May 13, 2025 • 34 mins
What happens when simulation breaks free from hospital walls and becomes embedded throughout an entire healthcare system? Ryan Aga and Don Brock reveal the remarkable transformation at Health Partners, where simulation has evolved from a training method into a life-saving force reaching 14,000 learners annually across eight hospitals, countless clinics, and even rural communities.
Their story unfolds through powerful examples of lives saved, including a cardiac arrest patient given just a 5% chance of survival who later thanked the simulation-trained team for allowing him to witness his grandson's birth. This isn't just about clinical skills—it's about creating a culture where simulation becomes woven into the organizational fabric, with their CEO personally sharing simulation success stories with hundreds of leaders.
Behind the numbers lies a deeply human approach. Don, a retired Air Force flight nurse turned simulation operations manager, brings mechanical precision to Ryan's visionary leadership. Together, they've built a program that reaches every corner of their system, from dental clinics to primary care offices now handling patients with acuity levels previously seen only in emergency departments. They're even building the future healthcare workforce through extensive youth programs in local schools.
The President's Award-winning team doesn't shy away from healthcare's harsh realities—the lingering trauma of the pandemic, financial constraints, and the sobering statistic that 250,000 Americans die annually from preventable medical errors. Their response? A fierce tenacity to improve, an openness to diverse perspectives (including hiring a biomedical engineer to bring fresh insights), and a deep commitment to supporting each other through healthcare's most challenging era.
Whether you're just beginning your simulation journey or looking to scale your existing program, this conversation offers both inspiration and practical wisdom from pioneers who've made simulation an essential, system-wide force for saving lives. Connect with Ryan and Don on LinkedIn to continue the conversation about transforming healthcare through simulation.
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Episode Transcript
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We're building the future ofmedical simulation today.
Welcome to The Sim Cafe, apodcast produced by the team at
Innovative Sim Solutions, editedby Shelly Houser.
Join our host Deb Tauber andco-host Jerrod Jeffries as they
(01:06):
sit down with subject matterexperts from across the globe to
reimagine clinical educationand the use of simulation.
So pour yourself a cup ofrelaxation, sit back, tune in
and learn something new from TheSim Cafe.
Deb Tauber (01:39):
Welcome to another episode of The Sim Cafe.
Today, Jerrod and I are herewith Ryan, ga and Don Brock from
Health Partners.
So welcome, and I'll just givea little brief introduction.
Ryan is the System Director ofClinical Simulation and Health
Partners, which is a non-profithealthcare provider and health
insurance company based inBloomington, minnesota.
In this role, he leadsinitiatives to enhance patient
care through innovativesimulation technologies and
(02:02):
fosters a culture of continuousimprovement within the
organization.
Thank you, ryan, and Don is anexperienced healthcare
professional currently servingas operations manager at Health
Partners and throughout hiscareer Don's had various roles
and he served as a critical careflight nurse and trauma nurse
(02:23):
with the United States Air Forceand he served as a critical
care flight nurse and traumanurse with the United States Air
Force.
So thank you for your service.
Thank you, yeah, great.
Ryan Aga (02:32):
No, thanks, Deb, for having me A pleasure to join you
and Jared on this episode.
I just want to again thank you,Deb, for your years and years
of convening simulationistsacross the globe, and Jared,
your insight too.
You're doing amazing work and Ithink in the midst of where we
are in the world, conveningpeople and bringing people
(02:53):
together to hear a shared visionis so, so important.
It keeps us grounded.
So I just want to thank you,for you and Jared, for all the
work that you're doing.
It's very important.
Thank you for you and Jared forall the work that you're doing.
It's very important.
And know, even within thesimulation, you know community
and world.
There's everybody's like.
Have you listened to the SimCafe recently?
So you're well known and highlyregarded.
(03:14):
So thank you for having meAppreciate it.
Don Brock (03:17):
I concur, thanks.
Deb Tauber (03:17):
Ryan Don, you want to tell our listeners a little
bit about you.
Don Brock (03:22):
I can.
I landed in this wonderfulworld of simulation because I
got coerced out of retirement byRyan Aga.
I was kind of in the latterpart of my career and trying to
figure out what I wanted to do,and with no target in mind.
I just finished another degreeand I'm like I guess I want to
get something for return on thatand I landed here at the Health
Partner Simulation Platform.
(03:43):
I've been in this position fora couple of years now and it's
work.
It's rewarding work, it's fun.
Prior to that, I'm a, you know,like you mentioned, I'm a
critical care trauma flightnurse, retired US Air Force.
It's been 10 years this yearsince I retired and on my
civilian side because that wasall reserved I've been critical
care and trauma ER nurse.
(04:05):
I flew for a helicopter servicefor a while.
I've done many different rolesin education and training.
I do tout that.
I've been doing simulation forover 30 years because before it
was really defined I was doingit in the military and it's just
really amazing to find myselfin this particular arena now and
(04:25):
where I'm at and how we'redefining and looking at the
simulation and impacts that ithas.
So I'm just blessed to be hereand looking forward to our
conversation.
Thank you.
Ryan Aga (04:35):
And I'll dial back, just add in a little bit more
context to myself.
So I've been at Health Partners.
It'll be 20 years this August.
I'm an emergency nurse bybackground, so 17 of my 20 some
years in emergency nursing.
We're, at our level onepediatric and adult trauma
center.
And now I am coming up on myfifth year of being leading our
(04:58):
simulation team and I think youknow since my previous podcast
on the Sim Cafe, it has reallybeen buckle your seatbelts.
I came in through the throespost-COVID of you know, into a
team of only four staff memberwithin four and a half years and
(05:29):
have gone from 10,000 learneror simulation reaching 10,000
people or learners across oursystem and in our community now
to 14,000 in 2024.
It's just been an amazing team.
It's been challenging, like Dontalked about, we've had a lot
of curveballs but we've had alot of successes and I can't
believe how five years has goneso quickly.
(05:50):
But that's a little bit moreabout me, deb and Jared.
Jerrod Jeffries (05:54):
Thank you, but Ryan, that's I mean.
I just want to touch on thatbecause that's a dramatic
increase in a short amount oftime.
I mean, so one is 17.
I mean, with 10 plus people inthose many years.
One, what are they focused on?
And two, is it going deeper, Isit going wider?
(06:15):
Both, yeah, Elaborate please.
Ryan Aga (06:19):
Yeah, yeah, I think Don's correct, it's both.
Our health system definitely isexpanding, so growth is one of
our strategic priorities forhealth partners.
And then one integration of onesystem through our care group
has been huge and blending thatwe've got multiple employers
(06:41):
across our health partner system, employers across our health
partner system and through morestrategic alignment we're going
to a one care group model.
