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Cody Progress Edition - Thursday, March 19, 2015 - D-1

West Park Hospital

D

O

ne of the more enjoyable

parts of my job is “rounding”

on our hospital patients to

ensure we are taking good care of

them, they are comfortable and to

confirm their experience with West

Park Hospital is a positive one.

I always enjoy when our patients

tell me their experience at WPH

is positive, but also appreciate

the opportunity to hear from our

patients about things we can do

better to enhance their care and

patient care experience.

I recently spoke with a patient

who shared with me that she’s been

“afraid of hospitals all my life, and

have been afraid to come to hospi-

tals to see family or friends because

I have panic attacks.”

I told her we emphasize to all

WPH employees that hospitals

can be a stressful environment for

patients and visitors and that it’s

important all employees recognize

this and ensure our patients and

visitors experiences are positive –

from the time they walk through

our doors until they leave.

This patient was emotional

when she shared this with me,

acknowledging her experience and

care received by all staff had been

wonderful, she had not been afraid

and she looked forward to some-

one knocking on the door because

she knew there always would be a

smile on the face of whoever walked

through the door.

She went on to say she was going

WPH strives to provide best care

to tell her family she wanted them

to bring her to WPH if she needed to

be taken to a hospital.

Our mission at West Park Hos-

pital is to be an excellent regional

health care provider by “putting the

patient first.” Our staff and provid-

ers are the cornerstone of WPH,

and I’m proud of the excellent care

and services they provide to our

patients.

West Park Hospital began the

third and final phase of the Facility

Master Plan last year and we are

excited to complete the “Bridge to

the Future” project in 2015.

We completed our new inpatient

acute care and intensive care floor

in January 2015. We have received

a great deal of positive feedback

from patients during the past month

since occupying this new space.

We’re excited to complete the

new restaurant and dining room

area that will be located in the lower

level of the new addition, and also

the completion of the new Baker

Community Education Center.

The Baker Community Educa-

tion Center will provide a state-

of-the-art education space large

enough to accommodate groups of

more than 250 people. The educa-

tion center would not have been pos-

sible without the generous gift to

the WPH Foundation by Drs. Lenox

and Fran Baker, and the WPH Foun-

dation matching the Bakers gift.

Cedar Mountain Center will be

relocated to the third floor of the

hospital once the space has been

renovated. This will leave space for

a parking lot across the street from

the WPH main entrance, which will

be expanded to provide convenient

parking access to our patients and

visitors.

WPH medical staff has grown

this last year with the addition of Dr.

Jeff Poffenbarger, M.D., neurosur-

geon; Dr. Randy Folker, M.D., ENT;

and Dr. Tyler Weaver, M,D., hospi-

talist. WPH currently has 53 physi-

cians on the active medical staff. We

expect to see additional growth in

our medical staff in 2015.

Park County is fortunate to have

such a large number of physicians

on the active medical staff repre-

senting 23 specialties.

We also are pleased to have Audi-

ologist Brandi Shepard join our

Allied Health staff, providing full

audiology services in the Cathcart

Health Center.

The WPH Foundation’s “Where

Buffalo Roam” project will be excit-

ing in 2015 for WPH and the com-

munity. This project will raise

money to support the construction

of the Baker Community Education

Center. It’s yet another West Park

Hospital Foundation effort support-

ed by many talented artists from

Cody and the surrounding area.

A special thanks to Cody artist

Jeff Rudolph for making this fund-

raiser a reality.

I’d also like to thank the WPH

Board of Trustees for the excellent

governance and leadership they pro-

vide to the West Park Hospital Dis-

trict in a time of continuous change

in the health care industry.

WPH has been able to achieve

ongoing growth in facilities and ser-

vices while always focusing on qual-

ity care and excellent service. This,

at a time many hospitals in the U.S.

are struggling financially, experienc-

ing decreasing utilization and elimi-

nating services.

I’d also like to express my thanks

and appreciation to the WPH Foun-

dation Board and Cody Medical

Foundation Board for their ongoing

support of new services, equipment

and facilities at West Park Hospital.

Everyone at your hospital hopes

you enjoy reading about the hospi-

tal’s progress in this 2015 Progress

Edition.

