Summer Internships: Sanford Health


 By Derek Daly

This summer I am doing my administrative internship at Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, SD. Sanford Health is the largest not for profit, rural healthcare system in the country, with 36 hospitals in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. My internship is with the Sanford Health Network in Sioux Falls, the division responsible for overseeing the network of critical access hospitals and rural PPS hospitals that Sanford owns, leases, or manages.

Throughout the first half of my internship this summer, I have been exposed to a wide variety of experiences ranging from shadowing executives and attending high level meetings to attending planning retreats and board meetings. Two particular highlights of my summer so far have been spending three days shadowing the CEO of the hospital in Orange City, IA, and spending two days attending events surrounding the grand opening of our newest PPS hospital in Aberdeen, SD. The shadowing experience in Orange City allowed me to see firsthand what it is like to run a critical access hospital. Most of my prior healthcare experience has been within large tertiary medical centers at Sanford and UIHC, so spending time in rural facilities has exposed me to a completely different side of healthcare administration. The time I spent at our hospital opening events was beneficial because it gave me an insight into what goes on behind the scenes prior to a hospital ever opening its doors to patients. This experience also provided valuable networking opportunities with corporate leaders and other healthcare executives. I am working on two projects for the Health Network this summer. One is a market analysis project, while the other deals with the CMS survey process at our hospitals and long term care facilities.

Outside of work, I have enjoyed the opportunity to be back in my hometown spending time with family and friends. I have been spending most of my weekends on the golf course or fishing at the lake. Unfortunately, summer is moving along way too quickly, and my fantastic internship experience at Sanford will be over in five short weeks. 

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