Transforming the Dream: Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Through Action

On January 16, GBMC HealthCare celebrated our annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration with the theme, Transforming the Dream: Time for Reflection, Celebration, and Action. This event was a poignant reminder of Dr. King’s enduring legacy and the continued work required to honor his vision of equity, justice, and community. 

A Fireside Chat with Calvin Butler: Leading with Purpose 

Our celebration featured a keynote address and fireside chat with Calvin Butler, President and CEO of Exelon. Calvin, a remarkable community leader and a dear friend, embodies the values at the core of this year’s theme – specifically, transformation and action. It was a privilege to welcome him to this special commemoration. 

In a “fireside chat” style conversation with Lisa Walker, GBMC’s Vice President and Chief Diversity & Learning Officer, Calvin shared his inspiring journey. From modest beginnings to becoming the first Black CEO of the nation’s largest utility company, he highlighted the importance of embracing opportunities, finding mentors, and creating environments where others can succeed. 

Calvin’s message was rooted in knowing your “why” and taking decisive action. As he put it: “Be bold enough to ask and committed enough to move.” He also spoke of his responsibility as an African American leader to inspire and open doors for others, emphasizing that helping just one person advance is his “why.” 

Recognizing Those Who Embody Dr. King’s Spirit 

This year, we honored members of the GBMC HealthCare team who embody Dr. King’s values of equity, service, and justice: 

• Martine Bell, DNP, CRNP, Clinical Manager of Advanced Practitioners and co-chair of the Black Alliance ERG, was celebrated for advancing health equity through initiatives like the Pathways Project and fostering inclusivity within GBMC. 
• Jodie Bell, MSN, RN, IBCLC, Assistant Director of Nursing in Maternal Newborn Health, was recognized for her leadership in maternal health equity, helping reduce disparities in severe maternal morbidity. 
• Jenora Parker BS, PharmD, Manager of Specialty and Outpatient Pharmacy Services, was acknowledged for her commitment to diversity in the pharmacy department, mentoring students, and ensuring culturally competent care. 

Congratulations to Tochi Ezeonu, RN, from Unit 42 – Medicine, Telemetry, Oncology, who received the Spirit of King Award for her work with the Chinyere-Florence Emmanuel Foundation, offering resources and hope to marginalized communities. I’d like to also recognize Halle Sheehan, Medical Assistant Lead for Medical Oncology, for being nominated for the award. 

Gratitude to Our Planning Committee 

This impactful event was made possible by the dedication of our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Planning Committee. A special thank you to Lisa Walker, Angela Wu, and everyone else who contributed to this meaningful celebration. 

Together, let's reflect, celebrate, and most importantly, act. We can continue to honor Dr. King’s dream through bold action and a commitment to equity.

Leveraging Leadership and Data to Guide Our Mission

With the start of 2025, we have an opportunity to reflect on our mission, renew our focus, and explore how we can better serve our community. At GBMC HealthCare, our vision to provide the care we would want for our own loved ones continues to guide our work. Achieving this vision, however, requires more than good intentions—it depends on thoughtful leadership and informed decision-making.

Defining the "Why" and Engaging Stakeholders

Every decision we make should begin with asking, “Why are we doing this?” For GBMC, the answer lies in our commitment to meet the needs of our community while ensuring the sustainability of our organization.

Our leadership system helps us answer this question by encouraging us to consider the perspectives of our key stakeholders—patients, families, other members of the GBMC team, and community partners. By understanding their needs, we can better prioritize initiatives and align our efforts with both care quality and financial responsibility.

Using Data to Make Better Decisions

Data is an invaluable resource that helps us move from purpose to action. Through tools and reports available to us in Epic (our electronic health record system), we can access critical insights to inform decisions. For example, physician referral reports allow practice managers to identify stakeholders such as their top referral sources, better understand their business, foster collaboration, and improve continuity of care.

We also recognize that not everyone has access to the same reports or knows how to use them effectively. The Analytics Catalog in Epic is a good place to start, allowing users to find available reports relevant to their role. Leaders and staff are encouraged to reach out to their Epic reporting contacts for guidance. Whether through department analysts or Epic’s training resources, there are many ways to access support. These tools are here to help us work smarter and to ultimately improve outcomes and experience for the people we serve.

Integrating data into our leadership practices is key to driving progress. When leaders use these insights to set goals, cascade information to their teams, and connect their work to our broader vision, we create a culture of improvement that benefits everyone. Whether we’re improving access to care, managing chronic conditions, or making care more convenient and equitable, the intersection of leadership and data drives better decisions.

