The Rotary Club of Scottsdale welcomed Steve Purves, President, Chief 
Executive Officer and Ambassador of Valleywise Health, as keynote
speaker at its recent Rotary meeting. During the introduction, Rotarian John Abbs, noted that Mr. Purves works with the publicly elected five-member Board of Directors who represent the Maricopa County Special Health District, to provide executive leadership for the growth and development of Valleywise Health.
Mr. Purves has received numerous advocacy awards and honors, such as,
being named by Phoenix Business Journal as one of top 25 most influential leaders in Phoenix. Mr. Purves serves on ASU Health Advisory Board, Health Care Futures Council, Arizona Health andHospital Association, Arizona Chamber of Commerce, and more. Additionally, Mr. Purvis has served as a Rotary Club President and holds Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow honors.
Mr. Purvis stated that Valleywise's mission is to provide exceptional care, without exception to every patient, every time. Established in 1887, Valleywise Health (formerly Maricopa Integrated Health System) is Arizona's largest and longest serving public teaching hospital and health care system.Valleywise Health includes Roosevelt Campus Hospital, Arizona Burn Center, Arizona Children's Center, the Valley's only Level I Trauma Center for adults and children, three behavioral health centers (Mesa, Phoenix and Maryvale), Maryvale Hospital's24/7 Emergency Department and a network of 12 federally Qualified Community Health Centers that serve Phoenix and Maricopa County.
Mr. Purvis provided an overview of various Valleywise Health statistics, i.e.: 325 licensed acute care beds, 433 licensed behavioral health beds, over 485,000 clinic visits per year, over 77,000 adult and pediatric ER visits per year, over 8,100 surgeries per year and operation of a burn center that treats over 10,000 patients per year. Valleywise Health's inpatient behavioral health facilities treat patients under Court Ordered Evaluation; Mental Health Courts are at each location; and, treat the mostacute mental health issues. Mr. Purves acknowledged appreciation for the exceptional community support of Valleywise Health. Voters in 2014 approved $935 million in bonds to transform the Valleywise Health Care System.
Valleywise Health has ten Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) residency programs for medical student rotations and nursing and allied health training programs. Valleywise Health established its residency programs in 1952 and now trains about 400 physicians annually.The Graduate Medical Education programs operate under the umbrella of Creighton University Arizona Health Alliance with Creighton University, Dignity/St. Joseph Hospital and District Medical Group. Valleywise provides the only Emergency Medicine residency program in Maricopa County with about1,500 applications for 14 slots every year. Mr. Purves stated: 75% of physicians who train at Valleywise Health remain in Arizona.
Per Mr. Purves, the Arizona Burn Center serves patients across Western U.S. and is one of the nations busiest by volume in the U.S.. The Center provides education outreach to U. S. Military, first responders & emergency departments, and has initiated renown burn patient treatment innovations. Rotarian Dr. Honora Norton and other Rotarians, during Q&A, reflected on the community support provided to the Burn Center by non-profits, such as, Arizona Starlight Children's Foundation and its burn center treatment room renovation projects funded by local Foundations, such as, Arizona Coyotes and Suns Charities.Additional topics addressed by Mr. Purves were:
Approximately 60% of patients are Latino.
Overview of local tax support used to cover uncompensated costs.
Health payor mix - 13% commercial, 16% Medicate, 54% Medicaid/FES,
12% Uninsured and 5% Other Government.
Targeted to open in 2023 is a 10 story Valleywise Health Medical
Center with 233 private patient rooms, dedicated burn center floor,
teaching environment and rooftop and ground level helipad.
2020 completion of Phoenix/Laveen Health Center; as well as, many
other healthcare center upgrades, refurbishing and additions.
Before closing his remarks, Mr. Purvis shared the following
Valleywise's operational adjustments that were put in place to address COVID-19:
* Conversion of Pediatric ED to COVID Incident Decision Unit (IDU) and
conversion of three other hospital units into IDUs
* Immediate visitation restrictions
* Launch of telehealth services with over 60,000 online health care
visits and expanded outreach
* Employee testing and rapid testing setup
* Elective surgery adjustments
* Declining infection rate improvements
* 140% uptick in domestic violence incidents since start of pandemic
and expanded need for behavioral health treatment
* Valleywise leadership and its physicians established themselves as
the medical voice in the media providing numerous interviews on a local and
national level to address COVID-19 related issues
* Mr. Purves shared his appreciation of the amazing and compassionate
frontline health care provided by Valleywise physicians and staff during
the COVID-19 crisis.