DOUG M

c

MILLAN

West Park Hospital CEO

The

Baker

Community

Education Center

will provide a

state-of-the-art

education space

large enough

to accommodate

groups of

more than

250 people.

Final phase of construction wraps up this fall

W

ork on West Park Hospi-

tal’s “Bridge to the Future”

building project continues,

with the third phase scheduled to be

completed this fall.

“The completion of the Bridge to

the Future Project will be another

successful milestone for WPH and

completes the WPH facility master

plan developed in 2006,” CEO Doug

McMillan said. “The project will

assist WPH in enhancing the level of

care and services we provide to all our

patients.”

In January the renovation and

expansion of the second floor was

completed. It features a 29-bed

patient unit. The bridge, or connect-

ing corridor, to connect the older por-

tion of the hospital to the new addi-

tion is projected to be completed in

July 2015.

The new Acute Care and Critical

Care unit includes nursing stations

placed on each wing instead of having

just one central station.

“The new acute and inpatient

wing will benefit every patient,” chief

clinical officer Keith Ungrund said.

Features include spacious patient

rooms with couches that transform

into beds, cardiac monitoring capa-

bilities for up to 16 patients, decen-

tralized nurse stations that put

nurses closer to patient rooms which

improves response time to patient

needs, and a focus on decreased

noise by closing off nurse stations

and installing sound reducing ceiling

tiles.

“It increases the number of

patient rooms by five compared to

the previous unit,” Ungrund said.

“The main focus of the design is to

provide an environment that pro-

motes patient rest and healing while

also incorporating the latest technol-

ogy and equipment to best serve our

patients.”

Patients were transferred to the

new wing in late January.

Work on the second half of phase

three began in February. The kitchen

and dining areas will be relocated to

the ground floor, and meeting rooms

adjacent to the dining area will be

renovated to house the Baker Com-

munity Education Center.

“We’re excited about it,” Director

of Nutrition Services Lia White said.

“It can’t come soon enough.”

The dietary department’s new

location on the ground floor below

the main hospital entrance, will be

equipped with new appliances, a tray

line for patients and pizza oven in the

cafe.

“In the current kitchen we’re so

spread out,” White says. “The new

kitchen will be more compact, which

will save time and be nice for the

staff. The new kitchen also will have

all the top appliances.”

Most of the food will be cooked to

order, which will cut down line time

for people waiting on food.

Patients also can select from a

menu and their food will be cooked

to order. The menu will feature about

six breakfast, and 10 lunch and din-

ner options.

“We have a host who will go up

and take their order and it will be

delivered by one of the kitchen staff,”

White says.

Family is welcome to come down

to the cafe for a meal, or a guest can

pay for their meal with the host, and a

tray will be brought up so they can eat

in the room with their family member

and do not have to leave.

The coffee bar which is currently

located at the Monument entrance,

will be moving down to the new kitch-

en area as well.

“The made-to-order salad station,

known as our Field of Greens, will

also be in the new kitchen area as it is

currently our most popular station,”

White says. “Customers will have

more options for the Field of Greens

station with various salads being

offered daily.”

The salad station and updated food

options are in part thanks to a part-

nership with Thomas Cuisine, a food

management company with emphasis

on scratch-cooking and first-class ser-

vice.

“They prepare everything fresh,”

McMillan says. “This saves on our

food costs and results in healthier,

more appetizing food. They offer low

fat and vegetarian selections on the

menu daily. People from the commu-

nity come to the hospital cafeteria

for breakfast and lunch like a regular

restaurant.”

Thomas Cuisine has more than 24

years of experience in health care din-

ing and maintains an 98 percent cus-

tomer retention rate.

“During the past year since Thom-

as Cuisine has been here, we have

increased cafeteria meals by 10,000

for the year,” White says. “Patient

The Canyon Rim Cafe at West Park Hospital offers a variety of healthy lunch options such as this salad served by executive chef

Tracy Lohr and her staff. The kitchen and dining areas will be relocated to the new basement space this fall.

Drs. Lenox and Fran Baker of Meeteetse donated $500,000 to

help fund the Baker Community Education Center.

The main focus of the design

is to provide an environment

that promotes patient rest

and healing.

Keith Ungrund

Chief Clinical Officer

Please see

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