Hennepin Healthcare in the News

Hennepin Healthcare in the News
View recent medical stories from local and national media featuring experts from Hennepin Healthcare.

Major changes made to improve emergency response times on Lake Minnetonka
WCCO 4, 5/24/23
On Lake Minnetonka in the west metro, this year will be the first with two major changes that first responders with Hennepin Healthcare say are targeted at keeping people safe – all while improving response times.

“I think the water rescue team being with the paramedics on the boat is going to make a really, really big difference,” said Hennepin EMS Chief Marty Scheerer. “Now, we’ll be right on scene. We’ll have a really quick response. We’ll have our defibrillator there, we’ll have our airway equipment, we’ll have all of our equipment there. It’s going to be fun.”

Structural racism and resilience in Psychiatry training with Frank Clark, MD and Dionne Hart, MD
APA TV, WebsEdgeMedicine, 5/21/23
Though medical schools and residency training programs are actively recruiting medical students from underrepresented minorities, acceptance on to these programs is just the beginning. To talk about the challenges minority physicians face throughout their training and the structural changes that might be needed to address these, we caught up with Dr Frank Clark and Dr Dionne Hart at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association.

How local health giants are championing inclusivity
Mpls/StPaul Magazine, 5/17/23
“We have a massive amount of educators and thought, Beyond an educational experience, we have to provide real-time bedside interventions, so we created a DEI clinician role, where mental health–trained, PhD-level professionals are positioned to help ‘in the moment’ discussions around racism,” said Dr. Nneka Sederstrom.

A Hennepin EMS doctor is testing out a new video platform to link 911 callers with emergency physicians
KSTP 5, 5/13/23
For emergency medical responders, seconds count in saving lives.

“It’s really about accessibility,” says Nicholas Simpson, the Chief Medical Director with Hennepin EMS. “Because nobody plans to have an emergency.”

Good Question: What are the benefits of a “sleep divorce”?
WCCO 4, 5/2/23
Snoring or worse often leads couples to visit Dr. Ranji Varghese. He’s the director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorder Center at Hennepin Healthcare.

“People like to call me a marriage counselor because sometimes when I fix one person’s sleep, the relationship gets a whole lot better,” Dr. Varghese joked.

Minnesota mom overcomes 1% chance of survival after being trampled by steer
WCCO 4, 5/1/23
“The goal for us is to get patients back to their families. And to know that she’s able to go back home to her kids and her husband, that feels really good. That feels like a big win,” said Dr. Alex Coward.

New weight loss drug could be a game changer
WCCO Radio, 5/1/23
PA Natalie Ikeman from Hennepin Healthcare tells us about an exciting new drug that could change the weight loss world.

Hennepin Healthcare hosts event to get Indigenous youth interested in health care careers
KSTP 5, 4/15/23
“There’s a really significant thing that happens when you are a patient in your most vulnerable stage and you see someone like you walk into the room,” said Aida Strom of Hennepin Healthcare.

Doctor’s quick thinking helps save some vision for man who woke up blind in one eye
Star Tribune, 4/14/23
“We see a little bit of recovery sometimes. We’d certainly never expect any recovery,” Dr. Laurence Ducker said. “It’s always just hoping that it doesn’t get worse. I think it’s a wonderful little miracle.”

2023 Top Doctors: Rising Stars Edition
Mpls/StPaul Magazine, 4/9/23
Amanda Jean Noska, MD, MPH, Infectious disease specialist, Hennepin Healthcare 
Why did you choose your field? I thought I wanted to be a family doctor. As I went through training, I felt that the knowledge base required to be a family physician wasn’t my strongest skill set, and I wanted to be able to follow things down the rabbit hole. I also ended up really loving every infectious disease doctor I ever worked with.

Welcome access for Narcan, a tool to thwart overdose deaths
Star Tribune, 4/7/23
Medical experts reacted favorably. Dr. Charles Reznikoff, an addiction doctor and internist with Hennepin Healthcare, said the FDA’s move is safe and appropriate. In an interview, he cited research showing that for every 11 Narcan doses distributed to people with opioid addiction, one life will be saved.

Minn. health systems are dropping mask requirements for patients, staff
MPR, 4/6/23
Officials at Hennepin Healthcare said they also plan to make changes to their masking policies. Starting April 11, masking by staff will continue in patient-facing areas, like exam rooms, therapy areas and front desks, but are no longer required in other places, like elevators, cafeterias and conference rooms.

