Clinic Clues - June 2019 St. Mary’s Health Clinics provides necessary and accessible health services to the medically uninsured and under-served.

From Susan Gehlsen - Interim Executive Director: The staff enjoyed an all day retreat in April led by Dr. Loie Lenarz focusing on regrouping, moving forward and what do we look like? It was a beneficial event enjoyed by all Clinic statistics through May, 2019 1463 patients seen 4057 total patient visits 6% new patients Average 60 clinics per month Volunteer hours average 678 hours per month SMHC has a new partnership with Century College for Medical Interpreter Students Thank you to all who attended the annual Gala in May Starting in June SMHC will serve as a clinical site for St. Catherine’s MSN students for their Public Health rotation. Six students will work at St. Mary’s through the summer months under the leadership of our staff nurses Four grant applications have been submitted in May and June, we’re waiting to hear back about each of them

Welcome new volunteers: Marin Melloy - Interpreter Marcia Cleary - RN Kallie Liston - Admitting (welcome back)! Andres Romero - Interpreter Kathy Myers - RN Julie Doth (welcome back and thank you for filling in)! Nancy Kerestes - RN Ann Palosaari - RN Welcome to new office staff member Carol Nelson, RN. Carol is the Care Coordinator and Supervisor for Park Avenue Clinic and St. Matt's Clinic. Welcome Carol!  Good bye and gratitude to the following volunteers: Dr. Tim Thompson - Dr. Thompson has been volunteering at the Shakopee Clinic since 2005 and has accumulated 610 volunteer hours. THANK YOU! Josiah Bardwell - Interpreter at our St. Kate's OT/PT Clinic. Thank you for your dedication to SMHC. Good luck in Medical School! Betty Roe - admitting at Shakopee has donated 382 volunteer hours and has been with SMHC since 2013!

Danelle Pageler - Social Work intern worked in the office for 9 months. Thank you for all you contributed to the staff and to the patients of St. Mary's Health Clinics. We'll miss you and wish you the best in your new endeavors!

Congratulations to Dr. David M. Larson, volunteer provider at Shakopee Clinic. Dr. Larson was named one of the top Doctors in the Mpls. St. Paul Magazine . A well deserved honor!

News from the office Rachel and Adriana will lead a Diabetes Self-Management Program in June and July. The program, developed by Stanford University, is a six-week, 2 ½ hour workshop for people with diabetes and is designed to enhance regular treatment and disease-specific education. The program gives people with chronic conditions the skills they need to manage their health and cover, among other things, techniques to deal with isolation, frustration, exercise, appropriate use of medications, communication with family, friends and health professionals, nutrition, decision making, etc. We are offering this program, in Spanish, to St. Mary’s patients who live in Minneapolis, as well as members of the community.

Since March 2017, 679 women have been screened for breast and cervical cancer through the Sage program, part of the Minnesota Department of Health. Thanks to all for your support. The Sage Scopes (Screening Colonoscopy) program is still on hold. There is a waiting list that CLOSED JUNE 15. There are going to be changes to the program so appointments will not be filled before October 2019.

Mammo-A-Go-Go Program: Clinic Volunteers; we reviewed and updated the process for the Mammo A Go Go/Sage program. Please refer to this document when scheduling patients. Thank you all for your input and revisions. SMHC along with Park Nicollet is offering free mammograms. We had a great turn out at the event on May 30th at Holy Rosary Church! 7 SMHC patients were seen as well as 5 community members. Please see the schedule below or contact Cristina Flood Urdangarin, MPH, 651-287-7767 for additional information. 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

FLU SHOTS NEWS SMHC is part of the MINI collaborative (Minnesota Immunization Networking Initiative) overseen by Fairview Health Services that provides flu shots to vulnerable populations, including immigrants and racial/ethnic minority groups. The collaborative includes Homeland Health Specialists, the Stairstep Foundation, Portico Healthnet, The Karen Organization of Minnesota, The American Indian Community Development Corporation, St. Catherine University Department of Nursing, Hadi Medical Clinic, the Liberian Nurses Association of Minnesota, the Hmong Healthcare Professionals Coalition, the Minnesota Department of Health and many faith based and community organizations. Last 2018-2019 flu season, MINI held 107 influenza immunization clinics in community sites and administered a total of 6,294 influenza vaccinations. Of those, SMHC coordinated 26 clinics where 2,389 influenza immunizations were administered! This year MINI won a national award from the National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit (NAIIS) )and received the National Influenza Season Campaign award in May! An article about MINI appears in the May/June issue of Public Health Reports. The article is coauthored by Pat Peterson and Paula McNabb from Fairview as well as Sai Ramya Maddali from Emory University, Jennifer Heath from MDH and Scott Santibañez from the Division of Preparedness and Emerging Infections out of the CDC. See attached. Stay tuned for the 2019-2020 MINI flu clinics schedules coming up to the clinics and please help us promote them among our patients and communities. Thank you!

