Reading Clinic

Celebrating A Century and a Half of Care

A PICTORIAL HISTORY

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ision. Legacy. Progress. Achievement.

All of these describe Reading Hospital as it celebrates 150 years of caring for the community. Founded in 1868 to serve area residents with compassionate care, it was nurtured by community leaders who understood the importance of a local healthcare facility. Generations later, Reading Hospital continues to operate on the same guiding principles and community support.

In its early years of rapid growth and challenging finances, the hospital persevered with help from the community. Benefactors provided financial backing and management expertise to position the hospital for continued growth and service to the community. Throughout the 20th century, the hospital met the growing need for healthcare services with expansions in the physical hospital, and in the scope clinical care.

Today, Reading Hospital is the hub of Tower Health, a regional healthcare system

based in West Reading, and serving eastern Pennsylvania with advanced technology, an integrated network of primary care and specialist physicians, six hospitals, and a provider-payer health plan.

In 2018, Reading Hospital celebrates its tradition —and mission —of caring for a community with its commitment to blending the best of medical advances with compassion and concern.

The words of Louis R. Thun, past president of the Board of Directors, in a Reading Hospital 100th anniversary commemorative One Hundred Years of Hope and Help book in 1967, still ring true: “We remind ourselves constantly that we are heirs of an exceptional past, custodians of a challenging present, and architects of a limitless future.”

Reading Hospital is on the vanguard of a healthier future.

Reading Hospital A Century and a Half of Care

C E L E B R AT I N G A C E N T U R Y AND A HALF OF CARE

Reading Hospital PO Box 16052 Reading, Pennsylvania 19612-6052 www.reading.towerhealth.org

Copyright 2018 by the Reading Hospital.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Reading Hospital, Reading, Pennsylvania.

Reading Hospital Celebrating a Century and a Half of Care

Foreword VI

Introduction 1

Building a Tower of Health 2

Caring at its Best 22

Fostering a Healthy Community 46

Shaping the Future of Healthcare 60

Reaching for Excellence 70

F O R E W O R

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t is with great personal pleasure that I provide a Foreword to the 150th Anniversary

As an apprentice/college graduate trainee in

of the various organizations with which they were

the Textile Machine Works Apprentice Program

associated and to learn the astonishing detail of

Commemorative Book for the Reading Hospital,

and subsequent employee of the company, I

that involvement.

its predecessors and its successors. As a child,

learned about the recognition they earned from

I had little understanding of the wonderful

thousands of employees, their customers and the

opportunity to listen to my father talk with my

contributions of my grandfather, Ferdinand Thun,

national American Apprenticeships Roundtable.

mother about his involvement in the businesses

and his partners and associates in the community.

Everyone knew about their concern for others

and the community activities he shared with his

As I was growing up, I was privileged to

and their day-to-day involvement in the details

father, Ferdinand Thun, and business associate,

participate in sustaining many of the organizations

of achieving their vision. They did not seek

Henry Janssen. One of Dad’s favorites was

and projects they had the vision to create and

recognition but their projects gained national

the Reading Hospital. Every Tuesday evening,

inspire. It was always special to understand their

and international attention. Both the companies

we received a report on that day’s Executive

commitment to each other, to their families, to

they created and the community and its amenities

Committee meeting. The discussion involved not

their associates and to their communities in the

benefited from their personal involvement. Lately,

only the activities of the professionals but also the

United States and in Germany.

it has been a special pleasure to read the minutes

problems and opportunities of a growing hospital

At home, my siblings and I had the

and the involvement of many community leaders.

Dad clearly recognized the community had Photo courtesy of Wyomissing Public Library.

inherited a product of great vision. And he, like so many of his generation, were committed to doing their part to make sure Reading Hospital would continue to be a model resource and refuge for the citizens and visitors of Berks County.

I join in congratulating the many who have contributed to making the Reading Hospital what it is today and add my best wishes for its continuing leadership in the community in which we live.

David Thun Wyomissing Foundation

Ferdinand Thun (at left) and Henry Janssen sit at adjacent desks, as they did for 40 years.

5th Avenue fountain in remembrance of Helene L. Master, Friend of The Reading Hospital.

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I’m most proud of The Friends’ “HeartSAFE Berks County” initiative, a program that has saved lives throughout our community. Funded

y great-grandfather’s love and dedication to family and community are some of my

earliest memories of him. I have a picture of Henry Janssen holding me and my twin sister at our

by The Friends, HeartSAFE Berks County is focused on saving lives from sudden cardiac arrest. The program launched in 2016; since its inception, The Friends have invested more than $1.6 million to fund the placement of 560 automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, through the Berks community.

After 30 years of service to Reading Hospital, including nearly 25 years as a member of The Friends’ Board, I retired from my work at the hospital. But the legacy of the Janssen family’s support of Reading Hospital continues.

On Reading Hospital‘s 150th anniversary, I’m very proud of my family’s long history with the hospital. Congratulations and best wishes

baptism in my living room and when I look at it, I remember hearing how he viewed his community as an extension of his family. He and his business partner, Ferdinand Thun, demonstrated that community commitment by donating land and funding for the hospital to be built on its current site, making possible the Reading Hospital we know today. From that point forward, our family became part of Reading Hospital.

My aunt, Helene Master, was one of the first women to serve on what was known as the hospital’s Board of Managers and went on to lead that board and the board of the Reading Hospital Auxiliary as chair.

At age 30, I followed in the family legacy of

on this significant anniversary!

service to Reading Hospital by joining the hospital Auxiliary Board, and later served as chair of that

Elizabeth Rothermel President Berkshire Charitable Foundation

Board. I am proud of the difference the Reading Hospital Auxiliary has made in our community.

Now known as The Friends of Reading Hospital, this dedicated group of women volunteered, raised the money and became involved in our community.

Auxilians worked daily in the pediatric clinic and unit and in other units throughout the hospital, and they raised funds to support community projects.

VII

VIII

150 Years of Caring I N T R O D U C

T I O N

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eading Hospital’s 150th anniversary is a time to celebrate our extraordinary history and honor the vision of our founders. While healthcare and our hospital have changed dramatically since the Reading Dispensary, the precursor to Reading Hospital, opened its doors in 1868, one thing remains the same: Reading Hospital is dedicated to Advancing Health and Transforming Lives by providing compassionate, high-quality care to our community.

Reading Hospital and the community are intertwined. Our hospital began with that connection and it continues today. We care about and rely on each other. It takes all of us—hospital staff, physicians, healthcare and business partners, volunteers, patients, friends and neighbors— working together to ensure the health and wellbeing of our community.

Reading Hospital’s legacy of patient care started with its founding as

a facility to provide free healthcare to the region’s poor. It began with six “in-door” patient beds and an entrance for “out-door” patients, followed by rapid expansion as demand grew. A “new” Reading Hospital opened at our current West Reading location in the 1920s, modeled after a German prototype viewed as the best in modern healthcare. Its Georgian-style clock tower and steeple, long a symbol of comfort and care, are still integral to our healthcare system brand and promise.

Today, Reading Hospital carries on its commitment to the health and wellness of our community. When you enter our facilities, you can expect the highest quality healthcare in the region as well as access to cutting edge technology and access to more than 1,000 physicians and providers across more than 45 locations. Our campus includes Reading HealthPlex, a state-of-the-art, seven-story facility that includes some of the region’s most technologically advanced surgical suites and patient care areas. In 2017, Reading Hospital acquired five community hospitals and launched Tower Health, a regional healthcare system that cares for nearly 2 million people across nine counties in Pennsylvania.