So all of OB service line, allof surgery service line through
our eight hospitals is nowbecoming one and through that
expansion is a part of thatstrategy.
(07:01):
And so when I took the roleover close to five years ago,
that's what the first thing outof the chute was Become one
simulation program across eighthospitals and then literally
democratize them, expandsimulation across our health
system geographically and notjust the health system but also
(07:24):
into the community.
So that has been more thatoutward.
So really right now we'refocused on Western and West
Central Minnesota.
We have two critical accesshospitals out there Hutchinson
Health and Olivia Hospital andClinic, and that's where we're
likely will be leading to asimulation platform out in that
(07:48):
sector of our health system.
And then I'll note that Don fillin.
But really, as you say, up anddown, that alignment is really
being.
You said, Jerrod, what keepspeople driven, it's the mission
of preventing medical harm andquality and safety.
And to look at the statistic inthe United States regularly that
(08:13):
we talked through our teamabout, it's 250,000 people in
the United States are dying dueto preventable medical error and
there is just fierce tenacityof our team to keep aligned to
that and to keep coming back,even despite just the massive
amount of growth and the workthat goes along with that.
(08:34):
And I will say just to staytrue to that, what we are, don
and I are fiercely advocates foris bringing the stories back to
the team of saves lives savedthrough simulation.
And really, I'll say proudly,our CEO, Andrea Walsh, president
(08:56):
and CEO of Health Partners,recently opened up to a leader,
a team leader weekly update aleader, a team leader weekly
update over 800 leaders and shebrought the story of simulation
and life saved.
And so our highest rankingleader at Health Partners is
bringing up the power and theutility of simulation to just
(09:19):
massive amounts of peoplethroughout the organization.
So that's kind of the up anddown and the across sort of
stories.
Deb Tauber (09:27):
Ryan, can you share that story?
I'd love to hear it, I thinkour listeners would love to hear
it.
Ryan Aga (09:33):
So this is a really cool story.
We have done numeroussimulations with the
cardiopulmonary rehab team atRegents Hospital.
It's an offsite facility and wehave for years have gone in
there and done cardiac arrestsimulations with that team.
I will say I will attest thatif you need to have a cardiac or
(09:56):
have a cardiac event or anarrest, that is the team that
you want to have your cardiacarrest with, because we have
gone in there and have reallynot only shown the convergence
of skill but the culture thatsimulation has been used to
develop a wonderful team,dynamic culture has been
(10:16):
developed.
So we were in there about amonth or two ago.
We were doing again the samesimulation and giving them
different scenarios, simulationand giving them different
scenarios.
And after the simulation oursimulation education specialist,
sue, noted that there was oneof the evaluation forms that had
a lot of handwritten writingand she was like oh no, either
(10:38):
this is a good thing or this isa not so great thing as a
simulation education specialist,right, or is it a lot of
feedback?
Or is this good or bad as asimulation education specialist,
right, or is it a lot offeedback, or is this good or bad
?
And she went home and it was acardiopulmonary rehab specialist
that said I have never let youknow this before, but about 13
years ago your team was here andI was here at that time and
(11:03):
about a day or two later ourteam had a cardiac arrest out in
our parking lot and it isbecause of what your team has
done over and over for years andyears that we were able to save
the life of this patient andthe patient arrested.
They got the patient transferredto our hospital regions and the
(11:27):
patient ended up calling thecardiac rehab team back a week
later and said thank you forsaving my life and if the
doctors gave me a 5% chance ofcoming out of this and you were
able to save my life and you didand I was able to see my
grandson born.
So she took the time yearslater to share this story and
(11:55):
said your team is continuing todo amazing work and I want to be
thankful and wanted to expressgratitude of what you did years
ago.
So we are now in the midst withour communications team of
looking to link the patient, thestaff, the SIM staff and the
cardiopulmonary resuscitationteam together and bringing that
(12:17):
alive again.
But it just goes to show thatwhat our team has done, both
from a cultural developing agreat culture with the cardiac
rehab team and the skill set, isan incredible gift to
everlasting life and impacts.
So Don anything, I should add.
Don Brock (12:34):
Well, you can take that story and replicate it like
maybe 10 that mirror that inthe last.
Well, the last two and a halfyears or three years since I've
been with this program and theorganization has done a great
job of capturing those storiesand I think it overarchingly has
benefited the sim platform totake away some of the mystique
(12:56):
of who we are, the clinicalavenues that we've been in or
areas that we've been in, andnot only as clinicians ourselves
, because a lot of our folks areclinicians that come out of
bedside and into the simulationplatform.
But I think it's reallydemystified a lot of that
perspective of simulation andhow we can impact and we're just
getting a lot more buy-in andit's a culture and it's taken a
(13:19):
while.
I mean I was here when theystarted the Sim Center here many
years ago.
I was in the ER and it's justtaken a long time and even to
this day I still have studentssay, oh, I fear sim or they've
had a variety of bad experiencesin simulation and a variety of
arenas.
I'm like, well, let's see if wecan change your attitude in
that.
But I think it just highlightsthe application of storytelling
(13:43):
and what we can do and how we doit, and it's definitely
humbling to be part of that.
Yeah, it's a great story, Ryan.
Jerrod Jeffries (13:51):
Yeah, thank you , and Ryan really powerful.
So thank you so much forsharing.
But I want to actually go tothe cross piece as well, because
we were going up and down, butI want to make sure we hear the
cross as well.
Ryan Aga (14:02):
Yeah, jim, I think that that's just a growth across
our system, geographically,across our care delivery system.
I will say what has grown usfrom our leaps of learners as
the system has gone to a onecare group.
We are particularly alignedwith our quality and safety
(14:24):
department the highest, thechief quality officer at Health
Partners, which is Kara Hall.
One of the areas that acrossthat we're reaching to get to
your point is that our primarycare areas of our clinics have
become.
The acuity of patients that arereaching out and landing in
(14:44):
primary care is just through theroof.
Our clinicians are seeing moresicker patients.
The acuity of them that used tobe in the ER is now in primary
care or urgent care.
And so that's what reallyjumped our level of numbers, our
learners, up this past yearfrom 12,000 to 14,000 was our
(15:07):
biggest integration across ourhealth system in primary care.
So we can say comfortably thatthrough our gosh I don't know
many, many, many clinics I don'thave the number in front of me
of our primary care clinicsacross our system and our dental
health clinics, which is 20,some integrated dental health
(15:28):
clinics.
