Congratulations to Craig Richardville, chief digital and information officer at Intermountain Health, for being recognized as one of Becker's Healthcare's 133 CIOs to know for 2024! 🎊 In his role as chief digital and information officer, Craig is responsible for our health system's technology service center and strategic vision for our technology infrastructure, systems and integration. He has 20 years of experience as the senior vice president and chief information and analytics officer at Atrium Health, where he implemented data analytics, business intelligence, machine learning and robotic process automation.
Dwayne Gaeddert has been with the organization for so long he can’t even remember, although he thinks he probably started at Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge, CO in 1982. Back when he got hired, of course, Lutheran wasn’t part of any healthcare system. It was just Lutheran. “The facility director there at the time had a vision of getting rid of the general contractor,” Dwayne says. “He wanted to establish a construction company in-house, and that’s what he did. At one time, we had seven carpenters, three electricians and three plumbers.” Dwayne was part of that crew. And true to the vision, the crew did pretty much everything, from cabinetry to full department remodels. Dwayne held a general contractor’s license on behalf of the organization for 30 years, while the organization went from Lutheran to Exempla to SCL Health. He became a construction manager, and then later took over maintenance (which he “knew the basics” of) and became facility manager. “I got really into being involved on the clinical units, on the floors,” says Dwayne. “I enjoyed the interaction. I love that I’m always learning things.” So when he got the offer to take over ambulatory facilities for the entire Peaks Region last year, at first he was hesitant. Lutheran was moving to a new campus, and Dwayne had a lot of time and effort invested in facilitating that move. He also knew it represented an enormous learning opportunity: new technology, new systems, new specs.
When we use the term “heart failure management”, we’re talking about more than just “the heart." We’re talking about pulmonology, the vascular system, blood pressure, rhythms, nutrition, and behavior. Our cardiovascular system is complex, and there are many factors to heart health upkeep, from the physical to a patient’s social environment. It takes a group of dedicated caregivers like Intermountain Health's cardiology team at the La Canada Cardiology Clinic in Las Vegas to simplify this complexity for our patients as much as possible. This site (which, because of its centralized location in Las Vegas, serves as a specialty hub) is leading out on multiple advanced heart failure management procedures to help our patients stay out of the hospital, promoting not only good heart health, but effective intervention techniques. From cardiologists like Corey Lum, DO, to the nurses and medical assistants, every caregiver plays an important role.
Intermountain Children’s Health is accelerating expanded access to critically needed behavioral health services for adolescents with a new family-centered Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital Behavioral Health Center in Taylorsville. Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital is pursuing construction of the new center earlier than anticipated thanks to a $25 million investment from the state of Utah and generous community support of Primary Promise, Intermountain’s historic campaign to build the nation’s model health system for children. The new Intermountain behavioral health center, which is expected to open in late 2025, is under construction on the present campus Intermountain Primary Children's Wasatch Canyons Behavioral Health Campus in Taylorsville. It will be the first of its kind center to offer vital behavioral health services including a walk-in crisis center and Utah's first dedicated space for mental health crisis care for youth with autism and neuro-diverse needs.
Calling all new graduate RNs and current nursing students! It's not too late to join us for our upcoming RN New Grad Virtual Open House! Come connect with our team and learn more about our Utah and Idaho hospitals, our nurse residency program, and more! Participants will be able to ask questions and connect with our nurse executive, nurse residency, and talent acquisition teams during this live event. Date: Tuesday, June 25th, 2024 Time: 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. MT Location: Virtual via Microsoft Teams - a link to join will be shared with you after you RSVP Visit https://tinyurl.com/5jxs7ce5 to RSVP for this virtual event today - we hope to see you there!
