Honoring the heart of our hospital and community at Mission Hospital
From Greg Lowe, CEO of Mission Health and Mission Hospital
Clearly spring is in the air for western North Carolina. This year spring means even more to our WNC community as the blooms emerge following what is now almost seven months after the storms and darkness of Helene. As a hospital administrator of more than 20 years, the first couple weeks of May is a season I always look forward to because it is the time of year we set aside to celebrate National Nurses Week and Hospital Week.
This year, more than ever, I would ask our community to join with me in celebrating our Mission Health nurses, physicians, and all those who are called to care for our community. Whether it’s during a quiet overnight shift or a moment of crisis, our hospital workers show up every day to serve our patients.
Every patient who walks through our doors brings a story, and every care team member responds with compassion, skill, and heart. Lucy Hall was a patient at Mission Health who was able to survive a widowmaker heart attack with the expertise of our incredible staff. Lucy told us: "I am only here today because of the grace of God and the care I received at Mission Hospital. From the emergency team to the nurses and doctors, I felt like a VIP. They saved my life."
Beyond making patients feel special and approaching each case like it is the only case, our nurses are unflappable during the toughest of times. When Hurricane Helene struck last year, it brought chaos and destruction to many parts of our region. But while power lines fell and roads washed away, our hospital remained open. Hundreds of our team stayed on site for days by their patients’ sides and made sure critical care continued, even in the most trying circumstances.
For 140 years, Mission has served this region. Through good times and bad, our staff has worked around the clock to serve our community with compassion, professionalism, and expert care. Our doctors, nurses, and technicians are not just staff, they’re a part of this community. The people we care for are our friends, our neighbors, and our loved ones. That’s what drives our medical staff to administer the best care. Because of this, Business North Carolina named Mission Hospital a top hospital in their 2025 list of North Carolina’s Best Hospitals. Healthgrades also ranked Mission as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals for 2025.
We have made great strides in recent years — all thanks to the tremendous team we have at Mission — but we know that now is not the time to get complacent and slow down. Our hospital remains steadfast in our commitment to expand access and support for WNC. Our CarePartners PACE program, which just marked its 10th anniversary, now serves seniors across four counties, helping them live independently with the community-based care they need. In November, we opened the South Asheville ER, bringing faster, closer care to residents of our community.
Mission Health is continuing to invest in our staff as our community grows stronger together. Since 2019, not only has Mission's patient volume increased substantially, up 22% in Acute Care patients and up 55% in Critical Care, but we’ve increased the RNs in those areas by 29% and 65% respectively, holding fast to our commitment to quality care. These additional nurses have been essential to our efforts, and we are so glad to have them on board.
That means every patient gets the care they need, with high-acuity cases receiving individual attention. Emergency care is another area where preparedness and quality matter. Even with an annual volume of roughly 100,000 ER visits, we’ve grown our team to ensure we are well-equipped to handle crises.
In order to continue to ensure our hospital is properly staffed we are pursuing all possible means including bringing in experienced contract nurses and training the next generation of nurses. We do this through training our existing teams, supporting several area nursing schools, and furthering the education of more caregivers at Asheville’s campus of the Galen College of Nursing.
So, as we honor our nurses and care teams this month, we hope you’ll join us in saying thank you. Thank you to the caregivers, the problem-solvers, the hand-holders, the healers. Each is the heart of Mission Health and the heart of our community.
We are proud to stand with you, and proud to serve you — today, and always.
Greg Lowe is CEO of Mission Health and Mission Hospital.