Simulation has been in everysingle primary care and dental
clinic at Health Partners, so Ithink that goes to show that a
cross strategy of where we'regeographically getting out is to
every single sector as we canin our organization.
And then one more thing I'lltouch on is that what's really
(15:50):
special to us is that we're notjust in our health partner
system, we also havepartnerships outside of health
partners.
So two smaller health systemsin Minnesota our team took on
last year and that's part of ourregional growth across
Minnesota and Wisconsin andwe're looking to even stretch
(16:13):
that even further, since we'veknown that there's just
particularly in the rural partsof our country that people are
just struggling to get the toolsthat they need to do their jobs
with training and they wantsimulation, and I think it's the
newer generation that is likeenough of this passive learning
(16:34):
environment.
We are demanding thatsimulation is the way that we
learn best.
But Don gets all of these asksweekly because he's reviewing
all of what's in our queue ofwho wants us and who needs us,
and it is overwhelming to toknow that the people who need
(16:54):
more simulation and wantservices.
So does that answer yourquestion, jared, about our cross
strategy of reaching as manyareas that we can?
Jerrod Jeffries (17:03):
certainly, and I love to hear it, I well one.
I do believe you're in a veryfortunate position and I can
hear the gratitude as well,because that type of buy in
starts at a systemic level andit's not, you know, one person
kind of marching down, but it'sorganizational wide and I think
that's but back.
You know, even circling back tothe story of pushing this type
(17:24):
of you know message at thehighest level also resonates
across why it's goingbilaterally right, up and down,
left and right.
So really I'm impressed, I'mjust impressed, with what you're
doing at Health Punters.
Don Brock (17:37):
I'd love to add to that a little bit, if I may.
When you talk about the lateralmovement, they're both
synonymous, right?
And so when I look at thevertical movement, I look at the
addition of our team members,right.
So we keep, we keep addingpeople.
So it's kind of like a stack.
But what we've done, especiallywhen we talk about the
ambulatory care clinics and thedental clinics, is we hired an
(17:57):
individual.
That that's what they'reresponsible for, and so we help
the scheduling, we do thecoordination as the full-time
staff, but this he's part-timeor per diem, but that's all he
does.
He's a phenomenal educator.
He's been around for 30 years,paramedic by background, but
he's a phenomenal educator.
And so Ken does all the we callthem CAMELS which is cardiac
(18:22):
arrest, medical emergencylearning or extended learning,
and it's an hour that he getswith these clinics and then,
subsequently to that, theclinics are exposed to it and
then come back to us and putadditional requests in, because
they identify, you know, plusesand deltas when he's out there
and it's just expanded.
(18:42):
So those number of requests,and so and I want to validate
too we get probably five toseven requests per week from the
system and we have an intakesystem that we track all this
and those are those aredelegated out accordingly with
our team members and it worksvery, very well and we've been
(19:03):
doing that system for about ayear and a half now.
So it gives us the opportunityto track our intakes and then
who's working on the work andthen, subsequent to that, the
other piece stretching outwardwe haven't talked about our
pipeline.
So we have a youth program thatwe're in all these different
spectrums of the community.
(19:25):
So we're into the schools, wedo a lot of stuff with the
schools and the pipeline andthose requests.
Essentially I probably get whatone or two a week, ryan.
So a teacher hears somethingand they're like, hey, we would
like to have that.
So we come out and we dosomething with the school, or
they come in too as apartnership through our HR
(19:45):
department here at Regions, alittle bit at Methodist, and
then our institute partners, whoI have a very special friend,
abigail Ward, who helps mecoordinate and collaborate so
many efforts with these youth,and we're in the process of
building a program that is muchmore formal and lineal and then
(20:07):
it'll be an intake process a lotlike what we have established
right now for our regular simsfor these programs that are
looking for youth experiences.
But I will tell you personally,um, the joy that I get out of it
and our team gets out, ofgetting in front of these youth
to pull them into health care,um, and it's across the spectrum
(20:28):
.
It's not just doctors andnurses, but our lab partners,
our imaging partners,respiratory therapy, you name it
, social services, guestservices, it doesn't matter,
it's a full spectrum because wetry to expose them to that.
And then we have a programthat's a formal program, it's
called Share, space for Learning, and we get these youth
integrated into that system sowe can track them.
(20:50):
But, most importantly, we'reable to reach back to them and
get them resources where theywant to go.
And so, when you look at justthis lateral component of this,
it'll never end, and that's ourhope is to get these young
people in here, because we'regoing to need somebody to
replace Ryan and I here prettysoon.
Well, me anyway.
(21:12):
Ryan's got a few more years,I'm getting there.
Jerrod Jeffries (21:13):
I just thought that was really important to
check there.
Certainly Don you also made methink of hearing about, and I
also love the dental aspect.
But just getting kind of backto the scope and the full
spectrum is how do you then, youknow, given the size, but how
do you create standardizationamong all those programs?
Don Brock (21:30):
Oh, my goodness, that's great.
Well, we do a lot of afteraction reports.
So we have we're in the processof actually completely
formalizing this process it'scalled REDCap and so we do our
intake.
You know the team members signin, they'd sign their, and so we
(21:50):
do our intake.
You know the team members signin, they sign their
confidentiality, they're cuedinto a survey.
So we get survey stuff back andthen we take notes during the
simulations themselves and thenwe put that in a formal report.
That also, that formal report,also links into avenues that we
can query quality safety,patient experience, adverse
events, any environmentalemergencies or whatever.
(22:12):
So we have a timestamp of wherethat's at.
And we've been doing the afteraction reports in a fairly
standardized format.
But this is going to level set,basically four programs into one
so the whole system can see itand then we can review it.
And then in the end, this REDCap, you can query it at any time
and ask it questions, becausewell, if you're not familiar
(22:35):
with Power BI, but the power ofBI and the power of REDCap
combined together, you can askit so many questions and then
we're going to continue to gleanfrom that and then Ryan can
attest to when we're talkingabout our global strategies and
we overlay that, on top of thequestions that we ask, and we're
looking for tools, we'relooking for best practices,
(22:58):
we're looking for deltas, and sowe can have exposure at the
highest level, and that helps usget resources, both financial
resources and then the personnelresources to continue.
This strong work and a lot ofthese algorithms or information
flows are what helped us grow asfast as we have, because we're
reporting this stuff out andpeople are seeing oh, we have a
(23:20):
president Sim's doing a greatjob.
We need to support them becauseit's not just Sim.
Ryan, I'm going to swap thetennis ball.
Ryan Aga (23:27):
I'll take a couple jabs, I don't know, or injects
here, jared and Deb, I think youknow, as we all have lived in
the most complex adaptive system, probably the most complex out
of all the adaptive systems everis healthcare, right and so?
