HR 9161

1	House Resolution
2	A resolution designating April 17, 2008, as "Jackson
3	Health System Appreciation Day."
4
5	WHEREAS, on June 25, 1918, Jackson Memorial Hospital opened
6	its doors as the City of Miami's first charity care hospital,
7	and
8	WHEREAS, today, 90 years later, though it still remains as
9	the county's only charity care "safety-net" hospital, Jackson
10	Memorial Hospital has evolved into Jackson Health System, an
11	integrated healthcare delivery system with more than
12	11,000 employees that provides medical services to
13	residents of Miami-Dade County, regardless of their
14	ability to pay, and
15	WHEREAS, Jackson Health System currently consists of 12
16	primary care centers, 16 school-based clinics, two long-
17	term care nursing facilities, an outpatient diagnostic
18	center, a children's hospital, a rehabilitation hospital,
19	two community hospitals and the system's centerpiece, the
20	regional referral, tertiary care Jackson Memorial
21	Hospital, which is the primary teaching hospital of the
22	University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine,
23	and
24	WHEREAS, Jackson Health System is made up of five
25	hospitals: Jackson Memorial Hospital, Holtz Children's
26	Hospital, Jackson South Community Hospital, Jackson North
27	Medical Center, and Jackson Rehabilitation Hospital, and
28	WHEREAS, Jackson Memorial Hospital, the system's
29	flagship hospital with 1,498 beds, is the third largest
30	teaching hospital in the United States through an academic
31	affiliation with the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller
32	School of Medicine, and is also a training center for
33	physicians and other healthcare professionals from around
34	the world, and
35	WHEREAS, Holtz Children's Hospital is one of the
36	largest children's hospitals in the southeast United
37	States, one of three centers in the country that
38	specialize in pediatric multi-organ transplants, home to
39	one of the largest neonatal intensive care units in the
40	United States, and has more pediatric physicians on the
41	"Best Doctors in America" list than any other children's
42	hospital in South Florida, and
43	WHEREAS, Jackson South Community Hospital is a 199-bed
44	acute-care hospital located in south Miami-Dade County,
45	designed specifically for patient comfort and convenience
46	with state-of-the-art technology, leading-edge treatments
47	and services, and a wide array of specialties and
48	subspecialties practiced by nationally respected, board-
49	certified physicians and healthcare professionals, and
50	WHEREAS, Jackson North Medical Center is a 382-bed,
51	acute-care, community hospital serving the residents of
52	north Miami-Dade and south Broward counties that offers a
53	variety of services, including 24-hour adult and pediatric
54	emergency care, maternity care, and rehabilitation, and is
55	also home to specialized centers such as the Wound Care
56	Center, the Center for Mental Health, and the Pain & Spine
57	Institute, and
58	WHEREAS, Jackson Rehabilitation Hospital is a state-
59	designated facility for its Brain & Spinal Cord Injury
60	Program that offers additional services which include
61	treatment programs for medical rehabilitation, burns, and
62	hand injuries, and
63	WHEREAS, Jackson Health System also offers health care
64	through 12 primary care centers, the remote "Care-A-Van"
65	program, school-based care delivered in 16 school-based
66	clinics venues and initiatives, and the Jackson Health
67	System Primary Care Initiative, and
68	WHEREAS, the innumerable accolades received by, and
69	remarkable accomplishments of, member institutions of the
70	Jackson Health System, are truly voluminous, and
71	WHEREAS, in 2007, Jackson Health System spent nearly $500
72	million on charity care, a level that is among the highest in
73	the country, and
74	WHEREAS, the University of Miami Miller School of
75	Medicine and Jackson Memorial Hospital have consistently
76	ranked in U.S. News & World Report among "America's Best
77	Hospitals," and
78	WHEREAS, in 2007, the University of Miami/Jackson
79	Memorial Hospital was ranked in four different
80	specialties: ophthalmology; ear, nose and throat;
81	digestive disorders; and kidney disease, and has more
82	ranked specialties than any other hospital in South
83	Florida, and
84	WHEREAS, the Ryder Trauma Center, located at the
85	University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center, is
86	the only adult and pediatric Level 1 Trauma Center in
87	Miami-Dade County, is one of the busiest trauma centers in
88	the nation, and is the only trauma center chosen by the
89	United States Army to train its military surgical teams
90	before being deployed to areas of conflict, and
91	WHEREAS, Holtz Children's Hospital's 126-bed Newborn
92	Special Care Center is also a regional referral facility
93	that is home to a 66-bed, Level III Neonatal Intensive
94	Care Unit, which is the largest in Florida, and
95	WHEREAS, the Transplant Center, located at the
96	University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center, is
97	ranked among the busiest in the nation, and Jackson
98	Memorial Hospital is the only Florida hospital to perform
99	every kind of solid organ transplantation, with more than
100	half of the world's reported multi-organ transplants
101	having been performed there, and
102	WHEREAS, the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Burn
103	Center has been one of the nation's leading burn treatment
104	facilities since its founding in the 1960s and is the only
105	such center in Miami-Dade County, and
106	WHEREAS, Jackson Health System has recently affiliated with
107	the newly created Florida International University's School of
108	Medicine, and
109	WHEREAS, as is obvious, the vast scope and superlative
110	quality of health care provided to the citizens of South Florida
111	by Jackson Health System is of incalculable benefit, not only to
112	area residents directly served by Jackson Health System but to
113	the State of Florida as a whole, and is rarely found elsewhere
114	in the nation, and
115	WHEREAS, it is fitting and appropriate that on this, the
116	90th anniversary of the founding of Jackson Memorial Hospital,
117	the citizens of the state should recognize Jackson Health System
118	for its astounding growth, achievements, and service to the
119	people of the State of Florida, NOW, THEREFORE,
120
121	Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of
122	Florida:
123
124	That in celebration of Jackson Memorial Hospital's 90 years
125	of continued service to the residents of Miami-Dade County,
126	April 17, 2008, is hereby designated as "Jackson Health System
127	Appreciation Day."
128	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be
129	presented to Marvin O'Quinn, president of the Public Health
130	Trust and chief executive officer of Jackson Health System, as a
131	tangible token of the sentiments expressed herein.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.