Clinic Clues - March 2019
St. Mary’s Health Clinics provides necessary and accessible health services
to the medically uninsured and under-served.
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From Susan Gehlsen - Interim Executive Director:
THE FIRST NINETY DAYS
What an exciting time this has been, being a member of the St. Mary’s Health Clinics team! What I know for sure is that the team is one of the most dedicated and passionate groups of people I have had the pleasure to work with! They are caring, committed, enthusiastic and great fun to be around. We are fortunate indeed to have these team members as the heart of St. Mary’s!
My first ninety days have been most rewarding. At the same time…the more I learn, it seems like the less I know! However, everyone has been most helpful and I find that my daily lessons about St. Mary’s, the ministries, our clinics, patients and volunteers, are fulfilling and satisfying.
The foci of these initial three months follow and I’ve tried to list them in order of priority and emphasis:
- Getting to know the staff, meeting one on one with each staff member, learning about their roles, hearing concerns, suggestions, backgrounds, families, etc.
- Learning about the clinics, their operations, locations, personnel, and visiting a number of sites
- Learning about the Province, the ministries, and meeting with and getting to know key leaders within these organizations
- Meeting with administrative leaders and our medical director, learning about their roles and our partnerships and our interdependency
- Reviewing the budget and monthly financial statements with our Finance Director
- Working with our consultants and the VIA plan, gaining an understanding of the past and how we plan to shape our future; developing a draft of the VIA implementation plan with leadership
- Working on grants; submitted a request to the MDH; writing one presently for BCBS; working with our grant writer to understand which grants fund which projects; learning about grant writing, submission, timelines, etc.
- Working with Human Resources to support staff in their roles, understanding schedules, policies, processes, payroll, strengthening structure, etc.
- Completing 2018 employee evaluations; beginning 2019 evaluations
- Interviewing and working with Human Resources to hire prospective RN’s for SMHC
- Weekly huddles with staff and written weekly summaries, promoting communication
- Monthly staff meetings with guests from administration or other ministries to promote connectivity and broadening the scope of SMHC services
- Monthly meetings with Supervisor and Board Chair
- Monthly leadership meetings with Ministries Foundation and Province Liaison
- Working with St. Kate’s to have students at SMHC for the summer working on research and outcome projects
- Meeting with Century College, SMHC to serve as a site for students in the Medical Interpretation program to begin in March, 2019
- Meeting with chair of Ramsey County Health Department CHIP Chairperson
- Meeting with SAGE, Interfaith Alliance, Mexican, Ecuadorean Consulates
- Dealing with weather, cancelled clinics, rescheduling patients and establishing a consistent process
As we continue, what direction will we be going in the months to come? In addition to the ongoing work noted above that continues, the roster for the next several months includes:
- Continuation of work started during first 90 days including visits to clinics that have not been visited yet
- 2019/2020 Budget Development, define staff structure
- Refine/implement the VIA plan; continue work with consultants, Foundation
- Hire, orient new nurses
- Evaluate clinic gaps and needs; geographically and volume-wise
- Staff development, HIPAA In service, staff retreat and teamwork day
- Grant writing, submission, reports
- Volunteer appreciation celebration on 4/9/19
- Gala, 5/3/19
And so our work continues and boredom doesn’t have a chance to move in. The work is exciting, energizing and the people around me fuel energy for our work and for our team members! It is an honor and privilege to be part of the St. Mary’s Health Care team and to serve others as directed by our mission.
In short, “Rekindling the Spirit” would summarize my experience during the first ninety days and I am most grateful for the opportunity to serve!
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Congratulations to Sister Marie Theresa Belanger on your 65th Jubilee!
We had so much fun celebrating with you.
Thank you for your many years of service to St. Mary's Health Clinics.
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Welcome new staff:
Carol Nelson, RN, joins our St. Mary’s staff on March 25. Carol joins us from The Rosemount where she was the Director of Health Services. In that role, Carol was responsible for clinical operations, policy development and regulatory oversight. Prior to The Rosemount, Carol worked as a clinic triage coordinator, a cardiology clinic staff nurse, a consultant in Safety and Process Improvement at an area hospital, and as a school nurse. Carol brings a broad background of knowledge and experience to our patients and families.
Carol resides in Prescott, Wisconsin with her husband, and loves the outdoors and spending time with her animals. Welcome Carol!
Welcome new volunteers:
- Dr. Robert Suurmeyer - MD
- Mary Jo Graham – NP (used to be a volunteer and has returned)
- Eliana Socha – interpreter
- Sarah Streed - interpreter
- Leiny Krumm – interpreter
- Kate Dunklee – interpreter
- Afomia Desalegn - interpreter
- Nancy Kerestes - RN
- Molly Malecha – Mexican Consulate
- Carol Kusienski - admitting (welcome back)
Good bye and gratitude to the following volunteers:
- Florecita Regan, RN at various clinics, Cita began volunteering in 2012 and has given 313 hours to SMHC over the years. Thank you Cita!
- Jacky Slater, admitting volunteer at Mount Olivet Clinic @ St. Matts. Jacky has been volunteering since 2017 and has donated 245 hours to SMHC. Thank you Jacky!
