In This Issue...

The PulseThe PulseA Monthly Newsletter for the Staff of MMC

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE . . 2

NEW PROVIDER PARTY . . .4

NAME THAT PLATE . . . . . . .5

WELCOME BENTLEY. . . . . . .8

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MARCH, 2013Volume 2 Issue 3

Did you know...If you are currently taking classes at any UW campus, there is a $2,500 prize avail-able from the Rural WI Health Cooperative for a paper written about rural health. Deadline to apply is April 15.

Congratulations to the following Above and Beyond winners for February: Jill Garrington Wendy Kreinbring Deb Ollankato Chris Wegner Deb Yachinich

Steve Bitzer and Michael A. Miller are the newest members of the MMC Board of Directors. Outgoing board members include Don Marcouiller and Mark Barbeau.

Bitzer is the Vice President of Student Affairs at WITC Ashland where he oversees student services, mar-keting and recruitment. Bitzer received his Bachelors Degree from UW-Stout, MBA from UW-Oshkosh and a Doctor of Education in Higher Education Leader-ship from Nova Southeastern University.

Bitzer lives just south of Ashland in the Town of White River and enjoys spending time with his two children, Anna and Connor, and the many outdoor opportunities that the region offers. He is active in the community as a member of the Ashland Rotary

and Ashland Chamber of Commerce. He serves as an Ashland Area Development Corporation board member. He has been involved in a number of area initiatives including the Ashland Thriving planning team, the Community Advisory Team for the Ashland School District, and the Lakefront Superfund Cleanup Community Advisory Committee. He also participates in ongoing collaboration meetings with Northland College, the Ashland School District, CESA and the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center.

Miller is the President of Northland College. He received his Bachelors Degree from Hanover College and his MA, EdS and PhD from Ball State University in school psychology, research methodology and statistics. He had post-graduate work at Harvard and Indiana University and completed the Thrivent Presidential Leadership Fellows Program.

As President of Northland College, Miller has been highly regarded for collaborative planning, com-munity building, organizational development and turnaround strategic leadership. His leadership has

resulted in renewed energy on campus, increased enrollment, a campus culture (continued on page 3)

MMC Welcomes Two New Board Members

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President’s MessageDear employees:

As there was a lot of material to cover in my January and February newsletters, I failed to comment on a sig-nificant event that occurred here at MMC late in Janu-ary. At the annual meeting of the board that month, Don Marcouiller stepped down as a member of the hospital board.

He had been on the board for 31 years and was the longest serving member on the board at the time of his retirement. We believe there was only one other per-son in the entire MMC history who served on the board longer than Don.

But his longevity is perhaps the least notable of his contributions to this organization. During his tenure on the board, at some point he served as the treasurer, the Vice-chair and the Chair of the board. In all of these roles, it was clear his first interest was always what was best for MMC and the patients we serve. He always un-derstood that the local hospital was both an important community asset and an important economic engine in rural communities. He worked to insure the greater Chequamegon Bay area would always have the benefit of a strong local hospital.

While there are other accolades I could easily bestow upon Don, the greatest praise actually comes from his fellow board members. To a person, they all noted they would miss his contributions to the many discussions held at board meetings. Whenever he expressed an opinion, it was highly regarded and respected by all other members of the board. He was a shining ex-ample of how all board members should contribute to the organization they serve. I too will miss his presence on our board and, since he has relocated to the UP of Michigan, his friendship. He is the type of person any hospital administrator appreciates having on their board.

The good news, however, is that I am confident the board has done an excellent job of recruiting new members to fill his shoes. As you may have seen recently in the lo-cal paper, Mike Miller, President of Northland College and Steve Bitzer, Campus Administrator for the WITC/Ashland campus have both agreed to come on the MMC board. I am confident both will prove to be valuable additions to the board. I am also pleased to once again re-establish a stronger connection to both of these educational organizations. MMC has long enjoyed a solid relationship with both that I believe has benefited all. I look forward to working with both of these individuals and with their respective organiza-tions in my remaining time here at MMC.

Before I close, I should probably remind all of you that for two weeks in March, there will be a significant dis-ruption to our traffic patterns on the second floor. As part of the remodeling project, we need to refurbish the corridor that leads from the two public elevators to the nursing station on the second floor. Because state regulations do not allow patients and visitors to travel through construction projects, while we are removing the flooring and ceiling in that stretch, we must restrict all non-construction personnel from using the hall-way. We expect the closure will occur from March 11 through March 25.