And we've just seen quality andsafety repeat itself, right,
(23:49):
we've seen the same problems,the same issues, the same
tactics.
I think, to dive deeper into theareas that we are, we're at a
point where we need to convenedifferent people, bring people
with different insights intowhat we've been doing forever.
For me, for example, I've beena nurse for over 20 some years.
(24:10):
So to bring different insight,we just hired.
Her name's Kelly Landsman.
She's a biomedical engineer bybackground and she went back to
nursing school after she didyears of biomedical engineering
and research and developmentbecause she really wants to
figure out why aren't we movingthings?
Why haven't we?
(24:30):
Have we not had precision intomoving our problems in
healthcare?
So she is bringing a whole newskill set to somebody for me.
Like me have lived in healthcaremy entire career and I'm like,
wow, the questions that she asks, the insight from an
engineering perspective, reallybring Glean areas that we should
(24:54):
have been doing all along.
And she can't believe thatwe've had protocols, policies,
work standards that have gone toour clinicians and have never
been simulated.
She's like in an R&D side ofthings and working in med device
and through engineering thatnever, ever would have happened
(25:14):
and we've allowed that to happen.
And so we're really looking athow do we our areas of focus,
what is Kelly's insight into allof this?
And just offering the wide opentable right to ask these
questions and to think aboutthings differently.
Now is the time for us torebuild and to figure out what
(25:36):
the future is, and we can't doit alone anymore.
We can't say healthcare we gota lot of really cool, smart
people here, we got this.
We need to say no, we don'tthis and to invite as many
different people fromcross-sectional industries into
this problem.
So that's my two cents on thatone.
Deb Tauber (25:58):
Thank you.
Now I understand you guys werethe 2024 president recipient
winners.
Why don't you share what thismeans to Health Partners?
And a little bit about theaward itself.
Ryan Aga (26:09):
Go ahead Don.
Don Brock (26:10):
Oh boy.
So each year, health partnershas a selection process and it's
by your peers and it's ratherformal and you submit through
the portals the documentationfor nominating, whether
individuals or teams.
And last year we I got windthat I got wind that perhaps we
(26:33):
were going to try to put RyanAga in for this President Award
as an individual.
And I immediately jumped onthat bandwagon because Ryan is
Ryan and the impacts he has inthis platform are so numerous
and certainly deserving of apresident's award.
Well, in doing that and goingto his immediate supervisor,
(26:57):
she's like we want to put thewhole team in and I'm like that
is awesome.
And Ryan, he leaned onto thatbecause it is a team effort and
it's taken every single personon this team, in their own right
, in their own capacity, to beup there amongst our peers.
And so there were two teamsthat were deemed president award
(27:20):
winners and you just look atthese people and they were
telling the stories.
You know some of theindividuals and the impacts that
they've made.
I know for me it's work, it'sgreat, it's an award.
Ryan's going to get a chuckleout of this, but it's like all
right, we're going to seize themoment.
We're going to tell our team.
You have to seize the moment.
(27:42):
We had a beautiful dinner,beautiful presentation.
They gave us this big honkingvase with all of our names on it
president award winner andtalked about the impacts on the
system.
And just to listen to thoseimpacts, it's pretty amazing I
might get a little emotionalhere what we do in healthcare as
(28:03):
a clinician.
Ryan and I have both beenclinicians.
We've been bedside clinicians.
We impacted individuals, peoplethat we worked around, the
patients that we took care of.
But what's so phenomenal aboutthis award is this validation
that we're impacting and havebeen able to impact the system
at large.
And it's not about us.
This is not about Ryan, it'snot about Don.
(28:25):
It's about us as a collectiveand I'm very proud of that and I
told the team too.
I was like this is what itmeans to me to be in this
position, to be able to gleantools and processes and look at
things and look at you people asthe resources and the assets of
the system and make all theimpacts that you do.
(28:46):
That's a presidential Awardwinner, if you ask me, and so I
just believe very, very humbledthat we were able to get that
award.
But in the words of Ryan Augaokay, great job.
Don Now get back to work.
That's what I have to say aboutthe President's Award.
Deb Tauber (29:07):
Thank you and congratulations.
Yes, very much so Now do youhave any final thoughts?
You'd like to leave ourlisteners with.
Ryan Aga (29:17):
Final thoughts.
I'll get very human factorshere.
I've been in healthcare for,like I said, over two decades.
We are at a breaking point.
We are at a breaking point and,for me, coming into a health
system and especially in ourlevel one trauma center, and
looking at where we are in theUnited States and across the
(29:41):
globe, of where we are today,right now, in 2025, we need to
keep coming together.
We need to keep coming togetherjust like we are right here
today.
We need to listen to people'sfeelings, of what's on their
hearts and their minds.
We need to be very humble andwe need to extend vast amounts
(30:09):
of gratitude, having led theemergency department team at
Regions over 400 colleaguesthrough COVID coming out of that
and we're still.
We've got residual of that, thatpandemic.
It's residual, there's still.
It's still there, it's stillmaybe been boxed up and some
(30:32):
people they put it on a shelfand they haven't even addressed
it.
On top of what we're dealingwith right now in the United
States with defunding research,all of those elements are
continued waves of overwhelm,uncertainty, anxiety.
I'll just admit that a coupleweeks ago I broke down right.
(30:56):
It's been layers of things thathave been happening and I was
surrounded by two.
One of them was Don and theother one was another nurse,
kelly, and the other one one wasanother nurse, Kelly and the
other one I was online, michelle, and they allowed me to just be
human and, I think, for mymessage to everybody, whether
(31:18):
you're across the pond or you'rein an office space or you're on
this sort of environment, tohave friendships right now and
for people to be supporting eachand every one of us is so, so
important and, in healthcare,particularly right.
We're strapped for resources.
We have fine margins forfinancial contributions.
(31:42):
We don't even know if Medicareand Medicaid is on the chopping
block.
Those are layers of, I wouldsay, trauma that keep coming at
us at different elements in time.
So my message for everybody iscontinue to be humble, offer
gratitude and come withincommunity to support each other,
(32:04):
now more than ever.
Deb Tauber (32:06):
Thank you.
Ryan Aga (32:09):
You're welcome.
Jerrod Jeffries (32:10):
I love it and Don any last words.
Don Brock (32:12):
I would just add that you know, Ryan and I are.
We're very close in ideology.
I have two paths in line withthis One he's the visionary and
I'm the mechanic and, as ourteam, he's the director, I'm the
operations leader, and so hecontinues to envision where this
path is and what it looks like,and it's it's our job, actually
(32:33):
, but I say it's my job tomechanicalize that and push
through.
