Thank you to everyone who took our most recent employee engagement survey. 

ADS exceeded its participation goal of 70% and will be celebrating with an ice cream sundae bar on Tuesday, November 7, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The sundae bar will be set up in the cafeteria dining room area. 

In addition, we will have an ice cream cart at Tivoli from 1:15 p.m. to 2 p.m. for those who are unable to make it over to the hospital. 

For the evening and night staff, we will have an ice cream treat available in the break room freezers for those departments who have staff working off hours. 

Thank you again for your participation! We hope you enjoy this treat!

Therapy Services Director Nathan Weiler personally thanked his staff for meeting the engagement survey goal last week.

The Aspirus United Way Committee will also be supporting wear Jeans Days/Favorite Sports Team Attire each Thursday throughout the 2023 United Way Giving Campaign (October 5 through November 22; the last day will be the Wednesday before Thanksgiving).

• Stickers for Jeans Day/Sports Team can be purchased for $5 each, or $35 for all 8 days.

There will also be a raffle drawing for Aspirus Rewards & Recognition points! These points can be used to purchase many different items. There will be 8 winners of 20,000 points each. 

• Rewards & Recognition Points Raffle Tickets will be $5 each, or $20 for 5 tickets.

Sticker and Raffle Ticket purchase locations:

• Hospital Front Desk
• Wellness Center – La Vita Desk 2nd floor
• Tivoli Front Desk

If writing a check, please make it payable to Portage Area United Way. Follow the Portage Area United Way on Facebook to stay up to date on how they are serving the Portage area.

Breathe In, Breathe Out, Respiratory Care Week is Oct. 22-28. 

Thanks to your Respiratory Care Team at ADS for the work they do every day:

• Peter Cravillion
• Heather McConochie
• Alexis Strehlow
• Lisa Cisewski
• Barb Presley

A friendly reminder that we are accepting nominations for the Sunflower Award. Nominations are reviewed by a committee and the committee will then vote for each winner based on stories about individuals who demonstrate compassion, accountability, collaboration, foresight and joy in patient care.

When nominating, we ask that you use examples or share a specific event that happened. 

Support staff are an essential part of the team. Support staff includes all staff minus licensed nurses. The Sunflower Award allows us to tell a story about the extraordinary care our team members provide every day. 

All nominations for ADS are reviewed for a quarterly Sunflower Award ceremony. 

Nominations for support staff can be submitted by completing a paper form, which can be found at various locations, or the online form at aspirus.org/sunfloweraward.

As a friendly reminder, please continue to nominate all licensed nurses (LPNs, RNs and Advanced Practice Nurses) for the DAISY Award for the extraordinary care they provide.

If you have questions, please contact Linda Krueger, Patient Experience Supervisor.

Why: Joint Commission requires that we follow National Fire Protection Agency requirements.  

Content: Please do not place Cedar Board under food in hospital microwaves. This can cause smoke and set off the fire alarm. 

Call to Action: Only place correct items in the microwave – no cedar boards, no aluminum foil, or metal utensils.

Questions?

Contact Facilities.

The compliance deadline for participating in our employee COVID-19 Safety Program has been extended to December 1. Aspirus employees and medical staff members now have until this date to either get vaccinated or complete an online COVID-19 vaccine declination form.

The deadline has been extended due to ongoing delivery and processing issues from Moderna. The supply of updated COVID vaccines has been sporadic throughout the system, limiting team members’ ability to access the vaccine in time for our previous deadline.

Moderna has confirmed additional vaccines will be provided to Aspirus by the end of October. Aspirus Employee Health & Wellness will be coordinating additional vaccination clinics or accommodations for individuals who want to receive an updated COVID-19 vaccine. Watch the intranet and our vaccination schedule for updates. 

No Changes for Influenza

There are no changes to our October 31 participation deadline for our annual Influenza Safey Program. We have an abundant supply of influenza vaccines and vaccination clinics have been held throughout the system over the past several weeks. Clinics are available through the end of October. Aspirus employees and medical staff members must receive their vaccine or complete an online Influenza vaccine declination form by October 31 to avoid disciplinary action. 

Reminders

• Outside vaccination – Any COVID-19 or influenza vaccinations received outside of clinics offered by Employee Health & Wellness need to be documented. This can be done via the intranet using the “Data Transmission” option on the Employee Health & Wellness page.

• Masking – Masking requirements are based only on influenza vaccination status. Anyone declining the influenza vaccine will be required to wear a mask within Aspirus facilities for the duration of influenza season. Masks will not be required for anyone based on COVID-19 vaccination status. Masking related to COVID-19 is subject to change independent from vaccination status based on future COVID-19 activity or impacts.

Thank you for your patience and participation in these programs that support a safe work environment and help us protect our most vulnerable patients.