By Katy Welkie
CEO of Primary Children’s Medical Center

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been caring for children, families, and communities for 90 years. The advancements have been astounding, and the changes and growth will no doubt continue. We owe much of our success to you, our community.

We love our patients who inspire us to provide the best care, and find better ways to serve. Each year we are humbled by the seemingly endless donations the hospital receives. We marvel at the hundreds of committed volunteers that provide thousands of hours of service. Truly, we are blessed by the community.

We are excited to celebrate with you, 90 Years of Caring. We have a fun year planned to commemorate this anniversary. As part of this celebration we are launching this new blog. We want this to be a helpful resource to families and the community.

You might be curious why we chose to name our blog Play Ground. A playground is designed specifically for children and families. It’s a safe place. A place for laughter. A place of sharing. A place to explore, learn, grow, and experience life. A place where anything is possible. We feel like this concept supports our mission and our philosophy.

We hope Play Ground will cultivate a community around children’s health, development, and safety. We welcome your thoughtful comments, experiences, and perspectives to add to the dialogue of ideas presented.

We invite you to share your stories with us. We want to hear about the joy, difficulties, hope and healing you’ve experienced at Primary Children’s. Whether as a patient, family member, supporter, or volunteer. With your permission, we will share these stories by posting them here, with the intent to help other families and the community.

Primary Children’s has an expert medical staff, with nationally recognized specialists in many fields. We would invite you to submit a question, so we can provide helpful and timely information, and better understand the questions and concerns you have about your children’s health.

We look forward to celebrating an exciting and memorable year with you. We hope you’ll join us to improve the health, development, and safety of all children, everywhere.

Katy Welkie was named Chief Executive Officer of Primary Children’s in February 2012. Past roles include Chief Operating Officer, Chief Nursing Officer, and Nursing Director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. She received her MBA with an emphasis in Health Care Administration from Regis University and her BSN from the University of Utah. She is particularly interested in quality and patient safety. Katy is an avid hiker, camper, and traveler.