Reading Hospital continues to grow on the foundation and the shoulders of the leaders who came before us. That is why this anniversary is so important to us. At the Reading Hospital dedication in the 1920s, then president of the hospital, Frank H. Livingood said, “The injured were made whole and the sick well, and physicians followed the advances in medicine and surgery up to the wonderful era of the present day.”

On this anniversary, we continue to work diligently to serve those in need while advancing our delivery of medicine and healthcare services across the region. Our relentless pursuit of excellence in all we do best describes our healthcare services and our healthcare facilities. The legacy of our forefathers is the backbone of our relentless pursuit of excellence in all that we do.

In gratitude and service, Clint Matthews, President and Chief Executive Officer Tower Health

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Building A

Tower of Health

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eflecting on history often illuminates the future.

Reading Hospital’s expansive health campus is built around its original Sixth Avenue entrance with its iconic clock tower and shimmering gold dome, both symbols of the long history of the hospital and its values. It includes a steeple that, to this day, shines a beacon of light at night, providing a touch of comfort and care to the community.

eading Hospital’s 150th anniversary in 2018 is a time to

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architects of a limitless

reflect on the vision and legacy of the hospital’s forefathers

future,” wrote Louis R.

while highlighting the organization’s continued growth and

Thun, president of the Board

achievements in today’s complex healthcare environment. In 1868,

of Directors, in a Reading

the hospital was founded as the Reading Dispensary with the

Hospital 100th anniversary

objectives of compassionate service, progress and achievement.

commemorative book with the

Hospital leaders today continue to pursue those same objectives.

prescient title One Hundred Years

The path to this milestone celebration is grounded in the

of Hope and Help.

hospital’s past.

“We are keenly aware of the responsibilities and the opportunities “We remind ourselves constantly that we are heirs of an

which are ours,” he continued, “… and we can only hope that

exceptional past, custodians of a challenging present, and

with the continued help of hundreds of dedicated people we can measure up to the responsibilities and realize the opportunities which lie before us.”

Thun’s words written 50 years ago still ring true in 2018 when nearly half a million people rely on Reading Hospital and its network of physicians and healthcare facilities. The organization has evolved far beyond the dreams of its founders and yet still strives toward the same goal: to be a beacon of hope and a source of pride for people seeking healthcare in eastern Pennsylvania.

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Reading Hospital today provides world-class clinical expertise, state-of-the art diagnostic capabilities and outcomes that are among the best in the nation. But its excellent medical care wasn’t always a given. As did many other early hospitals and healthcare providers, Reading Hospital had a challenging start. Precarious financial support in the early years resulted in administrators paying the rent, and doctors volunteering their service and providing their own medical equipment. The demand for medical care continually outpaced its supply. The resourcefulness and perseverance of doctors, supporters and funders propelled the hospital forward. As its finances improved, the Hospital expanded and moved several times.

Throughout its history, the hospital’s Board of Managers, Board of Trustees and administrators instilled strong patient care philosophies and protocols and sound financial management principles, which allowed Reading Hospital to add new technology, expand clinical capabilities

Messrs. Louis Thun, Henry Janssen and Gustav Oberlaender donated land and made a cash contribution to build the Reading Hospital.

and rise to its current role as a preeminent healthcare provider.

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In 2018, Reading Hospital is a hub for technologically advanced medical care. Nuclear imaging detects potential heart attacks before they happen. Robot-assisted surgery makes delicate procedures safer and recovery swifter. Robots even navigate the corridors to deliver meals to patients. It includes Reading HealthPlex, a new five-story addition that opened in 2016 with advanced hybrid operating rooms (ORs), an expanded Emergency Department and Trauma Center and a green roof and healing garden.

Grounded in the roots and vision of its forefathers, Reading Hospital is recognized as one of the top 100 hospitals in the country and admired as among the greenest, most wired, efficient, and clinically excellent healthcare organizations in the country. Yet, its long history of compassionate care and serving the needs of its surrounding community are still the reasons many community members seek medical care in its facilities.

“What people are looking for is not only to be cared for, but to be cared about,” says Therese Sucher, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

That dual mission continues with every patient encounter. In 2017, Reading Hospital treated more than 133,000 people in the emergency room, delivered 3,500 babies, replaced more than 1,100 hips, knees, and other joints, patched 500 hearts, performed more than 13,000 surgeries and responded to heart attacks and strokes with swift protocols that surpass national standards. Contrast these astounding facts with the Reading Dispensary’s capacity to care for the community. Though there is no consistent record of the numbers of patients treated in the Dispensary, during one documented period of a few months, 22 patients­— both inpatients and outpatients—were treated for various conditions, ranging from worms, typhoid fever, colic and diarrhea to frostbite and injuries.

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Dispensary Founded

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on a Commitment to Care

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his legacy of patient care began in 1868 when a group of physicians and community leaders decided to create a facility that would provide free

healthcare for the region’s poor. Prior to this, no hospital existed in Reading, and the Berks County Medical Society proposed the establishment of a hospital modeled after similar dispensaries in Camden and Philadelphia.

The new facility was a three-story brick rental property at 618 South Court Street, in the midst of law offices. A board of 17 managers including physicians and businessmen was selected to oversee its operations, including Charles Kessler, president; pharmacist Philip M. Ziegler, secretary; and Hiester H. Muhlenberg, MD, treasurer.

“Let us indulge the hope that the day may not be far distant, when the institution we are now about to establish may be succeeded by a Hospital, worthy of the character of our rapidly increasing City,” the founders wrote.

That “institution”—the Reading Dispensary—opened as a small but life-saving sanctum on January 27, 1868.

The wounds of war and advances in treating them remained fresh in the minds of Reading’s leading physicians a few years after the Civil War ended. Though Reading prospered in that post-war era, thanks to the iron and textile mills, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and other growing industries, many residents couldn’t afford to pay for personal care from a nurse or doctor, the prevailing mode of treatment at the time. Berks County doctors met and agreed there should be a hospital that could provide for “the worthy and respectable poor of our city.”

The Reading Dispensary opened for victims of accidents and illness in a threestory brick building with “out-door” patients on the first floor, up to six beds for “in-door” patients on the second and living quarters for a steward and his wife on the third. A physician visited every day from 3 to 4 p.m., except for Sundays, and gave free care. Only patients who were “immoral” or contagious were to be turned away although the first ailments treated included catarrh (nasal inflammation and congestion), phthisis (tuberculosis), and typhoid fever.

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New, Larger Hospital

Needed to ‘Help Make Health Safe’

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he demand for medical care proved to be

This donation of land and funding was just the start of the Thun, Janssen

greater than the dispensary could fulfill. Soon,

and Oberlaender involvement in the new hospital development. Historical

it was short of funds and overflowing with patients.

records show the development of the new hospital was part of a planned

Community leaders rallied to build a more suitable

community underway by the partners that would grow to include

facility. The dispensary’s successor was a new Reading

workplaces, homes and philanthropic ventures, such as the museum.

Hospital, which opened on June 3, 1886, at Front and

The Textile Machine Works Engineering Department reviewed the initial

Spring Streets in the city of Reading, amid a grand

plans for the hospital, as directed by Mr. Jannsen, and incorporated

ceremony with a celebratory band and tours for the

it in a master plan for the new community. The meticulous oversight

public. Three wards and three apartments provided space

included correspondence with renowned landscaper Frederick

for up to 32 patients, most cared for free of charge, and

Olmstead and his sons to review the plantings, tree by tree, for the

the dispensary continued to treat outpatients.

hospital and museum.

