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Pictured above: A section of Renown’s Labor Assessment Area.  When patients expecting a new child are about to give birth, nerves can be especially heightened. Questions flood their minds: Is the baby actually on the way? What’s going to happen next? Are we ready to push?   Lucky for them, at Renown Health, the guesswork can finally end with Renown’s Labor & Delivery unit Labor Assessment Area. This unique space is a triage area that helps make more precise labor diagnoses by determining exactly what stage expectant parents are at in the labor process.  Funded by a state grant more than a decade ago, the six-bed Labor Assessment Area sees 500-600 patients per month – from patients entering the unit directly, unsure if they are in active labor, to patients who are sent over from elsewhere experiencing labor symptoms, such as high blood pressure and water breaking. The area also serves as a pre-operation space for patients getting ready for procedures such as C-sections. The six cubicles that are enclosed with doors and curtains ensure each patient gets the private, one-on-one care they need. Furthermore, rather than sitting in a waiting room, this area allows expectant parents a comfortable place to prepare for labor.  “We are a unit that prides ourselves on getting patients into beds very quickly,” said Debbie Hawley, Associate Nurse Manager in Renown’s Labor & Delivery unit. “This area has allowed us to triage more effectively and allow more patients to collaborate with their provider in a quick manner.”

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Deciding you’re ready to start a family is a big decision for any couple. So once you’ve decided – what are the next steps for both moms and dads-to-be? And what should you know if you’re struggling to conceive? Dr. Myron Bethel, OB/GYN with Renown Women’s Health, offers key insights about fertility. What’s the first thing couples should do when they decide to start a family? For the mom-to-be, it’s important to meet with your obstetrician before you get pregnant. This appointment gives you an opportunity to discuss your family medical history, any past or current health problems, immunization history, medications you’re taking and any issues with previous pregnancies. Your doctor can also provide helpful tips to ensure your body is ready for a healthy pregnancy and help guide you on how to monitor your period, basal resting body temperature and other important factors to help you get pregnant more quickly. How can couples who are trying to get pregnant make sure they’re healthy to conceive? Of course it’s important to maintain a healthy lifestyle all the time, but it’s especially important if you’re trying to get pregnant. There’s no magic pill or single food, but women should start focusing on nutrients they’ll need during pregnancy. Before trying to conceive, start taking folate and folic acid to help prevent birth defects. You can get good sources of these nutrients from cereal, spinach, beans, asparagus, oranges and peanuts. Lifestyle changes can also help improve fertility. For both men and women, extra weight can reduce fertility. Both sexes can increase their chances of conception by not smoking, not drinking alcohol and exercising regularly. And for men specifically, take a daily vitamin containing zinc and selenium to support healthy sperm. What is the average timeline for conception, and what do you suggest for couples who may be struggling to conceive and start a family? First, remember getting pregnant can take longer than you expect. Do not to get stressed out about it or place blame. Seventy percent of couples conceive within six months and 85 percent within one year of trying to get pregnant. To help improve your chances of pregnancy, monitor your ovulation closely. You can do this by tracking your period, watching your body closely and logging symptoms, logging your basal body temperature or using ovulation kits. If you still aren’t sure when you’re ovulating, try to have sex every other day to improve your chances of conception. If you’ve been trying for nine months to a year, you can talk to your OB about options and discuss meeting with a fertility specialist.

