North Shore Health Administrator Kimber Wraalstad introduced results of the federal and state licensing Home Care Survey report to the hospital board on Thursday, August 22.
North Shore Home Care was inspected during the week of June 17, 2019. A Statement of Deficiency was received Saturday, July 13 and a Plan of Correction for three federal tags and two state tags was developed and submitted on Friday, July 19.
One of the tags read, “A recently hired registered nurse had not received education regarding Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.” Another said, “Clients plan of care did not include a signature when the frequency of the visits changed.” The other three tags also had to do with filling out paperwork more thoroughly.
In short, the care center received an excellent report with few things to correct and all of the corrections were made and found to be in compliance.
Administrator Wraalstad asked the board to, “Please congratulate Traci Allen and all of the Home Care employees for their excellent work!”
New signs
While the newly refurbished North Shore Health hospital and care center is beautiful, it hasn’t always been easy to find one’s way around the facility.
That changed, however, because after over a year of waiting, the hallways have finally received directional signs. Installation took place August 15-16.
Optometry service discontinued
St. Luke’s optometry service to North Shore Health is being discontinued. Dr. Mueller will fulfill his appointments in September and November and conclude his work here.
Banner
A new, easily portable North Shore Health banner has been purchased and will be used at events such as the health fairs, recruitment fairs, etc. The banner includes the North Shore Health logo, mission, vision and values.
Helipad update
Work continues on plans to upgrade the hospital’s helipad approach and landing area.
Mike Hartell from the Minnesota Department of Transportation was at North Shore Health on August 8 to inspect the helipad and he made some observations, but asked not to act upon them until he analyzed the collected data.
Jessica Dernyck from DSGW forwarded plans and sections of the flight path and color drawing combining the surveys and sections to identify the approach and transitional surface heights to Hartell, who estimated it will be sometime in September before he can get back to the hospital with further information.
Meditation garden
A small design group comprised of Monica Anderson, Michelle Lewis and Marilyn Morris has been meeting and developing ideas and options for the layout of a meditation/ quiet space garden for the care center. They will share their work with the larger group in September.
Wilderness Health update
North Shore Health received an allocation of $26,196 from Wilderness Health in July. That money came from the 2017 shared savings distribution of $1,071,173 that was granted from the Minnesota Integrated Health Partnership to Wilderness Health who distributed it to nine Wilderness Health participants.
Of those funds, $150,000 was reserved for future Wilderness Health projects. St. Luke’s Hospital received $510,912, the largest share of the nine payments to hospitals from the distribution payment.
Pharmacy issues
With one pharmacy now in town there have been some concerns about service, particularly surrounding procurement issues. Administrator Wraalstad said alternatives are being discussed to address those concerns.
New color copier
An Olympus color printer connected to the hospital’s colonoscopy equipment became inoperable and was found to be irreparable. The printer is used during colonoscopy procedures to take pictures of the colon. Olympus provided the hospital with a loaner printer, but has requested that it be immediately returned, said Wraalstad.
With that, Kimber requested approval to purchase a $7,610 OEP-5 HD Olympus printer, which was granted by the board.
Leave a Reply