FamilyHealth Clinics | Northfield Hospital & Clinics

A gas leak on an outside gas meter at the Center for Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation, 1381 Jefferson Road, forced staff to evacuate the building for 20 minutes Monday morning.

The leak was detected at 7:50 a.m. The Northfield Fire Department and Xcel Energy were notified, and staff from both CSMR and Orthopaedic & Fracture Clinic were evacuated to the parking lot.

The leak was located in a meter outside the building. The building was cleared for occupancy at 8:10 a.m. and normal operations were resumed. Xcel finished making the necessary repairs at 9:20 a.m.

FamilyHealth Medical Clinics in Northfield and Lakeville will be closed Saturday, Dec. 11, due to the anticipated heavy snowfall.  They will open on Monday, Dec. 13, at 8 a.m.

The Northfield Hospital & Clinics car seat clinic scheduled for Saturday morning at CarTime in Dundas has also been canceled.

An ammonia leak in Randolph, Minn., has resulted in 21 patients being transported to Northfield Hospital. As of mid-morning on Wednesday, five have been admitted to the hospital, three have been discharged, nine are still being examined, four remain for observation. Only one of the 21 required decontamination.  Northfield Hospital is on an Orange Alert and our Incident Command System has been activated.

For breaking updates, follow Northfield Hospital & Clinics on Facebook or Twitter, via the links at left.

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Update: The Orange Alert at Northfield Hospital was called off at 11:30 a.m. At that time, six pediatric patients had been admitted for observation. All others were treated and released.

  Northfield Home Care and Northfield Hospice, services of Northfield Hospital & Clinics, are celebrating National Home Care and Hospice Month with an open house Thursday, Nov. 11, 1-3 p.m. at their offices, 700 Division St.

   Visitors will be able meet the staff, learn more about both home care and hospice services, have their blood pressure checked, and learn more about advanced directives from Karen Gervais, director of Minnesota Center for Health Care Ethics. Refreshments will be served.

Timothy Gronseth, a healthcare finance professional with more than 25 years of experience, has been named Northfield Hospital & Clinics’ next Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Gronseth will succeed Roger Stapek, who is retiring at the end of 2010. Stapek served as the hospital’s chief financial officer for 30 years.

 Most recently Gronseth served as Vice President and CFO at Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital in Hastings, NE, an 183-bed acute care hospital with 12 clinics. He previously worked in a variety of finance leadership positions with Owatonna Hospital — Allina, Prairie Lakes Health Care Systems in Watertown, SD, and Ridgeview Medical Center in Waconia, MN.

 Gronseth holds a BA in business administration, accounting, and hospital administration from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.  He also has additional Six Sigma process improvement training from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

 “Tim is an experienced professional, and we are delighted to have him join our leadership team,” said Mark Henke, President and CEO of Northfield Hospital & Clinics. “His expertise and his knowledge of our service area will be a great benefit to our organization..”

 Gronseth will begin work on November 15.

Northfield Hospital & Clinics will celebrate its 100^th anniversary Sunday, Oct. 31, with a concert dedicated to healing performed by the Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra. The concert will begin at 3 p.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Friendship Hall, 500 Third St. West in Northfield. 

The orchestra, directed by Paul Niemisto of St. Olaf College, will play six pieces selected for their reflective and comforting qualities. They are: Beethoven Egmont Overture; Vivaldi D Major Guitar Concerto (Randy Ferguson, soloist); Debussy, Danses Sacrée et Profane for Harp and Strings (Elinor Niemisto, soloist); Vaughan Williams – Lark Ascending for violin and orchestra (Gail Nelson, soloist); Brahms, Four Serious Songs (Deesa Staats mezzo soprano); Brahms, Variations on a theme of Haydn.

Northfield Hospital & Clinics began in 1910 in a wood frame house on the corner of Eighth and Water. The 12-bed facility served 5,700 patients over three decades. Nine hundred and two babies were born there.

