From the May 2022 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


HCB News: Who or what inspired you to follow a career in healthcare?
DH: Going back to my time at Duquesne, I recall seeing a lot of nurses on campus. And I know it may sound odd and peculiar, but I honestly believe it was a call from above that said “You should be a nurse.”

My father was a businessman himself, and self-employed with a great business, and I thought well, “maybe I could follow those step sets.” My mother would be described as a caring, compassionate woman, so I feel I have a complement of both of them. I also would attribute it to the values that my parents instilled upon me at a very young — the values of respect and values of dignity, and just values of life and the gift of life.
HCB News: Can you tell us about the demographics and patient populations you're serving?
DH: A little bit over 90% of our patients are from Pennsylvania, but we actually serve well beyond Pennsylvania. For the other, maybe, 7% we serve nearly 40 patients from 40 different states in the United States. We do see less than a percent of international patients.

We’re the only Level I trauma center in Western Pennsylvania. We have a very long legacy of transplants and we perform the most pediatric liver transplants in the country with extraordinary clinical outcomes. We're also recognized by U.S. News as the No. 2 cardiac program in the country, so given those, what I call “centers of excellence” here at Children's, it does attract patients from well beyond the state of Pennsylvania.

Almost half of our patients are less than 5 years of age. We have a 55-bed neonatal unit and nearly 1,000 patients a year come to us that are newborns requiring intensive care.

HCB News: What is the leadership environment like at the hospital?
DH: It has always had a very good culture, but the focus has really been getting to a great culture of consistency, as it relates to both the employee experience and the patient family experience. it's a focus on how we communicate, how we deliver care. Our goal is to provide an extraordinary experience for every patient and family, every time with every encounter.

When I look at the employee experience, certainly we’ve been challenged with the health care worker shortage. But on a little brighter note, we have been able to attract nurses, we've been able to attract providers. It is a place that I believe people want to work.

And we've been working on the culture of also spreading and growing our brand. UPMC Children's Hospital has an extraordinary brand, and we're working to expand that in areas such as Central Pennsylvania and Erie, Pennsylvania, where we believe we can help elevate the care.

May 2022 Magazine

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