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Navigating care through the hospital system can be a daunting task for any patient. When faced with a difficult diagnosis or a complex healthcare journey, patients hope for, and deserve, the gold standard of support in helping them get connected with the resources, counseling, follow-up care and action plan to Fight the Good Fight.  That hope quickly turns into reality and relief when the case managers and social workers at Renown Health step in to help.  Renown’s Hospital Care Management department consists of caring, compassionate case managers and social workers who are the ultimate welfare protectors. By tapping into the needs of every patient and bridging any needs gaps with the resources they need, these team members move mountains to ensure every case results in the best possible outcomes.  Your In-House Patient & Family Liaisons  Whether they are providing therapeutic services to patients experiencing behavioral health issues, referring patients in addiction recovery to resources to aid in their recovery process or guiding a patient with cancer through the complicated care process, our case managers and social workers ensure patients and family members stay on course throughout their healthcare journey from beginning to end.  “Our department has teams that cover all areas of the hospital, including the emergency department,” said Mary Matteoni, LSW, Director of Hospital Care Management at Renown Health. “We see all-aged patients, ranging from NICU babies and families to those experiencing the last moments of their life (and everyone in between).”  “All of our cases start in the prevention, or pre-acute, phase and continue through the healthcare continuum,” added Alma Yanez, DNP, Manager of Hospital Care Management at Renown Health. “We are here to partner with patients and families, helping them assess, plan, implement and evaluate options of care and services to meet everyone’s needs.”  These team members are your go-to counselors, crisis interventionists, community resource referrers, and most of all, patient advocates. When patients need a leader to follow if confronted with an intimidating hospital stay or life-altering diagnosis, our experienced Hospital Care Management department gladly steps in to be that support system, easing fears and anxieties along the way. Providing optimal care and guidance is par for the course for this team.  "We help patients understand confusing diagnoses, arrange rehab and other post-hospital supports, help families understand how they can best support a loved one facing a ‘new normal’, navigate end-of-life decisions and so much more,” said Abbie Smith, LSW, MSW, Social Work Care Coordinator at Renown Health.     This department also serves as Renown’s discharge experts. Our case managers and social workers facilitate appropriate length-of-stay and work around the clock to arrange services for patients as they acclimate back home.  “Reviewing each patient’s medical records to ensure every resource and section of care is delivered at the right time is crucial,” said Alma Yanez. “Patients depend on us to use the best judgment when it comes to cost-effective outcomes and the planning and execution of their care after they leave our hospital.”  Expert care coordination, health resource referrals, therapeutic services, workshop facilitation, healthcare financial liaising, crisis support, staff training...a better question for this department might be, “what don’t they do?” These team members are proud “do-it-all-ers.”  “Our team is proudest of being a support to our patients and their families, as well as the positive impact our work has during traumatic and difficult times in people’s lives,” said Abbie Smith.  “Everything is ‘Figure Out-able'”  Those are the wise words said by Abbie Smith, LSW, MSW and emphasized by her entire team. No case is too complex for our Hospital Care Management department, yet every case poses great rewards for both the providers and the patients.  “I love being a social worker for Renown, as every day is filled with new and diverse situations,” said Abbie Smith. “As the social worker assigned to the trauma intensive care unit, my experiences at Renown are challenging but very rewarding. I have the privilege of helping victims of traumatic situations get the social, emotional, psychological and medical assistance they need to help recover from their experience.”   Every team member in the Hospital Care Management department leads with the utmost care and concern for every single patient and their families, leveraging compassionate communication techniques every step of the way.  “For so many patients, they are admitted to the hospital and receive life-changing news,” said Mary Matteoni, LSW. “Our department is the one to answer questions like ‘what do I do now?’ or ‘how am I going to get through this?’ Our team members are experts in their field, and they have a unique holistic lens into the patient’s situation. They spend time learning about the patient’s experiences and circumstances before they were admitted and navigate the next steps of what their new reality means. We spend countless hours ensuring each patient has the resources needed to be successful upon discharge.”  “I always ask open-ended questions to help reduce my patients’ fears, such as, ‘How are you feeling?’ or ‘What can I do?’” added Abbie Smith. “We listen to learn more about the individual’s unique circumstances so we can offer appropriate support and guidance.”  Compassionate communication is especially important when our case managers and social workers approach terminal illness, palliative care options and end-of-life conversations with patients and families. While never easy, these team members always lead with empathy.  “End-of-life conversations, which I help facilitate, frequently occur in the ICU,” said Abbie Smith. “When needed, I help families work through painful, initial moments of grief after losing a loved one.”   Each social worker and case manager takes any opportunity to lessen patient stress, which can make all the difference in the end.  “Patients and families look to us for comfort and support, and we are proud to be a source of solace for them,” said Kami Price, LSW, Supervisor of Social Services at Renown Health. “No matter how complicated the case is, we are always there to guide them through what may otherwise be a daunting journey.”  Now Hiring: Holiday Heroes Needed  This dynamic department is expanding! This team is seeking case managers and social workers in a wide variety of disciplines, including behavioral health, oncology and chronic care management. From social work bachelor’s and master’s students looking for an enriching entry-level opportunity to highly experienced case managers seeking to make a genuine difference, the Hospital Care Management department is the team for you.  “Our team consists of some of those kindhearted and thoughtful individuals I’ve ever worked with,” said Alma Yanez, DNP. “Those attributes are vital to ensuring a positive patient experience, especially as we help them navigate a complicated and intimidating healthcare journey.”  “Respect and compassion are also required characteristics to work in social services,” added Abbie Smith, LSW, MSW. “Having respect for our patients, their personal information and challenges is essential. Social workers interact with highly diverse populations, and it is imperative to keep an open mind and seek understanding of patients’ unique situations.”  The holiday season can be especially difficult for many patients and families dealing with a difficult diagnosis or facing a long hospital stay. That’s why we need social work and case management heroes more than ever this time of year. Giving a patient and family the gift of support can be one of the greatest gifts of all.  “I strongly believe that Case Management/Social Services often gets to be the light in many dark moments,” said Mary Matteoni, LSW. “I have a great passion for the work that is done in Hospital Care Management and am so proud of the team we have built and the work they do daily. We are a team of laughter, enjoyment and solid expertise in our work.”  It’s time to ask yourself: are you ready to change the lives of patients and families?

