Health Matters HealthMatters

Health Matters
SUMMER
2015
www.chistgabriels.com
Alex Koshiol
Hospitalists:
Collaborative Caring
When St. Gabriel’s Hospital
began a hospitalist program
in 2013, patients and primary
care providers alike expressed
concerns that the concept of
medical doctors who specialize
in the care of hospitalized
patients might not be readily
accepted. Thanks to an
emphasis on collaboration and
communication, the program
has been a success.
pg.3
Chemotherapy:
Putting Mission and Values
into Action
Chemotherapy is a program that
aligns with the mission and values
of the organization like no other.
Patients under duress from a recent
(or recurrent) cancer diagnosis
are paired with compassionate,
highly skilled nurses who dispense
hope as much as pharmaceuticals.
pg.7
In a Word:
Success!
Speech and Language
Therapy Yields Results
pgs.4-5
Whats Inside
Drive FORE Cancer Event
Auxiliary Gift Shop Benefits Hospital Patients
CHI St. Gabriels Health High School Scholarship Recipients 2
6
8
President’s Message: Of Historical Value
In the health care ministry, communication is vitally important. The better all of our staff members—
patient care and support staff, providers and even volunteers—communicate with one another and
with our customers, the better care we deliver. Fortunately, we have a lot of proven tools, like our
electronic health record, to help us communicate most effectively and efficiently, enhancing patient
care quality and safety. These tools do not take the place of direct communication, such as utilizing
face-to-face, telephone, or electronic (email or the Epic EHR) messages.
Lee Boyles
We rely on communication to exchange important information about our patients’ medical
conditions and needs as well as to convey instructions that help our customers continue their
recovery at home. On occasion, our caring ministry also involves assisting patients in improving their
communication skills. After diagnosis, our providers refer such patients to the speech and language
pathologists (SLPs) in the rehab services department at St. Gabriel’s Hospital for therapy. As this issue
of Health Matters illustrates, Mischelle Blenkush and Sue Vogt are tremendous community assets for
dealing with communication issues.
Communication is equally vital for the many teams we have working together on behalf of our
patients and clients. This issue provides a couple of examples. First, your physician (and sometimes
surgeons and other specialists) collaborates with the hospitalists at St. Gabriel’s Hospital to ensure
that your hospitalization goes smoothly so that you can return home safely to continue your recovery.
Nursing staff and many others also play integral communication roles in that healing process.
Secondly, the volunteers who manage and staff the gift shop do an outstanding job and we are very
thankful to have such a caring, communicative team willing to share their thoughts and ideas in order
to improve the St. Gabriel’s Hospital Auxiliary Gift Shop. Revenues from the shop have helped to fund
capital needs, both large and small, at the hospital.
Finally, starting (or in this case, re-starting) a new service like chemotherapy requires a planned and
coordinated communication effort. Health Matters is one of many tools we use to communicate to
key stakeholders of CHI St. Gabriel’s Health. Brenda Spoden, RN, OCN, a certified oncology nurse,
brings a wealth of experience to the same day services department of St. Gabriel’s Hospital. I’m
sure in the future we’ll be bringing you many success stories about the lives our chemotherapy
program is touching.
Thanks again for the opportunity to communicate with you stories about the happenings at CHI St.
Gabriel’s Health and for your willingness to trust your care to us.
Lee Boyles
President
Drive FORE Cancer Event
Organizers of the 2015 Drive FORE Cancer and representatives
from CHI St. Gabriel’s Health Foundation and CHI Health at
Home celebrated a successful golf tournament, which raised
$14,190 to support local cancer patients. Pictured are (from
left) Katie Kapus-Jackson, Laura Scherer, Lori Kush,
Kathy Lange (CHI St. Gabriels Health Foundation director),
Connie Hoheisel and Kris Jackson.
2
CHI. ST. GABRIEL’S HEALTH
HEALTH MATTERS \ www.chistgabriels.com
“Good communication
results in comprehensive,
well-coordinated care.”
