Summer Internship: UnityPoint Health-Trinity

By: Brian Richardson



Hi everyone!


I have spent the summer as an intern with UnityPoint Health- Trinity in the Quad cities working under the direction of Jay Willsher, VP/Chief Operating Officer of UnityPoint Health- Trinity. This summer has been such an awesome experience for me. I cannot believe how much exposure I have been able to receive in such a short time! I have had the opportunity to shadow Jay every day and participate in any meeting, project, discussion that has interested me.  It is hard to believe how many moving parts and people are really necessary to make a hospital function. The opportunity to spend time with each director has taught me so much.



My main project for the summer has been to develop a business plan of a Joint Venture shared maintenance facility for the two largest EMS providers in the Quad Cities region.  This project has been a lot of fun and required a lot of legwork regarding the operations, financial performance, leadership, business model, etc. of both EMS providers. This new proposal will save between 20-25% on the maintenance costs for these ambulances. I have also worked on projects related to: process improvement (anesthesiologist block utilization), population health (Healthier Hospitals Initiative), and transition planning. The UnityPoint Rock Island campus is currently building a new $60 million Emergency Department/Heart Center.  I have had the opportunity to participate in many initiatives regarding this new ED/HC.  One unique aspect of working with UnityPoint in the Quad Cities is having to deal with the challenges of providing care in both Iowa and Illinois. It has been very interesting to see the different challenges that arise due to the fact that the four campuses of UnityPoint health cover two different states.


This has been a very fun and busy summer for me! In addition to everything else going on, we were also very excited for the arrival of our baby boy, Charlie, on June 25th. It is hard to believe that he is already almost a month old. Hope you are all doing well!

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