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Hygiene in healthcare is an essential backbone to providing the safest, most optimal care to every patient. From everyday handwashing techniques and getting all necessary vaccinations to surveilling our health system before the onset of outbreaks, at Renown Health, creating and maintaining a low-infection environment is a group effort. From ensuring fundamental infection prevention practices are carried out to identifying process improvement opportunities, Renown’s Infection Prevention (IP) department is here to help care teams be successful in their role. This effort is led by members who are devoted in sharing evidence-based best practices to our patients, employees, healthcare organization partners and community. Making “Zero” A Reality Reducing healthcare-associated infections is possible when core infection prevention practices are incorporated into the daily care of our patients. These team members are dedicated to Renown’s commitment to creating a culture of Excellence, caring for our healthcare environment, and our care teams. “Often times, when asked what we do in our work it can be a challenge to answer because unpredictability is built into almost every day; and in that, we as a team must divide and conquer,” said Susanne James, Manager of Infection Prevention. Every day, each team member is assigned a day to perform required surveillance activities. Whether they are reviewing patients’ infections and isolation and evaluating lab orders for possible infectious processes or reporting communicable diseases to the local health authorities and the CDC, every Infection Preventionist participates in improvement projects and address issues as they arise. The Infection Prevention team plans, organizes, manages and evaluates the Infection Prevention Program and ensures IP policies reflect current best practice. They work closely with all departments at Renown in order to achieve high levels of standards that are implemented to reduce transmission of infection. “As a team, we perform ‘Infection Prevention Environment of Care Rounding’ on all units and departments to ensure our environment complies with regulatory requirements,” said Erika Clark, Operations Analyst at Renown Health. "We work together with Facilities and Site Practice Leaders to ensure a safe environment.” The pandemic challenged all Renown teams to find creative solutions for issues no one ever imagined. Our Infection Prevention department worked tirelessly alongside Renown's Hospital Incident Command Structure (HICS) and care teams in creating several lines of defense against COVID-19, including: Launching Renown's Alternate Care Site to meet the need for critical patients. Bringing on the new lab tests and specimen collection criteria. Managing demand for personal protective equipment (PPE). Bringing vaccines to staff and then to the community. Managing ill employees and our visitors. Keeping all locations informed on pandemic status and changes (which were occurring at breakneck speed). These initiatives enabled Renown's care teams to focus on providing the safest care possible to patients saving countless lives. This solidified the fact that together, the team can accomplish anything. “Infection Prevention is proud to be a valued and respected member of the care team,” said Susanne James. “We appreciate being a trusted resource and take this responsibility seriously as this enables us to provide staff the best possible tools to be successful.” Fight the Good Fight Against the Spread of Disease Educating patients and providers plays a huge part on the Infection Prevention stage. This team provides educational materials on a range of topics, some of the most important are, proper hand hygiene and the use of PPE. All these materials can be found throughout our health system and serve as an important reminder – infection prevention starts with all of us. “We partner with every aspect of the health system – environmental services, nutrition services, lab services, facilities, pharmacy, physical therapy and occupational therapy, respiratory care, patient access, security, nurses, providers and quality...just to name a few!” said Susanne James. Our Infection Prevention team also partners with Washoe County Health District and other public health agencies to report – and in turn, stop the spread of – diseases and exposures. These close partnerships poise our team to do what we do best: Fight the Good Fight. “I greatly appreciate everyone in the IP department for sharing their expertise as I learned a new position,” said Erika Clark. “I love working with my team and how closely we work with other departments to ensure excellence in all we do.” Our health system is