2021 Community Report

As the area’s health care leader for over a century, our talented and dedicated employees have always been our greatest strength. That’s why we continually review and enhance programs to support, recognize and reward our valued team members.

Employers throughout West Michigan and nationwide are struggling to fill open positions and retain their workers. Facing this reality, we chose not to reduce services or limit patient access this year. Instead, we made significant investments in employee compensation and support programs to remain competitive while recognizing our staff’s outstanding contributions in these difficult times. By prioritizing retention-focused programs, we affirm that our employees truly make us exceptional.

While attracting new workers is a problem for many industries, the challenge in health care is even greater as many jobs require specialized skills that are in short supply.

This year, we launched new recruitment campaigns to promote our career opportunities using TV, radio, digital ads, social media and high-profile hiring events. New video ads feature employees speaking in their own words about our positive organizational culture where it feels like working with family.

Together, our recruiters and hiring managers have attracted the best-of-the-best, on-boarding over 400 new Holland Hospital staff this year alone. At the same time, we earned national recognition as one of Forbes Best-In-State Employers and, for the 19th consecutive year, we are one of West Michigan’s Best & Brightest Companies to Work For.

This year, we partnered with University of Michigan Health-West to add a lifesaving procedure to stroke treatment at Holland Hospital. The procedure, called neurothrombectomy, involves surgical removal of a blood clot from a vessel in the brain to treat certain acute strokes.

In the past, patients in need of this procedure had to be transferred to Grand Rapids, losing valuable time when fast treatment is essential. Now, a multidisciplinary team of Holland Hospital and U of M Health experts work together to perform the procedure right here, minimizing time to treatment and ensuring the most effective care for area residents.

Those considering weight loss surgery can take advantage of our new Bariatric Services which provide consultations, surgery and follow-up care in Holland. We offer these specialty services in partnership with Grand Health Partners, a leading West Michigan practice of weight-loss experts and experienced bariatric surgeons who perform the life-changing surgeries with our expert surgical team at Holland Hospital.

To meet increasing demand for mental health care, we expanded Behavioral Health Services with additional outpatient therapy rooms and office space. The larger facilities offer greater access to much needed services and the new lobby provides a relaxed, welcoming space for adults and children.

We also expanded our Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) to serve more patients with this innovative short-term program that bridges the gap between inpatient and outpatient care. PHP is showing excellent results for patients who can benefit from more intensive outpatient therapy but do not require an inpatient setting. Along with our special Emergency Department rooms that are dedicated to mental health treatment, our School Mental Health Program for area students and many other services, Holland Hospital is addressing mental health needs at multiple points of care.

This fall, we premiered two unique video events with the theme of Brain and Body Balance – one on men’s health and one on women’s health. Each event features many of our primary and specialty care experts speaking on a range of vital health topics from nutrition, screenings and mental fitness to sleep, pelvic health, relationships and more. Both these videos have been well-received and are free to view on our website at any time.