I saw a yellow Volkswagen yesterday and thought about something I was grateful for...in that case it was my wonderful children!
At the Iowa Hospital Association's annual meeting in October, Administrators Suzanne Cooner and Doris Rindels attended a session where the speaker encouraged them to always pause for a moment and think about something they were grateful for when they see a yellow car. They mentioned this to the GRMC administrative team during a follow-up meeting and ever since, I have been on the lookout for yellow! It is amazing how many yellow vehicles you see when you start looking for them.
It also reminded me about our stress management program called HeartMath. (You can go back to other posts I've written about HeartMath here.)
Quick coherence has three simple steps: 1) bring your attention to your heart, 2) breathe deeply, and 3) think about something that brings you a feeling of deep appreciation. Everytime I practice HeartMath, I also get to think about things for which I am grateful. Throw a prayer in there with yellow cars and HeartMath and everyday I get to think about all the blessings in my life many, many times.
This week, we celebrate Thanksgiving. I enjoy this wonderful holiday devoted to giving thanks for the blessings in life. This year in addition to appreciating yellow cars, HeartMath, and prayer, I have also been blessed with good health and wonderful family and friends (including my new best friend, Angie).
I am also fortunate to have a great job surrounded by hundreds of caring people who make GRMC the special place it is today! We recently lost one of those extraordinary team members, Shirle Huth. What a joy it was to be around Shirle... she always went the extra mile for patients, her co-workers, and beloved family. We certainly will miss her warm smile, humorous perspective, and compassionate heart. I truly appreciated knowing her.
Working in healthcare is an awesome experience and responsibility. Everyday we get the pleasure of making a difference in the lives of others. It's not always easy but it is clearly meaningful work. I want to say a special thank you to all the men and women associated with Grinnell Regional for their daily commitment to our mission of service. It is important work. I also want to wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope you take some time to celebrate the joy in life that comes from being grateful for your many blessings.
Watch for a yellow car and give it a try... I think you will like it!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
An Open Letter of Thanks
To the Claude W. Ahrens Charitable Trust, Iowa Radiology, Jewel Kintzinger Day and Burt Day, Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Employees and Foundation, Grinnell Regional Auxiliary, Brownell Family Foundation, and Grinnell College:
To the Claude W. Ahrens Charitable Trust and Iowa Radiology, thank you for your successful challenge grant to the community for our MRI project. Donors from across the area met your $50,000 challenge that doubled the total amount for this project and has raised $100,000 toward the goal of $300,000.
Thanks to the employees of Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company and its foundation for your $20,000 gift toward the new MRI. Our organizations enjoy a great partnership that benefits Grinnell and the surrounding area.
And, I cannot say thank you enough to the members of the Grinnell Regional Auxiliary for their hands-on support everyday and for their 2010 gift of $22,000 to the MRI campaign.
Thank you to the Brownell Family Foundation and your $25,000 challenge to match new and additional donations to the 2010 annual fund drive. Gifts to the annual fund drive support GRMC everyday for equipment purchases, services, and programs.
And, thanks to all of you who have contributed or plan to donate to GRMC this year. Every gift is needed and makes a difference, no matter the size of the donation.
President and CEO
Grinnell Regional Medical Center
Friday, November 5, 2010
Reflecting on a Life Well-Lived
I recently attended the memorial service for Maynard Raffety. The church was standing room only and it seemed the whole community turned out to pay tribute to a great man. Maynard served on both the hospital board and our foundation board. In fact, he was on the search committee that brought me to Grinnell almost 18 years ago. I had the privilege of knowing Maynard from my first few moments in this community. He was the consummate board member. Wise, honest, caring, mission focused, and supportive are a few words that come to mind regarding his commitment to great governance at GRMC. Personally, he always made you feel special and you knew exactly how committed he was to making a difference in the world.
Dr. Stan Greenwald is Maynard's cousin and is currently serving on the GRMC board of directors. He provided a stirring eulogy at Maynard's service. The thing that really stood out for me in listening to Stan was "The Maynard Test." Stan and Maynard grew up together on neighboring farms and Maynard was the eldest of the kids from the two families as I understood it. "The Maynard Test" was simple: What would Maynard do in this situation? What would Maynard say in this situation? "The Maynard Test" clearly led you to do "the right thing."
Stan comforted the family, and especially the many grandchildren, by reminding them that although they would miss Maynard, he would live on in each of them through the wonderful example he was in the way he lived his life. He was truly an exemplary man in love of God, family, and community. Stan has all the same awesome traits Maynard was known for and I have been the beneficiary in both counts for their service on the hospital board.
