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Dr. Pate’s Prescription for Change

St. Luke’s Health System’s Journey to Transform Health Care

Celebrating the Spirit of St. Luke’s with Standout Team Members

June 19, 2018

Scout leaders, animal rescuers and mental health advocates who just also happen to have day jobs doing heroic things for St. Luke’s patients.

Those were the physicians, nurses and behind-the-scenes team members honored at the June 14 St. Luke’s President’s Award dinner and ceremony hosted by organization President and CEO Dr. David Pate.

The annual event recognizes those who make an exceptional contribution to St. Luke’s mission, vision and values, chosen from among the nearly 14,000 members of the St. Luke’s team.

The 2018 honorees are:

Travis Criddle, D.O.

Physician, St. Luke’s Clinic – Trinity Mountain Medical, Mountain Home

For eight years, Dr. Criddle was the only pediatrician in Elmore County. He has supported teens in challenging situations and students in plays and sports, cooked for the track team before meet events and sponsored students who have needed help paying for extracurricular activities.

Tim Enders, D.O.

Hospitalist, St. Luke’s Magic Valley

Dr. Enders is a passionate leader of quality and patient safety, making numerous contributions to improving patient care, standardization and resource stewardship and helping to build a positive culture that promotes continuous quality improvement in the inpatient environment.

Chanette Fretwell

Director of Nursing and Patient Care, Women’s Services, St. Luke’s Nampa

Fretwell’s legacy is likely to be women’s care in Canyon County. She successfully navigated delivery volumes far beyond initial projections in the months following the opening of St. Luke’s Nampa and has built a flexible, top-performing team to meet the needs of patients in the new unit.

Colin Hudson

Director of Real Estate Services, St. Luke’s Health System

Hudson has been the face of St. Lukes’ for many new team members and has the challenging job of figuring out space needs among multiple medical office buildings and locations. He has been active in problem-solving and troubleshooting as work at the downtown Boise location has proceeded.

Greg Irvine, M.D.

Physician, St. Luke’s Clinic – Orthopedic Surgery, McCall

Dr. Irvine has provided improved access to services for McCall and surrounding communities, transforming orthopedic care for that area even as he has served as chief of staff elect, chief of surgery and medical director for the Payette Lakes Ski Patrol.

Rick Kerr

Chaplain, St. Luke’s Boise

Through his support of the ICU team, he has bolstered morale, helped decrease staff turnover and decreased staff burnout in what can be a very difficult emotional environment, and worked to develop “reflection rounds” focused on the emotional components of patient care.

J. Timothy Leavell, M.D.

Physician, developmental pediatrics, St. Luke’s Treasure Valley

For two decades with St. Luke’s Children’s, Dr. Leavell has worked to expand access to care and services for children with developmental disabilities, focusing especially on children at high risk for autism spectrum disorder and other neurodevelopmental disabilities and delays.

Laura McGeorge, M.D.

Division Medical Director, Physician Services

As St. Luke’s has continued to evolve and to move away from the traditional ways medicine has been delivered toward a more value-oriented basis for practice, Dr. McGeorge has been at the center, educating, mentoring and supporting colleagues.

Malia Miyamura-Heuman

Director of Human Relations, St. Luke’s Health System

Miyamura-Heuman was instrumental in a lengthy and complicated project to align St. Luke’s pay and benefit structures, educating leaders and employees on that compensation redesign and coaching team members during the job architecture work that preceded it.

Kandis Pedersen-Romero

Senior Manager of Imaging Services, St. Luke’s Wood River

Pedersen-Romero’s dedication to solid processes and the patient experience has shifted the culture of the medical imaging department, in the process improving morale and taking the quality of service to new levels as reflected in patient and employee satisfaction scores.

Barbara “Barb” Porter

EMS Supervisor, Magic Valley Paramedics

Porter responds to 911 calls, spends numerous hours on her days off to rescue animals from abusive and neglectful situations and retrieve those dumped in the mountains, deserts and along highways, and supports struggling teen girls as a foster mom and stand-in grandmother.

Diane Records

Senior Director of Clinical Support Services, MSTI

Records helped make MSTI the institution that it is today, serving as nursing director for MSTI in Boise, helping to open and manage MSTI sites in Meridian, Nampa and Fruitland, cultivating the MSTI research program and helping to establish the blood and marrow transplant program.

Claire Sitts

Care Supervisor, Social Work, St. Luke’s Treasure Valley

Sitts has helped to architect St. Luke’s pediatric care coordination, developing a coordinated process that means multiple procedures can be performed in the case of children with complex needs during a single sedation, saving young patients and families time, expense and pain.

Connie Sturdavant

Senior Practice Manager, St. Luke’s Clinic, Treasure Valley

Under Sturdavant’s leadership, St. Luke’s has launched a Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities, a Center for Neurobehavioral Medicine, an inpatient consult liaison program and a partial hospitalization program, all to improve the health of children and adolescents.

Betty Sugden, M.D.

Physician, St. Luke’s Clinic – Jerome Family Medicine

Dr. Sugden is a family practice physician with certifications in pediatric advanced life support, neonatal resuscitation and advanced cardiac life support. She has delivered more than 500 babies and championed the integration of the former St. Benedict’s in Jerome with St. Luke’s Health System.

Ofa Tonga

Patient Safety Attendant, Clinical Support, St. Luke’s Boise

Tonga does the difficult work of a patient safety attendant, supports her colleagues as a preceptor for new staff members, hops between locations as a float employee and serves as a youth leader and humanitarian volunteer, teaching and helping young girls and with Cub Scouts.