Faces of Madison
The Daily Special with Heather Metcalf
Story and Photo by Jeremiah Kalb
When you think of “Madisonhealth,” what sorts of images pop into your mind? Is it the life-saving measures available in the ER? Maybe the state-of-the-art imaging technology for head-to-toe? Possibly the welcoming of new life at the Family Maternity Center? Most definitely, the compassionate care. Madisonhealth covers it all when it comes to health care.
And yet here in the heart of Upper Snake River Valley, at Madison Memorial Hospital, in Rexburg, Idaho, we find a 4.6 star Google rating for “delicious eats” at the Paragon Café. One patron proclaims online, “This is dang good food!” Out of a hospital cafeteria? Really? Yes!
I had the opportunity to catch up with Heather Metcalf, the mastermind behind the daily specials. Formerly a full-service copy center manager, she’s been creating popular dishes like her Brisket, Cilantro Lime Ranch Steak Salad, Beef and Cheese Crunch Wrap, and many other mouth-watering dishes the past three years after starting out on the cash register, salad bar, and grill.
“Some days, I can’t believe I’m here doing this.” At first, she was a bit shocked to be offered the job because she had never worked at any food-related job. “I thought, let’s just do this. You either fail, or you don’t. Or you fail, and you learn how to do it right.”
She weighed the risk and staked her claim on an unfulfilled dream.
Heather is a self-made success story teaching herself from books and online platforms. She learned to cook the 80-plus customer daily specials through experimentation and picking up some tips here and there from cookbooks and watching cooking shows.
Her sparse on-the-job training has made her more creative, making her the chef she is today. “In the beginning, I felt I needed guidance, but now I know what to do. I can figure it out. I like the creativity. I don’t need a book to tell me, hey, you need to do it this way or that way.”
Before whipping up her signature dishes in the Paragon, she devoted thirteen years to the family’s copy shop business before she decided it was finally time to do what she watched her brothers do – go live their dreams.
For as long as Heather can remember, she wanted to don a chef coat. “Watching and learning how people cook has always intrigued me.” This intrigue catapulted the calm dynamo into experiencing her ultimate joy.
“Knowing I can make a difference in someone’s day by serving them a delicious meal makes me happy.” Heather knows food is a great way to comfort someone having a bad day.
One complicating factor could have stopped Heather from pursuing her passion. Family.
“Cutting ties from the family business was tough because my dad did not want me to leave.” Heather found it challenging to see her dad cope with her not being behind the counter serving customers, but life became delightfully less stressful.
Being in a family business comes with plenty of challenges, and Heather’s experience was no exception. “I loved the job, don’t get me wrong, but having that family break up, I now have a relationship with my family,” she smiles. “I love it.”
The pace and intensity of Heather’s workday will scramble most people’s brains. If not, the others will surely lose their minds when they realize the chicken for today’s special is still on the road in some delivery truck, and it’s about time to start serving hard-working healthcare heroes.
Heather is allotted four hours to prep a special. This late delivery cost Heather about 1.5 hours, bringing the special to hungry mouths later than usual. If it is not a late delivery, which has only happened this one time, there is always something keeping Heather on her toes.
“You see all the magic on TV, but it’s all clipped for our viewing pleasure. Most people don’t realize that they dumped all their batter on the floor somewhere in the middle and had to start over.”
Heather lives daily for these challenges and does not see herself stopping to rest on her laurels. “This is my calling in life,” she says.
Behind the Scenes of COVID19: Respiratory Therapist Gerod Jones Helps Patients Breathe Easier
Story and Photo by Jeremiah Kalb
Once behind-the-scenes health care workers, respiratory therapist Gerod Jones, and his colleagues have garnished worldwide recognition for their expertise on breathing – the issue at the core of the pandemic.
Not being able to breathe is a terrifying thing to experience. Fear in his patients’ eyes is something Gerod has seen many times in the last two-and-half years treating COVID patients.
“We help calm that by reassuring them what we’re doing, helping them take deep breaths, and then completing treatments that make breathing easier,” Gerod says.
Calm, reassuring words and supplemental oxygen through a nasal cannula, a device that goes into the patient’s nose, helps Gerod’s patients’ breathe easier.
“I tell them to not worry about what’s going on. Just to clear their minds and breathe through their mouth and out through their nose.”
