In a unique collaboration with local veterinarians, specialized animal hospitals, and public safety agencies, Intermountain Life Flight, one of the nation’s premier medical transport programs, is launching a specialized operational K9 transport service. 🚁 This new service will provide transport for operational K9's needing emergent medical care or who are injured in the line of duty in Utah. “Operational K9’s are essential to our public service community,” said Tammy Bleak, director of clinical operations for Intermountain Life Flight. “These animals are involved in EMS, search and rescue, law enforcement, fire rescue, FEMA, narcotics detection, and TSA. Training for one of these K9’s can range from $40,000 to $70,000 and take four to five years to train. When one of these operational K9’s is injured, it is a potential loss to the community and that agency. Until now, there has been no formal process to help these animals when they need medical care.” The Intermountain Life Flight Operations K9 Transport Program is the first air medical program of its kind in Utah – and only the third air medical program in the nation that is designated to care for and transport public agency service animals for medical care.
When Steve, a technician in Environmental Services, started his position at Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, he couldn’t believe every employee at Intermountain Health was called a caregiver — even those who may never interact with patients directly and don’t have medical training. “While I was doing my hands-on training and got to see the rooms and the patients staying in them, something clicked,” said Steve. “I wasn't just a housekeeper; I was a caregiver. Unlike my previous job at a hotel, my hard work could make a difference in someone's life. It could mean the difference between a patient getting well faster or acquiring a hospital-associated infection.” As a discharger, Steve’s primary role is to make sure a room is sanitary and ready for a new patient. He typically goes into a room that is no longer occupied and disinfects it from top to bottom. Caregivers like Steve, who work in care sites across Intermountain, are an important part of providing clinical excellence for all patients and caregivers. "We have tools and techniques to make the rooms safe for patients,” said Steve. “We also make the rooms safe for nurses and caregivers who will interact directly with the patients.” While EVS caregivers don’t interact with patients directly, Steve recognizes the importance of his role. Working alongside his Intermountain colleagues, he helps people get better faster and live the healthiest lives possible.
Intermountain McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden is bringing cancer care close to home for residents of Northern Utah with a new state-of-the-art, comprehensive, and personalized cancer center. It has increased its infusion bays for patient comfort from 8 to 12 and chemotherapy infusion bays from 16 to 24 and brings several teams together for more collaborative patient care. Additionally, a new linear accelerator has been added and a compounding pharmacy is now adjacent to the infusion bays for easier access and faster treatment. “The cancer center is designed to empower its patients and bring a feeling of home and hope no matter their treatment setting,” said Judy Williamson, president of Intermountain McKay-Dee Hospital. “We hope it will be a home where friends can strengthen and support one another during their cancer journey and bring people together in a fight to overcome cancer.”
The Day Treatment and Education program at Mount Saint Vincent Pediatric Behavioral Healthcare in Denver, CO, now part of Intermountain Health, supports children ages 5 to 13 years who are struggling in a traditional school setting. A therapeutic milieu—structured, but flexible group environment that improves mental health—is the cornerstone. The goal is to move children toward emotional health so they can successfully reintegrate into their school settings. The Day Treatment and Education program recently held a Kids in Construction series with Intermountain's Peaks Region Design and Construction Department with Construction project manager, Dianne Dewitt. The event's purpose was to engage children by teaching them who and what is needed to build a house while also creating exposure for children to gain insight into the trades. During the event, Dianne reviewed the types of workers needed to build a house, from the architects to the framers, plumbers and electricians. Dianne and Denise Valdez-Waldo, Design & Construction executive assistant, also showed them tools each worker would use at their respective project stages. “The kids were very interested, and some had questions and comments that were way beyond their years,” said Dianne. “I believe the physical cardboard house gave them a great visual for learning and play. Some could see a dream they may have someday, and if they chose an occupation where physical work was more suited to their interests or skills, an ave
After experiencing the death of her own father in a hospital in Washington State, Dana Nordquist, BSN, RN, was inspired to enhance the experience for the families who lose a loved one and for the caregivers who are witness to the passing of a patient they served at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette, CO. Dana connected with a colleague at Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, CO, who launched the Sacred Pause Initiative to respect the dignity of patients who die at the hospital. The two partnered to make this a standard practice at the time of death, with a few additions to the Good Samaritan ritual. With support from senior leadership, Dana created a multidisciplinary committee including Alana Worth and Saundra Casey from Spiritual Care, Meagan Clark, RN from ICU, and Rocky Garthwaite, RN from Med Surg, to bring her vision to fruition and implement a new end-of-life process at Good Samaritan. At Good Samaritan’s first exit service, the patient’s daughter, who had kept vigil at her mother’s bedside for many days, said: “My mom would always want me to walk with her as far as they would let me go whenever she was taken to surgery. This is perfect.” The exit service provided the nurse, CNA, and chaplains an opportunity to provide closure, goodbyes, and final blessings, as this family member was accompanied to the hospital exit. She did not have to walk alone.
