VG Hillsboro Corner
At the end of last year, VG Hillsboro began offering its Centering Pregnancy program to all Virginia Garcia patients. Centering Pregnancy is a series of group classes for pregnant women that include exams as well as nutrition and childbirth preparation. “We begin seeing women in the early stage of pregnancy and work with them right up until they give birth,” said clinic manager Vicki Pedraza. The program is overseen by Virginia Garcia providers Lyn Jacobs and Sunuti Kumar. “We have two classes going now and will have another session beginning later this spring which will probably be led by a nurse/midwife,” said Pedraza.
Pictured at right, a Virginia Garcia patient and her mom.
VG Hillsboro has also started a new pain management group led by Dr. Brian Tucker from LifeWorks Northwest and a nutrition group led by naturopathic provider Jacqui Villalobos. “The group classes end up becoming support groups for participants as well as educational sessions,” said Pedraza.
In the spring of 2010, VG Hillsboro formed a sustainability committee to guide the clinic in the implementation of Lean program goals. Lean is a quality improvement model that Virginia Garcia has adopted to help improve system wide health care delivery. “We’ve been focusing on the patient experience,” said clinic coordinator Barb Fordyce, “in particular, on wait time and on the time from when the patient checks in to when they check out.” A trip through the halls of VG Hillsboro shows the ‘visual management’ technique they use to track their progress. Charts, maps and diagrams are on display so that employees can see where they are succeeding and where improvement is needed. “This way we engage and encourage the staff to be involved in quality improvement,” said Fordyce.
VG Hillsboro has been open to new patients for the first time in more than a year. The extended hours of operation which include late hours on week days and most Saturdays have been well used. VG Hillsboro recently hired Esther Aguirre, RN a “home grown nurse” who began her career as a receptionist at VG Beaverton.
In February VG Hillsboro had a 14 year old girl come in complaining
of extreme fatigue. Blood tests showed she was critically anemic and
needed to go to the hospital. Providers and support staff in the clinic
noticed her father didn’t seem to understand the gravity of her situation.
When clinic manager Vicki Pedraza followed up that evening, the girl
was still at home. Because of the concerted effort of Virginia Garcia staff
the girl was able to get the care she needed at OHSU.