Small Street Journal: August 3, 2018

Dr. Erik Dickson was recently announced as the new medical director for skilled nursing and post acute care provider Dove Healthcare – South Eau Claire. Dickson is the chief physician executive for HSHS Western Division and a family medicine physician with OakLeaf Clinics - Eau Claire Medical Clinic. As the medical director, Dickson will ensure that appropriate systems exist to facilitate good medical care using current standards of practice. He will assist in establishing and applying good monitoring systems, and ensure effective documentation and follow up of findings. Lastly, Dickson will assist in maintaining physician compliance with the State and Federal Regulations.

Wipfli will be hosting the first of nine monthly Human Resources (HR) Business Forum meetings in Eau Claire. The Human Resource Business Forums have a set curriculum to educate participants on the key functional areas of HR management. These forums are ideal for individuals who do not have a formal education in HR management, who may be new to the field and are looking to acquire foundational knowledge, or who are looking to strengthen their technical skills. Meetings are held monthly September through May and all will be held in Eau Claire. Participants are encouraged to register soon as space is limited.

Pablo Center at the Confluence announced the following new additions to its staff:

• Jason Harris is the director of production and operations at the Pablo Center at the Confluence. He was previously the director of theatre design/technology and an associate professor at Avila University and technical director of the Johnson County Arts and Heritage Center; and he’s been working in theatre production the past 25 years.
• Mark Lundin is the project coordinator for Pablo Center at the Confluence. He has worked for the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras and as a music educator and clinician. He has taught vocal music in public schools for eight years and is currently on the Governance Board for the Chippewa Valley Montessori Charter School.
• Brianna Hotchkiss was trained in production and technical theatre at UW – Eau Claire. She toured with Sesame Street Live in 2006 and worked as the lighting designer and technical jack-of-all-trades for the Eau Claire Children’s Theatre from 2007-2011. Most recently, she was the production manager at the Eau Claire Regional Arts Center.
• Derek Brehm will be the front of house and box office manager. Brehm earned his MBA from Cardinal Stitch University in 2015. Most recently he has been the box office manager with Madison Ticket Agency overseeing ticketing at the Alliant Energy Center, Breese Stevens Field and multiple other venues in Madison.
• Rose Dolan-Neill has been hired as the visual and literary arts manager. As the director of visual arts for the Eau Claire Regional Arts Council, Dolan-Neill has five years’ experience working directly with the arts community in Eau Claire, and close to 10 years of contributing to the success of the region’s creative economy by providing excellent leadership at the Eau Claire Regional Arts Center.
• Dr. Michael Lee has been named the community outreach and workforce development manager. Lee is a graduate of UW-Stout, having earned degrees in career and technical education and business administration. For the past seven years, he has been serving international students and developing international partnerships while working in UW-Stout’s Office of International Education.

Libardo Rueda Prada, M.D., recently joined the Hospital Medicine Department at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire. Prada completed medical school at Universidad Industrial de Santander in Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia. He completed an internal medicine residency at SBH Health System in Bronx, New York. Prada is a member of the American College of Physicians. His professional interests include critical care and hospital medicine, and pulmonology.

Bilal Unar, M.D., recently joined the Hospital Medicine Department at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire. Unar completed medical school at Isra University in Hyderabad, Pakistan. He completed an internal medicine residency at Marshfield Medical Center in Marshfield. Unar’s professional interests include cardiovascular diseases, clinical research, critical care medicine, hypertension and quality improvement.
Thomas Lowry, M.D., will begin to see patients four days in Ear, Nose & Throat at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire and one day in Rice Lake. He has been seeing patients in Rice Lake only for the past 18 months. Lowry completed medical school at Texas Tech University Health Science Center School of Medicine in Lubbock. He completed a residency at Wilford Hall Medical Center, located at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. He relocated back to northwest Wisconsin with his family in 2008.

Speech-language pathologist Hailey Brost recently joined the Speech-Language Therapy Department at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire. Brost earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in communication sciences and disorders from UW-Eau Claire. She is a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Her professional interests include working with people with aphasia and providing functional intervention.

Campus Pride has given UW-Eau Claire its highest rating, five stars, in its Campus Pride Index, a tool that helps colleges and universities improve campus life for LGBTQIA+ students. Campus Pride is the leading nonprofit organization in the U.S. working to create more LGBTQIA+-friendly learning environments at colleges and universities. With the five-star rating, UW-Eau Claire becomes one of just 27 U.S. colleges and universities (and one of two in the UW System) to receive Campus Pride’s highest recognition. According to the Campus Pride website, the index rankings are based on a school’s performance on to eight “inclusion factors” as they relate to LGBTQIA+ students: policy inclusion, support and institutional commitment, academic life, student life, housing and residence life, campus safety, counseling and health, and recruitment and retention.
UW-Eau Claire also has been named one of Affordable Colleges Online’s Most LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges and Universities for 2018-19, ranking 10th out of 69 schools that made the list. UW-Eau Claire is one of just four UW System universities to be included. Affordable Colleges Online examined data from all accredited postsecondary schools in the nation in determining its list of top LGBTQIA+-friendly institutions. Its goal was to find those colleges that “offered the most notable balances of academic rigor, LGBTQ student support and affordability,” according to the Affordable Colleges Online website. A school’s Campus Pride Index ranking is a component of its score in the Affordable Colleges Online ranking.
Marco recently acquired the managed and infrastructure support services previously provided by Ticomix, a technology company headquartered in Rockford, Illinois. The 21 employees from Ticomix that support these IT services have joined Marco’s team and will be serving clients from Marco’s current office in Rockford and Ticomix’s office in Milwaukee. Marco now has 1,200 employees and 52 locations throughout the Midwest and nationally. This is Marco’s fourth acquisition this year as the company continues its strategy to expand its geographic footprint and technology solutions in existing markets. 

The Lakely, a farm-to-fork restaurant inside The Oxbow Hotel in downtown Eau Claire, is partnering up with other local brunch establishments to put together an outdoor brunch festival held in the courtyard and parking lot of the hotel and restaurant. This new event intends to celebrate and promote all things brunch in the Chippewa Valley. Upon entrance, event-goers will receive five food tickets. Attendees will then make their way around the venue to visit each establishment’s tent and in total, be treated to five “courses” of brunch foods and five “courses” of brunch cocktails from a variety of brunch staples around town. A number of local breweries will also be on-site offering samples of their brunch-iest brews. Live music, Kubb, and other popular yard games will keep guests entertained in between all of the eating and drinking. Music lineup will be announced soon. Brunch Bash is a 21+ event taking place outside of The Oxbow Hotel and The Lakely on Saturday, August 18th from 10am to 2pm. Single tickets are $35, and two-packs of tickets are priced at $65. All tickets can be purchased in advance from www.volumeonetickets.org.