-James Attarian, MD
James Attarian, MD
Hospitalists: Collaborative Caring
When St. Gabriel’s Hospital began a
hospitalist program in 2013, patients and
primary care providers alike expressed
concerns that the concept of medical
doctors who specialize in the care of
hospitalized patients might not be readily
accepted. Thanks to an emphasis on
collaboration and communication, the
program has been a success.
Hospitalists are especially skilled at
explaining procedures, answering
questions and reducing the patient
and family member anxiety, which can
accompany hospitalization. They are in
charge of a hospitalized patient’s care
around the clock.
James Attarian, MD, one of two
hospitalists at St. Gabriel’s Hospital since
the program’s inception (along with local
internal medicine physician Mark Moe,
MD), says communication is key, especially
since hospitalization involves multiple
activities like collaborating with other
providers, ordering the tests to diagnose
the patient’s condition, consulting
with members of the care team, and
monitoring the results of the treatment
plan to ensure that the care is effective
and efficient.
think patients and providers appreciate
the benefits of the hospitalist program.”
“Good communication results in
comprehensive, well-coordinated care,”
says Dr. Attarian. “It’s a highly successful
and proven approach. We make sure
we are listening to you (patient), to hear
how you are doing and recognize what’s
important to you. We focus on making
things understandable, especially since
medical terminology and the anxiety
associated with being hospitalized often
create communication barriers. At the
same time, we contact your provider,
surgeon or other specialist in order to
ensure that we have all the information
needed for your care.”
Kurt DeVine, MD, a family practice
doctor at Family Medical Center, says the
program is great.
He adds, “Your primary care provider, in
particular, is involved throughout the
course of your stay, thanks to regular and
timely communication between us and
other providers involved in your care.
People may have seen their physician for
many years and experience apprehension
over entrusting their care, when they are
most ill and vulnerable, to a ‘stranger.’
We’ve overcome that trepidation and I
CHI. ST. GABRIEL’S HEALTH
“I think it’s a nice change,” Dr. DeVine says.
“It’s a more efficient way to care for our
patients when they are in the hospital.
That efficiency is enhanced thanks to
the electronic health record. Everything
entered into your record is available to the
hospitalist and your primary care provider
almost instantaneously. Then, when we
have a telephone conversation to discuss
your care, both providers see all the
information. It’s great.”
To learn more about the
hospitalist program at
St. Gabriel’s Hospital, please
call Pat Rioux, manager
of communications, at
320-631-5608.
www.chistgabriels.com / HEALTH MATTERS
CHI. ST. GABRIEL’S HEALTH
3
Karen Fellbaum
In a Word: Success!
Speech and Language Therapy Yields Results
Just about everyone has experienced
trouble communicating at one time
or another. Excitement, anxiety,
embarrassment . . . a host of emotions
can contribute to communication
difficulties. On other occasions, medical
issues or developmental concerns
make a speech-language pathologist
(SLP) the right choice to overcome
communication barriers.
SLPs help people of all ages enhance
their communication skills, whether
they have a need for rehabilitative
intervention, which is primarily the
case for adult and geriatric patients, or
habilitative therapy, which is much more
common for pediatric patients.
Karen Fellbaum, Little Falls, suffered a
stroke in the spring of 2007. She began
seeing Sue Vogt, one of the SLPs at
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CHI. ST. GABRIEL’S HEALTH
St. Gabriel’s Hospital who specializes
in treating adults, shortly after her
hospitalization. Karen’s stroke caused
words to become disconnected from
their meanings. Her condition is called
“aphasia,” which refers to an inability
to speak or comprehend speech or
written language. Sometimes a different
visual or symbol system can be used
to help adult patients recover their
communication skills.
“I remember being in the hospital after
my stroke and the staff showed me a
picture book with different images
and asked me to tell them some of the
things on the pages of the book,” Karen
recalls. “I had nothing to say. I really
don’t remember why. Maybe there
wasn’t a connection between seeing and
knowing. The first step in my getting my
communication skills back was the book.
