Summer Internship: Story County Medical Center

By: Michael Tiedman

Greetings from Nevada, IA! I’ve been spending my summer with Story County Medical Center, just 15 minutes east of Ames. Story Medical operates several family healthcare clinics across the county and natural health clinic in Ames. The new campus opened in 2009 on the southern outskirts of Nevada and houses a 17-bed inpatient unit as well as outpatient services, an outpatient surgery center, emergency, radiology and lab departments.

In addition to being designated as a Critical Access Hospital, Story Medical is affiliated with UnityPoint Health – Des Moines. As a result, my time here this summer has been filled with very diverse experiences. I have had constant exposure to the CEO and University of Iowa MHA/MBA alumnus, Tim Ahlers, as well as his entire senior team. All the people here are wonderful and have been extremely welcoming. I’ve been able to tag along with Tim to everything from senior team and board meetings, to Rotary Club and even a UnityPoint senior team meeting in Des Moines.

In my short amount of time here, I have also had the opportunity to experience a number of changes taking place. These include the hiring of a new orthopedic surgeon, a new telemedine partnership, the closure of a clinic, and a shift in clinic leadership. A highlight for me has been my involvement in the ongoing Facility Master Plan process with Invision Architecture and Graham Construction. Ultimately, the vision is for all Story Medical facilities in Nevada to relocate at the South Campus. This primarily involves building a new clinic and long term care facility. Attending numerous workshops and meetings with Invision and Graham has been a great experience that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. My primary project over the last several weeks has been spending time in the Nevada clinic, the largest and busiest clinic, observing their processes and flowcharting the current workflow. Additionally, I’m working on a financial and market analysis of a couple potential new service lines. 

Outside of work, I’ve been trying to take advantage of all Ames has to offer. This has resulted in a quest to find the best coffee in town (Arcadia), as well as having the pleasure to see a 2-time Grammy award winner performing in a house down the street from my apartment.

Although I’ve been living in Ames, I have successfully managed to thwart all attempts aimed at converting me into a Cyclone fan. Other than a distinct ‘hissing’ sound when I was introduced as a University of Iowa student at my first Rotary Club meeting, I haven’t been faced with too much hostility.