At the center of every community is something whose activity keeps it vital. Something whose strong, rhythmic beat can be used as a measure of the community's health. Something that sets the standard for human caring and compassion. Something that helps us grow, helps us reach, helps us learn, helps us live.

Every community has a heart. Sturgis Hospital is ours. And, like your heart, our community's heart works best when we keep it healthy. How can you do that?


Make Sturgis Hospital your first choice for the services at which it excels. There are many of them ... and many reasons to trust them:

Sturgis Hospital has earned the Gold Seal of Approval accreditation from The Joint Commission. It has also been named by one of the foremost independent ranking services as one of the top 100 community hospitals in the country. And many of our areas of practice and support services have been recognized for their quality.

Many of the highly skilled specialists based in Kalamazoo's major medical centers also offer their services right here at Sturgis Hospital.

The nurses, technicians and other support staff at Sturgis Hospital are highly experienced ... with an average of nearly 20 years of service.

As a smaller hospital, serving a smaller population, the doctors and staff at Sturgis Hospital can offer you more in-depth and personalized care.


It's your hospital, and it can only care for you if you care for it. Nourish it with your attention, your time and your contributions.

Pay attention to what's going on. Learn more about the hospital, its operations, its people and the business in which it operates.

Offer your time, through any number of volunteer opportunities. From helping patients complete forms to securing toys for hospitalized children, volunteers are integral to Sturgis Hospital's success. Find out more about them here.

Make a financial contribution. As costs escalate and reimbursements shrink, contributions become an even more important element in the hospital financial picture. Your contributions to the Sturgis Hospital Foundation Fund are tax-deductible ... and help in a variety of ways.


Between the marketing efforts of major regional medical centers and the oversimplified view of television medical dramas, the public loses sight of the roles of different kinds of hospitals and medical care ... and the special rules they live by.

Sturgis Hospital is a community hospital. It is designed, equipped and staffed to offer high-quality, personalized local care for the most common needs of the local community.

Advanced specialty care, on the other hand, is best left to institutions which are designed, equipped and staffed for it. Sturgis Hospital serves as a gateway to those services - its role is assisting in preparatory and follow-up care.

Sturgis Hospital also serves as a delivery system for specialists. It has ready access to many of the same major medical center specialists, who frequently offer services right here in Sturgis.

What hospitals collect for patient stays, diagnostic and surgical procedures and other services are determined not by what they actually cost the hospital, but by what Medicare, Medicaid and insurance companies are willing to pay. Sturgis Hospital charges an average of $10,236 for treatment for 11 common diagnoses, as tracked by HealthGrades. Medicare reimbursements for them average $7,399; private insurance pays $9,927.

Nonprofit hospitals are required to provide care for anyone who needs it - regardless of whether or not the patient can pay. Between shortfalls in Medicare and Medicaid payments, charges that could not be collected, or "charity care" - care given to people with no ability to pay - Sturgis Hospital's unpaid cost for patient care in fiscal 2007 was $4.5 million.


The biggest challenge facing small community hospitals is a shift in what's called "payer mix." Patients with higher-paying insurance programs often choose to go to major-market medical centers, feeling they'll receive "better" care resulting in community hospitals serving more patients with Medicare, Medicaid or no coverage at all. That leaves the community hospitals with ever-escalating costs of providing care, with an ever-shrinking pool of reimbursement to pay for it.

The phenomenon is not unique to healthcare. We shop at the big box chain stores, yet bemoan the loss of our local, "mom & pop" retailers.

The big difference, in this case, is that Sturgis Hospital is not just another "mom & pop" retailer. For 12,000-plus people, it is the nearby, local provider of 24-hour emergency care. It is one of the largest employers in the county. And it is an essential element in the area's future economic development.


Passing up your community hospital for the major medical center in hopes of receiving better care is wise for complex or rare conditions that require highly qualified specialists. But, ironically, for the most common diagnostic and treatment procedures, you'll probably receive "better" care from your community hospital.

The major medical center is generally far less personal, as doctors and nurses tend to a much larger number of patients. Except for all but the most advanced or complicated cases, much of the direct care is provided by students and residents. And the care is farther away from your support network - family and friends.

Sturgis Hospital's patient satisfaction surveys confirm that. So do Medicare's Hospital Compare ratings.


Every commuity has a heart. Sturgis Hospital is ours. For more than 80 years, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the heart of our community has been beating strongly. And it will continue to beat for generations to come -- if you support it.

If you'd like to know more, contact the Sturgis Hospital Marketing and Public Relations office at (269) 659-4385, or send your questions or comments via email to pyouga@sturgishospital.com.


Materials are available to help you learn more about:

The importance of Sturgis Hospital to the local economy
How hospital finance is different from most other businesses
How Sturgis Hospital's financial team is meeting difficult challenges
The importance of the community hospital in the continuum of care

View our Flash Presentation (60MB)

Download the PowerPoint presentation (29MB)

Download the Advertorials

Listen to our audio files!
Advertorial 1 Sturgis without SH
Advertorial 2 New Knee
Advertorial 3 Dollars are tight
Advertorial 4 Being a non-profit
Advertorial 6 Health Care Math
Advertorial 7 Every Community has a Heart
Advertorial 8 One thing to Sturgis People
Advertorial 9 Goverment Bailout




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