Minneapolis entrepreneur gets life-changing call
FOX 9, 4/2/23
When FOX 9 first met Kamesha Davenport five years ago, she was working to get her life back together after a car slammed into her home. Since then, she has started a new business and is now on the path toward success after a life-changing call.  “We want to really make an impact with our local community,” said David Grounds, Supply Chain Manager at Hennepin Healthcare. “We’ve had some suffering in downtown Minneapolis — I think everybody’s aware what we’ve had to go through. Part of our strategic vision is to try to build up and create business relationships with the patients we serve and  the community that we’re in.”

FDA approves first over-the-counter version of Narcan to combat opioid overdose epidemic
WCCO 4, 3/29/23
Dr. Charles Reznikoff specializes in addiction medicine at Hennepin Healthcare. He says they’ve seen a 30% rise in overdose deaths and it’s affecting all ages and races. He hopes over the counter sales will help lower those statistics.

“There’s no reason every household shouldn’t have one of these. Everyone can have one in their backpack and people’s lives will be saved,” Reznikoff said.

DEA warning on growing use of fentanyl with ‘tranq’
KARE 11, 3/23/23
Hennepin Healthcare’s Addictive Medicine Director, Gavin Bart says the xylazine can interfere with the overdose-saving drug naloxone which prompts extra concern from health officials. 

Northland health systems get $1.7 million for ultrasound equipment
Duluth News Tribune, 3/21/23
Point-of-care ultrasound machines are used at the bedside of a patient for immediate assessment, and can diagnose conditions including internal bleeding, collapsed lungs, ruptured aortic aneurysms and about 60 other life-threatening problems that require immediate diagnosis and intervention, according to David Plummer, a Hennepin Healthcare doctor of emergency medicine who was among the first in the country to study the efficacy of ultrasound systems in emergency care.

$26.4 million grant helps Minnesota hospitals find life-threatening conditions
Star Tribune, 3/21/23
The grant announcement took place at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, which pioneered ER use of ultrasound technology. Rising violence in the mid-1980s resulted in more patients at HCMC with stab wounds to the heart that were difficult to detect unless patients went into cardiac arrest, said Dr. Dave Plummer, an HCMC emergency medicine specialist.

Hennepin Healthcare provided one- or two-day training seminars in the past, but found doctors and other providers still didn’t feel comfortable making diagnostic decisions with the technology back at their hospitals, said Dr. Robert Reardon, an HCMC emergency medicine physician.

Good Question: Do frozen foods have as much nutritional value as fresh foods? 
WCCO 4, 3/13/23
Physician assistant Natalie Ikeman with Hennepin Healthcare says there’s actually very similar nutritional value between frozen and fresh produce.

“But the longer it is out from the harvesting, that nutrient count really decreases quickly, so it really depends on when you eat that food,” she said.

Hyperbaric chamber at HCMC helps 2-year-old recover from dog attack injuries
KSTP 5, 3/8/23
“Certain wounds will have oxygen delivery issues, and if we’re able to increase the oxygen that they’re getting just globally, we can help make things heal appropriately,” explained Dr. Thomas Masters with Hennepin Healthcare’s Center for Hyperbaric Medicine.

Quick thinking, new treatment at HCMC help save toddler’s ear after dog bite
Star Tribune, 3/8/23
“She was a dream in the chamber — bonded with all of our nurses,” said Dr. Tom Masters, the hyperbaric medicine specialist who oversaw Kenzie’s treatment. “She did really well. We were concerned about it, but it turned out to be something she could handle.”

Gift of life keeps Little Falls man going after 45 years
Morrison County Record, 3/7/23
“The transplant offered DuWayne the gift of raising his family, living his life, working and sharing his journey, so others have hope,” said Ellen Bernardson, who works as a nurse practitioner in the surgery department at Hennepin Healthcare and specializes in the care of kidney transplant patients.

Dive team tours hyperbaric chamber
Lonsdale Area News-Review, 3/6/23
The team learned about the origin and history of hyperbaric medicine at HCMC from Dr. Christopher Logue and staff.

Why and how I donated a kidney to a stranger
Star Tribune, 2/26/23
A handful of bewildered friends questioned my decision to donate a kidney to someone I didn’t know.

