St. Luke's Health System

An energetic crew of 13 from St. Luke’s Elmore spent a recent Saturday morning spiffing up a two-mile stretch of Highway 20 as part of Idaho’s Adopt-A-Highway program.   “It is amazing how much trash gets tossed out!” one team member shared.   From water bottles to beer cans to car parts, the crew collected 17 bags of trash, a tire, multiple parts of other tires and numerous miscellaneous items.   Adopt-A-Highway is a part of Idaho’s Volunteer Services Program, which allows citizen volunteers to help maintain Idaho’s roadways, saving the state approximately $750,000 annually.   Special thanks to Jim Fink for bringing his ATV and helping keep the crew safe and hydrated, and to Stuff It Storage for allowing the crew to use its field as a staging and parking area.   Elmore’s employee recognition committee is sponsoring the project, spearheaded by Sandy Fink, radiologic technologist. Passersby will soon see the permanent St. Luke’s Elmore Adopt-A-Highway sign as they drive out of town!

Jim Kuhn knows how life can change with a brain tumor diagnosis. He has navigated different health care systems. He’s had a complicated surgery and he’s fought the tough battle to try to return to a normal life. Because of his experiences, Kuhn’s perspective has made him an invaluable member of a group that meets each month at St. Luke’s Meridian Medical Center. “Some of the newer members, when they come in you can just see the … terror, the anxiety, the unknown,” Kuhn said. “Since I have more experience, I can talk about how we’re all walking down a similar road.”

McCall resident, longtime St. Luke's physician Dr. Laura McGeorge named to St. Luke's board of directors. Dr. Laura McGeorge, for nearly three decades a St. Luke’s physician and leader, has been named to the health system’s board of directors. Approved by the board in late July, Dr. McGeorge will be involved in board and committee meetings starting this fall. Starting with St. Luke’s in 1996 until her retirement from the organization two years ago, Dr. McGeorge served in progressive clinical and leadership roles, first as an internist and then with responsibilities covering primary and urgent care, medical specialties and occupational health. Over her years with St. Luke’s, she helped to shape specialty care and to build out the organization’s common electronic health records system. As St. Luke’s moved into the value-based care space, which prioritizes outcomes and ongoing, rather than episodic, care, Dr. McGeorge guided the organization’s application to the federal government for accountable care organization status. In her capacities as system service line medical director, she was instrumental in St. Luke’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I realize what a gift it is to have excellent health care,” she said, adding that she can remember when St. Luke’s was composed only of the Boise hospital, before recounting many of the initiatives that have positioned the system to provide the services it does today. “It’s just amazing, all these things that have put us in this position. Amazing hospitals, amazing providers … “I feel very good about the health care. I just have such confidence in the level of health care we deliver at St. Luke’s.”

Boise SICU team earns Care Experience Unit Award for its focus on improving patients' stays. The SICU team in Boise was recently awarded St. Luke's Care Experience Unit Award for its exceptional performance, leadership engagement, ongoing focus and execution on our patient experience targets. The SICU team works diligently to create a wonderful patient experience. They have seen a 5.2% increase in FY24 in “Likelihood to Recommend” from where they ended in FY23 at 91.43%. They have also improved in “staff worked together to care for you” with a 13% increase from FY23 to their current score of 88.57%! A huge callout to assistant nurse managers Ashlee Dean, Kylee Collmer, Jack Kingsley, Abby Frakes, Hanna Burns and Adrienne Donovan; manager Bryan Bendorf and director Josh Shultz.

The St. Luke’s Elmore Annual Golf Classic was a major success! The 22nd annual tournament was sold out with 30 teams participating. Together, they raised a record $51,627, nearly a 50% increase from the previous mark.   In the previous two years, funds supported the purchase of the 3D mammogram unit, which is now in operation. The unit was on site providing mammograms at the tournament and will be shared between Elmore and Magic Valley.    With the 2D stationary unit in Elmore reaching its end of life earlier this year, Boise has provided intermittent support with its mobile mammogram unit while Elmore waits for the new one to arrive. This new mammogram unit will provide consistent access to patient care locally.   St. Luke’s endowment receives 25% of tournament proceeds while the remaining 75% supports varying projects. Funds raised this year will support the purchase of two new echo machines, which roughly cost $150,000 each.    The new echo machines are much more advanced and will provide clearer imaging, which may detect nuances that were previously not visible on the current machines. This can translate to reduced costs for patients, less waiting time and travel to Boise or Twin Falls and improved quality of life.    K9 staff member Guinness was also on hand at the event, supporting the golfers. Foundation funds also support our K9 team!

St. Luke’s Magic Valley Health Foundation combined golf with a good cause earlier this summer, raising money for behavioral health services.   “The golf tournament was incredible,” said Terry Rowe, events coordinator for St. Luke’s Magic Valley Health Foundation. “The energy was so high; everybody was just bouncing off the course. It was exciting!   The annual Golf Classic takes places at Clear Lake Country Club in Buhl, with this year’s tournament raising more than $55,000.   “Since we’ve opened up our new clinic for Behavioral Health, we also have a need for specialized equipment and for helping people who need financial assistance to make sure they get help that they need,” Rowe said.   Members of St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Services team were on site to raise awareness and add to the fun while over 30 teams participated in the tournament.    The Foundation would like to thank Subaru of Twin Falls for sponsoring the hole-in-one as well as CA Homes, Fidelity Investments and Lineage as major sponsors of the event. Thanks also to our additional sponsors, vendors, players, volunteers and board members for making the event a wonderful time on the course and for supporting behavioral health services in our community.   If you missed this year’s event, there’s still time to donate toward Behavioral Health and there’s another fun event ahead; Epicurean Evening—Starry Starry Night will take place at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26.

With each step, Kate DeAngelo made sure she was processing her surroundings. There was the Palais Garnier, the setting for The Phantom of the Opera, grandiose as it was 150 years ago. She passed the Louvre, home of Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, and of course, the Eiffel Tower stood tall over it all. In the dark Paris sky, the Olympic flame was a sight to behold. DeAngelo, a medical laboratory scientist at St. Luke’s Magic Valley, was far from home, but she was doing what she loved — running. It’s what brought her to Paris, a 10K held on the Olympic course between the men’s and women’s marathons. “I kinda had to pinch myself during the race, being present in the moment was really important,” DeAngelo said.

On vacation, St. Luke's RN saves a life via CPR Josh DelBusso, a Surgical Services RN at St. Luke's Boise, was having dinner with his wife recently on a trip to the Oregon coast. DelBusso witnessed a woman collapse. DelBusso and his wife, Sarah, who is also an RN, jumped in to assess her, quickly determined she did not have a pulse and started CPR.    Josh performed approximately a half-dozen rounds of CPR before an AED was brought over from the local volunteer fire department. Josh’s efforts helped the patient regain a perfusing rhythm and regain her pulse.    The volunteer fire department took the patient to the hospital for further evaluation and she survived.    Amazing work by Josh and Sarah!

The Respiratory Therapy team at St. Luke's Nampa was presented with a Patient Experience Award for its care of a recent patient who was incredibly happy with his care. The patient specifically highlighted Tyler Gunter, Will Thomas, Ailsa Hansen and Kimi Holland as being his “main team” as well as Staphany Torres and Jon Cabral being super helpful. He said they were the “best medicine outside of the medication." The team helped him go home on the LifeVent 2000 and he could not express his thanks enough. He feels the RTs that worked with him are some of the best and should be recognized. His goal is to come back during the holidays to show that he’s doing well and the care has been a success!

A good time was had at St. Luke's Wood River's annual summer barbecue!