ROSEBURG VA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM FEBRUARY 2018 IN THIS ISSUE QUEST Project Updates Meet the Interim Director Employee Spotlight Service Overview Featured Program New Employees By Sandra Kidd A Lifetime of Dedication Birthdays Catch a Star Upcoming Events Jean Bartholomew started her volunteer career at Roseburg VA Health Care System on January 8, 1968. In the beginning, she volunteered a few hours in the evening every week, helping with card parties and dances that used to be held on campus. Jean then moved to pushing a cart around the hospital that had personal items, such as tooth brushes, blankets, etc., for the Veterans here that needed them. In 1982, she moved to the clothing room, where she continues to volunteer to this day. Since 1996, after she was done raising her five children, she has been coming in twice a week. The photo above was taken at a special ceremony, celebrating her 50 years of dedicated service. Jean is one special woman! Photo credit: Sandra Kidd Special Recognition Continued Readiness
Transcript
ROSEBURG VA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM FEBRUARY 2018
IN THIS ISSUE QUEST Project Updates
Meet the Interim Director
Employee Spotlight
Service Overview
Featured Program
New Employees
By Sandra Kidd
A Lifetime of Dedication
Birthdays
Catch a Star
Upcoming Events
Jean Bartholomew started her volunteer career at Roseburg VA
Health Care System on January 8, 1968. In the beginning, she
volunteered a few hours in the evening every week, helping with card
parties and dances that used to be held on campus.
Jean then moved to pushing a cart around the hospital that had
personal items, such as tooth brushes, blankets, etc., for the Veterans
here that needed them. In 1982, she moved to the clothing room,
where she continues to volunteer to this day. Since 1996, after she
was done raising her five children, she has been coming in twice a
week.
The photo above was taken at a special ceremony, celebrating her 50
years of dedicated service. Jean is one special woman!
Photo credit: Sandra Kidd
Special Recognition
Continued Readiness
ROSEBURG VA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
FEBRUARY 2018 2
Project Goals and Accomplishments
Committee Structure
Jun 2016—Dec 2017
Decrease staff hours spent in meetings by 25% by 9/30/16.
Decreased staff hours in facility-wide meetings by 29%!
SATP Programming Nov 2016— Oct 2017
Increase utilization of all levels of substance abuse treatment and decrease
over-reliance on RRTP.
New programs launched and progressing well.
PTSD Programming
Nov 2016—Oct 2017
Increase utilization of all levels of PTSD treatment and decrease in over-
reliance on RRTP.
New programs launched and progressing well.
Admissions Jan 2017— Oct 2017
Decrease time from decision to admit to patient’s arrival on the unit by 20%
by 4/30/17.
Decreased time from decision to admit to patient’s arrival on the unit.
Transitional Housing Program Mar 2017—Oct 2017
Improve transitional to permanent housing, Veteran employment at exit of
program, and Veteran non-employed income.
Increased transitional to permanent housing and employment at exit.
“Look in the Mirror” Program Just-Do-It Feb 2017—(open)
Encourage & inspire employees toward self-reflection and exemplifying
ICARE core standards each time they see themselves.
Pending roll-out to all sites.
HCHV Outreach
Mar 2017—Dec 2017
Increase engagement of unsheltered to 80% and improve staff morale and
patient satisfaction by end of FY2017.
Increased engagement to 116% and exit to independent housing to 84%.
Culture of Safety and Respect Mar 2017—Dec 2017
Improve employees responding to survey and employee satisfaction by 25%
by 6/30/17.
Improvement in 3 of 4 metrics related to employee satisfaction
Award/Recognition Program Just-Do-It April 2017—Jan 2018
Reduce the time from Position Management Committee (PMC) approval to
job posting from 45 days to 12 days by 7/31/17.
New committee and process to decrease time from submission to award.
Supervisor Training
Apr 2017—(open)
100% of all new and current supervisors complete training within 1 year to
improve the quality of management and supervisor Training.
Finalizing implementation (target go-live deferred to 2018).