When I look at people, thethought is everybody has a story
and I walk around and Iliterally look at people.
You know this person's got astory If we get in the
challenges, everybody's got abackground.
And I try to take pause and Itry to emulate, take the time to
(32:54):
listen to somebody, hear it out, see where they're coming from.
What kind of resource do theyneed?
Maybe they just need to talk toyou, maybe they need some real
resources, but everybody has astory and I just think we need
to slow down and understand andappreciate people at its core
and try to try to make thisworld a better place, because
(33:15):
it's tough, right, and we've gota tough job and I'm I say I'm
blessed to get up and I get togo to work every day.
I get to go to work and I workwith some amazing people and it
definitely it's work, but it'swork that's worthwhile, and so
Thank you, thank you both, andwith that, if our listeners want
(33:37):
to get a hold of you, wherewould they do that?
Ryan Aga (33:39):
You can hold me on LinkedIn.
Post a lot of the informationon our team there.
So don't hesitate to reach outto me on the LinkedIn portal
Same here.
Don Brock (33:49):
Okay, If they wanted to find us through the health
partners too, they can find usthrough the health partners org.
But I'm on LinkedIn as well.
I don't post like Ryan does.
He's a phenomenal.
I just concur with what he putson there.
That's wonderful.
Deb Tauber (34:03):
Like and share.
All right, thank you so muchfor your time and your
contributions to healthcare.
We really appreciate it.
Thank you, thank you both.
Thank you so much for your timeand your contributions to
healthcare.
Ryan Aga (34:11):
We really appreciate it, thank you.
Thank you, Jared, appreciate it.
Deb Tauber (34:16):
Happy simulating.
Disclaimer/ BrainNet ad/ (34:24):
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(34:45):
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We're building the future ofmedical simulation today.
Welcome to The Sim Cafe, apodcast produced by the team at
Innovative Sim Solutions, editedby Shelly Houser.
Join our host Deb Tauber andco-host Jerrod Jeffries as they
(01:06):
sit down with subject matterexperts from across the globe to
reimagine clinical educationand the use of simulation.
So pour yourself a cup ofrelaxation, sit back, tune in
and learn something new from TheSim Cafe.
Deb Tauber (01:39):
Welcome to another episode of The Sim Cafe.
Today, Jerrod and I are herewith Ryan, ga and Don Brock from
Health Partners.
So welcome, and I'll just givea little brief introduction.
Ryan is the System Director ofClinical Simulation and Health
Partners, which is a non-profithealthcare provider and health
insurance company based inBloomington, minnesota.
In this role, he leadsinitiatives to enhance patient
care through innovativesimulation technologies and
(02:02):
fosters a culture of continuousimprovement within the
organization.
Thank you, ryan, and Don is anexperienced healthcare
professional currently servingas operations manager at Health
Partners and throughout hiscareer Don's had various roles
and he served as a critical careflight nurse and trauma nurse
(02:23):
with the United States Air Forceand he served as a critical
care flight nurse and traumanurse with the United States Air
Force.
So thank you for your service.
Thank you, yeah, great.
Ryan Aga (02:32):
No, thanks, Deb, for having me A pleasure to join you
and Jared on this episode.
I just want to again thank you,Deb, for your years and years
of convening simulationistsacross the globe, and Jared,
your insight too.
You're doing amazing work and Ithink in the midst of where we
are in the world, conveningpeople and bringing people
(02:53):
together to hear a shared visionis so, so important.
It keeps us grounded.
So I just want to thank you,for you and Jared, for all the
work that you're doing.
It's very important.
Thank you for you and Jared forall the work that you're doing.
It's very important.
And know, even within thesimulation, you know community
and world.
There's everybody's like.
Have you listened to the SimCafe recently?
So you're well known and highlyregarded.
(03:14):
So thank you for having meAppreciate it.
Don Brock (03:17):
I concur, thanks.
Deb Tauber (03:17):
Ryan Don, you want to tell our listeners a little
bit about you.
Don Brock (03:22):
I can.
I landed in this wonderfulworld of simulation because I
got coerced out of retirement byRyan Aga.
I was kind of in the latterpart of my career and trying to
figure out what I wanted to do,and with no target in mind.
I just finished another degreeand I'm like I guess I want to
get something for return on thatand I landed here at the Health
Partner Simulation Platform.
(03:43):
I've been in this position fora couple of years now and it's
work.
It's rewarding work, it's fun.
Prior to that, I'm a, you know,like you mentioned, I'm a
critical care trauma flightnurse, retired US Air Force.
It's been 10 years this yearsince I retired and on my
civilian side because that wasall reserved I've been critical
care and trauma ER nurse.
(04:05):
I flew for a helicopter servicefor a while.
I've done many different rolesin education and training.
I do tout that.
I've been doing simulation forover 30 years because before it
was really defined I was doingit in the military and it's just
really amazing to find myselfin this particular arena now and
(04:25):
where I'm at and how we'redefining and looking at the
simulation and impacts that ithas.
So I'm just blessed to be hereand looking forward to our
conversation.
Thank you.
Ryan Aga (04:35):
And I'll dial back, just add in a little bit more
context to myself.
So I've been at Health Partners.
It'll be 20 years this August.
I'm an emergency nurse bybackground, so 17 of my 20 some
years in emergency nursing.
We're, at our level onepediatric and adult trauma
center.
And now I am coming up on myfifth year of being leading our
(04:58):
simulation team and I think youknow since my previous podcast
on the Sim Cafe, it has reallybeen buckle your seatbelts.
I came in through the throespost-COVID of you know, into a
team of only four staff memberwithin four and a half years and
(05:29):
have gone from 10,000 learneror simulation reaching 10,000
people or learners across oursystem and in our community now
to 14,000 in 2024.
It's just been an amazing team.
It's been challenging, like Dontalked about, we've had a lot
of curveballs but we've had alot of successes and I can't
believe how five years has goneso quickly.
(05:50):
But that's a little bit moreabout me, deb and Jared.
Jerrod Jeffries (05:54):
Thank you, but Ryan, that's I mean.
I just want to touch on thatbecause that's a dramatic
increase in a short amount oftime.
I mean, so one is 17.
I mean, with 10 plus people inthose many years.
One, what are they focused on?
And two, is it going deeper, Isit going wider?
(06:15):
Both, yeah, Elaborate please.
Ryan Aga (06:19):
Yeah, yeah, I think Don's correct, it's both.
Our health system definitely isexpanding, so growth is one of
our strategic priorities forhealth partners.