Market and Johnson, the construction managers for the project, have developed a plan that will allow them to complete the demolition and reconstruction of the hallway in a fourteen day period. During that time, crews will be working long days seven days a week to complete this portion of the project in as short a time period as possible. Regardless of how fast they go, however, we must keep the hallway closed for that entire period of time.

(continued on page 6)

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MMC Welcomes New Board Members (continued)built on disciplined performance and data-based decision-making, vibrant community partnerships and an invig- orated commitment to sustainability and the environment.

Miller and his wife Mary enjoy exercise, golf, fishing, canoeing, surfing, paddle boarding, reading, cooking, movies, travel and time with their yellow Labrador, Zeke. They have three daughters in their blended family as well as one son-in-law and granddaughter.

Of their appointments, President and CEO of Memorial Medical Center Dan Hymans says, “we have always had a longstanding history and partnership with both WITC and Northland College. We are pleased to continue this col-laboration and again enjoy the vision and direction these community leaders bring to our Board of Directors.”

Current Board of Directors include Dan Hymans, President and CEO of MMC; Thomas Jokinen, Mellen; Chris Iverson, Grand View; Bill Sloan, Cornucopia; Matthew Anich, Ashland; T. Jay Jones, Mason; Scott Warren, MD, Ashland; John Oujiri, MD, Ashland; Anne Sullivan, Bayfield; Patricia Schraufnagel, Ashland; and Thomas Cunningham, MD, Ashland. Sharon M. Hammond, MD, serves as Medical Director on the Board.

New Provider Reception

In February, MMC hosted a reception at Explorer’s Point to welcome the latest additions to MMC’s Medical Staff to the community. More than 250 business and community leaders attended the event. Top Left: Dr. Matthew Horn-ing, Chequamegon Clinic; Dr. Andrew Snider, Essentia Health - Ashland Clinic and Dan Hymans. Top Right: (L-R) Dr. Renee Schroder, Dr. Katrina Brang, MainStreet Clinic; Dr. Meghan Kutz, Chequamegon Clinic; Michaelene Jansen, CNP, Essentia Health - Ashland Clinic; Dan Hymans, Dr. Ryan Brang, MainStreet Clinic; Ryan Vanderscheuren, PA, Essentia Health - Orthopaedics and Dr. Daniel Blascyk, Essentia Health - Ashland Clinic. Not pictured: Dr. Charles Bertel, Essentia Health - Ashland Clinic; Dr. Kristin Lusian, Essentia Health - Ashland Clinic; Dr. John Mundy, Superior Anesthesia Associates and Dr. Peggy Rouleau, Radiologists Associated of Duluth.

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Upcoming EventsPolar Plunge!March 9AmericInn Ashland 11:30 am Registration1 pm PlungeAll proceeds benefit Re-gional Hospice. For more information, call Regional Hospice at 715-685-5151.

Just for Women!

Sherry Lipske RaffleMarch 21, 2 pmCafeteriaRaffle winners will be an-nounced in the cafeteria. Employees can review items from March 15 until noon on March 21. See ad-ditional details on page 5.

The second annual Just for Women event is set for Tuesday, March 12 from 5:30-7:30 pm at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center. The event is free and open to the public but please RSVP by calling 715-685-5183 or emailing events@ashlandmmc.com.

This year, mountain climber and local inspirational speaker Lori Schneider will share her journey to Mount Everest and beyond. This message of hope will empower women to move beyond barriers and limitations to accomplish amazing things. At the age of 43, Schneider awoke with numbness in half of her body. Within two months, it had spread throughout her entire body. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was told she could possibly spend her life in a wheelchair. An avid outdoors person, she refused to accept this fate. Thanks to treatment, her symptoms abated and Schneider decided to conquer her fears and enjoy all the adventures she could while her body would still cooperate. She left behind her 20-year teaching career and spent the following years training, run-ning marathons, traveling and climbing the Seven Summits. At Just for Women, Schneider wants to share her story to inspire women to be all that they can be.

Prior to her keynote presentation, more than a dozen of MMC staff will be on-hand to answer your health questions. Get to the bottom of your aches and pains by consulting with Physical Therapy, get your blood pressure checked by Cardiac Rehab, measure your body fat with our nutrition counselor, hear about key steps in preventing diabetes, learn about the benefits of a digital mammography or speak with a trained counselor about coping with stress or terminal illness, parenting adolescents or dealing with dual disorders. Education staff will also be on-hand for ex-pectant mothers, as will a Registered Nurse to talk about Healing Touch therapy.

