Take action and be entered to win exciting prizes! Individuals who enroll in benefits or complete the spousal verification throughout Benefits Open Enrollment will be entered in a drawing to win exciting prizes. Don’t miss your chance to win!

The 2021-2022 Benefits Open Enrollment period is ending soon. Be sure to take action before noon MT on May 21 if:

• You need to complete a spousal verification (annual election is required);
• You want to participate in a flexible spending account (annual election is required);
• You are enrolling for the first time; or
• You need to change your current elections (plan, level of coverage or covered dependents).

• Log in to My Virtual Workplace.
• Log in to Employee Self Service. Under the “Associates” tab, click on “Employee Self Service.” You may need to re-enter your user name and password.
• View current benefits. Click on the “Associates” tab on the screen. Under the “My Benefits” section, click on “Current Benefits.”
• Verify your plan details, dependents and coverage levels.

As Centura Health caregivers, we choose to build whole person care for every life we touch. Each day we inspire positive changes that will power flourishing communities for years to come. Fighting heart disease and stroke prevention are key components of supporting the whole health of our patients and communities – and we need your help!

Each year, teams from Centura Health proudly support the American Heart Association’s (AHA) annual Heart & Stroke Walk to celebrate the lives of heart attack and stroke survivors, promote exercise, and raise overall health awareness. As the leading cause of death in this country, cardiovascular disease claims almost as many lives each year as the next 7 leading causes of death combined. The AHA’s priorities embody Centura’s vision of every community, every neighborhood, every life – whole and healthy.

You can make an impact by participating in the upcoming 2021 Denver Heart & Stroke Walk Digital Experience on Saturday, June 5. Click here to join one of Centura’s teams and walk where you are – and encourage your colleagues and associates to join!

For more information, contact your local site lead:

Penrose - St Francis Health Services	Melissa Ortiona	MelissaOrtiona@centura.org
Littleton Adventist Hospital	Lee Shields	LeeShields@Centura.Org
Parker Adventist Hospital	Nancy Lundy Emily Justice	NancyLundy@Centura.Org EmilyJustice@Centura.Org
St. Catherine Hospital and Bob Wilson Memorial Hospital	Sammie Ramos	SammieRamos@Centura.Org
St. Anthony North Heath Center	Alex Stebbins	AlexandraStebbins@Centura.Org
Longmont United Hospital	Tara Horne	TaraHorne@Centura.Org
Castle Rock Adventist Hospital	Myra Gregory	MyraGregory@Centura.Org
St. Thomas More Hospital	Nikki Teigen	NicoleTeigen@centura.org
Porter Adventist Hospital	Jena Humer Angela Pollock	JenaHumer@Centura.Org AngelaPollock@Centura.Org
Avista Adventist Hospital	Calvin Smith	CalvinSmith@Centura.Org
Mercy Regional Medical Center	Lisa Hutchens	LisaHutchens@Centura.Org
St. Mary Corwin	Jillian Maes	JillianMaes@Centura.Org
St. Anthony Hospital	Jess Donaldson	JessicaDonaldson@Centura.Org
St. Anthony Summit	Stephanie Robinson	StephanieRobinson@Centura.Org
Corporate	Valerie Gildea Andrea Carter	ValerieGildea@Centura.Org AndreaCarter@Centura.Org

It has been difficult to hear and read the news of villages and communities in India being impacted and ravaged by the latest wave and surge of COVID-19 cases. We understand that this latest wave is overwhelming the health system in India.

Through Global Health Initiatives, we also know that our partner hospital in Nepal – Scheer Memorial Adventist Hospital – is seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases in Kavre district. The 20-bed hospital is averaging 25 COVID-19 patients a day (and growing) and recently converted the old church near the hospital to a temporary COVID-19 ward, which allows them to carry oxygen cylinders to support patient care. We are working to understand how we can support our partner and others in India with assistance in medical supplies and equipment.

Members of the Centura community – our caregivers – may be directly impacted by the devastation in India and nearby areas, with loved ones, family and friends being affected. It is important for our associates to know that we are here to support with compassion and flexibility as they navigate their work while also trying to manage and address concerns and personal crises related to their family members overseas.

This Wednesday, May 19, at 5:30 p.m. MT, we will host a webinar for our Indian diaspora community and associates from neighboring areas. Hosted by Dr. Ozzie Grenardo, Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, we will come together as a community to dialogue and discuss. We will have leadership available from human resources, our Employee Assistance Program, Global Health Initiatives, Mission & Ministry and others. You may print this flyer to share with your team members and click here to add the Zoom event to your calendar.

As a connected community, we know that some of our caregivers have been, and continue to be, impacted financially by the pandemic. If you are experiencing hardship, please reach out to your local human resources leader to understand assistance that may be available.

Questions?
If you have any questions, please reach out to Dr. Grenardo at OswaldoGrenardo@Centura.Org.

As a reminder, Skype for Business will be retired on Tuesday, June 1. To assist you with becoming proficient in MS Teams, we have created a “Did You Know” document, highlighting some of the top features available in MS Teams. Since our communication last week, we’ve added even more helpful features:

•    MS Teams – Did You Know – Part 2

SharePoint is NOT going away!
To clarify, SharePoint is NOT going away. MS Teams and SharePoint are fully-integrated and if you would like, you can bring your existing SharePoint sites into MS Teams (instead of switching back and forth between MS Teams and SharePoint).  You do NOT need to recreate any of your SharePoint content in Teams.

If you are the site owner of a SharePoint site and would like to bring the site’s content into MS Teams, please reference How to Add a SharePoint page, list or document library as a tab in Teams.

Want to learn more?
Virtual training and online resources are available within the MS Teams application through the Learning Pathways icon, where you can increase your knowledge through the many training options, from recorded videos to live instructor-led webinars.