Congratulations to Heather Brace, chief people officer at Intermountain Health, for being recognized as one of Becker's Healthcare's 84 CHROs and chief people officers to know for 2024! 🎉 Heather first joined the system in 2000 and assumed the CPO role in 2018. She has overseen large-scale reorganizations of departments and service lines, benefit additions and transformations, and employee experience enhancement. Under her leadership, Intermountain has increased the minimum wage, expanded caregiver education opportunities, expanded benefits like parental leave and infertility coverage, developed a remote work strategy, strengthened partnerships with local businesses, and created programs like the Intermountain Food Box program, PTO donation and the Caregiver Assistance Fund to help caregivers in need.
📣 Calling all new graduate RNs and current nursing students! 📣 Come connect with our team and learn more about our Utah and Idaho hospitals, our nurse residency program, and more at our upcoming RN New Grad Virtual Open House! Participants will be able to ask questions and connect with our nurse executive, nurse residency, and talent acquisition teams during this live event. We also encourage you to submit your questions prior via our RSVP form 📅 Date: Wednesday, March 27th, 2024 ⏰ Time: 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. MT 💻 Location: Virtual via Microsoft Teams - a link to join will be shared with you after you RSVP Visit https://forms.office.com/r/HUSksqZWrU to RSVP for this virtual event today - we look forward to connecting with you!
We've opened the first clinic of its kind in the Intermountain West that is designed specifically to support Spanish-speaking patients undergoing kidney transplantation. 🎉 The new Intermountain Clinica Hispana de Riñon at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, UT offers culturally comprehensive care, where providers address patients in their native language and are trained to support patients’ cultural needs and educational styles. “Our vision for the clinic is to help bridge the gap between the medical community and the Latino community and help our patients feel more comfortable when trying to maneuver the complicated transplant world, said Alan Contreras, MD, transplant surgeon for Intermountain Health’s abdominal transplant program at Intermountain Medical Center.
They say behind every great athlete is a great athletic trainer. For the athletes at Cedar City High School in Cedar City, UT, they can say their great trainer is also trainer of the year. Melissa Mendini-Gates, Intermountain Health athletic trainer based at Cedar High School, was selected as Utah’s Athletic Trainer of the Year for secondary schools. She received this award at a special awards ceremony held to recognize the importance work of athletic trainers for Utah's athletes. Mendini-Gates said her love for her work started with watching her dad, longtime athletic trainer at Southern Utah University, Ricky Mendini. “I was incredibly fortunate to have a dad as an athletic trainer,” said Mendini-Gates. “He loved going to work every day and never felt he worked a day in his life. From the time I was little, when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always said an athletic trainer. Now, I'm following that dream by giving to the athletes I work with every day. Athletic training allows me the ability to positively influence high school athletes. It's a rewarding experience to be able to educate them about their bodies, injuries, the healing process, and take part in the success and emotion as I aid in helping them return to the sport, they are passionate about.”
When they all worked together at Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, CO, Robyn Morgan often teased her friends/coworkers Ariana Stemple and Cori Holloway about the fact that they had never performed CPR on a real person – despite working as cardiac nurses. Little did Robyn know that she would become the first human being her friends would use their CPR skills on…and they would save her life.