And then one integration of onesystem through our care group
has been huge and blending thatwe've got multiple employers
(06:41):
across our health partner system, employers across our health
partner system and through morestrategic alignment we're going
to a one care group model.
So all of OB service line, allof surgery service line through
our eight hospitals is nowbecoming one and through that
expansion is a part of thatstrategy.
(07:01):
And so when I took the roleover close to five years ago,
that's what the first thing outof the chute was Become one
simulation program across eighthospitals and then literally
democratize them, expandsimulation across our health
system geographically and notjust the health system but also
(07:24):
into the community.
So that has been more thatoutward.
So really right now we'refocused on Western and West
Central Minnesota.
We have two critical accesshospitals out there Hutchinson
Health and Olivia Hospital andClinic, and that's where we're
likely will be leading to asimulation platform out in that
(07:48):
sector of our health system.
And then I'll note that Don fillin.
But really, as you say, up anddown, that alignment is really
being.
You said, Jerrod, what keepspeople driven, it's the mission
of preventing medical harm andquality and safety.
And to look at the statistic inthe United States regularly that
(08:13):
we talked through our teamabout, it's 250,000 people in
the United States are dying dueto preventable medical error and
there is just fierce tenacityof our team to keep aligned to
that and to keep coming back,even despite just the massive
amount of growth and the workthat goes along with that.
(08:34):
And I will say just to staytrue to that, what we are, don
and I are fiercely advocates foris bringing the stories back to
the team of saves lives savedthrough simulation.
And really, I'll say proudly,our CEO, Andrea Walsh, president
(08:56):
and CEO of Health Partners,recently opened up to a leader,
a team leader weekly update aleader, a team leader weekly
update over 800 leaders and shebrought the story of simulation
and life saved.
And so our highest rankingleader at Health Partners is
bringing up the power and theutility of simulation to just
(09:19):
massive amounts of peoplethroughout the organization.
So that's kind of the up anddown and the across sort of
stories.
Deb Tauber (09:27):
Ryan, can you share that story?
I'd love to hear it, I thinkour listeners would love to hear
it.
Ryan Aga (09:33):
So this is a really cool story.
We have done numeroussimulations with the
cardiopulmonary rehab team atRegents Hospital.
It's an offsite facility and wehave for years have gone in
there and done cardiac arrestsimulations with that team.
I will say I will attest thatif you need to have a cardiac or
(09:56):
have a cardiac event or anarrest, that is the team that
you want to have your cardiacarrest with, because we have
gone in there and have reallynot only shown the convergence
of skill but the culture thatsimulation has been used to
develop a wonderful team,dynamic culture has been
(10:16):
developed.
So we were in there about amonth or two ago.
We were doing again the samesimulation and giving them
different scenarios, simulationand giving them different
scenarios.
And after the simulation oursimulation education specialist,
sue, noted that there was oneof the evaluation forms that had
a lot of handwritten writingand she was like oh no, either
(10:38):
this is a good thing or this isa not so great thing as a
simulation education specialist,right, or is it a lot of
feedback?
Or is this good or bad as asimulation education specialist,
right, or is it a lot offeedback, or is this good or bad
?
And she went home and it was acardiopulmonary rehab specialist
that said I have never let youknow this before, but about 13
years ago your team was here andI was here at that time and
(11:03):
about a day or two later ourteam had a cardiac arrest out in
our parking lot and it isbecause of what your team has
done over and over for years andyears that we were able to save
the life of this patient andthe patient arrested.
They got the patient transferredto our hospital regions and the
(11:27):
patient ended up calling thecardiac rehab team back a week
later and said thank you forsaving my life and if the
doctors gave me a 5% chance ofcoming out of this and you were
able to save my life and you didand I was able to see my
grandson born.
So she took the time yearslater to share this story and
(11:55):
said your team is continuing todo amazing work and I want to be
thankful and wanted to expressgratitude of what you did years
ago.
So we are now in the midst withour communications team of
looking to link the patient, thestaff, the SIM staff and the
cardiopulmonary resuscitationteam together and bringing that
(12:17):
alive again.
But it just goes to show thatwhat our team has done, both
from a cultural developing agreat culture with the cardiac
rehab team and the skill set, isan incredible gift to
everlasting life and impacts.
So Don anything, I should add.
Don Brock (12:34):
Well, you can take that story and replicate it like
maybe 10 that mirror that inthe last.
Well, the last two and a halfyears or three years since I've
been with this program and theorganization has done a great
job of capturing those storiesand I think it overarchingly has
benefited the sim platform totake away some of the mystique
(12:56):
of who we are, the clinicalavenues that we've been in or
areas that we've been in, andnot only as clinicians ourselves
, because a lot of our folks areclinicians that come out of
bedside and into the simulationplatform.
But I think it's reallydemystified a lot of that
perspective of simulation andhow we can impact and we're just
getting a lot more buy-in andit's a culture and it's taken a
(13:19):
while.
I mean I was here when theystarted the Sim Center here many
years ago.
I was in the ER and it's justtaken a long time and even to
this day I still have studentssay, oh, I fear sim or they've
had a variety of bad experiencesin simulation and a variety of
arenas.
I'm like, well, let's see if wecan change your attitude in
that.
But I think it just highlightsthe application of storytelling
(13:43):
and what we can do and how we doit, and it's definitely
humbling to be part of that.
Yeah, it's a great story, Ryan.
Jerrod Jeffries (13:51):
Yeah, thank you , and Ryan really powerful.
So thank you so much forsharing.
But I want to actually go tothe cross piece as well, because
we were going up and down, butI want to make sure we hear the
cross as well.
Ryan Aga (14:02):
Yeah, jim, I think that that's just a growth across
our system, geographically,across our care delivery system.
I will say what has grown usfrom our leaps of learners as
the system has gone to a onecare group.
We are particularly alignedwith our quality and safety
(14:24):
department the highest, thechief quality officer at Health
Partners, which is Kara Hall.
One of the areas that acrossthat we're reaching to get to
your point is that our primarycare areas of our clinics have
become.
The acuity of patients that arereaching out and landing in
(14:44):
primary care is just through theroof.
Our clinicians are seeing moresicker patients.
The acuity of them that used tobe in the ER is now in primary
care or urgent care.
And so that's what reallyjumped our level of numbers, our
learners, up this past yearfrom 12,000 to 14,000 was our
(15:07):
biggest integration across ourhealth system in primary care.
So we can say comfortably thatthrough our gosh I don't know
many, many, many clinics I don'thave the number in front of me
of our primary care clinicsacross our system and our dental
health clinics, which is 20,some integrated dental health
(15:28):
clinics.
