Welcome to the Eau Claire Chamber Blog

Hope Gospel Mission has acquired exclusive use of the national website PickUpMyDonation.com in the Eau Claire, WI area.  PickUpMyDonation.com is an online program that gives individuals wishing to donate gently used household items (i.e. - furniture, appliances, clothing, etc.) a simple solution for scheduling a donation pick up. Until now, the only options were to make a phone call or drop the donation off on your own. With the “PickUpMyDonation.com” program, a donation request can be made quickly and easily with a computer, smart phone, or tablet – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Cornell School District Superintendent Paul Schley has been appointed to the Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) Board of Trustees. Reappointed to the board were employee member Gwen Southard of Eau Claire, an account executive at LOGICARE/The Wellness Network, and employer member Russell Ratsch of Neillsville, a consultant at Ratsch Engineering.  At the reorganizational meeting, Mona Matthews, Eau Claire, was re-elected chair; Colleen Bates, Eau Claire, vice chair; Gwen Southard, Eau Claire, secretary; and Ratsch, treasurer. Other board members include L. Ronald Bartels, Bay City; Dawn Garcia, Eau Claire; Daniel Ostermann, Menomonie; and John Walton, Chippewa Falls.

Greg Melander has joined The Samuels Group as a project manager in the Wausau, WI office. Greg will execute the daily management of projects, work with the on-site construction manager, project architect, and trade contractors to ensure adherence to schedule and budget requirements. In addition, he will review bids, supervise contract administration, and provide planning and schedule services.

Megan Meyers, M.D., recently joined the Radiology Department at Mayo Clinic Health System and will see patients in Barron, Bloomer, Eau Claire, Osseo, Menomonie and Rice Lake. Meyers earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the College of St. Benedict in Saint Joseph, Minnesota. She earned her medical degree at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. Meyers was chief resident in radiology and completed her residency in diagnostic radiology at the University of Minnesota. She was a fellow in musculoskeletal radiology at the Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education in Rochester, Minnesota. She is board-eligible by the American Board of Radiology and is a member of the American College of Radiology and the Radiologic Society of North America.

Father Biju Chennala Kunjukutty has been appointed as priest chaplain at HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital. Father Biju came to Eau Claire from India, and works at the hospital full time. He is a member of the Religious Order of Priests called the Missionaries of St. Francis DeSales.

Paul Rudersdorf has joined Security Financial Bank as the chief banking officer. Rudersdorf will lead the business and retail banking functions. He possesses 33 years of experience in the financial industry, with the last 22 years at River Valley Bank in Wausau where he oversaw the business banking, retail and marketing functions for their 16 branches. Rudersdorf received a degree in finance from UW-Whitewater  and a master’s degree from UW-Milwaukee. He is a licensed CPA and also graduated from the Graduate School of Banking and Executive Management program in Madison.

Larry Accola has been appointed president of Merchants Bank in Eau Claire. Accola has more than 25 years of experience in the Eau Claire market, including more than 20 years at Royal Credit Union, where he served as the senior vice president of Business Loans and Services. Accola has a long history of community involvement, including the Eau Claire Economic Development Corporation, Eau Claire Noon Kiwanis, Eau Claire County Industrial Development Agency, Eau Claire City Revolving Loan Fund, Eau Claire Near Equity Loan Fund, Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce, Chippewa County Economic Development Corporation, Chippewa Falls Chamber of Commerce and the Eau Claire Downtown Business Improvement District. 

HSHS Sacred Heart and St. Joseph’s hospitals welcome Rick Tolson to the role of chief people cfficer for both hospitals. Tolson most recently served as vice president and chief operating officer at Hanna Resource Group, a human resources consulting firm in Lexington, KY. Tolson has an extensive background in human resources, previously serving at The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati and Catholic Health Initiatives in Kentucky. Tolson earned his bachelor’s in management from Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, NH and his master’s in public administration from Indiana University at Bloomington. Tolson also is a US Air Force veteran.

Dawn Gregorich, radiologic technician at HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital, recently received the 2015 Outstanding Recent Alumni Award by Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC). The award honors outstanding alumni who have made significant contributions to their community, college and career. Gregorich is a 2011 graduate of CVTC. As a student, she served as president of the radiography club. She currently is a member of CVTC’s radiography advisory board. Gregorich has volunteered as a tutor for the past three years and also instructs students on x-ray equipment. To be selected for the award, a graduate needs to display commitment to improving their chosen profession, have involvement in the community or CVTC while in school and after graduation, and demonstrate involvement and service that goes above and beyond or merits recognition. 

Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire today has been ranked among the best hospitals in Wisconsin and is recognized as the top ranked hospital in northwestern Wisconsin in the 26th U.S. News & World Report annual America’s Best Hospitals list. Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire also was recognized as “high performing” in orthopedics. Nationally, Mayo Clinic was second overall on U.S. News & World Report’s 2015-2016 Best Hospitals list and earned more No. 1 rankings in individual specialties than any other provider based on reputation, services and volumes, safety and clinical outcomes.