Once again, the demand was greater than the space available. John E.

The partner stewardship, later run through the Wyomissing Foundation,

Wootten, an inventor and railroad executive, and member of the Board of

included ordering Textile Machine Works to make models of new Reading

Managers, funded and personally oversaw the construction of a two-story

Hospital buildings and facilities to ensure that work on the hospital continued

wing in memory of his wife. The Wootten Wing more than doubled capacity

to support a shared vision of community development and growth.

and was said to have made the hospital one of the best-equipped institutions

Reading Hospital was an important component of the partners’ vision and

of its kind in the state. The 1918 influenza outbreak, the deadliest epidemic

commitment to the community.

of modern times, and World War I showed just how vital the hospital was to the community.

The Board of Managers launched a campaign to “Help Make Health Safe.”

They detailed the plight: even with four beds crammed into rooms designed for one and beds in hallways and reception areas, a waiting list persisted.

A large campaign ensued with more than 1,000 individuals working to raise $750,000 for new construction and improvements, but it raised only $580,000, falling short of the goal. Dr. William S. Bertolet, medical director of Reading Hospital and personal physician to local philanthropists and industrial leaders, made a personal appeal. In 1921, Ferdinand Thun, Henry Janssen and Gustav Oberlaender, partners in Wyomissing Industries, answered that appeal by donating $600,000 as well as land in West Reading.

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Iconic Clock Tower Signals a New Era

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he new Reading Hospital was designed as an example of the best of

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The hospital was built to last, with a fireproof steel structure covered in

modern healthcare. William Bertolet, MD, the medical director, and John

red brick and trimmed with Indiana limestone. The Georgian-style clock

E. Livingood, MD, a member of the Board of Managers, toured major cities

tower, with its steeple lit at night, became a symbol of comfort and care. A

of Europe in search of a prototype. They found it in Mannheim, Germany.

campus of two original buildings eventually expanded to six, providing 300

Benefactor Henry Janssen then visited to purchase the blueprints.

patient beds, operating and delivery rooms, an accident dispensary, nursing classrooms and dormitory, ambulance bay, and powerhouse with a 150-foothigh smokestack.

When funds ran low, Thun, Janssen and Oberlaender gave another $600,000.

William H. Luden, creator of the menthol cough drop, gave $250,000 and the community rallied to raise an additional $600,000.

At the October 2, 1926, dedication, Frank H. Livingood, the hospital’s president, lauded the legacy of service that began with the Reading Dispensary: “The injured were made whole and the sick well, and physicians followed the advances in medicine and surgery up to the wonderful era of the present day.”

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Specialty Care Ushers

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in a New Age of Medicine

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ntil the 20th century, most people received care in their homes, not only for births or illness but also even surgeries. Reading Hospital’s first tonsillectomy

took place about 1900, and the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat department became its first specialty in 1904. (In 2016, and again in 2018, U.S. News & World Report ranked Reading Hospital’s Ear, Nose and Throat program among the best in the country.)

A new era emerged when the modern hospital opened in West Reading in 1926, with expanded space and equipment that included an upgraded pathology lab, an orthopedic clinic, a bronchoscopy unit and an up-to-date anesthetizing room next to the operating room (OR).

In 2002, Terrence McGlinn and his wife Bobbie joined Marlin and Ginger Miller in Today, Reading Hospital provides care in 53 distinct medical specialties, which

making the two largest gifts to Reading Hospital in the hospital’s recent history.

reflect major advances in treatment. Patients with complex cases no longer need to

Their combined $10 million contribution to the hospital continues to benefit our

travel to large medical centers in Philadelphia and beyond. Reading Hospital is at

community through McGlinn Cancer Institute and the Miller Regional Heart Center,

the forefront of medicine, offering comparable care close to home.

offering the region’s most advanced cancer and heart services. For example, McGlinn Cancer Institute uses molecular profiling to target certain cancers with growth-blocking drugs, a process known as “precision medicine.” Miller Regional Heart Center physicians can replace an aortic valve or repair a damaged artery with a minimally invasive procedure that may not even require general anesthesia.

The McGlinn family continues to support Reading Hospital following Terry McGlinn’s passing in September of 2017 with a legacy gift in his name to benefit future generations of patients and their families. Marlin Miller and his wife also continue to support the hospital with a significant donation to McGlinn Cancer Institute in memory of Terry McGlinn.

Continued donations by these families follow in the footsteps of Reading Hospital founding fathers, Ferdinand Thun, Henry Janssen and Gustav Oberlaender, who provided the means necessary to develop the hospital and continue offering financial, foundational and personal family support through the present day.

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Faster, Smarter, Better: New Ways to Communicate

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nurse rolls the medication cart into the patient’s room, but before reachi for

Communication links extend even into the patient’s home. After

the pills, she scans a bar code on the patient’s wristband. She confirms that

discharge, patients can use the EPIC MyChart online portal for a secure

it is the right dose at the right time for the right patient.

way to contact their providers.

This “smart cart” reduces medical errors, one of the top risks at hospitals.

It is just one example of how Reading Hospital harnesses technology to improve care.

In 1965, Reading Hospital was one of the first in Pennsylvania to adopt computers to boost efficiency. It pioneered a nurse call system that enabled patients to verbally communicate with their nurses. That spirit of innovation continues today, with a network of 1,600 wireless access points throughout the campus.

With one tap of a Vocera badge, doctors, nurses and other hospital staff communicate seamlessly and confidentially. At computer stations, physicians use speech-to-text software to dictate information or orders directly into the electronic medical record.

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Nursing Education Provides

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a Foundation for Caring

The Training School for Nurses swiftly evolved into a sophisticated educational program. The Pennsylvania State Board of Nurse Examiners approved the nursing curriculum in 1920, and the School of Nursing became one of the first 100 programs to receive accreditation from the National League for Nursing Education in 1943.

By 1951, nursing students worked 40-hour weeks, including their time spent in the classroom.

You could spot a Reading Hospital nurse by the distinctive heart-shaped white cap, but eventually wearing a cap became optional. In a nod to tradition, nursing students still receive a porcelain Nightingale lamp at graduation.

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he focus on excellence in nursing dates to 1889, when the hospital opened a nursing school based on the model of the founder of modern nursing, Florence

Today’s nursing curriculum has grown exponentially more complex requiring

Nightingale. For its first half-century, Reading Hospital was sustained by its student

active learning teaching methods that make use of high-tech capabilities, such

nurses. They worked from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with just two hours off one afternoon a

as high-fidelity simulation. The program is affiliated with Alvernia University

week and part of each Sunday. They lived in a dormitory on campus and took part

and offers a pathway to a bachelor of science of nursing (BSN).

in daily lectures.

New nurses at Reading Hospital enter a residency for their first year of With growing demands on the hospital, construction of a new Nurses Hall

practice, an innovative program that provides support as they navigate the

soon followed the opening of Reading Hospital in 1926. It was completed

transition to modern-day nursing practice.

under the supervision of Messrs. Thun, Janssen and Oberlaender in record time. At the October 25, 1930, dedication, Judge Paul N. Schaeffer acknowledged the contributions of the three noting, “You have just dedicated this serviceable and beautiful building to the use of the nurses of Reading Hospital.... And it is my purpose to call to mind the fact that what the Reading Hospital is today is in a large measure due to three of our citizens.... In recognition of their magnificent devotion to their ideals, of their princely philanthropies, and of their personal efforts to advance all that is of good repute, … have caused to be here erected … the profiles of these three American gentlemen, Ferdinand Thun, Henry Janssen, and Gustav Oberlaender—worthy citizens of the Republic, three citizens for whom we are humbly thankful.”

