Southwest Iowa Healthcare Sector Board
December 16, 2015 Meeting Notes
Business members in attendance: Pat Davison (Clarinda Regional Health Center), Arleatta Bartelson
(Elm Crest Retirement Community), Mark Anderson (Midlands Living Center), Steve Chamley
(Northcrest), Jackie Collins (Crossroads of Western Iowa), Keli Royal (Shenandoah Medical Center),
Jennifer Smith (CHI Health), Joel Dougherty (One World), Trista Driscoll (Risen Son), Mike VanSickle
(Bethany Lutheran Home), and Alan Blakestad (Ameriserve) .
Others in attendance: Darlene McMartin (Veteran’s Affairs), Cyle Forney (CBCSD), Gina
Schochenmaier, Lorri Haskell, Sheri Splichal, Shalimar Brunk, Keely Odell, Candi Porter , Terry Bailey
(IWCC), and Mary Warren (M. Warren Consulting).
Welcome:
Pat Davison, Board Co-Chairperson, welcomed the members and reviewed the agenda.
Members introduced themselves.
Changes to Continuing Education Classes: Sheri Splichal, IWCC Continuing Ed Coordinator, told
members that the way continuing education classes are delivered is changing in 2016. In the past many
short classes were offered and some had to be canceled due to low registrations. In the spring, the
classes will be structured in day and a half sessions which have a common theme, for example “End of
Life Care”. Students can attend all or part of a session. This clustering of training should be a more
efficient delivery system.
Nurse Aide Certificate Program: Candi Porter, CNA Coordinator, said a number of changes are being
made to the CNA credit certificate program. The modifications will better align the program with the
Practical Nursing and ADN programs. The survey Candi conducted showed that businesses want more
CPR and First Aid training, so these areas of the program are being strengthened. Candi would like to
establish an advisory committee that can do an in-depth review of the course. Interested businesses
should contact her at cporter@iwcc.edu
Career Fairs: Keely Odell, I-HUM Grant Coordinator, told the board about the Spring Career Fair for
Health and Sports Science students. It will be held on March 9, 2:00-5:00 in the IWCC Kanesville Arena
and businesses are being encouraged to register. IWCC will graduate between 700-800 students with
healthcare degrees, diplomas and certificates this spring so it’s a good opportunity to reach those new
grads. In addition, alumni that may want to change careers are also being invited. The career fair flyer
will be sent to all sector board members. Members suggested that the career fair be promoted in all
seven counties, and that special outreach to veterans is needed.
This topic led to a discussion about employee retention and turnover rates. Most businesses said their
highest turnover is with lower pay/skill positions, and with nurses. Reasons for leaving include: Shorter
commutes, salary, pursuing higher education, working in hospital settings, and family reasons. Many
organizations say retention is a high priority and some are implementing new programs aimed at
improving the culture and retaining workers. Jennifer Smith said CHI worked with Goodwill (Regina Bell)
on a hiring program. She will send the contact information to Mary so Regina can be scheduled for a
future meeting.
List of Training Needs: Mary Warren reviewed the list of previously identified training needs to
provide an update and get member input:
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Psychiatric Aide Course: Sarah Kleffman is researching this topic. Members said that
staff need Mental Health First Aid training, especially those who work in ERs.
Career Fairs: These are being held twice a year at IWCC.
Supervisory Training: IWCC offers several classes. Please contact IWCC if you’d like to
customize a program for your employees.
Health IT: It was decided that due to the variety of systems in use, this is not something
IWCC can properly address at this time.
Generational Differences: Adam Haeder’s presentation was held at the last meeting,
but Shalimar will research other presenter’s for future meetings.
Spanish Certificate: This class is offered in Council Bluffs and the LINC system can be
used to train students in Atlantic, Harlan, Clarinda and Shenandoah. The lack of
bilingual employees in healthcare will continue to be a concern.
Soft Skills: IWCC and IowaWORKS have soft skills classes available. Joel commented
that One World has adopted the program talked about at one of our previous sector
board meetings.
Communication Skills: Members said written skills (especially for younger workers) can
be a problem with many using abbreviations and “text writing” in their documentation.
Lorri Haskell said IWCC nursing students are taught narrative note, and customer service
and communication in their classes. Mike commented that staff can be putting
themselves in legal jeopardy if they don’t properly document patient status and care.
Critical Thinking and Analysis: Lorri said critical thinking is especially emphasized in
Simulation and Debriefing. She thinks nursing can become too task oriented, where
nurses are more concerned with completing duties than with providing care and
comfort to patients. Candi commented that the CNA course is so packed with essential
elements that it’s tough to include critical analysis. She is planning to develop training
for instructors and would like employer input on what should be included.
Diversity Training: It was agreed that this would not be a whole day class and we
discussed offering it as a Lunch and Learn or on-line training.
Medical Equipment Repair: Most technical repairs are outsourced to specialty firms and
vendors, so this is not a high priority training need for IWCC to address.
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Positive Work Culture: Joel said One World developed a program and he volunteered to
have their lead person present at our next board meeting.
Recruitment and Retention through Social Media: Shalimar had two presentations on
this topic several weeks ago that some sector board members attended. Additional
training can be arranged as needed.
Increasing the Pipeline of Talent: Members said we need to start talking about
healthcare careers as early as middle school. Mary said the Manufacturing Sector Board
is developing a video on manufacturing careers that businesses can use when giving
presentations to students. This may be something that this board would like to consider
doing for healthcare careers.
Hot Topic – Impact of the Use of Travelers: Shalimar led a discussion on the use of travelers in
health care organizations. There are pluses and minuses to utilizing travelers as a part of a staffing
strategy. Many members said it was a matter of how travelers impact their bottom line, because that is
an expensive service to purchase. It often comes down to the quality of each nurse because some are
excellent and others are not. In general, members expressed that travelers can play a part in meeting
staffing needs, but are not the preferred method of staffing.
Next Steps:
1. Joel will ask his staff member to give a presentation on their Workplace Culture program at the
February meeting.
2. Jennifer will send Mary the contact information for Regina Bell at Goodwill so she can be scheduled
for an upcoming meeting.
3. Shalimar will look for another speaker to discuss generational differences in the workplace.
Pat thanked member s for their valuable time and input, and wished all a Merry Christmas!
Next Meetings:
February 17, April 20, June 22