St. Charles nurses honored with DAISY Award for outstanding, compassionate care

The following St. Charles Health System nurses have been honored with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses®, recognizing the outstanding, compassionate nursing care they provide patients and families every day:

• Bend: Caitlin Reid, Critical Care
• Madras: Yvonne Sullivan, ED
• Prineville: Kaitlynn Thomasson, Medical Services
• Redmond: Melodin Trammel, Main OR

Nominated by patients, families and colleagues, the award recipients were chosen by a committee at St. Charles.

The nurses—who represent all four St. Charles hospitals in Bend, Redmond, Madras and Prineville—were recognized with a ceremony on their respective units and presented with a certificate, a pin and a "healer's touch" sculpture by their hospital’s chief nursing officer. The DAISY honorees will also receive ongoing benefits, such as special rates for tuition and ANCC certification.

The DAISY Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that was established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes by members of his family. Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System.) The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families.

"When Patrick was critically ill, our family experienced first-hand the remarkable skill and care nurses provide patients every day and night,” said Bonnie Barnes, FAAN, president and co-founder of The DAISY Foundation. “Yet these unsung heroes are seldom recognized for the super-human, extraordinary, compassionate work they do. The kind of work the nurses at St. Charles are called on to do every day epitomizes the purpose of The DAISY Award.”

This is one initiative of The DAISY Foundation to express gratitude to the nursing profession. Additionally, DAISY offers J. Patrick Barnes Grants for Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Projects, The DAISY Faculty Award to honor inspiring faculty members in schools and colleges of nursing and The DAISY in Training Award for nursing students. More information is available at http://DAISYfoundation.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, 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 4,200 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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Nearly 15 months into this pandemic, our health system is facing a crisis.

Our hospitals are full, thanks to a surge of COVID-19 patients and an influx of people who are sick because their care has been delayed for a variety of reasons over the past year. At the same time, history tells us to expect a significant spike in trauma patients during the upcoming holiday weekend.

We have canceled surgeries, transferred patients to other hospitals and expanded patient care into spaces normally used for other things. We've brought in emergency nurses and requested more help from the state. And still, we are concerned that if someone comes in on Saturday with a severe injury or suffering from a heart attack, we may not have space to admit them to the hospital. All our beds are full. We are treating patients on gurneys in the hallways. Today, we have 15 people in the Emergency Department who are waiting for a bed to open up.

There is a line out the door at your local hospital, and it's likely to get longer.

We really need your help:

• If you haven't yet received the COVID-19 vaccine, you should continue to wear a mask and practice physical distancing, no matter what federal or state regulatory agencies have said. They are reacting to what's happening elsewhere. Here in Central Oregon, the pandemic is not over. COVID-19 is spreading rapidly and it's making younger people very sick. If you are unvaccinated, it is important for your health and safety that you distance and wear a mask. (Also, please get vaccinated. It's safe and effective. Of the 500+ COVID-19 patients at St. Charles since March 1, about 98% of them have not been fully vaccinated.)

• If you are vaccinated against COVID-19, please discuss with your unvaccinated friends and family the continued importance of masking and physical distancing, and encourage them to get vaccinated as soon as possible. At this point, you - a trusted friend or family member - is probably our best bet at convincing people to get the vaccine.

• Everyone: Be smart and be safe this weekend. Minimize risk. Avoid activities that could potentially cause injury. Skip the ATV ride or the ambitious hike and enjoy the holiday close to home. I assure you, now is not the time to get hurt and have to come visit us.

• If you have an emergency, of course, do not delay care. You should still come to St. Charles, and we will do everything we can to take care of you.

On Thursday, Debbie Robinson, our chief nursing officer in Bend, said we are currently the busiest we've ever been in her time with the organization. She has worked for St. Charles for 26 years.

Again, we need your help. We appreciate anything you can do to try to ease the pressure on the health system.

Sincerely,
Joe

"Imagine you have a big cotton ball and you put a Skittle in the middle of it, and that Skittle is the cancer. You can take a picture of the cotton ball and you won’t see the Skittle. But if you cut the cotton ball into thin slices, you’re going to find that cancer."

- Stefanie, mammography technologist at St. Charles Madras, illustrating the difference between a 2D mammogram and a 3D mammogram, which provides a much clearer look at the breast and gives providers a chance to catch cancer earlier. Madras recently installed a new 3D mammography machine, bringing industry-standard breast cancer screening to Jefferson County. Read more about it here: https://www.stcharleshealthcare.org/news/3d-mammography-available-jeffe…

Grand Rounds - May 21, 2021
"KIDS Center and Karley's Law"

Speaker: Guitar Hanna, DO. Medical Director, KIDS Center.

Objectives

1. Describe the resources provided by the KIDS Center
2. Explain Karley's Law and sentinel injuries
3. Define what imaging/orders need to be done in the ED setting

Accreditation: St. Charles Health System is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. St. Charles Health System designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)^TM.

Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Claim Credit

Target Audience: Physicians, Nurses, Pharmacists, Allied Health Professionals

Accessibility/Program Questions: St. Charles Health System encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Continuing Medical Education at 541-706-4680, [email protected]. For CME or Clerkship questions, contact Sheila Jordan, MMGT, CHCP, Manager of Continuing Medical Education at 541-706-6780, [email protected].

If you’re feeling whipsawed by the COVID-19 headlines as of late, you’re not alone.

At the same time guidelines for mask wearing and physical distancing are being relaxed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Oregon Health Authority (OHA), some hospitals—like ours—are still treating very high numbers of COVID-19 patients.

Today, we have 45 people with COVID-19 who are hospitalized in Bend, a number we haven’t seen since mid-January. To put that number into more context: Central Oregon, which represents just 5.9% of the state’s population, has 13.6% of the state’s occupied COVID-19 beds, according to our data scientists.

Even as we struggle as a health system to manage this surge—we’ve had to once again limit elective surgeries, care for hospitalized patients in areas of our hospitals where we ordinarily wouldn’t and shuffle caregivers throughout departments to ensure we have adequate staffing—the OHA announced Deschutes County will be considered “low risk” as of Friday since 65% of the 16 and older population has been vaccinated.

So, what’s going on?

Nationally, we’re seeing the number of positive COVID-19 cases and deaths trend downward at the same time we’re seeing vaccination rates slowly tick up. This is good news, and it is what prompted the CDC and some state public health agencies like the OHA to change their guidance on masks.

But locally, we’re not consistently tracking with these trends, and we think there may be two reasons why.

One, there are variants of COVID-19 circulating in our community that are more easily spread and have the potential to make people more ill. And two, a disproportionate number of people who live in Deschutes County are 50 or younger and are still unvaccinated. So, while the county boasts a 65% vaccination rate, the bulk of those vaccinations have occurred in the 50 and older population.

That means there are more than 100,000 Central Oregonians who are still vulnerable and could still be hospitalized with COVID-19. If you follow St. Charles on Facebook (and if you don’t, you should) you’ll recall seeing the below graph, which shows that between January and April, we saw a 13-year drop in the average age of our hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

So, what does this mean for you?

In the short term, it means your surgery may be cancelled. Every day our hospitals are making tough decisions to cancel surgeries to replace joints, remove cancers and fuse spines. The reality is we simply can’t afford to offer our hospital beds to anyone who isn’t very sick or injured.

In the long term, it means we need your help to end this pandemic. If you haven’t already, please—get vaccinated. Every Central Oregonian who is 12 and older is now eligible, and there are more places than ever offering vaccines, including our very own St. Charles Family Care clinics. And until more of us are vaccinated, I encourage you to keep wearing those dang masks a little longer. I know I will.

It isn’t just me asking this of you. It’s also our many caregivers who are tired, but who continue to work tirelessly to care for our community. They know you want this to be over, and believe me, so do they. In this recently released video, one of our ICU nurses said it so well:

We may be over COVID, “but COVID isn’t over us.”

If you are looking for medical literature on Ovid and want to share your search history with someone (with the library, for example, if you need some assistance), there is now an easy way to do it by using one of the new three buttons on the lower right part of the search screen:

Here is what each option does:

• Email all Search History: it generates an email that includes the search queries, a link to generate the same search history on Ovid and the search details.
• Copy Search History Link: it generates the link to generate the search history, and it can be used to save as a bookmark or to share with someone else by different means. 
• Copy Search History Details: it only generates the search details, without any link to Ovid, and it can then be shared with someone else by different means or just keep it in a different place. 

As an example, below you can see a search history that you can generate by clicking on this Search History Link. 

Do you need help? Contact the Medical Library.

St. Charles Family Care clinics now offering COVID-19 vaccine

BEND, Ore. – Starting today, Central Oregonians who are 12 and older—and who are already scheduled for an appointment with a provider—will have the option of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine at St. Charles’ Family Care clinics in Bend, La Pine, Madras and Prineville.

Starting May 24, most St. Charles Family Care clinics will begin scheduling appointments for COVID vaccines. Sisters and Redmond clinics will begin offering vaccinations on May 26, due to vaccine supply.

To schedule an appointment, call the location that works best for you:

Bend East Family Care Clinic
2600 Northeast Neff Road

Bend South Family Care Clinic
61250 Southeast Coombs Place

La Pine Family Care Clinic
51781 Huntington Road

Madras Family Care Clinic
480 Northeast A Street

Prineville Family Care Clinic
384 Southeast Combs Flat Road

Redmond Family Care Clinic
211 Northwest Larch Avenue

Sisters Family Care Clinic
630 North Arrowleaf Trail

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 4,600 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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Grand Rounds - May 14, 2021
"COVID and You"

Speaker: Jackie Shannon, PhD. Director for Community-Engaged Research, Knight Cancer Institute - Oregon Health and Science University.

UPDATE: Co-Administration of COVID-19 with Other Vaccines

As of Friday, May 14th, 2021 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is now allowing Co-Administration of Vaccines:

During her Grand Rounds Presentation (linked above), Jackie Shannon, PhD, had mentioned that HPV vaccinations could NOT be administered concurrently with the COVID-19 vaccine.

