The Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA) Annual Health Care Awards honor the best and brightest in Minnesota health care - individuals who have offered dedicated service to hospitals and organizations that have implemented successful, innovative programs.

2009 Institutional Winners:

Best Minnesota Hospital Workplace

Large hospital: This year's winner goes to St. Cloud Hospital. Employee engagement translates into patient satisfaction as evidenced by the hospital hitting the 96th percentile nationally for its inpatient satisfaction score. The hospital's employee turnover rate is relatively low, at less than 11 percent. RN self-scheduling, an employee wellness program, employee and patient satisfaction committees and a committee that works to improve communication between employees and administration help engender a positive workplace.

Small hospital: Woodwinds Health Campus, Woodbury, provides a holistic model of care and a healing environment for staff as well as patients. The organization's nurses recently told interviewers from a holistic nursing journal study that they enjoy their hospital's holistic approach that embraces reciprocity and empowerment. The hospital's nurse vacancy rate is less than one percent and turnover is far below the national average at just 1.56 percent. The organization's patient satisfaction score is in the 92nd percentile. The hospital has shared details about its approach with other professionals during nearly 200 site visits, including about a dozen international visitors.

Health Care Career Promotion

Large hospital: St. Cloud Hospital's commitment to health care career promotion is evidenced through its high school student internship program and its educational scholarships for employees, volunteers and for high schoolers. Other key initiatives include an intensive care unit mentoring program for new ICU nurses; a graduate nurse residency program; a variety of other health care internships; a clinical ladder program that supports professional growth in nursing; and a promotional program that encourages nursing assistants and practical nurses to apply for the nurse intern and graduate nurse residency programs. Nearly one-third of graduate nurses hired by the hospital in 2008 had first been patient care assistants, licensed practical nurses or other supportive personnel at the hospital.

Small hospital:Kanabec Hospital, Mora, offers several job shadowing opportunities for both high school and college students. Under their Medical Career Exploration Student Program, high school seniors spend a semester working in the hospital. Their orientation program covers issues such as patient confidentiality, infection control, HIPAA laws and other topics. During the job shadowing, students can focus on departments as varied as the lab, imaging, pharmacy, social services and surgery. Most program participants go on to choose careers in health care. Many return to work at this hospital.

Patient Safety Improvement

Calls to Action

Large hospital:Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital, St. Louis Park, has been a consistently strong leader in the MHA SAFE from FALLS initiative. Consequently, fewer patients have fallen. At this hospital in January 2008, the average number of falls resulting in at least moderate injury was 2.5. Today, no reportable falls have occurred during the last year. What helped most? Lower beds, for one. Secondly, staffers began making hourly checks to assist patients to the bathroom.


Small hospital: Buffalo Hospital Birth Center had been faithfully practicing sponge counts both before and after regular deliveries of newborns. But the facility still had two events in 2007 in which gauze was left behind in patients. This leader then took a hard look at its processes and made changes. For one thing, it re-educated staff about documenting their visual counts. Later, staff members attended the Minnesota Hospital Associations' Safe Count Conference. After that, the hospital's birth center embraced the MHA's Roadmap to a Comprehensive Safe Count Procedure Program. Work included updating policy and procedures, conducting audits, developing interventions and other steps. The efforts paid off. The hospital had no such retained objects in all of 2008 or thus far in 2009.

Community Benefit Award

Large hospital: The year's winner, Fairview Health Services' Minnesota Immunization Networking Initiative, is an organization that partners with community groups to immunize minorities and uninsured Twin Citians against influenza. The project provides free annual flu shots at non-clinical, non-traditional settings such as churches and community centers. Clinics have even been held at a Hmong flea market and a Somali mall. The partnership has provided 16,000 immunizations since 2006. This organization's foundation gave $10,000 to jump-start the project, and it has provided staff time, influenza vaccine and ongoing funding. The program was even highlighted by the White House.

Small Hospital: Phillips Eye Institute's "Early Youth Eyecare (EYE) Community Initiative" works to eliminate vision problems in children. This organization's program provides vision screenings and helps arrange eye services for kindergarteners and first- and fifth-graders in Minneapolis public schools. Since its inception in 2007, nearly 9,000 children have been screened. Of those, nearly 1,400 students needed further evaluation. The program worked with those students' families to ensure their needs were met. The organization has provided more than $200,000 to fund treatment costs, interpreters and transportation.

Innovation of the Year in Patient Care

Large hospital: Thanks to HealthEast's "Perinatal Safety Collaborative," an innovative and multidisciplinary educational initiative, numerous steps to improve perinatal safety have been implemented at its hospitals. Begun in 2007, the program works to increase safe administration of oxytocin, which is a hormone used during childbirth to help contract the mother's muscles. Perhaps more importantly, this organization's leaders insisted that all providers who have obstetrical privileges - not just nurses - attend the related training. Under the program, 172 providers and 148 RNs received the education.