HEALTH MATTERS \ www.chistgabriels.com
I would go over the images and words
in the book, over and over again, until I
knew the word. It was a slow process.”
“Sue gave me the ability
to understand adjectives,
adverbs and humor. The
results were mysterious
and almost supernatural,
just like magic.”
-Karen Fellbaum
Family members jumped in to help. “My
brother and his wife frequently came
over to see me,” Karen said. “He’s an artist
and there were pictures he had created
for my mother on the wall. One picture
has a barn and house. When they’d
come over I’d point to each structure,
they’d answer me, ‘barn,’‘house.’
Unfortunately, by the time they’d leave
to go home, I had forgotten the words.
Day after day this continued. I’d ask;
they’d patiently respond. Finally,
something clicked, ‘pencil and paper,’
‘barn and house.’ I started writing
down my answers. Writing the words,
like the picture book, made knowing
what the words meant possible.”
If looking at the picture book and
eventually understanding the words
was the first step in her recovery,
seeing Sue was the second and
most important.
he was hard to understand. A preschool screening confirmed that Alex
had some speech issues and could
benefit from the services of a speechlanguage pathologist. Mischelle
Blenkush, SLP, from the rehab services
department of CHI St. Gabriel’s Health,
was enlisted to help. The results have
been dramatic.
“Alex is able to put more sentences
together,” Koshiol says. “He’s more
aware of what he is saying, what
he sounds like and the words he is
using. He’s really done well working
with Mischelle. They have really been
concentrating on pronunciation
because he’s
always known his
letters, his name
and other basics.”
“She was like
magic,” Karen
“I think I’d start by saying,
says. “I cannot
‘be proactive.’ You are
understand
Blenkush agrees
it, nor explain
your child’s voice so don’t that Alex is a
it, nor really
boy and has
be reluctant to speak up bright
identify it. For
responded very
and ask questions.“
example, she
well to the therapy.
magically gave
-Kristine Koshiol
me the word
“Alex is very
‘bathtub.’ (I
intelligent, which
love to sit in a hot tub.) She gave me
was very evident from the beginning
the ability to read and, although it
of his therapy,” Blenkush says. “But his
took a little more time, to understand. speech was highly unintelligible. We
She’d read a sentence and ask me
have been working on his articulation
what she said. Then two sentences,
and he’s responded very well. The key
then three, four and five. Sue gave me has been that the entire family has
the ability to understand adjectives,
been engaged in the process and that
adverbs and humor. The results were
makes a huge difference. They have
mysterious and almost supernatural,
helped Alex with his homework and
just like magic.”
he has worked very hard. You can hear
the improvement in his speech.”
For children, speech and language
therapy tends to be habilitative
Koshiol has a few suggestions for other
or developmental, focusing on
families who suspect their child may
developing language skills so that the
have similar speech issues.
child is easier to understand.
“I think I’d start by saying, ‘be
When children have difficulty
proactive.’ You are your child’s voice
expressing themselves, they can
so don’t be reluctant to speak up
become frustrated or even the target
and ask questions. Your child needs
of bullying or ridicule from
to have access to the tools to help
their classmates.
them overcome the speech problems.
Mischelle has been a blessing to our
Kristine Koshiol, Randall, says
family and bonded well with us. It’s
when her 5-year old son, Alex, was
like any relationship. You want to give
approximately two years old, Kristine
your best, making sure we are doing
and her husband noticed that Alex
our part to help Alex.”
wasn’t talking much and when he did,
CHI. ST. GABRIEL’S HEALTH
To learn more about
speech-language pathology,
or the other services available
through the rehab department
at CHI St. Gabriel’s Health,
please call 320-631-5171
www.chistgabriels.com / HEALTH MATTERS
Alex Koshiol
CHI. ST. GABRIEL’S HEALTH
5
Pinky Manlick, Pat Libke and Darla Giles.
