Layered Taco Dip

Here's an easy recipe that's altered to make it little more guilt-free.

16 oz. zesty salsa refried beans

1.5 cups plain Greek yogurt

1 pkg. taco seasoning

3 medium avocados

2 tsp. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

4 oz. cheddar cheese

3 medium tomatoes

1 cup green onion

Tortillas for making baked chips

Instructions:

Chop tomatoes, slice green onions (including tops) and grate cheddar cheese.

Mix yogurt and taco seasoning.

Mash avocado and mix with lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Spread beans on large platter. Follow with a layer of avocado mixture, then a layer of yogurt mixture. Sprinkle with tomato and green onion, then finish with a sprinkling of cheddar cheese on top.

Cut corn tortillas into 8 wedges per tortilla. Spread on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately six minutes. Flip wedges and bake an additional 6-9 minutes until color starts to turn darker.

For the second time, all four St. Charles hospital campuses have been recognized by the annual Healthcare Equality Index for their policies and practices related to the equity and inclusion of LGTBQ+ patients, visitors and employees.

The 2022 Healthcare Equality Index named St. Charles Bend, Madras, Prineville and Redmond each as a “Top Performer” in its annual report, which has been published by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation for the past 15 years. They are four of 251 health care providers nationwide to receive “Top Performer” designation.

The four St. Charles hospitals also made the list in 2020.

“At St. Charles, we are striving to create America’s healthiest community, together. And when we say ‘together,’ we mean together – with everyone having a seat at the table,” said St. Charles President and CEO Joe Sluka. “Across our health system and Central Oregon, we are committed to being a place where people feel welcome and accepted, whether they are receiving care or providing care. We still have work to do, but this recognition by the Healthcare Equality Index is evidence that we are on the right track.”

The HEI is a national benchmarking tool that evaluates and scores health care facilities on detailed criteria falling under four central pillars:

• Foundational policies and training in LGBTQ+ patient-centered care
• LGBTQ+ patient services and support
• Employee benefits and policies
• Patient and community engagement

Facilities are evaluated and scored on a scale of 100. Each of the four St. Charles hospitals received a score of 90 on the strength of their non-discrimination and staff training, their patient services and support and their employee benefits and policies.

Over the past few years, St. Charles has taken many steps to create an inclusive environment, including protecting LGBTQ+ caregivers and patients from discrimination in the workplace and in receiving care. Earlier this year, the health system hired a manager of caregiver inclusion and experience, Dr. Shilo Tippett, who oversees the organization’s work to establish and grow a culture of inclusion, diversity, equity and acceptance (IDEA).

Alongside the caregivers on St. Charles’ IDEA Council, Tippett is working on developing programs to educate managers and physicians on inclusivity, incorporating IDEA concepts into the health system’s orientation for new caregivers and annual education for all caregivers, and investing in IDEA training for key roles within the organization.

And in 2019, several members of St. Charles’ executive leadership group completed a three-part training on LGTBQ+ patient-centered care, while more than 350 caregivers went through the health system’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Class.

“We’re doing more than just talking about this stuff,” Tippett said recently. “We’re taking action.”

There is no sense in sugarcoating it: The past several days have been really tough.

We’ve been very open about the fact that St. Charles is facing significant financial challenges, and last week, we had to address those by doing something no organization wants to do: Reducing our workforce.

While we are heavy-hearted over the departure of our colleagues and grateful for their dedication to our community, it is important to remember that good work continues to happen at St. Charles.

One example of that work is recognized in the 2022 Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), an annual report that honors health systems for their policies and practices related to the equity and inclusion of LGTBQ+ patients, visitors and employees.

This year’s report names all of our hospitals – in Bend, Madras, Prineville and Redmond – as “Top Performers” with regard to our work to make St. Charles a welcoming and accepting place for LGBTQ+ people to both receive and provide care.

I’m very proud of this recognition, for a couple of reasons.

First of all, welcoming and accepting all people is simply the right thing to do. When we say St. Charles is committed to caring for all, we mean it.

