Anne Pendo, MD
Applause to Anne Pendo, MD, medical director for provider experience, who was invited to join the national Collaborative for Health and Renewal in Medicine (CHARM) in an ongoing role. The collaborative consists of medical educators, leaders at academic medical centers and experts in burnout research, and interventions designed to promote wellness. The invitation to Dr. Pendo comes as a result of her work coaching physician and APP leaders. She has helped individuals balance clinical and leadership responsibilities, integrate their professional and personal lives, and improve leadership communication. Her work has helped reduce self-reported burnout at Intermountain from 51% in 2018 to 39% in 2020. Dr. Pendo looks forward to sharing with chief wellness officers throughout the nation the well-being and learning work we’re doing at Intermountain and learning from other leaders about what’s working for them.
Luke Koloti and Paul Barnard
Congratulations to K9 Officers Paul Barnard and Luke Koloti, who both recently competed with their security dogs and won awards in their first 2021 Annual Utah Peace Officers Association (UPOA) K-9 Trial. Luke and his dog, Moki, from LDS Hospital placed second in the state for both “building search” and “vehicle search.” Paul and his dog, Jinx, from McKay-Dee Hospital took third place in the state for “area search.” The UPOA K-9 Trial includes competition with fellow law enforcement K9s in the areas of patrol, narcotics, explosives, search and rescue, and more.
“Our security dogs at Intermountain are handled by K9 officers who train with law enforcement and are certified through the State of Utah with the same standards as police training,” says Bob Nace, K9 training coordinator at Intermountain. “These are dual purpose dogs who do both patrol work and explosives detection. All the dogs in the competition are trained in the same way, so for Intermountain’s K9 teams to do really well against their peers their first time is impressive.”
The K9 dogs at Intermountain are part of a workplace violence initiative as security patrol dogs. They’re most often used in emergency departments, behavioral health units, and for emergency management. In addition, because they’re certified through the state, the K9 teams can be called to assist local law enforcement 24 hours a day as part of Intermountain giving back to the community.
Adam Creer with Nick Gangwer, MD
Cheers to Adam Creer, nurse practitioner at McKay-Dee Hospital in internal medicine, who’s the first graduate in Intermountain’s APP Resident in Primary Care program. After joining McKay-Dee in June 2020, Adam participated in the 12-month curriculum and once a month weekly rotation through different specialties to strengthen his professional development as a new graduate.
“The program was developed to enhance the education for new graduate APPs as they start their professional journey in primary care,” says Cynthia Papadopoulos, APP director of internal medicine. “We’re excited for Adam to continue to pursue his healthcare journey with us. Please help us congratulate Adam in completing this endeavor.”
There are currently three residents active in the Resident in Primary Care program, with two more starting in August/September, and more joining as Intermountain continues to hire more APPs in primary care. As the program is further developed, the hope is there will be an APP fellowship program in Primary Care in the next year.