To our GBMC leaders and staff: As we enter this new year, I encourage you to focus on the "why" behind your work and on the resources available to help you achieve it. Together, we can make 2025 a year of growth, collaboration, and impact!

Reflecting on a Year of Achievements and Looking Forward to the Year Ahead

As we step into a new year, it’s a perfect moment to reflect on the accomplishments that shaped 2024 and the milestones that have brought us closer to our vision of providing every patient, every time with the care we would want for our own loved ones. 

To celebrate these achievements, we’ve created four special videos, each spotlighting impactful moments within Gilchrist, GBMC Health Partners, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, and GBMC HealthCare. I invite you to watch these videos as they not only showcase the past year but also set the stage for the bright future ahead. 

A Year in Review: Key Highlights from 2024 

• Gilchrist 
• GBMC Health Partners 
• Greater Baltimore Medical Center  
• GBMC HealthCare 

Looking Ahead: Celebrating 60 Years of GBMC 

As we embark on 2025, we also prepare to celebrate yet another momentous occasion: our 60th anniversary on October 2, 2025. This important milestone for our staff, volunteers, and community gives us a chance to honor our history and renew our commitment to innovation, equity, and excellence in care. 

Stay tuned for upcoming events and initiatives as we mark this incredible journey together. Let’s continue to build on our successes, guided by our vision and our shared mission to improve health and well-being for all. 

Thank you for being a vital part of our story. Here’s to an impactful year ahead!

Holiday Greetings

As we enter this special time of year, I want to take a moment to extend my warmest wishes for a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, and a joyful holiday season to all. 

The holidays remind us of the importance of family, community, and gratitude. At GBMC HealthCare, we are grateful for the dedication and compassion of our staff, the trust and support of our community, and the commitment of our donors and partners. Together, we make a difference every day in the lives of those we serve. 

From my family to yours, may your holidays be filled with peace, love, and joy. Please stay safe and let us carry the spirit of giving and care into the new year. Thank you for being a vital part of the GBMC family. 

Celebrating Innovation and Excellence in Patient Safety

Last week, I shared my recent experience at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Forum.
This week, I am excited to highlight the exceptional efforts of GBMC's Quality Improvement team, whose work was presented during the forum. Experts from across the world submit their work for consideration, so being selected is quite an honor!  

Transforming Patient Safety with Technology and Teamwork 

Our team's presentation, titled "Leveraging Technology to Decrease the Incidence of Pulmonary Embolisms (PEs) and Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVTs)," chronicled GBMC's success in reducing preventable PEs and DVTs by an astonishing 94% since 2019. This achievement demonstrates the power of a multidisciplinary approach, advanced technology, and evidence-based protocols in driving meaningful improvements. 

Some key strategies included: 

• Real-time dashboards in our Electronic Health Record (EHR): Empowering clinicians with immediate insights into patient risks and care opportunities. 
• Standardized order sets: Ensuring consistency in prophylaxis delivery. 
• Evidence-based protocols: Incorporating guidelines for risk assessments, appropriate timing and dosing of pharmacologic prophylaxis, and patient education to ensure adherence. 
• Proactive provider feedback systems: Promoting adherence to best practices. 
• Patient-centered education: Encouraging participation and compliance from those in our care. 

Through collaboration among clinicians, IT experts, and patient educators, our team has set a benchmark in patient safety—one that aligns seamlessly with GBMC’s vision: “To every patient, every time, we provide the care we would want for our own loved ones.” 

Thank you and congratulations to Joseph Fuscaldo, MD, Medical Director of Quality Improvement; Ryan Curran, Outcomes Manager; Marge Noel, Epic Liaison; and Ryan Perrott, PharmD, Epic Analyst, who led this effort and shared these insights at the IHI Forum, inspiring other organizations to replicate our success! 

Recognizing Everyday Excellence 

At GBMC HealthCare, we foster a culture of safety by encouraging early and frequent reporting of incidents and near misses. Guided by the principles of just culture, our focus is on learning and improvement—not blame. Rather than hiding mistakes, we view them as opportunities to identify and address system weaknesses, preventing future failures. 

In this spirit, I’m proud to celebrate Roxanne Sharkey, RN, as a recent recipient of the Great Save Award from our Quality and Patient Safety team. Roxanne exemplifies the “questioning attitude” that is key to high reliability. 

