Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital and the University of Utah Health Department of Pediatrics are upgrading and expanding whole genome sequencing to more kids throughout the Intermountain West, thanks to a $9 million infusion to the Intermountain Primary Children’s Center for Personalized Medicine. The infusion, the largest in the center’s history, will be used to create “Primary Children’s Gene Kids,” a three-year, major pediatric genomics initiative to help children with genetic conditions. Primary Children’s Gene Kids is made possible by a $4.5 million grant from The Warren Alpert Foundation, which was matched by generous philanthropic donations to our Primary Promise campaign to create the nation’s model health system for children. “With Gene Kids, we will strive to reach every child and family in need, regardless of their location, through research, discovery, and innovative therapies that lead to better outcomes,” said Dustin Lipson, president of Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital. “We are grateful for the support from The Warren Alpert Foundation and other generous community members who are helping us take Personalized Medicine to the next level, inspire hope, and advance science to help children in the years to come.”
Since its introduction, hundreds of caregivers have been making use of the Intermountain Health mentorship program. Mentoring is a benefit for all Intermountain caregivers from day one and can help anyone at any stage and any level of their career achieve their goals and feel supported in their growth. Mentorship is an intentional, developmental relationship in which a mentor with a high level of knowledge and experience supports the development and growth of a mentee seeking those competencies. For Aida Penunuri, social worker at Select Health, she is using Intermountain’s mentorship program to set a track for the next steps in her career. “I’ve always been a person who wants to learn and try new things,” Aida said. “The mentorship program has helped me navigate obstacles in my way and continue to challenge myself.” “Mentorship is for everyone,” said Rachel Jost, talent and career development consultant at Intermountain and Aida's mentor. “There is so much value from both being mentored and serving as a mentor. The human connection, relationship, and being exposed to different thoughts, ideas, experiences, and resources has a way of opening doors for people. We really want people taking advantage of this great resource.”
The patient wasn’t yet having swallow difficulties when they were referred to speech-language pathologist Jess O’Neil, CCC-SLP. Because of their course of radiation and chemotherapy, though, it was likely they would. “One of our best tools is the oral mechanism exam, where you essentially have people stick out their tongue, move it side to side and pucker their lips, just to see if there’s any obvious weakness that could be contributing to dysphasia,” says Jess. “Honestly, this patient was swallowing completely normal, so this was just part of my routine. I was not expecting to see anything out of the ordinary.” But when the patient stuck out their tongue, it pointed toward the left. Jess knew that a tongue deviation like that could indicate an irregularity with the hypoglossal nerve, one of the cranial nerves that controls the tongue. She carefully documented the finding in her notes and asked the patient to mention it to their radiation oncologist, Ari Ballonoff, MD. Dr. Ballonoff reviewed the patient’s previous imaging and ordered new images for comparison. As it turned out, the patient had developed brain metastases – which, without Jess’s workup, would most likely not have been discovered. “We work as a team to make sure we are looking at all options,” says Dr. Ballonoff. “In this case, Jess made a great catch that led to a new diagnosis and resulted in better care for this patient.”
MacKenzie Bean, a dietitian in clinical nutrition, recently met with an individual in an outpatient setting at Riverton Hospital in Riverton, Utah who shared their challenge with a severe eating disorder. Although MacKenzie doesn’t specialize in eating disorders, see how she built trust with the patient and provided a referral to a dietitian who could help.
Katie Swenson always knew she wanted to go into medicine. As executive director of our surgical specialties and digestive health clinical program, she certainly draws on her years of experience as a physician assistant in pediatric transplant and pediatric general surgery-trauma. But she finds, too, that she draws just as much on the leadership and teambuilding skills she acquired as a U.S. Air Force aircraft maintenance officer. We caught up with her recently to talk about military leadership skills, innovation through collaboration, and empowering patients to take control of their health.
Eight-year-old Allison Weldon from Butte has become the first child in Montana to receive an innovative treatment designed to delay the onset of Type I Diabetes. Under the expert care of our team at St. James Hospital, including Dr. Anita Azam and Dr. Collette Chorney, Allison's treatment marks a promising milestone in managing this chronic condition. We remain dedicated to providing advanced healthcare solutions and are honored to support families in the communities we serve. 🌟
What do bubbles and color-coded prescriptions have in common? No, it’s not the start of a bad joke, but some of the ways we at Intermountain Health reimagine how we care for our patients. People often come to our care sites in difficult circumstances. They may be experiencing life-altering symptoms or illness, or someone they care about is. Our mission of helping people live their healthiest lives possible includes healing the whole patient — their mind, body, spirituality, and caring for their support system.
Summer 2019 seemed like a good time to open a clinic. That was before a global pandemic upended every aspect of daily life. “It was like, oh, my gosh, we’re not ramped up yet,” says Jody Ruybal, practice manager of Intermountain Health Superior Clinic in Superior, Colorado, which opened at perhaps the least ideal time in history for a clinic to open. But Jody is a pro, and she had some ideas. Jody has been with the organization for 25 years and in the manager business even longer. Before she managed medical clinics, she managed a McDonald’s for 10 years. And when she decided, along with her mom, to pursue a medical assistant degree, it didn’t take her long to go from MA back to management again. She came to legacy SCL Health, which was then called Exempla, as a practice manager and stayed in that role at Green Mountain for 20 years. When she got the chance to help open Superior and be part of building something new, she jumped at the opportunity for growth and change. Learn more about how Jody and her team put patients first, even when navigating the challenges that came with a global pandemic and a natural disaster.
Intermountain Health Holy Rosary Hospital in Miles City, Montana is now using a state-of-the-art surgical robot to assist with certain procedures and improve recovery times for patients. The Da Vinci XI robotic-assisted surgical system helps doctors with certain procedures by using only small incisions while still being able to make precise movements in the body. “From a patient perspective it results in less pain from surgery and allows for more precise work,” said Imudia Ehanire, MD, surgeon at Intermountain Health Holy Rosary Hospital. “From the surgeon perspective it improves ergonomics of performing surgery, improves visualization and allows us do more precise work. Robotic surgery has been around for over a decade, and for these and many other reasons it is becoming more commonplace in hospitals across America.”
At Intermountain Health, we’re taking a proactive approach to health care — partnering with individuals to keep them healthy. Sometimes it’s breaking down language barriers to turn a misunderstanding into a new lease on life; sometimes it’s renewing hope with the delivery of a nutritional supplement. But it’s always about listening and connecting. When patients need care, care managers are an important part of the team.
