Newsworthy

Dear Community Partners,

Here are today’s updates:

• Charitable Giving Cycles Back to Project for Patients and Team
• Stormont Vail Ranks High in Mayo Comparison
• Current Status at Stormont Vail Health

Charitable Giving Cycles Back to Project for Patients and Team

A grant provided by the Stormont Vail Health to the Topeka Community Cycle Project has gone full circle. The Cycle Project, a non-profit bicycle organization with a mission to broaden access to cycling, requested a charitable contribution last winter from the Foundation to install more bicycle racks so people can secure their bikes. That grant was approved and proceeds have been used to purchase 21 bicycle racks that are being placed at Stormont Vail facilities across Topeka.

Last week, several of the bicycle racks were installed, including outside the Stormont Vail Emergency Department, at the Cotton O’Neil Heart Center and at Cotton O’Neil Pediatrics near S.W. 15^th and Gage. As part of the United Way of Greater Topeka’s Nancy Perry Day of Caring, the Cycle Project partnered with the Jones Advisory Group to install the racks. The remaining bicycle racks will be installed as time permits by the Stormont Vail Facilities team.

Scott Miller, Grounds Supervisor, has been working with the Cycle Project to coordinate convenient locations for the bicycle racks at clinic and hospital locations. Scott says in recent months as gasoline prices have increased, he has been receiving requests for bicycle racks.

“This is a very welcome addition for our staff and patients,” Scott noted.

In addition to promoting racks to secure bicycles, the Topeka Community Cycle Project teaches people to repair their own bikes at a bicycle repair shop at the Central Park Community Center and helps distribute bike locks and bicycle helmets.  It works closely with Stormont Vail’s Trauma Prevention Program and Safe Kids Shawnee County as well as area schools to promote bicycling. The Cycle Project also facilitates monthly bicycle rides from its Central Park location to nearby destinations to encourage wellness and physical activity.

Stormont Vail Ranks High in Mayo Comparison

Becker’s Hospital Review reported on a new benchmark model that provides a comparison of hospitals in the U.S. that are similar to the country’s top 10. The model, SimilarityIndex | Hospitals was developed by Trilliant Health Labs. The new application shows how more than 2,000 hospitals compare on quality, operational and financial metrics to selected benchmarked hospitals to see how similar they are. Becker’s utilized the tool to see how similar a hospital is to highly regarded U.S. hospitals.

Among the five most similar aggregate peers of Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., is Stormont Vail Health.

The hospitals can be compared in either quality alone or aggregate, which is an equally weighted combinations of measurements in hospital quality measurements, outpatient service line, financial, patient mix and market share.

Current Status at Stormont Vail Health

The weekly COVID-19 scorecard is posted on the Stormont Vail website. Here are highlights are from the scorecard:

• 6 inpatients are COVID-19 positive, down from 12 last week.
• 96% of recent COVID-19 admissions are unvaccinated or had last dose/booster more than 6 months ago.
• COVID-19 inpatient discharges (previous week): 28. Deaths: 0.
• No COVID-19 positive patients in the outpatient Enhanced Primary Care program.
• 11.1% of people tested for COVID-19 at Stormont Vail facilities the past seven days were positive. That is up from 10.5% last week.
• 23 team members and 7 providers on contact leave for COVID-19. The total of 30 people on contact leave this week compares to 40 last week.
• 106,453 vaccinations (included boosters) administered.
• The new Pfizer bivalent boosters are now available at the Stormont Vail Retail Pharmacy Monday through Thursday, by appointments from 8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Moderna bivalent boosters will be available in early October.
• To schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment:
  • Use online scheduling assistant at stormontvail.org/covid19/vaccine
  • Schedule through MyChart.
  • Call (785) 270-4786.

We together,
Dr. Kenagy