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www.smchosptal.com
“The closest thing to being cared for is to care for someone else.”
Sharing with you the News and Events from the SMC Team
Thank you to all our
SMC and Elm Heights
Team Members for all
you do to deliver Care
our region can count
on
Thank you again!
Update from Karen Cole, CEO
The summer is fast slipping by!
Amidst vacations, family reunions and waiting for the rain,
we have been orienting new
members to our Shenandoah
Medical Center family.
I am pleased to welcome Dr
Michael Woods who has joined
Dr. Scott King in the Women’s
Health Center. Dr. Woods is
an Obstetrician/Gynecologist
with a specialty in Urogynecoloy. While Dr. Woods will
be available to relieve Dr. King
in obstetrics, Dr. Woods’s
focus is urogynecology for
which he has achieved national
recognition. Dr. Woods is also
planning to see patients in our
Fremont County Clinic in Sidney.
Lila Lassen, Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner, has
joined Dr. Jones in his practice.
This model may be new at
Shenandoah Physicians Clinic,
but has been successful in many
other settings.
Our new Chief Financial Officer, Matt Sells, comes to us
from Ainsworth, Nebraska.
However, he and his wife have
roots in the Rulo and Fall City
area.
Tim Grollmes, Practice Administrator for the Shenandoah Physicians Clinic comes to us from the
Council Bluffs area where he has
experience in managing both Family Practice and Specialty Clinics.
A special “thank you” to all who
worked so very hard to attain
another successful tri-annual state
survey. The Medicare Conditions
of Participation and other state
regulations have been developed
to ensure patient safety. It is,
therefore, our responsibility to
see that these standards are
achieved every hour of every day.
Anything less falls short in our
commitment to our patients and
community.
The architects and engineers from
Altus are moving forward with the
development of a master facility
plan. Currently they are compiling
the information from surveys,
interviews and documents collected over the past several
weeks. Next steps include mining
the data and developing recommendations for cost effective
facility improvements that serve
our patients’ needs today and
into the future. While this is
always a daunting task, it is
even a greater challenge today
in light of the volatile environment created by healthcare
reform.
Second quarter patient satisfaction scores are now available
and managers will be sharing
these at department meetings.
Thanks to all who are making
efforts to respond to our patients with friendly, professional
and caring service. From the
scores we learn that our efforts
are making a difference in our
patients’ assessment of their
care; they tell us that we are
improving. However, there is
still much work to do. As a
result, in the very near future
we will be introducing some
new tools that will assist us in
better responding to our patients and families. After all,
that is our mission – to provide
exceptional patient care.
Safe Travels in August,
CEO Karen Cole
SMC Volunteer information contact
[email protected]
SMC Auxiliary
Events
SMC Board Mtg 7/29
L-Council Meeting 7/30
School starts 8/15
Children’s Health Fair 8/24
Essex Labor Day 2K/ 10K
9/2
Karen
Inside this issue:
To Sleep or
Not to Sleep
By Nikki Carlson, CPT
The Truth about
Sleep:
Sleep is the most
important aspect of your health.
You could go 60 days without
eating, but you can't go 4 days
without sleep. 8 hours is about
average sleep each night for
most people. Let the body de-
termine when it has had enough
sleep. The best thing you can do for
your cycle is get rid of your alarm
clock. If you get up too early, you
create a sleep deficit, that you will
have to make up at some future
time. In times of these deficits,
when allowed, you will sleep longer
to correct them. You have to do that
to get back to a normal sleep cycle
Sleep is necessary for growth, healing, and avoiding anxiety. Adequate
sleep prevents and minimizes pain.
Karen Cole Update
1
Sleep Better (Nikki C.) 1
Concussions/SHS
2
CNO Update
2
SMC Service Awards
3
Page 2
“The closest thing to being cared for is to care for someone else.”
SMC and SHS partner against Concussions
Fall is approaching and Football,
Cross Country and Volleyball
Begin
The Shenandoah Medical Center
has partnered with the Shenandoah Community School District to help area athletes and
coaches to measure and detect
concussions with the introduction of a program called Impact.
Childhood sports are a fantastic
way for kids to learn teamwork
and dedication. But stepping
onto the field comes with risks.
Now there is a test athletes can
take before the season starts to
help them recover in the event of
a concussion, it's called ImPACT, a neuro-cognitive test.
Because a concussion is not a
structural problem it won't show
up with typical emergency room
testing.
“Too often we
underestimate the
power of a touch, a
smile, a kind word, a
listening ear, an
honest compliment,
or the smallest act of
caring, all
of which have the
potential to turn a
life around.”
