FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Caroline Cornish
caroline.cornish@mainehealth.org
MMC is one of just 29 hospitals across the country to receive the award in 2022.
PORTLAND, Maine – The emergency department at Maine Medical Center (MMC) has earned an Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) 2022 Lantern Award for demonstrating exceptional and innovative performance in leadership, practice, education, advocacy and research. MMC’s emergency department is one of just 29 in the U.S. to receive this honor this year.
The ENA Lantern Award showcases an emergency department’s accomplishments in incorporating evidence-based practice and innovation into emergency care. The team in MMC’s emergency department (ED), that serves approximately 70,000 patients a year, has made several improvements to its process to manage the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. These include development of a rapid decision unit to help improve patient flow and efficiency, creation of new protocols to improve care of the ED increasing number of behavioral health patients, an interdisciplinary focus on the geriatric population that earned MMC recognition as an Age-Friendly Health System from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and a transformation of the ED’s critical care area to ensure a more efficient use of space, equipment, supplies and personnel.
“This Lantern Award is the result of the ED team’s commitment to excellence during an incredibly challenging time in health care,” said Nanci Goudey, MPA/HSA, BSN, RN, nursing director of emergency services at Maine Medical Center. “Our care team has been tested day after day during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they have responded with innovative thinking, always striving to improve the care our patients receive.”
The ENA will formally recognize MMC during its annual conference in Denver, Colorado from Sept. 30 - Oct. 3.
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About Maine Medical Center
Maine Medical Center (MMC), recognized as a Best Regional Hospital by U.S. News and World Report for 2021-2022, is a complete health care resource for the people of Greater Portland and the entire state, as well as northern New England. Incorporated in 1868, MMC is the state’s largest medical center, licensed for 700 beds and employing more than 9,600 people. MMC's unique role as both a community hospital and a referral center requires an unparalleled depth and breadth of services, including an active educational program and a world-class biomedical research center. As a nonprofit institution, Maine Medical Center provides nearly 23 percent of all the charity care delivered in Maine. MMC is part of the MaineHealth system, a growing family of health care services in northern New England. For more information, visit www.mmc.org.