North Shore Health (NSH) Administrator Kimber Wraalstad requested board approval to pay NorthStar Communications $5,284.62 for a fire alarm system they installed in the ambulance garage in February 2019.
Kimber made the request at the hospital board’s April 18 meeting.
NorthStar Communications added a fire alarm system that included heat detectors, smoke detectors, and carbon monoxide detectors in the garage.
Previously the ambulance garage, which houses many pieces of valuable equipment and has an area where ambulance squad members may also sleep, had no smoke detectors in the maintenance side of the garage.
Cost of the installation was just over the $5,000 capital purchase limit requiring board approval, which Wraalstad received to make the payment.
With the closing of North Shore Pharmacy on April 5, North Shore Pharmacy transferred its prescriptions to the Grand Marais Pharmacy, which included the Care Center residents. Wraalstad said care center and pharmacy staff have been working with the Grand Marais Pharmacy staff to make sure there is no interruption or delay in the care center residents receiving their medications.
Sarah Groth from Housekeeping was selected to participate in the Leading Age Minnesota Leadership Academy. The Leadership Academy is an eight-month program that includes personalized coaching, interactive experience, self-reflection, critical skill development, and action learning, applied learning, and leadership theory.
Since its inception, more than 260 professionals have graduated from this prestigious program including Kathy Bernier and Jennifer Dowden in 2010.
North Shore Health received grant funds from Wilderness Health to help with the launch of the Cook County Mental/Behavioral Health Awareness and Stigma Reduction Project.
The project will be started in collaboration with several community partners and will include a concert and speaker events, “Sam Miltich: An Improvised Life” on May 11 and 12. This will launch a discussion regarding the daily challenges associated with living with a serious mental illness. Hilja Iverson will also be coordinating several “Make it OK” presentations in the county.
The grant from Wilderness Health will cover some costs for the launch events and printed materials. Other community organizations will provide in-kind and financial support for this program, which will begin in May.
Vera Schumann, Chief Financial Officer, presented a draft of an investment policy for North Shore Health. Currently, NSH doesn’t have a formal investment policy. Schumann said the hospital needed one when it spoke to banks or investment firms about investing funds. The board adopted the policy as presented.
Administrator Wraalstad reported that North Shore Living held its first “block party” on April 11 with 18 family members and 13 residents attending. Staff members Amy James and Hilja Iverson both gave presentations during the event. Iverson gave a slide show of some pictures of the recent construction project, and James presented Artifacts of Culture Change showcasing the changes that have occurred at North Shore Health from 2015 to 2018.
The board also completed the annual review of North Shore Health’s financial assistance policies which offer a “consistent and sound method for the collection of medical debt,” owed to NSH.
The policies are in line with the Patient Friendly Billing project and compliant with the Minnesota Attorney General Collection Agreement and incorporate the 2019 Federal Poverty Guidelines.
After efforts made to collect debts locally have failed, they will be referred to a third party collection agency.
Leave a Reply