St. Gabriel’s Hospital Auxiliary Gift Shop
Managers’ talents produce benefits for patients
Sunlight glistens off the glass shelves in
the St. Gabriel’s Hospital Auxiliary Gift
Shop, spreading prisms of light throughout
the shop, illuminating the tastefully and
thoughtfully displayed merchandise. New
items arrive monthly. Figurines, knickknacks, cards, games, baby things, clothing
and jewelry—the variety of merchandise
is immense, a testament to the talents of
the gift shop managers, Pinky Manlick, Pat
Libke and Darla Giles.
Merchandise isn’t the only “new” thing
at the gift shop. Almost a year ago, the
sudden death of co-manager Sandy Morse
created a void that needed filling. Pinky,
who served as co-manager with Sandy for
over eight years and has volunteered in
the gift shop for the past 25 years, reached
out to Darla and Pat, asking if they would
consider serving as co-managers.
“After Sandy died, I really believed it would
be good to lighten the load,” Pinky says, “so
I asked Darla and Pat if they’d join me in
co-managing the gift shop. They were gift
6
CHI. ST. GABRIEL’S HEALTH
shop volunteers and both had previously
worked in retail so I thought they’d be
great managers.”
“I was a little hesitant initially,” Pat says,
“but I knew Pinky needed the help. I
volunteered at the shop for several years
and knew many of the other gals who
worked there, so I said ‘yes.’ I had previously
worked at Dayton’s (Marshall Fields) and
had experience selling cookware so that
background of interacting with people was
beneficial. I think Pinky saw an opportunity
to bring some ‘new blood’ and new ideas
to the gift shop.”
Darla agrees. “When Pinky asked if I
would help out, I agreed right away, even
though I didn’t really know a lot about
the operational side of managing the gift
shop,” she says. “I had managed the bridal
department at Penney’s, and worked
in their clothing departments as well. I
really enjoy people so my previous retail
experience was helpful. I think it’s an
asset that Pinky, Pat and I have different
HEALTH MATTERS \ www.chistgabriels.com
perspectives on things so we complement
one another and work really well together.
We share the same goal of giving our
customers a little something new to get
excited about, so we can raise money to
fund hospital projects.”
Auxiliary members have been supporting
the hospital since the 1940s. The
forerunner to the gift shop, a roll-around
cart staffed by Dotie Heroux, arrived in
the 1980s and the first gift shop opened
in 1987. It provided a consistent source
of financial support for auxiliary activities,
such as two $100,000 gifts to the hospital
for major construction projects, including
the 2007 patient care addition.
Anyone interested in volunteering is
invited to contact the volunteer services
department, 320-631-5432. The gift
shop is open Monday through Friday
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Brenda Spoden
Chemotherapy: Putting Mission and Values into Action
Chemotherapy is a program that
aligns with the mission and values
of the organization like no other.
Patients under duress from a recent
(or recurrent) cancer diagnosis
are paired with compassionate,
highly skilled nurses who dispense
hope as much as pharmaceuticals.
CHI St. Gabriel’s Health recently hired
an experienced oncology nurse and
Morrison County native to help restart
the chemotherapy program at St.
Gabriel’s Hospital, which is reopening
after a two-year hiatus. Brenda Spoden,
RN, BSN, OCN, CRNI, a certified oncology
nurse, Little Falls native and cancer
survivor, is returning to her hometown
to help lead the re-establishment of
chemotherapy services locally.
“I’m really excited to get started,” Spoden
says. “As a cancer survivor, I feel like I
have a pretty good understanding of
what matters to chemotherapy patients.”
A graduate of the nursing program at the
College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, MN,
she has more than 25 years of oncology
nursing experience and has also earned
the Certified Registered Nurse Infusion
(CRNI) designation. She sees great things
ahead for the chemo program.
