America’s hospitals are positive, vital places that promote health and well being. That’s the message health care facilities across the country are voicing as they celebrate National Hospital Week 2008.

Sumter Regional Hospital will join thousands of other health care facilities in observing this annual event from today through Saturday.

“We want people to understand hospitals are all about healing,” said David Seagraves, president & CEO, Sumter Regional Hospital, which recently opened an interim facility (Sumter Regional Hospital East) a little more than year after a March 1 tornado destroyed the former hospital. “Our focus is very positive. Doctors, nurses and staff have one mission and that’s to help people get well.”

For 2008, organizers have selected a united theme that emphasizes the healing process: “National Hospital Week — Where Healing Happens Every Day.” A logo displaying this year’s slogan will be depicted on posters, in advertisements and on other promotions distributed during the event.

Keeping health care in a positive light is part of the tradition of National Hospital Week, a celebration of care that dates back to 1921. That year, a magazine editor in Chicago suggested an annual “open house” for health care where a skeptical public could have see first-hand the important work performed inside hospitals. The idea spread across the country and helped change the perception about hospitals from places of illness to places of healing. Today, National Hospital Week is the nation’s largest health care celebration.

Sumter Regional’s public activities planned throughout the celebration include

• Hospital personnel visiting schools and other organizations to talk about the new facility and the current state of healthcare in Southwest Georgia.

• Public tours of the hospital every from 9-11 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. every Thursday in May.

• Americus Mayor Barry Blount publicly declaring Friday, May 16, as “Sumter Regional Hospital East Day” in honor of National Hospital Week.

For more information about National Hospital Week 2008 events at Sumter Regional Hospital East, call the Marketing & PR Department at 928-4000 or via e-mail at srhmarketing@hotmail.com. For all the latest updates, visit www.sumterregional.org.