Dear Friends of Spokane,

If you are like me, given the news of late, you might be ready to turn off the television and radio and go hide in a cave.  But, how many times in the past decades have the doomsayers declared the decline of America?  I dare say, they were wrong then and they are wrong now.  I believe the same holds true for those worried about the state of our hospital here in Spokane and the larger Shriners Hospital for Children system that we are part of.  Call me an eternal optimist but I truly believe in this great nation and its ability to overcome any challenge.  I feel the same way about our hospital and SHC system.  No I am not naive.  We are facing a shrinking endowment (down $3 Billion at last count), we are under a hiring freeze, we do have to cut costs and be as efficient as possible and we must look at staffing and new revenue sources.  But, as a responsible non-profit organization, all of these are areas we should be considering anyway.  When we come out the end of this dark tunnel – and I believe we will - we will be better for it.

Here are a few facts from an article I read recently that helped remind me what our nation really looks like if you take the glass half full view (no one wants to discuss this stuff when there is so much doom and gloom to report right?):

• America’s Gross Domestic Product is double that of the second largest economy on earth – China.
• The European Union’s 27 economies combined barely equal America’s output.
• Our workers out perform both China and Europe with one fifth the labor force of China and 30% less than Europe.
• 17 of the 50 largest companies on earth are American—three times more than our nearest challenger Great Britain.
• America is home to the world’s largest aerospace (Boeing), biotech (Pfizer), media (Time-Warner), retail (Wal-Mart), petroleum (ExxonMobile), soft-ware (IBM), technology hardware (HP), capital goods (Caterpillar), and telecom (AT&T) firms on the planet.
• The U.S. accounts for one third of all international patent filings—second place Japan claims only 17.8%.
• The World Economic Forum recently labeled the U.S. as the world’s most competitive economy and arguably the country with the most productive and innovative potential in the world.
• Our debt is a looming worry at 38% of GDP.  Japan’s is 194% and Germany’s is 65%!
• 6 of the top 10 universities, 14 of the top 25, and 37 of the top 100 in the world are in America.  Harvard is #1!
• 90% of the world’s PCs run on Microsoft software.
• Only 33 countries in the world have GDPs larger that Wal-Mart’s sales of $344 Billion in 2007.

Likewise, there those that continue to beat the drum that Spokane should not be a hospital, that we are too small and inefficient, and that we don’t have enough support from all our assigned Temples to remain viable in this economy.  Taking from the glass half full perspective, here are a few important facts about Spokane:

• We have the smallest budget in the 22 hospital system and have finished under budget every year for the past three years.  We are great fiscal managers.
• We have the same Full Time Equivalent staffing as we did in 2002.  We’re efficient.
• We had a record year for spine fusion surgery in 2008 performing over 50 cases!
• Our daily census of just under 7 patients per day is only one less than we need to meet SHC targets for staff to patient ratios.  That’s do-able!
• We maintained our 2008 surgery workload equal to 2007 yet our surgery suite was closed for nearly 3 weeks with a major heating, air conditioning and ventilation upgrade.
• We trimmed nearly $400,000 dollars and eliminated 3.1 FTE positions in order to meet the budget needs of 2009 for our system.
• We have the shortest wait time for appointments and surgeries in the system.
• We get great support and patients from Temples in Montana, Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington.  Together they make up almost 80% of our patient referrals.
• We are fully staffed, morale is high and we have capacity to see more kids faster.  We’re set to grow this year!

So when all the facts are in and we stop listening to only the negative we can see that there is a lot to be thankful for and proud about.  Yes these are difficult times.  We have been through them before and will go through them again.  But what makes us different as a nation and a health system is our optimism and belief in the future and the knowledge that through adversity we find the capacity to change, adapt, and grow. 

In 2009 we will celebrate the 85th anniversary of our hospital in Spokane.  With the help of all our Temples I believe we will be here for many more years and help thousands more children Defy the Odds!  Thank you for your support.