop-up COVID-19 testing, mobile food markets, and anchoring vulnerable patients with resources, benefiting thousands of Georgians. Wellstar was also honored for pandemic response efforts, including quickly leveraging telehealth to serve patients, creating team member mental wellness programs, and allocating and redeveloping resources across the system.

Georgia Trend Highlights Wellstar Physicians as Top Doctors

The May issue of Georgia Trend included the 2021 “Top Doctors,” the second annual listing of the state’s top physicians. Close to 26% of the physicians on the list were part of the Wellstar Health System enterprise, totaling 130 doctors across the majority of categories.

Physicians deemed by Georgia Trend as “outstanding” span Wellstar’s service areas, facilities, and service lines, including cardiology, neurology, gynecologic oncology, pulmonology, internal medicine, family medicine, emergency medicine, radiology, endocrinology, pediatric orthopedics, spine surgery, and sports medicine, among others. The physicians are selected via peer voting and review of government information sources. Inclusion on this list of the top medical experts in the state further validates Wellstar’s commitment to world-class healthcare.

Building on a rich history of innovation and impact in healthcare delivery, Wellstar Health System has launched Catalyst by Wellstar^TM, a global digital health and innovation center.

As part of the center’s work, Wellstar has partnered with corporate innovation and venture platform Engage to connect and collaborate with industry-leading corporations, enterprise startups, and universities to fuel innovation. To foster meaningful discussion, action, and philanthropy around healthcare innovation, the Catalyst by Wellstar leadership team will participate in a Wellstar Foundation-hosted Innovation Series virtual event on June 15.

Catalyst by Wellstar designed to drive disruptive innovation

Catalyst by Wellstar is the first-of-its-kind global digital health and innovation center created and operated within a health system to holistically address healthcare disruption by harnessing problems, solutions, investments, and partnerships across industries. The center defines and drives leading-edge, transformative solutions that enhance the health and well-being of people and communities with world-class results and impact.

As technology continues to advance and consumers become more empowered by digital solutions and information access, innovation to solve problems and seize opportunities will evolve and impact how healthcare is delivered and used. Wellstar is committed to transforming healthcare through problem sourcing from patients, community members, physicians and team members, and partners to lead mission-driven innovation. Catalyst by Wellstar is designed to harness, accelerate, optimize, and scale people-centric solutions that:

• Disrupt how Wellstar delivers care to create better patient and provider experiences.
• Maximize quality and safety to improve outcomes while reducing the total cost of care.
• Enhance health and well-being for people through access, engagement, and empowerment.
• Optimize enterprise performance excellence, efficiencies, and productivity.
• Impact communities and the world by designing the future of healthcare.

“Innovation is vital to our mission of enhancing the health and well-being of every person we serve, today and into the future,” said Candice L. Saunders, president and CEO, Wellstar Health System. “Catalyst by Wellstar positions us to lead change across our system, communities, and the healthcare industry.”

Catalyst by Wellstar convenes and activates best-in-class entrepreneurs, philanthropists, innovation ecosystems, research and development experts, corporate partners, academicians and scientists, and thought leaders inside and outside of the healthcare industry. The center will encompass innovation that drives positive impact related to:

• Sustainability
• Aging and children
• Health equity

“There is endless opportunity to transform healthcare in positive and meaningful ways,” said Dr. Hank Capps, executive vice president and chief information and digital officer, Wellstar Health System. “With Catalyst by Wellstar, our system is poised to purposefully drive innovation faster than the speed of change through thought leadership and collaboration. Our global digital health and innovation center will equip Wellstar to transform the way healthcare is delivered for years to come.”

Wellstar invests in Engage corporate venture platform to fuel innovation

The first Catalyst by Wellstar partnership is an investment in Atlanta-based Engage, a first-of-its-kind collaborative innovation and corporate venture platform. Engage brings together industry-leading corporations, enterprise startups, and universities with the shared mission of elevating Atlanta and the Southeast as a leading technology and innovation hub. Wellstar is the only healthcare company to partner with Engage. Saunders has joined Engage’s board of directors and Capps has been named to the Engage Advisory Board.

“As a regional and national healthcare leader, Wellstar brings critical industry perspective to the Engage platform,” said Daley Ervin, managing director of Engage. “Our corporate partners are facing challenges posed by large-scale digital transformation and rapidly evolving customer expectations. Through this partnership, Wellstar will benefit from the expertise of a broad network of industry-leading companies while also leveraging the startup and university research ecosystem on their journey to design the future of healthcare.”

