Volume 11, Issues 18 August 27, 2004
In This Corner by Jon D. Smiley, C.E.O.
During the past two weeks we have had two excellent opportunities to grow and improve our relationships with the parents, teachers, students and staff in the Sunnyside School District.
The school district is a significant part of what goes on in any small town. Here in the Valley we have a responsibility to reach out, not only to Sunnyside public schools, but also to Sunnyside Christian School and the public school systems in Grandview, Granger, Mabton, Mattawa, Bickleton, Zillah and the rest of our service area.
The newest way we are getting involved with the school system is by providing a Senior Project Career Seminar. The event was held here at the hospital and involved more than 30 students who are planning projects about hospital related jobs.
The students spent the day learning what they will need to do to shadow a mentor during the year. They also heard from many of you about what you do on your jobs. Dr. Harlan Halma, who graduated from Sunnyside High School, also spoke to the group.
Now as the year goes forward many of these young scholars will be back in the hospital from time to time to work on their projects. That kind of bond creates our future doctors, nurses, technicians, chefs, medical records experts, physician recruiters, and even CEOs. My thanks to all of you who have agreed to participate in the Senior Project Seminar.
I also want to thank those who pitched in to get the annual sports physical night completed earlier. That includes six doctors, half a dozen staff members, and a couple of family members as well. I know the sports physicals are a difficult call, and as many of our physicians look at other ways of providing sports physicals without blocking out too much office time - we may need to meet with the district to revisit this program. Still this year we are grateful to those who know what a fine community service this is.
John Allen, April Biggs, Brent Bingham, Ron Couturier, Robert Kim, and Anne Nealen were the members of the Medical Staff who donated time after work. The employees were Carol Allen (and daughter Hailey), Linda Garner, Sheila Robinson, Penny Ross, Sandra Linde, Tom Lathen (and wife Kathy).
ACLS Skills Verification and ACLS Review - September 17. 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. Michael Day, RN, Northwest Med Star. Two separate classes designed to help increase your professional awareness and growth regarding ACLS certification information & complete your ACLS renewal certification. Contact: Gabriella Barker for information.
New
Web-Based Training Course from
CDC Smallpox Vaccine
Storage and Handling. The class is free of charge. Click on the
link for more information or contact Gabriella
Barker.
Help Out an Ill Co-worker. The Nurses in ACU are organizing an effort to take evening meals to a co-worker and her husband. This nurse has been very ill for sometime as many of you know, and continues on the road to recovery. If you would like to help out please see Judy in Ambulatory Care.
Women's Health Night September 23rd. Your assistance is requested. Please see Linda Garner or Sandra Linde if you are interested in helping out with this important event. We especially need volunteer help from persons who can do needle sticks to draw blood for cholesterol screens.
New Polo Shirts. The word is that the new shirts can be worn where appropriate any shift any day. We are also encouraged to wear them on Fridays. Jeans are not permitted under current dress code rules.
Certification Dr. April Biggs has been certified as a Diplomat of the
American Board of Family Practice.
Dr. Biggs practices with Dr. Karen Easton at Grandview Medical Center. She joined Grandview Medical Center last summer after completing her Family Practice Residency Training in Texas. She is a graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Medicine.
The Board certification is valid from now until 2011,
according to Dr. James Puffer, Executive Director of the American Board of
Family Practice. Doctors must
be re-certified every seven years. However
they must continually document on-going education and training to be eligible to
recertify.
“We are very proud of the quality of all our doctors in the Lower Valley,” said Sunnyside Community Hospital CEO Jon Smiley. “We encourage each physician to seek board certification when they begin practice and to maintain that certification throughout their careers,” Smiley said.
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Senior Project Seminar Report
submitted by Sandra Linde
Editor's Note: click on any photo for a larger image. Photo captions follow story.
Please accept my thanks if you were part of the team that worked so hard on our Senior Project Seminar on Monday. I especially want to acknowledge Linda Garner, Lisa Gray and Carol Allen who provided such valuable help in preparing these fine young men and women for their Senior Project work at the hospital.
We had thirty students who gave up one of their last free days of summer before school started this week. That is how important their Senior Project is to each of them. I believe they were equally impressed to see that there were so many adults willing to help and mentor them through the school year.
We will be matching students with appropriate career specific mentors over the next couple of weeks. It is possible that not every student will choose to do a health career. It is also possible that not every mentor will be matched to a student at this point. (Its also possible that some mentors will be asked to work with more than one student.)
The major interest of the students is nursing. But we also presented information about Radiology, Pharmacy, Laboratory, Business Office, Admitting, Public Relations, Nutrition Services and BioMedical Engineering.
We also had a funny and informative talk from Dr. Harlan Halma about growing up in this area and what led him to Medical School. Dr. Halma is a Sunnyside High School grad.
Photo one. Coleen Goulet tours Seniors through the Imaging Department. Photo two. Sandra Linde explains Senior Project Seminar plans to the students gathered. Photo three. Karl Rasmussen helped students see how the hospital laboratory operates. Photo four. Linda Garner, Debby Amos, Nancy Hultberg, Karen Quinn, and Donna Dill answer questions about nursing careers.
Employee Hospital Bills; What to do
submitted by Beth Gillette
The Business Office again reminds you to call us if you did
not get your employee discount if you have a bill for services from the
hospital. We need your assistance,
especially if a family member has insurance other than SCH Blue Cross.
You may get one statement after insurance pays, but we try to catch them
as soon as we can.
Also, you are entitled to discounts on the Emergency
Physicians' bill as well. Any
problems with this billing, please call RTI directly at 1-800-355-2470.
They are on eastern time, so you need to call 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. our
time.
Foundation
Golf Above Par
The score that really matters in a fundraising golf tournament is the bottom line. This year the tournament netted $11,366.
Many thanks to those golfers, sponsors, employees, volunteers and community supporters who have made this one of the most successful golf fundraisers in the Lower Valley.