OTHER NEWS:

Sellers joins medical staff 

Cathy Sellers has joined the medical staff of Scenic Rivers Health Systems in Bigfork. In public health for 14 years, she moved to the rural Bigfork area from Iowa and worked at Grand Itasca Medical Center in Grand Rapids and Cuyuna Regional Medical Center in Crosby before coming to Bigfork.

Sellers is an Adult Gerontological Nurse Practitioner and a Certified Wound, Ostomy and Incontinence Nurse (CWOCN). She is seeing patients through appointments at the medical clinic (743-3232), through referrals or on consultation.

Sellers also is doing rounds for the nursing homes at Bigfork, Kelliher and Northome.  

Bigfork Valley Hospital receives ACR Accreditation

Bigfork Valley Hospital has received a three year term of accreditation in mammography as the result of a recent review by the American College of Radiology.

Diagnostic Imaging Department staff (l. to r.) Mary Christensen, Marsha Root, Imaging Department Director Brenda Schmitz, Mirella Jones.

The ACR, headquartered in Reston, Va., awards accreditation to facilities for the achievement of high practice standards after a peer review evaluation. Evaluations are conducted by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. They assess the qualifications of the personnel and the adequacy of facility equipment. The surveyors report their finding to the ACR’s Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report.

The ACR is a national organization servicing more than 32,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.  

Bigfork Valley Auxiliary announces scholarships

The Bigfork Valley Auxiliary recently announced its annual scholarship awards.

Scholarship Committee Chair Paula Taylor presented two $3,000 awards to Blessing Rahier and Katie Gilbertson.

Blessing Rahier is studying at Northwest Technical College in Bemidji and Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls to complete a four year Registered Nurse program. Katie Gilbertson will graduate as a Radiology Technician at Lake Superior College, Duluth.

In addition, Debbie Porter received a $500 award. She is completing a two year RN program offered at Bigfork Valley.

The auxiliary awards two $3,000 scholarships each year to persons enrolled in health care studies. Money for scholarships is raised through booth and raffle sales at the annual Arts and Crafts Fair and then matched by Bigfork Valley Hospital. This program has provided the Bigfork Valley hospital wih many valuable staff members through the years.
...submitted by Janice Evensen  

Grant will help protect confidential records

Privacy is important, particularly privacy of confidential patient records. As the new hospital addition is constructed, security that is mandated by law is being incorporated into the design.

Recently Bigfork Valley Hospital received a grant to help ensure security of patient information areas. Denise Steinberg, privacy officer, authored the grant which will provide secure card reading systems at eight doors in the facility. The card readers will limit and track access of staff and the public into confidential areas.  

Ken Westman joins Bigfork Valley

Bigfork Valley has a new Chief Operating Officer, Ken Westman.

Westman came to Bigfork from Cook, where he had been assistant administrator of the hospital since 2001. He graduated from St. Olaf College in music, but decided the medical field held his interest and he went on to obtain an AAS degree as a physical therapy assistant. He joined the Cook hospital and long term care facility as a PTA in 1996.

One of the goals he has come to value in health care is the person-centered approach. At Bigfork Valley Communities he has found this atmosphere, he said, in a senior care program that is not only nationally but internationally recognized. Emphasizing resident choice, he pointed out, empowers a resident and helps make the facility more homelike. It’s done with a great staff, he said, that has the vision to be innovative.

That attitude extends into other parts of health care, Westman believes. It’s important that a patient’s experience is positive from the point he or she walks in the door. As a health care manager, he has an integral part in this, helping to streamline the system to make staff jobs easier and provide a better experience for patients and residents.

Rural independent hospitals face challenges, he acknowledges. Being designated as a “critical access” facility allows rural hospitals some unique opportunities, he said, but a small hospital has to be managed carefully while still doing the right thing for its community.