When I went to see Maynard at the Mayflower Community a few days prior to his death, I was moved by how peaceful he was. We shared a few moments of memories (such as the time he flew me and a couple buddies to Phoenix to watch the Hawks play in a sweet 16 basketball tournament game - what an amazing flight halfway across the country! Because of the low ceiling that day, we were literally flying through the valley between the Rocky Mountains!) We talked about the common love we shared for the hospital and its mission to the community. He told me he was glad to have known me and complimented me for the leadership at GRMC. Even in his final days, he was focused on others. As I said goodbye to Maynard, I told him my life was blessed immensely by his friendship and that I was grateful for the opportunity to know him.
We will greatly miss Maynard; however there is no doubt his legacy of kindness, generosity, community spirit, hard work and wisdom will live on. GRMC is a better place because of Maynard and the work of countless and selfless leaders like him.
Dr. Stan Greenwald is Maynard's cousin and is currently serving on the GRMC board of directors. He provided a stirring eulogy at Maynard's service. The thing that really stood out for me in listening to Stan was "The Maynard Test." Stan and Maynard grew up together on neighboring farms and Maynard was the eldest of the kids from the two families as I understood it. "The Maynard Test" was simple: What would Maynard do in this situation? What would Maynard say in this situation? "The Maynard Test" clearly led you to do "the right thing."
Stan comforted the family, and especially the many grandchildren, by reminding them that although they would miss Maynard, he would live on in each of them through the wonderful example he was in the way he lived his life. He was truly an exemplary man in love of God, family, and community. Stan has all the same awesome traits Maynard was known for and I have been the beneficiary in both counts for their service on the hospital board.
When I went to see Maynard at the Mayflower Community a few days prior to his death, I was moved by how peaceful he was. We shared a few moments of memories (such as the time he flew me and a couple buddies to Phoenix to watch the Hawks play in a sweet 16 basketball tournament game - what an amazing flight halfway across the country! Because of the low ceiling that day, we were literally flying through the valley between the Rocky Mountains!) We talked about the common love we shared for the hospital and its mission to the community. He told me he was glad to have known me and complimented me for the leadership at GRMC. Even in his final days, he was focused on others. As I said goodbye to Maynard, I told him my life was blessed immensely by his friendship and that I was grateful for the opportunity to know him.
We will greatly miss Maynard; however there is no doubt his legacy of kindness, generosity, community spirit, hard work and wisdom will live on. GRMC is a better place because of Maynard and the work of countless and selfless leaders like him.
Friday, October 29, 2010
More of My Favorite Things
Recently, I spent an hour in our nutrition services department. I got a first-hand view of what it takes to keep our patients fed while following doctors' orders and doing our best to make the food tasty.
It is no secret. Food simply tastes better when we are not sick and when we can eat what we want, not what is prescribed. This team has its "plate full" when cooking for our patients, staff, and visitors.
I previously wrote about "The Big Three" last year. Patients use three important factors to evaluate their inpatient experience. How does the food taste? How clean is the place? And, did people treat me with care and respect? Often, patients are not able to judge the true clinical quality of their treatment. But the reality is all three of these areas involve something we judge everyday in our walk on this earth and that makes us experts in these areas. We transfer our judgments about overall quality using these three proxies.
Our nutrition services staff know they get judged at each and every meal on how their food tastes, if it is the right temperature, and if people have a choice in what they eat. It may not matter to the patient if the additional goal is for the meal to be healthy, meets the physician's requirements given the illness that brought them to our doors, or fits into the daily routine of our patients. Despite that rock and hard place, I am proud to report that our team gets plenty of compliments about their food.
"I can't believe it was 'hospital' food!"
"The parents' OB celebration meal was amazing."
"I loved having choices from the room service menu."
These are just a sample of the comments from our patient satisfaction surveys.
The nutrition services department also serves hundreds of meals everyday to our hospital team members and visitors in the cafeteria and Neon Cafe. This is no easy task given the variety of tastes and nutritional needs of our staff members.
We have been making a special effort to eat healthier lately. This is a real balancing act. Preparing food that is tasty and nutritious takes good culinary skills. My hats off to our team for their daily dedication to feed the crowd and keep them coming back for more! I am excited about the ideas from our nutrition services team to keep improving.
Thank you for your efforts!
It is no secret. Food simply tastes better when we are not sick and when we can eat what we want, not what is prescribed. This team has its "plate full" when cooking for our patients, staff, and visitors.
I previously wrote about "The Big Three" last year. Patients use three important factors to evaluate their inpatient experience. How does the food taste? How clean is the place? And, did people treat me with care and respect? Often, patients are not able to judge the true clinical quality of their treatment. But the reality is all three of these areas involve something we judge everyday in our walk on this earth and that makes us experts in these areas. We transfer our judgments about overall quality using these three proxies.
