Summer Internship: NorthShore University HealthSystem

By: Ashley Lawler

Hi everyone! Sending you all a virtual hug from Evanston, Illinois and hope you all are enjoying your internship experiences. This summer, I am interning with NorthShore University HealthSystem at their Glenbrook Hospital. NorthShore is comprised of five hospitals throughout northwestern Chicago suburbs. Last week, they officially announced they were entering negotiations to acquire a sixth hospital, which is very exciting as NorthShore continues to expand and provide quality care to the northwestern Chicago community.

When COVID-19 hit, NorthShore chose to designate one hospital to house and treat all positive inpatients. Due to the location in the community and the ability to manipulate airflow on the floors, Glenbrook was chosen as the “COVID Hospital”. Imagine my surprise when I found this out on my first day! My preceptor is the hospital president, Jesse Peterson Hall. I have been able to attend corporate meetings, meet with all the members of the senior management team, and even scored a free NorthShore yoga mat from the CEO.

The projects I have been working on this summer include the following:

·       Recovery and re-opening of Glenbrook Hospital: reintroducing previously suspended services and ways to improve overall safety as negative patients start to return to Glenbrook

·       340B Drug Optimization: I am working with a team to open a new infusion center in a neighboring suburb that would operate under the 340B Drug Optimization program (through CMS) and receive discounted drug prices.

·       Employee Health Restructuring: My co-intern (an MHA student from Minnesota) and I are conducting an internal and external analysis of the employee health department workflows at NorthShore and neighboring health systems to provide recommendations for how to best structure and operate a new Employee Health department. An added bonus is that the project leader is a fellow Iowa MHA grad (Justin Brueck)

Outside of work, I am absolutely loving my time in Evanston and Chicago. NorthShore generously offered to cover my housing for the summer, so I’ve been living at the Hilton Garden Inn and Suites in downtown Evanston. It’s basically the “Suite Life of Ashley Lawler”. I live a ten-minute walk from Northwestern’s campus and a beach along Lake Michigan, which I’ve been taking full advantage of. I’ve had numerous visitors (our very own Nicole Graf and a few friends from back home and undergrad) and go into the city most weekends. I’m on a mission to try as many outdoor patio and rooftop restaurants as I can in one summer!

I hope you all are “doing well and staying safe” (literally how I end every email anymore haha) and cannot wait to someday see you all again in CPH. Go Hawks!

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