Bemidji

Sanford Bemidji Medical Center is a regional medical center in Bemidji, Minnesota, part of the larger Sanford Health system, which is headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It serves as a regional hub, offering a range of services, including a level III trauma center, emergency care, and various specialized services. 

Key aspects of Sanford Bemidji Medical Center:

Services

Offers 24-hour emergency care, imaging, surgical coverage, and various specialized services like cardiology, orthopedics, and women's health. 

Trauma Center

Operates as a Level III trauma center, providing emergency care and handling complex trauma cases. 

Regional Hub

Serves as a major medical center for northern Minnesota, offering a range of services not always available in smaller communities. 

Community Focus

Involved in community health initiatives, including the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) to understand and address the health needs of the region. 

Foundation

The Sanford Health Foundation in the Bemidji region supports patient programs, equipment upgrades, and special projects. 

Sanford Health System

Part of the larger Sanford Health system, which is a major healthcare provider in the Midwest and beyond, with locations in multiple states. 

Cass Lake Indian Health Service

The Cass Lake Indian Health Service (IHS) Hospital is a Federal Public Health Service facility operating as a Critical Access Hospital and Outpatient Ambulatory Care Clinic. The facility delivers many outpatient services to over 12,000 individuals (in and out of state). These services include: medical, dental, pharmacy, laboratory, radiology, physical therapy, audiology, podiatry, and optometry. Cass Lake IHS also provides patients with 24/7 access to emergency department care. In addition, Cass Lake IHS collaborates with several Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe tribal programs including behavioral health, Leech Lake Opiate Treatment Center, Leech Lake Diabetes Services, public health nursing, and community based tribal clinics on the reservation.

Red Lake Indian Health Service

The Red Lake Health Care System and Hospital provides comprehensive health care to Native Americans and Alaskan Natives on the Red Lake Ojibwe Nation in Northern Minnesota. The aim of the Red Lake Health Care System and Hospital is to optimize the Medical Home of the Red Lake Ojibwe Nation through: Convenient Access, Community Partnerships, Empowering Self-Management for patients through Education, Prevention and/or delay of Chronic Disease, Utilizing the highest Standards of Care, Integration of Behavioral Health into Primary Care. Services provided at the Red Lake Hospital include ambulatory care clinic, same day walk-in clinic, emergency department, 16 bed inpatient facility, dental, optometry, behavioral health, prenatal care, physical therapy, radiology, 40 bed long-term care facility, and comprehensive community health care. The pharmacists are fully credentialed and privileged as Hospital Medical Staff members.

Lead preceptor: 

Alanna Zutz, Pharm.D., BCPS, CAHIMS, 340B ACE. Senior Pharmacist at Sanford Bemidji Medical Center and Sanford Bagley Medical Center

-Attended NDSU; works at Sanford Bemidji and Sanford Bagley in hospital pharmacy.

-Outside of work I enjoy spending time with family outdoors, skiing, biking, fishing, hiking, reading, cooking, baking, and drinking lots of coffee.

Additional preceptors: 

• Ryan Okerlund, Pharm.D. Iverson Corner Drug
• Maria Beddow, Pharm.D. Red Lake Indian Health Service
• Rachel Washburn, Pharm.D., BCPS, CDCES. Cass Lake Indian Health Service

  • LCDR Rachel Washburn attended pharmacy school at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. After pharmacy school, she completed an Indian Health Service PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency at Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation in Tuba City, AZ and stayed on as a staff pharmacist. In 2017, LCDR Washburn transferred to Cass Lake Indian Health Services in Cass Lake, Minnesota where she now works as a clinical pharmacist practicing in the ambulatory care setting. Her additional roles include Residency Director, P&T Chair, Educational Outreach Coordinator, and Medication Safety Committee Pharmacy Representative. Outside of work, she stays active keeping up with the activities of her husband and kids.

• John Naegeli, Pharm.D. BCACP. Cass Lake Indian Health Service
• Erin Folland, Pharm.D. Pharmacist and preceptor at Sanford Bemidji Outpatient Infusion Pharmacy.
• Susan Jacobs, Pharm.D. Pharmacist and preceptor at Sanford Bemidji Hospital Pharmacy. 

  • - In my free time I enjoy spending time with my family. When we are not at school sporting events, I enjoy being outdoors fishing and taking the kids swimming. Reading and audio books are some of my favorite things. Everything previously mentioned is usually done with some iced coffee.