Cardiologist Andrew Calvin, M.D., M.P.H., recently joined the Cardiac Center at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire. Calvin earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. He earned his master of public health degree from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health in Minneapolis. He received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School. Calvin completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowships in cardiovascular disease and echocardiography, all at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He is board certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is a member of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology, the American Society of Echocardiography, the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians.

Infectious disease specialist Janki Patel, D.O., M.P.H., recently joined Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire. Patel earned her bachelor’s degree in microbiology at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, School of Life Sciences. She earned her master of public health degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health. She received her doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from Des Moines University in Iowa. Patel completed a residency in internal medicine at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, and a fellowship in infectious disease at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

Erik Sviggum, M.D., recently joined the Radiology Department at Mayo Clinic Health System. Sviggum earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. He earned his medical degree at Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska. Sviggum completed his residency in diagnostic radiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He was a fellow in cross-sectional imaging at Mayo Clinic. He is board-eligible by the American Board of Radiology. He is a member of the American College of Radiology, the Radiological Society of North America and the American Roentgen Ray Society.

EO Johnson Business Technologies Service department had outstanding results in a recent national vendor testing. Ricoh’s Circle of Excellence is a program designed for all Ricoh trained technicians and tests individual service technician’s competencies on Ricoh equipment. EO Johnson elected to participate. The test was offered to 184 Ricoh Dealerships nationally, and over 2,000 technicians were tested. Of EO Johnson’s service technicians trained on Ricoh equipment, 100 percent passed Level 1 testing. On a national level, less than 50 percent of those taking the Level 1 exam achieve scores high enough to progress to Level 2. Paul Schindler, connected specialist, and Dean Koopman, lead technician, also placed in the top 10 percent in the nation of those taking the Level 2 exam.

Recently, the Wellness Councils of America (WELCOA) named Group Health Cooperative of Eau Claire the winner in a wellness challenge that attracted the state’s most active and wellness-focused companies. The challenge, WELCOA’s Most Active Companies, engaged participating employees in activity time tracking, weekly challenges and quizzes and online team interaction and support.  Ninety-three percent of Group Health Cooperative employees participated in the challenge logging more than 4,000 hours of physical activity.

Partners across the University of Wisconsin System recently established the Regional Materials and Manufacturing Network (RM2N) [http://wiscmat.org/]. The network is currently developing features on this website to allow academic and industrial partners from all over Wisconsin to list and search for the resources they have and need to advance materials science and engineering through both academic research and the development of new products. The initial member campuses in the network are UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Platteville and UW-Stout. The network will help all the institutions involved expand their efforts and make the most of what’s already here in the state.

HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital physicians, leaders and clinicians gathered recently to celebrate the Robert A. Warriner III, M.D., Center of Excellence award for the second year in a row. This award was given to HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital’s Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine recently received the Robert A. Warriner III, M.D., Center of Excellence award for the second year in a row. The Hospital’s Wound Care Center, which met the Center of Distinction quality standards for Healogics, Inc., was one of 88 centers in the nation that qualified for the Center of Excellence award. The center also received its third Center of Distinction award for meeting the quality standards set by Healogics. Over the past two years, the Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine has achieved patient satisfaction rates of 94 percent and a healing rate of 93.5 percent in 21 days, among other quality standards.

HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital’s Radiology Services passed its annual Mammography Quality Standards Act inspection this month, received no recommendations for improvement and has been recertified. To operate lawfully, a mammography facility must be MQSA certified as providing quality mammography services. For a facility to be certified, it must be accredited by a federally approved private nonprofit or state accreditation body. The facility also must undergo an annual inspection conducted by federally trained and certified federal or state personnel. St. Joseph’s Hospital’s Radiology Services is inspected and certified each year.

Igor Dumic, M.D., recently joined Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire as a hospitalist. A hospitalist is a physician who is dedicated full time to taking care of patients admitted to the hospital. Dumic earned his medical degree at Belgrade University School of Medicine in Serbia. He completed an internal medicine residency at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Before he earned his medical degree, he attended nursing school and worked as a registered nurse in Serbia. He is a member of the American College of Physicians, Society of Critical Care Medicine and Society of Hospital Medicine.

Kristy Eckel, RN and Nicole Roper, RN – both in HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital’s Cardiology Department – have recently earned their Progressive Care Certified Nurse (PCCN) certification. The PCCN examination is a two-and-a-half hour test consisting of 125 multiple-choice questions focused on the care of the adult acutely ill patient.

Friends of St. Joseph’s Hospital announces their name change to HSHS St. Joseph’s Foundation to better reflect their role as the philanthropic arm for HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital. As the Friends, HSHS St. Joseph’s Foundation has been serving the Chippewa Falls community for nearly three decades, providing the community a local avenue for community giving and volunteering to ensure the best health care possible for Chippewa Falls and the entire Chippewa Valley region.

