Author: electricpulp

Kara Stapert, RN, CNP, PTA has done a lot of interesting things in her life — she worked as a physical therapist, earned four degrees, traveled to England on a nursing exchange, served on a mission trip to Nepal during the communist regime and has worked as a Nurse Practitioner with Monument Health for 10 years. “Going into nursing was the best decision I’ve ever made,” she said.

In October 2020, the Nurse Practitioner Association of South Dakota named Kara the Nurse Practitioner of the Year — and 2020 was quite the year to be recognized. The American Nurses’ Association (ANA) dedicated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse to support and recognize nurses for their continuous commitment to meeting the needs of patients and their communities, and for their contributions to the art and science of nursing. 

Throughout the pandemic, nurses were a steady presence, a caring face and adaptable innovators responding in a crisis. Though we can’t have large awards ceremonies or parties, it’s no less important to celebrate the efforts and accomplishments of our nurses. “I feel especially honored to have been selected in 2020,” Kara said. “It’s definitely not a normal year!

In addition to her nursing duties, Kara is the chair of the Advanced Practice Provider Council, one of many nursing shared-decision making councils for Monument Health. Nurses across the system collaborate monthly in nursing councils to improve outcomes, efficiencies in charting, patient experience, employee engagement and professional development. The councils analyze quality metrics, work to remove barriers to improved outcomes, and implement system-wide evidence-based practices. 

“The importance of nurses in ensuring high quality, patient-centered care has never been more apparent,” said Shanon Waldner, Senior Director Professional Practice Development. “People like Kara are leading the way when it comes to professional development and making decisions that will benefit patients, caregivers and the community.”

Kara was surprised by the award. “For me, it was completely out of the blue!” said Kara. “I had no idea. I had done a lot of work for the organization in the past, but I’m not even an active member anymore.”

During her time on the board of the Nurse Practitioner Association of South Dakota, she was involved with the process of getting full practice authority in the state, which allows nurse practitioners to provide service without physician supervision. This legislation passed in 2017, giving patients an additional avenue for treatment and reducing regulatory costs for the state.

“I think you’ve got to give it your all.” Kara said about her career. “When I decided to become a nurse, I made a commitment to being the best possible nurse I could be. I think that applies no matter what job you do. Don’t just come in and punch the clock. Devote yourself to it. Improve every day. You get out of it what you put into it.”

Some people just can’t stop themselves from trying to help brighten others’ spirits. It’s something we see a lot in our caregivers — they go above and beyond the call of duty, to put a smile on a patient’s face or to comfort a family member. But sometimes that help comes from outside of Monument Health.

For many, hospital stays are challenging. Some patients are fighting difficult battles, dealing with loneliness or just struggling being away from home. Cody Brown decided to do something to help with that. On Jan. 13, he brought 90 flower arrangements to Rapid City Hospital, and with the help of Guest Services, delivered them to patients to lift their spirits. He also handed out some arrangements outside of the Rapid City Hospital Fairmont Entrance, for visitors to share with the patients they had come to see.

Cody started the Flower Power donations in March 2020. “The first one I did was on the fourth anniversary of my dad’s passing, and we wanted to do something to give back and spread cheer in his name,” Cody said. Since then, he has delivered flowers to the VFW, the Black Hills Orthopedic and Spine Center and the Primrose Retirement Community.

“This is the fifth flower donation that we’ve done, “Cody said. “This one was in honor of a friend that’s in the hospital right now, fighting cancer. That’s one reason we wanted to make sure we could bring the flowers to the hospital this time.”

Spreading joy and comfort through flowers may be Cody’s idea, but he doesn’t make it happen by himself. These flower donations wouldn’t be possible without support from the team at Victoria’s Garden — who donate time, money and expertise — and the other Flower Power volunteers who help put together and deliver the arrangements. The delivery at Rapid City Hospital also relied on help from Guest Service Specialists, Mary Gray and Ben Warkentine, who handled the final step of delivery, bringing the flowers into patient rooms.

“Our patients greatly appreciated the generous donation of flowers from Cody and the Flower Power Team of Rapid City,” said Mary Lynn Koch, Manager of Guest Services at Rapid City Hospital. “We have many patients that have been unable to visit with their friends and family or who live a distance away. Receiving this gift of flowers brought tears of joy to many.”

Spreading joy is exactly what Cody had in mind when he first decided to give the gift of flowers, as well as keeping patients motivated to continue healing. “I know that there’s a lot of power in something good coming into their lives, even if it’s just a little thing,” he said. “We hope to be back and keep using flowers to help make their stay just a little better.”

The word recycling tends to bring up mental images of bottles and cans, but at an organization like Monument Health, we have an opportunity to do even more.

The Emergency Department uses thousands of telemetry leads each year—they’re used to connect patients to monitoring equipment, such as any time they monitor a patient’s heart rate, for example. The number of used leads adds up quickly. In May 2019, the Emergency Department Governance Council at Rapid City Hospital, collaborating with Stryker Sustainability Solutions, implemented a telemetry lead recycling program.

After Stryker collects the leads, they are cleaned, refurbished, sanitized and made available for use. Melody Schram, ED RN, takes a lot of pride in the program. “Because we can buy back recycled leads, we absolutely save money, but you’re also keeping them out of the landfill,” she said.

Jace Brock with the Supply Chain Department further explained the value of the program. “There are a lot of different styles of leads, but by implementing this program and then buying the recycled leads, we save a minimum of $1 per lead.” Considering Monument Health recycled 26,395 leads from May 2019 to May 2020, this recycling program creates significant savings for Monument Health.

Both Jace and Melody gave credit to Stryker Sustainability Solutions for streamlining the process for the ED. While Jace pointed to Melody’s enthusiasm for the project as a driving force behind its success, she brushed aside the praise. “It succeeded because of everyone who worked on it,” she said. “From the council, to everyone in the department, it was a team effort.”