Opening on Valentine's Day, 1971, East Jefferson General Hospital started as a 250-bed facility with almost 250 physicians serving the newly burgeoning suburbs of Jefferson Parish. From the beginning, the hospital was to be a not-for-profit community hospital with a board of directors comprised of representatives from the community's financial, educational, civic, and business community. Today, EJGH stands as a state-of-the-art hospital with more than 420 beds. Still a community hospital with a board comprised of representatives throughout the community, our patients are served by a staff of more than 3,000 team members and more than 650 physicians.In 2002, EJGH became Louisiana's first nurse Magnet hospital for our excellence in nursing care by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. In 2012, we were certified as a Magnet facility for the third consecutive time. This credential is the highest honor an organization can receive for professional nursing practice. We have exceeded the national average in board-certified nurses for all magnet hospitals. EJGH also has 250 Specialty Board-Certified Nurses, which signifies excellence in nursing practice through experience with a specialized patient population, knowledge about evidence-based care and best practices used for treating those patients. In 2011, EJGH was the only hospital to receive the prestigious American Board of Nursing Specialties Award for Nursing Certification Advocacy.EJGH's mission is to continue to provide the highest quality, compassionate healthcare to the people we serve. In 2013, EJGH partnered with the Planetree Organization, which is a forerunner in the patient-centered care industry. The Planetree Model creates patient-centered care within hospitals by looking at their current processes of care through the eyes of the patients and looks for ways to improve it. With their partnership, we were able to develop a higher level of personalized care from our own existing culture.