Redesigned St. Anthony Clinic opening Monday

Carroll, Iowa — The newly renovated space which now houses the St. Anthony Clinic at St. Anthony Regional Hospital will open and begin seeing patients on Monday, June 3. The clinic redesign took special care to make navigating to doctors’ offices easier and that meant knocking down a few walls. The space was completely gutted and remodeled. Now the clinic area creates a sense of flow with visual cues including local photographs on waiting area walls and contrasted carpeting paths which help lead patients to the correct location. Clinic Manager Heather Mueggenberg says special attention was given to the pediatrics waiting area to help calm nervous kids who may be seeing a doctor for the first time. - See more at: http://www.1380kcim.com/pages/16478290.php?contentType=4&contentId=13148370#sthash.GvrpiXpW.dpuf

Indoor path helps Covenant earn Blue Zones designation

Covenant Medical Center recently completed the designation process to become Waterloo’s latest Blue Zones Worksite. Blue Zones Project is dedicated to helping communities become healthier better places to live, work and play. Designation measures and rewards the strides area organizations are making in the community.

“Covenant is thrilled to join other sites around the Cedar Valley who have officially become a Blue Zones worksite. Promoting actions that make Covenant a happier, healthier worksite is in line with our commitment of providing the best care to the community we serve. Happier, healthier caregivers, provide better, more focused care,” says Amy Hetherton, customer and community relations manager.

To become designated Covenant selected from a menu of actions and engaged at least 25 percent of its employees to complete a personal pledge action. Actions are small changes that provide benefits to people’s physical health, emotional health and social relationships. Something unique Covenant and other Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare sites have established are indoor walking paths.

“In the winter, it can be especially challenging to motivate ourselves to get up and move. We wanted to do something that made it easier for employees to stay active, so we set up hallway markers featuring the Blue Zones Project signage to designate indoor walking paths,” says Sheri Purdy, director of wellness.

The paths vary in length and allow employees to stay warm while improving their health.

“Blue Zones Project awareness and participation in the workplace has been a great asset,” said BJ Powell, application analyst at Covenant Medical Center. “My co-workers and I use the path on a daily basis and have had good results. I would say it energizes us, makes us feel better, in addition , we’ve had some weight loss. I appreciate Wheaton providing a place to help their employees improve their overall health.”

CEO Pamela Delagardelle: Getting Down to Business at Allen Health System

Pamela Delagardelle became the first woman to be president and CEO of Allen Health System in Waterloo, Iowa, on Jan. 1, 2013. Allen Health System is a part of Des Moines-based Iowa Health System.

Even though she just recently took the reigns at Allen Health System, Ms. Delagardelle is no stranger to Iowa Health System. She served as CEO of Grundy County Memorial Hospital, an Iowa Health affiliate in Grundy Center, prior to her current position. She has also served as the clinical adoption executive for Iowa Health System’s Epic computerized order entry conversion.

While Ms. Delagardelle was at the helm of Grundy County Memorial, the hospital’s buildings and staff grew. Grundy County Memorial completed a $6 million outpatient expansion and opened an inpatient facility and medical office. Additionally, Ms. Delagardelle recruited 117 physicians to the hospital and increased its workforce from 90 to 220.

Ms. Delagardelle got right down to business in her first two months leading Allen Health System. Early in February, she oversaw a partnership between Cedar Valley Medical Specialists in Waterloo and La Crosse, Wis.-based Gundersen Lutheran Health System that will enhance cardiac services at Allen Hospital in Waterloo. “This partnership fits our focus on continuous improvement,” Ms. Delagardelle said in a news release. “It combines the strengths of all three organizations to give Cedar Valley patients cardiac care options that none of us could provide alone.”

Ms. Delagardelle has been recognized for her personal success in healthcare. In 2008, she received the Iowa Hospital Association Excellence in Leadership Award, awarded every year to one Iowa hospital administrator for commitment, dedication and inspirational leadership. More recently, she received the 2012 Mount Mercy University Distinguished Service Award for service to the community.

Ms. Delagardelle earned a master’s degree in nursing administration from the University of Iowa in Iowa City and is a registered nurse

(Source: beckershospitalreview.com)

Eastern Iowa hospitals look to curb repeat visits to emergency rooms

With debilitating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure and Gitelman’s syndrome, causing kidney problems and low potassium levels, Theresa Brown has become very familiar with the emergency room.

From a hospital bed in January, the 51-year-old Cedar Rapids woman was asked when she last visited the emergency room at St. Luke’s Hospital.