“Chemotherapy is a very personal
service,” she says. “You get to know the
patients because they come to see you
on a regular basis. We’ll be working
with their oncologist and the Coborn’s
Cancer Center at St. Cloud Hospital
“We’ll be focusing on
being Christ’s example to
each and every patient
by providing them with
patient-centered, safe and
effective care right in their
own community.“
-Brenda Spoden
to truly discover what their individual
needs are. It might be assistance in
paying for their medication, working
with the drug companies and social
service to access the financial assistance
programs that are available. Or it might
be providing education that meets the
specific needs of the patients or their
family members. We’ll work hard to find
whatever resources they need to receive
CHI. ST. GABRIEL’S HEALTH
superior chemo services.”
Spoden will have help. Two additional
registered nurses will be part of the
chemotherapy care team. Together,
they’ll share an approach that builds
on the mission and ministry of
the organization.
“Chemotherapy is a service that
absolutely aligns with Christ’s call to
care for the sick,” Spoden says. “We’ll be
focusing on being Christ’s example to
each and every patient by providing
them with patient-centered, safe
and effective care right in their own
community. We might be the only ‘Christ’
they see that day. If that means praying
over a bag of chemo, or doing whatever is
most important to them, we’ll do it.”
Chemotherapy is a service that perhaps
lends itself to the mission and ministry of
CHI St. Gabriel’s Health like no other.
For more information about
chemotherapy at St. Gabriel’s Hospital,
please call 320-631-5200.
www.chistgabriels.com / HEALTH MATTERS
CHI. ST. GABRIEL’S HEALTH
7
CHI ST. GABRIEL’S HEALTH
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Lee Boyles, President
Sr. Mary Pat Burger, OSF
Paul Cameron, Chair
Jeffrey Drop
Jill Griffith-McRaith
Deb Gruber, Secretary
Ryan Kray, MD
Brian Mackinac, Vice Chair
Gregory McNamara, MD
Mark Moe, MD
Col. Richard Weaver
St. Gabriel’s Hospital
815 S.E. Second St.
Little Falls, MN 56345-3596
CHI ST. GABRIEL’S HOSPITAL
MEDICAL STAFF
FAMILY MEDICAL CENTER
Family Practice
Christopher Bell, MD
Heather Bell, MD
Julie Bell, MD
Kurt DeVine, MD
Lisa Germscheid, MD
Peter Germscheid, MD
Mary Klinker, MD
Ryan Kray, MD
Stephanie Kray, MD
Gregory McNamara, MD
Michael Neudecker, MD
Thomas Stoy, MD
Jennifer Wesenberg, DO
CONGRATULATIONS!
to the CHI St. Gabriels Health
High School Scholarship Recipients
Nurse Practitioners
Jackie Johnson, CNP
Janine Johnson, CNP
Physician Assistants
Michelle Dahlberg, PA-C
Christi Krippner, PA-C
Gina Wippler, PA-C
Tera Andres
Little Falls
Nursing
Zachary Carlson
Royalton
Biology
Alyssa Kula
Upsala
Radiologic Technology
General Surgery
Saung Park, MD
Internal Medicine
Mark Moe, MD
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Susan Okoniewski, MD
Pediatrics
Karilyn Avery, MD
LITTLE FALLS ORTHOPEDICS
Orthopedic Surgery
David Edgerton, DO
Paul Johnson, DO
David Jorgensen, MD
Virgil Meyer, DO
Philip Prosapio, MD
Physician Assistants
John Carpenter, PA-C
LuAnn Hintze, PA-C
Nancy LaDue, PA-C
Molly Meinert, PA-C
Craig Pooler, PA-C
Podiatry
Daniel Enderlin, DPM
Kris Jackson, DPM
Amber Bliese
Swanville
Nursing
Abby Kummet
Pierz
Nursing
Health Matters
Health Matters is published by CHI St. Gabriel’s Health.
Do you have comments or concerns?
Patrick Rioux, Editor | patrickrioux@catholichealth.net
815 S.E. 2nd St. | Little Falls, MN 56345-3596 | 320-632-5441
www.chistgabriels.com
Lee Boyles, CHI St. Gabriel’s Health President