Proning patients is another familiar part of treatment protocols for COVID.
“We put them on their stomach to get more oxygen to the lungs. It helps with breathing, to get oxygen to their lungs because if they lay on their back, it’s all smushed and it’s already inflamed with COVID.”
It’s not easy for the patient. In a 24-hour period, patients should be proned for 12 hours.
The sickest patients require a tube placed down their throats, known as intubation, and connected to a mechanical ventilator that breathes for them.
“We need to help these patients breathe to get them over the humps.”
In our COVID-era, Gerod has seen more worse-case scenarios than ever before. “Of course, we have the attack on the lungs, but to watch it go to a patient’s heart and kidneys is something else.”
The patient’s Gerod refers to require blood thinners and dialysis.
A native of Ucon, Idaho, Gerod decided to make respiratory therapy his ambition and career after watching his young daughter suffer from asthma and allergies.
“I became interested in answering the question of how can we make this better and what triggers asthma and learned all that stuff and made it a career,” he says.
Before COVID, Gerod spent most of his time treating chronic conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, as well as acute conditions, such as adults with heart attacks or premature babies with underdeveloped lungs.
In the early days of COVID, even though being fitted with an N95 mask, goggles, gown, and booties on the shoes, Gerod and others worried whether or not they would be taking the virus home on their clothes. Understandably.
Do you remember when some went to the extra effort of wiping down their grocery store purchases? It’s the same line of thinking.
“We now know you can’t get it on your clothes. It was scary at first [entering the patient’s room], but once we did it, we were like, it’s okay, and we got used to it.”
Thankfully, front-line workers like Gerod and others were brave by finding a way through their fears and mustering up the courage to put themselves at risk every day.
“You see what happens when patients get better, and that motivates me. So I think that’s the biggest thing: every time you see success, you’re like, okay, I can keep doing this.”
Gerod looks back over his eight years of treating people with breathing problems, and he is grateful for the spotlight that has been placed on his profession.
“We’ve been here forever,” Gerod smiles. “People usually see doctors and nurses on TV, but now we mean something more to the public.”
Motorsport Adventures with Peer Review Nurse Sue Salvesen
Story by Jeremiah Kalb
As a motorsports enthusiast, Peer Review nurse Sue Salvesen loves spending time on the many miles of trails and dirt roads in Eastern Idaho whenever the opportunity presents itself.
“I love the outdoors, and riding motorbikes get me out in the great open spaces to enjoy the sights, smells, and explore,” she says.
Sue and her husband, Dave, are owners of many motorsport vehicles, including a Kawasaki 140 and Polaris RZR for off-roading and a Gold Wing street bike for long-distance cruising.
One of Sue’s favorite outdoor scents when riding are those top-secret huckleberry patches.
“You can smell the patches when you’re close,” she says.
These tart purple treats grow in the mountain areas, where they are kept cool by trees and overgrowth.
When asked about the locations of such forest treasures, Sue only shared limited information.
“Oh, about 20 minutes up in the foothills,” she smiles.
In Idaho, most like to guard their top-secret picking locations, so I asked Sue what else she wanted to share about biking outdoors.
“It’s funny when you’re enclosed in a car; you don’t notice the temperature changes from cold to hot like you do on a bike,” she says.
Sue savors those moments when going into irrigation areas or down into farm areas where the temperatures and smells can change suddenly. Motorsports give her the freedom to mindfully experience these sensations, and Sue loves every minute of it.
Her enthusiasm for enjoying nature and living in the present moment is an excellent reminder for all of us to stop and smell the roses every once in a while, wherever we are.
When we smell something, a signal is sent directly into the neocortex and limbic system, making it a powerful trigger for inducing memories, emotions, and thoughts.
While noticing the world around her, Sue enjoys riding on paved roads just as much as dirt roads.
“We’ve done a five-day ride through Montana on the Gold Wing, stopping at a hot spring each night that was way fun.”
Montana is home to over 50 hot springs, offering relaxing soaks in majestic mountain settings.
“We have a little trailer we take behind us and camp. If we don’t want to camp, we’ll get a hotel. It depends on how far we go that day.”
