Throughout the years summer residents Paul and Carol Schaap have given generously to community projects, and this year is no different. When the Schaaps learned there was a shortfall in the budget to pay for TVs and fireplaces in the new North Shore Health Care Center, they informed board chair Kay Olson they would bridge the difference and the residents would be able to benefit right away upon completion of the two wings of the care center.
Paul and Carol Schaap of Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan are at it again.
When the couple learned there wasn’t enough money to cover paying for TVs and fireplaces in the new North Shore Healthcare Center, they called to say they were sending $12,000 to cover the cost of those items.
Kay Olson, hospital board chair, made the announcement at the board’s Jan. 19 meeting.
Last year the Schaaps donated $52,000 toward the purchase and installation of two Pharmagard 797 hoods that will be used to mix IVs and chemotherapy. The couple, who have had a cabin on Clearwater Lake since 1974, also donated funds to build the mid-trail Schaap Community Center.
Their giving doesn’t end there. Paul and Carol gave money to Hope College to build a new Science Center that now houses the biology, chemistry, geological and environmental sciences, nursing and psychology department. Paul received his undergraduate degree in chemistry at Hope before attending Harvard where he earned his PhD. in chemistry.
In 2006 the A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Fund of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan made a generous donation to build a new chemistry building at Wayne State University, which is now named the A. Paul Schaap Chemistry Building.
Paul retired as a full tenured professor of organic chemistry at Wayne State University after starting Lumigen Inc., a world-class biotech company in the late 1990s. Schaap’s groundbreaking research led to the discovery of lifesaving medical diagnostic technology that is used worldwide to diagnose AIDS, cancer, hepatitis and other diseases. Lumigen, which was acquired by Beckman Coulter, is the world’s largest supplier of chemoluminescent reagents to the clinical immunodiagnostic market.
The sale of Lumigen blessed the Schaaps financially, which allowed them to start giving back in a big way. Olson said the Schaaps hope to inspire others to give, and she told the hospital board, “The public needs to know what we need.”
A list of needed items will be compiled shortly and put on the North Shore Health website.
More from the board
In other board action, the Grand Marais State Bank was approved as the North Shore Health depository.
Kay Olson was again voted in board chair, Randy Wiitala treasurer and Sharon Bloomquist clerk.
The board passed a motion to submit a Pay Equity report that “shows we are not discriminating against women,” said Hospital/Care Center Director Kimber Wraalstad, who added the report is due every three years.
A resolution was passed to apply for a Rural Hospital Improvement Grant that if awarded will be used to purchase a new ambulance.
A motion was passed to apply for a Helmsley grant that if awarded would help pay for telemedicine that would be used for emergency care.
Last year the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust’s Rural Healthcare Program awarded the Radiology Department a $400,000 grant toward the replacement of a Computed Tomography (CT) scanner.
The Helmsley Charitable Trust’s Rural Healthcare program supports initiatives that connect patients with healthcare services via technology and provide essential treatment and diagnostic equipment to rural areas. It also provides grants for state- of-the-art training for rural health care workers in the upper Midwest.
Health Care Conference
Hospital board member Justin Mueller said he learned that 41 percent of all Cook County residents are 65 years old or older at a Minnesota health care conference he recently attended.
Olson, who also went to the same conference, said one in three people who reach the age of 85 would get dementia, and individuals who have problems affording groceries or paying for heat have been found to have higher incidences of poor health. Last, she said health care constitutes 20 percent of the U.S. budget.
“This is the best [health care] conference that I have ever attended,” she said.
Ambulance
There were 525 actual ambulance runs in 2016, with 384 that were billable, said North Shore Health Director of Finance Vera Schumann.
When asked why all of the calls for the ambulance weren’t billable, Schumann explained that in some cases the ambulance would be sent out and then called back if it was decided it wasn’t needed, and in other cases, some people who called for the ambulance refused to be transported to the hospital.
Hospital/Care Center
Phase Two of the Care Center build out is going well, with 51 people working on site through December. The cabinetry for the nutrition center has been added, and doors, ceiling grid system, sinks, and tile in some of the new patient bathrooms. The Minnesota Department of Health inspected the new hallway and kitchen recently and certified it for occupancy. With the new hallway open, crews quickly started demolition of the old 300 wing. Signs have been put up around the hallways, routing people to the new hallway. The 300 halls have been demolished and work has begun on plumbing tie-ins. Contractors are working on electrical and mechanical tie-ins in the Hospital and Care Center area.
The Sept. 27 deadline for all of the work to be completed on the $24.5 million expansion and rehabilitation of the hospital and care center is on track, said Josh Christiansen, Boldt project manager.
Sawtooth Mountain Clinic
Rita Plourde, chief executive officer of the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic, reported that a women’s leadership program sponsored by the clinic received 32 applicants and had only 15 spots open. “We are hoping to do this again,” Plourde said.
The clinic is looking at offering a course for the staff and public on the importance of eating correctly. She said medical students at the University of Minnesota are asked to take a “food as medicine” course. Funds to pay for this class would come from a SHIP grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield. The class, said Plourde, would include cooking instructions.
Dr. David Rust, a specialist in orthopedics and sports medicine from St. Luke’s, will travel once a month to the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic to see patients, said Plourde.
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