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What a Difference

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150 Years Makes

magine the plight of the laborer from Reading Candy Works who came

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Entries in the original patient ledgers tell of a time when the hospital offered

to Reading Hospital in 1901 with a complete fracture of his femur or thigh

long bouts of respite. A homemaker expecting twins spent 19 days in the

bone. He spent 132 days, more than four months, in the hospital before being

hospital until she was “cured� and discharged with her babies on March 6,

discharged as cured although likely with a lifelong limp.

1902. A 17-year-old tool worker spent 15 days in the hospital for a sprained ankle. Patients now have an average length of stay of five days for much

Today, a patient with a femur fracture is usually discharged within a couple of

more serious conditions; they receive swift and life-saving care for critical

days following surgery to realign and stabilize the bone. Physical therapists

emergencies such as heart attacks, strokes or hip fractures.

then help strengthen the leg and restore full mobility.

Trauma cases arrive by air ambulance, the tiniest newborns receive highfrequency ventilation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and artificial heart valves are threaded through a thin catheter in a procedure that involves less pain and swifter recovery than open heart surgery.

It truly has been 150 years of transforming care.

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Awards Recognize

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Clinical Excellence

“It really is the result of a team approach by committed and thoughtful people,” says President and Chief Executive Officer Clint Matthews. “It is a relentless pursuit of excellence, an everyday commitment that every person involved in the organization has to embody.”

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or clinicians, the greatest sense of fulfillment comes from creating positive outcomes for patients. But those results also form the basis of hospital

quality measures, performance that is recognized by awards and high ratings.

Healthgrades, a health information company, named Reading Hospital one of America’s Best 100 Hospitals and gave it a Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence for four years in a row (2014–2018). In 2018, US News

& World Report ranked Reading Hospital sixth for “Best Hospital” out of Pennsylvania’s 250 hospitals.

The American Heart Association commended Reading Hospital for quality performance in treating stroke, heart attack and heart failure. The Leapfrog Group, ProPublica and Becker’s Hospital Review are some other organizations that have recognized Reading’s quality performance, value and patient satisfaction.

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Caring

at its Best S

irens pierce the night air. A 911 caller reported telltale symptoms of a stroke: sudden numbness, incoherence and garbled speech. On the scene, paramedics contact the Emergency Department

at Reading Hospital, and through telemedicine, an emergency physician assesses the patient. With the touch of a screen at the hospital, the physician sends an alert to the Rapid Response Brain Attack team.

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agers go off. A radiology technologist prepares for a CT scan. When the

ambulance arrives, the team whisks the patient to brain imaging.

The busiest Emergency Department in Pennsylvania is also one of the safest places to be if you have a stroke. Nationally, only 29 percent of patients with stroke symptoms received a CT scan within 45 minutes of arriving at the hospital in 2017.

Reading Hospital delivered that swift care to 91 percent of suspected stroke patients, which means quicker treatment and less impairment.

The hospital receives national quality awards for its stroke care, but for the team of professionals who respond to

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each alert and for the teams that will later help the patients rehabilitate and resume their activities, the true reward comes from transforming lives.

Patients are at the heart of Reading Hospital. In the new Reading HealthPlex, each of the 150 private rooms has a clinical zone, a patient zone and a family zone. Skylights stream natural light into the area where patients recover from surgery. Patients and visitors find solace in the Healing Garden with its meadow grasses, flowers and bubbling water.

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At McGlinn Cancer Institute, the Image Recovery Center offers spa-like services along with natural wigs and prosthetics. The Beginnings Maternity Center provides reclining chairs that convert into sleepers for dad or other visitors.

Gregory Sorensen, MD, Reading Hospital’s Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, directs the delivery of care at every level. Gone are the days when physicians issued edicts.

Instead, he says, physicians need to listen to the patient’s personal goals, explain the choice of treatments and collaborate. “The patient should be the captain of the care team,” Dr. Sorensen says.

Those care teams comprise a wide range of specialties: 1,000 providers, 2,600 nurses, hundreds of physical therapists, respiratory therapists, social workers, case managers and other allied health professionals. The hospital’s physician network extends into the community, easing the transition to at-home recovery.

Every employee at the hospital strives to create an environment of healing. Some patients are coping with a traumatic event while others are learning to live with chronic conditions. They all need support and guidance.

“Modern medicine has its marvels, but nothing substitutes for a human touch,” says Julie Sheidy, who graduated from Reading Hospital’s School of Nursing in 1977 and worked as a floor nurse for more than 30 years before becoming a clinical research coordinator.

A special connection comes from holding people’s hand, feeling their pulse, meeting their gaze. “You look into their soul and they look back at you and they see that you understand,” she says.

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Hospitalists and Nurses are Ready at the Bedside

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n the middle of the night, when lights are dimmed and hallways are quiet,

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In 2016, Reading Hospital received Magnet recognition from the American

if a patient suddenly experiences a change in status, the room comes alive

Nurses Credentialing Center, a designation that requires hospitals to show a

with activity. “A physician will come to the bedside along with a care team

commitment to patient safety, a collaborative work environment, continuous

and intervene almost immediately,” says Walter Bohnenblust, MD, Director of

quality improvement and a focus on evidence-based practice. Reading

Hospitalist Services.

Hospital shares that honor with only 470 other hospitals worldwide.

Hospitalists are physicians who specialize in coordinating hospital care.

Because they provide around-the-clock coverage, seven days a week, hospitalists can respond quickly to changing patient needs, and communicate regularly with the rest of the patient’s care team.

As the clinicians who spend the most time with the patient, Reading Hospital’s nurses also play a central role in care teams. Many have specialized training in areas such as critical care or anesthesia. Advanced practice registered nurses, such as nurse practitioners, diagnose and treat patients, consulting with physicians as necessary.

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Food

Soothes Body and Soul

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Hospital food wasn’t always so delectable. Patients in the Reading Dispensary ate molasses, bread and soup, with an occasional serving of meat. In 1954, a new Food Service building marked a different approach to dining, with a fresh butchery in the basement and a cafeteria.

In the 1970s and 1980s, bland was best. Patient meals were low in fat and easy to digest; creamed peas or creamed eggs on toast were common offerings.

Physicians could put patients on a low-sodium diet of just 200 mg a day. (The American Heart Association currently recommends an “ideal limit” of 1,500 mg a day.)

Today, Reading Hospital recognizes food as nourishment that helps patients heal, says Margaret Kipe, Director of Nutrition Services. “If you do your job well, you’re feeding the soul as well as the body,” she says.

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eorge glides through the corridors with a smile painted on his face. He traverses about 54 miles a day but never tires. George is a robot, one of

seven who carry meal trays from the kitchen to Reading Hospital patient rooms.

Named for the Jetsons in the animated, futuristic television sitcom, the robots have their share of attention. But patients are equally pleased by what is inside those trays. An award-winning executive chef runs the kitchen, and menu selections resemble an upscale hotel room service.

Reading Hospital feeds 2.3 million patients, visitors, health providers and employees each year. The cafeteria has a pizza oven, sushi bar and international food station, and the cafes feature a fresh grill and espresso.

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Seeing Beyond,

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Advanced Imaging Uncovers Diagnoses

Other important diagnostic clues come from the work of clinical pathologists, who analyze small tissue samples or blood and other body fluids for evidence of cancer or disease.