Born and raised in Rexburg, Idaho, Sue, a nurse for 30 years and Dave, a retired service manager/motorsports mechanic, raised four boys and two girls to love riding. Their children are now raising children of their own to love the sport as much as their parents and grandparents.
“All 10 of our grandchildren love to dirt bike,” Sue says. “The younger ones fight to ride “shotgun” in the side-by-side with grandma.”
When they do the math, as many as 28 of Sue’s family members love to escape to Moab or Kanab, Utah, every third week in March to enjoy seemingly endless possibilities for adventure.
Moab, known as the Mecca of off-road recreation, offers them unique motorcycle riding with some of the most stunning red rock landscapes on Earth.
“It’s a big family affair,” Sue says.
Closer to home, the family’s top favorite escape is Moody Meadow, 25 miles southeast of Rexburg. This lesser-known mixed pine and broad leaf forest make the travel through long dusty roads and windy turns to reach this spot worth it.
“All of our kids have been raised to ride there,” Sue says.
The trails are quickly accessible, so Sue’s family can easily take off and ride and come back one hour or four hours later as they please.
“This puts me with the ones I love to enjoy this sport together,” she says.
So we see that spending time with family can be a joyful experience when “play” is part of the mix.
Honoring Corinna’s Wish with Diagnostic Services Assistant Mary Jones
Story by Jeremiah Kalb
Almost twenty-six years ago, Diagnostic Services Assistant Mary Jones gravely ill daughter asked for help making her wish come true, which was to donate 100 quilts to a pediatric unit in Nebraska.
Rexburg resident Corinna Jones, age six at the time, was visiting the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha for her first small bowel transplant. While there, she noticed other kids like her in need.
“The hospital is nice, but their blankets are scratchy and yucky,” Corinna told her grandmother who was living in Missouri at the time.
Elda Mae Billings rallied her friends together, who made 100 quilts. Young women in the Omaha area tied an additional 110 quilts to help make Corinna’s wish come true.
On November 5, 2006, six-teen-year-old Corinna Jones passed away after a lingering illness, but her wish continues to be honored for those children who need to be comforted.
“Donations and participation have dwindled, but around 30 quilts are supplied each year to local hospitals, including Madison Memorial,” Mary says. “We’d love to see more involvement.”
Corinna knew that she could not give a hug to every kid who needed one when they were having a hard day, so giving a Corinna Quilt meant she could still share her love with them in a meaningful way.
“Wrap yourself in a Corinna quilt and that will be a hug from Corinna.”
Corinna experienced many hard days herself.
“She had a volvulus that killed all but 60 centimeters of her intestine when she was almost five years old,” Mary says.
Volvulus is a condition in which the bowel twists on itself, causing obstruction to the flow of material through the bowel. It can also lead to obstruction of the blood supply to the intestine itself, which can result in tissue death within the bowel.
Emergency surgery was necessary to repair Corinna’s volvulus and remove the dead tissue. The original plan was to fly Corinna to Salt Lake City, but a snowstorm grounded her plane.
“The on-call surgeon in Salt Lake City actually told Dr. Podany in Idaho that there was nothing they could do for her.”
The local surgeon instead elected to remove her bowel and work with it, salvaging what was viable.
“Dr. Podany saved her life,” Mary says.
This mother of nine children calls the snowstorm and Dr. Podany’s healing hands two of the many miracles in Corinna’s life.
Over the next nine years, Corinna endured multiple transplants and surgeries involving her small bowel, liver, and pancreas, all at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Mary felt overwhelmed and frustrated as a parent but also blessed and amazed.
“Corinna seemed to have a special talent and ability to handle her sickness.”
She loved to cook and wanted to be a chef. “Believe it or not, she could watch the Food Channel while not being allowed to take anything by mouth.”
Benjamin, Corinna’s youngest sibling, a newborn at the time, also helped lift Corinna’s spirits on her awful days.
“The sicker she got, the more important Ben became. He’d snuggle with her in bed. Somedays, she’d say, give me Ben, and I’d put Ben next to her, and she’d go to sleep.”
With family and friends supporting her the whole way, Corinna did not let her 12-year illness hold her back.
When Corinna was 16, after her third transplant, she enjoyed nearly a year of ordinary things teenagers do. Such things as going to school for almost the entire year, attending a Halloween dance, completing her driver’s education, making friends, orthodontics, and the most expensive glamor photo shoot in town that she negotiated for herself at a mighty steep discount.
