| Sept. 22, 2020 Edition 60 |
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We are pleased to share with you video messages from some familiar personalities expressing their heartfelt gratitude for you and your work.
The Glint Pulse Surveys provide an opportunity to get real-time feedback from you, enabling leadership to incorporate this information into changes that will improve associate engagement and the healing care of our ministry.
Earlier this summer, a patient’s care from two Ambulatory Services teams that don’t frequently have an opportunity to interact proved coordination can still be practiced flawlessly between dedicated caregivers.
The Ambulatory Services team is excited to announce the opening of a new Urgent Care location in Colorado Springs! This is the second site opening that aligns with the Colorado Springs 2025 market plan, which focuses on growing the area’s first-touch platform through urgent care centers focused on patient experience.
Centura Trauma Service Line Medical Director Charles Mains, MD, and Trauma Program Director Lindsay Dickerson were peer-nominated and recognized for their significant contributions to the delivery of care during the past year.
Our widely used radiology software will transition to a web-based application with a very different look and a few enhancements to improve operational efficiency.
In November, all patients will have real-time access to more aspects of their health information, including notes recorded by their physicians and clinical teams.
With our caregivers’ wellbeing in mind, Centura Health is opting out of the federal Social Security tax deferral option created by executive order in August.
We have been named a Best Organization for Leadership Development by The National Center for Healthcare Leadership based on a scorecard comparison of health care systems.
Information Technology reminds associates that they can perform common password-related tasks using instructions provided inside.
Our all-new associate wellbeing program is here, with exciting new options to support your whole health. Register now for a chance to win a Visa gift card, and find out who’s won so far!
The power in a simple smile or word of encouragement is immense. Inviting a coworker to join you for coffee or a meal or joining together to volunteer might literally save a life.
September is Pain Awareness Month. Here are some tips to consider if you or a loved one plan to visit your primary care physician or a pain management specialist to discuss your pain issues.
A more vibrant life is not necessarily a different life, but a different way to live life. It is about giving ourselves permission to try something new, take risks, and think and live as a unique individual.
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| © 2020 Centura Health. All Rights Reserved. Proprietary and Confidential - for internal distribution only. |
 Chief Ambulatory Officer, Andrew Gaasch |
Thank you to all the associates who participated in the August 2020 Glint Pulse Survey. Receiving this frequent feedback from all our incredible people is an important way that leadership can continually make improvements and share best practices across teams. In November, the Ambulatory Services group had a response rate of 58%. With every survey, our goal is to get to an 85% response rate so we can hear from as many of you as possible!
The overall engagement was a 77 raw score, which is a 2-point decrease from our highest ever score of 79 in November 2019. From those who responded, there were 651 total comments. The comments were split with 78% being favorable, 14% being neutral and 8% being unfavorable. Every one of these comments are read by the senior leadership team because this is your opportunity to share tailored feedback. All of them, regardless of tone, are important and allow leaders to know what is going well and where to focus on making improvements.
Glint consolidates the feedback and provides tailored strengths and opportunities for the Ambulatory Services department overall. Our top two strengths this survey were Recognition and Feedback, while our two areas of opportunity were Involvement and Culture. These will be the areas of opportunity we will focus on for the next quarter. Our leadership team is committed to listening and utilizing the feedback provided in order to make changes across our organization.
The next Glint survey is in November 2020. Our goal is to get to an 85% response rate in this survey, to get as much feedback as possible. We truly thank you for taking the time to participate in these surveys!
The Ambulatory Services team is comprised of a wide variety of care sites including physical therapy, occupational medicine, home health, virtual care and many more, which don’t always have an opportunity to interact. However, one patient’s care from both urgent care and Flight for Life earlier this summer illustrated a shining example of coordination between two departments, resulting in excellent care and an outstanding outcome.
The patient had an arterial bleed from a mishap involving a knife that was used during a window replacement. The patient was driven to Centura Urgent Care in Cañon City, where he was bleeding profusely with a t-shirt tourniquet on arrival. The police, fire and EMS in Cañon City partnered admirably and arrived in record time to bring a new tourniquet that was better than the one urgent care could provide (since this incident, the urgent cares have ordered these improved tourniquets and have trained staff on their use).