It’s not often that a living organ donor meets the person who receives that organ, but Shaylin Crandall and Erika Morton not only met, they became close friends. Shaylin, a social service worker at American Fork Hospital in American Fork, Utah, began to look into becoming a donor after the topic came up in a work huddle, and her application was approved after half a year of testing and lab work. She chose to donate part of her liver because that organ regenerates itself within a year. Following the transplant, the women continued to communicate as they went through their shared recoveries. Erika said that it has been “nice to have someone in the same boat, healing at the same time, and be able to talk about the things you’re going through. We work out together and just hang out, so it’s fun. The transplant turned out to be a lifesaver in more ways than one for Erika — her surgeon, Dr. Richard Gilroy, Intermountain Health’s director of liver transplantation, found a previously undiagnosed liver cancer. “Had I waited six months or a year, I wouldn’t have made it,” Erika said. Erika said that thanks to Shaylin, “I get to live my life." “I’m really thankful for Shaylin and her decision to be a living donor,” she said. “I don’t take that lightly for her or her family. I’m sure it was scary for them as well. I still have a hard time talking about it without getting emotional, because I don’t know where I’d be without her.”
We are thrilled to offer our caregivers another way to obtain their degree debt-free and grow in their career! We have collaborated with Capella University to align the cost of select degree programs to our tuition assistance policy. Our caregivers have the opportunity to earn a degree without taking on debt to pay tuition, thanks to our debt-free degree pillar. In order to qualify for a debt-free program, caregivers must be benefits eligible and select from the tuition assistance aligned programs.
This Health Risk Management Week, we recognize the professionals who navigate the complexities of healthcare risks. Your strategic insights and proactive measures ensure a safer, more efficient healthcare system for all. Thank you for your commitment to excellence and for protecting the health and well-being of our communities! 🌟 #HealthRiskManagementWeek #HealthcareExcellence #RiskManagement
The stories of the individuals we reach truly underscore the reason our work matters and why we stay committed to doing the right thing. Hear from Lisa Nichols, on how she sees our value of We do the right thing in action in her role as vice president of Community Health at Intermountain Health: "Doing the right thing requires actively listening and acting on what we hear — that’s the reason we do Community Health Needs Assessments in every community we serve. For us to fulfill our mission, we must understand our communities’ experiences. We serve diverse communities across 600,000 miles, and yet, we hear similar things from all of them. They are concerned about mental health, housing, food insecurity, and access to care. Based on what we learn, we develop programs tailored specifically to meet their needs. For example, we’ve distributed more than 66,000 gun locks — helping to prevent suicides. We’ve invested in building or preserving more than 2,000 units of affordable housing. We collaborate with more than 400 community-based organizations to improve access and to build trust in our communities. We recently heard about a refugee family that fled Afghanistan and resettled in the United States. While recovering from the trauma of their immigration experience, the parents told us, “We feel safe for the first time in our lives.” These stories are just some of the many we hear in response to our Community Health work. We do the right thing by listening, caring, and acting!"
When Gena Christensen thinks of why she chose to work in healthcare, she reflects on hanging out at the hospital with her grandpa. He was a surgeon. Now as Intermountain Health's executive clinical director of the acute and ambulatory medical specialties clinical program, Gena seeks to continue a tradition of delivering safe, best-in-quality care - especially for nurses. Clinical excellence is an Intermountain value that resonates deeply with Gena. She said it captures the fundamental principles of nursing practice and our commitment to our patients' well-being. “As a nurse leader, I am invested in cultivating a culture of clinical excellence within our organization. This involves setting and maintaining high standards of care, continuously evaluating our practices, and adopting and spreading evidence-based approaches to drive positive patient outcomes," she said. “This value reflects my dedication to upholding the highest standards of excellence as a healthcare professional.” For 26 years at Intermountain, Gena is grateful to have worked with so many great people in so many different areas whose values align closely with her own. “These are important to me,” Gena said. “As a nurse leader, I feel supported when I put the patient's and caregiver's needs first. I believe that Intermountain has a strong commitment to delivering exceptional care, fosters personal and professional development and has invested in me and my success.”
