Intermountain Health

Intermountain Health is celebrating a major advancement in its sustainability efforts with the opening of the Castle Solar Farm, which will provide power for several Intermountain hospitals, clinics, and other facilities. The solar farm will produce enough electricity to offset the total annual use of 17 Intermountain Health facilities, including nine hospitals for the next 20 years. Hospitals use large amounts of electricity due to the number of services and equipment that are operated 24/7 year-round. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions avoided by Intermountain switching to solar is the equivalent of removing 6,400 cars from the road.

When Margaret “Beth” Sweeney, DO, was a little girl, she already knew what she wanted to do with her life. She wanted to be an actor. Her mother was an opera singer, and her father was a writer. She grew up in Manhattan, New York, home to Broadway. Surrounded by the arts, her performance course was arguably set in stone. But Dr. Sweeney’s acting career turned out to be the dress rehearsal for the rest of her life. Despite studying at multiple schools and moving to California, her professional work transitioned multiple times, from acting to personal training to competitive bodybuilding to massage therapy before becoming a primary care physician at age 50. Dr. Sweeney currently serves patients at the Henderson Senior Primary Clinic in southern Nevada. Although her journey into healthcare came later compared to others, she took the lessons she learned along the way to find fulfillment. As Dr. Sweeney's story shows, careers rarely follow a straight line, and are often full of surprises. The five elements of modern career planning are: know yourself, seek feedback, understand your environment, create a vision, and make a plan. #TogetherForTheHealthiestLives

Isaac Johnson had never had what he considers a “real” job before signing on for an internship at Logan Regional Hospital in Logan, Utah this summer. Growing up in an athletic family, his responsibility from an early age was to get better and better at basketball and to earn a college scholarship.  As he grew to 7 feet tall, he performed that job successfully, bringing a state championship to American Fork High School as a senior and receiving the nickname “Big Fish” from a classmate. Ranked the No. 53 recruit in the nation by ESPN, he signed with PAC-12 power University of Oregon, where he played for one season after serving an LDS mission in Ohio. After that season in Eugene, Isaac transferred to Utah State University, where he redshirted one year and became a key cog in last year’s Aggie team. That squad’s unexpected success culminated with an 88-72 first-round victory over TCU in the NCAA Tournament, a game in which Isaac scored 19 points and blocked four shots. It was USU’s first tournament win in 23 years, so the victory — and Isaac’s signature chomping motion — made him a fan favorite in Logan and among TV commentators. Not long after that magical run ended with a loss to No. 1 seed Purdue and national player of the year Zach Edey, Isaac was at Chipotle in Logan when he bumped into his dentist, who happened to be eating with Logan Regional Hospital president Brandon McBride. Brandon said that after meeting with Isaac to discuss his career goals, he arranged for Isaac to intern with the administrative team at Logan Regional Hospital. “He’s been a great addition to our admin council, and I hope he’s learning a lot from his time with us,” Brandon said. “Isaac is very bright, engaged and has an incredible future ahead of him as a healthcare leader. I’m excited to watch him grow personally and professionally and proud to have the opportunity to support his development at this stage of his learning.” “I wanted to learn more about healthcare administration,” said Isaac, whose major at USU is Business Management with a focus in healthcare. “It’s been interesting to see all the cogs in this big machine and how a hospital really works,” he said, adding that he has been amazed at how complex the healthcare field is. “It’s been awesome for me to see how they resolve conflicts. My goal right now is just to learn. From what I’ve seen, Logan Regional is doing a really good job within the Intermountain system.” Isaac is considering owning and managing assisted living facilities and possibly running a “health shopping mall” offering various care options. But all of that will have to wait until he follows through on his first job and pursues a career as a professional basketball player. #TogetherForTheHealthiestLives

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition with a high mortality rate if it isn't identified and treated immediately. Lactate testing is one of the more important tests performed on emergency department patients who might be septic. The test provides information that helps caregivers identify the patient’s sepsis risk level and decide whether they should implement aggressive, early treatment for sepsis. Maria Brown, director of laboratory services at Intermountain Health St. James Hospital in Butte, Montana, had challenged her team to come up with ways to improve their KPI scores. Cindy Erickson, the chemistry technical specialist at St. James Hospital, saw a lactate testing as opportunity with potential for improvement to get results faster and at a lower cost. After consulting with system laboratory, Cindy learned that most Intermountain Peaks Region hospitals use blood gas analyzers for this test, averaging a 5-7 minute turnaround time for the test, and proposed that St. James Hospital move forward with the process improvement. This project is an excellent example of our culture of continuous improvement and commitment to being leaders in clinical excellence. It also shows how we are better together: being part of the Intermountain system benefits our patients by connecting our hospitals with tried-and-tested, data-driven best practices. #WeAreBetterTogether #TogetherForTheHealthiestLives

Scarlet has lived with seizures and developmental delays her whole life, with few answers. Early genetic testing didn’t provide many clues as to what was causing her symptoms. But in her short seven years of life, new advancements in genetic testing have given her a diagnosis—and a community. “We have more answers now and a small community of kids with the same diagnosis to have support and greater understanding of things to expect,” said Scarlet’s mom, Cassandra Hill. And now thanks to a $9 million infusion, more families will have this access to “Primary Children’s Gene Kids,” a three-year, major pediatric genomics initiative to help children with genetic conditions. Primary Children’s Gene Kids is made possible by a $4.5 million grant from The Warren Alpert Foundation, which was then matched by generous philanthropic donations to Intermountain Health’s Primary Promise campaign.

Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, Colorado recently began performing fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing, or FEES, assessments on babies in the NICU. FEES helps determine if babies are having difficulty swallowing and if a premature infant is experiencing difficulties during feeding due to aspiration. FEES is performed by a speech therapist and an occupational therapist who insert a small, flexible endoscope into the baby’s nose and down the back of the throat so they can view the anatomy directly through a camera as the baby feeds and swallows.  This procedure allows the therapists to visualize aspiration, penetration and uncoordinated swallowing of liquids and determine what adaptations are safe and efficient. Before launching FEES, NICU babies were sent to Radiology for a videofluoroscopic swallowing study, or VFSS. “One of the benefits of FEES is that it can reduce the baby’s length of stay in the NICU,” said Isabella Fanucci, speech therapist. “By identifying the issue sooner, there are multiple methods we can implement to help the baby improve faster like adjusting the nipple flow rate on a bottle or adding thickeners to their formula or breast milk.” #WeAreLeadersInClinicalExcellence #TogetherForTheHealthiestLives

WEEK 15: 1-Minute Meditation Strong Sensation Close your eyes, do a body scan and notice how you are feeling physically. If there is an area with a strong sensation, check in and see what that is. Scan again and notice if there is an area of less sensation. Move back to the strong sensation and explore that sensation again. Is there a sensation of pushing away or tightening in your body? Get curious about your body in this present moment. @thedefensiveline

June 27th was already a hectic day at Sevier Valley Hospital in Richfield, Utah, with an at-capacity floor and ED, before clinical operations manager Bree Bastian received a call from her daughter's church youth leader. “The leader was distraught," Bree said. "She said my daughter was OK, but that a terrible thing had just happened, where their youth group was struck by lightning while on a hike.” Different reports were coming in, some saying up to 50 people would need to be seen. The strike occurred an hour from Sevier Valley Hospital, and EMS was coming. Sevier Valley was ready. As those affected by the lightning strike began to arrive, some in their vehicles and some by EMS, Bree said, “We had nurses ready on the floor and in the ER, and they were figuring out how to cover the needed care. The OR crew typically is done by that time of day, but they all stayed to support the patients coming in. Dr. Jesse Spencer brought in apples, oranges, and donuts for everyone; we also brought in pizza. Sara Pace and Jesse Lewis, our emergency preparedness leads, were called in and helped support. Broox Anderson was leaving town but turned back around and came in to help support the media. Dr. Michael Ivan offered to open his schedule up later than planned to accommodate any low-acuity patients from the ED who did not want to wait or asked if there was anywhere else they could be seen.” The Sevier Valley team evaluated 16 patients following the lightning strike, and all were treated and released. As one could imagine, the youth on the trip were scared; their leaders, parents, and loved ones were scared. “But there is such a good feeling when you come to Sevier Valley,” said Bree. “What I know, and what our entire community knows, is you are going to be cared for just like it was your own family. We are there for each other. It’s a tight-knit community.” #TogetherForTheHealthiestLives

Since its introduction, hundreds of caregivers have been making use of the Intermountain Health mentorship program. Mentoring is a benefit for all Intermountain caregivers from day one and can help anyone at any stage and any level of their career achieve their goals and feel supported in their growth. Mentorship is an intentional, developmental relationship in which a mentor with a high level of knowledge and experience supports the development and growth of a mentee seeking those competencies. For Aida Penunuri, social worker at Select Health, she is using Intermountain’s mentorship program to set a track for the next steps in her career. “I’ve always been a person who wants to learn and try new things,” Aida said. “The mentorship program has helped me navigate obstacles in my way and continue to challenge myself.” “Mentorship is for everyone,” said Rachel Jost, talent and career development consultant at Intermountain and Aida's mentor. “There is so much value from both being mentored and serving as a mentor. The human connection, relationship, and being exposed to different thoughts, ideas, experiences, and resources has a way of opening doors for people. We really want people taking advantage of this great resource.”

Summer is a busy time with many local celebrations, and you never know where Intermountain Health will show up! We asked our caregivers to share stories of where they, their team, or their care site are sharing our mission and inspiring health this summer, and they showed up. It’s clear our caregivers embody wellness in countless unique ways — from concerts to Thunderbird planes to wild trails in the mountains — and Intermountain’s mission and vision support these activities and communities, large and small. Check out some ways we’re connecting with our communities this summer. #TogetherForTheHealthiestLives