In the News

At Hennepin Healthcare, Jennifer DeCubellis was the only CEO on the Star Tribune list who was both new to the job in 2020 and received only partial-year pay since she started in mid-February. The executive team took voluntary pay cuts due to the pandemic, the health system said in a statement, including a 20% reduction in pay for DeCubellis.

“We want to make sure that the process is as safe as possible,” said Dr. Leslie King-Schultz of Hennepin Healthcare. 

Julie Philbrook, a trauma prevention specialist with Hennepin Healthcare, gives the do’s and don’ts of garage sale shopping for your little kids.

“As healers, whose job it is, whose business it is to create an environment where we’re saving lives – it felt like we could no longer stay silent,” Jennifer DeCubellis, Hennepin Healthcare CEO, told FOX 9.

Hennepin Healthcare, which operates one of three urban trauma centers in the Twin Cities, has tracked a 50% increase since 2020 in penetrating trauma injuries that include gunshot wounds. Responses have included a Next Step outreach program to try to prevent violent injuries from prompting retaliatory assaults, but chief executive Jennifer DeCubellis said more preventive solutions are needed.

“As health systems we’re in the business of saving lives and this is a place where we’re seeing the numbers increase and we’re alarmed and we can make a difference,” she said.

“What we are seeing is alarming numbers in healthcare, in particular, across our local community, state and nation, that shows trauma levels going up year over year,” said Jennifer DeCubellis, CEO of Hennepin Healthcare. “At Hennepin Healthcare, as both a level one trauma center for adults and pediatrics, we have seen over a 50% increase in the past two years, in penetrating trauma which includes gunshot wounds, stabbings, self-inflicted, but it’s an alarming trend, and it’s not a blip in time, it really is a trend.”

The pandemic stretched many parents to their limits. Two-thirds of working parents are showing signs of exhaustion and chronic stress, according to    MPR, 6-08-2022

Sam Erickson, a paramedic, said that staffing shortages and a higher volume of calls led to paramedics and EMTs working around 10 to 12 hours of overtime each week. Because of that, EMS professionals have experienced more mental health struggles, according to Daniel Sebo, the deputy chief of staff at Hennepin EMS. 

“There’s a lot of different health outcomes — Covid-19 vaccination being near the top of our attention these days — where there’s room for improvement,” said Katherine Diaz Vickery, a family care doctor with the Health, Homelessness, and Criminal Justice Lab at the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute and one of the study’s lead authors.

Dr. Ashley Bjorklund, an HCMC pediatric intensive care doctor, said that “time alone does not give him a prognosis” for survival or being spared serious injury.

“We always give kids a fighting chance when we can,” said Bjorklund, who emphasized that preventive steps such as wearing a life jacket — as all four children were — and supervising children are vital to prevent life-threatening incidents on the water. “Young brains do much better and can overcome things that an older brain can’t do.”

Elizabeth Alabi knew from a young age that she wanted to help people when she grew up.  Now, as a leading doctor, she wants to see more Black girls seriously consider choosing the healthcare profession as a career.

Alabi, an obstetrics and gynecology specialist, was among 50 medical volunteers who took part in the day-long “   Minnesota Spokesman Recorder, 6-02-2022

“He was frankly lucky that his body responded the way it did,” said Dr. Matthew Prekker, an HCMC critical care specialist.

High levels of immunity as a result of vaccinations or coronavirus infections this winter are reducing the severity of illness this spring, said Dr. Matthew Prekker, a critical care medicine specialist with Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis.

“The baseline risk in the population for getting so, so sick — that was there before we had widely-accepted vaccines — is much lower now,” he said. “We’re also dealing with less virulent but very transmissible COVID strains … Fortunately, we’re not seeing critical illness nearly as much as we were last year.”

If you do suspect someone of having a spinal injury, “Roll them over like a log so that their nose stays is in line with their belly button and support them in the water until rescue can come,” said Trauma Prevention Specialist Julie Philbrook, RN.

“When the pandemic began, clinics had limited access, and families were anxious and reluctant about in-person visits,” said Dr. Dawn Martin, a Hennepin Healthcare pediatrician. “So many of the families we work with already had barriers related to transportation, work schedules and childcare, and that situation became even more severe as things were shutting down.”

“I give big kudos to our outreach nurse and our community partners — health advocates, school nurses, public health nurses and community health workers,” Sheyanga Beecher said. “They help in identifying students, contacting families, answering questions and just generally serving as that ‘trusted face in a trusted space.’”

Hennepin Healthcare recently hosted a “Health in the Park” event at its Brooklyn Park clinic and pharmacy at 7650 Zane Ave. N. The event was part of Hennepin Healthcare’s Talent Garden, a series of initiatives to introduce youth and young adults to jobs in healthcare. Pictured are Hennepin County EMS members Kirstin Moore and John Sylvester, who are providing local youth with a 25-minute tour of an ambulance.

“We’re hearing a lot of nervous folks, nervous parents who are just seeking advice on what to do next,” said Hennepin Healthcare Pediatrician Krishnan Subrahmanian. 

“People in the past were able to come in for treatment of COVID symptoms without a copay and that is now changing,” said Dr. Hannah Lichtsinn with Hennepin Healthcare.

“We do know this is affecting people not evenly. not equitably,” Hennepin Healthcare pediatrician and American Academy of Pediatrics spokesperson Dr. Hannah Lichtsinn said.

Dr. Nneka Sederstrom, chief health equity officer at Hennepin Healthcare, said her goal is to address the lack of diversity in hospital staff.

“They don’t know that they can do this, the world doesn’t tell them that they can,” Sederstrom said. “You can’t do what you can’t see.”