The hospital’s commitment to using the best available technology for diagnosis dates back to 1900, when Israel Cleaver, MD, convinced his fellow members of Reading Hospital’s Board of Managers to buy an x-ray machine, which was a new invention. Clinton Earl, a Reading businessman, obtained the machine from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, which awarded its inventor with a medal for his innovation.

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he patient lies still on the exam table, tiny radioactive tracers flowing through his blood vessels. For 30 minutes, the table

moves slowly through a tube while a gamma camera takes threedimensional images, combined PET and CT scans of the whole body. The high-quality image will show any lesions, revealing if the patient’s cancer has spread.

Reading Hospital purchased the General Electric Widebore Sigma Artist Magnet, the latest in the evolution of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment in 2018. Other devices similarly use nuclear medicine to detect abnormalities. For example, fluoroscopy produces a continuous image, illuminating a tracer as it moves through the digestive tract, and angiograms show bulging or blocked blood vessels.

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From Paper to Portals,

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Records Hold the Vital Signs

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n the 1960s, automation came to medical records: With the push of a button, huge metal cabinets would slide so the records clerks could locate a

color-coded patient file. Someone then would physically transport that file to physicians providing care.

For years, if a patient came into the Emergency Department, went through a battery of tests and was admitted, “You had to make sure all the pieces of paper followed the patient,” recalls Michelle Trupp, acting Chief Information Officer.

Seamless connection is the hallmark of the digital age. Reading Hospital invested in EPIC, a comprehensive electronic medical record that links physician offices as well as hospital departments, including nursing, radiology and laboratory services.

Patients tap into a portal known as MyChart, where they can check results and make appointments. At-home monitors even transmit patients’ blood pressure, heart rhythm and other vital signs to healthcare providers, allowing them to detect problems at an early stage. “It’s so exciting to see where technology has brought us,” says Trupp.

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Rehab Care Teams Build Bridge to Recovery

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ollowing a major car accident, stroke or other traumatic event, life before

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In a specialized gym, a system of ceiling tracks and harnesses supports patients

and after may seem separated by a chasm that is difficult, if not impossible,

as they develop balance and motor control. It even can suspend patients in the

to be crossed. Interdisciplinary teams at the Reading Hospital Rehabilitation at

heated therapeutic pool, where patients can exercise on an underwater treadmill.

Wyomissing help patients regain strength and balance, adapt to their disabilities

Virtual reality devices enable patients to practice their eye-hand coordination,

and build a new life.

safely navigate an uneven floor or practice driving skills in a simulator.

Every week, care teams gather to discuss goals and address challenges. They

Outcomes at the Rehabilitation Hospital exceed national standards. It is the

huddle each morning to coordinate and problem-solve. Rehab nurses encourage

only hospital in the region to receive accreditation from the Commission on

patients to set their own daily goals, which the nurses write on a white board in

Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) and The Joint Commission, a

the patient’s room.

demonstration of its commitment to excellence.

“We’re seeing them at one of the most vulnerable times in their life after a catastrophic disability. It really takes a team [to support their rehabilitation],” says Medical Director Kelley Crozier, MD. Physicians who specialize in physical medicine and rehabilitation work with physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, recreational therapists, nurses, case managers, social workers and psychologists.

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Chaplains Offer

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Another Kind of Healing

The chaplain supports the family, comforts the patient and listens. “There’s more to healing than the cure,” explains Reverend Stephen Weisser, Director of Spiritual Care and Education. “That’s why we’re part of the team.”

The first chaplain came to Reading Hospital in 1978 through a cooperative program with the Greater Reading Council of Churches. The chaplaincy role has grown, and today a chaplain is available on-site or on call at all times. A chaplain responds to every trauma call in the Emergency Department and visits patients at the end of life.

Interns and residents in the Clinical Pastoral Education program of Reading Hospital’s School of Health Sciences help provide that coverage. They are often clergy or theology students who want to work in a health setting. “We’re the care team that cares about spiritual health,” says Weisser.

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sudden drop in blood pressure, slowed breathing, poor oxygen saturation. When changes in vital signs signal a turn for the worst, nurses

call for a Medical Assessment Team. A hospitalist and other clinicians respond and so does a chaplain.

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New Techniques

Make Reading Hospital a Hip Place

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he hip bone glows larger than life on the screen, an image of bluish-white

New minimally invasive techniques enable many patients to have a quicker

fluorescence that highlights the damaged joint. This seminar provides

and easier recovery. Surgeons make smaller incisions and use special tools

an overview of hip replacement, the procedure that inserts a metal ball-and-

to remove and replace the joint. The traditional and minimally invasive

socket that will glide with ease.

procedures have good outcomes, with low complication rates, low infection rates, and high patient satisfaction.

The students aren’t physicians or nurses or even surgical technologists. They are patients learning about their upcoming surgery. “That time [to become educated]

Those outcomes led ProPublica to rank Reading Hospital first in Pennsylvania

on the front end will help your outcomes improve,� Stephen Longenecker, MD,

in 2015 for hip and knee replacement. The hospital also received Advanced

Medical Director, Reading Hospital Joint Care Center, tells his patients.

Certification for Total Hip and Total Knee Replacements from The Joint Commission, which is achieved by only 6 percent of hospitals in the United States.

Reading Hospital takes a team approach to joint replacement surgery, with patients as the most important members of the team. Orthopedic nurse navigators answer their questions, help them make appointments, and guide them through the process.

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Behavioral Healthcare Programs Meet Growing Need

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Reading Hospital has long been committed to filling the community’s behavioral healthcare needs. It launched a Department of Neuro-Psychiatry in 1942 and, in 1954, became the first general hospital in Pennsylvania to have a psychiatric unit. The Drug and Alcohol Center opened in 1975, and the Spruce Pavilion began offering inpatient care in 1993.

A separate psychiatric emergency room, part of the Reading HealthPlex expansion in 2016, offers an important level of privacy and care to patients in crisis. About 500 patients receive treatment there each month, says Larry Rotenberg, MD, who served as Chairman of Psychiatry from 1971 to 2006.

“Reading Hospital is really the main center for psychiatric emergencies,” he says.

More than a dozen psychiatrists, other therapists, and social workers work together to provide a range of services, including partial hospitalization and outpatient care, which ensures a range of support.

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very three years, Reading Hospital conducts a Berks County Community Health Needs Assessment in partnership with other community groups. In

2016, it identified behavioral health as one of the county’s most pressing health issues. One in five residents has had a diagnosis of depression. The suicide rate surpasses the national average. And, as with so many other communities, the opioid epidemic is a growing concern.

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Swift Action Gets Right to the Heart

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s soon as first responders alert the Reading Hospital cardiac care team of an incoming patient with a heart attack, a well-practiced choreography

begins. Clinicians receive EKG readings from the ambulance and prepare for specialized imaging.

National standards call for patients to receive intervention to reopen blocked blood vessels within 90 minutes of arriving at the Emergency Department, which is known as “door-to-balloon time.” At Reading Hospital, patients receive that care in fewer than 50 minutes and sometimes as little as 20 minutes.

In fact, care often begins even before they arrive. “We are allowed to authorize treatment over the phone so that paramedics, acting under our license in the field, can help people survive until they arrive,” says Charles Barbera, MD, Chair of Reading Hospital’s Department of Emergency Medicine.

When patients have chronic heart failure, care teams take a long-term approach to keep them out of the hospital. The Advancing Wellness program provides care navigators, who support patients in making healthy lifestyle changes.

