WISCONSIN CHAPTER

SOCIETY FOR SOCIAL WORK LEADERSHIP
IN HEALTH CARE

Chapter Meeting Minutes
Friday, March 21, 2003
Quality Inn South
Madison, WI

Meeting called to order by Mike St. John who was acting in place of SSWLHC President Sharon Winter.

Welcome and Acknowledgement that March is Social Work Month

Membership Introductions and Sharing
Mike St. John facilitated a round table discussion amongst all the morning attendees. The size of the group enabled a great deal of in-depth sharing about our work sites and job positions. We also identified ways that Social Workers in our facilities were being recognized to celebrate March being Social Worker month.

Amy Passow mentioned that there would probably be openings in Psych and ER at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics.

Linda Rasmussen elaborated on the expansion of the companion animal program at The Monroe Clinic Hospice. Currently only dogs are being used.
They are formalizing policies to address training requirements for the animals, staff and volunteers who make visits to the patients with the dogs and supervision of the program. It was suggested that sometimes being in a smaller institution allows for less levels of administrative permission when a new idea or program is being piloted.

Brian Theiler from Gunderson Lutheran in LaCrosse discussed that some reorganization was changing the Social Services Department composition.

There might be a half time position in Renal Analysis. He also updated the group that UW-LaCrosse no longer offers a Social Work degree. Vitebo College does have a Bachelor's level Social Work program.

Nira Fisher from Adams County Memorial Hospital in Friendship reported that there was an Administrative change at her facility. They are also starting a new building project and actively recruiting some new and younger physicians. The difficulty of attracting doctors who wanted to practice in smaller rural communities was discussed.

Nira is the sole Social Worker in her facility. It is a Critical Access Hospital with swing beds. The history of the trend of some smaller community hospitals becoming critical access settings and the trade-off of receiving a higher reimbursement rates but possible long term ramifications was looked at. Nira identified ways that she maintains her sanity and honors her personal boundaries when she is the only one who can perform many of her job responsibilities.

Carol Collien from Bethel Home in Oshkosh explained the variety of care levels provided by Bethel. There is a 200 bed Nursing Home, all the beds are Medicare certified. They also have settings for independent living, assisted living and a group home for patients with Alzheimers. They are building an in-house Pharmacy in their nursing home, which is scheduled to open in May.

Mike St. John from Columbus Community Hospital in Columbus talked about plans to build a new ER. This could result in a half time Social Work position.

Karen Benson from St. Marys Hospital in Madison is also planning a building expansion. They will be adding a couple of additional floors. A major change at her facility is the movement of the outpatient dialysis unit to an off-site setting. The 3 Social Workers will go there and be supervised by Nursing Staff on site.

The group also discussed HIPPA and how it is impacting them. For example, can a Resident Directory be posted in the lobby of a nursing home?

NASW Update
There was no representative present from NASW. We did remind each other that the state conference will be held in Madison May 7-9. There will be SSWLHC members who will be presenting.

Treasurer's' Report
Amy Passow distributed a written report sheet. Our balance as of March 21 was $7,888.45

Web-Site Update
Amy Passow encouraged everyone to check out the web-site. There are changes and improvements, including a new SSWLHC logo. National will have a link to our web-site within the next two weeks.

Liaison Reports
WHA-Mike St. John is the new representative. He will be attending his first meeting soon.

COP-No Report

National Social Work Leadership in Health Care Conference
The conference will be 4/3-4/5 in Atlanta. Sharon Winter and Deb Hupf will be attending and will share info at our next meeting. Sharon will also be going to the chapter president's meeting on 4/2. If anyone has any comments or questions that they'd like her to take to the meeting they can e-mail her.

Education Program
Topic: "Even the Mentally Ill Get Sick"
Presenter: George T. Gilman, LICSW, CADC

Next Meeting
Our next chapter meeting will be Thursday, June 5 at Quality Inn South in Madison. Chapter meeting will go from 9:00AM to Noon and the education offering will be from 1:00-3:00 PM. The topic is Advance Directives.
Registration via the web-site will be encouraged.

Respectfully Submitted,
Linda Rasmussen, Chapter Secretary