Summer Internship: UnityPoint Health - Grinnell Regional Medical Center


By: Ryan Tinnes (MHA '19)

Greetings from Grinnell!

UnityPoint Health®-Grinnell Regional Medical Center (GRMC) has quite a long name and an even longer history of providing excellent care to east central Iowans. What started off as an eight-bed private hospital in 1901 has evolved to become the 49-bed Center of Excellence we see today. The medical center offers a wide range of services encompassing everything from walk-in care to surgery. Staff are especially proud of their MBSAQIP Accredited Comprehensive and Adolescent Center, the first and only bariatric center of its kind in the state. The hospital’s da Vinci Surgical System allows it to serve as a leader in robotic surgery. 
While the hospital has been hosting University of Iowa MHA student interns for 20 years, I am certain the ongoing integration with UnityPoint Health®-Des Moines has made my experience unlike any of those in the past. I am fortunate to be under the guidance of Kyle Wilcox (MHA ‘11). I admire Kyle’s swift career progression as a young professional. He started off as an intern at GRMC just like myself and is now vice president of finance and business development. Kyle’s perceptiveness, courage, and kindness enable him to serve as a phenomenal leader and mentor. 

Projects and tasks abound throughout the medical center. My first few weeks were primarily spent attending meetings both here in Grinnell and at UnityPoint Health’s offices in its Des Moines hospitals. After becoming familiar, I began spending significantly more time on project work. Kyle has ensured I am involved in projects that stretch my professional and analytical abilities while also filling a function essential to the hospitals. I have helped integrate some of GRMC’s human resource standards to those of UnityPoint Health’s. Performing a physician market assessment and presenting the findings to GRMC’s board has been my favorite work experience so far. Outside of the administrative offices, I have met with executives from HealthPartners and Wellmark as well as observed in the OR.
                                       
Grinnell has a plethora of restaurants to try despite its small size. I especially enjoy the Prairie Canary located in a historic building downtown. Grinnell’s proximity to Des Moines has also kept me entertained this summer. I highly encourage a visit to the farmers’ market!

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