Ortonville Area Health Services (OAHS) is pleased to announce that Michelle Deutz is now seeing patients at Northside Medical Clinic. As a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP), Michelle provides mental health services along with her colleagues Twila Mursu, PMHNP and Brianna Gast, LISCW and the whole of OAHS medical staff. Michelle was recruited to the area through a long-standing partnership between Northside Medical Clinic, Ortonville Area Health Services, and the Big Stone Health Care Foundation, which has brought over twenty providers to the area.

“We are very excited to have Michelle on board to enhance mental health services to the community,” said Clinic Director Liz Sorenson. “The compassion and understanding Michelle brings to her role not only strengthens the Mental Health team but the entire organization in providing wraparound care to the patients we serve.”

Michelle has previously worked as a Registered Nurse since obtaining her RN degree from Winona State University in 2018. She then pursued her Master of Nursing degree from the University of North Dakota, graduating in August 2022. As a PMHNP, Michelle is specially trained to provide behavioral health services to people of all ages, with her primary focus being children and adolescent patients. She states, “I am most looking forward to helping people remember that there is always hope and light, even in the darkest times, and that no one has to go through those times alone.”

For more information on Ortonville Area Health Services or to schedule an appointment with Michelle Deutz, PMHNP please call (320) 839-6157.

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has awarded Ortonville Area Health Services (OAHS) $102,614 in grant funds to purchase state-of-the-art ultrasound machines as part of a $26.4 million ultrasound initiative in Minnesota. The initiative includes nearly $18.3 million to help Minnesota hospitals and health centers purchase ultrasound imaging devices and an additional $8.1 million to boost sonography and point of care ultrasound (POCUS) training opportunities across the state.

The grant funds have allowed OAHS to purchase two new ultrasound machines: a GE Voluson Swift Ultrasound and a GE Venue Go Premier Ultrasound. These point-of-care ultrasounds are increasingly mobile and allow for fast assessment of patients. Dr. David Collins, Emergency Medicine Physician at OAHS notes, “Point-of-care ultrasound has become increasingly utilized in the clinic, hospital, and emergency department setting across the US. The latest ultrasound technology provides even better imaging quality as well as tools to assist us with making faster and more accurate diagnoses. Formal ultrasound is not always readily available in our community but with point-of-care ultrasound technology, we are able to get the ball rolling to initiate treatment while waiting for the complete study to be done at a later date. This is an exciting time to be in medicine and for our community as a whole!”

Ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to produce images of structures inside the body. This safe, cost-effective tool supports other clinical information to help providers make timely diagnoses and provide appropriate treatment.

Walter Panzirer, a Trustee for the Helmsley Charitable Trust, said the grants will help improve access to exceptional medical treatment for all Minnesotans, whether they live in the heart of Minneapolis or a smaller rural or underserved community.

“Our hospitals and health centers need to stay current with rapidly advancing technology so they can continue to provide top-notch healthcare close to home,” Panzirer said. “These grants help ensure that facilities across Minnesota have the latest and greatest ultrasound equipment and training.”

More than half of the 196 devices purchased through the grants (109) are POCUS machines, which are used by providers at the bed or tableside for immediate assessment of a patient to quickly determine a course of action. The grants will also provide 69 general ultrasound systems and 18 cardiovascular ultrasound systems, which aid in imaging of the heart.

The initiative also includes more than $8.1 million to train new sonographers, offer continuing education to sonographers and ultrasound technologists, and provide comprehensive POCUS training to doctors, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners. The training grants include more than $917,000 to the Minnesota Rural Health Association to support sonographer training in rural and underserved areas of the state, more than $1 million to the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities to expand St. Cloud Technical & Community College’s sonography program, and nearly $6.2 million to the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians Foundation which will partner with High Quality Medical Education (HQMEDED) to provide POCUS training across the state.

“These grants are a game changer for rural hospitals across the state,” said Thomas Pahl, PA-C, an emergency department clinician, instructor with HQMEDED, and member of the Minnesota State Trauma Advisory Council. “Clinicians and sonographers will not only have access to the newest ultrasound equipment on the market, but they will also be able to pursue educational opportunities to become more proficient at use of the equipment, expand the studies they can perform, and incorporate these skills into their clinical practices.”

Ortonville Area Health Services has been awarded a 2022 Performance Leadership Award for excellence in Patient Perspective by the Chartis Center for Rural Health. Given as part of the National Rural Health Day celebration, the Performance Leadership Awards honor top quartile performance (75^th percentile or above) among rural hospitals in Quality, Outcomes, and Patient Perspective.

