December 2024
HonorHealth Foundation is proud to celebrate four decades of partnering with donors to help them achieve their vision of advancing healthcare, fostering community well-being and making a lasting impact on the patients who walk through the doors of HonorHealth.
As 2024 comes to a close, we wish you a warm and wonderful holiday season.
Take steps to make your holiday healthy and safe
The holidays bring to mind family gatherings, delicious food, sparkling lights and new toys. You don’t want to make your holiday memories in an emergency room this year!
Emergency visits spike during the holidays — our doctors see falls related to Christmas decorations, kitchen cuts and burns, toy accidents and more. Here are some tips to make sure you are home for the holidays, not in the emergency room!
While the causes of injuries vary, there’s a common theme — trying to do too much, too fast. No matter what you’re planning for your holiday feast, focus on the task at hand and take your time enjoying the process from start to finish.
“When it comes to preparing holiday meals, it’s essential to practice good knife safety. Use a cutting board, keep knives sharp — as dull ones slip more easily — and always cut away from your body,” says Jeremy Driscoll, MD, an emergency medicine physician with HonorHealth. “Avoid distractions to prevent accidents. We often see holiday-related lacerations from rushed or distracted chopping, which could be avoided with mindful preparation.” Also, turn pot handles away from the edge, so kids can pull them down and cause a burn.
Have you heard of holiday heart syndrome? Driscoll and other emergency room doctors have, and they see it every year. It’s caused by overeating or consuming large meals, which are often high in salt and fat, too fast. Driscoll explains this can cause abnormal heart rhythms in susceptible individuals. He also explained food bolus impaction — which happens when food gets stuck in the throat — can require emergency intervention.
As you decorate, be aware — there are roughly 15,000 holiday decorating-related injuries requiring treatment in emergency departments annually and more than 40 percent involve falls.
“When decorating, especially while using ladders or stools, always make sure they are on even ground,” Driscoll points out. "It’s best to have someone hold the ladder for stability and avoid leaning too far. Every year, we see fractures and head injuries from falls that could have been prevented with proper setup and a bit of patience.”
Driscoll also mentions another safety tip dealing with candles and fireplaces. He advises against leaving them unattended because of accidental burns and smoke inhalation. If accidents do happen, Driscoll says most injuries can be treated at home.
“For at-home care, minor cuts and scrapes should be washed, covered with a sterile dressing and kept clean. Ice can be used for bruising or mild strains. If you see signs of infection, such as redness or swelling, or if bleeding doesn’t stop, consider heading to an urgent care. For fractures, deep cuts or severe pain, the emergency room is the right choice.”
With multiple urgent care facilities and hospitals across the Valley, HonorHealth has a location close-by and ready to help. Locate your closest urgent care, choose an HonorHealth Complete Care location, with urgent and emergency services under one roof, or find your closest HonorHealth hospital by using the HonorHealth Medical Center locator.
HonorHealth first in Arizona to perform minimally invasive tricuspid valve replacement
This month, HonorHealth was the first site in Arizona to perform a transcatheter tricuspid valve replacement on a patient outside of a clinical trial.
This advanced technique utilizes a catheter to implant an artificial, self-expanding tricuspid valve to prevent or reduce tricuspid regurgitation, the backflow of blood into the upper right chamber of the heart.
When this condition becomes moderate or severe, it can be life limiting and potentially, life threatening.
“Roughly 1.6 million Americans have moderate to severe tricuspid regurgitation, but when discovered early, it can easily be managed," says Haidar Yassin, M.D., interventional cardiologist with HonorHealth Heart Care. "When it becomes moderate or severe, it can be life limiting and potentially, life threatening. Through this treatment, we can improve quality of life, and relieve symptoms such as tiredness, shortness of breath and fatigue.”
Marie L. underwent the procedure last year, as a participant in the clinical trial at HonorHealth. She was hesitant to undergo open heart surgery, as she was the primary caretaker for her husband who had suffered a stroke. But her heart condition caused severe fatigue, inhibiting her ability to be there for her husband. Her cardiologist suggested this minimally invasive procedure could be the answer. Indeed, it was. And Marie’s outcome is a success story that has led to the opportunity for other patients to have access to this life saving, interventional procedure.
“HonorHealth Heart Care is a leader in aortic, mitral and pulmonary valve care, and this is the next logical step to provide complete heart care for our patients,” says Riana Kielly, hospital administrator, HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center. “These innovative procedures require collaboration between multiple specialists and teams before, during and after the procedure. At HonorHealth, we already have these teams in place.”
Yassin and Robert Riley, MD, network director, cardiothoracic surgery with HonorHealth Heart Care, were part of the multi-disciplinary team that completed the first procedure outside of a clinical trial at HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center in December 2024.
Learn more about the innovative cardiovascular care available at HonorHealth Heart Care.
Fall 2024 Leapfrog results
How do you know where your hospital stacks up against others?
One method is to look at the Leapfrog results, which are letter grade ratings based on critical information about how likely patients are to experience accidents, injuries, errors or harm while in the hospital.
HonorHealth consistently earns grades that place us at the top of Valley community hospitals and systems. In the Fall 2024 survey, HonorHealth hospitals posted five of the 10 “A”-rated hospitals in the Phoenix Metro area, with an overall score of 3.8 on a 4-point scale.
Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades use up to 30 national performance measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Leapfrog Hospital Survey and information from other supplemental data sources to produce a single letter grade representing a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.
Here are the Fall 2024 scores for HonorHealth hospitals:
• HonorHealth Deer Valley, A
• HonorHealth John C. Lincoln, A
• HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn, A
• HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea, B
• HonorHealth Scottsdale Thompson Peak, A
• HonorHealth Sonoran Crossing, A
The non-profit Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade website contains a searchable database where you can check the Safety Grade of any hospital across the U.S.
Desert Mission Food Bank Milk Drive
Milk is the most requested item by people visiting the Desert Mission Food Bank.
It’s also the item that is donated the least.
That’s why HonorHealth Foundation and the Dairy Council of Arizona have teamed up for the Second Annual Adopt-a-Cow milk drive, benefiting the clients of Desert Mission Food Bank.
Make a gift of $25 or more, and you'll receive a cow plush toy (limited to the first 200 donors).
The Honor Ball
Saturday, March 1, 2025
JW Marriott Camelback Inn Resort & Spa
Join us for one of the Valley’s most anticipated galas. This year we’re inspired by Studio 54 and the Disco era! Proceeds benefit HonorHealth women’s health programs.
Reserve your Honor Ball seats today!
HonorHealth Foundation Pro-Am
Friday, April 25, 2025
Grayhawk Golf Club
Help make great care possible for patients and families in our community by joining us Friday, April 25, 2025, for a fabulous round of golf at Grayhawk Golf Club at the HonorHealth Foundation Pro-Am!
Your Pro-Am registration or sponsorship benefits the HonorHealth Foundation Greatest Needs Fund, which gives HonorHealth the ability to respond quickly to do the most good for patients and staff.
Event registration includes a morning or afternoon shotgun start, a player gift package, plus food and drinks served on-course throughout the day.
Reserve your spot in the HonorHealth Pro-Am today!
Philanthropic gifts fuel our mission for finding cures,
saving lives and transforming healthcare.
Will you join us?