1. Launch Microsoft Teams.
2. Select Learning Pathways from the left navigation
3. Select Getting Started with… from the top menu. This option includes short self-paced videos on key topics to get started using MS Teams.
4. Select Structured Learning from the top menu to display and register for various webinars with live instructors, where you can gain knowledge and receive answers to your questions.

1. Launch Microsoft Teams.
2. Select the Help icon located at the bottom of the left navigation.
3. Select Training.
4. Select the desired topic.

• MS Teams Chat User Guide
• MS Teams End User Guide
• MS Teams Site Owner Guide

Stroke is a medical emergency that requires rapid treatment. Every minute without treatment increases the chance of a person experiencing permanent neurological damage, stroke-related disability, or death. This week, let’s review the advanced treatment options available that can be the difference between life and death or independence and disability.

Types of stroke and treatment options
Ischemic (blockage): An ischemic stroke occurs when there is blockage of blood flow to the brain. This blockage causes brain tissue to die from lack of oxygen. About 87% of all strokes are ischemic. The following treatments are available for ischemic stroke:

• Intravenous (IV) medication treatment with IV Alteplase (tPA): tPA, is a medication that can be used to treat some patients who have an acute ischemic stroke. Alteplase is often called a “clot-buster” because it helps to break up the blood clot and improve blood flow. Since it is a blood thinner, alteplase is not used for bleeding type strokes. Many people don’t arrive to the hospital in time to receive alteplase, which can save lives and reduce long-term effects of stroke. So, it’s important to identify stroke and seek treatment immediately.
  
  The traditional time window for treatment with alteplase is 4.5 hours from the last time a patient was seen well or without symptoms. There is new evidence to support the use of alteplase in a small number of patients who present with an unknown time of onset or who wake up with stroke symptoms. Beyond the 4.5-hour window, advanced stroke imaging  is used to identify patients who may benefit from alteplase. For more information, read this Centura FAQ document.
• Endovascular treatment: Some ischemic strokes can be treated directly inside the blocked vessel using minimally invasive small catheters (called microcatheters). A specially trained physician called a neurointerventionalist can access an artery in the groin and thread the microcatheter up to the blocked vessel in the brain. Once at the affected artery, the neurointerventionalist can inject a clot busting medication (tPA) to restore blood flow. The neurointerventionalist may also remove the blockage completely using a device or suction. This procedure restores blood flow to the brain and is also known as mechanical thrombectomy or endovascular therapy. There is a time window for endovascular treatment where it is safe and effective to perform clot removal, which may be up to 24 hours from the patient’s last moment known well/normal.

• Surgery: Emergency treatment for bleeding in the brain aims to stop the bleeding and control pressure inside the brain that can damage brain cells. If the area of bleeding is large, a neurosurgeon may perform a procedure to remove the blood clot and/or a portion of the skull to relieve pressure. Neurosurgeons may also place drains to remove excess fluid that causes pressure in the brain to rise to unsafe levels. If the bleeding is caused by the rupture of an aneurysm (a bulging/ballooning and weak area of a blood vessel), a neurosurgeon may place a tiny clip at the base of the aneurysm to stop blood flow to it and prevent further bleeding.
• Coiling: Neurointerventionalist may treat hemorrhagic strokes caused by aneurysms with coil. This procedure is also called endovascular embolization. In this procedure, a small catheter is inserted into an artery in your groin and threaded to the aneurysm in the brain. The interventionalist will place tiny coils into the aneurysm to fill it. This blocks blood flow into the aneurysm and prevents further bleeding.

On Thursday, May 27 at 5 p.m. (1700 MT) Information Technology (IT) will update Zoom to address minor bugs and security enhancements.

If you are actively in a Zoom meeting, the installation will not begin. The application will reattempt to install every 90 minutes. Once the installation is complete, you will be signed out of Zoom and will be required to sign in again.  

Questions?
Contact Justin McCaffrey or call the Service Center at 303-643-4200 and reference Change Number C44907, Task Number T9501.

Applications have opened for the fall 2021 Medical Assisting and Sterile Processing Apprenticeship Programs! Apprenticeship programs offer a unique “earn while you learn” model that allows the student to complete their education and on the job training concurrently! To learn more about the programs, please visit www.centura.org/careers/apprenticeships.

• Apply to the Medical Assisting Apprenticeship HERE.
• Apply to the Sterile Processing Apprenticeship HERE.

Information Technology (IT) has been diligently working to move all associates to the newest, up-to-date print servers.

This effort will continue through May, with the end goal of decommissioning all old print servers.  IT is identifying associates that are currently printing to the old print servers and working with local desktop support to remap them to the new print servers.

If you encounter any printing issues in May, please contact the Service Center at 303-643-4200, or your local desktop support team, and they will assist with remapping you to the new print server.

We recognizes that improving medication safety is one of the most challenging aspects of health care. It involves ensuring accurate information about our patients’ home medications, including clinic visits, emergency room visits, admissions and discharges. As a care provider, you are essential to the medication reconciliation process. To best equip our clinical associates with updated information on workflows and Epic build, Information Technology (IT) has launched the annual Med Rec May which will include required refresher training developed based on feedback from key clinical stakeholders across all areas of the care continuum. Clinic associates are encouraged to complete the med rec LEARN training assigned on May 3.

This week let’s look at the updated list of discontinue reasons. Depending on the discontinue reason you select, the medication will stay on the home medication list with a strike through or will no longer appear at all. Be aware of the downstream effect of the discontinue reason you select. The following discontinue reasons will provide a strike through:

• Patient can’t afford medication
• Therapy completed
• Patient reports not effective
• Unwanted reaction
• Unable to determine reason