COVID-19 vaccines were previously recommended to be administered alone, with a minimum interval of 14 days before or after administration of any other vaccines. This was out of an abundance of caution and not due to any known safety or immunogenicity concerns. However, substantial data have now been collected regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized by FDA for use under EUA. Although data are not available for COVID-19 vaccines administered simultaneously with other vaccines, extensive experience with non-COVID-19 vaccines has demonstrated that immunogenicity and adverse event profiles are generally similar when vaccines are administered simultaneously as when they are administered alone.

COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines may now be administered without regard to timing. This includes simultaneous administration of COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines on the same day, as well as coadministration within 14 days. It is unknown whether reactogenicity of COVID-19 vaccine is increased with coadministration, including with other vaccines known to be more reactogenic, such as adjuvanted vaccines or live vaccines. When deciding whether to coadminister another vaccine(s) with COVID-19 vaccines, providers should consider whether the patient is behind or at risk of becoming behind on recommended vaccines, their risk of vaccine-preventable disease (e.g., during an outbreak or occupational exposures), and the reactogenicity profile of the vaccines.

If multiple vaccines are administered at a single visit, administer each injection in a different injection site. For adolescents and adults, the deltoid muscle can be used for more than one intramuscular injection.

Best practices for multiple injections include:

• Label each syringe with the name and the dosage (amount) of the vaccine, lot number, the initials of the preparer, and the exact beyond-use time, if applicable.
• Separate injection sites by 1 inch or more, if possible.
• Administer the COVID-19 vaccines and vaccines that may be more likely to cause a local reaction (e.g., tetanus-toxoid-containing and adjuvanted vaccines) in different limbs, if possible.

Objectives

1. Identify recent changes in cancer screening and incidence post COVID onset
2. Describe the design and intent of the COVID and You survey
3. Summarize the COVID and You findings from the complete sample and specific to three central Oregon counties
4. Discuss how based on survey findings, how COVID has impacted cancer prevention, screening and survivorship in our state and region

Accreditation: St. Charles Health System is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. St. Charles Health System designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)^TM.

Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Claim Credit

Target Audience: Physicians, Nurses, Pharmacists, Allied Health Professionals

Accessibility/Program Questions: St. Charles Health System encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Continuing Medical Education at 541-706-4680, [email protected]. For CME or Clerkship questions, contact Sheila Jordan, MMGT, CHCP, Manager of Continuing Medical Education at 541-706-6780, [email protected].

"It’s my job to take care of every floor you see in here. If we get a report of a broken tile or something popping up, I record it and make sure it gets taken care of immediately. Because in a hospital, it’s more than just floor maintenance. It gives people peace of mind if they come in and they look down the hallway and it’s shiny and safe and in good condition. It makes them feel like they’re somewhere that will take good care of them."

- Ojamar, a floor care attendant with Environmental Services in Bend and an avid musician who can sometimes be found playing his guitar in the waiting area of the Bend hospital during his breaks

St. Charles hires Matt Swafford as senior vice president and chief financial officer

BEND, Ore. – St. Charles Health System is pleased to announce that Matt Swafford has accepted the position of senior vice president and chief financial officer. Swafford – who has more than 30 years of experience in the finance field – will join St. Charles June 28. 

“I’m so excited to welcome Matt to St. Charles,” said Joe Sluka, president and CEO of the health system. “Matt has been a partner to us for many years in his current role with Melio & Company in Portland as a financial and strategic advisor and he knows our organization well. He will be a great addition to the team.” 

Swafford currently serves as partner and managing director for Melio & Company, an independent fiduciary advisor to nonprofit health care organizations throughout the nation. In this role, he has advised St. Charles, Asante, Oregon Health & Science University, Salem Health and others on strategic, financial and capital markets activities, including master facility plan funding, capital restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures. Before joining Melio & Company, Swafford served as an executive director in the public finance health care group for Morgan Stanley and as a first vice president in the public finance health care group for UBS.  

He holds a bachelor of music, arts administration degree from Northwestern University with an emphasis on management, organizational administration, finance and orchestral performance. 

Swafford was born and raised in Portland and has family throughout the state, including in Central Oregon. He is married to Jeanette, his wife of 20 years, and they have two teenage daughters. Swafford enjoys hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, paddle boarding and snowboarding.  

“I have worked closely with Matt for many years and can’t imagine a better person to transition into the St. Charles chief financial officer role,” said Jenn Welander, current senior vice president and chief financial officer for St. Charles. “He understands our business and will bring a really important strategic focus as St. Charles continues to transform the way it provides care to our communities.”  

Welander’s last day will be July 15, giving her a few weeks to introduce Swafford to the St. Charles team. She has built a detailed plan and is already working with the Finance team to prepare for the transition. 

“I am thrilled to join the St. Charles team at an exciting time of fundamental change,” Swafford said. “I admire the culture and financial credibility St. Charles has built over the past decade, and I am excited to collaborate with Joe and the entire team toward the vision of ‘Creating America’s healthiest community, together.’”

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 4,600 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.