Elizabethtown, NY – The University of Vermont Health Network – Elizabethtown Community Hospital is pleased to announce it has been named a 2019 Guardian of Excellence Award^® winner by Press Ganey. The Guardian of Excellence Award recognizes top-performing health care organizations that have achieved the 95^th percentile or above of performance in Patient Experience.

The Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award is a nationally-recognized symbol of achievement in health care. The emergency departments at the UVM Health Network - Elizabethtown Community Hospital and its Ticonderoga Campus are the recipients of the 2019 award, based on patient satisfaction scores.

The emergency departments at the hospital’s two campuses treat over 12,000 patients each year. The highly skilled staff care for trauma and critical care patients on a regular basis, along with stroke and heart attack victims, those with broken bones, and sick children in the middle of the night. The emergency department staff offer high-quality care and strive to provide a high degree of patient satisfaction at both campuses, 24 hours a day.

“In addition to our exceptional team of nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physicians in the emergency department, thanks goes to our entire staff for their commitment to ensuring an outstanding patient experience,” said Julie Tromblee, vice president and chief nursing officer at the hospital. “Everyone at the UVM Health Network - Elizabethtown Community Hospital takes pride in patient safety and satisfaction, and that is why we have been able to achieve this recognition six times.”

“This honor reflects the hospital’s unwavering commitment to improving the safety, quality, and experience of care,” said Patrick T. Ryan, Executive Chairman of Press Ganey. “Their hard work and dedication are inspiring, and we are proud to partner with them on our shared mission to provide safe, high-quality, patient-centered care.”

According to the UVM Health Network - Elizabethtown Community Hospital President, John Remillard, the award represents an important recognition from the industry’s leader in measuring, understanding, and improving the delivery of care. “This award is something we can all be proud of and demonstrates that patient safety and care are our top priority,” he said.

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About Elizabethtown Community Hospital

The University of Vermont Health Network - Elizabethtown Community Hospital is a designated critical access hospital and the primary health care provider serving the 39,000 people who live, work and vacation in Essex County, NY and the surrounding region.

Elizabethtown Community Hospital is transforming rural health care at its main campus in Elizabethtown, NY, at a new emergency department and outpatient center at the former Moses Ludington Hospital in Ticonderoga, NY, and at six community-based primary health care centers located throughout the region.  The hospital is one of the community’s largest employers with 383 employees.

Across the Elizabethtown and Ticonderoga campuses, the hospital maintains two 24-hour emergency rooms, a 25-bed inpatient unit, physical therapy, laboratory, and digital radiology departments, and a variety of specialty physician clinics on a weekly and monthly basis.  

Elizabethtown Community Hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission and is licensed and certified by the New York State Department of Health and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

About The University of Vermont Health Network
The University of Vermont Health Network is an academic health system that is comprised of six affiliate hospitals, a multi-specialty medical group, and a home health agency. We serve the residents of Vermont and northern New York with a shared mission: working together, we improve people’s lives.  Our partners include:

• The University of Vermont Medical Center  
• The University of Vermont Health Network Medical Group
• The University of Vermont Health Network – Alice Hyde Medical Center
• The University of Vermont Health Network – Central Vermont Medical Center
• The University of Vermont Health Network – Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital
• The University of Vermont Health Network – Elizabethtown Community Hospital
• The University of Vermont Health Network – Porter Medical Center
• The University of Vermont Health Network – Home Health and Hospice

Our 4,000 health care professionals are driven to provide high quality, cost-efficient care as close to home as possible. Strengthened by our academic connection to the University of Vermont, each of our hospitals remains committed to its local community by providing compassionate, personal care shaped by the latest medical advances and delivered by highly skilled experts.

About Press Ganey

Press Ganey pioneered the health care performance improvement movement more than 30 years ago. Today, Press Ganey offers an integrated suite of solutions that enables enterprise transformation across the patient journey. Delivered through a cutting-edge digital platform built on a foundation of data security, Press Ganey solutions address safety, clinical excellence, patient experience, and workforce engagement. The company works with more than 41,000 health care facilities in its mission to reduce patient suffering and enhance caregiver resilience to improve the overall safety, quality, and experience of care.