From the Urgent Care, he was transferred to St. Thomas More Hospital (STM) and Flight for Life was called. Their Colorado Springs team responded and found him with extensive blood loss. En route to Penrose Hospital (PH), the flight crew infused a unit of whole blood, which improved his status substantially. Shelby Jackson, a flight nurse on the scene that day, noted that “Flight for Life started carrying whole blood a little more than a year ago and we have already used it multiple times, which has been so beneficial for many patients.”
The care coordination between the teams working with urgent care, Flight for Life, STM and PH was truly remarkable. Their combined quick thinking and teamwork led to an outstanding outcome for this patient!
Great appreciation goes out to the team members who provided the direct-patient care, including Provider Megan Southward, MA Sarah Liptrap, Rad Tech Emily Brady, PSR Peggy Lee, Flight Nurse Shelby Jackson and Paramedic Tiffany Mullins. A HUGE thank you to each of you for your dedication.
We are excited to announce the Ambulatory Services team’s new Urgent Care that opened August 31 in Colorado Springs. This Urgent Care, called Powers Pointe, is located at the intersection of Powers and Barnes roads, at 5607 Barnes Road, Suite 140, Colorado Springs, CO 80917.
This Urgent Care is the second site established within our innovative urgent care strategy, which aligns with the Colorado Springs market expression of Centura Health 2025. The site continues to focus on providing exceptional patient care and experience in a retail setting.
The Powers Pointe location is staffed with our long-standing urgent care team from Penrose Community Urgent Care. The team was excited to grow the Urgent Care footprint and we are lucky to have these exceptional caregivers in this location.
Feel free to stop by at any time for a tour. Hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas).
Two valued members of Centura Health trauma centers have been recognized by the Colorado Trauma Network (CTN) for their significant contributions to the delivery of care during the past year. Charles Mains, MD, FACS, was selected in the Trauma Medical Director category for Level I and II trauma centers, while Lindsay Dickerson, RN, BSN, CCRN, of Littleton Adventist Hospital (LAH) was selected in the Trauma Program Manager/Director category for Level III-V trauma centers.
Each were chosen based on peer nominations submitted online throughout 2019 and early 2020. Nominations must be received electronically via the CTN website by January 31 of the award year; finalists are notified by March 31 and awards are usually presented during the annual Spring CTN conference in April.
For Dr. Mains and Lindsay to be awarded in their respective positions, the selection committee agreed their nominations best illustrated exemplary leadership skills, as well as their efforts to advance program performance initiatives to improve the care of injured patients across the continuum.
Dr. Mains is currently the Trauma Medical Director for Centura Health’s trauma system, which includes 18 designated centers in Colorado. Additionally, he provides trauma program consultation for 18 additional rural centers caring for trauma patients across Colorado and Kansas. He previously served as the Trauma Medical Director at St. Anthony Hospital, a Level I trauma center, for 16 years and as a member of the medical staff for nearly 20 years. He is a Board Member of the Trauma Centers of America Association, the nation’s trade association representing trauma centers.
Dr. Mains is committed to trauma education across the state and frequently provides trauma lectures at facilities, EMS departments and ski patrols. He is a course director for the Advanced Trauma Life Support course and Rural Trauma Team Development course, and an instructor for Fundamentals of Critical Care.
He received his medical degree from Duke University Medical Center and completed his General Surgery residency at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Lindsay is a Centura associate who has not only managed the trauma team at LAH since April, but also retained her previous manager role at Porter Adventist Hospital during the past four months on an interim basis. In addition to daily patient reviews and providing feedback to clinicians to ensure adherence to policies and protocols, Lindsay assists nursing staff with trauma education, conducts peer reviews with surgeons and multidisciplinary liaisons to identify and improve care, and helps ensure consistency through collaboration with other trauma managers across the organization.
Before arriving at Centura in June 2018, Lindsay worked most of her nursing career at large Trauma, ICU and ED facilities in Texas. She said the unexpected nature of trauma and thoughts of her own family drive her to help make the centers the best they can be.
“I never know when it could be the people I love laying in that bed experiencing the worst possible event,” Lindsay said. “I want to know that I have helped develop the best trauma center, with high-quality standards, to save the lives of not only the people in our communities, but possibly my people, my family.”
Lindsay earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at University of Texas and is currently working to earn her Masters in Healthcare Administration at Denver University.
Centura Health congratulates Dr. Mains and Lindsay Dickerson for their achievement; your dedication to the highest quality in healing care is a testament of our Mission and a blessing to our patients and communities.