Our nutrition services staff know they get judged at each and every meal on how their food tastes, if it is the right temperature, and if people have a choice in what they eat. It may not matter to the patient if the additional goal is for the meal to be healthy, meets the physician's requirements given the illness that brought them to our doors, or fits into the daily routine of our patients. Despite that rock and hard place, I am proud to report that our team gets plenty of compliments about their food.
"I can't believe it was 'hospital' food!"
"The parents' OB celebration meal was amazing."
"I loved having choices from the room service menu."
These are just a sample of the comments from our patient satisfaction surveys.
The nutrition services department also serves hundreds of meals everyday to our hospital team members and visitors in the cafeteria and Neon Cafe. This is no easy task given the variety of tastes and nutritional needs of our staff members.
We have been making a special effort to eat healthier lately. This is a real balancing act. Preparing food that is tasty and nutritious takes good culinary skills. My hats off to our team for their daily dedication to feed the crowd and keep them coming back for more! I am excited about the ideas from our nutrition services team to keep improving.
Thank you for your efforts!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
School Bus Tips Over – GRMC Kicks Into Action
Last week a school bus tipped over in Searsboro, 11 miles south of Grinnell, with 19 students and a bus driver on board. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. That sort of call from emergency responders does get a hospital revved into its highest gear. The driver and one student were transported by ambulance to GRMC with minor injuries. Of course the ER was ready and easily cared for both patients.
We anticipated the other 18 students would also be coming to the hospital to get checked out and so the disaster alert was put out and we were ready with extra personnel, juice boxes, and space for parents and friends. We waited and no one came. We called the school and found out that most of the students were picked up at the scene by parents and taken to the Lynnville/Sully school before any officials from the school ever arrived. Another bus took the remaining students to the school.
In a conversation with the superintendent, it was decided rather than get the students stressed from getting back on a bus and coming to GRMC, we would bring GRMC to the children. I loaded up my Buick with our ER Physician, Dr. John Bambara; two nurses, Terri Kelling and Doris Rindels; and a social worker, Linda Romero, and off we went. Dr. Ryan Dahlby Albright generously volunteered on his day off to take charge of the ER while we were gone.
We set up a triage center in a gathering room near the main entrance and with the school’s assistance called all the parents asking for permission to evaluate each of their children. Each child, ranging in grades from kindergarten through high school, filed in and was thoroughly screened. Most were totally uninjured, while a few had minor bumps and scrapes. One child was referred back to the hospital for further evaluation.
I enjoyed talking to each of the children about their unexpected topsy-turvy ride that morning and leaned that they had just practiced their “bus escape” drill earlier that week. One little tike told me the big kids helped the little kids out the back door. He said, “we kind of slid down the open door…it was fun!” Kids are so resilient.
The superintendent was great to work with and thanked us over and over again for coming to the school. I was sure glad no one was seriously injured!
This event brought a slightly new twist to our slogan: “We are here for you when you need us”…in this case: “We are ‘there’ for you when you need us”!
We anticipated the other 18 students would also be coming to the hospital to get checked out and so the disaster alert was put out and we were ready with extra personnel, juice boxes, and space for parents and friends. We waited and no one came. We called the school and found out that most of the students were picked up at the scene by parents and taken to the Lynnville/Sully school before any officials from the school ever arrived. Another bus took the remaining students to the school.
In a conversation with the superintendent, it was decided rather than get the students stressed from getting back on a bus and coming to GRMC, we would bring GRMC to the children. I loaded up my Buick with our ER Physician, Dr. John Bambara; two nurses, Terri Kelling and Doris Rindels; and a social worker, Linda Romero, and off we went. Dr. Ryan Dahlby Albright generously volunteered on his day off to take charge of the ER while we were gone.
We set up a triage center in a gathering room near the main entrance and with the school’s assistance called all the parents asking for permission to evaluate each of their children. Each child, ranging in grades from kindergarten through high school, filed in and was thoroughly screened. Most were totally uninjured, while a few had minor bumps and scrapes. One child was referred back to the hospital for further evaluation.
I enjoyed talking to each of the children about their unexpected topsy-turvy ride that morning and leaned that they had just practiced their “bus escape” drill earlier that week. One little tike told me the big kids helped the little kids out the back door. He said, “we kind of slid down the open door…it was fun!” Kids are so resilient.
The superintendent was great to work with and thanked us over and over again for coming to the school. I was sure glad no one was seriously injured!
