Inside This Issue: • Dougs • Menards • Bomgaars • Godfathers • Hy-Vee • Unclaimed Freight SOME PARTIAL DISTRIBUTION Inside This Issue: • Dining & Entertainment • Help Wanted Advertise Here! Call Today! 605-665-5884 MV Shopper M I S S O U R I VA L L E Y Tuesday, January 14, 2014 • Volume 51, Number 2 Presorted Standard US Postage Paid Permit #32 ECRWSS Yankton, SD Postal Patron Local 319 Walnut Street, Yankton, SD 57078 • 605-665-5884 • Fax 605-665-0288 A ‘Window’ into the Future of Health Care Northern Lights Yankton’s outstanding health care community received a big boost this winter as Avera Sacred Heart’s three-story Northern Lights addition opened in midDecember. work remains to be completed, all departments within the new facility have been operational since mid-December. When Avera Sacred Heart’s current hospital was built more than 30 years ago, the planning process at that time included discussion of building a new kitchen area. However, the decision was ultimately made to keep food preparation in the Benedictine Center, located to the south of the hospital, because Sister James Nursing Home was located in that facility, as well. During the intervening years, the need to update the hospital’s kitchen was not forgotten. “But it always took second place to the more clinical and technological projects,” said Pam Rezac, the president and CEO of ASHH. “The Sisters provide for that basic hospitality that our patients and staff deserve. Further impetus to do it was the fact that we need to replace the laboratory and build a new pharmacy. It became a multifaceted project.” That decision led to what “Northern Lights” project. In addition to a new kitchen, the more than $17 million expansion includes the brand new Northern Lights Café and gourmet coffee kiosk, pharmacy, laboratory, physician amenities, sleep lab, environmental services space and meeting areas, among other things. Avera Sacred Heart administration, board members, medical staff members and representatives from our Sponsors – the Benedictine and Presentation Sisters – broke ground for the new facility in July 2012. Located on the northwest corner of the existing hospital, the facility is built with an almost entire glass front facing north and along the “grand staircase” leading from the completely renovated hospital lobby up to the Northern Lights Café. “It is going to change the entire north face of the hospital,” Rezac stated at the groundbreaking. Numerous focus groups provided input on what they wanted to see in the new facility. These groups included patients, families, staff and physicians. A project of this magnitude also took several years of planning spanning the course of several board members and administration during the years, according to board chair Rob Stephenson. “These projects aren’t possible without years of preparation, he stated during the ribbon-cutting ceremony in December. “It has required meticulous planning for years for something like this to be possible. The Sisters, current and past board members and administrations had the vision to ensure that Yankton remains a regional health care center, as opposed to a community hospital. impact on the economy of Yankton and the surrounding region,” he said. “Avera is Yankton’s largest employer, the health care we have in Yankton is basically unprecedented in a community this size and it draws people from over 15 counties in South Dakota and Nebraska. The economic impact cannot be overstated.” Vice President of Professional and Regional Services Doug Ekeren had originally expected a 24-month window for completion of the project, but a mild 2012/13 winter and dry summer expedited things and months ahead of the original schedule. “We really wanted to improve the hospitality aspect of our services,” he said. “We have great people who provide top notch care, compassion and customer service. This enhancement, I believe, is a great inviting and healing.” Since the hospital was built in 1980, the Nutrition Services staff has had to cook patient meals in the Benedictine Center and then cart it more than two city blocks to the hospital to distribute to patients. That problem has been eliminated. A special service elevator now connects the kitchen directly to patient care “With this move, we have with our use of staff and other resources. We can also make it a safer work environment for staff and provide better options for anyone coming through the Northern Lights Café. We can also be more responsive to food requests from patients because the kitchen will be in the same building.” Two other major components that have had a domino effect, include the additions of a new laboratory and pharmacy on the level point of view. Once the pharmacy had been moved, it allowed the former pharmacy area to be moved into Avera Sacred Heart’s Bio-Medical Engineering department, which needed to expand. For those who don’t know, Bio-Medical Engineers are the people who make sure all of the medical technology is running properly. The lab simply moved across the lobby to a new home on community in the • • care management was also • The Avera Sacred Heart Sleep Lab will be moving from the Benedictine Center to the main hospital sometime in February into newly renovated suites on • The Avera Sacred Heart Lights addition. The move added approximately 40 percent more space and created great discussion about whether or not to put the lab or the discussions with physicians, it was determined that lab eliminate precious seconds in Emergency Department, Surgery and ICU. The move of the lab also opened up additional space for future expansion of Avera Sacred Heart’s radiology department – a is growing by leaps and bounds each year. Other projects that have been either directly or indirectly involved throughout the process include: • All out-patient physical, speech and occupational therapy services are The move of the pharmacy to space is an enhancement from a patient safety standpoint and a staff safety and comfort • new meeting rooms, dining facilities and more computer work stations. A support area has been created in anticipation of future internal medicine residents. of the Surgery Center building. All in-patient therapies are in their previous location, but have had some renovations for patient and staff comfort and safety. New amenities for physicians, staff and patient and visitor resource center will be opened just south of the main entrance in the lobby where the gift shop used to reside. Rezac said she is excited about what the addition means to the hospital and residents in this region. “I think the Northern Lights project overall is already providing a much more hospitable environment for patients, visitors, physicians and staff,” she said. “The services provided are more utilizing technology that has not been available to us because of the space shortages in the pharmacy, the laboratory and the preparation of food. It also offers space for facilitating the teamwork that is going to be necessary in our new system of care. We have to be more focused on a coordinated delivery system.” www.AveraSacredHeart.org OUR CLASSIFIEDS BOUGHT. SOLD. It’s easy to sell your stuff! 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