“I couldn’t afford Travis Gugleman photos, but she wouldn’t let it go,” Mary remembers. “I pulled in one day and suggested that she go talk to him.”
A short while later, Corinna returned to the car beaming from ear to ear bursting with news. She told her mother that Travis would take her pictures for $60, and she needed to bring three outfits. “I was dumbfounded,” Mary says.
This was the way Corinna did things. She died two weeks after the photo shoot. At the time, Mary could not fathom how significant the gift Corinna would leave behind.
Perhaps Corinna’s last few days on earth best illustrate her determination to make every minute count. “She had her grandma over to read Shakespeare to her so she would not get behind in English class,” Mary says.
Soberly, Corinna’s life should remind us all that tomorrow has many uncertainties and that our earthly lives are just a vapor.
“So share your love,” Mary says.
Today, Mary’s family and a few volunteers make Corinna Quilts.
“We do this to help lift others in hard times.”
More quilts are needed to help put smiles on children’s faces. As a Corinna Quilt volunteer, you have the extraordinary opportunity to brighten a child’s day and make their hospital stay less scary. To donate, please contact Mary Jones in the Lab at 208-359-6444.
“Even if your donation is only one quilt, it can still make a difference.”
Corinna, age 14.
Corinna makes a cake and brother Talon.
Corinna and siblings Joseph and Victoria.
Talking Physical Security and Safety with Tanner Dillon
Story and Photo by Jeremiah Kalb
On a rare day that Security Supervisor Tanner Dillon and his team do not have a security event, you can be certain he is self-analyzing how they could have handled previous incidents better.
“This is incredibly important and making this a habit is something that I prioritize,” Dillon says. “This is the best way to become better and improve.”
Dillon knows it is impossible to be 100% prepared for every situation. Still, it is always a good idea to look back and ask questions, even if the response went exceptionally well.
Born and raised in Boise, Idaho, Dillon seized a unique opportunity in February to develop a new physical security program from the ground up for our Organization when the Rexburg Police Department contract ended.
“This is a new program and we are always looking for ways to improve our trainings to better be prepared for and prevent future incidents,” he says.
Dillon reviews daily security-related incident reports looking for ways to improve.
The organization’s security program consists of verbal and physical de-escalation techniques.
“We are trained to respond to security risks such as combative or aggravated patients and visitors.”
Every Wednesday, Security personnel and some BHU and ER staff log time on the blue mat at PAC Jiu-Jitsu in Rexburg to work on their de-escalation and Jiu-Jitsu skills.
Jiu-jitsu is a martial art focused on hand-to-hand techniques to subdue a combative person on the ground. With proper training, a smaller person can subdue a larger person empty-handedly.
“Physical interactions are a last resort.”
Dillon prefers to manage dicey situations using the art of words.
An excellent example of ‘verbal Jiu-Jitsu’ is a scene from ‘Enter the Dragon’ where Bruce Lee describes his martial arts style as the ‘art of fighting without fighting’. Lee redirects a hostile situation by nicely setting an aggressor out to sea in a small boat, much to the delight of everyone else on the big boat.
Sometimes physical interactions are the only remaining option.
“So having this program [Jiu-Jitsu] is a great tool in our belt to help keep all involved in a tense situation safe.”
On average, Security responds to one to two events per 24 hours.
There is a common security threat that keeps them on their toes around the clock.
“That would be responding to the ER or BHU to help the medical staff with a combative patient or a patient who might get combative,” Dillon says.
His most memorable security event to date involved a combative patient on the BHU unit. He and several others responded quickly to help de-escalate the situation. While the incident was emotionally charged, everyone remained safe.
Thanks to Dillon and others remaining calm and collected, no one was hurt or injured. “No further incident happened with that specific patient.”
He invites all employees to live most of their days in Condition Yellow, a level of awareness taught by the late Jeff Cooper. “It is not necessarily being paranoid or nervous all the time,” Dillon says. “It’s only being aware of what is going on around you.”
This state of awareness will help prevent one from being surprised by the actions of another person.
In Condition White, you are relaxed and unaware of what is happening around you. Dillon explained that this is where things are so routine that people are not looking or being attentive to certain things around them. It is natural and not inherently wrong, but they are typically more susceptible or prone to being a victim of their surroundings.
