“Care and treatment in a safe environment”
FREMONT, Mich., March 18, 2020 – Spectrum Health Gerber Memorial today announced that patients at its Cancer Center can get lab tests done there. Patients undergoing active chemotherapy treatment and have appointments scheduled can enter through the Cancer Center main door off Pine Street. Gerber Memorial staff will be posted at the entrance to screen people for possible symptoms or risk factors related to COVID-19. The Cancer Center is open Mondays through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Patients who are going through chemotherapy treatment can call 231.924.1305 for a lab appointment. “Our Number One goal is to do everything we can to make sure the patients at our Cancer Center and our staff are safe during this unprecedented time,” said Brandi Miller, clinical manager of Gerber Memorial’s Cancer Center. “We appreciate our patients and their families’ understanding, and the hard work of our staff to adjust to rapidly changing conditions. Despite the challenges we face, we remain focused on making sure we can continue to provide care and treatment in a safe environment.”
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From Dr. Lori Tubbergen-Clark What a great community that we are fortunate to be part of---everyone pulling together to care for our children and one another. Thank you for all of your offers for help and support. All children ages 4 to 18 will be fed during the mandated school closure thanks to the hard work of school leaders, community partners and volunteers. Many households rely on meals provided by school districts to feed their children throughout the day, so bridging that gap during the mandatory closure due to coronavirus is of great importance to school leaders. All Newaygo county school districts and partner organizations have been hard at work doing what they can to help provide meals during the coronavirus shutdown. Food deliveries will occur for the next three weeks in all school districts. The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) requested and received a waiver from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to serve non-congregate meals. The waiver allows providers of school meals to serve meals without having to keep children together and on-site. This waiver allows districts to explore creative options for feeding children who depend on those meals even if the school building is closed. And that is just what schools in Newaygo County have done. All school districts in Newaygo County have made a plan for students to pick up meals, or to have school busses/vans drop meals off on bus routes or specified locations, or a combination of the two to distribute boxed lunches and breakfast items. We’re not encouraging people to congregate. We really want to limit the availability of the virus to spread. More information is available on the school websites but details include: Big Jackson Public School: Food delivery to student homes by staff and community volunteers. Fremont: Grab and Go at FMS between 11 AM and 1 PM and bus deliveries between 11 AM and 1 PM. Grant: Grab and Go meals provided at numerous pick up locations throughout the district between 12 noon and 1 PM. Hesperia: Food delivery via bus routes and pick up at designated areas on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Newaygo: Food delivery to designated locations on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. White Cloud: Grab and Go at WCMS between 11 AM and 1 PM and bus deliveries between 11 AM and 2 PM. GSRP Preschool Students: Local districts have kindly included these PK students in their K-12 delivery/pick up programs. We have a few gaps with children who do not ride busses and may not be able to access drop off locations. I will work with NC Emergency Services Director Abby Watkin’s office to fill this gap to assure these students have food resources. Career Tech Center: “Powerpacks” with at least 6 lunch/dinner entrees, 6 breakfast items, and 6 snack items will be delivered Thursday to the 22 CTC students most in need for weekend food. Education and Activity Center (students with special needs at the center-based program): We have some food access needs for this population. I will work with Abby to fill this gap as well. Gerber Memorial nurse recognized for helping plan an unplanned hospital wedding for patient FREMONT – As a wedding destination, most people might put Las Vegas on the list, or closer to home, The Shack, Camp Newaygo or the red barn in Fremont. Spectrum Health Gerber Memorial, not so much. But if you’re a patient and you won’t be discharged in time for your wedding, you want a nurse like Spectrum Health Gerber Memorial’s Amy Smith, RN, helping you come up with a Plan B. In summer 2019, Smith helped care for a patient in Gerber Memorial’s emergency department. To help ensure some procedures were done correctly, Smith stayed an extra three hours past her shift to make sure the patient was properly cared for. Before her unplanned trip to the emergency department, the bride-to-be had just come from her wedding rehearsal. The wedding was the next day, and her condition required her to stay at Gerber Memorial – and miss her own wedding. Smith had to break the news to her. What Smith did next shows why she received the DAISY Award recognizing exceptional nursing care. “Amy stayed to calm her down and then went on to help us plan a quiet but AMAZING courtyard wedding on Saturday afternoon, Aug. 3. Amy was a blessing to all of us!” read the entry nominating Smith for the DAISY award. The small wedding was held amid the flowers, shrubs and rock arrangements of Gerber Memorial’s Healing Garden, which is located just west of the main lobby. “I feel honored to receive a DAISY Award, but even more honored that I could help the patient and her family keep their wedding date,” Smith said. “Being a nurse gives me the opportunity to connect with people at a deeply personal level and be there for them during their moment of greatest need. Getting the DAISY gives us validation, especially in an area where we experience a lot of trauma, that we made a positive difference in somebody’s life because so many of our patients make a difference in ours.” Colleagues surprised Smith, a resident of Newaygo, with her award on Feb. 20. She has been a nurse in the emergency department since she started at Gerber Memorial in 2015. As a DAISY Award honoree, Smith received a certificate commending her for being an “Extraordinary Nurse.” The certificate reads: “In deep appreciation of all you do, who you are, and the incredibly meaningful difference you make in the lives of so many people.” The honoree also receives a beautiful sculpture called A Healer’s Touch, hand-carved from serpentine stone by artists of the Shona tribe in southern Africa. Nurses may be nominated by patients, families and colleagues, and they are chosen by a committee of nurses at Gerber Memorial to receive the award. Part of a national program, the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses is part of the DAISY Foundation's program to recognize the super-human efforts nurses perform every day. Nomination forms are available at nursing stations throughout the hospital and patients can submit those forms either by placing them in gray boxes near those forms or by handing them to a nurse or other hospital staff. Nominating forms will also be available at the hospital’s main lobby, as well as included in admission packets. The not-for-profit DAISY Foundation is based in Glen Ellen, Calif., and was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Barnes died at the age of 33 in 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. The care Barnes and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families. For more information about The DAISY Award and the Foundation’s other recognition of nurses, faculty and students, visit www.DAISYfoundation.org. Patients, visitors, nurses, physicians, and associates are encouraged to nominate a deserving nurse by filling out the nomination form at reception located at the main hospital entrance. Completed forms can be dropped off or emailed to shgminfo@spectrumhealth.org. As the coronavirus (officially named SARS-COV-2, which causes the illness called COVID-19) continues to evolve, District Health Department #10 (DHD#10) advises residents to prepare for, but don’t panic over the virus. DHD#10 is continuously working on preparedness and response planning for emerging communicable diseases like the coronavirus with federal, state and local officials/partners. Currently, Michigan has no confirmed cases of coronavirus. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) reports they are actively monitoring 76 people and tested 6 individuals that met the criteria for Persons Under Investigation (PUI). There are no individuals being monitored within DHD#10’s ten-county jurisdiction. As coronavirus cases increase worldwide, including in the United States, it is still uncertain how long and how severe it will become. That’s why taking action early can help protect your health and those you care about. The following measures may help decrease or slow the spread of infection, and reduce the impact on our communities:
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