Secondly, we didn’t make this list by talking about how important inclusion, diversity, equity and acceptance is at St. Charles. We made it by turning those priorities into action: We’ve held training for our medical staff, our leaders and our caregivers. We’ve updated our policies to protect LGBTQ+ caregivers and patients from discrimination. We’ve hired a dedicated caregiver to oversee this work. We’ve welcomed Nike’s vice president of global diversity and inclusion to our board of directors, and we are learning from him.

And to help celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June, St. Charles Foundation and the St. Charles IDEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, acceptance) Council are involved in Pride events in Bend and Prineville. We will also be flying the Progress Pride flag at our four hospitals, because we know it’s important to demonstrate our commitment to IDEA principles not only through action, but visibility in the community as well.

With all of that said, St. Charles’ appearance in the 2022 HEI doesn’t mean we have achieved our goal and are finished with this work. In fact, we can always do more, because we can always be more inclusive and more welcoming to our patients and caregivers.

It is work worth doing, and this recognition is evidence that St. Charles is willing to do it.

Thanks, as always, for reading, and for your support.

Sincerely,
Joe

St. Charles’ mounting financial challenges lead to workforce reductions 

Faced with skyrocketing contract labor, equipment and supply costs—and flat revenue—St. Charles Health System leadership has made the difficult decision to reduce its workforce. The reduction will impact 105 caregivers through layoffs. An additional 76 positions that are currently vacant have also been eliminated.  

The 105 layoffs—which will take place over the next three days—are targeted to mostly non-clinical areas where the organization found through a benchmark data review process that it has more staff than other health systems of a similar size.  

“For the past two years, our caregivers have taken on and conquered unprecedented challenges to care for our community, which is why it feels particularly unfair that we now find ourselves in this position,” said St. Charles President and CEO Joe Sluka. “While our financial situation isn’t unlike many other health systems around the country, this decision hurts. These are our people.” 

Even after taking aggressive steps to address its current financial challenges, which have included both reducing expenses and identifying revenue improvement opportunities, the health system hemorrhaged $21.8 million through April. Year to date, St. Charles is facing a –6.7% operating loss. 

The organization’s expenses and revenue began deteriorating in the spring of 2020, when its contract labor, equipment and supply costs began to soar at the same time it was forced to significantly reduce the number of surgeries it performed due to pandemic-related restrictions and the need to preserve bed capacity to care for critically ill COVID-19 patients. This imbalance persisted through 2021 as St. Charles experienced three significant surges of COVID-19 patients—at times operating up to 107% of its capacity—making it difficult to resume its pre-pandemic level of surgeries and other services. Further compounding St. Charles’ financial stress is the repayment of the more than $95 million in federal funds it received over the last two years to support its operations. 

Though the workforce changes the health system is making this week are projected to reduce its expenses by approximately $20 million annually, St. Charles will still end 2022 with a substantial operating loss. With a sustained focus on improving the efficiency of its operations, the organization is working toward achieving a positive operating margin by the end of 2023 or early in 2024.  

“It has taken two long years of the pandemic to get us into this situation,” Sluka said, “and it will take at least two years for us to get out of it. But we will. And we will continue to take excellent care of our community now and in the future.” 

About St. Charles Health System 

St. Charles Health System, Inc., headquartered in Bend, Ore., owns and operates St. Charles Bend, Madras, Prineville and Redmond. It also owns family care clinics in Bend, La Pine, Madras, Prineville, Redmond and Sisters. St. Charles is a private, not-for-profit Oregon corporation and is the largest employer in Central Oregon with more than 4,500 caregivers. In addition, there are more than 350 active medical staff members and nearly 200 visiting medical staff members who partner with the health system to provide a wide range of care and service to our communities. 

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Over the past two years, St. Charles caregivers have worked tirelessly to care for the people of Central Oregon when they needed it most: during a global pandemic – a public health crisis unprecedented in our lifetime.

They turned a parking lot into a COVID-19 testing site.

They converted an empty conference room into a community vaccine clinic.

They’ve taken care of the sickest COVID-19 patients in our hospitals and provided the latest treatments at our clinics.