As a result of Wellstar’s investment in Engage, the system will have the opportunity to collaborate with startup technology companies as part of the innovation process, alongside other Engage partners: Chick-fil-A, Cox Enterprises, Delta Air Lines, Georgia-Pacific, Georgia Power Foundation, Georgia Tech, Goldman Sachs, The Home Depot, Inspire Brands, Intercontinental Exchange, Invesco, Invest Georgia, Tech Square Ventures, and UPS. The Engage Fund is managed by Tech Square Ventures. Engage’s exclusive partnership with Georgia Tech, one of the country’s top research and technology commercialization universities, provides unique access to its startup, innovation, and research initiatives.

“Healthcare is one of the strategic areas of focus for UPS and I am thrilled to welcome Wellstar to the Engage partnership," said Matt Guffey, president of Global Strategy and Transformation at UPS and Engage Advisory Board member.

Wellstar Foundation Healthcare Innovation Series to foster discussion about the future of healthcare

The second Wellstar Foundation Healthcare Innovation Series virtual roundtable will take place on June 15, 2021 from noon to 1:30 p.m. The event will focus on “Designing the Future of Healthcare,” with emphasis on the role of technology and innovation. The Series convenes community, philanthropic, and thought leaders to facilitate conversation and collaboration to propel the transformation of healthcare. More than 100 participants attended the inaugural event and engaged in discussion about how to enhance health equity. For more information, contact give@wellstar.org.

Wellstar Health System wrapped up a weeklong celebration of its healthcare heroes during National Healthcare Week and National Nurses Week honoring team members for their selfless service, sacrifices, and dedication amid the pandemic. Wellstar team members were also recognized by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Atlanta Business Chronicle for outstanding work and serving their communities with compassion and excellence.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s 16th Annual Celebrating Nurses Awards honored four Wellstar nurses, including selecting Vicky Hogue, chief nursing officer at Wellstar Paulding Hospital, as the Nurse Leadership Award recipient. Hogue will celebrate 41 years with Wellstar in August and her background includes working as a critical care and ICU nurse. When the pandemic began, she said that the crisis was exactly what she and her fellow nurses have trained for — answering the call to care for the community. In addition to nursing leadership, Hogue was highlighted for serving as a nurse advocate at the local, state, and national levels, volunteering to administer COVID-19 vaccinations and providing unwavering support for team members. Given annually to an outstanding nurse director, Hogue was chosen from 47 nominees to receive the Nurse Leadership Award.

Additional honorees included:

• Clayton Fowler, Wellstar Kennestone Hospital: A registered nurse for 11 years, Fowler helped to care for some of Wellstar’s sickest ICU patients during the height of the pandemic. In March 2020, Wellstar Kennestone was converted to take care of critical COVID-19 patients, and Fowler served on the frontlines providing life-saving therapies, such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment.

• Laurie Pazda, Wellstar Kennestone Hospital: A veteran nurse with more than 20 years of service, Pazda works in the cardiac intensive care unit and helped provide care for intubated COVID-19 patients designated to negative pressure rooms.

• Laura Moss, Wellstar Spalding Regional Hospital: Moss became a registered nurse in 2019 and immediately started a career of service by providing compassionate care to Wellstar patients. During the pandemic, Moss served as an extended family member to many COVID patients and helped the family of one intubated COVID-19 patient communicate with distant family members by setting up nightly FaceTime visits.

Wellstar held systemwide Nurses Week award celebrations, events, and activities to congratulate honorees and thank Wellstar team members for their dedication and resiliency throughout the pandemic. The Wellstar Nursing Excellence Awards spotlighted nurses at each hospital nominated by their peers for elevating the field of nursing and enhancing the health and well-being of patients. Employees also shared “Videos of Gratitude” showing appreciation for fellow team members.

Three Wellstar team members were also announced as finalists in Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 2021 “Healthcare Heroes” Awards, including two in the Nurse category and one in the Community Outreach category. The finalists are Vicky Hogue (chief nursing officer, Wellstar Paulding Hospital), Nadine Lynch (ICU unit manager, Wellstar Kennestone Hospital) and Dr. Shara Wesley (assistant vice president, Community Health and Wellstar Center for Health Equity). The awards acknowledge “the outstanding work on the frontlines” of the COVID-19 pandemic during an “exceptional year,” and winners will be announced on May 28.