“Condition Yellow allows you to recognize things and security risks, giving you more time to react.”
Dillon most enjoys rounding and checking in with staff to see how they are doing. “Mainly showing that I am around to keep them safe and serve and help them with their needs.”
Keeping the Organization Stocked with Warehouse Lead Jenna Manwaring
Story and Photo by Jeremiah Kalb
A primary goal of the Purchasing/Materials Department is to supply every care team so they can provide patient care while not having to worry about supply levels.
Warehouse Lead Jenna Manwaring and her team keep the organization stocked in the face of COVID, supply chain disruptions, and various other inconveniences.
“Our first priority is to get the hospital stocked from the day and night before so the care teams can take care of their patients,” Manwaring says.
She oversees every pharmaceutical, supply, health and wellness product, and piece of medical equipment that comes into the organization.
“If the hospital does not have the supplies available for staff, no one could do their jobs,” Manwaring says.
Big pallet shipments are received from supply-chain giants Cardinal and Medline twice a week. Random shipments from Waxie, Staples, Airgas, Diamond Line or Old Dominion can trickle in anytime.
“On occasion, we have had up to 12 pallets for COVID related items,” she says.
The warehouse handles between two and ten pallets daily at the receiving dock.
Sometimes deliveries come through with apparent damage. While freaking out is one option (we need it now), dealing with the issue calmly and professionally, without finger-pointing, gets things back on track quickly and efficiently.
Before shipments can make it to the receiving dock for shelving or distribution, Manwaring reconciles a computer inventory with what is on the warehouse floor twice a week.
After this, she can generate purchase orders. “My list of POs is then given to Caleb, our buyer, to order from the vendor,” she says. “He places the orders from our different vendors, and they pull the order on their side, and it is shipped to us.”
Sometimes items do not ship as the organization expects—deep sigh. Even though the whole world is seemingly on backorder these days, the organization works around this challenge as best it can.
“Our buyer will look to see if the vendor has a comparable item in stock, or they will look at one of our alternative vendors to see if they have an item that will work,” Manwaring says.
Most employees do not see all the behind-the-scenes work going on, so it makes sense why they are not always understanding of delays.
“Communication is important,” she says.
Manwaring is grateful when delayed products eventually arrive.
“Seeing an original item that has been on backorder for months finally come in is the best,” she says.
Manwaring points out that this means that manufacturing has finally been able to catch up on their end. “It takes a little bit of stress off of us trying to find items that will work in the meantime,” she adds.
One might wonder what the most stocked item in the organization is.
“Putting COVID aside, I would say IV starts and primary tubing,” Manwaring says. “I order those items every time I place an order for the warehouse.”
She thinks most people would be surprised at how expensive it is to stock the hospital. “It blows my mind the dollar amount we stock daily.”
To outsiders, stocking between 50-100 different items in each department might look like a frantic, herculean effort, but for Manwaring and her team, it is calm in the warehouse.
“We have a daily routine we follow that keeps filling orders and receiving shipments running smooth,” she says.
The warehouse recently rearranged and relabeled the isles, so the items flow better.
Supply-chain that flows is nirvana for people like Manwaring and her teammates.
Because of their hard work, staff can quickly pull that IV start and countless other supplies from the shelf.
Why does Manwaring do all this?
“Seeing the joy it brings when items are delivered and working with some pretty stellar people in Purchasing,” she says.
Note: After the completion of Jenna’s story, Jenna accepted the role of Materials Management Supervisor. Congrats and way to go, Jenna!
In the Garden with Administrative Assistant Suzanne Willmore
Story and Photo by Jeremiah Kalb
Avid gardener Suzanne Willmore knows that when a flower does not bloom, you fix the soil in which it grows, not the flower.
Whatever you plant will not grow well unless you have healthy soil is her mantra.
“Be kind to your dirt,” she says.
One of the wisest men she knows, Willmore’s dad taught her that all health comes from the soil. He wrote for Organic Gardening magazine before it became popular.
“A plant can’t magically have nutrients if it can’t get it from the soil,” she explains.
Willmore knows what it takes to fix poor soil. One season, she got the unlucky draw of putting down more subsoil than topsoil for a new garden space.
