St. Charles Medical Center – Bend - St Charles Hospital

St. Charles Medical Center â€" Bend is a hospital in Bend, Oregon, United States. It is the largest hospital in Central Oregon, and a level 2 trauma center. St. Charles medical center [SCMC-B] is owned and operated by St. Charles Health System, Inc. (SCHS), a private, not-for-profit Oregon corporation. SCHS also owns and operates the St. Charles Medical Center - Redmond.

History

The first Hospital in Bend named St. Charles was built in 1922 on "Hospital Hill" located in downtown Bend. The building was named in honor of Bishop Charles Joseph O'Reilly, the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baker. This building was to replace a house at 930 Broadway that the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tipton, Indiana were using for medical facilities.

In 1951 a more modern facility was built on the Hospital Hill site.

In 1972 the Sisters of St. Joseph transferred the assets of the hospital to a new not for profit corporation called St. Charles Memorial Hospital Inc.

On October 12, 1975 the new St. Charles Medical Center was dedicated. In March 1977 the old St. Charles Memorial Hospital building was demolished.

on January 1, 2001 Central Oregon District Hospital and St. Charles Medical Center merged to create Cascade Healthcare Services, later renamed to Cascade Healthcare Community, inc. As part of the merger the hospital was renamed to Central Oregon Community Hospital. In 2003 the hospital's name was changed again to the current St. Charles Medical Center Redmond.

On February 15, 2010 the Catholic Diocese of Baker announced its intention to dissolve the official sponsorship relationship of St. Charles Medical Center-Bend by the Catholic Church. As part of the announcement both the Church and CHC said "very little will change at St. Charles Bend as a result of this decision. However, Catholic Mass will no longer be celebrated in the hospital's chapel, and all items considered Catholic will be removed from the hospital and returned to the church." The dissolution of the Church's sponsorship ended a 92-year relationship.

Notable Events

St. Charles selects Epic for electronic health record solution

After an extensive assessment and selection process, the caregivers and providers of St. Charles Health System have selected Epic as its new electronic health record, or EHR.

“The benefits of Epic will be felt throughout Central Oregon,” said Joe Sluka, president and CEO of St. Charles Health System. “The improvement in the quality and coordination of patient care are a long-term investment in the health of our community.”

St. Charles is currently finalizing contract negotiations with Epic and fine-tuning the details of its implementation project timeline. A signed contract agreement is expected by mid-summer, and the official project kickoff is targeted for early fall.

Meanwhile, the organization is ramping up to hire more than 100 people for its Epic implementation team. The organization is starting to recruit for those positions today at the St. Charles Job Fair at the Deschutes County Expo Center, from 1 to 6 p.m.

"Our patients, caregivers and providers will all benefit from our hospitals, ambulatory clinics and business offices using one system across all departments,” said Jeremiah Brickhouse, St. Charles’ chief information officer. “We’ll be able to better manage the health of our patients and our community throughout the health system and other organizations across the region, providing better continuity of care.”

New MRI at St. Charles Redmond makes high-resolution scans available close to home

A new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system is now in service at St. Charles Redmond and performing high-resolution scans that offers the best in technology for the Redmond community.

The MRIâ€"a type of medical imaging that uses strong magnetic fields, radio waves and field gradients to form images of the bodyâ€"can be used to produce high-resolution images of blood vessels and organs in the body, including the brain.

The system was purchased and will be managed by Central Oregon MRI, LLC, a joint venture between St. Charles Health System, Central Oregon Radiology Associates (CORA) and two independent physicians.

Almost two-thirds of the Redmond hospital’s Radiology Department and the Family Birthing Center (FBC) lobby was renovated to accommodate this new technology â€" a 1.5 Tesla wide bore MRI â€" which has an open bore system that helps patients feel less closed in. The MRI, which can handle patients who weigh up to 500 pounds, has an opening of almost 2.3 feet in diameter to provide a full foot of space over a patient’s head.

“This MRI is truly a step forward technologically for the Redmond community,” said Rob Kennard, St. Charles’ director of diagnostic radiology for the St. Charles Bend and Redmond hospitals. “But the greatest benefit will be for our inpatients, who will no longer have to travel off site with a nurse to get a scan. They can now get the care they need without leaving the comfort and safety of our facility.”

With two MRIs now in Redmond, there will also be less wait time for outpatients and the hospital’s Emergency Department will have coverage 24/7.