 In 1934, the City of Northfield accepted responsibility for the hospital, and in 1939 a new facility was built on West Second Street. It served the community for 63 years until a new hospital opened on North Avenue in 2003.

In a retrospective published by Northfield Hospital & Clinics earlier this year, it was written that a hospital is a reflection of a community’s best instincts, representing concern for neighbors and hope for a better future.

Tickets are $10, $5 for students. They are available at the door, at Present Perfect or the Northfield Arts Guild in downtown Northfield or at the Kaleidoscope Gift Shop at Northfield Hospital.

The detour to Northfield Hospital will remain in effect through Monday, Oct. 18. Those traveling to the hospital should use Highway 19 to approach from the west by way of Eaves Avenue.

North Avenue was closed at Cedar Avenue on Oct. 12 to allow for utility work on Mayo Clinic’s radiation oncology center, now under construction. Officials hoped to have the work completed by Oct. 15, but determined more time was needed.

Because of utility work required for the new Mayo Clinic Radiation Oncology Center, patients and visitors will not be able to access Northfield Hospital and its on-campus clinics from Cedar Avenue Tuesday, Oct. 12 through Friday, Oct. 15.               

 Traffic will be detoured to access the hospital campus from the west. This will require patients and visitors to travel on Highway 19 to Eaves Avenue, north to North Ave and then east to the hospital entrance.

Hospital signs will be repositioned to direct drivers on the four-mile detour.  Please call the hospital at 507-646-1000, if you need assistance

      The Breast Care Center at Northfield Hospital & Clinics is hosting two separate events in October in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

      An educational event —  Let’s Talk About Breast Cancer and Your Risk — will be held Thursday, Oct. 7, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Northfield Hospital.  From 6 to 7 p.m., visitors will be able to tour the Breast Care Center and view the newly remodeled waiting area, mammography and ultrasound suites. There will also be breast health informational displays and a self-risk assessment station.

     At 7 p.m. in the hospital atrium off the front lobby, there will be an educational program, featuring talks by Barbara Kunz, MS,a genetic counselor with the Hubert H. Humprhey Cancer Institute; and Jose Fulco, MD, medical advisor for the Breast Care Center  of Northfield Hospital & Clinics and a general surgeon.    

  The second event will be the Breast Center’s Spa Days.  Those who schedule a mammogram on one of eight days in October, will receive a gift bag with assorted breast cancer awareness items, healthy snacks/treats and beverages, and a free mini-massage.  In addition, every women having a screening mammogram at the Breast Care Center in the month of October will receive a free reusable pink tote – “good for you, good for the environment. Spa Days will be held on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 4 and 5; Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 12 and 13; Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 20 and 21; Thursday and Friday, Oct. 28 and 29. To make your appointment, call 507-646-1143.

Northfield Hospital has earned a Patient Safety Excellence Award from the Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA) for its work in preventing retained objects in the operating room.

          Awards of excellence were recently given to 43 Minnesota hospitals that had implemented best practices for counting and accounting for all items used during invasive procedures, especially in the operating rooms. To qualify, facilities must demonstrate that they have implemented more than 90 percent of the recommended actions endorsed by the MHA.

          Tania Daniels, MHA Patient Safety vice president, said hospitals that qualify have achieved measurable and meaningful progress toward implementing best practices to drive down adverse health events.

 “Hospitals that receive these awards are to be commended,” she said “The bar is set very high.”

           Karen Geiger, RN, Director of Surgical Services at Northfield Hospital, took the lead on the Safe Account initiative. Her work team included Nancy Harrington, Lynette Marks, Annette Tschann, Patti Pflaum, Nicki Hamley, Whitney Bengen, Gary Breckenridge, Linda Rowan, Cheryl Jensen, Sheila Rodgers, Mary Witt, Bill Zoldey, Janice Duvick and Christina Bourbeau. 

           Northfield Hospital has previously been recognized with awards of excellence for its work on preventing falls, preventing pressure ulcers in patients, preventing wrong site surgeries, and for preventing sponges or other objects from being retained in patients after giving birth.