[Vision2020] congratulations to BJ Swanson

[Bill London]

Way to go, BJ!

As explained in the announcement from today's Tribune, BJ is now nationally-recognized for her decades of good work on behalf of Gritman Medical Center.

She is very deserving of that honor.  She is committed to community-focused health care and an incredible asset to this community.

BL

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Lewiston Tribune, Sunday, March 8, 2009

National magazine recognizes work of Gritman board chairwoman

MOSCOW - Modern Healthcare magazine has named B.J. Swanson its 2009 trustee of the year for small health care organizations with less than $75 million in annual revenue or fewer than 250 beds.

Swanson is the chairwoman of the board of directors of Gritman Medical Center in Moscow and has served on its board for 21 years.

The hospital has successfully responded to a variety of challenges under her leadership, according to an article in Modern Healthcare magazine about Swanson winning the award.

Moscow's population size made it vulnerable to a for-profit company opening an out-patient surgery clinic that could have cut into Gritman's revenues. Instead the hospital collaborated with area physicians and started the for-profit Palouse Surgery Center. The volume at the surgery center was at 200 cases per month as of January and it had a net income of close to $400,000 for 2008. 

Swanson was on site soon after the hospital's emergency room flooded when a driver accidentally hit a fire hydrant just outside Gritman's entrance in May 2007. She helped coordinate an effort to bail 18 inches of water out of the emergency room and move the emergency room to a temporary location at the hospital. 

Within four hours the emergency room was accepting patients again. A $2 million renovated emergency room opened in October 2007, even though the insurance claim on the loss isn't yet settled. 

Swanson's work for the hospital is in a volunteer capacity. She is vice president and manager of AmericanWest Bank in Moscow.
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