Chairperson's File
Blog posts from 2025 AHA Board Chair Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health, and past chairs.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals remain cornerstones of their communities, as they鈥檝e always been. They continue to serve and heal, provide jobs, food, social services and education around sound health practices.
A Renewed Call to Dare All for Our Country
COVID-19 has disproportionately affected communities of color throughout the nation, with minorities more likely to be infected and severely impacted by the virus. But its effect is more than physical.
In 2016, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and former Archbishop Desmond Tutu spent one week together in deep discussion about joy. How to obtain it and hold on to it in a changing and often chaotic world.
The sight of families re-emerging to gather at community playgrounds and pools brings mixed emotions. While it鈥檚 gratifying to see people enjoying themselves again, it鈥檚 also clear that COVID-19 is not in the rearview mirror, as spiking infection rates in many states demonstrate.
The AHA releases Stem the Tide: Opioid Stewardship Measurement Implementation Guide, a new data-driven guide as the 鈥渉ow to鈥 part of the Stem the Tide initiative. It connects knowing to doing, offering hospitals and health systems actionable ideas for program development and implementation.
鈥淚 just can鈥檛 imagine going back because people recognize the value of this.鈥 That鈥檚 what Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said recently about the increased use of telehealth, signaling that doctoring from a distance 鈥 which has shown itself to be a lifesaving鈥
Among the many lessons we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is the critical importance of leadership.
Any way you cut it, this has been a very tough few weeks in our country. We have witnessed a colorful tapestry of Americans voicing loud opposition to the systemic injustices and institutional racism. We鈥檙e also seeing centuries鈥 worth of wounds being opened and spilling into our streets 鈥 and鈥
June 5 is the fourth annual Hospitals Against Violence Hope (#HAVhope) Friday.