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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2010)
Smoke Signals 9 MAY 1, 2010 By Ron Karten Smui Somali tlttff it filer Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Car survey or Bonnie Petty gave the Tribal Health Clinic a rousing evaluation on Thursday, April 22, after she worked for two day meeting with clinic personnel, reviewing poli cie and procedures, and examin ing medical record for quality of care. "You should be proud of every thing you do," Petty said at the end of a IK)-minute summary held for about a dozen clinic and Tribal personnel. Tribal Council member Toby McClary and Tribal member and Execut ive Officer Chris Leno sat in on the evaluation summary. "You're doing a great job," Petty said. "I have no areas of concern." The staff at the clinic should be proud of the facility and the job they're doing," McClary said. Evaluating such areas as critical care, risk management adminis trative policies, quality of care and peer review. Petty noted that clini cal record show "the timeliness of test" and that personnel noted that they are "readily available to clinician." She said that risk management processes are in place for identify ing trouble and the filing system i "Very well organized." "There's been a huge improve ment in administration over the last couple of years," she said. The agency last evaluated tho Tribal Health Clinic in 2005 during a mock survey. . Quality of care is "the culmina tion of everything else you do," she said, "and it is very good. You are responsive to patient needs. "I always ask myself, 'Is this a location where I would want to re ceive care?" and without any doubt, it is. You should be very proud of the quality of care you provide. I did not see any red flags. "You're beginning to be a culture of continual quality improvement and that's what you want to see." The most important improve ment over the mock survey came in the area of risk management, quality improvement and peer re view, she said. She called the Tribal facilities "beautiful, beautiful" and "cultur ally appropriate." Among area where the Health Clinic ha room for improvement, Petty noted more coordination between medical and behavioral health section because there i frequently a relationship between the two. She suggested the clinic create documentation demonstrating that staff follows up on patients who do not show up or do not return for appointments. "We do want to hear those things where we can raise the bar," said Tribal Health Executive Director Mark Johnston. "We're going to use them to improve. We want others to look to us for how high the bar can go." "Great job," Johnston told the rest of the staff in the room. "Sleep well tonight." "The future of our Tribe depends on the health of our people," Mc Clary said, "and the information shared today proves that we're headed in the right direction." Petty' next move t to take her evaluation back to the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care committee that ultimately grant or decline accreditation. That response, Johnston said, is expected within the next three to four month. "Thi project ha been a prior ity for the Tribe and clinic for quite some time," Johnston said. "Alt hough we are not formally ap proved today, the comments from the exit briefing are very encour aging. "If the result are a we hope, thi will be a great accomplishment for the Tribe, but more importantly an affirmation to our patients that the quality of care that they receive meets or exceeds national standards." Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care is one of three organizations that accredits office-based surgery practices. The other two are the Joint Commis sion on Accreditation of I lealt hcare Organizations and the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities. The clinic, an outpatient facility, selected Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care as the evaluation service because it spe cializes in outpatient care. B - i. 1HT .-,:., r I : - i -.11 r Photos by Michelle Alalmo Tribal Elder and Culture Committee member Carol Logan prepares a piece of dough to be fried as she makes fry bread for the second annual First Foods Celebration in the Tribal Community Center on Saturday, April 24. The event was hosted by the Culture Committee and In addition to fry bread, salmon, crab, liver, clam chowder, buffalo, elk meatloaf and crab cakes were some of the other food served. 3 7-- y ' v 4 .-I'm"! ' tt i .s XL. V- 1 Tribal descendant Corbin Thorsgard, 1, is fed salmon by his mother Misty Thorsgard during the second annual First Foods Celebration in the Tribal Community Center. 1p'lul'lllH''llllllpfi,4'''llllll Photo by Siobhan Taylor A membership meeting was held Sunday, April 25, in Yakima, Wash. Attending were, front row from left, Tribal Council members Wink Soderberg, Toby McClary and Chris Mercier, who discussed Tribal concerns with Yakima-area members that included, back row from left, Shirley Deane, Sheila Wyatt and Ronald Stevens, and Gina Mansayon (front right). Tribal Council member June Sell-Shearer also attended the Yakima meeting. Attention Tribal members Copies of Legislative Action Committee recommendations are available on the Tribal member side of the Tribal Web site. They are located with the Legislative Action Committee minutes. These forms are only a recommendation used by the Legisla tive Action Committee to move discussion items to a regular Tribal Council meeting for a vote of the Tribal Council. If you have any questions, please contact Dakota Whitecloud, Tribal Council Relations Coordinator, for more information. You may reach Whitecloud at 503-879-1309 or 1-800-422-0232, ext. 1309. D