High-tech advances at the Reading Hospital Miller Regional Heart Center provide the best possible functional improvements. Tiny CardioMEMS implants detect changes even before the patient experiences symptoms, allowing for quicker treatment. Aneurysms, or weakness in a blood vessel, can be repaired with a minimally invasive procedure.

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The State of the Art

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is a Gentle Touch

Deb Rahn began her nursing career at Reading Hospital in 1978. Now Director of the School of Health Sciences, she has seen dramatic changes in medical care—what she calls “the science of nursing.” But that’s just one part of the job, she says.

“The art of nursing is the caring, the compassion, the personal touch you give to the patient,” she says.

For example, knowing that hearing-impaired patients have difficulty hearing and therefore understanding instructions, she researched best practices for making sure these patients understood their care instructions. As a result of her efforts, the hospital added new protocols and special signs to put on the white board in rooms. Simple changes make a big difference to patients.

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eading Hospital is dedicated to providing quality care. But that is not enough. “We must deliver on the quality of caring,” says Gregory

Sorensen, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer.

That focus on compassionate care shows through in small ways: a smile, a gentle touch, a thoughtful gesture. It is built into the hospital, with options like more comfortable family waiting areas, monitors showing the status of surgery patients and NICView cameras that allow parents to watch their infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit when they go home to rest.

Though the latest robotic surgical system makes the news for its revolutionary change in technique, new ways to coordinate care are less flashy­but just as important to patient outcomes.

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Fostering

a Healthy Community N

o one in Reading had ever seen a celebration quite like the Garden Party that unfolded on the hospital lawn on June 14, 1935. At 4 p.m., festivities began with pageants and

pantomimes, puppet shows and pony rides and fortune tellers and games of chance. Bands blared as ladies from the Reading Hospital Ladies Auxiliary sold cake, candy, flowers and needlework at booths, and partygoers ate dinners that were cooked in the hospital’s kitchen.

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he Garden Party became a muchanticipated annual event, as much a

celebration for the community as it was a fundraiser for the hospital. Over the years, the vendors and timing changed, but the spirit remained just as festive.

“It was an event to end all events,” recalls Elizabeth Rothermel, greatgranddaughter of hospital benefactor Henry Janssen. She is a former longtime member of The Friends Board and Hospital Board and is President of the Berkshire Charitable Foundation. As a child, Rothermel looked forward to the homemade lemonade, waffles and ice cream and strawberry shortcake served on the hospital lawn. “Everybody would

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come to the Garden Party for breakfast. It started at 6 a.m. and went all day,� she says.

Reading Hospital’s legacy includes several examples of providing medical care without concern for personal cost, illustrating the bond between the hospital and community. Early physicians provided their own medical instruments and even helped pay the rent to keep the dispensary open.

Until 1912, Reading Hospital physicians also visited indigent patients in their homes, free of charge. When diphtheria cases spiked, John Marshall Bertolet, MD, paid for antitoxin out of his own pocket. His son, William Bertolet, MD, convinced his patients Henry Janssen and Gustav Oberlaender to focus their philanthropy on the hospital and they, along with Ferdinand Thun, became lifelong patrons.

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“[The doctors at Reading Hospital] were dedicated to caring for people who needed medical treatment and couldn’t pay for it,” says Eugene York, MD, Transitional Year Program Director in the hospital’s internal medicine residency program and author of Trilogy

of Medicine, a text on medical history.

Today, Reading Hospital continues to provide nearly $170 million in uncompensated care each year. It gives about $3.5 million in free services, including flu shots, cancer screening, support groups and health classes. Reading employees also volunteer their time for community projects.

“The tradition that we adhere to is the culture of wanting to serve,” says Dr. Sorensen.

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Reading Hospital Rises

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to Meet Wartime Duty

leach is hard to obtain, and towels won’t be as white as they were. They’ll

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As a participant in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps, Reading Hospital increased

be just as clean but not as white.

enrollment in its nursing school to provide military nurses. Seventy-six

In 1942, Reading Hospital did all it could to support the war effort. Despite

in World War II, as did 16 other hospital workers and three members of the

shortages of some chemicals and supplies, the hospital rallied to ensure it met

Board of Managers. Marian Genevieve Stager exemplified the bravery and

the health needs of the community.

dedication of the nurses; she received three Bronze Stars and the Asiatic

nurses and 50 Reading Hospital physicians served with the armed forces

Pacific Campaign Ribbon for her work caring for American soldiers in the New Volunteers stepped in to fill gaps amid a labor shortage. Women in the

Guinea campaign.

Reading Hospital Auxiliary began raising money to support hospital construction and operations in 1873, but now they also worked in the kitchen

This tradition of service is a longstanding one. Six Reading nursing graduates

to prepare meals for patients and employees.

provided care in the Spanish-American War in 1898, and 32 nursing graduates served in World War I. Physicians likewise served their country, from the founders of the dispensary who served in the Civil War to current physicians who served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

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Life is Better with

a Little Help from The Friends

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Past-president of The Friends, Sharon Keating, reflects on the legacy of the auxiliary and on its future role. “The Women’s Auxiliary fundraised to help support the original hospital, so our involvement goes back to Reading Hospital’s inception in the city of Reading,” she says. “Now, as The Friends of Reading Hospital, we are very tuned in to community health. That’s our future direction.”

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ach minute is a matter of life or death when the heart loses its electrical rhythm. It quivers instead of pumping, leaving the brain and body starved

of oxygen. Quick action, with CPR and the shock of an Automated External Defibrillator, brings the heart back to life.

Resuscitation is within reach of many thousands of people thanks to The Friends of Reading Hospital, which has provided more than 530 Automated External Defibrillators to Berks County first responders, schools, shopping malls, sports arenas and other locations. In partnership with Western Berks Ambulance, HeartSAFE Berks County also loans AEDs to organizers of large events.

The Friends of Reading Hospital is an outgrowth of the auxiliaries that supported the hospital from its earliest days. Fundraising events have changed, from strawberry festivals to the Garden Party, from snack bars to the gift shop. The Friends currently sponsors a golf tournament, the Road Run, Holiday Happening and Friday with Friends.

As its name suggests, The Friends reflects the close relationship between Reading Hospital and the community. The Friends purchased a van to help provide healthy meals to at-risk children, in partnership with the Reading Recreation Commission. It provided books for a literacy program, funded a webcam system for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and supported the construction of the hospital’s Healing Garden.

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Foundation Grants Fuel Innovative Care

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t Reading Hospital, moms-to-be can take their healthcare into their own

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innovation, education and research. The

hands. Babyscripts, a mobile app that comes with a Bluetooth-enabled

overriding focus is evidence-based practice

scale and blood pressure cuff, enables women with low-risk pregnancies to send

that leverages the best research and the latest

their weekly measurements to their doctors. That means they are monitored

technology to improve the quality of care.

closely—without making extra trips to their doctor’s office.

A partnership with Johns Hopkins Hospital enhances the clinical research,

Babyscripts is one of many paradigm-changing initiatives funded by the

ensuring that patients have

Reading Hospital Foundation. Some patients with congestive heart failure

access to the most advanced

receive Apple Watches to motivate them

medical treatments.

to be active and to monitor their health.

MindKare® Kiosks in public spaces in Berks County raise awareness about behavioral health issues.

Founded in 2016, the Reading Hospital Foundation provides grants that support

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Commitment to People in Need

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Never Wavers

The key is collaboration and innovation, says Desha Dickson, Associate Vice President of Community Health and Engagement at Reading Hospital. “You have to be open to different solutions to complex problems,” she says.

