St. John’s Episcopal Hospital VP Terri Coyle receives excellence award

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The United Hospital Fund, a nonprofit organization that advocates for better health care, gave its Excellence in Health Care Award to Terri Coyle, the vice president of behavioral health for St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway.

Coyle was recognized for the improvements in patient experience and safety and quality care that have occurred at St. John’s in the five years that Jerry Walsh has been the hospital’s chief executive officer, facility officials said.

The behavioral health department, under Coyle’s leadership, has seen the readmission rates of adult behavioral health patients admitted for the same condition as a previous admission drop significantly, along with an increase in patient satisfaction, hospital officials said.

Recently, Coyle created a free virtual support group via Zoom in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The support groups, led by facilitators, provided similar support in the Rockaways after 9-11 and Hurricane Sandy, and focus on different types of emotional support including coping with grief, loss, stress and anxiety.

St. John’s, the only hospital on the Rockaway Peninsula that also serves the Five Towns, is ranked as high performing in heart failure by US News & World Report, and is the recipient of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award and the group’s Heart Failure Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award.

In addition, SJEH recently earned Baby-Friendly Hospital designation through the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, a global program led by the World Health Organization and UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Fund responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide) to promote practices that protect and support breastfeeding.