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
CHANGES,
page D-2