― Leo Buscaglia
Detecting a concussion is
crucial to preventing future
injury. "If a student athlete
has a concussion and returns
to play before the first concussion heals and gets hit again,
it doesn't have to be a significant hit, they can suffer Sudden Impact Syndrome.
ImPACT's Test is computerized and takes about 25 minutes to complete.
The test modules consist of a
near infinite number of alternate forms by randomly varying the stimulus array for each
administration. This feature
was built in to the ImPACT
Test to minimize the "practice
effects" that have limited the
Even E.R. doctors will tell you
emergency room care for concussions doesn't cut it.
When a child comes in with a
head injury, the E.R. will do an
MRI or a CAT scan. But the
only way to accurately detect a
concussion is by testing what the
brain can do before and after
injury.
To date over 150 Shenandoah
athletes have been screened for
pre-season base line data.
New Faces at SMC
We are very excited to welcome so many new faces to
the team over the last six
months The newest faces on
campus are CFO Matt Sells
and Practice Administrator
Tim Grollmes With their
arrival we now wish our interim CFO “Doc” Coulter and
Interim Practice Administrator Bob Myers a heartfelt
thank you for all their efforts
in the transition, and good
luck as they move on to their
next assignments.
With that, there are other new
faces to welcome to the team.
Nicholas Tibbetts is our new OR
Nurse Manager; Lila Lassen,
APN will be joining Dr. Jones in
the clinic; Phil Marburger House
Supervisor, Amanda Mather,
Pharmacist, and Randy Reafleng,
Maintenance Director. Please
take time to introduce yourselves.
Many changes have taken
place at SMC over the last
six months.
A new Physicians Clinic,
new staff, new equipment
and new services and most
importantly many new
patients.
YTD Clinic visits versus a
year ago are up by over
2000 visits. Our PT, OT,
and RT patient count is up.
We have had more patient
days in the hospital, more
reflected in our increase in
clinic visits. The goal at SMC
is to provide the safest and
best staffed environment to
treat our patients in an ever
changing world of healthcare.
It is not just the quality of our
providers and nursing staff
but each and every member of
the SMC team that sets the
bar for the region in patient
care.
SMC continues to grow as is
SMC, busier than ever
Thank you SMC Team for making a
difference
usefulness of more traditional
neurocognitive tests.
Scott Garland CNO
babies born, and so much
more. Patient satisfaction
scores are on the rise and
people are talking about
the great care being provided right here close to
home.
The SMC team is the reason people are seeking
SMC more today than
ever. With new services
and a level of care unsurpassed in the region, SMC
has obviously made some
changes needed to bring
this level of care to the
area.
Patients are focus one at
SMC and our staff is serving them with a new energy and level of care. It’s
fun to work in an environment that is progressive
and driven to attain the
highest level of patient
care.
Pictures From Employee Service Awards Thank you for your dedicated service to the patients of SMC
SMC Service Awards
35 Years
30 Years
15 Years
10 Years
5 Years
Our employees
and staff are dedicated to caring for
our patients; with
years of dedication
and the high levels
of experience we
recognize those
who make a
difference.
Thank you
SMC Team
Janet Sturdevant
Betty Rogers
Margie Boylan
Brooke Kalkas
Eve Jones
Julie James
Tim Saner
Becky Schaeffer
Jamie Hossle
Chris Isaacson
Sally Aufenkamp
Nikki Carlson
Linda Rost
Jan Wilson
Mike Kirsch
Phil Newton
Ken Swank
John Eckman
Laboratory
EH. Nursing
Emergency
EH Nursing
Med/Surg
Ambulance
Ambulance
Cardiac Rehab
Business
Radiology
Med/Surg
Wellness
Social Service
Mental Health
Ambulance
Ambulance
Ambulance
IT
Scott King
Betty Heatherington
Kate Madison
Lynda Marshall
Cheryl Meyer
Gary Bowman
Dana Case
Elease Cowles
Stephanie Johnson
OB/GYN
Business
Business
Business
Business
Maintenance
Emergency
Med/Surg
Med/Surg
Renee Kimpston
Lori LePorte
Phyllis Carlson
Heather Grebert
Jeanette Harrington
Trisha Holt
Nancy McComb
Betty Bramble
Dora Sanchez
Kim Bergen
Victoria Stogdill
Med/Surg
OB
Wellness
Wellness
OB
Wellness
EH Food Ser.
Dietary
Housekeeping
Med Records
Housekeeping