Simulation has been in everysingle primary care and dental
clinic at Health Partners, so Ithink that goes to show that a
cross strategy of where we'regeographically getting out is to
every single sector as we canin our organization.
And then one more thing I'lltouch on is that what's really
(15:50):
special to us is that we're notjust in our health partner
system, we also havepartnerships outside of health
partners.
So two smaller health systemsin Minnesota our team took on
last year and that's part of ourregional growth across
Minnesota and Wisconsin andwe're looking to even stretch
(16:13):
that even further, since we'veknown that there's just
particularly in the rural partsof our country that people are
just struggling to get the toolsthat they need to do their jobs
with training and they wantsimulation, and I think it's the
newer generation that is likeenough of this passive learning
(16:34):
environment.
We are demanding thatsimulation is the way that we
learn best.
But Don gets all of these asksweekly because he's reviewing
all of what's in our queue ofwho wants us and who needs us,
and it is overwhelming to toknow that the people who need
(16:54):
more simulation and wantservices.
So does that answer yourquestion, jared, about our cross
strategy of reaching as manyareas that we can?
Jerrod Jeffries (17:03):
certainly, and I love to hear it, I well one.
I do believe you're in a veryfortunate position and I can
hear the gratitude as well,because that type of buy in
starts at a systemic level andit's not, you know, one person
kind of marching down, but it'sorganizational wide and I think
that's but back.
You know, even circling back tothe story of pushing this type
(17:24):
of you know message at thehighest level also resonates
across why it's goingbilaterally right, up and down,
left and right.
So really I'm impressed, I'mjust impressed, with what you're
doing at Health Punters.
Don Brock (17:37):
I'd love to add to that a little bit, if I may.
When you talk about the lateralmovement, they're both
synonymous, right?
And so when I look at thevertical movement, I look at the
addition of our team members,right.
So we keep, we keep addingpeople.
So it's kind of like a stack.
But what we've done, especiallywhen we talk about the
ambulatory care clinics and thedental clinics, is we hired an
(17:57):
individual.
That that's what they'reresponsible for, and so we help
the scheduling, we do thecoordination as the full-time
staff, but this he's part-timeor per diem, but that's all he
does.
He's a phenomenal educator.
He's been around for 30 years,paramedic by background, but
he's a phenomenal educator.
And so Ken does all the we callthem CAMELS which is cardiac
(18:22):
arrest, medical emergencylearning or extended learning,
and it's an hour that he getswith these clinics and then,
subsequently to that, theclinics are exposed to it and
then come back to us and putadditional requests in, because
they identify, you know, plusesand deltas when he's out there
and it's just expanded.
(18:42):
So those number of requests,and so and I want to validate
too we get probably five toseven requests per week from the
system and we have an intakesystem that we track all this
and those are those aredelegated out accordingly with
our team members and it worksvery, very well and we've been
(19:03):
doing that system for about ayear and a half now.
So it gives us the opportunityto track our intakes and then
who's working on the work andthen, subsequent to that, the
other piece stretching outwardwe haven't talked about our
pipeline.
So we have a youth program thatwe're in all these different
spectrums of the community.
(19:25):
So we're into the schools, wedo a lot of stuff with the
schools and the pipeline andthose requests.
Essentially I probably get whatone or two a week, ryan.
So a teacher hears somethingand they're like, hey, we would
like to have that.
So we come out and we dosomething with the school, or
they come in too as apartnership through our HR
(19:45):
department here at Regions, alittle bit at Methodist, and
then our institute partners, whoI have a very special friend,
abigail Ward, who helps mecoordinate and collaborate so
many efforts with these youth,and we're in the process of
building a program that is muchmore formal and lineal and then
(20:07):
it'll be an intake process a lotlike what we have established
right now for our regular simsfor these programs that are
looking for youth experiences.
But I will tell you personally,um, the joy that I get out of it
and our team gets out, ofgetting in front of these youth
to pull them into health care,um, and it's across the spectrum
(20:28):
.
It's not just doctors andnurses, but our lab partners,
our imaging partners,respiratory therapy, you name it
, social services, guestservices, it doesn't matter,
it's a full spectrum because wetry to expose them to that.
And then we have a programthat's a formal program, it's
called Share, space for Learning, and we get these youth
integrated into that system sowe can track them.
(20:50):
But, most importantly, we'reable to reach back to them and
get them resources where theywant to go.
And so, when you look at justthis lateral component of this,
it'll never end, and that's ourhope is to get these young
people in here, because we'regoing to need somebody to
replace Ryan and I here prettysoon.
Well, me anyway.
(21:12):
Ryan's got a few more years,I'm getting there.
Jerrod Jeffries (21:13):
I just thought that was really important to
check there.
Certainly Don you also made methink of hearing about, and I
also love the dental aspect.
But just getting kind of backto the scope and the full
spectrum is how do you then, youknow, given the size, but how
do you create standardizationamong all those programs?
Don Brock (21:30):
Oh, my goodness, that's great.
Well, we do a lot of afteraction reports.
So we have we're in the processof actually completely
formalizing this process it'scalled REDCap and so we do our
intake.
You know the team members signin, they'd sign their, and so we
(21:50):
do our intake.
You know the team members signin, they sign their
confidentiality, they're cuedinto a survey.
So we get survey stuff back andthen we take notes during the
simulations themselves and thenwe put that in a formal report.
That also, that formal report,also links into avenues that we
can query quality safety,patient experience, adverse
events, any environmentalemergencies or whatever.
(22:12):
So we have a timestamp of wherethat's at.
And we've been doing the afteraction reports in a fairly
standardized format.
But this is going to level set,basically four programs into one
so the whole system can see itand then we can review it.
And then in the end, this REDCap, you can query it at any time
and ask it questions, becausewell, if you're not familiar
(22:35):
with Power BI, but the power ofBI and the power of REDCap
combined together, you can askit so many questions and then
we're going to continue to gleanfrom that and then Ryan can
attest to when we're talkingabout our global strategies and
we overlay that, on top of thequestions that we ask, and we're
looking for tools, we'relooking for best practices,
(22:58):
we're looking for deltas, and sowe can have exposure at the
highest level, and that helps usget resources, both financial
resources and then the personnelresources to continue.
This strong work and a lot ofthese algorithms or information
flows are what helped us grow asfast as we have, because we're
reporting this stuff out andpeople are seeing oh, we have a
(23:20):
president Sim's doing a greatjob.
We need to support them becauseit's not just Sim.
Ryan, I'm going to swap thetennis ball.
Ryan Aga (23:27):
I'll take a couple jabs, I don't know, or injects
here, jared and Deb, I think youknow, as we all have lived in
the most complex adaptive system, probably the most complex out
of all the adaptive systems everis healthcare, right and so?