The IT Imaging team strives to ensure the best technology available for our caregivers, so that they may continue to move health forward and fulfill their vital missions in our healing ministry. With that goal in mind, we are excited to announce upcoming enhancements to our Fuji Synapse PACS software.
The application will be upgraded on Oct. 3, 2020 and available to all end users on October 4, whether using it on a hospital network or accessing it externally through My Virtual Workplace or the NSG portal. While its function will remain the same overall, the application will look very different because the application will move to a web-based display.
Using the web-based client improves operational efficiency since the application will no longer require install or update on individual workstations. Epic Image links will be able to open in Google Chrome as well as Internet Explorer.
It will also provide the caregiver with improved navigation and functionality. More tools will be accessible on the application to review and compare images across the system, providing a better and more secure end-user experience.
To prepare users for the changes, radiology departments that have already been working with the new interface are able to assist. In addition, hospital-site provider trainers will be available to share what they have learned. All who may be affected are encouraged to participate in proactive self-training with helpful tip sheets now available on our intranet webpage:
Centura Health is committed to enabling our patients with easier and secure access to their electronic health information in a fully automated manner.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) issued final rules in May to prohibit information blocking and require patient access to health information. These policies are also intended to improve interoperability and unleash innovation while reducing burden on payers and providers. The first requirement regarding information blocking goes into effect on Monday, Nov. 2, 2020.
Although our patients have always had access to their electronic health information either through our patient portal or by requesting a copy of their entire medical record, in November patients will have real-time electronic access to their information. Noteworthy enhancements include more convenient access to:
In August, the federal government issued an executive order giving employers the option to temporarily defer Social Security tax withholding for their associates through the end of 2020. You may have heard this deferral referred to as a “Tax Holiday.”
With the financial wellbeing of our people in mind, Centura Health has decided to opt out of the Social Security payroll tax deferral and will not be participating in this program.
Under the current executive order, an employer’s decision to opt in or out applies to all associates; an individual is not able to opt out of their employer’s decision. We have chosen to opt out in order to avoid placing an additional financial burden on you next year, because deferred social security taxes must be repaid by the tax deadline in April 2021.
If you need financial assistance, Centura has a number of resources and support options available to you. To learn more, contact our Employee Assistance Program by calling 800.645.6571.
Questions?
Contact the People Resource Center at 888-622-1111 or peopleresourcecenter@centura.org.
Centura Health is pleased to announce that The National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL) has recognized us as a Best Organization for Leadership Development (BOLD). We will be highlighted on Wednesday, November 18, when the NCHL will host a virtual Human Capital Investment Conference.
BOLD recognition is an annual event that was established to:
Centura Health is committed to ensuring all data related to our patients and caregivers is safe and secure. Sometimes this means an associate may need to change a password or reset a locked account, but it doesn’t necessarily require a call to the Service Center for assistance. You may perform these tasks yourself by referencing this link for instructions on:
It’s important to know that Code You accounts do not carry over to the new Inspire Wellbeing platform. To participate in Inspire Wellbeing, you will need to complete a simple, one-time registration.
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This is the latest in a series of articles as part of National Suicide Prevention Month, a chance to understand, to learn, and to possibly one day even help prevent someone you know from taking his or her life.
After all, our Centura Health mission to extend the healing ministry of Christ includes not just body and spirit, but a focus on the mind as well. Behavioral Health, which includes suicide prevention, is a key part of that mission.
In the article below, Heidi Bode, a Centura Crisis Assessment Team Manager, shares how your simple connections, words and actions can greatly help someone who may be thinking about suicide.
Alone. Trapped. Different. Tired. Hopeless.
Individuals contemplating ending their lives by suicide often express these sentiments and explain they do not really want to die but feel desperate to make the intense pain stop. With the recent shelter in place orders and social distancing, often resulting in social isolation, many people are feeling increasingly hopeless and alone.
My call to work with those experiencing mental health crisis and suicidal thoughts was born from a family lineage of deaths by suicide. My father, at age 5, found his mother who had ended her own life. My sister made the tragic decision to die by suicide when I was in 8th grade. I have walked with too many friends who have lost children to suicide. Sometimes the urgency to end this pandemic of suicide becomes intensely overwhelming for me.
Humans are herd animals, even the most introverted individual needs to feel a thread of connection and we all need to feel a sense of purpose. If we can find a way to connect people and create a common bond, I believe we can save many lives. Each of us can be a vital part in mitigating feelings of isolation and creating a culture of inclusion. The power in a simple smile or word of encouragement is immense. Inviting a coworker to join you for coffee or a meal or joining together to volunteer might literally save a life.
