Gibson Area Hospital & Health Services | Gibson gets it! | Spring/Summer 2019

During a meeting with Rep. Adam Kinzinger (center), GAHHS CEO Rob Schmitt (left) and GAHHS COO/CCO Robin Rose (right) addressed current rural health topics, including access to high- quality, affordable health care. Gibson gets it! 3 Gibson news Community action on opioids In response to community issues related to the national opioid crisis, Gibson Area Hospital Iroquois County Liaison Susan Wynn Bence organized a focus group involving area stakeholders to address the opioid epidemic at a local level. Meeting monthly since October at Gibson Health of Watseka, the group explores options for action that do not include arrest or incarceration, such as education, community awareness, and access to treatment. Bence is now working with family physician Katherine Austman, MD, who completed the Addiction Medicine Fellowship at Rush University Medical Center, to coordinate a plan for office-based treatment with the GAH Behavioral Wellness Center and other hospital services. Paul Phillips, CPXP, GAHHS Director of Inpatient Experience Enhancement, provided University of Illinois nursing students with real-world insight into patient satisfaction, sharing a message with the professional nursing class that instructor and doctoral candidate Jeffery L. Williams, MSN, RN-BC, said was “both meaningful and relevant.” Using examples from actual situations, Phillips brought together curriculum concepts of leadership and management and their impact on the role of the nurse in a practical way that presented students with new ways to approach different situations to optimize patient satisfaction. Rural health on the Hill Rob Schmitt, GAHHS CEO, and Robin Rose, GAHHS COO/CCO, were among more than 450 rural health advocates from across the country who joined the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) in Washington, D.C., for the 30th Rural Health Policy Institute in February to learn about healthcare policy and advocate for rural health care. According to the NRHA, attendees were also helping “to educate new members of Congress and long-time rural allies on the issues currently impacting their communities.” While attending the advocacy event and meeting with Congressional delegates on Capitol Hill, Rose and Schmitt were able to personally meet with Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Adam Kinzinger and thank them for their continued support of rural health care. An insight into patient satisfaction Jeffery L. Williams, MSN, RN-BC (left), and Paul Phillips, CPXP (right), brought patient satisfaction into the University of Illinois nursing classroom.