Summer Internship: New Ulm Medical Center

By: Mackenzie Schutz (MHA '19)

Hello from Minnesota!

This summer has offered me a unique and truly valuable opportunity to return to my home town community to experience the challenges and opportunities of rural healthcare delivery.  New Ulm Medical Center (NUMC), a part of Allina Health, is a non-profit hospital and clinic striving to be a national model for rural healthcare. Being part of a larger system allows the medical center the opportunity to realize additional opportunities for cost savings, expertise, and standardization when appropriate. 

This summer I am under the direction of NUMC President, Toby Freier; however, I am fortunate to have access to the expertise, talent, and leadership skills of all members of the administrative staff. The immense amount of hard work and resilience throughout the organization has established for me many admirable leadership skills and qualities I desire to emulate as a young careerist and beyond. 

Although small and rural, NUMC is incredibly nimble and innovative. There has been no shortage of project work for me this summer, which has allowed me a chance to gain a lot of valuable learning experience in a short period of time. My project list has included work focused on: space planning and renovation recommendations, opioid prescribing behaviors and pain management, diabetes care, digital healthcare delivery, and physician recruitment, retention, and onboarding. NUMC is currently running 9 operational telehealth programs which has provided a tremendous amount of knowledge relating to telehealth care models.    

In addition, I have had the opportunity to attend regional meetings to better understand the relationship between the regional sites and the system, as well as made trips to the Allina Commons for meet and greets with many leaders and young professionals there. New Ulm Medical Center is nationally known for its population health initiative, Heart of New Ulm. Through this project NUMC has proven their commitment to the health of the community we serve and exposed me to the impact of population health management and community outreach. 

My summer satisfaction does not stop with work, however! I have spent my summertime enjoying lots of time on the golf course, soaking up MN lake life, enjoying the food, drink, and happenings of Minneapolis, and of course spending lots of time with family and friends. I was fortunate to share this experience with a University of Michigan MHSA intern who quickly became a great friend and valuable learning partner. I recently completed my first ever sprint triathlon and am looking forward to an upcoming road trip to wrap up my summer!

I look forward to returning to Iowa City very soon to meet the incoming MHA cohort and hear about the summer internship experiences of my classmates!