There are many stories of people who had plans to end their life by suicide but decided if even one person would smile or ask how they were, they would not make that tragic decision. Kevin Hines was such a person and you can read his story here (https://www.psycom.net/kevin-hines-survived-golden-gate-bridge-suicide/)
I often find my thoughts turned toward an overwhelmed mother of three who daily carried all the tools needed to end her life. Each day she would lay the fleece out, making a deal with God that if one person called, smiled, or gave a hug she would choose to live. While her decision was hers alone the power of human connection ultimately saved the life of this young mother and gave her the energy to be there for her children.
Kindness and connection drive away loneliness, they break the chains of isolation, they include and invite those who feel different and alone, they breathe life into the tired soul, and they give hope to the hopeless. As we have learned in articles from previous weeks, the numbers of people ending their lives by suicide are too high. I want to encourage each of you to give and receive the hope that comes from connecting with one another.
Today, make a deliberate choice to smile at a coworker. Tell a family member why they are important to you. Lead a group of isolated individuals in a project to help others. Join a faith based or educational community to form protective connections.
Heidi Bode
Manager, Crisis Assessment Team
Centura Behavioral Health (CBH/PEPCS)
If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, isolation, or loneliness, please reach out to EAP or Rocky Mountain Crisis Partners.
If you or someone you love needs to talk, the Colorado Crisis Line is free, confidential and available 24/7: 1-844-493-8255 or text TALK to 38255. For a list of local and regional suicide hotlines in Kansas, see Suicide.org.
You also can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24/7 for free, confidential support: 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Centura Health provides a number of resources to help our associates navigate difficult situations, including our Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which is a great resource for counseling services and other mental well-being support. You can reach Profile EAP by calling 800-645-6571.
The American Chronic Pain Association (ACPA) declared September as Pain Awareness Month in order to raise awareness in the communities we serve of issues people may face pertaining to pain and pain management.
What is chronic pain?
Chronic pain is pain that continues a month or more beyond the usual recovery period for an injury, illness or a chronic condition. It can even last more than a year. The pain is usually not constant, but it can interfere with daily life. The isolation and fear that can overwhelm a person with chronic pain tends to grow over time, and the return to a whole and healthy life can be a long journey for the mind, body and spirit.
Helpful pain management tips
Here are some tips to consider if you or a loved one plan to visit your primary care physician or a pain management specialist to discuss your pain issues. Arriving for your appointment prepared will help your doctor assess your condition more efficiently and effectively. Some things you can do to prepare yourself include:
“Curve your straight
Widen your narrow
Don’t crouch in a gully
Sample the peaks
Down in the dumps
your doom is secure
Resuscitate your ardor
Heat up your pizzazz
Put roller skates
on your pussy feet
Welcome the peril
of passionate dismay”
Have you ever felt that your life is small? Have you allowed yourself to be defined by your roles and responsibilities in a way that is confining? Have you wondered what it would be like to be more free and alive? My guess is that poet James Broughton has felt all those things at times, and that he penned the above to encourage himself and to invite us to live with a greater sense of joy, vitality and at least a touch of pizzazz.
It is no easy task to remain young-at-heart as we assume the responsibilities that come with adulthood; earning a living, paying our bills, caring for those in our charge, providing for unexpected setbacks and for our inevitable decline. But the familiarity and repetition that often come with the territory of being accountable and dependable in our work and personal lives can cause us to lose touch with the fact that human beings are spiritual beings, and that being spiritual is about being fully alive.
It’s been said that the difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions! When Broughton claims that “down in the dumps your doom is secure,” he is naming the truth that there can be a deadly sense of comfort when our daily routines become patterns that devolve into ruts. The proverbial “straight and narrow” is not a bad way to live, but its predictability can have a deadening effect on our soul.
What to do if we’ve lost our taste for “passionate dismay?” How can we resuscitate our ardor? What might it mean to put on roller skates? A more vibrant life is not necessarily a different life, but a different way to live life. It is about giving ourselves permission to try something new, to take risks, to think and to live “outside the box,” to have the courage, in the words of Henry David Thoreau, to “step to the music of a different drummer,” one whose cadence is the tempo of the Spirit.
Tom Stella, NCC
Corporate Chaplain
tomstella37@gmail.com