Translation: There was absolutely no organic matter.
“We planted a cover crop of Austrian peas and hairy vetch,” she explains.
The result: green manure crop.
“It really amends the soil and adds organic matter,” she adds. Willmore is quick to point out that the technical term for this is “carbon sequestration.”
Willmore’s love for gardening began as a child in Chillicothe, Missouri when she walked behind her father as he tilled the family garden.
“He never made me stop,” she smiles while reflecting on the fact that her mischievousness only compacted the soil even more.
It is no surprise that Willmore would later make her parents proud by earning a bachelor’s degree in horticulture from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
Willmore wanted to pursue a career in landscape design in Portland or Seattle, two of the greenest places she knew, but ultimately decided to stay closer to home.
“Once I graduated from college and was working as an administrative assistant, I was too comfortable in my job and too afraid to move to a strange place,” she says.
Instead, Willmore started creating her oasis of beauty ten minutes west of Rexburg twenty years ago.
Situated on five acres in Hibbard, the Willmore homestead property looks nothing like it did in 2001.
Where a potato cellar and a farm equipment shop once stood, in their place, one now finds an orchard, a greenhouse, raised beds, and trellises for a garden.
The Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) that Willmore planted on the fence surrounding the tennis court is stunning.
“This has changed the whole feel of the yard by providing walls and architecture,” she says. “It’s beautiful in the summer with green leaves, in the fall with bright red leaves, and in the winter with places for the birds to be safe from sparrow hawks.”
As you meander along and pay closer attention, you’ll find peonies, iris, and Asian lilies beautifying Willmore’s flowerbeds.
“I really like growing flowers and plants in my flowerbeds,” Willmore says.
Take, for example, her Asian lilies. Highly popular, this specie of lily offers a wide array of colors, from the softest pastels to fiery reds and oranges that practically ignite when the sun shines on them.
“I love appreciating the beautiful colors and patterns of flowers,” she says.
Understandably, Willmore’s horticultural feats draw plenty of “Ooooooh’s and “Awwwww’s” from visitors.
She experiences an array of feelings when gardening. “Accomplishment when things go well,” she says. “Sometimes overwhelmed with how much needs to be done.”
One thing is for sure; you can bet Willmore will take an afternoon in the garden pondering her life and what she can do to better herself over a Netflix binge any day.
Taking Complaints to Heart with Patient Care Advocate Terri Farrer
Story and Photo by Jeremiah Kalb
While listening to angry, upset patients or their families all day may sound like a nightmare to most, patient care advocate Terri Farrer finds her work a source of fulfillment.
“When I can explain how and why a patient’s care was appropriate after investigating their concerns, it reinforces what a really incredible place Madison Memorial is,” Farrer says.
The landscape Farrer navigates to explore an issue and have a meaningful conversation does not usually begin as a walk in the park for the patient.
Before the patient, family, or caregiver found the fortitude, energy, and bravery to ‘complain’ to Farrer, they likely faced a medical crisis that turned their world upside down.
This patient experience makes Farrer’s work challenging, but she does not let this distract her from her mission.
“Patients have the right to report and have concerns addressed,” she says.
With one’s health on the line, it is understandable why the care provided might come into question from time to time.
“Patients are informed and reassured we are happy to investigate,” Farrer says. “They are asked what we could do to best resolve this for them.”
Farrer points out that facts determine the outcome. “I can’t side with the patient or the hospital until I know the facts.”
To collect all the facts, Farrer gathers information from the patient’s medical record, staff, and departments. Sometimes security footage is used to determine the facts.
“I present this to the Patient Care Committee who often have additional input or information requests,” Farrer says. “Together, we review all information and come to an agreement on how to best address the concern.”
One might believe the most used remedy to complaints is for the Organization to write off bills, but this is not the case.
Rendered services still cost money, even if some of the patient’s experience does not go exactly the way they expected. In these instances, effective communication is the key.
Born at Madison Memorial and raised in Hibbard, Idaho, on a little ranch with seven brothers and sisters, Farrer found her way back to Madison over 18 years ago.
She started in Health Information Management, then transferred to Risk/Compliance where she eventually accepted the role of Patient Care Advocate in 2010.
“I felt I could help with some of the communication concerns we were experiencing at the time,” Farrer says.