Along the way, St. Charles – with support from the community – did everything we could to take care of our caregivers, so that they could take care of you.

All of that, of course, came at a price:

• Our labor costs have skyrocketed, largely due to our need to bring in expensive contract clinical staff from other areas of the country to help us meet the community’s needs.
• Equipment and supply costs have also increased, as they have in every industry.
• Our surgery volumes have been down for two years, which means significantly decreased revenues.
• Last but not least, we are now paying back federal pandemic relief funds to the tune of more than $1 million every week.

We’ve been working hard to reduce expenses for a few months, and those efforts have helped. But they are not enough to dig us out of this financial hole. We ended the month of April with a $21.8 million loss.

We are now at the point where we have to take additional action to ensure the long-term financial stability of the health system.

It pains me to tell you that we must reduce our workforce this week. We are eliminating 76 positions that were already vacant, but that isn’t enough. We are also reducing 105 positions that will result in layoffs.

First and foremost, that is not just a number. Those are our colleagues and our friends. We are grateful to them for their dedication to our community and we are saddened to see them go.

Over the past few weeks, we have gone through a thorough process in which we compared every area of our organization to industry benchmark standards.

Where we are out of line with those standards, we must make changes. In particular, many leadership positions are being eliminated to bring our structures into alignment with other health systems of our size.

These reductions are projected to reduce expenses by more than $20 million annually.

Still, we will likely end 2022 in the red. It has taken us two pandemic years to get us into this situation, and it will take at least two years for us to recover. And sadly, we are not alone. Organizations across Oregon and the country are facing similar financial challenges.

To the communities we serve, I want to reassure you of a few things:

• We have a responsibility to ensure our community has access to high-quality health care and are focusing these reductions in mostly non-clinical areas to minimize the impact on patients.
• We are still recruiting and hiring new caregivers to rebuild our workforce and reduce our need for expensive contract labor.
• We are reviewing all of our service lines to ensure they are financially sustainable, which could result in additional changes.

While these decisions are incredibly difficult, we are making them because we are committed to becoming a more efficient health system that is well-equipped to continue what we’ve done for the past 104 years: Care for the people of Central Oregon.

As always, we greatly appreciate your support.

Sincerely,
Joe

"I think St. Charles has evolved into a big organization compared to what it was 30 years ago, and we've had growing pains a couple of times. But I think right now we've definitely found a way to adapt to our growth. I think we've got nice people here that really enjoy what they're doing, and I I love that."

- Greg, manager of the Biomedical department, which takes care of all 15,000+ pieces of medical equipment used for patient care across the health system. Greg's 30th anniversary with St. Charles is this month.

Heaven Can Wait 5K walk and run postponed to October

The event will also now be held in Redmond

Heaven Can Wait, a 5K walk and run that was originally scheduled for June 5 at Drake Park, will now be held sometime in October in Redmond.

The changes were made due to unforeseen logistical challenges in trying to hold the event at Drake Park.

Information including the new date and location will be announced as soon as details are confirmed. At that time, participants will have the option of keeping their registration, receiving a refund, deferring their registration until next year or donating their registration fee to the St. Charles Foundation.

A time-honored tradition for the community, Heaven Can Wait brings together and celebrates cancer survivors while also remembering the loved ones who have been lost. The event raises funds for Sara’s Project, which provides support services for Central Oregonians battling breast cancer.

“While we are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused our participants who have already registered, we are excited about bringing Heaven Can Wait to Redmond, which will make the race more accessible to people throughout Central Oregon,” said Mari Shay, Administrative Director Cancer Services. “It will also be held in October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time devoted to educating everyone about breast cancer.”

For updates on the event or to register, visit HeavenCanWait.org.

About St. Charles Health System

St. Charles Health System, Inc., headquartered in Bend, Ore., owns and operates St. Charles Bend, Madras, Prineville and Redmond. It also owns family care clinics in Bend, La Pine, Madras, Prineville, Redmond and Sisters. St. Charles is a private, not-for-profit Oregon corporation and is the largest employer in Central Oregon with more than 4,500 caregivers. In addition, there are more than 350 active medical staff members and nearly 200 visiting medical staff members who partner with the health system to provide a wide range of care and service to our communities.