Also new this year, take advantage of our free, hands only CPR training. This 30-minute session could help you save someone’s life and starts at 5:45. Doors open at 5:30 pm with complimentary appetizers from Good Thyme, fol-lowed by the keynote presentation at 6:30 pm. Prizes will be given out immediately following Schneider’s presenta-tion. Space is limited so RSVP today by calling Ext. 5183 or by email: events@ashlandmmc.com. Please note if you are interested in the hands only CPR training.

Retirement Specialist March 20, 10 am - 4 pmHuman ResourcesJeanette Hudepohl will be here to discuss your retire-ment account. Please call HR at Ext. 5520 to schedule an appointment.

Family Education DayMarch16, 9 am - 4 pm Behavioral Health, FreeFree education day to help family members and those affected by alcohol and other drug abuse. For more information, call Ext. 5400.

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March marks the popular Sherry Lipske Memorial Fund Raffle. What many employees forget is that you can sup-port the Sherry Lipske Memorial Fund year round and by doing so, you are helping fellow employees.

Sherry Lipske worked at MMC as a nursing assistant until 1983, at which time she was diagnosed with cancer and at the same time learned she was pregnant. She refused treatment in fear her unborn baby would be harmed. The baby survived but Sherry passed.

In her honor, the fund was established as a way for employees to help fellow employees. Utilizing payroll deduc-tions, staff has the opportunity to donate a designated amount from their paycheck to this fund. Staff can also donate hours to an employee who may need to take an unexpected leave of absence. Dr. Patton, who gives to the fund, says, “Consider if everyone donated the equivalency of one hour of their wage monthly; think of the good, financial foundation for supporting one of our own. Please strongly consider.”

100% of this money is put in an account designated to help staff members dealing with unexpected hardships. Staff can put in a confidential request to help a fellow employee or themselves through a difficult time. The re-quest is reviewed by a small committee of MMC employees and a decision is made in complete confidentiality. The donations aren’t designed to relieve all financial stress but rather provide a helping hand to a fellow co-worker. In 2012, $5,765 was distributed from the fund to help nine employees.

If payroll deduction doesn’t work for you, consider supporting the upcoming Sherry Lipske Memorial Fund raffle sale. Dozens of prizes, including creative handmade crafts and cold hard cash are available. Tickets will be distribut-ed in early March and are $1 each or six for $5. Items will be displayed in the Bear Island Meeting room from noon, March 15 – noon, March 21. Winners will be announced at 2 pm in the cafeteria.

To learn more about donating a designated amount from your paycheck, please contact Human Resources.

Pay it Forward Today and Everyday

Name that Plate!

Nutrition Services wants your health and creativity! Starting April 1, the cafeteria will be highlighting a daily healthy meal. The meal highlighted will be lower in calories, around 600 calories or less. Help us name this daily healthy meal and win a $20 gift certificate to the Memorial Medical Center cafeteria. Submit name ideas to thoyles@ashlandmmc.com .

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In early December, Dr. Neal Schroeter spent a week in Haiti on a medical mission. He helped organize a group of about 17 from his church, Range Community Bible Church in Hurley, into a team that went to the L’Orange Valley. As is most of Haiti, this is a very poor region. The average person lives on the equivalency of a few hun-dred dollars per year. They have essentially no health care, unless they travel to Port Au Prince, the capital. Most cannot afford to do this.

The church team included some medical professionals, some who do construction jobs and some who just help out. “It’s particularly rewarding to work with the teenagers who come along,” says Dr. Schroeter.

Truth Evangelist Ministry, the mission that the group works with, has 6-7 large plastic containers with medications and supplies. MMC was one of the primary donors that supplied the medications for these containers. These con-tainers were carried to a location, usually a church, and a temporary clinic was set up. Word got around quickly and a few hundred people showed up to be seen.

The church is partnering with the mission and any others interested in helping to purchase land with plans to build a clinic. Long-term plans are to train people who will staff the clinic and care for the people of this region.

ER Doc Completes Medical Mission in Haiti

A group of hospital managers have devised a plan to keep traffic flowing during this two week period. I would note that during this time, both the main elevators and the central stairway will be closed to the second floor. None of us will be able to access the second floor during this time using either of those transportation modes.

We can, however, access the floor from the stairway immediately adjacent to the entrance to the OB depart-ment. If you are able to use the stairs during this time period, I would strongly encourage you to use that stair-way to access the second floor.

