Bemidji

Sanford Bemidji Medical Center

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.

Sanford Bemidji offers 24-hour emergency care, imaging, surgical coverage, and various specialized services like cardiology, orthopedics, and women's health. As a Level III trauma center, it provides emergency care and handles complex trauma cases, serving as a major medical center for northern Minnesota and offering a range of services not always available in smaller communities. The medical center is also involved in community health initiatives, including the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), to understand and address the health needs of the region. The Sanford Health Foundation in the Bemidji region supports patient programs, equipment upgrades, and special projects. Sanford Bemidji is part of the larger Sanford Health system, 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.

Alanna Zutz, PharmD, BCPS, CAHIMS, 340B ACE (Lead Preceptor - Senior Pharmacist, Sanford Bemidji Medical Center and Sanford Bagley Medical Center)

Alanna attended NDSU and works at Sanford Bemidji and Sanford Bagley in hospital pharmacy. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with family outdoors, skiing, biking, fishing, hiking, reading, cooking, baking, and drinking lots of coffee.

Rachel Washburn, PharmD, BCPS, CDCES (Supporting Preceptor - 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.

Susan Jacobs, PharmD (Supporting Preceptor - Sanford Bemidji Hospital Pharmacy)

In her free time, Susan enjoys spending time with her family. When they're not at school sporting events, she enjoys being outdoors fishing and taking the kids swimming. Reading and audiobooks are some of her favorite things. Everything previously mentioned is usually done with some iced coffee.

Ryan Okerlund, PharmD (Supporting Preceptor - Iverson Corner Drug)

Maria Beddow, PharmD (Supporting Preceptor - Red Lake Indian Health Service)

John Naegeli, PharmD, BCACP (Supporting Preceptor - Cass Lake Indian Health Service)

Erin Folland, PharmD (Supporting Preceptor - Sanford Bemidji Outpatient Infusion Pharmacy)

Sanford Bemidji Medical Center, Iverson Corner Drug, Cass Lake Indian Health Service, and Red Lake Indian Health Service

Description: Students will complete 5 weeks at Iverson's consisting of the community pharmacy required rotation, and will complete a 5-week required ambulatory care rotation at either Cass Lake or Red Lake. Students will complete 20 weeks (four 5-week blocks) at Sanford, consisting of the acute care required and institutional required rotations, plus two elective rotations. The 10-week elective consists of Sanford Rural Health Patient Care — students will spend 10 weeks (2 x 5-week blocks) at Sanford, spending time with pharmacists in the 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, and Sanford retail pharmacies.

Sanford Bemidji Medical Center is a 116-bed hospital located in Bemidji, Minnesota. The hospital location is connected to the primary outpatient clinic and the Joe Lueken Cancer Center. The hospital provides general hospital/surgical care, a 14-bed ICU, telemetry unit, cath lab, OB/pediatric unit, OR, and ER. Outpatient pharmacy services include infusion pharmacy, retail pharmacy, and an 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 pharmacy services including pharmacokinetics, anticoagulation, IV nutrition, antibiotic stewardship, renal monitoring, and medication reconciliation, and will attend daily care rounds with hospital medicine physicians and the care team. Students also have opportunities to be involved with pharmacist-attended meetings with management/director staff, including med safety, P&T, and pain management. Students may also have the ability to shadow other disciplines during their time here — past pharmacy students have observed case management, RT, laboratory, hospital medicine, infectious disease, anesthesia, cath lab, and OR.

The Cass Lake Indian Health Service provides healthcare services at no cost to those enrolled in a federally recognized tribe. The service unit is located on the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation. The Cass Lake rotation is a combination of pharmacy-based clinical services (immunizations, over-the-counter visits, harm reduction services, nicotine cessation visits, new medication counseling) and Pharmacy Primary Care Services — as an integrated member of the Patient Medical Home, students 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, along with community outreach events if occurring during the time of rotation.

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, 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, students are expected to participate in and complete activities which may include, but are not limited to: journal club, medication history, medication reconciliation, patient counseling, patient care reflection, patient presentation to the healthcare team, presentation to healthcare professionals, formal presentation of a 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, and other potential activities and assigned projects.

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:

• Sanford Bemidji: Variable hours, as it is a 24/7/365 facility.
• Iverson Corner Drug: Hours not specified.
• Cass Lake Indian Health Service: Typically 0800–1630 or 0930–1800, Monday through Friday.
• Red Lake Indian Health Service: Typically Monday–Friday, 8:00am–4:30pm; 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 are expected to attend and 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.

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 near Bemidji State University and within walking distance of downtown. Cost is $1,700/month, including utilities. There may be other options depending on time of year, so students are encouraged to reach out to Kari to inquire.