Uncategorized – Here for Life

Regionally recognized Health Care Hero in the First Responder category: Paramedic John Sylvester

June 22, 2022

Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal has celebrated the best of the Twin Cities for many years. This year, Paramedic John Sylvester is the 2022 Mpls/St. Paul Business Journal second annual Health Care Hero in the First Responder category. This award recognizes Twin Cities individuals for putting innovation, care, dedication and compassion to work to improve the human condition. John was celebrated at an award ceremony for his passion of going above and beyond his duties. (Pictured above at the ceremony with his parents, his son, and his wife.) (more…)

How music and medicine merge for opera performer and Hennepin Healthcare psychiatry resident Daniel Volovets

May 25, 2022

In the Minnesota Opera’s performance of Carmen this May, guitarist Daniel Volovets added a new element to the classical score—improvising on the opera’s themes with a flamenco twist that calls to the Romani roots of the main character.

The audience might be surprised to learn that Daniel performed in the opera on a Thursday night and then worked a 24-hour shift on Friday for his psychiatry residency at Hennepin Healthcare before putting in two more performances on Saturday and Sunday. His performance earned praise from the Star Tribune, calling his arrangements “a wonderful touch.” (more…)

Remembering Bibi

May 16, 20221

Some people leave a footprint in life and our hearts. Bibiana Garzon “Bibi” was one of those.

Hennepin Healthcare’s Aqui Para Ti / Here for You clinic turns 20 years old this summer. Dr. Maria Veronica Svetaz created this “clinic within a clinic” while she was faculty at La Clinica en Lake, a new clinic from the now MN Care organization. It was funded by Eliminating Health Disparities Initiative to support Latino adolescents (that supports the program still today). Following the Health Equity spirit of serving communities by the teams from their same culture, the clinic works with Latino youth ages 11 to 24 (and their families). As Latino teens are often raised in a culture very different from their parents, they needed a different approach: Family-Centered youth care. (more…)

How an innovative new partnership is expanding culturally responsive care for Muslim patients

May 13, 20222

Photo: A year ago, Open Path Resources and Hennepin Healthcare partnered to place qibla stickers in Emergency Department rooms, so Muslim patients would know the direction to face for prayer

A young woman suffering from depression and chemical addiction came to Hennepin Healthcare for care and asked Spiritual Care Provider Shukri Salah for help. The daughter wanted to go back to live with her family, but her mother was saying no—she’d had too many chances.

The daughter told Shukri, “If I don’t get back into my family, I don’t want to live.” The mother told Shukri, “I have to push her away.”

“Culturally our community thinks that when a person goes to a mental hospital or is taking medication for mental illness, that they are done and there will be no recovery,” Shukri says. (more…)

Mobile clinic brings health care to patients’ doors–from a bigger, brighter van

April 19, 2022

A three-year-old patient was behind on her vaccine appointments, and a look at her chart showed other medical needs—a history of seizures and some missed appointments with her specialist. When Nurse Practitioner Katie Brown saw the toddler’s chart, she knew she had to find out what was happening—and she had to help.

Katie learned that it was nearly impossible for the child’s mother to show up for the appointments she was scheduling due to conflicts and caring for her other children– whether it was routine vaccines or other care. (more…)

Kidney donor and grateful transplant recipient join Donate Life ceremonies

April 6, 2022

As we celebrate Donate Life month in April, a promotion to increase awareness about organ, tissue and eye donation and what that can mean to others, we annually raise the Donate Life flag in a celebration on our campus.

This year, the celebration included a kidney donor and the recipient of his kidney, who actually met for the first time last fall. (more…)

Find your ‘me time’

January 27, 2022

Everyone feels and reacts to stress in different ways. Stress is the way your mind and body react to a threat or a challenge. Simple things, like a crying child, can cause stress. You also feel stress when you’re in danger, like during a robbery or car crash. Even positive things, like getting married, can be stressful. (more…)

Voices of Hennepin Healthcare: Aida Strom

January 21, 2022

Aida Strom, Hennepin Healthcare’s health equity community engagement program manager, envisions a collaborative healthcare model built with the histories and hopes of those it serves.

“I so strongly believe that every single human deserves good healthcare and respect within the healthcare system,” expresses Aida Strom, a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota Oyate.

As the health equity community engagement program manager at Hennepin Healthcare, Aida is participating in an innovative planning process to advance health equity. She advocates for a collaborative healthcare model that partners with communities to practice historically informed, consent-based and culturally respectful care. She believes that this is possible at Hennepin Healthcare, recognizing its unique role within the region’s healthcare landscape. (more…)