Summer Internship: UnityPoint Health- St. Luke's Hospital


By: Brayden Longnecker (MHA '19)

Interstate-380 and I have become very good friends this summer as I’ve traveled many miles back and forth from Iowa City to UnityPoint Health – St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids. UnityPoint Health (UPH), St. Luke’s is part of a system that employs more than 34,000 and operates 37 hospitals of varying sizes. About a dozen Iowa MHA graduates work for UPH in Cedar Rapids and I’ve had the opportunity to meet with many of them. Joe Kim (MHA ’17) has an office just two doors down from mine and he’s been a great resource. The team here at St. Luke’s has been incredibly welcoming and supportive of having an intern around for which I am very grateful. 
My time at work has been a combination of observation and project work. My preceptor, Joe Linn, VP of Operations, expressed to me the value of watching leaders in action as well as working on projects. He oversees seven functional areas including Behavioral Health and Human Resources which are both strong interests of mine. I attend the weekly Vice Presidents meeting which is an excellent opportunity to listen to the high-level, strategic thinking that goes on. I also get to attend a regional strategy meeting where leaders from St. Luke’s, UnityPoint Clinic, Jones Regional Medical Center, and AbbeHealth get together to discuss issues facing the Cedar Rapids region.
In terms of project work, a lot of my time has been spent in the human resources realm. We have a team dedicated to early careerist retention and I have had the opportunity to  analyze some data for them and present on the findings. There is a system-wide movement towards standardization of position descriptions which allowed me the opportunity to create several new job descriptions. I’m currently assisting in the implementation of Clockwise for some of our pediatric clinics.
My time spent away from work has been split between the golf courses around Iowa City, a couple of weddings, and a couple of concerts. I’ve been able to meet up with classmates, Ben and Matthew, for a couple of rounds of golf. Additionally, I’ve gotten to meet with Dan Carpintero for lunch and a work meeting because he is an intern at PCI which is about a block away from St. Luke’s.
This has been a great opportunity and I’m looking forward to my last few weeks here.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Adriana Kotchkoski (MHA '24): Nihon Keiei Consulting Group

Image
Konnichiwa from Japan!   As I sit down to write this blog post, I am filled with a sense of gratitude and accomplishment as I reflect on my time as an intern at Nihon Keiei Consulting Group in Osaka, Japan. This summer has been nothing short of remarkable, offering me a unique blend of professional development and cultural immersion that I will cherish forever.   During my time at Nihon Keiei, I had the opportunity to engage in in-depth research and analysis, creating comprehensive market profiles for the healthcare sectors in the Philippines and India. These profiles laid the foundation for strategic expansion plans, and it was an honor to present my findings and recommendations to a senior consultant during insightful one-on-one meetings. These interactions were not only professionally enriching but also allowed me to witness firsthand how strategic decisions shape the course of an organization's growth.   One of the most rewarding experiences during my internship was t...
Read more

Devante Davis (MHA '24): UCHealth - Southern Region

Image
Hello my name is Devante Davis I am going into my 2 nd year as an MHA student at the University of Iowa!    I am currently interning at UCHEALTH southern region in Colorado Springs, and UCHEALTH mission statement is to Improve lives through providing quality care. My preceptor is Andrew Ritchie the Chief Operation Officer of the UCHEALTH southern region. He great a developing talent while unlocking hiding potential within his interns, and fellow! My favorite project was evaluating what the rest of the world is doing to recover from this global nursing shortage. Summarizing the data and be a part of creating a valuable plan to implement into the UCHEALTH southern region. A few other fun events I attended were the pikes peak annual racing event, viper’s baseball game, the incline!  
Read more

Naudya Chhuon, UIHC Accounting and Financial Services (MHA '25)

Image
This summer, I had the opportunity to be a part of the Finance and Accounting Services team (FAS) at the University of Iowa. My internship allowed me to better understand what it is like to work in finance and accounting, especially within the healthcare industry. From managing a vaccination clinic project to tackling financial models, I got to contribute to some and be a part of some fun projects. One of the highlights of my internship was being the go-to person for all things related to the HPV vaccination clinic with the Population Health team. This project provides Shoes for patients under 13 years old who obtain their 2 nd  dose of the HPV vaccine. I found myself at the center of communication between four different teams, which meant I got to lead meetings, and make sure we were all on the same page. Our big event is coming up in the second week of August, and I am proud of how smoothly everything has been running so far.  Another big part of my summer was getting my han...
Read more