The simple answer: Why not? A healthy person can get by with just one kidney, and the other one can be of greater use to someone whose health and general wellbeing have eroded as their kidneys failed. I’m happy to share the wealth. – Kelly Maynard, RN

Hennepin Healthcare expands health equity department, releases first annual report
Star Tribune, 2/20/23
“I fully believe that transparency is the only way to make this work,” said Nneka O. Sederstrom, Hennepin Healthcare’s chief health equity officer. “I want a little bit of a blueprint of our successes and failures. … No one knows how to do it the right way, but we’re going to do our best to show what we’re doing.”

Hennepin EMS responds to 52 slips and falls Monday, the beginning of a busy and snowy week
KARE 11, 2/20/23
“We’re expecting some long days with our crews,” Hennepin EMS Battalion Chief Mike Trullinger says.  Monday morning crews were already seeing an increased number of calls.  “We had 10 fall calls on the board at one time this morning,” Trullinger says.

Black Women with Stethoscopes Youth Summit at Hennepin Healthcare
FOX 9, 2/19/23
Hennepin Healthcare held a summit to to encourage young Black women to learn more about a career in healthcare.

To address health disparities, Hennepin Healthcare turns to local youth
MPR, 2/18/23
“We all understand and know the health disparities that we are facing, especially our black and brown communities. The inequities are real and they’re very prominent in Minnesota,” said Nneka Sederstrom, PhD, chief health equity officer at Hennepin Healthcare. “We also know from the data that one of the best, easiest, and quickest ways to decrease disparities within our black and brown communities is to have clinicians of the same race and ethnicity take care of those patients.”

Hennepin Healthcare event celebrates Black women in healthcare
KSTP 5, 2/18/23
“We know that there are very few black and brown physicians in our area — let alone our country — and we know that the impact of having a person of color taking care of people of color is one of the only ways to minimize health disparities and inequities,” said Dr. Nneka Sederstrom.”

Event lets Black women explore careers in healthcare
WCCO 4, 2/18/23
“When you have physicians who look like you, come from your community, there’s an instant trust factor — that we know is one of the main reasons patients do better,” said Dr. Nneka Sederstrom.

Report: Homeless Minnesotans die at three times the rate of general population
MPR, 2/16/23
MPR News host Tom Crann spoke about the findings with one of the lead researchers of the report, Dr. Kate Diaz Vickery who is a physician and the co-director of the Health, Homelessness, and Criminal Justice Lab at the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute.

HCMC launches program to help patients get online
Star Tribune, 2/14/23
Making an appointment online takes 30 to 60 seconds, compared to calling and waiting up to 10 to 20 minutes, said Dr. Ryan Jelinek, a physician who is certified in clinical informatics, the application of technology to health care-related problems. More significantly, internet access is a social determinant of health, Jelinek said.

Good Question: Can love improve your health? It may depend on the type of love you’re experiencing
WCCO 4, 2/14/23
How does the feeling of love impact the heart? It depends on what type of love you’re experiencing, said Dr. Michelle Carlson, a cardiologist with Hennepin Healthcare. 

“If it’s new love, it’s exciting. We’re going to have hormones released in our body, hormones like epinephrine, norepinephrine,” said Dr. Carlson.

Major new study highlights the deadly toll of being homeless in Minnesota
Star Tribune, 2/12/23
“What this study shows … is that there are tremendous and incredibly detrimental health effects to be a person experiencing homelessness in our state,” said Dr. Kate Diaz Vickery, a primary care physician and co-director of a research lab on health, homelessness and criminal justice at the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, which prepared the report.

Hennepin Healthcare celebrates 60 years of its Kidney Transplant Program
WCCO Radio, 2/11/23
“What an incredible day to celebrate the 60th anniversary of our transplant center,” said Hennepin Healthcare CEO Jennifer DeCubellis. “And just this morning, hearing stories and hearing lives impacted has just been incredibly impactful.”

As Minnesota considers legalizing marijuana, what does research say about the risks?
Star Tribune, 2/4/23
Dr. Charles Reznikoff, an addiction medicine expert with Hennepin Healthcare, said persistent marijuana use has hurt some patients’ health, jobs and families.

Invasive strep spreading, antibiotic treatment supply inconsistent
FOX 9, 2/3/23
“This year it seems like it came a little early and we’ve had some warnings put out for being on the lookout for more invasive strep,” said Dr. Stacene Maroushek, a Hennepin Healthcare pediatrician and pediatric infectious disease specialist.

Talking Points: Testing strips legalized in effort to combat fentanyl overdoses
2/1/23
A new federal law now allows anyone with a license to prescribe a lifesaving drug — buprenorphine, also know as suboxone. Murphy spoke with addiction specialist Dr. Charles Reznikoff, with Hennepin Healthcare, about suboxone and whether the testing strips in any way encourage drug use.