“Quality of care and our patient experience has been a primary focus at OAHS,” said Dr. Allan Ross, CEO of OAHS. “This recognition not only reflects on the care a patient receives from those providing direct patient care but also reflects on the numerous behind-the-scenes people who greatly contribute to the patient experience. I am very proud of the team we have at OAHS.”

The Performance Leadership Awards are given to rural hospitals based on the results of analysis from the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX, the industry’s most comprehensive and objective assessment of rural hospital performance in the United States. INDEX data is trusted and relied upon by rural hospitals, health systems with rural footprints, hospital associations, and state offices of rural health across the country to measure and monitor performance across several areas impacting hospital operations and finance.

About Ortonville Area Health Services

The mission of OAHS is to provide personalized, high-quality, and compassionate care through caring professionals in a healing environment. OAHS offers a broad scope of regional services:

• Northside Medical Clinic provides family medicine and specialized care in Family Medicine/Obstetrics, Emergency Medicine, and Psychiatry. Satellite clinics and outreach services are available in Wheaton, Canby, and Clinton, MN, as well as the OAHS Trojan Clinic within Ortonville Public Schools.

• The Ortonville Hospital, a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital, is a state-of-the-art facility that provides obstetrical care, surgery, and outpatient services.

• Fairway View Senior Communities provides comprehensive services while cultivating a vibrant community culture that celebrates individuality in all stages of life. Services include catered living and assisted living apartments with numerous on-site amenities and opportunities for socialization. Fairway View Neighborhoods provides long-term care nursing services and support in a home atmosphere that honors choices through meaningful activities while respecting each resident’s individual preferences.

December 6, 2022: Ortonville Area Health Services is changing the appointment process for patients experiencing respiratory, influenza-like symptoms. Currently, this patient population is served in a location that allows them to avoid the main clinic area and entrance. This was necessary during the height of COVID to minimize the spread of illness while allowing OAHS personnel to see patients in a location where it was safe, effective, and efficient.

Now, patients with respiratory, influenza-like symptoms can once again receive care inside the clinic. Below is an overview of what to expect:

• When you schedule your appointment, please communicate all symptoms, including any respiratory symptoms you may be experiencing.
• Arrive at the clinic as you typically would. Enter through the clinic and report to the registration area. Most importantly, wear a mask.
• Registration staff will assist you to a designated room, bypassing the waiting room, where you will wait to see your healthcare provider.
• Your appointment will take place as it typically does. After your appointment is complete, you do not need to report to the registration area to check out.

The drive-in option will remain in place for patients who have found it the most convenient way to receive care, meeting the patient where they are and where they feel most comfortable.

As treatment options for COVID have expanded to include preventative vaccines, home testing, effective treatment options, and better knowledge of the virus, OAHS has readdressed how patients with respiratory symptoms are cared for in the clinic while still ensuring the best patient experience possible for everyone. We appreciate your patience as we navigate and work through this change to our process.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has proclaimed November 13-19 Infant Safe Sleep Week. The following information from the Minnesota Department of Health contains simple tips that can dramatically reduce infants’ risk of unexpected death:

For Minnesota’s Infant Safe Sleep Week, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is encouraging parents and caregivers to tune into what pediatricians are saying about the best ways to keep babies sleeping safely.

For the first time in five years, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in June updated its safe sleep recommendations for preventing unexpected deaths for children up to 1 year old. The recommendations continue to support the ABCs of safe sleep:

• ALONE: Infants should always sleep or nap alone – not sharing beds or cribs with others.
• BACK: Always put a baby on their back to sleep or nap.
• CRIB: Babies should always sleep or nap in their own safety-approved crib, play yard, bassinet, or portable crib without blankets or pillows. To keep warm during Minnesota winters, parents are urged to dress babies in pajamas or other clothing appropriate for the temperature.

In addition, for the first time, the AAP recommendations recognized cradleboards, used by some American Indian communities, as a culturally appropriate infant sleep surface, according to the AAP. Caregivers should be careful not to overly bundle the infant in a cradleboard, causing the baby to overheat.

“If we’ve learned anything, it’s that simple is best. Parents can keep their babies safe by remembering their ABC’s. Their baby should sleep, Alone, on their Back, and in a Crib or bassinet without soft toys, pillows, bumpers or blankets,” said Dr. Andrew Kiragu, past president of the Minnesota chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a co-chair of the chapter’s child safety caucus.

