Kosciusko Leadership Academy Cadets Get Health Care Overview
February 15, 2019 at 5:02 p.m.
Kosciusko Leadership Academy Cadets Get Health Care Overview
By Staff Report-
Jae Dale, recently appointed CEO of KCH, presented on hospital care and what strengths and opportunities his organization has in the health field. Dale cited KCH’s $99 million community impact in 2017 through payroll, taxes, local purchases, charitable contribution and uncompensated care as proof of its commitment to the community. As his answer to “What has KCH done lately?” Dale pointed to the new OPS sports medicine facility, new equipment, a renovated birth center with additional staffing and continued strength in cancer care.
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“We have equipment you typically don’t see in communities under 100,000 people,” Dale said.
Dale also mentioned the county’s “big four” challenges – infant mortality, obesity, tobacco use and opioid addiction and the top national challenges in health care – federal and commercial organizations reducing health care funding, a shortage of health care professionals, non-health care entities entering the health care arena and rising costs of medication.
Scott Sigerfoos, who has been the director of EMS services for a decade, gave a history of emergency care in the county and surrounding area. Lutheran EMS, which was started in 1977, has grown from 1,813 calls its first year to 8,304 in 2018, according to a news release from KLA. It has undergone a number of expansions, including becoming a paramedic service in 1986 to becoming a multi-township EMS service in 2006. Currently Lutheran EMS has 10 ambulances in Kosciusko and Fulton counties, with an average of 28 calls per day.
Kosciusko County boasts a rate of 44 percent of calls for those in cardiac arrest getting their pulse back, compared to the national average of 10 percent. Sigerfoos cited their push for better CPR training in 2013 and beyond as the reason for this improvement. In addition to community classes, Lutheran EMS teaches CPR to all local fourth-graders, as well as certifying all high school students. Other impactful community initiatives through EMS are its special event stand-bys, EMT/paramedic training class and car seat inspections.
Bowen Center CEO Kurt Carlson spoke about how mental health has changed over his career, and how the Bowen Center has been a leader in mental health since its founding in 1971. Carlson talked about the gradual switch from trying to institutionalize those with mental health needs in state asylums to a community-based approach to mental health. Volunteers founded what is now the Bowen Center in 1961 as a response to the then 1.5+ million people in institutional care who were receiving treatment that Carlson said was at best dunk tanks, shocks or confinement, and was often much worse.
In 1997, the state of Indiana removed restrictions on where mental health centers could operate. This led to the Bowen Center's expansion to Fort Wayne (now its largest county) and Noble County (now its third largest). Now in 21 counties in Indiana, the Bowen Center is the largest psychiatric base in Indiana.
Carlson, who worked as a physiologist before starting his almost 30-year tenure as CEO at Bowen Center, stressed the importance of a community-based approach. “The things (therapists) can accomplish being with the patient, I couldn’t do in my office sessions,” he said.
One area of care the Bowen Center focuses on is substance abuse. Last year, the Bowen Center was selected to open a methadone clinic in Fort Wayne. “When I see parents bringing their child in with them to get a dose, I think, ‘That child is getting their parent back,'” said Carlson, who talked about seeing users appearances changing and users regaining control over the weeks of taking a daily dose.
What is next for the Bowen Center? It is applying to become a Federally Qualified Health Clinic. As Carlson puts it, they do everything “above the neck now” and want to expand to “below the neck.” This would allow for more integrated care in Warsaw.
For more information about KLA, visit kosciuskoleadership.org.
Jae Dale, recently appointed CEO of KCH, presented on hospital care and what strengths and opportunities his organization has in the health field. Dale cited KCH’s $99 million community impact in 2017 through payroll, taxes, local purchases, charitable contribution and uncompensated care as proof of its commitment to the community. As his answer to “What has KCH done lately?” Dale pointed to the new OPS sports medicine facility, new equipment, a renovated birth center with additional staffing and continued strength in cancer care.
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“We have equipment you typically don’t see in communities under 100,000 people,” Dale said.
Dale also mentioned the county’s “big four” challenges – infant mortality, obesity, tobacco use and opioid addiction and the top national challenges in health care – federal and commercial organizations reducing health care funding, a shortage of health care professionals, non-health care entities entering the health care arena and rising costs of medication.
Scott Sigerfoos, who has been the director of EMS services for a decade, gave a history of emergency care in the county and surrounding area. Lutheran EMS, which was started in 1977, has grown from 1,813 calls its first year to 8,304 in 2018, according to a news release from KLA. It has undergone a number of expansions, including becoming a paramedic service in 1986 to becoming a multi-township EMS service in 2006. Currently Lutheran EMS has 10 ambulances in Kosciusko and Fulton counties, with an average of 28 calls per day.
Kosciusko County boasts a rate of 44 percent of calls for those in cardiac arrest getting their pulse back, compared to the national average of 10 percent. Sigerfoos cited their push for better CPR training in 2013 and beyond as the reason for this improvement. In addition to community classes, Lutheran EMS teaches CPR to all local fourth-graders, as well as certifying all high school students. Other impactful community initiatives through EMS are its special event stand-bys, EMT/paramedic training class and car seat inspections.
Bowen Center CEO Kurt Carlson spoke about how mental health has changed over his career, and how the Bowen Center has been a leader in mental health since its founding in 1971. Carlson talked about the gradual switch from trying to institutionalize those with mental health needs in state asylums to a community-based approach to mental health. Volunteers founded what is now the Bowen Center in 1961 as a response to the then 1.5+ million people in institutional care who were receiving treatment that Carlson said was at best dunk tanks, shocks or confinement, and was often much worse.
In 1997, the state of Indiana removed restrictions on where mental health centers could operate. This led to the Bowen Center's expansion to Fort Wayne (now its largest county) and Noble County (now its third largest). Now in 21 counties in Indiana, the Bowen Center is the largest psychiatric base in Indiana.
Carlson, who worked as a physiologist before starting his almost 30-year tenure as CEO at Bowen Center, stressed the importance of a community-based approach. “The things (therapists) can accomplish being with the patient, I couldn’t do in my office sessions,” he said.
One area of care the Bowen Center focuses on is substance abuse. Last year, the Bowen Center was selected to open a methadone clinic in Fort Wayne. “When I see parents bringing their child in with them to get a dose, I think, ‘That child is getting their parent back,'” said Carlson, who talked about seeing users appearances changing and users regaining control over the weeks of taking a daily dose.
What is next for the Bowen Center? It is applying to become a Federally Qualified Health Clinic. As Carlson puts it, they do everything “above the neck now” and want to expand to “below the neck.” This would allow for more integrated care in Warsaw.
For more information about KLA, visit kosciuskoleadership.org.
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