All of us want to stay out of the hospital if possible. But when hospitalization cannot be avoided, we are glad that we have lots of good doctors and nurses in excellent local health care facilities to take care of us.
U.S. News & World Report recently named Erlanger the top-ranking hospital of 10 in the Chattanooga metropolitan area. Memorial came in second.
We are pleased and proud that there are a number of outstanding hospitals in our community, and that our taxpayer-supported public hospital has earned this distinction.
The news magazine cited six medical specialties in which Erlanger was deemed "high performing." They include diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology, gynecology, kidney disorders, pulmonology and urology.
Memorial was cited as high performing in the ear, nose and throat specialty.
It goes without saying that we should all take reasonable steps to be as healthy as possible -- both to avoid unnecessary hospitalization and to keep down the high, and rising, costs of health care.
But it is comforting to know that high-caliber medical services -- at Erlanger, Memorial and elsewhere in our region -- are available when sickness or injury strikes.