Healthcare Quality Expands with Continued City, Regional Growth

HUNTSVILLE, AL – As Huntsville continues to witness a population boom and the rapid expansion of business, one part of the recipe that has created the city’s explosion is likely at the top of the ingredient list.

Healthcare quality.

Shane Davis, city Director of Urban and Economic Development, lists this as one factor spurring Huntsville’s growth. There are other key reasons – quality of life, for instance – with none perhaps more important than quality healthcare the growing population can expect.

“We’re fortunate to have some of the best healthcare in the country with Huntsville Hospital and Crestwood (Medical Center),’’ Davis told the Huntsville Business Journal. 

There was a time when Huntsville residents might opt to head to Birmingham looking for heart care or other facilities for an array of treatments. That’s still the case for specialty services at places like Vanderbilt and UAB that aren’t available locally, but for the most part citizens can find a healthcare answer to what ails them in the Rocket City.

“A hundred percent,’’ Davis said. “You don’t have to travel outside of Huntsville for complicated health surgeries. You get A-to-Z. They can handle these within the community, and I think it just shows what type of market we’ve become.’’

He’ll get no argument from Jeff Samz, CEO of Huntsville Hospital Health Systems since July. Samz knows healthcare, a business where he’s spent 28 years and the last 12 at Huntsville Hospital. 

He’s also worked as CEO at Vanderbilt Heart Institute and Associate Operating Officer/Heart Services at Duke University Medical Center. 

“I think the quality of healthcare in Huntsville is as strong as it’s ever been,’’ Samz said. “The biggest challenge we’re facing, like many other employers, is workforce. We’re very fortunate to have great schools in our community, Drake (State), Calhoun (Community College), UAH, the high schools – they’re all helping us train and grow our local healthcare workforce.

“But, like everybody else coming out of the pandemic, we need more nurses, we need more service staff, entry level staff. And that is a terrific challenge. But the way I look at that is we’re very blessed to be in a growing economy where there’s demand for services. I think we’re better equipped to meet the workforce challenges than any hospital in the state. So we have workforce challenges, but the state of health care is very very strong.’’

Others have recognized the quality of healthcare in the Rocket City. According to a ranking this year by the U.S. News and World Report, which rated the city as the Best Place to live in the country, Huntsville Hospital is the second-best in Alabama only behind UAB Hospital.

In addition to overall ranking, the system was recognized as ‘high performing’’ in nine specialties: colon cancer surgery, COPD, diabetes, heart attack, heart bypass surgery, heart failure, hip replacement, stroke, and uterine cancer surgery.

The evaluation of Huntsville Hospital also includes data from Huntsville Hospital for Women and Children and Madison Hospital.

Meanwhile, Crestwood was lauded through Get With The Guidelines in partnership with the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association. As a participant in Get With The Guidelines programs, Crestwood Medical Center qualified for recognition by demonstrating how their organization has committed to improving quality care.

The hospital was awarded “Afib Gold’’ and “Heart Failure Gold.’’ 

“Crestwood Medical Center is committed to improving care by adhering to the latest treatment guidelines and streamlining processes to ensure timely and proper care for heart attacks and strokes,” Kris Goodwin, Chief Nursing Officer, said in July after the honors were announced. “The Get With The Guidelines programs make it easier for our teams to put proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis, which helps us ensure more people in North Alabama experience longer, healthier lives.”

According to Samz, health procedures not available locally are by design.

“There are a handful of things we don’t do and don’t do on purpose,’’ he said. “An example is burn care or transplant care – that’s really best done in very specialized, centralized locations in every state. So we’ll continue supporting our friends in Birmingham for that kind of care. Our Children’s Hospital is very capable, but there is some very specialized pediatric care that needs to be cared for either at Children’s in Birmingham or in Nashville.’’

A recent addition to the Huntsville Hospital group of caregivers is the Pediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes Clinic at 920 Franklin Street. The system recruited Dr. Priscila Rodas and Dr. Zeinab Zorkot to open the facility. The doctors are pediatric endocrinologists who specialize in the evaluation and treatment of children with endocrine disorders including puberty, bone, thyroid, diabetes, growth, pituitary and adrenal.

“We’re trying to grow services smartly and when we add services of pediatric and endocrinology it’s absolutely a service we should support, it’s a wonderful addition,’’ Samz said. “But, pediatric neurosurgery for example is something we’re going to continue to send to other children’s hospitals and appropriately so.

“But, yeah, you can get very advanced cardiac care, trauma services and oncological surgery. We have an amazing group of cancer surgeons in Huntsville now from (gynecology) oncology and the breast cancer program has grown and has outstanding surgeons. There really is a wide complement of very specialized care available in Huntsville now. There’s really very little you need to leave the community for.’’

As Davis put it, Huntsville has “top notch healthcare, absolutely.’’