Communication Technology May 2017—Jan 2018
Optimize set-up for all main conference rooms for Roseburg VA Health Care
System.
Met target for optimizing main conference rooms (at lease one per site).
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ROSEBURG VA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
FEBRUARY 2018 3
Project Goals and Accomplishments
Quality Communication May 2017—Oct 2017
Increase staff knowledge of improvements by 25% by 8/31/17.
Increased staff knowledge of improvements by 21%.
ACSC Hospitalizations
Jun 2017—Dec 2017
Decrease hospitalizations for heart failure.
Decreased hospitalization for heart failure by 20%
Med. Rec. (APU/RRTP) Jun 2017—(open)
Discharge summary medication list will match the discharge medication list
with greater than 90% compliance by September 1, 2017
Testing changes.
Telephone Directory Just-Do-It Jul 2017—(open)
Provide staff a continuously updated and searchable directory to improve
communications throughout facility.
Correcting current information so new process can be implemented.
Just Culture
Sep 2017—Jan 2018
Improve Just Culture principles as evidenced by increase in near miss
reporting for patient safety of 20% from front line staff by Nov 1, 2017..
Increased near-miss reporting and staff trained in Just Culture.
Nutrition Direct Scheduling Nov 2017—(open)
Decrease average wait time for new patients and no-show rates for Nutrition
by 20%.
Changes in process.
E-Bulletin BoardJan 2018—(open)
Improve Veteran satisfaction with communication.
Changes in progress.
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February 8, 2018
Roseburg VA Medical Center
Building 16 Auditorium
Opening Ceremony 10:00—10:30 a.m.
Valen���ards, G�s, and Pa��t Visits
10:30—12:00 p.m.
Inpa��t Carnival
1:00—3:00 p.m.
If you have any questions, please contact
Voluntary Services at 541-440-1000, ext. 45311
ROSEBURG VA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
FEBRUARY 2018 4
David L.
Whitmer has
nearly 25 years
of management
and leadership
experience at
National
Institutes of
Health (NIH)
and the
Veterans Heath
Administration
and currently is
the Chief Operating Officer for the VA –
Sunshine Health Care Network (VISN 8). In
this capacity since May 2014, Whitmer holds a
senior leadership position responsible for
innovatively applying planning and health
administration skills to provide Veterans with
high quality care consistent with community
standards and industry best practices. The VA
Sunshine Healthcare Network, with a $5.1B
budget and 29,000 employees, is the nation’s
largest and busiest in the VA health care
system.
The network spans a vast 64,000 mile area
that is home to 1.7 million veterans, eight large
VA hospitals and more than 64 clinics in
Florida, South Georgia, Puerto Rico and the
U.S. Virgin Islands. In 2016, nearly 600,000
veterans made around 8 million visits to the
facilities. He completed two long term
assignments (6 months and 9 months) at the Con�nued on next page...
Tampa VA and West Palm Beach VA as the
Chief Operating Officer at the hospital while
permanent leadership was recruited. In these
roles, he oversaw non‐clinical hospital
operations including environment of care and
quality management oversight for two joint
commission and CARF (Commission on
Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities)
reviews.
Before coming to the VA, Whitmer was the
Executive Officer, for the National Eye
Institute (NEI), part of NIH. He served as the
principal advisor to the Director in matters
affecting human capital management and
workforce planning; grants, contracts and
procurement management; strategic
planning, management analysis; FOIA
(Freedom of Information Act), information
technology, technology transfer and
development (including patents, employee
inventions, and licenses); research space and
facilities planning, property, and other
general administrative support functions.
Whitmer holds a master's degree in political
science with an emphasis in public
administration and a bachelor’s degree in
education from the University of South
Florida. His master’s thesis explored
unfunded state personnel mandates,
particularly those for law enforcement and
firefighters, and their impact on the fiscal
ROSEBURG VA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
FEBRUARY 2018 5
Defense Military Equal Opportunity
implementation in the federal government.
