Uncategorized – Here for Life

How can I help prevent suicide?

August 22, 2018

Suicide is a significant public health issue that impacts individuals, families, and communities everywhere. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were nearly 45,000 deaths by suicide in the US in 2016, making suicide the 10^th leading cause of death that year. Many more individuals considered or attempted suicide in the same year: 10 million American adults seriously considered suicide and over one million attempted suicide.

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New MRI in the Clinic & Specialty Center is just what the doctor ordered

August 20, 2018

Something magical happens when medical equipment provides both an enhanced experience for the patient and advanced diagnostics for the clinician. The new state-of-the-art Philips 3.0Tesla MRI, located on the first floor of the Clinic & Specialty Center, provides a perfect example of how this technology comes together to serve both purposes.

The MRI includes the Philips Ambient Experience – an immersive audio and visual feature in which patients select a “themed setting” that provide a calm and peaceful experience during the MRI study.

The Philips system is also equipped with Compressed Sense technology that offers superior images quality and much shorter scan time.

We asked Dr. David Hilden to participate in a full-body MRI scan and give us his first-hand perspective of having an MRI performed and the advantages of the Ambient Experience and Compressed Sense technology. See the video below.

Don’t be Rip Van Winkle

August 7, 20182

Introduction by Connie Ullevig from the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorder Center at Hennepin Healthcare

Was Rip lazy, shiftless, irresponsible or suffering from a sleep disorder?

The 300 year old Rip Van Winkle legend describes a major, (protracted) sleep episode. Legend has it that Rip went for a walk in the woods with his dog and his hunting rifle to escape his nagging wife. High in the Catskill Mountains, he encountered a strange little man carrying a large barrel. Rip gave the man a hand and was given a drink from the barrel as thanks. Rip fell asleep and woke to find his dog gone, his rifle rusty and falling apart, his clothes in tatters and his appearance a mess.

Once he made it back to town he discovered his wife had died 20 years previously, and his small children were now grown.

Was Rip lazy, shiftless, irresponsible or suffering from a sleep disorder? (more…)

Nominate a Hennepin Healthcare nurse for Nurse of the Year

June 12, 2018

Nurses are our largest employee group at Hennepin Healthcare, and are some of the people who have the most contact with our patients, day to day. Hennepin Healthcare would be a very different place without our nurses, and we couldn’t provide quality care and expertise for our patients without them.

Take a look at some of the reasons – by the numbers – that make our nurses so great.

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Save a life from opioid overdose – get people breathing again!

June 8, 2018

The ongoing national opioid crisis has a devastating effect on our communities and has changed the way our health system approaches treating pain. On average, 115 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. The experts at Hennepin Healthcare are involved in a number of initiatives to help patients receive the care and pain medications they need, in a safe way. One of these initiatives is to provide access for patients and their caretakers to the life-saving medication naloxone. We are grateful to be ahead of the curve when it comes to prevention and treatment of opioid overdose, thanks to our dedicated staff and initiatives that are helping save patients from death from overdose.

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Read Sten’s Story

May 15, 2018

Think strokes just happen to seniors? Think again. A stroke was the last thing healthy Sten Anderson thought would happen to him at the young age of 24. But it did.

This May, being Stroke Awareness Month, you should be aware that a stroke can happen at any time, at any age and even to perfectly healthy people. Sten felt a major headache come on while running on his treadmill and, although there can be different signs of stroke, there are four main ones. Educate yourself because in the case of stroke – time is critical. From the onset of a stroke to the arrival at the emergency room, damage can be minimized the quicker you get there. Move F.A.S.T.

FACE – Is their face drooping? Ask them to smile to find out.
ARMS – Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
SPEECH – Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase like Mary had a little lamb. Is their speed slurred or does it sound strange?
TIME – Call 911 and note the time of the first symptom. This will help determine treatment options.

Sten was lucky, but it wasn’t without determination and lots of work. The Hennepin Stroke Center and the Knapp Rehabilitation Center were a big part of his young life. Read Sten’s story.

Nurses Week 2018: Meet three Hennepin Healthcare nurses

May 7, 2018

National Nurses Week is an annual celebration that starts on May 6 and ends on May 12, Florence Nightingale’s birthday. We take this time to honor nurses for the work they do, and learn more about nurses’ role in health care. This year’s theme is “Nurses: Inspire, Innovate, Influence.”

In honor of this year’s theme, we interviewed three nurses across the Hennepin Healthcare system and talked to them about what inspires them to do the work they do.

For more information on National Nurses Week, visit the official National Nurses Week website here – and be sure to thank a nurse at your next visit to Hennepin Healthcare!

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