For those visitors who cannot use the stairs, there will be a guide service to escort them to their destination. Guides will be stationed at both the main entrance to MMC and on the second floor to bring patients back and forth between the main entrance and the inpatient unit. The guides will be escorting these folks to the lower level of the building and then back to the staff elevator in the southeast corner of the building. As this elevator opens

directly into the peri-operative unit, we do not want the public traveling by themselves on that elevator. You will learn more about this guide service in the next week. If you see folks who appear to be lost during those two weeks in March, please help them find their way to the appropriate stairwell or guide. If we all pitch in and help with this process, I am confident we can all get through this with as little disruption as possible. I thank you in advance for both your patience and help with this effort.

It is good to know winter may soon come to an end. None-the-less, I encourage all of you to be on the look-out for ice in the next month. As we enter that time of year when we go through daily thaw and freeze cycles, it is easy for ice to develop on the walks and driveways. If we can all safely get through the next month, we will have made it for another year.

Til next time,

Dan H.

President’s Message (continued)

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All in the FamilyJoAnne Wendt, Radiology attended Breast Health: A Team Approach for continuing education credits. The conference focused on new trends regarding technology and breast health, along with new techniques for imaging. The conference also looked at how healthcare workers can stay focused and relieve stress.

Kim Welty, ER received her Pediatric Advanced Life Saving Skills (PALS) certification.

Performance ImprovementAn HRA (Health Reimbursement Arrangement) is a type of health spending account. The money is contributed by the employer for the purpose of off-setting the payment of medical deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance bal-ances. The AFSCME group and most of the Nonunion group at MMC who have the HealthPart-ners health insurance have the HRA.

Unlike a Flexible Spending Ac-count (FSA), the money in MMC’s HRA account cannot be used for eyeglasses or dental expenses. The money in MMC’s HRA rolls over from year to year. A specific amount is placed in the account on the first of the year. There are different amounts for Single, Em-ployee + 1, and Family coverage.

On 1/1/13 these amounts were added to the HRA accounts:Single Plan - $200Employee + One Plan - $400Family Plan - $600

If you have any questions re-garding your HRA, please call Human Resources at Ext. 5520.

HRA UpdateThe MMC ALERTS Team has re-convened to examine the use of plain lan-guage emergency preparedness alerts. The alerts were first implemented at MMC in August of 2011. Staff and managers have identified concerns re-lated to use of some of the codes. Information Systems is working with the team to assist with the role of communication including use of electronic tools when announcing emergency codes. Be on the “alert” for updates and subsequent education in upcoming months!

If you have any feedback, please feel free to connect with those on the MMC ALERTS Team. They include: Chad Lipske, HR; Patti Skoraczewski, Administration; Karen Earley, Nursing Administration; Dennis Kabasa, Building Operations; Tim Son, Radiology; Lynn Hall, Nursing; Lisa Lavas-seur, Behavioral Health; Dr. Daniel Gardner, Behavioral Health; Annette Soborowicz, ER; Kim Pralle, Patient Business Services; Justus Grunow, Information Systems; Jeanne Grill, PCU and Jim Whyte, Education.

Sharing the Love!As part of the American Heart Associ-ation’s Heart Month, MMC was hand-ing out free carnations and heart healthy tips to staff and visitors who got their blood pressure checked. Right: Cyndi Belanger, Cardiac Rehab checks the blood pressure of Robin Croteau, Administration.

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Welcome Bentley!

The PulseA publication of Memorial Medical Center1615 Maple Lane, Ashland, WI 54806

Beth Probst, Public Relations SpecialistKevin Stranberg, Public Relations Director715.685.5181

Got Photos? Submit them anytime! We’d love to highlight the photos you’re proud of and feature more of the folks who make things hap-

pen at MMC and in the community! Send us tips about what folks are up to in your department or share your best photo of your kids, grandchildren, weddings, parties, races, sports or nature shots! Drop-off photos in the PR Office, or email your pictures and ideas to bprobst@ashlandmmc.com.

Prudence Mott, Medical Records is the proud new grandma of Bentley Paul Mott. Bentley was born at MMC on January 19 and weighed in at 8 pounds 10 ounces and was 21. 5 inches long. Parents are Brandon and Tori Mott of Ashland and the happy grandparents are Prudy and Tim Mott of Delta and Stacie Stariha of Ashland. Congratulations!