December 2023

Welcome to

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital's employee E-newsletter!

Delivered monthly by email,

working@bmh features news, information, and announcements for BMH employees.

Executive Leadership Team:

BMH Ends FY 23 with Fiscal Deficit:

But Much Smaller Than FY 22

by Jennifer Griffey, Chief Financial Officer

As hospitals across the U.S. continue to recover from pandemic-related losses, BMH is no different. While our total revenue for FY 23 exceeded budget by 1.49 percent, certain costs exceeded expectations and led to a bottom-line loss of nearly $1.9 million.

BMH's FY 23 expenses were over budget by 3.84 percent, mainly for the following reasons:

• Contractual allowances exceeded budget, with the main driver being a shift of traditional Medicare to Medicare Advantage.
• The need to hire expensive contract labor continued.
• Costs for services and supplies (including pharmaceuticals) remained on an upward path.

Put in context, however, this is a $2.37 million improvement over FY 22's loss of nearly $4.25 million. So, if you take a "glass half full" perspective, then we are heading in the right direction!

Obviously, we will need to continue making forward progress in 2024—with our recruitment and retention programs, with our ongoing efforts to streamline operations and reduce operating costs, and with our efforts to ensure that quality healthcare services are available and accessible to everyone in our community who needs them.

When Ordering Take-Out at Work...

With more and more staff ordering food for delivery, please remember that it is the employee’s responsibility to make sure the delivery driver knows to drop off the food at the table in the entrance to the Emergency Department.

Employees are also responsible for knowing the approximate time of their deliveries and picking up the food when it arrives. Switchboard staff is not able to receive take-out food orders or deliver them to the employee(s) who placed the order. 

Your cooperation is much appreciated.

From left: Kim Stetson and Becky McKinley

Since the launch of BMH's low-dose lung cancer screening service in May 2022, the hospital's Radiology and Imaging department has performed upwards of 250 CT scans on eligible patients whose history of cigarette smoking puts them at high risk for lung cancer.

We are proud to announce that on November 28 of this year, BMH earned recognition by the American College of Radiology (ACR) as a designated Lung Cancer Screening Center. This impressive achievement was based on BMH's 18-month track record of quality, safety, and compliance with ACR's established guidelines and procedures.

"ACR 'designation' is only received by programs that are already ACR-accredited. As such, it's highly regarded by imaging departments across the country," said Becky McKinley, director of Radiology. "I like to think of it as the 'gold standard' when it comes to a program's reputation for excellence."

Lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans and appropriate follow-up care can significantly reduce deaths from lung cancer.

"I want to give a special shout-out to Imaging Supervisor Kim Stetson, RT (R) (CT), who worked incredibly hard to ensure that BMH met ACR's criteria for designation," added McKinley. "And, of course, kudos are deserved by Dr. Mariusz Paluch and the entire CT team!"

NEW FACES at BMH

(late November and early-to-mid-December 2023)

Devin Millerick, Staff RN

Operating Room

Danielle Morrisey

Staff RN, PCU

The Quality Department's PDSA Highlights

from BMH's Quality Showcase in October:

Revamping ED Transition to the PCU

by Travis Kumph, Senior Director of Quality and Patient Safety

No one wants to wait a long time in the Emergency Department to get into a bed upstairs! At BMH, our average time to wait for a bed was 156 minutes; and sometimes the wait was as long as 236 minutes.

The ED and PCU team worked together to remove delays in the process such as broken pagers, written handoff tool and automatic “Bed Available Now” visual cues to bring the wait time down to 75-100 minutes on average. They are continuing to make changes to bring that down even further!

Many people in the ED, PCU, and IS contributed to this improvement. Great job!

Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee:

JEDI Sub-Committees Focus

on Three Action Items

In order to make BMH a place where employees of diverse backgrounds work in harmony, where our patients receive care that is free from discrimination, and where we address any types of disparities we may find in data analysis, the BMH JEDI Committee now works via four sub-committees. Our current action items are as follows:

1. Community Engagement – will be reaching out to collaborate with community partners such as Vermont Professionals of Color, Ethiopian Community Development Council and many more!
2. Staff Cultural Competence – Prepare for upcoming Education and Celebration activities.
3. Data Collection and Analysis – Continue analysis of SOGI data and streamline data gathering efforts.

Our JEDI Vision/Mission:

We at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital commit to learning, sharing, advocating for, and ensuring culturally effective healthcare with our patients, employees, and their families.

Learning: We will be humble lifelong learners, continuously expanding our knowledge of diverse cultures, traditions, and healthcare needs. We aim to understand and respect the unique backgrounds and beliefs of those we serve.

Sharing: We will extend our insights, experiences, and best practices within our organization with other healthcare institutions, and with our broader community. We aim to foster a culture of collaboration and knowledge exchange.

Advocating: We will support policies, raise awareness, and champion the rights of all to receive healthcare that respect cultural identities. We aim for culturally impactful, equitable, and inclusive healthcare. 

Ensuring: We will include the community’s vision of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We aim to create an environment where every individual feels respected, valued, and heard, regardless of their cultural background.

Together, we shape a future where healthcare goes beyond boundaries and guarantees the health and well-being of all.

Maplewood Family Practice and Windham Family Practice are pleased to announce that Chelsea Nadeau, RN, BSN, has joined their respective teams as nurse practice manager.

Chelsea has a bachelor's degree in Nursing from Chamberlin University. She started her healthcare career in high school where she earned her LNA, and later went on to become an LPN.

She comes to BMH from Langdon Place, a short-term skilled nursing facility in Keene, NH, where she served for two years as unit manager. Prior to that she worked for one year as an administrative RN at Phoenix House in Dublin, NH, and for four years in the Rheumatology Department at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene.

Please join us in welcoming Chelsea to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

AROUND BMH:

And the Winner Is...

Congratulations to the BMH Birthing Center (and their beautiful wreath, pictured above) for being the top vote getter in this year’s Wreath Making Challenge!

Approximately 35 BMH departments created amazing hand-made wreaths for the contest. All were quite beautifully and creatively done—often with department-specific themes.

Wreaths are currently on sale for $20 each and are located on display boards outside the hospital’s main entrance. Proceeds will help establish an Employee Wellness Nook in the hospital (a space for meditation, relaxation, etc.).

To make a purchase, please see the greeters at the desk inside the main entrance.

Thank you to all who participated in this fun event!

Can Wreath-Making Actually

Go to Your Head?

BMH wreath-makers Alison Marino (Medical Staff Affairs and Quality Department) and Aaron Malkowski (Quality and Risk Management) have a little extra fun during a wreath-making party at the hospital Wednesday, December 13th.





Check Out the Wonderful "Kudos for Colleagues"

Section on SharePoint!