This event brought a slightly new twist to our slogan: “We are here for you when you need us”…in this case: “We are ‘there’ for you when you need us”!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
2010 Women's Health Focus & Baby Fair
GRMC and the GRMC Auxiliary hosted more than 400 attendees at the 2010 women's health focus and baby fair. Guests had the opportunity to visit educational booths, shop with local vendors, eat a fabulous buffet dinner, and enjoy a presentation by Colette Carlson.
Below are some photos from the event.
Guests were able to gather valuable information
and goodies from the educational booths.
Guests were able to start their holiday
shopping early at the MarketPlace.
The massage therapists from Postels Community Health Park relaxed
guests with paraffin hand treatments and chair massages.
Colette Carlson taught us to stress less, and laugh more. Above is
guest Leila Maring learning how to balance life's responsibilities.
Below are some photos from the event.
Guests were able to gather valuable informationand goodies from the educational booths.
Guests were able to start their holidayshopping early at the MarketPlace.
The massage therapists from Postels Community Health Park relaxedguests with paraffin hand treatments and chair massages.
Colette Carlson taught us to stress less, and laugh more. Above isguest Leila Maring learning how to balance life's responsibilities.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
One of my favorite things
No, this is not a Julie Andrews musical about to begin (although I do love watching the Sound of Music every year) but rather a couple more “walkrounds” where I get to spend a few hours with GRMC team members as they show me what it takes to do their job. Recently, I got the chance to shadow employees in the pharmacy department.
The most impressive thing about watching our pharmacy team perform their jobs is the obvious commitment to safety. Checks and double-checks keep the pharmacists and pharmacy techs busy as they go about their daily duties.
On the day I visited our pharmacy, I got an overview of our chemotherapy program. Obviously, these are some of the most powerful and dangerous drugs we administer and keeping tabs on how our patients are responding to the oncologists’ orders is a top priority. The drugs need to kill the cancer with minimal damage to the rest of the patient. I also got an overview of our competency program as one of our pharmacists demonstrated the procedure to clean and test our chemo drug preparation hood. This is a specially-designed containment area for our pharmacists to prepare the chemo drugs for each individual patient. Keeping our pharmacy and nursing staff safe with their exposure to these chemicals is very important.
I also went along with a pharmacist to visit a patient in the process of being discharged. This patient had an extensive list of medications. The pharmacist spent time reviewing in detail each new medication and their possible side effects. The doctor had also made changes to the patient’s previous medications. The pharmacist explained those changes and answered many questions with a caring attitude. Careful notes and explanations were clearly appreciated by the patient.
Finally, I ended my visit to our pharmacy with an opportunity to be a currier! A Des Moines hospital called while I was visiting the department and asked if we had extra of a very expensive chemo drug. Because of the high cost, hospitals do not keep many of this on hand. As it turned out we did have a few doses left in our inventory. I transported the medication to Des Moines that afternoon since I was headed that way for a meeting. It was great to see the sharing that goes on when a patient needs a medication, even those we only keep in short supply.
There are so many excellent staff members dedicated to the best outcome for the patient. These walkrounds always make me feel proud to be a part of healthcare and GRMC.
The most impressive thing about watching our pharmacy team perform their jobs is the obvious commitment to safety. Checks and double-checks keep the pharmacists and pharmacy techs busy as they go about their daily duties.
On the day I visited our pharmacy, I got an overview of our chemotherapy program. Obviously, these are some of the most powerful and dangerous drugs we administer and keeping tabs on how our patients are responding to the oncologists’ orders is a top priority. The drugs need to kill the cancer with minimal damage to the rest of the patient. I also got an overview of our competency program as one of our pharmacists demonstrated the procedure to clean and test our chemo drug preparation hood. This is a specially-designed containment area for our pharmacists to prepare the chemo drugs for each individual patient. Keeping our pharmacy and nursing staff safe with their exposure to these chemicals is very important.
I also went along with a pharmacist to visit a patient in the process of being discharged. This patient had an extensive list of medications. The pharmacist spent time reviewing in detail each new medication and their possible side effects. The doctor had also made changes to the patient’s previous medications. The pharmacist explained those changes and answered many questions with a caring attitude. Careful notes and explanations were clearly appreciated by the patient.
Finally, I ended my visit to our pharmacy with an opportunity to be a currier! A Des Moines hospital called while I was visiting the department and asked if we had extra of a very expensive chemo drug. Because of the high cost, hospitals do not keep many of this on hand. As it turned out we did have a few doses left in our inventory. I transported the medication to Des Moines that afternoon since I was headed that way for a meeting. It was great to see the sharing that goes on when a patient needs a medication, even those we only keep in short supply.
There are so many excellent staff members dedicated to the best outcome for the patient. These walkrounds always make me feel proud to be a part of healthcare and GRMC.
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