Martin Hanifin, vice chancellor for administration and finance and chief business officer at UW-Eau Claire since January 2014, has been appointed the new vice president for business and finance at Paul Smith's College in Paul Smiths, New York. Hanifin said the move to Paul Smith’s College will return him to his New York and Vermont roots. Hanifin’s last day at UW-Eau Claire will be August 3.

HSHS Sacred Heart and  St. Joseph’s hospitals are pleased to welcome Kelly Gribowski as Divisional Client Services Executive. In this role, Gribowski will work with Nick Berger, who joined the hospitals in January also as Divisional Client Services Executive, to grow and foster relationships with referring hospitals, further develop relationships between the two hospitals and area businesses, and work with both hospitals’ service lines to carry out growth initiatives. Gribowski earned her bachelor’s from Winona State University in Minnesota and her MBA from Webster University. She has spent the last eight years as a pharmaceutical representative with the Pfizer Corporation, and has also worked in sales and marketing roles at Eby-Brown and Miller Brands.

Weight Management Services at Mayo Clinic Health System locations in Eau Claire and Rice Lake recently received two Health Management Resources Gold Standard Certificates of Achievement. These awards distinguish Mayo Clinic Health System from hundreds of clinics nationwide using a weight loss program developed by Health Management Resources, a national health care company based out of Boston that specializes in medically managed weight loss. Of particular note, Mayo Clinic Health System’s low drop-out rate in Rice Lake. The monthly drop-out rate for Weight Management Service’s patients was 6 percent, compared to commercial programs whose drop-out rates could be as high as 26 percent or more. Mayo Clinic Health System’s program also was honored for its success in patient record-keeping. Keeping food journals and tracking physical activity is a proven indicator of long-term weight loss success. Eau Claire placed in the highest 5 percent of all programs in the country.

Dr. Julie A. Furst-Bowe, who served as provost and vice chancellor for academic and student affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Stout from 2005-2012, will begin her new post as vice president of instruction at Chippewa Valley Technical College beginning Aug. 17. Furst-Bowe, who grew up in Chippewa Falls, was most recently chancellor of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), where she served for three years. At UW-Stout, Furst-Bowe played a major role in efforts that resulted in the university becoming the first and only university to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, an award that provides the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can achieve. She now serves on the Board of Overseers for the Malcom Baldrige Award. At SIUE, Furst-Bowe led a university with nearly 14,000 students and 2,500 faculty and staff members located in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

Friends of Sacred Heart Hospital announced its name change to HSHS Sacred Heart Foundation to better reflect their role as the philanthropic arm for HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital. As the Friends, HSHS Sacred Heart Foundation has been serving the Eau Claire community for nearly three decades, providing the community a local avenue for community giving and volunteering to ensure the best health care possible for Eau Claire and the entire Chippewa Valley region. The HSHS Sacred Heart Foundation is an integral part of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis Foundation, which supports 14 HSHS hospitals throughout Wisconsin and Illinois, and assures that all funds raised in the Eau Claire area stay local and are appropriately administered to provide the greatest impact for our community.

The Chippewa Valley Home Builders Association announced the People’s Choice award winners for the 2015 Parade of Homes, selected by Parade goers:

• Category I (Under $250,000): C&M Home Builders & Real Estate, 278 Club View Lane, Altoona, Home #11 
  
• Category II ($250,000 - $324,999): Wurzer Builders, Inc., 814 Sandalwood Drive, Altoona, Home #9 
  
• Category III ($325,000 - $399,999): C&M Home Builders & Real Estate, 4665 Oakwood Hills Parkway, Eau Claire, Home #15 
  
• Category IV ($400,000 - $799,999): MyNextHome, 815 Sandalwood Drive, Altoona, Home #8 
  
• Category V ($800,00 and Above): Peterson Custom Homes, 17038 59th Avenue, Chippewa Falls, Home #5 
  

Hammad Hussain, M.D., recently joined Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire as an endocrinologist. Hussain earned his bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery degrees from The Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan. He completed his internship and residency at UPMC Shadyside Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He also completed fellowships in geriatric medicine at Duke University Hospital, Durham, North Carolina, and endocrinology and metabolism at Kansas University Medical Center, Kansas City. Before joining Mayo Clinic Health System, Hussain worked for Quincy Medical Group, Quincy, Illinois, and also served as clinical assistant professor of endocrinology at Southern Illinois University in Springfield.

Kwesi Amoah, M.D., a hospitalist, recently joined the Hospital Medicine Department at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire. A hospitalist is a physician who is dedicated full time to taking care of patients admitted to the hospital. Amoah earned his medical degree from the University of Ghana Medical School in Accra, and completed his postgraduate training at Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut. Prior to joining Mayo Clinic Health System, Amoah served as a physician for the National Diabetes Management and Research Centre in Ghana. He is an associate member of the American College of Physicians, and his special interests include hospital and intensive care medicine.