Her ability to turn patient complaints into Madison Moments has made Farrer great for the job over the past 12 years.
A common concern that arises after a medical workup is when the patient learns they are not suffering from anything serious. “Terri is able to discuss with them that even though the tests came back normal, we ruled out some pretty serious conditions,” says Nolan Bybee, Director of Risk/Compliance.
“I think most patients want to be heard if something seemed wrong to them and know it will be addressed,” Farrer says.
Her protocol is to verbally report the outcome to the patient and send them a resolution letter noting their concern and the actions that the hospital took.
The patient complaints Farrer collects play a significant role in learning and quality improvement in the healthcare ecosystem. The hope is for better patient safety and outcomes.
“Complaints and grievances are vital and full of opportunities to improve service to our patients and communities,” Farrer says.
She can also re-imagine the concept and process for ‘compliments and complaints’ in healthcare and hospital settings.
“I would hope to see patients feel empowered enough in the future that they speak up at the time of a concern, during their care, so that it can be explained or addressed right then and there and not turn into a grievance,” she says.
Community Appreciation Event
Community appreciation event at Madison County Fairgrounds, July 14, 2022.
20220714_173106
20220714_180833
20220714_180655
20220714_180322
20220714_180302
20220714_180254
20220714_180204
20220714_180131
20220714_180101
20220714_173539
20220714_173517
20220714_173400
20220714_173204
20220714_180740
Talking “Recreation Therapy” with Emily Johnson
Story and Photo by Jeremiah Kalb
When patients visit Madison’s Behavioral Health Unit, they work with several professionals to help them return to good mental health.
The most well-known professionals involved in this care include a psychiatrist, social workers, and nurses.
A recreation therapist is a lesser-known professional who is equally vital to a patient’s success.
Emily Johnson, a full-time certified recreation therapist, describes recreation therapy as “helping people discover their zest for living because it’s those activities that you do every day that make you who you are.”
Simply put, Johnson helps patients help themselves.
“But more with a purpose of mindfulness and intent,” she adds.
The roots of recreation therapy first appeared during World War II when the Red Cross provided hospitalized soldiers with recreation therapy programs.
Leisure, recreation, and play make up the foundation of recreation therapy.
Without recreation therapy, a patient may find it challenging to achieve the highest quality of life.
For example, a simple card game checks the boxes for two of the five domains of recreation therapy: mental/cognitive functioning and social function.
“Cognitive thinking processes can really suffer when you’re going through a depression or anxiety,” Johnson points out.
The other three domains include physical functioning, psychological/emotional functioning, and spiritual function.
Johnson came to Madison after an internship at Eagle Mount in Billings, Montana, where she ran programs that ranged from equine therapy to whitewater rafting. Her clients might have suffered a traumatic brain injury or lost a limb.
Despite being nervous about venturing into mental health, Johnson applied and landed the job.
“I like to think I’m a forward thinker,” she says.
The hospital saw the value of Johnson’s therapeutic discipline quickly as the unit prepared for its grand opening in 2021.
“She taught us how important recreation therapy is in the stabilization of mental health crises,” says Marci Crook, Social Work manager.
Johnson’s first assignment on BHU was a tall order. Stand up a recreation therapy program from scratch.
She came well-prepared for this kind of challenge.
Johnson obtained considerable exposure to recreation therapy in various community settings, including starting up and running an adaptive sports camp for youth.
“That was my first experience developing a program that reached a lot of people’s needs because it was open for the community,” Johnson says.
Nine months later, Johnson is in her groove, delivering impactful patient experiences.
“I just love when they come to me after, and they’re like, I felt that was just for me,” she says.
BHU offers four recreation groups a day. Each group can have anywhere from one to 12 people.
Johnson finds psychological/emotional functioning the most challenging domain to work within.
“Just because emotions are hard,” she says. “They’re hard to regulate. It’s difficult to allow yourself to experience the full range.”
For this, Johnson loves facilitating a group called “Music and Emotions.”
“They draw how the music makes them feel,” she says. “Music tells a story on its own and without having to relive certain moments, patients can experience emotions in a safe and controlled setting.”
Fortunately, Johnson and her colleagues are doing their part to stamp out the stigma of mental illness and help others find meaning, independence, and purpose.