Outpatients who are scheduled to have an MRI scan or any other imaging exam at the hospital can check in and register at the newly remodeled lobby of the Family Birthing Center. The project has reopened an old hospital entrance, which is south of the Emergency Department entrance on Canal Boulevard. There is also still a dedicated waiting area there for friends and family of mothers staying in the Family Birthing Center.

St. Charles Bend invests in new patient tower, increasing capacity for critical care

St. Charles Bend is going to construct a new patient tower that will significantly increase its number of critical care bedsâ€"a project that positions the hospital to care for the communities it serves well into the next century.

The St. Charles Health System Board of Directors recently approved a $66 million project that includes the new patient tower, a new parking lot and second water line. Skanska and NBBJ Architects have been selected to complete the design and build.

“This project represents a significant investment in the future,” said Board Chairman Dan Schuette. “It is a commitment by St. Charles to provide the high level of care our growing communities have come to expect.”

The largest construction project since the St. Charles Cancer Center, the new patient tower will be located north of the existing ICU and stand four stories tall, with room for inpatient and emergency psychiatric services, a short-stay unit and space for additional critical care beds.

The planned expansion will result in a total of between 32 and 36 ICU beds in Bendâ€"where the 18 existing beds are often fullâ€"nearly doubling the size of the existing nursing tower and having a significant impact on the overall look and feel of the health care campus.

Importantly, the project also includes the addition of a 500-stall parking lot to more comfortably accommodate the growing number of people seeking services at the hospital, as well as a second water line to build redundancy into the hospital’s water supply.

“This project is so important for the future of health care in Central Oregon,” said Joe Sluka, president and CEO of St. Charles Health System. “We’re moving forward with a plan that will ensure we can continue to meet our patients’ needs for many years to come.”

Construction on the second water line and the 500-stall parking lot will begin in late summer or early fall. The new patient tower, if all goes according to plan, will open in 2018 and St. Charles will be reaching out to the community to support the project.

The Bend hospital is experiencing capacity issues due partly to population growth and also because the health system has recruited more specialists in recent years that provide a higher level of complex care requiring intensive care hospital stays after surgery.

“Our vascular surgeon has patients coming from outside of the area to see him,” said Bob Gomes, president of St. Charles Bend and Redmond. “We are adding to our heart and lung team and expect to see additional patients for those specialists as well. We want to make sure we can accommodate all of the patients who come to us for complex care.”

American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recognizes Center for Women’s Health

The St. Charles Center for Women’s Health in Redmond has received a prestigious certification that recognizes patient safety in outpatient women’s clinics.

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has awarded the clinic its Safety Certification in Outpatient Practice Excellence (SCOPE) for Women’s Health certification.

A voluntary review program, SCOPE focuses solely on processes associated with enhancing safety and reducing risk for patients in the office setting, and distinguishes those offices with the strongest safety practices.

The certification, which took the Center for Women’s Health more than two years to achieve, helps enhance patient safety by emphasizing best practice tools, policies and procedures. The clinic is only the second in Oregon, and 88th nationwide, to receive it.

Patient safety is a top priority for the clinic, said Dr. Barbara Newman, St. Charles’ director of women’s services. One recent study published in the medical journal BMJ showed that medical errors claim 251,000 lives a year, making it the third leading cause of death in the U.S.

“SCOPE is a prestigious award, but it also focuses on the fact that we practice safe medicine,” Newman said. “It’s important for us to know we’re doing it state of the art, that we’re following all of the recommendations of our parent organizationâ€"ACOGâ€"and that we’re delivering the best care we can to our patients.”

To participate, women’s clinics complete a SCOPE application that collects information on characteristics of the office, providers and specific safety measures and processes. The survey is then reviewed and followed with a site visit.

The Center for Women’s Health, whose SCOPE certification is good for five years, was also lauded by ACOG for providing care that it will present back to the national professional association as best practice. That care includes:

An imbedded behavioral health provider who screens women for depression, domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse Weekly high-risk obstetrical conferences where doctors, nurses and patient navigators discuss the most complex patient cases Education about the importance of good dental hygiene during pregnancy “This was a total team effort. Everybody got on board and realized what an important project this was,” Newman said. “We were put under the microscope and truly scrutinized, and I’m very, very proud of what we’ve been able to demonstrate here.”