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ugene York, MD, drove the mobile medical clinic slowly, looking for the most vulnerable people in the Reading region. A man was living beneath a

bridge. Dr. York learned the man had lost his job around the same time his wife had a stroke. His wife and daughter ended up in a shelter, and he was living under the bridge.

“There are many different stories of difficulties some people face. Many people are one paycheck away from catastrophe,” says Dr. York, Medical Director of Tower Health Medical Group Street Medicine program, which treats patients in shelters, soup kitchens and homeless camps throughout Berks County and connects them with resources.

The Street Medicine program, which began in 2016, embodies Reading Hospital’s founding mission to serve people in need and care for the community. That same spirit guides the Be Well Berks grant program, which funds community health programs.

In 2017, Reading Hospital received a $4.5 million federal grant to test a new approach to supporting at-risk Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries. Through its new Community Connection Project, community navigators focus on unmet health-related social needs, such as difficulty accessing healthy food.

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Hospital Forms a Frontline Against Epidemics

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n October 1918, the “Spanish” influenza swept into Berks County like the plague.

The worldwide epidemic caused high fever, chills, headache and bronchitis, and it often led to pneumonia and other life-threatening complications.

As more people fell ill and many died, the city of Reading closed schools and banned public gatherings, including at church, ball games, movies and saloons. Reading Hospital was flooded with patients: 266 admitted and 69 treated in the dispensary.

“The patients are conveyed to the hospital as speedily as possible, and there is never any question of their paying fees or room rent,” as reported in the Reading Eagle. “Some of the patients who have recovered, however, are so grateful that they have made voluntary contributions to help in the fight against the epidemic.”

Reading Hospital has responded to pandemics throughout its history, including a typhoid epidemic in 1898. Today, Reading Hospital plays a key role in preventing the spread of infectious diseases, promoting vaccination and providing health education.

Thousands of area residents receive their annual influenza vaccines free of charge.

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Shaping

the Future of Healthcare F

or tiny newborns barely bigger than the palm of the hand, the hospital is an extension of the womb. They need the life-saving, round-the-clock care of the Neonatal Intensive Care

Unit (NICU). But as nurses and doctors tend to them, harsh lights blaze in babies’ eyes and noises from monitors startle them.

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tacy Greblick, a staff nurse in the NICU, thought there had to be a gentler way to

deliver care. As she began to examine the problem, she knew there was a strong reason to act: premature infants are still building neural connections, and deep sleep promotes brain development.

Greblick became part of Reading Hospital’s Evidence-Based Practice Internship Program and gained the support she needed to make a difference.

She found a lighting system that would automatically cycle the lights, simulating dawn at 8 a.m. and dusk at 8 p.m., with a “naptime” in the afternoon from 1 to 3 p.m. Nurses and physicians use bedside lamps as needed to keep from disturbing other sleeping babies. She is still collecting data on medical outcomes, but parents and nurses immediately reported that the atmosphere felt more calming.

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That project is just one example of the hospital’s commitment to research and education. All new graduates of Reading’s nursing school complete an evidence-based project, which includes an educational component provided in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Hospital. Staff nurses are also encouraged to study ways to improve care. When Reading Hospital received its Magnet status for excellence in nursing in 2016, the emphasis on evidence-based practice was a stand-out factor.

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“Ultimately, it’s about what’s best for our patients,” says Greblick, who has received hospital funding and a grant from The Friends of Reading Hospital. “Nurses are the ones at the bedside. We know what challenges these patients face.”

Today’s nursing curriculum has grown exponentially more complex than when the nursing school first open in 1889, based on the model of the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale.

New nurses at the hospital enter a residency for their first year of practice, an innovative program that provides support as they navigate the transition to modern-day nursing practice. Today’s nurses in the School of Health Sciences uses high-tech simulation to train a range of health professionals, from nurses and radiologic technologists to clinical pastors. They conduct mock surgeries and collaborate in interdisciplinary teams.

The medical residency program supports the strategic goals of the hospital as it trains physicians in collaborative, compassionate care that makes use of the best technology available.

Patients also benefit from the academic focus, says Dr. Gregory Sorensen. “Medical residents have another set of eyes on patients— and they bring a perspective that is youthful, enthusiastic, and energetic,” he says.

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Future Caregivers Learn in a Virtual World

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“N

oelle” lies in a bed, perpetually pregnant. Her labor lasts as little as two minutes or as long as three hours while nursing students hover to

evaluate her risk of complications. Nearby, “Daniel” sweats profusely and says in an urgent voice, “My chest really hurts. I feel terrible.”

Lifelike manikins register vital signs and even speak or groan in a Simulation Lab that gives students a realistic experience. Nursing is the oldest and largest program offered at Reading Hospital’s School of Health Sciences, which also provides training for other vital members of care teams, including emergency medical services, medical imaging, surgical technology and clinical pastoral education.

Students gain a foundation in the lecture hall, where they consider reallife case studies. Then they practice their skills in a lifelike operating room, imaging center and even the cramped space of an “ambulance.” They use an electronic medical record, dissect a “cadaver” in virtual reality and work in a clinical microbiology lab.

“They apply the theory they learned in the classroom in a safe environment,” says Simulation Coordinator Lori Beard.

One thing hasn’t changed since the first students entered Reading Hospital’s nursing program in 1889: a commitment to the highest standards of conduct and care. Nursing graduates recite Florence Nightingale’s pledge, which says in part: “I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession . . . and as a ‘missioner of health’ I will dedicate myself to devoted service to human welfare.”

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Residency Program

Attracts Bright Young Minds

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an opportunity to hone skills and take rotations in selected specialty areas. Reading Hospital also offers residency programs for podiatrists and pharmacists.

Reading Hospital’s medical residency is affiliated with Jefferson Medical College, Drexel University College of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and Temple University. In 2018, Reading Hospital/Tower Health and Drexel University announced plans to jointly develop a branch medical school campus of Drexel University College of Medicine in West Reading near the campus of Reading Hospital. With the appropriate accreditation approvals, the branch campus is expected to be operational for the 2020–2021 school year.

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eading Hospital’s residency training program harkens back to the early days of the Reading Dispensary, where young physicians worked to

gain experience. For many years, Reading Hospital maintained a year-long internship program. The first medical residency began in 1954, and the program expanded in 1968 with the development of an academic curriculum to enhance care.

Today, the hospital offers residencies in emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology and osteopathic medicine. A Transitional Year program offers recent medical school graduates

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Clinical Research

Opens Door to Advanced Treatment

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s it better to give breast cancer patients radiation and chemotherapy together instead separately? Which immunotherapy agents are most effective against

advanced melanoma? What genetic changes affect the development of cancer?

Those questions and others are the focus of clinical trials at Reading Hospital.

Through clinical trials, patients become part of cutting-edge research that could alter the way that diseases are treated. They often receive new therapies before they are available to the general public.

Though patients once traveled to Philadelphia or beyond to enroll in clinical trials, Reading Hospital physicians collaborate with researchers at Johns Hopkins, Thomas Jefferson University and other leading medical institutions.

Current trials are underway in cancer, heart failure, stroke, hip fracture, emergency medicine, women’s health, diabetes and infectious disease.

Clinical trials result in treatments that transform medical care. In cancer care, for example, new medicines are more effective and less toxic, says Dr. Nick Leasure, hematologist and oncologist. Immunotherapy stimulates the immune system to destroy cancer cells.

“With some of the patients we’re not able to cure, we’re actually able to turn their cancer into a chronic illness,” he says.

