Henry Ford Health System President to discuss practical strategies for success at educational symposium

Looking to shake up your industry, transform your medical center, and recharge your organization?

A two-day educational symposium, "Going Radical: Creating the Hospital of the Future," may hold the key to revitalization. It will be held May 25 - 27.

Henry Ford Health System President and CEO Nancy Schlichting will share her radical, but practical strategies for success at the symposium, tapping into the wisdom of her top executives in an interactive session on the profound lessons learned during their tenure.

It was Schlichting's brainstorm to hire a CEO for Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital from outside the healthcare industry. Her choice was Gerard van Grinsven, a former executive of the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain, and an expert in service excellence.

Henry Ford West Bloomfield staff will discuss its successes in differentiating itself from the competition by:

• Constructing prototype rooms for planning and community input.
• Incorporating green features in the architecture and construction.
• Building all private patient rooms, including in the emergency department.
• Emphasizing wellness and healthy living.
• Combining traditional clinical care with complementary therapies.
• Creating a unique brand and inspiring staff to think differently.
• Including family space in each patient room, including intensive care.
• Implementing a new kind of food culture in health care.
• Putting a focus on the special concerns of the elderly.

Entrepreneur Bill Taylor, co-author of Mavericks at Work and co-founder of Fast Company magazine, will be the keynote speaker. His ideas have helped shape the global conversation about how business works and "why the most original minds in business win". His next book, Practically Radical, to be published this fall, explores how to unleash big change in difficult times.

During break-out sessions Henry Ford staff will share lessons learned while juggling the building of the $360-million West Bloomfield hospital and the $300 million renovation of Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

Tours of Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital will include a visit to the Emergency Department, wellness center, and an inpatient room. At Henry Ford Hospital, participants will tour the Center for Simulation, Education and Research - one of the largest facilities of its kind in the Midwest that provides hands-on training with medical mannequins.

Symposium sessions include:

• Creating a Culture of High Performance
• Facility Innovations Through the Eyes of the Patient
• The Best of Both Worlds: Clinical Excellence Meets Integrative Medicine
• Transforming Hospital Food
• Radical Outreach: Relationship Building to Win Over the Community and Recruit Staff
• Thriving in Detroit: A Blueprint for Transforming Your Hospital System and The Physician Perspective