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St. Charles Cancer Center hosts survivorship series for young women with breast cancer

Starting June 7, St. Charles Cancer Center will offer a series of workshops for young women diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 45.

A national nonprofit organization that provides information and community support to those impacted by breast cancer, Living Beyond Breast Cancer selected St. Charles Cancer Center and just 18 other sites to host the series.

Living Beyond Breast Cancer’s four-part Survivorship Series for Young Women will provide answers and resources on some of the most common concerns for young women such as sex and intimacy, early menopause, the long-term effects of treatment and selfcare after breast cancer.

The organization’s national needs assessment of young women diagnosed with breast cancer revealed their survivorship needs were not being adequately addressed. Living Beyond Breast Cancer developed the Survivorship Series to address the identified need for more survivorship patient education and enhance the skills of the oncology nurses to address the needs of their young patients

The series of sessions will be offered Tuesdays in June, from 5 to 7 p.m., at St. Charles Bend in the Heart and Lung Center conference room. There is no cost to attend, but RSVPs are required by June 1 to Michele Halligan at 541-706-6715 or [email protected].

Session topics include:

June 7 -- Hot and Bothered: Coping with Early Menopause

Hot flashes, mood changes and trouble sleeping are just a few of the annoying symptoms of early menopause due to breast cancer treatment. During this session, participants will learn more about the impact of early menopause and tips on how to manage the symptoms.

June 14 – Stay Alert: Managing the Long-Term Side Effects of Breast Cancer Treatment

The side effects of breast cancer treatment may last many years following treatment. Some common concerns include heart problems, pain, fatigue, numbness and weight gain. During this session, participants will learn what to watch for, what to report to their provider and when to call them.

June 21 – Let’s Talk About Sex and Breast Cancer

Changes in a person’s sex life are common after a breast cancer diagnosis and during treatment. In this session, participants will learn how to talk about these concerns with their health care provider and partner, and get tips on how to improve their sexual health and satisfaction.

June 28 – Self-Care After Breast Cancer

During this session, participants will learn ways to take care of themselves physically, mentally and spiritually. The important role exercise, nutrition, alcohol consumption, cancer and genetic screening and emotional support can play in a person’s health will be discussed.

About St. Charles Health System

St. Charles Health System, Inc., headquartered in Bend, Ore., owns and operates St. Charles Bend, Madras, Prineville and Redmond. It also owns family care clinics in Bend, La Pine, Madras, Prineville, Redmond and Sisters. St. Charles is a private, not-for-profit Oregon corporation and is the largest employer in Central Oregon with more than 4,500 caregivers. In addition, there are more than 350 active medical staff members and nearly 200 visiting medical staff members who partner with the health system to provide a wide range of care and service to our communities.

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While St. Charles and other health systems are feeling the relief of fewer COVID-19 patients these days, we are also continuing to navigate a serious set of challenges that are the direct result of the pandemic.

In 2021, St. Charles Health System lost $16.4 million due to direct impacts from COVID-19. Even when we include the COVID-relief funding we received from the federal government, we ended the year with a negative operating margin for the first time since the financial crisis of 2008. Having a positive operating margin is critical, as it allows us to re-invest in our equipment, facilities and training for our staff.

There are two primary issues driving these challenges:

• Inpatient and outpatient surgical volume – which we rely on for a large portion of our revenue – was 29.2% lower than expected in 2021 because of a lack of bed capacity and staff to care for patients after surgery. These limitations were due at least in part to the high number of COVID-19 patients in our facilities.
• Our labor costs have skyrocketed as many health care workers have left the profession due to burnout. We spent nearly $70 million on contract labor in 2021, which is up from about $12.7 million in 2020. We are grateful that about $31 million of that cost was covered by the state of Oregon, but we are no longer receiving that funding and must now cover all labor expenses on our own.