ever-changing. But according to the experts in our Infection Prevention department, the three main ways to prevent illness and disease that remain the same time and time again are to: Clean your hands. Hand hygiene is the most effective way of preventing the spread of infections. The CDC recommends washing your hands with warm soap and water for 15-20 seconds or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Clean your hands often and assist our patients to do the same. Learn expert hand-washing advice here. Get vaccinated. Immunizations are one of the top methods you can embrace the fight against preventable diseases, such as COVID-19, flu, measles, tetanus and more. Discover how you can get vaccinated with Renown. Keep germs from spreading. Practice good hygiene by covering your cough or sneeze or wearing a mask and sanitizing frequently touched spaces. Stay home if you feel ill to prevent the spread of illness and infection. Be sure to bring up any illness concerns with your primary care provider. “Every aspect of our health system has an infection prevention component, and we work daily to ensure our staff, patients and visitors are providing and receiving care free from potential harm or infections,” said Susanne James. “We are often the first call staff make when they have questions, concerns or just need someone to help improve process or outcomes.” Reveling with Renown Proudly defining themselves as a “small but mighty” team, the six-person Infection Prevention department moves mountains to ensure the safety of anyone who walks through Renown’s doors. The tight-knit nature of this team can be felt from miles away, and to them, being “small but mighty” is not a hindrance, as they have the support of the IP Champions and the entire health system.   “I originally came to Renown in 2018 as a nurse traveler, the facility and people I worked with immediately made an impact on me,” said Brian Stroud, Infection Preventionist at Renown Health. “My wife and I chose Renown and Reno due to the positive impact the people had on us. Everyone is welcoming, helpful and caring. Now, I am a full-time employee, and the team has made my transition into infection prevention trouble-free." Renown’s mission of providing a genuine difference for the health and wellbeing of the community is heightened and echoed by the Infection Prevention team. “I chose Renown because of the reputation Renown has earned in the community because of the excellent care and level of services provided,” said Shannon Oriola, Infection Preventionist at Renown Health. “I absolutely love this team and my Renown family!” “What brought me to Renown was the opportunity to acquire diverse skills which then motivated me to pursue my master’s degree,” added Paul DeLeon, Infection Preventionist at Renown Health. “What keeps me here is the people – Renown attracts hard working, ethical and caring people.” "My wife and I loved coming out to the Nevada mountains on vacations," added Russ Laarman, Infection Preventionist at Renown Health. "After being in Michigan for 47 years, we took the plunge and made NV our home. The experience has been great! I work with a great team that is very knowledgeable and works hard to ensure positive outcomes for our patients and colleagues at Renown.” Their pride shines through with their own individual accolades, both inside and outside of work. This past year: Shannon Oriola received a scholarship from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) for “improving outcomes through knowledge and practice,” which provided her with a $1,000 scholarship to attend the annual APIC conference in Indianapolis. Paul DeLeon earned his Certification in Infection Control and Prevention from APIC. Erika Clark completed Renown’s High Potential program, a six-month program that gives employees hands-on learning experience with several competencies, including emotional intelligence, effective communication, building successful relationships and organizational knowledge. Brian Stroud and his wife Charla became official Nevada residents. Russ Laarman scaled Mount Whitney. ...And the list keeps growing! Charged with the goal of keeping disease spread at bay, our Infection Prevention team remains vigilant and dedicated to their mission. Their commitment to Renown and to keeping our health system clean and healthy proves the age-old saying true: not all heroes wear capes. “I’m so very proud of the work Infection Prevention does every day, working with the vast teams throughout the health system to improve lives,” said Susanne James. “We would like to thank all of you for protecting the health and safety of your colleagues, our patients and the community.”

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