Nick Short (left), Paul Sharp, acute care nurse practitioner, and Steve Christiansen
A standing ovation to Intermountain’s Marketing and Communications team who won a 2021 Golden Spike Award from the Utah Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America for showcasing the experience of nearly 100 Intermountain clinicians when they deployed to New York City to help during their 2020 COVID-19 epicenter crisis. That communication effort, called “Intermountain Stands with New York,” was recognized in the award’s Pandemic/Crisis Communications category for showing mastery of creativity, quality, and execution.
Steve Christiansen, marketing and communications manager, was part of the deployment team to New York and helped lead communication efforts with the support of Intermountain video team manager, Nick Short. “We really wanted this experience to be memorialized for those who deployed and their teams and families back home,” Steve says. “Without much time for planning, we devised a strategy once we touched down in New York to shoot as much video and photography as possible and partner with our frontline caregivers to share their stories, many of them very personal and powerful. It inspired a lot of people in our state and across the country.”
Steve Christiansen (center) accepted the award on behalf of Intermountain’s Marketing and Communications team
Once embedded with Intermountain’s teams of clinicians, they gathered everyone’s personal experiences, journal entries, and life-changing stories about their heroic efforts to support New York caregivers exhausted by more than five weeks of crushing patient volumes.
Their work is featured on the “Intermountain Stands with New York” blog, which features dozens of written caregiver experiences and nine videos highlighting stories in places ranging from overwhelmed COVID-19 ICUs to a desolate Times Square. Other high-level contributors from marketing and communications include Natasha Green and Brady White, marketing and communications managers with internal communications, Jentry Larsen and Amanda Gold, marketing and communications managers with social media, and former caregiver, Jeni Jones, blog writer and communications specialist.
Intermountain Healthcare was also a Golden Spike Award finalist in the Social Media category for the online video series, “Courage on the Frontlines.” The series highlighted the behind-the-scenes efforts of our caregivers during the fall and winter of 2020-2021. The videos have been viewed almost 750,000 times and shared broadly by members of our communities and showcased on national news programs.
Intermountain’s COVID-19 Sample Collection and Testing Team
Congratulations to Intermountain’s COVID-19 Sample Collection and Testing Team, which was recently recognized by the City Creek Foundation in Salt Lake City. The City Creek Foundation spotlighted the team in their Community First program and donated $500 to the Utah Food Bank and $500 to the Intermountain Caregiver Assistance Fund on their behalf.
“They strive to provide a COVID test that’s easy, simple, quick, and has the highest accuracy,” says the City Creek Foundation of the team. “Currently, they’re responsible for the testing of half of the Utah state population. They care about their community and want to give back in every way possible.”
“The goal is to always be there for those we serve,” says Diane Rindlisbacher, chief nursing officer of Community-Based Care and member of the team. “The coolest thing is in 20 months the innovation has been right up there. We went from nose swabs with big lines to a system where 90% of people who get tested have the most accurate results.”
Anisa and Asma Dahir
Cheers to Anisa Dahir, OR tech at Avenues Surgical Center, and her twin sister and former Intermountain caregiver, Asma Dahir, who graduated last spring from Westminster College’s Honor College, both earning bachelor’s degree in public health. The sisters’ family, who are refugees from Somalia, placed a high value on education, and today the twins are both pursing advanced degrees. Anisa has recently been accepted to Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston in a combined physician assistant and public health program, while Asma started a physician assistant program at Stanford University School of Medicine in August.
In a KSL news story, the sisters say their early experiences in school were especially challenging being in a foreign land with differences in language and culture. They had to take English as a second language classes separate from their peers and were initially in a school without a lot of diversity. Over the years they were supported by more diverse schools and programs that prepare students for college, as well as community support. During their freshman year, they took a certification program in surgical technology from Salt Lake Community College and completed their rotations at Intermountain facilities.
Anisa says, “My mom repeated this proverb to us since we were kids, ‘Aqoon la’aan wa iftiin la’aan,’ which translates to ‘Without education, there will be no light.’”
Julie Tille, director of Westminster College’s Dumke Center for Civic Engagement, says, “They’ve worked so hard to excel in and out of the classroom, while also giving back to the community. I’m excited to watch the many ways they’ll make our world a better place.”
“These caregivers are amazing,” adds Jennifer Powell, RN, director of the Avenues Surgical Center.