In addition to government service, Whitmer
has been very involved in outside volunteer
positions. Whitmer recently served on the
Board of Directors and as Treasurer for the
Lions Eye Institute for Research and
Transplant in Tampa, the first and only
combined eye bank and ocular research center
in the world. The Institute empowers
researchers to conduct real‐time studies of
healthy and diseased ocular tissue leading to a
greater understanding of the events that lead
to blindness. He has also served as a mentor in
the Million Women Mentor project, which
supports the engagement of millions of
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
(STEM) mentors (male and female) to
increase the interest and confidence of girls
and women to persist and succeed in STEM
careers. Previously, he served on the NIH
Federal Credit Union on the Board of
Directors and as the Chair of the Asset
Liability Management Committee. In addition,
he was the Chair of the Loudoun County,
Virginia Planning Commission, and oversaw
rezoning and development applications for
residential and commercial project for the
fastest growing county in the United States.
He is a Fellow of the American College of
Health Care Executives (ACHE), a member of
the American Society for Public
Administration (ASPA), Association of
University Technology Managers (AUTM),
Society for Physician Entrepreneurs (SoPE),
and the Senior Executive Association (SEA).
When not at work, Whitmer enjoys spending
time with his family, playing golf, SCUBA,
exercise, and weight training.
health of Florida municipalities. A former high
school teacher and football coach in Leesburg,
Florida, he started his NIH career as a
presidential management intern in 1993,
spending his first year as an administrative
officer for the National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Division of Cancer Etiology. He then moved to
NCI's Office of the Director, where he was a
management analyst coordinating management
surveys and quantitative studies, producing
NCI procedure and policy manuals, and
developing automated systems for
disseminating information on these new
procedures and policies. In 1999, he became
the chief of the National Heart, Lung, and
Blood Institute (NHLBI) Management Policy
and Administrative Services Branch where he
formulated and implemented NHLBI's
administrative policies and procedures and
coordinated the delivery of administrative
support services.
Prior to starting at NEI in September 2006,
Whitmer was the Executive Officer and
Director, Division of Management Service at
the Center for Scientific Review (CSR). While at
CSR, he coordinated a transition of CSR’s peer
reviewer payment system for 80,000 study
section members to include a flat rate of
reimbursement and electronic payments to
replace paper based systems. In addition, he
chaired the NIH Extramural Transition Team
from current NIH extramural administrative
support functions in 20 different Institute and
Centers to one organization as a result of an
A‐76 Most Efficient Organization win. The
change reduced the number of full time
equivalent positions from 919 to 656 and, at the
time, was the largest non‐Department of
...co� nued from previous page
ROSEBURG VA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
FEBRUARY 2018 6
and I can see why her co-workers like her so
much. Very personable and easy to talk to is
only the start to Deborah.
When I asked her what she thought of the clinic
and local area Deborah said with a big smile, “I
really like it here”.
So what is next for Deborah after she has
already done so much. With a passion for
improvement she is already signed up for
Yellow Belt training and is planning on going
for that Black Belt Certification. This will serve
her well as she is always looking for ways to
improve processes. Next on the horizon for
Deborah could be in Quality Management, she
definitely has the drive and desire to
accomplish anything she wants. I say go get
em’, QM would be lucky to have you as are we
all!
Deborah is featured in the center of the picture
with her team.
Deborah Herigstad is one of our newer
members to the Eugene VA family. She started
in Eugene as a Medical Support Assistant in
May of 2017. Deborah is also a 22 year retired
Army Veteran! While in the Army she served
in the Signal Corps, Transportation Corps and
then moved into Retention.
After the Army Deborah moved onto a few
other career paths that included being a
statistician, phlebotomist, and
her most recent job in
California as a Clinical Lab
Scientist Assistant. She
wanted to was to get back to
helping her fellow Veterans
which is what brought her to
our VA. “I fell in love with
Eugene and love everything
about the area” said Deborah.