The pandemic has also exacerbated problems within the health care system that existed previously. For years, the nation hasn’t produced enough health care professionals to replace those who are retiring. We know that additional behavioral health and skilled nursing services are critical, yet the infrastructure is not there to handle the current volume of patients. This means hospitalized patients often stay with us longer than necessary because beds aren’t available at facilities with a lower and less expensive level of care.

Hospitals are the safety net that catches people when they need these types of services and can’t receive them in other places. Yet, the holes in our net keep getting wider and more difficult to fill.

We are working vigorously to address these problems. Our voluntary turnover rate has decreased to 1.4% in March and thanks to an aggressive recruiting effort, our number of open positions is the lowest it has been in many months. We currently have 792 open positions and 232 candidates in the process of being hired. In addition, St. Charles has launched several programs to train our own health care workforce including a nurse residency program, a certified nursing assistant training program and a medical assistant training program.

We are actively implementing ideas to increase revenue and reduce expenses with a goal of minimizing the impact to our workforce and the services we provide.

I have the utmost confidence in our incredible team of caregivers. We will get through this next phase of the pandemic just as we have the past two years – by working together.

Sincerely,
Joe

Update: The St. Charles Foundation has pledged another $5,000 to help cover the cost of shipping medical supplies to benefit Ukraine and has set up a fund to receive donations from the public. If you'd like to support the effort by donating, visit the Foundation's website and choose "Ukraine Medical Supply Support" from the drop-down menu.

Thanks to a multi-department effort spearheaded by two anesthesiologists, a steady stream of needed medical supplies has been flowing from St. Charles Bend to people in war-torn Ukraine for the past several weeks.

And there is no end in sight.

“This thing has kind of snowballed into something that’s bigger than I expected,” said Dr. Evan Sutton, who is overseeing the effort alongside Dr. Holly Graham, his colleague from the Bend Anesthesiology Group.

Sutton was inspired to start collecting donations by a physician friend who practices in Indiana, but is from Ukraine and still has family there. She is involved with a number of different organizations that are working to provide assistance to the Ukrainian people during the Russian invasion.

“She reached out to several of our friends and colleagues and asked us to consider helping the cause, and I immediately wanted to contribute,” Sutton said. “But I thought that instead of just giving money, maybe there’s something I can do that would be a little bigger and would get more people involved here in Central Oregon.”

Sutton’s idea: To collect unused medical supplies that are typically flagged for donation or disposal, package them up and ship them to the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America, which is gathering similar donations from across the country and distributing them in Ukraine. He worked with Graham and leaders from the anesthesiology group and St. Charles to bring the idea to life, and pretty soon, word of the effort was spreading, he said. Donations came in from the hospital’s Perioperative unit, the Family Birthing Center and beyond, including the Pharmacy, which donated medications that are due to expire and thus cannot be used in the United States, but can be used in a humanitarian crisis.

“There are several different departments involved now, so I think this is going to be an ongoing process,” Sutton said. “Hopefully, we can send supplies out weekly.”

It is not free to ship things across the country, of course, but the group got help on that aspect, too. Home Depot in Bend donated cardboard boxes, and the St. Charles Foundation has pledged up to $5,000 to cover shipping costs, Sutton said.

Helping the cause aligns nicely with St. Charles’ vision of creating America’s healthiest community, together, said Carlos Salcedo, manager of community partnerships for St. Charles.

“Our caregivers are a part of this community and this is something they’re very passionate about. You can tell because it’s been a grassroots effort; this wasn’t something they were prompted to do,” he said. “Giving to people and helping others is good for our health and it’s empowering, because it makes us feel like we have the ability to help from the other side of the world.”

So far, the help has totaled more than 20 boxes and about 450 pounds of supplies, Sutton said, with another large shipment planned for this weekend. In the meantime, the effort is spreading to other St. Charles campuses – caregivers in Redmond are now collecting items to send to Ukraine – and donations are piling up along a wall in a physicians’ lounge at St. Charles Bend.

“I’m just really humbled and honored to be a part of something like this,” Sutton said. “It’s been really cool to see a bunch of people want to participate, and it feels great to be able to help out in any way we can.”