“I was in here yesterday twice and they sent me home,” she said. “But then things got worse.”

In 2011, Brown — who is not plagued by financial woes or insurance concerns — visited the emergency room 12 times. She said her illness, acquired while working near chemicals, simply needs a lot of emergent care, and she often can’t wait for an appointment with a doctor.

Still, officials with St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids wondered if there wasn’t a way to help Brown and others like her reduce their trips to the emergency room.

In 2012, the hospital launched an Emergency Department Consistent Care Program with a $50,000 grant from Transamerica

Read more at:  http://thegazette.com/2013/02/02/eastern-iowa-hospitals-look-to-curb-repeat-visits-to-emergency-rooms/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+GazetteOnlineLocalNews+%28TheGazette.com+Local+News%29

Sumner to open new hospital Monday

 In a few days, the city will realize a dream that required an optimistic vision, a bit of faith and a good deal of money.

The new Community Memorial Hospital, a rural affiliate of Allen Hospital in Waterloo, is scheduled to begin regular business hours Monday in an expansive facility situated a few feet south of its old building.

“It’s a huge deal. This turned out to be a four- or five-year process,” spokesman Kyle Teeling said.

Read more at: http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/sumner-to-open-new-hospital-monday/article_72eed543-d6e5-5c51-9b30-4b91f0a17c46.html

Small Community Hits a Big Goal with New Hospital

 It’s a big week for health care in the small Bremer County community of Sumner.

Beginning Friday, staffers at Community Memorial Hospital will load up equipment, and eventually patients, and move to a brand new $20-million hospital building. It’s the culmination of almost five years of planning, fund raising and construction and supporters say it’s a big accomplishment in a town of just 2,000 residents.

As moves go, no one is going very far. The new hospital building in Sumner sits just a dozen feet from a corner of the old community hospital that opened January 1, 1950. But administrator Mary Wells it’s a big step for the community that sits on the Bremer and Fayette County line. And it’s a symbol that says this is a community that’s alive and growing.

“We see this as very important to keeping the whole community healthy—not just the health of the health care community. It (new building) will keep our community growing and viable,” Wells said.

To read more and view the video see:

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Small-Community-Hits-a-Big-Goal-with-New-Hospital-186256172.html

Sumner Celebrates New Community Memorial Hospital

Hundreds gathered to get their first peek at a brand new hospital in one Bremer County community Sunday.  Community Memorial Hospital in Sumner has been under construction for 14-months.  It replaces the current 60-year-old hospital at the same location.  Area residents have come to know the value of modern, hometown healthcare.

To read more and view the video see: http://www.kwwl.com/story/20515962/2013/01/06/sumner-celebrates-new-community-memorial-hospital

The Iowa Donor Network wins Excellence Award

The Iowa Donor Network of North Liberty and Johnston has been named one of the eight winners of the Iowa Recognition for Performance Excellence Awards, given by the Iowa Quality Center and the Iowa Recognition for Performance Excellence Executive Council. Recipients will be honored at the Governor’s Celebration of Excellence on May 2 at the Meadows Conference Center in Altoona.

The IRPE is one of 39 state award programs aligned with the National Baldrige Performance Excellence Program.

Iowa Donor Network is a not-for-profit organization operating as the primary contact for organ, tissue and eye donation services. It employs 85 and serves more than 10,000 Iowans a year, the Iowa Quality Center said.

(Source: thegazette.com)

Waterloo hospital names first woman CEO

 Pamela K. Delagardelle, CEO of the Grundy County Memorial Hospital since 2003, has been named president and CEO of Allen Health System, effective Jan. 1.

She will succeed Tom Tibbitts, who will retire Dec. 31.

Delagardelle is the first woman and the first nurse to lead Allen as president and CEO. The Grundy County hospital, in Grundy Center is an affiliate of Allen Health System. She also serves as clinical adoption executive for the Iowa Health System Epic computerized order entry conversion now in progress.

Prior to her appointment as CEO of Grundy County Memorial Hospital, Delagardelle worked at Allen Hospital and Allen College in Waterloo and St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids from 2000-2003.

She held five management positions with Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo from 1988-1999. She began her career as a charge nurse at Sartori Memorial Hospital in Cedar Falls and as a staff nurse at Schoitz Hospital in Waterloo from 1983-1986.

Delagardelle holds a bachelor of science in nursing degree from Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, and a master of science in nursing administration from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. She is a registered nurse with current licensure.

(Source: wcfcourier.com)