The mission statement of the Cook County North Shore Hospital is “Community Access to Compassionate Care.” The five members of the hospital board work to fulfill that mission at the facility that has 16 critical access hospital beds, 37 skilled nursing beds, a home health agency, ambulance service and a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic services. The hospital board has two positions on the ballot this November.
Running unopposed in Hospital District 2 is incumbent Justin Mueller. In Hospital District 4, incumbent Board Member Kay Olson faces Lynn Parish. Also on the hospital board are Chair Howard Abrahamson, Sharon Bloomquist, and Tom Spence.
The Cook County News-Herald talked to the candidates this week and asked the following questions: Q Please provide some biographical information about yourself. Hospital Board District 2 Candidate Justin Mueller: I was born and raised in Paynesville, MN. Growing up we came up the North Shore on canoe trips to the Boundary Waters. I continued coming up through college as I earned an associate’s in business and marketing. After graduation I was manager of a Perkins in Willmar, MN for a while, but I thought, “I’m young—I should travel.” I went to Alaska and that is where I met my wife Collette. We decided we wanted to spend a summer up here and worked for a year at Bearskin Lodge. It’s been a long summer—I now work at Bluefin Bay Resort. We have a two-year-old daughter and another who will be born in December.
Hospital Board District 4 Candidate Kay Olson: I’ve been in Cook County seasonally since 1975 and lived here full-time for seven years. My husband Bob and I live on Clearwater Lake.
My background is as a lab technician, which is why I was interested. When he was ill, former Board Member Dave Beatty called and asked me if I’d be interested in going on the board. I finished his term and was reelected to another.
Hospital Board District 4 Candidate Lynn Parish: I have been a registered nurse for 40 years and have worked both in hospital and ambulatory care environments.
My career included the startup of a nurse phone line, managing several urgent care facilities and [being] a clinic director of metro regional family practice-based clinic operations. I co-published and presented an urgent care model of after-hours care at an annual ambulatory care symposium in 1988.
For the last six years of my career I worked for Hennepin County Medical Center managing a pediatric high-risk clinic. I served on a management advisory board for Hennepin County Services as the county separated from the hospital organization.
I am not a total newcomer to the area. My husband’s family owned North Shore Camp just north of Lutsen resort since the early 1970s. As a seasonal “West-Ender,” I have always wished to relocate permanently to the area. In 2010, I realized my dream and purchased the Pincushion Bed and Breakfast.
Q Cook County North Shore Hospital is developing its capital improvement plan. Do you think it is necessary to expand the hospital?
Mueller: It’s a complex issue. Right now I think the average age of many hospitals’ plant life is much younger than ours. We definitely need some improvements. We need more space to bee flexible for growth and services. I think it’s something that needs to be done carefully. We can’t be a hospital that has all the bells and whistles. We need to balance the cost.
Olson: I don’t know if expansion is the right word. It does need a revamping in order to do what we need to do. The plan that we are looking at now is just reconfiguring how things are set up. Yes, I think that is necessary.
Parish: I think it is important to keep the hospital services available for both inpatient and outpatients. I think the number of options for senior opportunities could be expanded, for instance ophthalmology. It would wonderful if our seniors did not have to travel to Duluth to be tested for cataracts. There are things like that that we could engage the hospital and clinic in. I think the partnership with the Duluth hospital helps keep our hospital viable in this community.
Q In light of the fact that the hospital loses money by operating the Care Center, how committed are you to keeping the facility open?
Mueller: I know a lot of hospitals have been closing their care centers. They are expensive to operate; they bleed money. But there is no place else for people to go in this community. I think it is something we need to have until there is someplace else for people to go.
Olson: I think all of us on the board would like to see it stay open. It’s the only care center in the county.
Hospitals that have care centers connected to them lose money. I hate to say it, but it’s a fact of life. Some private care centers do better, but their pay scales are much lower.
We’ve studied this and we’re working to bring down expenses. We’ve looked at other ways of doing things. Parish: I think an important part of healthcare is keeping families together. I worked many years in high-risk pediatrics and I saw the importance of having family nearby. I understand the average age at the care center is 93. What a marvelous thing for this community. My own grandmother lived to be 93 and it was important to have time with her.
The care center scores very well on state accreditation and is looking at the wave of the future, which seems to be providing different levels of care. The trend is toward use of swing beds and to not getting people out before they are able to care for themselves. Q Is there anything else that voters need to know about you?
Mueller: I think I’m a pretty careful decision maker and I’m motivated to do the right thing for the hospital. We are raising our family here and want to live here forever, so we want the community to have a good hospital.
Olson: This year I was appointed to serve as a Minnesota
Hospital Association trustee.
I’ve attended the required hours of training to receive my MHA certification.
I really am committed to seeing this hospital do a good job in the community. It’s nice that the hospital has been out there in the community for people to see, at events like the Arts Festival and Fisherman’s Picnic. I really enjoy being able to help with the hospital. Parish: Just that I absolutely love the North Shore. I’ve been coming here since I was 19, on Boundary Water trips, enjoying the North Shore Dragon Boat Festival. I’m committed to keeping Grand Marais my home. I’ve always been active in my community and I would appreciate the chance to serve on the hospital board.
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