• Student will complete 5 weeks at Iverson’s consisting of the community pharmacy required rotation, student will complete 5 weeks required ambulatory care rotation at either Cass Lake or Red Lake. The student will complete 20 weeks (four 5-week blocks) at Sanford consisting of the acute care required, institutional required rotations and two elective rotations. 10 week elective will consist of Sanford Rural Health Patient Care - student will be at Sanford for 10 week (2 x 5 week) elective and will spend time with pharmacists in emergency department, internal medicine clinic, anticoagulation clinic, oncology infusion, home infusion, outpatient IV antibiotic infusion, oral oncology patient program, medication safety, management/leadership, Sanford Bagley critical access hospital, Sanford retail pharmacies.
• The Cass Lake Indian Health Service provides healthcare services at no cost to those enrolled in a Federally-recognized tribe.  Our service unit is located on the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation.
• Travel required to:
  • Cass Lake (20 minute drive; Cass Lake is east of Bemidji),
  • Red Lake (37 minute drive; Red Lake is north of Bemidji),
  • Recommend one travel day to Sanford Bagley Medical Center (28 minute drive; Bagley is west of Bemidji).
• Onsite hours of rotation –
  • Sanford Bemidji – variable hours as we are a 24/7/365 facility.
  • Iverson Corner Drug hours:
  • Cass Lake Indian Health Service hours: typically students will work either 0800-1630 or 0930-1800, Monday through Friday
  • Red Lake Indian Health Service hours: Typically, M-F 8:00 am – 4:30 pm; however, there are activities/outreach events that occur on evenings and/or weekends. Students will be informed at the beginning of the rotation if an outreach/evening/weekend activity is scheduled, or as soon as possible upon learning of outreach opportunities. Students will be expected to attend/participate in these evening/weekend events during the rotation. Federal holidays may also require flexible scheduling to ensure students complete their required time during pharmacy hours.

• Sanford Bemidji Medical Center is a 116 bed hospital located in Bemidji, Minnesota. Our hospital location is connected to our primary outpatient clinic and the Joe Leuken Cancer Center.   Our hospital provides general hospital/surgical care, 14 bed ICU, telemetry unit, Cath lab, OB/pediatric unit, OR and ER. Outpatient pharmacy services are infusion pharmacy, retail pharmacy, and anticoagulation clinic. After the introductory week, students often work with a variety of staff pharmacists covering all shifts and a variety of clinical duties.  Students will be actively involved with patient care for our pharmacy services including pharmacokinetics, anticoagulation, IV nutrition, antibiotic stewardship, renal monitoring, medication reconciliation, and will attend daily care rounds with hospital medicine physicians and the care team. We also give students opportunities to be involved with pharmacist-attended meetings with our management/director which include med safety, P&T, pain management. Students may also have the ability to shadow other disciplines during their time here, we have had pharmacy students observing case management, RT, laboratory, hospital medicine, infectious disease, anesthesia, cath lab, and OR. 
• Cass Lake

• A combination of:

  • Pharmacy based clinical services:  immunizations, over-the-counter visits, harm reduction services, nicotine cessation visits, new medication counseling

  • Pharmacy Primary Care Services: As an integrated member of the Patient Medical Home, will provide comprehensive care for multiple disease states which may include diabetes, anticoagulation, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, congestive heart failure, depression/anxiety, asthma/COPD and others

  • Meetings include attendance and presentations at the monthly Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee and weekly attendance at the Medication Safety Meeting
  • Community Outreach events if occurring during the time of rotation
• Red Lake: Red Lake IHS Pharmacy is part of a federal medical facility offering outpatient, inpatient, walk-in, emergency and long-term care services. The pharmacy ambulatory care rotation is focused on developing clinical pharmacy practitioners through integrated care and an expanded scope of practice. Student opportunities are centered on pharmacy delivered primary care through multidisciplinary collaborations, managing up to 12 different disease states. These include diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, asthma, COPD, hypothyroidism, GERD and hepatitis C to name a few. Students will work alongside clinical pharmacists to complete patient assessments, order and interpret labs, order and modify medication therapy, and perform point of care tests when applicable while increasing autonomy throughout their experience. They will also focus on public health outreach activities in addition to opportunities for the advancement of leadership skills. During the rotation, the student is expected to participate in/complete activities which may include but are not limited to: Journal club, Medication history, Medication reconciliation, Patient counseling, Patient care reflection, Patient presentation to healthcare team, Presentation to healthcare professionals, Formal Presentation: Patient Case, Patient Education Material, Public Health Activity, Medication Therapy Management (MTM) evaluation, Community outreach, Substance use disorder medication-assisted treatment (MAT) counseling and patient education, Other potential activities and assigned projects.
• Dress code: Business casual

Students can reach out to Kari Josefson, a provider at Red Lake Hospital, for long-term housing options at: [email protected]. This long-term housing includes an Airbnb that is a 3 bedroom, fully furnished house located down by Bemidji State University and within walking distance of downtown. Cost is $1700/month (including utilities). There may be other options depending on time of year, so students may reach out to Kari inquire.