Check out your Company Bowl for anonymous work chats.
Pregnancy is an exciting yet challenging time. With so much to prepare, it can be difficult to stay on track with varied doctor appointments and making healthy choices. These decisions significantly impact the well-being of babies, and frequent consideration can be crucial. The Baby Bootique, an incentive program at Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, CO, addresses this. The Baby Bootique program is run out of the Saint Joseph’s clinics offering obstetrical services, the Seton Women’s Center and the Family Medicine Center. It motivates expectant patients, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, in their journey towards healthy pregnancies. To reward healthy choices, the Baby Bootique provides participants with coupons that can be exchanged for essential items such as clothing, diapers, and car seats. By offering tangible benefits, the program ensures expectant parents have access to necessary resources, which can alleviate financial burdens and contribute to overall baby health.
Working in healthcare can sometimes expose us to moments that can only be described as our “worst days.” We are confronted with the heart-wrenching reality of unexpected losses – whether it’s the death of a patient, a cherished member of our team, or a team member’s family. How we respond as a health system presents a valuable opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to caring for those we work with – the individual, the team and the leaders who are providing support. Hear from Anne Pendo, Senior Medical Director of Provider Experience, on how Intermountain Health cares for caregivers and teams during challenging times.
During the 2022-2023 school year, Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital caregivers took time from their usual duties to work as teachers, mentors, presenters, facilitators and role models for high school students as part of the new Healthcare Career Academy. Dr. Erin Avondet and her amazing team of residents and med students volunteered their time to teach the curriculum. Going beyond typical lists of risk factors for disease, they taught students how to advocate for public health in their communities and address upstream causes of health problems such as social, economic, and political factors. The students learned how policy choices and resource distribution can advance or hinder health equity. Other Primary Children’s caregivers presented about their own career paths, exposing youth to career options ranging from nurse to medical assistant to “logo-changing person” (as one enthusiastic youth referred to their favorite presenter, a marketing and communications professional). “I loved hearing about all the different parts that help keep a hospital running. I felt like it gave me a much more developed understanding of all the career possibilities I could have,” said one student.
Hospital food often gets a bad rap, but not at Intermountain, where the culinary team treats the food like medicine and delivers healthy, flavorful, made-to-order meals to patients every day! Alex Govern, corporate executive chef, recently spoke with KSL TV about the fresh approach to hospital dining.
In 2022, Platte Valley Medical Center in Brighton, CO saw a need to support caregivers through the post-pandemic reality. Launching the RESET program, we began this initiative focusing on caregiver mental health. Today, the transformative RESET program promotes well-being, supports leaders, develops a culture of care and positively impacts caregivers. As an organization that cares for our community, PVMC also prioritizes resilience, empathy, and support for employees and teams.
Music can change everything. That was Sophie Barton’s philosophy, and a driving force behind her time as a music volunteer at Primary Children’s Hospital. Sophie knew she could help patients in need, and ultimately change the world, through music. In 2010 at the age of 17, Sophie unexpectedly passed away while hiking. Three years after her passing, Sophie’s family partnered with Primary Children’s to ensure her vision to heal the world with music would live on. In the decade since Sophie’s Place opened, the dedicated therapists who call the center home have used the power of music to help patients of all ages heal physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. In the professional medical setting enabled by Sophie’s Place, music therapy can help patients improve neurological development and fine and gross motor skills, enhance speech and language abilities, improve coping abilities and self-control, improve pain management, and more. Thanks to Sophie’s vision and the generosity of Sophie's family and the Forever Young Foundation, 10 children’s hospitals across the country now include—or will soon include—a Sophie’s Place. Primary Children's Hospital is forever grateful to Sophie Barton for her enduring gift of song to the children we serve.
As a proud sponsor of the Utah Warriors, we're dedicated to helping people live their healthiest lives possible. Hear from Laura Klarman, Manager of Marketing and Communications at Intermountain Health, speak about her career with us and our connection to the communities we serve throughout Utah.
Our LiVe Well program recently received the Utah Worksite Wellness Council (UWWC) Award for the seventh year in a row. The council’s Healthy Worksite Awards Program recognizes employers of all sizes for their outstanding work in promoting programs that improve physical, mental, and emotional well-being. “Our team is committed to helping our caregivers live happier, healthier, and more balanced lives through the LiVe Well program,” said Michelle Ihmels, caregiver LiVe Well director. “We are honored to be recognized for this work, and we are looking forward to expanding our program to every corner of the enterprise and every caregiver next year.”
Seventeen health systems across the country, including Intermountain Health, recently signed the Impact Workforce Commitment that will allow more job opportunities to individuals from low-income households, refugees and people lacking access to education and training. Intermountain recently partnered with the Utah Office of Refugee Services and other community-based organizations to develop pathway programs to train and hire new Americans into health care careers. Entry-level roles such as phlebotomists, medical assistants or pharmacy technicians will open the door to career growth opportunities in the field. Additionally, Intermountain has committed to hire at least 10% of people from economically disadvantaged neighborhoods into jobs that require less than a bachelor’s degree by 2027. “Our commitment to increase our impact hiring by 10% by 2027 aligns with our mission of helping people live the healthiest lives possible,” said Rob Allen, president and CEO of Intermountain Health. “Our intentional outreach to rural communities as well as our many apprenticeship programs are providing good jobs that play a key role in creating healthier communities in the geographies we serve.”
Utah is once again home to one of the best pediatric hospitals in America, according to U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of the top children’s hospitals in the nation for 2023-24. Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, in partnership with University of Utah Health, has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the nation’s best children’s hospitals in seven pediatric specialties. Intermountain Primary Children’s was ranked by U.S. News & World Report for cancer care, cardiology and heart surgery, gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery, nephology, neurology and neurosurgery, pulmonology, and urology, according to the publication’s 2023-2024 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings. Additionally, Primary Children’s neurology and neurosurgery patient outcomes are tied for No. 1 in the nation. “These high rankings for Primary Children’s Hospital are testament to the tireless efforts and collaboration of our physicians, nurses, and the scores of caregivers devoted to providing high-quality care for children every day,” said Dustin Lipson, president of Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital.