Moving here did not seem to
be a hard choice for Deborah
as her previous job kept her
working the PM shift which took her away
from her family and husband of 17 years. With
a new found freedom and more importantly
regular hours during the day she gets to spend
more time with her husband and favorite
activities. Just a few of her long list of hobbies
include Kayaking, Crochet, Gardening and
Canning. When not doing any of those or a
Chicago Blackhawks hockey game comes on
she must stop and cheer on
Deborah shows no sign of ever slowing down
By: Shanon Goodwin
Photo credit: Shanon Goodwin
ROSEBURG VA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
FEBRUARY 2018 7 Con�nued on next page...
Medical Equipment / Technology (Bio-medical) Lead by Biomedical Technician, Robert Hruza
Medical equipment/technology is closely
monitored and lead by Robert Hruza. This
section maintains the RVAHCS’s medical
equipment. Our technicians work grueling
hours to ensure the patient care is not
interrupted.
Projects Project Supervisory Engineer, Kevin ����
This section is comprised of three facility
Engineers, however it is short one
Engineering Technician and two
Construction Inspectors. All construction at
Roseburg VA Medical Center is overseen and
managed by this section. In fiscal year 2017,
we were awarded $15.6 million in new
construction and design projects; those
projects are in-progress now.
FMS or Facilities Management Services
(Building 10) is directly responsible for the
facility operations, maintenance, construction,
medical equipment/technology, and safety of
the Roseburg VA Health Care System
(RVAHCS). More importantly it is the men and
women that work in FMS that make a
difference every day.
The following sections are overseen by the
FMS Chief, Curt Gerritsen;
Maintenance and Opera� ns Assistant Chief, Wayne Adams
OIG Informa�on: Tip: We have received feedback from the recent OIG CHIP Review that was conducted at Puget Sound during the week of 1.8.18.
If you have a counter part that you know at the Puget Sound VA, please reach out for insight into our upcom-ing OIG CHIP Review.
The focus will be on the following topics: Leader-ship and Organizational Risks; Quality, Safety and Value; Environment of Care; Medication Manage-ment, Controlled Substance Inspections; Long-Term Care, Geriatric Evaluation Management; CLABSI; PTSD Care; Mammogram Services; and Credentialing and Privileging.
Please review your OIG CHIP Review Guide located at: W:\Survey_Readiness\FY18 CHIP REVIEW GUIDES (ORIGINAL), complete a gap analysis, and address fall-outs. (Additionally, please complete Clean Sweeps and Walkabout Guides.) The PTSD Care and Mammogram Services reaches the majority of the clinical programs in the Roseburg VA Healthcare System.
OIG CHIP Review and CBOCs/BHRRS can and will be reviewed.
The OIG will not limit their Review to the Roseburg VA Medical Center, they will visit any facility building asso-ciated with the RVAHCS.
They will ask about previous OIG Findings. The Inspectors will discuss previous findings at this visit. If you have questions regarding previous findings, please contact me. I am happy to address your con-cerns.
Inspector concerns. If you have concerns about what an Inspector is saying OR you do not agree with them, please do not argue with them. Please express your concerns to Quality Management and we will address the concern.
You don’t know the answer to a question. It is ok not to know the answer! They want to see that you know where to find the answer. Stating “I don’t have the answer to that question, but I know where to find it or I know who to ask.” Is perfectly acceptable.
Just Culture Please make sure your staff understand the concept of Just Culture and can speak to it.
Process Improvement Be proud of what you do, brag about the improve-ments you have made in your department. Let the In-spector know how great your department is.
Relax! Relax! It will be ok!
Disclaimer: The focus here is on OIG and TJC only.
ROSEBURG VA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
FEBRUARY 2018 18
Date Time Event Location Feb 8 10am-9pm National Salute to Veteran Patients Roseburg, Bldg 16, Auditorium
Feb 14 1pm Quarterly Memorial Service Roseburg National Cemetery
Feb 22 6pm Volunteer Recruitment Session Crescent City VFW office
If you would like to be added to the RVAHCS email list, please visit www.roseburg.va.gov and enter your email address on the right side under “Connect with Roseburg VA Health Care System”.
