Latest News from Aspirus

{View email as Webpage}

October 4, 2022

Regional & Divisional News

Click to see what's happening locally:

Don't know your region or division?

Click the map to find out.

In This Edition

Employee Vaccine Clinics
Conditions of Employment: Deadline Dec. 1
IT Security Alert: MFA Fatigue Attacks
Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Chat and Collaboration with Webex Messenger
Level Up Your Meetings with Webex Tools
Team from Aspirus Iron River to Present at ACS Clinical Congress
Epic Order Set Standardization: Oct. 12
Epic Upgrade Coming Soon: Nov. 16
Supply Chain Week
Pre-Retirement Seminar and Financial Wellness Lunch & Learns
Recognize a Well-Being Warrior
Upcoming Memorial and Remembrance Events

Employee Vaccine Clinics

Click the images below to view our current flu vaccine and COVID-19 vaccine clinics for employees.

Participation in the Aspirus Influenza Safety Program is mandatory and employees must receive their flu vaccination or submit their declination form by October 31.

Aspirus Employee Health is offering COVID-19 bivalent boosters as supply becomes available at locations across our system. Please bring your COVID-19 vaccination card when receiving your booster to support the proper documentation of your vaccination series.

Conditions of Employment

IT Security Alert: MFA Fatigue Attacks

Malicious actors are using social engineering attacks to gain access to corporate systems.

One component of these attacks becoming more popular with the rise of multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a technique called MFA Fatigue.

What is it?

An MFA Fatigue attack is when a malicious actor runs a script that attempts to log in with stolen credentials over and over, causing what feels like an endless stream of MFA requests sent to the account owner's mobile device. The goal is to keep this up, day and night, to inflict a sense of "fatigue" regarding MFA prompts.

During these attacks, the malicious actor may contact the target pretending to be IT support to convince them to accept the MFA prompt.

This type of attack has proven very successful recently, allowing malicious actors to gain unauthorized access to large, well-known organizations.

What to do if you're a target of an MFA Fatigue attack

Do not approve the MFA request.

Do not talk to unknown people claiming to be from IT support.

Contact the Aspirus IT Service Desk (800-297-8780) to report you believe your account has been compromised and is under attack.

Change the password for your account to prevent the malicious actor from continuing to log in and generate further MFA notifications.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a collaborative effort between the government and private industry to help all Americans stay safer and more secure online.

The month has grown in reach and participation thanks to the combined efforts of the National Cybersecurity Alliance and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Now it serves as a grassroots campaign across a multitude of industries to engage customers, employees and the general public.

What is cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting critical systems and sensitive information from digital attacks.

Also known as information technology (IT) security, cybersecurity measures are designed to combat threats against networked systems and applications, whether those threats originate from inside or outside an organization.

Cybercriminals target customers’ personally identifiable information (PII):

Names
Addresses
Social Security numbers
Credit card information

They then sell these records in underground digital marketplaces.

Compromised PII often leads to:

A loss of customer trust
The imposition of regulatory fines
Even legal action

Watch the short video below on why cybersecurity is so important. Also look for the Information Security link under the “Work Tools & Resources” menu on the intranet to find additional helpful resources and information.

Chat and Collaboration with Webex Messenger

Did you know you can use Webex for more than just scheduling and attending meetings?

The Webex Messenger platform is currently in use and available to all Aspirus team members. It provides great productivity functionality such as:

Exchanging chats with individuals and groups.
Calling, video chatting and screen sharing with your Aspirus colleagues.
Establishing an area for project team members to collaborate, share documents and exchange ideas.
Scheduling meetings and viewing all your meetings (regardless of platform) in one place.
Taking your chats on the road with Webex on your mobile device.
And more!

If you are new to Webex Messenger or just want to learn a few tips & tricks on using it, please join an upcoming “Chat and Collaboration with Webex Messenger” class.

Search the catalog for Chat and Collaboration with Webex Messenger.

Level Up Your Meetings with Webex Tools

Do you want to get more out of your meetings? Need more participation from your participants?

Webex has the tools for that! With Webex Meetings, you can do everything from screen sharing to star ratings, and much more!

Use Webex meetings tools to improving meeting productivity by:

Enabling breakout rooms for brainstorming sessions.
Choosing co-hosts to help facilitate meetings.
Whiteboarding to share ideas.
Recording and sharing meetings.
Sharing your screen and allowing others to share.
Using Slido to increase engagement.
Scheduling meetings in your Personal Room or a Webex conference room.

Learn more about your Webex meeting options by joining an upcoming class for hands-on instruction, tips & tricks, and guided activities to help you take your meetings to the next level.

Search the catalog for Level Up Your Meetings with Webex Tools.

Team from Aspirus Iron River

to Present at ACS Clinical Congress

Team members from Aspirus Iron River Hospital will be presenting at the American College of Surgeons’ (ACS) Clinical Congress 2022 in San Diego, California (October 16-20).

Dr. Medhat Fanous (pictured) is the Surgical Skills Chair and Course Director for "Building a Comprehensive Anti-reflux Center with Diagnostic and Therapeutic Capabilities in a Rural Setting." Dr. Fanous arranged for surgeons from around the country to take part in presenting the course and for some of the Aspirus Iron River team to speak and run skills sessions.

