The days of traveling to Duluth for an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) might be over. At the Thursday, July 16, 2009 meeting of the Cook County North Shore Hospital board, Administrator Diane Pearson reported that she is talking to a radiology supply company about getting a mobile van to come up twice a month.
The hospital would pay $465 for each scan and would be committed to paying for a minimum of four scans each time. Pearson is working with Maintenance Director Rory Smith to determine the cost of electrical upgrades needed to power the van, which would be parked just outside the emergency room doors.
Referrals could be taken from local physicians or from specialists in Duluth, Pearson said, and results could be sent electronically wherever they need to go.
Resident-centered focus at Care Center
A committee is meeting regularly to work on bringing more of a resident-centered focus to the Care Center, Pearson said. Toward that end, they are working on ways to make meals more individualized, with patients’ plates filled at the table rather than in the kitchen. They are also considering holding quarterly all-staff meetings to help create more of a team feeling among nursing, dietary, and housekeeping staff.
The committee is close to the point where they might need architectural services – at a projected cost of $10,000- 20,000 – to make the facility more client centered, Pearson said. One project might be to install kitchen facilities.
Board member Tom Spence pointed out that while other hospitals are closing their care centers, they are looking into putting more money into theirs. “We’re definitely going against the trend,” he said.
“I think we have to create our own alternatives,” board member Sharon Bloomquist said.
At the encouragement of the board, Pearson said she would look at potential partnerships with businesses that provide assisted living.
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Care Center consulting firm Ecumen has recommended that the facility reduce its average patient number to between 32 and 36 beds. Pearson recommended designating 35 as the optimal number, although she recommended paying an extra $1,200 a year to keep the other beds licensed in case they are needed.
A more secure area for dementia patients is being discussed, Pearson said, and they are considering the purchase of Wander Guard doors at a cost of about $15,000.
Keeping dementia patients closer to home and family is best for them, Bloomquist said. Confining patients to their room and one hallway would not be a good setup, Howard Abrahamson said. Nurse Jeanette Lindgren stated that dementia patients in a secure wing could still be taken to other places, but they actually tend to fare better with less stimulation. “Our nursing home is way too noisy for dementia and Alzheimer’s patients,” she said.
Diane Pearson reported that the Care Center is moving to one nursing assistant for every seven patients and downsizing from three activity staff positions to 2.5.
Swine flu preparedness
Nursing Director Bridget Sobieck talked to the board about concerns in the medical profession over the possibility of a swine flu (H1N1 novel influenza virus) pandemic. A pandemic is a widespread infection that affects more than one region of the world and against which people have no immunity.
The number of H1N1 cases continues to rise, Sobieck said. The virus is now hitting younger people with healthy immune systems.
Sobieck anticipates that a series of two to three shots – separate from the regular flu shot—will be available in the fall.
If the virus hits Cook County, Sobieck said, she would recommend setting up a treatment center away from the hospital.
Goals and vision
Pearson outlined for the board the roles and responsibilities of hospital board members. She said some past boards have set aside time to set goals together. It’s hard to set goals or do longterm planning, Spence said, when things change so fast in the health care field.
It’s scary that the government is planning to implement a health care system by summer’s end, Abrahamson said. Pearson said she would expect that they would respond to imperatives rather than making their own plan if such a system were implemented.
Coming up soon
Dr. Michael Sampson, a family practice specialist, will be joining the hospital and Sawtooth Mountain Clinic staff full-time in September. Diane Pearson said he is originally from Duluth but will be moving from Vermont. He is also a hockey coach, she said.
The Hospital Auxiliary will host a 50th anniversary party the afternoon of Saturday, September 12.
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