Gritman Medical Center | Connections | Winter 2014

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A high-tech solution
GRITMAN Medical Cen-
ter proudly graduated 24 students
from its Certi ed Nursing Assistant
(CNA) training program in October
and November.
Dozens of family and friends at-
tended the graduation ceremonies.
Gritman’s training program gradu-
ates 12 students per class and up to
70 a year.
“For many of our graduates, this
is their formal introduction into the
medical profession, and many go on
to nursing, medical school, physi-
cian assistant school, radiology or
some other health-related eld,” said
Deb Meshishnek, RN, BSN, who di-
rects the CNA program at Gritman.
“Others nd a satisfying career as a
CNA and work at Gritman or some
other hospital or nursing home.”
ADDING to its reputation
as a hospital that adopts the latest
technology, Gritman Medical Center
is now using an emergency commu-
nication system by AtHoc, Inc., to
keep its employees informed in the
event of an emergency.
e system allows Gritman to
quickly reach its sta , wherever they
are, via email, text, telephone and the
AtHoc Mobile Noti er. e technol-
ogy is useful in the event of extreme
weather, natural disasters, human
threats to patients and caregivers,
and IT outages for its locations in
Latah County.
As a rural health system covering
a wide geography, Gritman needs
a fast, reliable and e ective way of
reaching sta during manmade
and natural emergencies to pro-
tect themselves and patients, said
Kane Francetich, Gritman’s Chief
Information O cer.
“ e key advantage that AtHoc
brings to the table is the two-way
communication platform that allows
us to not only communicate impor-
tant information to our sta and
medical community quickly but also
solicit feedback from those people
at the same time,” Francetich said.
“ at allows us to determine who is
able to respond to a disaster or how
many sta could help if child care
could be arranged, for example. e
solution was easy to install, learn and
begin using, taking only a couple of
days to begin realizing value.”
We’re a Most Wired
Hospital—again!
e AtHoc acquisition is in keep-
ing with Gritman’s willingness to
adopt new technology. Gritman
Medical Center was named a 2014
Most Wired Hospital in July by
Hospitals & Health Networks—the
sixth time Gritman has received this
honor. e Most Wired Hospital
designation promotes the use of
technology to improve patient care,
assure patient safety and be more
e cient by highlighting hospitals us-
ing innovative and best practices.
Malcolm Carson, Business
Development Manager of AtHoc’s
Healthcare Group, said communica-
tion is especially important in a rural
setting.
“We are proud to assist Gritman
Medical Center in their mission
to provide safety to its employees
and patients as they provide critical
healthcare services to the people of
Moscow and the surrounding area,”
“Rural medical centers and hospitals
make up the majority of healthcare
facilities throughout the United
States and are not isolated from
the necessity to communicate with
their personnel during emergent
incidents.”
Gritman has the
only CNA train-
ing program in the
area. Usually, people
wanting to enter the
two-month CNA
program are univer-
sity students. Mesh-
ishnek said in order
to give more people
a chance, she reserves
two or three slots per
graduating class for
people who aren’t university students
but still want to learn.
e program costs about $1,200,
but Meshishnek created a scholar-
ship through the Gritman Founda-
tion to pay for an applicant who
has no nancial means to pay. e
scholarship is in the name of Joyce
Drake, a former GMC nurse who
taught in the program. e 2014 recipi-
ent is Brenda Whitlatch, who gradu-
ated and is now employed at Gritman’s
award-winning Family Birth Center.
For more information, visit www.
gritman.org/services-education.html
or email .
I N C A S E O F E M E R G E N C Y
Training the next generation
Each graduate received a pin from clinical
instructor Stephanie Moore, RN, MSN (left), and
classroom instructor Hollie Mooney, RN, BSN (right).
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