A good garden provides more than just vegetables, and the LiVe Well Garden at Orem Community Hospital in Orem, Utah has had a major impact on one local couple. Anne and Dan Pierce purchased a house that shares a fence with Orem’s LiVe Well Garden because they were interested in gardening there. After moving in, they joined a wait list for a plot, and four years ago, they were granted a space. The opportunity is particularly valuable to them because, for the last decade, Dan has required an organic diet as he copes with liver cancer and cirrhosis of the liver. Dan entered hospice care this spring, and Anne struggles with her own health issues, so when she arrived at the garden last month to prep her soil and plant, she didn’t have the strength to pull it off. What followed was, according to Anne, “a wonderful miracle.” Learn more about how our volunteer team at Orem Community Hospital stepped in to support Anne and Dan during this difficult time in their lives in the article below.
The stories of the individuals we reach truly underscore the reason our work matters and why we stay committed to doing the right thing. Hear from Heather O'Toole, MD, on how she sees our value of We do the right thing in action in her role as vice president and chief medical officer at Select Health: "Intermountain Health and Select Health work together to do the right thing by identifying and addressing the healthcare disparities of our patients and members. When appropriate, we adjust internal processes to serve them better. We also try to better understand the social determinants of health (SDOH) they face outside the healthcare system. Sometimes, access to healthcare is a barrier. At other times, housing and food security, which are two of the most common SDOH challenges, are barriers. Together, we find ways to support our communities through investments, volunteer recruitment, and thought leadership at the local and national levels. I'm excited to advance the work we do in equity through ensuring that we reach out to our members proactively when we identify they may be at risk, rather than waiting until they engage with us. We can be more successful in meeting our members’ needs with this thoughtful, personalized approach.
Congratulations to Craig Richardville, chief digital and information officer at Intermountain Health, for being recognized as one of Becker's Healthcare's 133 CIOs to know for 2024! 🎊 In his role as chief digital and information officer, Craig is responsible for our health system's technology service center and strategic vision for our technology infrastructure, systems and integration. He has 20 years of experience as the senior vice president and chief information and analytics officer at Atrium Health, where he implemented data analytics, business intelligence, machine learning and robotic process automation.
Dwayne Gaeddert has been with the organization for so long he can’t even remember, although he thinks he probably started at Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge, CO in 1982. Back when he got hired, of course, Lutheran wasn’t part of any healthcare system. It was just Lutheran. “The facility director there at the time had a vision of getting rid of the general contractor,” Dwayne says. “He wanted to establish a construction company in-house, and that’s what he did. At one time, we had seven carpenters, three electricians and three plumbers.” Dwayne was part of that crew. And true to the vision, the crew did pretty much everything, from cabinetry to full department remodels. Dwayne held a general contractor’s license on behalf of the organization for 30 years, while the organization went from Lutheran to Exempla to SCL Health. He became a construction manager, and then later took over maintenance (which he “knew the basics” of) and became facility manager. “I got really into being involved on the clinical units, on the floors,” says Dwayne. “I enjoyed the interaction. I love that I’m always learning things.” So when he got the offer to take over ambulatory facilities for the entire Peaks Region last year, at first he was hesitant. Lutheran was moving to a new campus, and Dwayne had a lot of time and effort invested in facilitating that move. He also knew it represented an enormous learning opportunity: new technology, new systems, new specs.
When we use the term “heart failure management”, we’re talking about more than just “the heart." We’re talking about pulmonology, the vascular system, blood pressure, rhythms, nutrition, and behavior. Our cardiovascular system is complex, and there are many factors to heart health upkeep, from the physical to a patient’s social environment. It takes a group of dedicated caregivers like Intermountain Health's cardiology team at the La Canada Cardiology Clinic in Las Vegas to simplify this complexity for our patients as much as possible. This site (which, because of its centralized location in Las Vegas, serves as a specialty hub) is leading out on multiple advanced heart failure management procedures to help our patients stay out of the hospital, promoting not only good heart health, but effective intervention techniques. From cardiologists like Corey Lum, DO, to the nurses and medical assistants, every caregiver plays an important role.
Intermountain Children’s Health is accelerating expanded access to critically needed behavioral health services for adolescents with a new family-centered Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital Behavioral Health Center in Taylorsville. Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital is pursuing construction of the new center earlier than anticipated thanks to a $25 million investment from the state of Utah and generous community support of Primary Promise, Intermountain’s historic campaign to build the nation’s model health system for children. The new Intermountain behavioral health center, which is expected to open in late 2025, is under construction on the present campus Intermountain Primary Children's Wasatch Canyons Behavioral Health Campus in Taylorsville. It will be the first of its kind center to offer vital behavioral health services including a walk-in crisis center and Utah's first dedicated space for mental health crisis care for youth with autism and neuro-diverse needs.
Calling all new graduate RNs and current nursing students! It's not too late to join us for our upcoming RN New Grad Virtual Open House! Come connect with our team and learn more about our Utah and Idaho hospitals, our nurse residency program, and more! Participants will be able to ask questions and connect with our nurse executive, nurse residency, and talent acquisition teams during this live event. Date: Tuesday, June 25th, 2024 Time: 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. MT Location: Virtual via Microsoft Teams - a link to join will be shared with you after you RSVP Visit https://tinyurl.com/5jxs7ce5 to RSVP for this virtual event today - we hope to see you there!
It’s not often that a living organ donor meets the person who receives that organ, but Shaylin Crandall and Erika Morton not only met, they became close friends. Shaylin, a social service worker at American Fork Hospital in American Fork, Utah, began to look into becoming a donor after the topic came up in a work huddle, and her application was approved after half a year of testing and lab work. She chose to donate part of her liver because that organ regenerates itself within a year. Following the transplant, the women continued to communicate as they went through their shared recoveries. Erika said that it has been “nice to have someone in the same boat, healing at the same time, and be able to talk about the things you’re going through. We work out together and just hang out, so it’s fun. The transplant turned out to be a lifesaver in more ways than one for Erika — her surgeon, Dr. Richard Gilroy, Intermountain Health’s director of liver transplantation, found a previously undiagnosed liver cancer. “Had I waited six months or a year, I wouldn’t have made it,” Erika said. Erika said that thanks to Shaylin, “I get to live my life." “I’m really thankful for Shaylin and her decision to be a living donor,” she said. “I don’t take that lightly for her or her family. I’m sure it was scary for them as well. I still have a hard time talking about it without getting emotional, because I don’t know where I’d be without her.”
We are thrilled to offer our caregivers another way to obtain their degree debt-free and grow in their career! We have collaborated with Capella University to align the cost of select degree programs to our tuition assistance policy. Our caregivers have the opportunity to earn a degree without taking on debt to pay tuition, thanks to our debt-free degree pillar. In order to qualify for a debt-free program, caregivers must be benefits eligible and select from the tuition assistance aligned programs.
This Health Risk Management Week, we recognize the professionals who navigate the complexities of healthcare risks. Your strategic insights and proactive measures ensure a safer, more efficient healthcare system for all. Thank you for your commitment to excellence and for protecting the health and well-being of our communities! 🌟 #HealthRiskManagementWeek #HealthcareExcellence #RiskManagement