While reviewing a pediatric patient's discharge summary, Roxanne identified a potentially harmful prescription dose. Thanks to her diligence and teamwork with Dr. Rachel Plotnick, the error was corrected, and the patient’s family was guided toward safer pain management. This proactive approach not only prevented a potential overdose but also ensured the family felt supported during a stressful time. 

Thank you, Roxanne, for your diligence in keeping our patients safe! And thank you to all our staff for your vigilance in reporting incidents so we can continue to learn and improve.

A Week of Reflection, Recognition, and Celebration

This past week, I had the privilege of attending the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Forum, a gathering that always inspires those of us in healthcare. Among the many highlights was hearing from Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leader in public health whose career spans decades of service, from addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis to guiding us through the COVID-19 pandemic. His reflections were insightful and a reminder of what can be accomplished when public health is prioritized.

Another proud moment came when Carolyn Candiello, our Senior Vice President of Quality and Patient Safety, accepted recognition on our behalf (as I was at the Gilchrist Ball…see below) for our past achievement of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. It’s always gratifying to see the work of our teams recognized on such a distinguished platform. This recognition reinforces the importance of staying focused on quality and patient safety in everything we do. I continue to be thankful to all our staff for their work in making this recognition possible and for their commitment to maintaining the same high level of quality of care for all our patients.

As part of the forum, we also enjoyed keynote addresses from Kedar Mate, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer at IHI; Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, KBE, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow at IHI; best-selling author and executive producer, Tembi Locke; and Dannagal G. Young, Ph.D., Professor of Communication and Political Science at the University of Delaware.

I appreciated the opportunity to learn from and catch up with healthcare colleagues from across the world at the forum.

The Gilchrist Ball

On another celebratory note, on Saturday, December 7, Gilchrist held its biennial Gilchrist Ball, marking 30 years of compassionate care. The event, attended by more than 375 supporters, raised an incredible $750,000 to benefit Gilchrist’s hospice centers across Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Howard County. Guests enjoyed a wonderful dinner, shared stories, and danced to live music—all in support of a mission that makes a difference for so many families.

Click here to view a special video presentation that was shared that night.

Celebrating Sheppard Pratt’s New Crisis Center – A Win for Baltimore City

On Monday, I joined Sheppard Pratt and community leaders to celebrate the ribbon cutting for a new residential crisis center in Baltimore City. This much-needed facility addresses critical gaps in mental health care, providing tailored support for individuals in crisis while reducing strain on emergency departments. 

Located at the former site of the Gilchrist Center Baltimore, the center features two buildings with 16 beds each, offering both short-term crisis care and long-term residential support. Too often, individuals experiencing mental health crises spend days or weeks in emergency departments due to a lack of available mental health sites. This center bridges that gap, ensuring specialized care in the right setting. 

Dr. Harsh Trivedi, President and CEO of Sheppard Pratt, highlighted the urgent need for accessible mental healthcare, noting that Baltimore faces some of the nation’s longest emergency department wait times. With an estimated 25,000 city residents living with serious mental illnesses, this facility represents a vital step toward addressing their needs. 

The event also brought together Baltimore City Councilman Zeke Cohen, Maryland Hospital Association CEO Melony Griffith, and other community leaders, reflecting the collective commitment to improving mental health equity. 

At GBMC, we’ve seen firsthand how prolonged stays by behavioral health patients impact emergency departments. Last year, Dr. Jeff Sternlicht, GBMC’s Chair of Emergency Services, testified to the Maryland legislature about this strain. Facilities like this one are essential to relieving pressure and improving outcomes for all patients. 

The transformation of this site into a mental health crisis center reflects a shared mission. In 2014, Gilchrist—GBMC HealthCare’s hospice and elder care experts—rescued the Joseph Richey House (later known as Gilchrist Center Baltimore) from bankruptcy to maintain access to high-quality hospice care for Baltimore City residents. When Gilchrist relocated operations to a state-of-the-art inpatient facility in 2021, we seized the opportunity to transfer the property to Sheppard Pratt in 2022, knowing their vision aligned with ours. If our loved one were in mental health crisis, we would want them to be treated in a facility tailored to best meet them where they are. 

This new center sets a higher standard for mental health services in Maryland and beyond. We are honored to support Sheppard Pratt in being part of the solution to a long-standing issue impacting healthcare. 

Recognizing Our Physicians 

On a celebratory note, earlier this week, we hosted our 34th Annual Physician Recognition Cocktail Reception at the Baltimore Country Club, Roland Park Clubhouse. It was a joy to gather with hundreds of our talented physicians and their guests to thank them for all they do for our patients and health system. This annual event is a small token of our immense gratitude.