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Reaching

for Excellence H

ealthcare has always been a dynamic force, propelled by advances in treating the diseases and traumas that disrupt our lives. But healing is constant and reassuring, conveyed by a

soothing touch, soft words and kindness, techniques that transcend generations.

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t its celebration of a century and a half, Reading Hospital reflects the best of both. With each expansion or renovation, each new

procedure or device, the hospital brings the latest medical solutions.

Yet just as the Berks County red brick encases the 22 buildings on the West Reading campus and the clock tower stands like a symbol of timelessness, the tradition of healing continues.

“We’re celebrating all of the people that came before us that laid the foundation,” says Therese Sucher, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “We’re celebrating all the patients we’ve cared for, all the babies that were born here, all of the people who took their last breath here. We’re celebrating all of the life that has lived within this campus.”

Reading HealthPlex is an example of the state-of-the-art medical care. The 476,000-square-foot, five-story building opened in 2016 and includes hybrid operating rooms, where advanced imaging and robotics enhance the surgical services.

Different medical specialties work together in these operating rooms. A cardiologist may be performing an angioplasty on a patient while a cardiac surgeon performs a minimally invasive bypass. Monitors in the pre-op area provide real-time tracking of patient status, a medical version of air traffic control.

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Reading Hospital evaluates medical outcomes: how successful the hospital is at avoiding complications and keeping patients from returning to the hospital within 30 days of discharge. But just as crucial is the patient experience: How often did doctors or nurses

listen carefully to you? How often did they explain things in a way you could understand?

“The tradition that we adhere to is the culture of wanting to serve,” says Brent Wagner, MD, former Chairman of Reading Hospital Board of Trustees, and Chairman of Tower Health Board of Directors. “Beyond that, we’re going to be very flexible and nimble and make sure that we’re planning for that long view [of medical needs].”

In 2017, the former Reading Health System, parent of the hospital, acquired five community hospitals to create Tower Health. The new system includes six acute-care hospitals: Reading Hospital in West Reading; Brandywine Hospital in Coatesville; Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia; Jennersville Hospital in West Grove; Phoenixville Hospital in Phoenixville; and Pottstown Hospital in Pottstown. It also includes Reading Hospital Rehabilitation at Wyomissing; Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences; a joint venture with Acadia Healthcare to provide behavioral health services; a payer-provider joint venture, Tower Health-UPMC Health Plan; and a comprehensive provider network of 2,000 physicians, specialist and providers across 65 convenient locations.

Some 11,000 employees are dedicated to providing healthcare and healing to eastern Pennsylvania. “Our new name, Tower Health, reflects our collective strength, innovative spirit and bold commitment to taking healthcare to new heights,” says Matthews.

In 2018, another change was announced: William M. Jennings joined the hospital in October as its new President and CEO. Clint Matthews will continue as President and CEO of Tower Health.

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Forefront of Medicine Arrives at Reading HealthPlex

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The result was spacious rooms ready to adapt to new technology. The Reading HealthPlex includes a heliport and 17,500-square-foot expansion of the Emergency Department, which is also the county’s only trauma center.

“We have positioned ourselves well for many, many years to come,” says Dr. Robert Brigham, former Chief of Surgery, who spearheaded the HealthPlex project.

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his is the new world of surgery: Case carts rise through an elevator in the sterile core from central supply to hybrid operating suites, six rooms in

which imaging integrates seamlessly with the latest surgical devices. A Black Diamond Video system provides a high-resolution, real-time display that can be shared with other physicians or used in training. Robotic surgical systems allow for minimal incisions and swifter recovery.

Reading HealthPlex brought the future to Reading Hospital. Using advanced imaging in the hybrid operating suites, surgeons and electrophysiologists work together to perform hybrid ablation, a procedure that creates scar tissue in the heart to block abnormal electrical signals. This treatment of atrial fibrillation is offered only at the nation’s leading institutions, including Reading Hospital.

Before Reading HealthPlex, surgical staff traversed a distance of about four football fields as they moved among the operating rooms and storage areas that were scattered around the campus. To design the alternative, doctors, nurses, surgical technologists and others provided feedback.

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Even the Patient Rooms

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Promote Healing

supports that focus. Each of the 150 private rooms has a clinical zone with necessary medical equipment and supplies, a patient zone with flat-screen television that provides health information on the GetWellNetwork channel and a family zone with a comfortable seating area.

In the surgical waiting area, a monitor informs family members when their loved ones have moved into the post-operative recovery. From the trauma bays to the decentralized nursing stations, the design accommodates an easy work flow. Spacious rooms accommodate changes in technology and devices.

“The new Reading HealthPlex gives us the opportunity to work more efficiently, which gives us time to spend at the bedside with the patient, which is where we belong. That’s where we want to be,” says Mary Agnew, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer.

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ight streams through the expansive window of the

Reading HealthPlex patient rooms, bringing a radiance that promotes healing just by boosting mood.

Outside, the Healing Garden, funded by The Friends of Reading Hospital, offer the calming backdrop of nature.

Reading Hospital is committed to relationship-based care, including the patient and family members in the care team to discuss issues and set goals; the physical environment

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Rooftop Makes Hospital

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One of the Nation’s ‘Greenest’

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n Reading Hospital’s Healing Garden, patients and visitors can sit on a bench beside a flowering meadow and feel the breeze in a private spot amid a

curving path. As they enjoy the quiet repose, they are resting on a rooftop.

The 88,000-square-foot Healing Garden is the roof of the expanded Emergency Department and trauma bays constructed as part of the 2016 Reading HealthPlex addition. The garden, which is the largest green roof in Pennsylvania and the third largest on a healthcare building in the United States, contributes to the hospital’s overall sustainability.

The green roof absorbs rain water, preventing it from running off and

overwhelming storm sewers. It provides insulation, lowering the 476,000-square-foot building’s heating and cooling costs. Energyefficient glass, window shades and utility systems add to the savings.

“This campus uses less electricity, less water, and less natural gas than it did before we constructed the building,” says David Major, Director of Facilities and Construction Management.

Becker’s Hospital Review recognized Reading Hospital as one of the nation’s 50 greenest hospitals in 2016.

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Reading Hospital

Reaches to a Healthy Future

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T

he enduring look of Reading Hospital’s 22 red brick buildings and majestic clock tower carries a deeper meaning: to serve

as a beacon of health to all who need it, continuing its founding commitment to care for the community.

“As the healthcare industry has grown in size and scale, we have thoughtful physicians and thoughtful leaders who are helping prepare us for the future,” says Matthews.

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A Century and a Half

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of Caring for a Community

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rom its humble beginnings, Reading Hospital has become the largest medical center between Philadelphia

and Pittsburgh. Tower Health now serves about 2.5 million people in southeast Pennsylvania. Yet amid rapid growth, the commitment to personal care remains Medical care is complex, but caring is as simple as ever. It’s all about the patient. That is the singular focus of 11,000 employees and 2,000 physicians across 65 locations.

When patients leave the hospital, they may need help to recover and stay well. Reading Hospital offers a continuum of services, education and support. It collaborates with other health and social service organizations and seeks better treatments through medical research.

When the founders expressed their wish for a hospital that would prove “worthy of the character of our rapidly increasing city,” they could hardly have imagined what Reading Hospital would become.

“I think that the physicians that started the Reading Dispensary would be pleased to see the result 150 years later,” says Matthews.

At its sesquicentennial, Reading Hospital celebrates its tradition­and mission­of caring for a community with its commitment to blending the best of medical advances with compassion and concern. It is on the vanguard of a healthier future.

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Images to Come

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