Ben Ikirima works as a Patient Care Technician at Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg, FL. He’s always had a passion and desire to help others. Much of that can be traced to his experience growing up in Kenya, where he saw firsthand what it looked like when people weren’t able to get the help they needed; both in healthcare and every day life.

Brian Sellers is a Registered Nurse in the ER at North Florida Regional Hospital. Before his time at North Florida, Brian served our country overseas in the Middle East. During his service, Brian was injured by a large explosion that left him unable to speak. Luckily, he received immediate attention and eventually made a full recovery.

I have enjoyed more than 20 years working at HealthONE’s Rose Medical Center.  Initially, I worked in Marketing & Public Relations, then worked in the Medical Staff Office, before becoming the executive assistant to Kenneth Feiler, Rose Medical Center President & CEO, in 1997.  I am also a cancer survivor.

When your body is faced with an infection, your immune system springs into action. It tracks down the infection and releases chemicals in the bloodstream to fight it. There can be times, however, when your body doesn’t react well to these chemicals your body is releasing. In severe cases, inflammation occurs which can lead to a life-threatening condition called sepsis.

The Grossman Burn Center at West Hills Hospital has been busy with overseas efforts, and has brought patients from other countries to its U.S. facilities for treatment.

Every year around this time, HCA employees come together to participate in our Caring for the Community Campaign. It’s a chance for employees to take a day and donate their time to local nonprofits. This year’s theme, “Above and Beyond”, is much more than a catchy phrase; it’s a symbol of the outstanding efforts that HCA and Middle Tennessee’s not-for-profit and volunteer agencies make every day to provide help and hope to the less fortunate. The campaign kicks off on August 29 when the more than 150 agencies [pdf] participate in our Agency Fair at Centennial Park in Nashville, giving… Read more.

First Lady Michelle Obama recently visited the Medical Center of Aurora to express the nation’s gratitude for care given to victims of the July 20th shooting in Colorado. Associate Chief Operating Officer, Roberta Barton-Joe, was the Administrator on Call the night of the shooting and wrote the following description the next day. It truly reflects her spirit of caring and praise for her team members. Here are her words: “Shortly after I was notified of the mass casualty event as the facility Administrator on Call, I arrived at the Emergency Department and was escorted into the back patient care area. Immediately, I… Read more.

I love the Summer Olympics and I’m sad to see them go. I love hearing how the athletes prepared for the games, the challenges they overcame, as well as the support they received from their families. I smiled every time the camera cut to the family of gold-medal gymnast Gabby Douglas. That is one proud mom! Their stories help me appreciate the significance of their accomplishments and motivate me as I think about my own goals. So as we say goodbye to the athletes for these 2012 summer Olympics, I thought I’d share three things I’ve learned from this year’s… Read more.

From hurricane relief to a helping hand for someone across campus, the HCA Hope Fund connects employees in need with those who can provide assistance. In so doing, it creates strong, deep ties across the company. What began as an informal way of connecting victims of natural disasters with co-workers who wanted to help spawned a bona fide non-profit agency. The Hope Fund is employee-run and supported. As a public charity, its goal is to help HCA employees who have been affected by financial hardship, which can include disaster, extended illness or injury, domestic violence, the death of a loved one… Read more.

Our colleagues at The Medical Center of Aurora, Aurora, Colo. and Swedish Medical Center, Englewood, Colo., know firsthand the extraordinary teamwork required to respond effectively to the call, “Code Green.” Their advanced expertise, unfortunately, has not been gained solely from practice drills and staged mock disasters, but from a mass casualty at an Aurora movie theater shortly after midnight on Friday, July 20. A senseless shooting spree by a lone gunman left 12 people dead, and 58 wounded needing emergent or immediate care. HCA’s family has responded over the years to most major natural and man-made disasters in the nation’s… Read more.