Trinity Health Foundation supports Trinity Health employees.

PRIDE from Within Fund

PRIDE is Trinity Health’s employee giving program, and Trinity Health employees may designate a portion of their paychecks for this fund. PRIDE has two purposes:
1. To assist employees facing a hardship situation for themselves or an immediate family member,
2. To assist with facility and equipment upgrades and enhancements.

Last year, PRIDE funded 34 employee hardship requests and 2 facilities/equipment requests. In total PRIDE awarded more than $80,000 last year!

Here are quotes from some of the employees who benefited from the PRIDE Fund:
“I had just been moved out of the ICU for 1-2 days when my daughter was presented with an envelope. She started to cry, then gave me the envelope and we all were crying. I did not expect such a gift . My manager explained that this was from the PRIDE Committee at Trinity and this is what they do. I knew of PRIDE, but not how it worked. PRIDE is a treasure that Trinity has. After my accident and while in the hospital and rehab, bills continued to come in. The gift from PRIDE was very helpful. I cannot thank everyone enough for the support and gift that was given. PRIDE is wonderful to have at Trinity.”

“I moved back to Minot and became an employee of Trinity in 2003. I returned to Minot to take care of my mother. Later, I became a guardian of my two grandchildren. It was not easy as a single grandmother, but I love and care for my family. After my mom turned 89 years old, her health quickly went downhill. Before I knew it my paid time off was gone, and then my mom passed away. One day two representatives from Trinity Health Foundation came to my office and handed me an envelope with financial help. I have never received such a gift ever!! I wish to give many thank you’s to all who helped me and those who donate to the PRIDE Fund. You help people every day in every way.”

Staff Education and Training

Trinity Health Foundation supports Trinity Health employees by providing funding for staff members to participate in educational activities, conferences and training opportunities. As staff members enhance their knowledge, skills and abilities, they provide better care to those we serve and help improve health and wellness in our region.

Safe Kids

Safe Kids is a worldwide non-profit with over 400 coalitions in more than 30 countries. Its mission is to reduce the number of unintentional injuries and deaths in children under age 19. Injuries are the leading cause of death in children. In July 2018, Trinity agreed to be the lead agency for Safe Kids Minot; this was a great start to a community partnership to keep our youth safe.

Amber Emerson RN, Safe Kids Minot, traveled to Dickinson ND, to attend the National Child Passenger Safety Technician Training. This was an intensive four-day course in which attendees are tested, both hands on and clerically, to obtain the title of Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST). Trinity Health Foundation was instrumental in allowing the Safe Kids Minot Coordinator to travel and receive this education. Given that motor vehicle crashes are the second leading cause of injuries in the Minot area, this education will be very impactful as Safe Kids Minot continues to grow.

Trinity Health Radiologic Technology Program

Over the past year, the Foundation has graciously funded several important trips for the Radiologic Technology Program. Last October, Michelle Bratton, JD, R.T. (R)(MR), Trinity Health Radiologic Technology Program Director, was able to attend the JRCERT (our school’s accrediting body) annual meeting in Chicago. It was a wonderful conference that introduced her to the student learning objectives and JRCERT standards that our program must meet to remain accredited. This experience was invaluable and provided Michelle with much needed understanding on how the accreditation process works.

Also, the Foundation helped fund five students and two program officials’ attendance at the North Dakota Society of Radiologic Technologists (NDSRT) annual meeting. The senior students attend the state conference every year and enter the scientific research paper competition. Three of our students presented their papers at the conference, which is an invaluable experience in public speaking and networking with professionals in that occupation. At that event, Tamara Romesha was awarded 1st place, Jessi Heimdal was awarded 2nd place and Kennedy Cupido was awarded 3rd place.

During the conference new NDSRT board members were also elected and several students were elected as officers. Tamara Romesha was sworn into the President’s position and Christina Naranjo was elected Secretary. The students should be proud of themselves for how professional they were during their attendance at the NDSRT conference as well as their new involvement in our state society.

For staff members, the NDSRT conference was very educational and the speakers were excellent. They brought back numerous ideas to use in our program. “Thank you very much for making the trips to the JRCERT and annual NDSRT conference possible. Your generous contribution to this endeavor is much appreciated,” said Michelle Bratton.

Outpatient Therapy

Trinity Health Foundation provided two members of the speech therapy department and one member of the occupational therapy department the opportunity to attend the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) training in Bismarck to support communication of children who are non-verbal or have limited communication skills such as patients with autism. Since the training, speech therapy has supported six children to request activities/objects using pictures. This strategy teaches children how to request items and reduces frustration and negative behaviors. PECS supports vocabulary picture identification and, as it progresses, develops children’s ability to sequence words into sentences, such as “I want the red ball.” It has been a versatile training as the hierarchy of cueing and language development can be used with a large variety of children in our clinic.

Laboratory

The Lab’s Administrative Director attended the Clinical Lab Educator’s Conference: to meet requirements for becoming qualified as an Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS) School Program Director, under The National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Science (NACCLS). This was needed for Trinity Health to begin the process of reopening/reaccrediting its school for MLS. The knowledge gained enabled the attendee to begin building courses for the MLS program and to prepare for the accreditation process.

The state-wide American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS) Conference was attended by more than 20 laboratory staff members, providing them with up-to-date knowledge on a wide-ranging variety of topics related to laboratory medicine/practice as well as required continuing education credits for continued licensure in the state of North Dakota.

Behavioral Health

With the assistance of the Trinity Health Foundation, two Trinity Health staff members were able to attend the Annual Joint Commission Behavioral Health Conference in Rosemont, Illinois. This conference allowed them to gain a better understanding of upcoming changes in regulations from the Joint Commission in order to meet and exceed behavioral health standards. It also gave attendees a chance to network with others from across the United States working in the behavioral health field. This educational program allowed them to discuss how the field is evolving and update each other on new evidence-based practices. This conference also provided an opportunity to examine new tools and resources that will benefit this behavioral health community.

Trinity Health Foundation provided funding for Julie Hatfield, LMSC to attend Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) training. EMDR is an evidenced based treatment modality with a somatic approach to healing trauma. EMDR is recommended by the World Health Organization for children, adolescents, and adults. Julie is the family therapist in the Child and Adolescent Partial Hospitalization (CAPH) program and frequently works with traumatized youth. The CAPH program, a brief behavioral health program, is a multidisciplinary team focusing on improving the quality of life for our youth and their families. The CAPH program provides children with intensive support and structure to improve overall functioning. Julie implemented the skills she learned as soon as she returned from the training with positive responses from our clients. She is looking forward to additional training provided in September to increase her knowledge regarding trauma and more ways to help our youth and their families heal.

Other departments receiving funding for staff education and training included:

• Exercise Physiology
• Hospice
• Oral and Facial Surgery
• Pastoral Care
• Trauma Services