NVH Newsletter May 2025
Hospital and Nursing Home Week:
The second week of May is Hopsital and Nursing Home Week. We recognize the incredible commitment of our staff who care for our patients and residents 24/7. Their unwavering dedication to providing compassionate, quality care makes a profound difference in the lives of those we serve. Thank you for your resilience, kindness, and the exceptional work you do every day.
Home Stretch:
The road crews are hard at work, and making great progress. For the most part, patients and employees have managed the challenging parking situation well, and to further test our resilience, the sidewalks adjacent to the Verbeck Building will be removed next week to prepare for the new ones to be poured. We are anticipating about two weeks of challenging access to Tonasket Family Medical Clinic and Health & Rehab. The main entrance will be inaccessible and all patients should follow signs to the southwest entrance.
Family Health Centers will also be impacted by the sidewalk removal, but patients should be able to use a temporary path to access the front entrance.
DAISY Award:
Thanks to our Nursing Leadership Team, NVH is joining a national program to recognize nursing excellence. The DAISY Award is a recognition program to celebrate nurses by collecting nominations from patients, families, and co-workers.
If you have had a great experience, and a nurse you would like to recognize check out the nomination form available here.
WMCC:
The Washington Medical Coordination Center has supported hospitals in the state with finding transfer locations for patients who were difficult to place. We typically use the WMCC when our normal referral patterns fail to get us an accepting facility. During COVID or other peak hospitalization times, the WMCC helped load balance and ensured that there was a triage system across the state to ensure all patients would be considered when bed availability was limited. Unfortunately, the WMCC has struggled to find funding and will close on July 1st.
This removes an important safety net and staff support, particularly in rural areas. Rural facilities have chiefly utilized the WMCC to get patients into higher levels of care. Dr. Wallace, the Okanogan County Public Health Officer, is working to bring hospital and EMS representatives together in the county to mitigate the WMCC loss.
North Valley Community Health Association:
The Hospital Foundation has launched its annual scholarships and is accepting applications until July 31st. The group plans to award 4, $1000 scholarships to students on a healthcare pathway.
Cold Water Safety:
As many of us have gotten the boat out of the shed and ready for the season it is important to remember the risks of cold water. The Washington State Parks website has a great resource to review.