Infirmary

Gulf Health Hospitals, Inc. (ghhi) operates North Baldwin Infirmary (nbi), a 70 bed nonprofit acute care Hospital in bay minette, Baldwin county, Alabama and Thomas Hospital, a 150 bed nonprofit acute care Hospital in fairhope, Baldwin county, Alabama. Both Hospitals provide services necessary to deliver essential Health care to the Gulf coast community regardless of race, creed, sex, national origin, handicap or age. North Baldwin Infirmary is a community Hospital that serves a rural community in the northern part of Baldwin county. During its time under ghhi, the organization implemented 25 million dollars in expansions to improve the healthcare of residents of Baldwin county. For the fiscal year ended march 31, 2024, North Baldwin Infirmary provided over 12,300 inpatient days of care, delivered 160 babies, performed 3,662 surgeries & treated over 15,800 emergency cases in its emergency department. Nbi participates in the medicare and medicaid programs. Thomas Hospital is the largest community Hospital in Baldwin county, Alabama, one of the fastest-growing counties in Alabama. The ability to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for Health services in the community is critical to the long-term welfare of the patients Thomas Hospital serves. Ghhi leased Thomas Hospital in august 2005 from a public Health care authority and immediately initiated efforts to assist Thomas Hospital in obtaining funding for Hospital expansion and renovations. Recent improvements include an enlarged birth center, a freestanding emergency room building, a new cancer center for radiation treatments, and a comprehensive breast center for 2d and 3d mammography and diagnostic testing. For the fiscal year ended march 31, 2024 Thomas Hospital provided nearly 59,000 patient days of care, delivered nearly 1,300 babies, treated over 51,000 emergency cases in the emergency department, and performed over 9,700 surgeries. Thomas Hospital participates in the medicare and medicaid programs. Thomas Hospital and North Baldwin Infirmary provide and/or participate in a number of monthly, quarterly, and annual community outreach/educational programs, support groups, Health fairs, walks, and various screenings to benefit area citizens. The Hospitals have sponsored a number of Health fairs during the year across Baldwin county in partnership with local government and corporate partners. These Health fairs provided free Health assessments, vaccinations, and wellness information to the community. They also sponsored a walk at lunch event to promote healthy habits in partnership with blue cross blue shield. North Baldwin Infirmary has served as the lead applicant and is a founding member of the North Baldwin rural Health network which focuses on improving the Health of the community through a collaboration of providers and utilization of technology. The program is funded by the Health resource services administration and has established several programs to improve the Health of the community. The care transitions program coordinates patients care from Hospital to home by working closely with post-acute providers. The program utilizes the watershed platform to communicate with patients and providers to ensure patients are able to receive support after they leave the Hospital. Ghhi provides watershed access at no charge to providers to ensure they choose to participate in the initiative. North Baldwin Infirmary also provides free smoking cessation classes to the community several times per year. They use the american lung association's freedom from smoking curriculum. They also offer individuals with lung disease with a monthly support group to help them deal with their disease and improve their Health. The organization provides approximately a dozen monthly support groups and annually organizes several Health related walks sponsored by one of the Hospitals or a national organization such as the american cancer society, the american heart association, or the march of dimes. North Baldwin Infirmary and Thomas Hospital both offer diabetes self- management programs to help individuals living with diabetes manage their condition and live healthier lives. Mental Health first aid is an 8-hour course that teaches people the skills to help someone who is developing a mental Health illness or experiencing a mental Health crisis. The evidence behind the program demonstrates that it builds mental Health literacy, helping the public identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness. The training is offered monthly and is free to the public. In 2012, Infirmary Health (an affiliated company) formed a volunteer committee to serve as a governing body for community involvement for the system, including Thomas Hospital and North Baldwin Infirmary. This committee, known as ihelp, helps better manage staff and organizational resources by establishing a process to evaluate community needs and ensure our community projects are in line with our mission. Annually, North Baldwin Infirmary hosts rideyellow, a bike ride benefiting local cancer charities. The charity bike ride began in 2007 to raise cancer awareness and to gather support for the mission of inspiring others to join the fight against the disease. The event has many volunteers with the majority being from Infirmary Health. Since its inception, rideyellow has donated over 590,000 to various cancer charities. On september 16, 2023, the ride had nearly 250 participants and generated 15,000 for rapahope, a local non-profit that offers free, year-round programming, including its flagship summer camp, as well as weekend and day-long opportunities for families and siblings of children with cancer. For the last 46 years, Thomas Hospital and wells fargo have hosted spring fever chase-a 10k and 2-mile fun run that takes place in Baldwin county. Proceeds from spring fever chase benefit local Baldwin county schools who apply for physical education equipment grants. The event took place on march 16, 2024 and had more than 1,000 racers and fun run participants ranging in ages 9 - 81 and residing from 11 states. In total, the event gave back 15,000 across eight schools. Infirmary Health is also an active sponsor of the american heart association's (aha) heart walk in mobile and Baldwin counties. Through Infirmary Health's 10,000 sponsorship to aha, Thomas Hospital donated cpr training kits to daphne high school. The kits provide hands-on learning experiences and everything needed to train 10 students at once in cpr. Infirmary Health supports its local american cancer society (acs) chapter with numerous fundraisers and events through volunteer, in-kind, and financial contributions such as making strides against breast cancer, chili cook-off, pink pearls support group, and numerous other acs events throughout the year. In october 2022, Infirmary Health participated as the survivor sponsor in acs's annual making strides against breast cancer walk. In addition to participating in the walk, Infirmary Health employees purchased t-shirts. The fundraising efforts generated 2,285 for acs. North Baldwin Infirmary and Thomas Hospital employees not only have a team each year for the making strides against breast cancer walk and the chili cook off, but employees also serve on the planning committee for the event. Infirmary Health serves as a flagship sponsor for the chili cook off event that had more than 8,000 participants and is the survivor sponsor for the breast cancer walk that has nearly 4,000 walkers. Infirmary Health and Infirmary cancer care rolled out its mobile cancer screening unit in february 2019. The mobile screening unit helps address the need for access to care in rural communities. In fy24, the unit traveled to many areas of Baldwin county. In total, the unit traveled to more than 20 events and provided free screening and education to nearly 2,000 individuals. In may 2023, Infirmary cancer care provided free skin cancer spot checks in mobile, as well as locations in Baldwin county. In total, 80 individuals were screened, and 40 abnormal findings were discovered. Nurse navigators followed up with those who had abnormal findings to refer them to a dermatologist for further screenings. Women's and maternal Health continues to be a priority for Infirmary Health. During fy24, Infirmary Health provided free educational information related to women's Health at 27 community events across mobile and Baldwin counties. More than 2,000 women were reached through these efforts. Additionally, Thomas Hospital and North Baldwin Infirmary held free childbirth education, infant cpr, newborn care and safety, and breastfeeding support group classes throughout the year. In total, 400 individuals attended the classes offered at Thomas Hospital, and an additional 100 people attended the classes at North Baldwin Infirmary. Additionally, to provide further education to the community, Infirmary Health offered free post-partum and women's Health education through