Page 18 - Baltimore County Quality of Life Guide and Business Directory

IN GOOD HEALTH
Quality, Quantity of Providers Flourish in Competitive Environment
Healthcare continues to grow in quality and quantity throughout Baltimore County. Hospitals,
urgent care centers, hospices and affiliated organizations strive to upgrade services, facilities and staff to better serve County residents. Many have received recent awards for patient safety, stroke and cancer care, and nursing excellence.
Hospitals throughout the area are opening satellite offices, and urgent care centers are springing up in all communities, bringing less expensive and more efficient healthcare to many people and reducing residents’ reliance on emergency room treatment.
Baltimore County is home to four full-service hospitals plus the Sheppard Pratt Health System, Maryland’s largest provider of mental health, substance abuse and special education services. Two more hospitals border the county — St. Agnes Hospital on the west side and Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital on the east. Residents also benefit from the proximity of other first-rate Baltimore hospitals — many of which have satellite offices and treatment centers in the county — medical schools and research centers.
The Baltimore County Health Department maintains a robust presence throughout the county, with eight health centers offering
a wide range of wellness and treatment programs.
On the east side is Medstar Franklin Square Hospital. With more than 350 beds, Franklin Square is the third-largest hospital in the state, recording 88,000 emergency room visits and nearly 24,000
16 Quality of Life Guide and Business Directory
admissions annually. It offers medical and surgical services, gynecology and obstetrics, including a neonatal unit, behavioral health, oncology, an award-winning stroke care center and ambulatory services. More than 3,000 staff members, including 1,100 nurses and 200 staff doctors, make Franklin Square one of the county’s largest employers. At
the new Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center — opened in 2018 — seven orthopedic and sports medicine experts, along with rehabilitation therapists, are in one location.
University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson blends traditional healthcare with cutting-edge medicine. St. Joseph’s is planning a $100 million upgrade that will include new streamlined operating rooms and cardiac catheterization facilities. The American College of Cardiology awarded St. Joseph’s — one of only 200 hospitals in the U.S. — its NCRD Action Registry Platinum Performance Award for eight quarters of sustained achievement. St. Joseph has 230 inpatient beds, a busy emergency department, and centers that specialize in heart disease, cancer, orthopedics, diabetes management, mental health and women’s services.
Through its UM affiliation, St. Joseph’s also operates ChoiceOne Urgent Care centers in Towson, Dundalk and Phoenix, as well as in Baltimore.
Greater Baltimore Medical Center, known as GBMC, has three physicians’ pavilions and Gilchrist Hospice Center in its complex on North Charles Street. GBMC continues its tradition of outstanding women’s health care with a breast cancer
center, gynecological surgery center and a state-of-the-art obstetrics department that welcomes about 3,800 babies annually. In spring 2018, GBMC opened a $2.4 million Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with the latest innovations and accommodations for premature and ill babies and their families. The hospital-affiliated primary care practices work closely with Sheppard Pratt Health System and their affiliate Kolmac Outpatient Recovery Centers, in a program to address the behavioral health needs
of the community in primary care offices and to better connect patients to specialty programs.
Patient-centered care is the focus at Northwest Hospital, a 254-bed community health center in Randallstown. To ensure personal attention, Northwest Hospital, part of Lifebridge Health Services, has only private patient rooms, organized into 20-room units.
The Leapfrog Group awarded Northwest
an “A” in patient safety in spring 2018
for its efforts to prevent falls, infections, medical errors and other hazards. Along with Sinai Hospital, Northwest received the designation as LGBTQ Healthcare Equality Leader from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
In addition to the many healthcare outlets in all corners of the county, the health department provides a wealth of clinics, wellness programs, women and children’s services and more. In addition to its in-person services, the health department offers information and resources addressing hundreds of health needs on its website.
HEALTHCARE