Small Hospital: Owatonna Hospital appears to be the only U.S. community hospital following the European-based "Enhanced Recovery Protocol" (ERP). ERP decreases the length of stay for patients undergoing major colon surgeries and major incisional hernia repairs. It also reduces the risk of deep-vein blood clots and respiratory issues. The multidisciplinary protocol encompasses presurgical, interoperative and post-surgical measures. Steps are as varied as providing patient nutrition education to using certain intravenous fluids during surgery. So far, 74 percent of patients' hospital stays have decreased from 6 or 7 days to 3 or fewer days. In addition, only one intravenous blood clot has occurred. Zero patients have had respiratory issues.

Associate Member of the Year

JE Dunn Construction is an Eden Prairie-based business that habitually provides the hospital association with educational and financial support for many of its events and programs. Its willingness to go that extra mile enables the association to keep costs low and quality high.

 

2009 Individual Winners:

Stephen Rogness Distinguished Service

This award - MHA's highest honor - goes to Jim Hanko, president and CEO of North Country Health Services in Bemidji. While leading his organization to the top for the last 10-plus years, this leader's own awards shelf has become crowded with state and national accolades from MHA, the American Hospital Association, the Health Care Auxiliary of Minnesota, the American College of Healthcare Executives and many others. The honors all reflect his relentless commitment to service. For example, in his community he has worked with area Indian tribal councils to bring a family advocacy center to his hospital. He spearheaded the creation of the Drug Free Coalition to combat underage drinking and drug abuse. He also spearheaded local candidate forums on health care issues for the past two Minnesota House and Senate elections.

Public Achievement Award

Jim Ramstad has stood for moderation, common sense and common courtesy in a climate these days so often marked by sharp partisanship. This former U.S. Congressman represented Minnesota's Third District for 18 years. Before that, he brought his moderate Republican views to the Minnesota Senate. In health care, he fought hard to bring parity to coverage for mental health services including addiction treatment. A recovering alcoholic, he now serves as a member of the board of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. He is also a resident fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics.

Trustee of the Year

Gail Blackmer, chair of the Bigfork Valley Hospital Board of Trustees, has provided two dozen years of outstanding leadership. Under her guidance, the hospital has undertaken a major new building program, instituted an electronic medical record system, and experienced double-digit growth in gross revenues each year of her chairmanship.

Volunteer of the Year

Corene Kain of St. Cloud Hospital has been a beloved member of her hospital's volunteer program for 35 years. She is a quiet leader and serves as an outstanding example for us all. At age 95, this role model has logged an estimated 7,000 hours in service - nearly 3-1/2 years of full-time work. Today, she can still be found every Monday cleaning carts, bringing clothes to units and training new volunteers in the hospital's surgical center. Her service began in 1958 when she and a group of women met in the evenings at a nursing school to plan the vision for a volunteer program.

Caregiver of the Year

Karine (Chip) Zakroczymski, coordinator of the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program at Allina Hospitals and Clinics, has transformed the quality of care that victims of sexual assault receive in Minnesota. Her visionary approach has led to the establishment of exceptional services, health care provider education and community advocacy. For example, in 2000 she created two hospital programs that incorporate services for survivors 24/7. Today, she coordinates six such programs that serve 200 victims per year. Karine has also recently secured funding and brought a national sexual assault educational program to two high schools and a college.

Spirit of Advocacy Award

Mary Klimp, CEO of Queen of Peace Hospital in New Prague, has developed sound relationships with mayors, city councilors and state senators and representatives. At the state level, time and again she has effectively championed the hospital perspective before legislative committees. Additionally, she has or is serving on numerous MHA and AHA committees. She also represents hospital interests on the Minnesota Department of Health's Health Care Reform Task Force. At her own hospital, she led the development of a community weight loss program modeled after TV's "The Biggest Loser." In 2008, participants lost a total of nearly 2,500 pounds.

Bruce and Denise Rueben Courage Award

This new MHA award recognizes courage exhibited on behalf of Minnesota's hospital patients and their families. Bruce Rueben served as president of MHA for a decade. In that time, he elevated Minnesota hospitals' reputations by championing groundbreaking initiatives to improve transparency and quality. He worked on all of those activities while also caring for his wife, Denise, who demonstrated inspiring courage while battling breast cancer.

The winner of this award goes to Kathy Lucas, president of Fairview Home Care and Hospice in Minneapolis, who has long been a champion of patient safety - both at her facility and at others statewide. She helped launch a patient safety committee and patient safety policies, procedures and standards at her hospital. Resulting safety campaigns focused on eliminating pressure ulcers and falls and on improving medication safety. This advocate also led the charge to implement safe patient-handling protocols. Through her leadership, those efforts resulted in an 80-percent decrease in employee injuries.