Participating from Aspirus Iron River are:

Medhat Fanous, MD – Chair, Course Director and Speaker
David Lorenson, RN, CNOR – Speaker and Hands-On Instructor
Jamison Gould, CRNA – Hands-On Instructor
Sarah Williams, RN – Hands-On Instructor
Jenna Simbob, LPN – Hands-On Instructor

David Lorenson shares that it is “a great honor and pleasure” for the team members to participate and notes, “We are excited and grateful for this distinguished opportunity!”

Thank you, Dr. Fanous, David, Jamison, Sarah and Jenna, for being such tremendous ambassadors for Aspirus Health and using your expertise to ensure community surgeons understand what is involved when performing high-quality, anti-reflux surgery for their patients.

Epic Order Set Standardization

Next group goes live Oct. 12

The next group of Epic order sets will be standardized on Wednesday, October 12. Standardization will impact order sets system-wide to establish consistency, meet regulatory requirements, and ensure order set designs are centered on decision support and evidence-based content. The newly created standardized order sets will replace location or physician-specific order sets. Any previously user-saved preferences in Epic will be retired.

Please reference the crosswalk below to determine order sets that will be retired and their replacement. If any end user has personalized order set(s) that are being retired, that version will also retire. Users will need to re-create personalized order sets based off the standardization.

Order Set Crosswalk

Please reference this Order Set Personalization Tip Sheet to save your user preferences in the new order sets.

Submit a ServiceNow Order Set request if you would like to request an order set change or request to have a new one created. You can also reach out to [email protected] with any questions or concerns.

Supply Chain Week

Aspirus currently maintains an inventory of more than $3 million in personal protective equipment (PPE) and issues more than 507,000 items of PPE each week. Why are we sharing this information? Because Oct. 2-8 is National Health Care Supply Chain Week.

This year’s theme is Health Care Supply Chain: Leveraging Collaboration, Driving Innovation.

In honor of this week, we're celebrating our supply chain professionals for their dedication to high-quality patient care and their exceptional contributions to our health system and those we serve.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, our Aspirus Supply Chain team has been called upon more than ever to source the personal protective equipment and supplies needed for those on the frontlines of patient care battling this pandemic.

Thank you to all our supply chain professionals as well as our clinicians and care teams for continuing to deliver exceptional care to those who choose Aspirus.

Pre-Retirement Seminar and

Financial Wellness Lunch & Learns

Aspirus’ financial partner, Francis Investment Counsel, will present on several financial topics. Lunch & Learn sessions and an evening Pre-Retirement Seminar will be offered at Aspirus locations on the dates listed below.

Lunch & Learn Sessions

403(b) Basics: An Overview of the Aspirus Plan (11:45-12:05 p.m.)
Basic Estate Planning (12:15-12:35 p.m.)

Registration is not required, but seating is limited.

Pre-Retirement Seminars

Both in-person and virtual options are available. The event runs from 5:30-8:30 p.m. and a light meal will be included for those participating in-person. Employees and a guest are welcome. Seating is limited. Registration required by October 12.

Recognize a Well-Being Warrior

Aspirus Health supports our team members’ engagement in a life of well-being. We want you to soar to great levels of personal achievement and health, while sharing your unique skills with the communities we serve.

The Aspirus Employee Health & Wellness team is offering all team members the opportunity to share your success stories as they pertain to your well-being and the well-being of those around you. This is not limited to physical health. As we have all continued to learn, all dimensions of health are incredibly important to maintaining our well-being.

To recognize your exceptional well-being efforts, we want to hear your story, or the story of someone who inspires you. Your stories will be shared throughout our Aspirus community, and possibly to the communities we serve.

Please take a few minutes and fill out the Well-Being Warrior nomination form on the intranet. Look for the homepage banner or promo within the Wellness section of the intranet.

Submissions will be accepted through October 21 and will be reviewed by the Well-Being Committee. Winners will be selected and contacted before the end of October.

Upcoming Memorial and Remembrance Events

Community Memorial Candlelight Walk

Sponsored by Aspirus Comfort Care and Hospice Services

October 12

4:30-6:30 p.m.

St. Anthony Spirituality Center (300 E 4th St., Marathon, WI)

This event is open to any who have experienced loss and would like a quiet time and space for reflection and a place of peaceful acceptance. The grounds, open from 4:30-6:30 p.m., will have a lit path for walking. You may come and go as you wish. A time of reflection will start at 5:30 p.m. Please bring an umbrella in the event of inclement weather.

For questions, please contact Amy Kitsembel at 715.847.2703 or Troy LaRue at 715.847.2424, ext. 51606.

A virtual memorial link will be posted in October at aspirus.org/grief-services.

Service of Remembrance & Dedication of Living Art Tree

Aspirus Seasons of Life Hospice House (Woodruff, WI)

October 19

2 p.m.

Aspirus Seasons of Life Hospice House

(8951 Woodruff Rd., Woodruff, WI)

This outdoor event includes a reflection (prayer and remembrance for those we mourn) and the dedication of a Living Art Tree, in which participants may write a name, date or sentiment on a ribbon and tie it to the tree. Over the years, the ribbons will change with the wind and weather, and more ribbons will be added; all things – including the ribbons and tree – will change, thus producing a living piece of art.

Please RSVP by contacting Amy Kitsembel (715.847-2703 / [email protected]).

The following are words of thanks shared by the family members of Aspirus Hospice patients (Michigan and Wisconsin) during 2022. Click each image to view larger.