Minnesota closing its state-run COVID testing sites
KARE 11, 1/27/23
“We haven’t had phenomenal vaccination rates in Minnesota with the newest booster, the bivalent booster,” said Dr. Hannah Lichtsinn with Hennepin Healthcare. 

A horse tranquilizer is making Minnesota’s fentanyl crisis even more dangerous
KSTP 5, 1/26/23
“There’s been several people, especially out in Philly and in New York, where this has been a bigger issue,” said Brit Culp, an addiction treatment specialist with Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis. 

ER docs: Medical “paradigm shift” makes opioid use disorder meds more accessible, saves lives
MINNPost, 1/23/23
Eliminating the X-waiver requirement represents a significant “paradigm shift,” said Dr. Jon Cole, an ER physician at Hennepin County Medical Center and medical director of the Minnesota Poison Control System: “Patients will have substantially greater access to treatment now, all over Minnesota, as long as their local physicians are willing to prescribe the medication.” Dr. Tim Kummer and Dr. Nick Simpson were also interviewed for this article.

Hospitals are already overcrowded – and now they’re dealing with injuries from ice
KARE 11, 1/18/23
HCMC in downtown Minneapolis is among the many facilities seeing their usual increase in slip-and-fall injuries, due to the snowy and icy winter conditions. Dr. Stephen Smith, an emergency physician with Hennepin Healthcare, said these patients have flooded into the Emergency Department for roughly the past month.

Pharmacists offer tips for unprecedented children’s medication shortage
CCX Media, 1/18/23
“So we had COVID, flu and RSV hit earlier than typically, and it’s been with us for quite a while,” said Tara Tindall, a pharmacy supervisor with Hennepin Healthcare. “So the manufacturers couldn’t keep up with demand. That’s what we hear from them is increased demand. However, typically they pre-plan for the season, but I think with the three viruses it’s been really difficult for them to keep up.”

Next Step violence prevention program working, Minneapolis officials say
Star Tribune, 1/17/23
The federal funds will go toward mental health and anger management services, according to Next Step Director Kentral Galloway. Officials are also considering the possibility of expanding into Children’s Minnesota hospital in Minneapolis.

Opinion Exchange: On the health care front lines, we are not OK
Star Tribune, 1/16/23
“Thousands of open positions in hospital and post-acute settings are currently unfilled in Minnesota, and the situation does not show signs of improvement,” Tom Klemond writes. While health care teams are indeed grateful for the decline in numbers of influenza patients recently reported in this paper, our challenges with “limited bed space and overcrowded emergency departments” nevertheless persist and continue to severely hamper our ability to provide needed care. (“Decline in flu cases frees up hospital beds,” Dec. 30.)

CDC report shows child vaccination rates are dropping and the numbers are even lower in Minnesota
KARE 11 1/13/23
“We are getting to the point, for example with measles, where the vaccination rate needs to be 95% or higher to have herd immunity that will protect the community and we have dropped below 90% in the state of Minnesota,” Hennepin Healthcare pediatrician Dr. Leslie King-Schultz says.

Parents, it’s time to safely put away the gummies
Star Tribune, 1/13/23
“Kids just put things in their mouths,” said Dr. Jon Cole, medical director of the Minnesota Poison Control System and a father of four. “They put things in their mouth to explore the world.”

More kids becoming sickened by edibles at home
KSTP 5, 1/10/23
Dr. Jon Cole is the medical director of the Minnesota Poison Control Center.  It was one of 55 poison centers that contributed to the national study. “We have a new public health problem,” he said.

Spotlight On: Jennifer DeCubellis, CEO, Hennepin Healthcare
Capital Analytics Associates, 1/10/23

Walking like a penguin may not look cool, but it may prevent a life-changing fall
WCCO 4, 1/8/23
“We’re seeing a lot of head injuries from slip and falls, some neck injuries where people have broken their neck, injured their spine. And then most commonly what we’re seeing is a lot of ankle injuries,” said Hennepin Healthcare Emergency Physician Dr. Ashley Strobel.

Doctors urge importance of CPR training in wake of Damar Hamlin incident
KARE 11, 1/3/23
“Cardiac arrest in general is referred to when the heart suddenly stops, usually due to an electrical abnormality of the heart,” said Dr. Rehan Karim, a cardiac electrophysiologist with Hennepin County Medical Center.