FREE SCREENING CLINIC for children with bone, muscle or joint problems. Friday, June 28, 2019 Mexican Consulate - 797 East 7th Street, St. Paul, MN 55106 Appointment scheduling - 651-771-5494 extension 324 Appointments still available

St. Paul Radiology partnership SMHC continues our partnership with St. Paul Radiology and Center for Diagnostic Imaging. This includes CT scans, MRI's and injections for our East Side and St. Matt’s patients. Appointments available downtown St. Paul and Maplewood. We are very grateful for their continued support.

Update from the Social Worker at St. Mary’s Health Clinics, Cathy Luiken In May, we hosted a Mother’s Day Celebration for patients at SMHC that included an art activity; time to connect and offer support to each other; and refreshments. At the end, flowers were given to each participant. We continue to offer a monthly drop in support group for patients. This group meets the third Monday of every month from 1:00PM – 3:00PM. The group meets at St. Matthew’s parish at 490 Hall Avenue in St. Paul. Please feel free to let patients know about this group. Topics covered included self- care strategies for anxiety and depression; building a support network; honoring loved ones who have died outside the U.S.; and mindfulness skills. I continue to meet with patients one-on-one for their emotional health needs and I am frequently at clinics to meet with patients. I meet with patients for a variety of reasons including depression, anxiety, panic attacks, domestic violence, complicated grief, trauma, sexual assault, drug and/or alcohol addiction, and pain management. I can provide short term counselling to patients and can also help patients schedule therapy appointments at community based clinics. I also refer patients to agencies in the community that support the patients’ basic needs including food shelves, energy assistance programs, county agencies for food support, immigration lawyers, summer programs for children, and English Language Learner classes (ELL). I have also helped patients apply for scholarships to the YMCA. If eligible, the patient and their family can receive up to a 75 % discount to the YMCA. In February of 2019, I attended a four day training through First Aid for the Arts in Seattle, Washington. First Aid for the Arts partners with Human Rights Organizations throughout the world to educate and train professionals and lay people on how to use art, music, and movement to help survivors of trauma. The word trauma comes from the Greek term for “wound.” I learned how to provide better care to our patients through skill building in self-regulation; interpersonal skills, and self-awareness. I frequently use the skills I learned at the monthly support group and in my one-on-one work with patients. According to Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, Registered Expressive Arts Therapist, “A trauma-informed practice implies that we empower and support adaptive coping skills and see individual as capable of not just surviving but thriving.”

Ways to mitigate over-scheduled clinics - Nurses & Diabetic Coordinators brain stormed to come up with ideas to help at clinic. Things you can do at clinic: Nurses can keep intake focused on chief complaint, medication reconciliation, vital signs, weight, height, etc.  Nurses can offer scheduling phone number to patient (or call scheduling line from clinic) for any concerns that cannot be addressed at this visit Defer to providers to delve more deeply into concerns and complaints during their time with patient. See patients with well controlled concerns such as DM, HTN, Hypothyroid, etc every 4-6 months. Dispense enough medications/supplies for 4-6 month follow up (we will increase quantity of medications stocked if necessary) Provide patient with SMHC order to do labs at the hospital instead of at clinic, if it improves clinic flow.   Things we will endeavor to do from the office: Schedule no more than 3 nurse visits per clinic As supply allows, begin sending out 1 month supply of insulin Offer insulin pick ups here at SMHC office, especially for those patients who do not live near clinic. In some cases, available diabetic coordinators may choose to go early to clinic to dispense insulin We will continue to work on the larger issues surrounding our Diabetic Education & Enhancement (DEEP) program and staffing Thank you everyone for the significant energy and effort you put into serving our patients each and every clinic. We are so appreciative.

Adriana, Community Health Worker with SMHC, participated and was on the panel of the CHW Leadership Alliance Conference in May. Thank you Adriana for representing St. Mary's Health Clinics! (Pictured at left).

For Non-Diabetic patients in need of a routine vision screen and inexpensive glasses, PORTICO is able to offer a One Sight Visit.  Spanish speaking patients may call 651-603-5132 to schedule a visit. English speakers dial 651-603-5100.

From Chris Hanson Volunteer Coordinator: Thank you to everyone who attended the Volunteer Appreciation event at Como Zoo. We hope you had a great time. Chloe the Sloth was our special guest this year!

Thank you to Brian Lebakken for the photographs! THANK YOU to all of our volunteers. Your time, dedication and talents are appreciated.

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!

Volunteer Donor Support

info@stmarysclinics.org 651-287-7777 1890 Randolph Avenue  St. Paul, Minnesota ‌

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