- Liz Abbott, RN at St. Matt's Clinic. Liz began volunteering in 2014 and has given almost 280 hours to SMHC. Thank you Liz!
- Jeremy Coudron, RN has been volunteering since 2016 Olivet @ St. Matt's and has donated 206 hours to St. Mary's. Thank you Jeremy!
- Christine Johnstad, RN has been volunteering since 2016 at Olivet @ St. Matt's and has given 210 hours to SMHC. Thank you Christine!
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Mammo-a-go-go Program:
SMHC along with Park Nicollet will offer free mammograms again. New this year, an event will be held four times at Carondelet Center Administration Building. The first outreach was at Park Avenue Church on Thursday, March 14, 2019. Six women received mammograms.
Please see the schedule or for more information contact Cristina Flood Urdangarin, MPH @651-287-7767.
SMHC 2019 Mammo-A-Go-Go Schedule:
Carondelet Center – St. Paul 4/11/2019 9:00-1:00 PM
Park Avenue Church – Mpls. 5/23/2019 9:00-1:00 PM
Carondelet Center – St. Paul 7/18/2019 1:00-5:00 PM
Park Avenue Church – Mpls. 8/1/2019 9:00-1:00 PM
Carondelet Center – St. Paul 9/12/2019 9:00-1:00 PM
Assumption Church – Richfield 10/6/2019 10:00-3:00 PM
Risen Savior Church - Burnsville 10/20/2019 12:00-4:00 PM
Park Avenue Church – Mpls. 11/21/2019 9:00-1:00 PM
Carondelet Center – St. Paul
12/5/2019 9:00-1:00 PM
Nutrition Success Story:
Gabriela has been coming to the nutrition groups at Shakopee since the group started in April 2018. She has attended all of them and, as a result, has lost 30 pounds. She is at risk for diabetes and, therefore, started taking the nutrition class/group. She keeps coming every month for motivation and also because she learns something new each time. Her body composition has also changed in a positive way- her fat % has decreased; muscle has increased; and visceral fat is within normal. She is a motivator for everyone in the group!
Asthma Program:
SMHC will be assisting patients with asthma by enrolling in a program with the GlaskoSmithKline (GSK) company to receive their inhalers free of charge.
Due to the expense, the inhalers will be kept at St. Mary’s and sent out to clinic when needed. We will not be re-ordering as a supply.
Please contact Carol O’Connor in the office with questions, 651-287-7782.
Adult Vaccine Program:
As part of the state-wide Uninsured and Under-insured Adult Vaccine Program, County Public Health Departments will provide the Shingrix vaccine to uninsured persons 50 y/o and up. A $10 administration fee is suggested, but not required. No one is turned away for inability to pay.
A notice to nurses and providers who refer patients to Park Nicollet for x-rays:
Park Nicollet will now require that a patient present both the
SMHC Physician Referral and Order Form as well as a
Park Nicollet Radiology External Order Form for routine x-rays. These forms are being sent out to clinic for your crate. The forms have detailed check box areas for MRIs, CTs, and ultrasounds. Although there is not a specific checkbox for it, the form is also required for routine x-rays. Simply affix a patient label, date the form, indicate pregnancy status and write in symptom. Give the patient this form, along with their yellow physician order form and document “External Order Form Given to patient” so that the office knows it was provided to the patient. If you have any questions about this new requirement, please call your clinic’s nurse supervisor. Thank you!
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From Chris Hanson - Volunteer Coordinator
We'd love to see you at the
Volunteer Appreciation
celebration at Como Zoo!
Tuesday, April 9th
6:00-8:00 PM
Stop by for snacks, drinks. Our short program will begin at 6:15.
Click
here
to view the invitation.
Do you know someone who would like to volunteer at St. Mary's? Please share our
volunteer application with friends, family and colleagues.
- We are in need of admitting volunteers:
- Shakopee
- St. Matt's in St. Paul
- We are in need of volunteer interpreters:
- Mondays at Shakopee & Mt. Olivet @ St. Matt's (West Side of St. Paul),
- Tuesdays at Park, Fridley & East Side (St. Paul).
If you know of anyone who is fluent in Spanish, can keep patient information confidential, and wants to help an under-served population receive a basic human right, please have them contact Alfredo Lorente at alorente@stmarysclinics.org or Chris Hanson at chanson@stmarysclinics.org
THANK YOU to all of our volunteers.
Your time, dedication and talents are appreciated!
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Celebrating Networks of Hope & Healing
Friday, May 3, 2019
Hilton Minneapolis
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Did you know that shopping on Amazon can help St. Mary's Health Clinics?
Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of eligible AmazonSmile purchases to charitable organizations such as St. Mary's.
On your first visit to
AmazonSmile
(
smile
.
amazon
.
com
), you are prompted to select a charitable organization, please select St. Mary's Health Clinics. It's as easy as that!
You will need to log in to smile.amazon.com in order to support St. Mary's for each order placed on Amazon. Thank you!
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1890 Randolph Avenue
St. Paul, Minnesota
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