Recognizing the importance of building awareness around this public health issue, Governor Tim Walz proclaimed November 13-19 Infant Safe Sleep Week.

Research continues to show that bed-sharing raises the risk of a baby’s injury or death, according to the AAP recommendations. Risks of sleep-related death increase five to 10 times when sleeping on the same surface with someone else when an infant is under 4 months of age. The risk goes up when the co-sleeper is impaired by fatigue, alcohol, or drug use. Additionally, couch sleeping is very risky. The risks of sleep-related infant deaths are up to 67 times higher when an infant is sleeping with someone on a couch, soft armchair or cushion, the AAP said.

Parents can also save their money and avoid cardiorespiratory monitors, as there’s no evidence they reduce the risk of unexpected infant deaths, according to the recommendations. Parents should also reject head-shaping pillows and weighted blankets, weighted sleepers, weighted swaddles, or other weighted objects on or near a sleeping infant as they can create an unsafe sleeping space.

Minnesota Data

Minnesota’s most recent data from 2020 showed fewer unexpected deaths, 33, than in an average year, according to MDH research. Between 2014 and 2020, Minnesota averaged 47 unexpected infant deaths each year, where Minnesota babies died suddenly and unexpectedly. Nearly all those tragic deaths happened in unsafe sleep environments. There is some evidence that Minnesota parents and caregivers are ensuring safer sleep spaces, increasingly putting babies to bed without soft objects and bedding. In 2020, 64% of mothers reported not using soft bedding, compared to 48% in 2016, according to data collected through monthly surveys with new mothers through the Minnesota Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (MN PRAMS).

Nationally, about 3,500 infants die from sleep-related infant deaths a year in the United States, according to the AAP. The annual number of deaths has remained about the same since 2000 after a substantial decline in deaths in the 1990s attributed to public health campaigns encouraging parents and caregivers to put babies to sleep on their backs.

“This week is an opportunity to get the word out about safe sleep practices such as having babies sleep on their backs, alone and in a crib,” said Minnesota Department of Health Assistant Commissioner Mary Manning. “It also provides a chance to highlight the need for all Minnesotans to have the financial and housing opportunities necessary to provide safe sleeping spaces for babies.”

While overall death numbers have declined, persistent racial and ethnic disparities exist that reflect broader societal inequities, according to research. Nationally, the rate of sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUIDs) among Black and American Indian/Alaska Native infants was more than double and almost triple, respectively, that of white infants (85 per 100,000 live births) in 2010-2013, according to AAP. In Minnesota, between 2014 and 2018, the disparity was three times greater for Black infants and more than eight times greater for American Indian infants than for white infants.

As part of safe sleep week, MDH also continues its tradition of partnering with the Minnesota Department of Transportation to illuminate the I-35W Bridge in pink, white and blue during Infant Safe Sleep Week on the night of Nov. 16. Hennepin County partners are also illuminating the Lowry Avenue Bridge in pink, white and blue on the same night. In addition, MDH thanked the Sanford Luverne Medical Center for its commitment to education and best practices by achieving Silver Safe Sleep Hospital status as part of the National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification.

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RESPIRATORY CLINIC RENOVATION

ORTONVILLE AREA HEALTH SERVICES

450 Eastvold Ave

Ortonville, Minnesota 56278

Ortonville Area Health Services will receive single prime sealed bids for the Respiratory Clinic Renovation until 2:00 PM local time on September 27, 2022 at the Ortonville Area Health Services, 450 Eastvold Ave, Ortonville, Minnesota 56278, at which time and place all bids will be publicly opened and read aloud.

Bidding documents, including the Proposal Form, Drawings and Specifications, will be on file at the link below on September 17, 2022 https://woldae.sharefile.com/d-sd19213f82a944a2fb902b5ba815b6af8

This project includes renovations of existing offices, housekeeping room, and nurse station to create a new Respiratory Clinic within the existing clinic, addition of a new canopy and exterior ramp, and sidewalk replacement.

The Owner requires construction to commence immediately after the awarded bid. Schedule to be coordinated and confirmed with the owner prior to demolition with the selected contractor.

Contact Gretta Berens at Wold Architects and Engineers with any questions, [email protected], 651.227.7773

Thank you to our colleagues at Avera Granite Falls, who were able to give us a few doses of the Monoclonal Antibody Treatment used to treat COVID. Demand for the infusion is outpacing supply in Ortonville and Minnesota.