And we've just seen quality andsafety repeat itself, right,
(23:49):
we've seen the same problems,the same issues, the same
tactics.
I think, to dive deeper into theareas that we are, we're at a
point where we need to convenedifferent people, bring people
with different insights intowhat we've been doing forever.
For me, for example, I've beena nurse for over 20 some years.
(24:10):
So to bring different insight,we just hired.
Her name's Kelly Landsman.
She's a biomedical engineer bybackground and she went back to
nursing school after she didyears of biomedical engineering
and research and developmentbecause she really wants to
figure out why aren't we movingthings?
Why haven't we?
(24:30):
Have we not had precision intomoving our problems in
healthcare?
So she is bringing a whole newskill set to somebody for me.
Like me have lived in healthcaremy entire career and I'm like,
wow, the questions that she asks, the insight from an
engineering perspective, reallybring Glean areas that we should
(24:54):
have been doing all along.
And she can't believe thatwe've had protocols, policies,
work standards that have gone toour clinicians and have never
been simulated.
She's like in an R&D side ofthings and working in med device
and through engineering thatnever, ever would have happened
(25:14):
and we've allowed that to happen.
And so we're really looking athow do we our areas of focus,
what is Kelly's insight into allof this?
And just offering the wide opentable right to ask these
questions and to think aboutthings differently.
Now is the time for us torebuild and to figure out what
(25:36):
the future is, and we can't doit alone anymore.
We can't say healthcare we gota lot of really cool, smart
people here, we got this.
We need to say no, we don'tthis and to invite as many
different people fromcross-sectional industries into
this problem.
So that's my two cents on thatone.
Deb Tauber (25:58):
Thank you.
Now I understand you guys werethe 2024 president recipient
winners.
Why don't you share what thismeans to Health Partners?
And a little bit about theaward itself.
Ryan Aga (26:09):
Go ahead Don.
Don Brock (26:10):
Oh boy.
So each year, health partnershas a selection process and it's
by your peers and it's ratherformal and you submit through
the portals the documentationfor nominating, whether
individuals or teams.
And last year we I got windthat I got wind that perhaps we
(26:33):
were going to try to put RyanAga in for this President Award
as an individual.
And I immediately jumped onthat bandwagon because Ryan is
Ryan and the impacts he has inthis platform are so numerous
and certainly deserving of apresident's award.
Well, in doing that and goingto his immediate supervisor,
(26:57):
she's like we want to put thewhole team in and I'm like that
is awesome.
And Ryan, he leaned onto thatbecause it is a team effort and
it's taken every single personon this team, in their own right
, in their own capacity, to beup there amongst our peers.
And so there were two teamsthat were deemed president award
(27:20):
winners and you just look atthese people and they were
telling the stories.
You know some of theindividuals and the impacts that
they've made.
I know for me it's work, it'sgreat, it's an award.
Ryan's going to get a chuckleout of this, but it's like all
right, we're going to seize themoment.
We're going to tell our team.
You have to seize the moment.
(27:42):
We had a beautiful dinner,beautiful presentation.
They gave us this big honkingvase with all of our names on it
president award winner andtalked about the impacts on the
system.
And just to listen to thoseimpacts, it's pretty amazing I
might get a little emotionalhere what we do in healthcare as
(28:03):
a clinician.
Ryan and I have both beenclinicians.
We've been bedside clinicians.
We impacted individuals, peoplethat we worked around, the
patients that we took care of.
But what's so phenomenal aboutthis award is this validation
that we're impacting and havebeen able to impact the system
at large.
And it's not about us.
This is not about Ryan, it'snot about Don.
(28:25):
It's about us as a collectiveand I'm very proud of that and I
told the team too.
I was like this is what itmeans to me to be in this
position, to be able to gleantools and processes and look at
things and look at you people asthe resources and the assets of
the system and make all theimpacts that you do.
(28:46):
That's a presidential Awardwinner, if you ask me, and so I
just believe very, very humbledthat we were able to get that
award.
But in the words of Ryan Augaokay, great job.
Don Now get back to work.
That's what I have to say aboutthe President's Award.
Deb Tauber (29:07):
Thank you and congratulations.
Yes, very much so Now do youhave any final thoughts?
You'd like to leave ourlisteners with.
Ryan Aga (29:17):
Final thoughts.
I'll get very human factorshere.
I've been in healthcare for,like I said, over two decades.
We are at a breaking point.
We are at a breaking point and,for me, coming into a health
system and especially in ourlevel one trauma center, and
looking at where we are in theUnited States and across the
(29:41):
globe, of where we are today,right now, in 2025, we need to
keep coming together.
We need to keep coming togetherjust like we are right here
today.
We need to listen to people'sfeelings, of what's on their
hearts and their minds.
We need to be very humble andwe need to extend vast amounts
(30:09):
of gratitude, having led theemergency department team at
Regions over 400 colleaguesthrough COVID coming out of that
and we're still.
We've got residual of that, thatpandemic.
It's residual, there's still.
It's still there, it's stillmaybe been boxed up and some
(30:32):
people they put it on a shelfand they haven't even addressed
it.
On top of what we're dealingwith right now in the United
States with defunding research,all of those elements are
continued waves of overwhelm,uncertainty, anxiety.
I'll just admit that a coupleweeks ago I broke down right.
(30:56):
It's been layers of things thathave been happening and I was
surrounded by two.
One of them was Don and theother one was another nurse,
kelly, and the other one one wasanother nurse, Kelly and the
other one I was online, michelle, and they allowed me to just be
human and, I think, for mymessage to everybody, whether
(31:18):
you're across the pond or you'rein an office space or you're on
this sort of environment, tohave friendships right now and
for people to be supporting eachand every one of us is so, so
important and, in healthcare,particularly right.
We're strapped for resources.
We have fine margins forfinancial contributions.
(31:42):
We don't even know if Medicareand Medicaid is on the chopping
block.
Those are layers of, I wouldsay, trauma that keep coming at
us at different elements in time.
So my message for everybody iscontinue to be humble, offer
gratitude and come withincommunity to support each other,
(32:04):
now more than ever.
Deb Tauber (32:06):
Thank you.
Ryan Aga (32:09):
You're welcome.
Jerrod Jeffries (32:10):
I love it and Don any last words.
Don Brock (32:12):
I would just add that you know, Ryan and I are.
We're very close in ideology.
I have two paths in line withthis One he's the visionary and
I'm the mechanic and, as ourteam, he's the director, I'm the
operations leader, and so hecontinues to envision where this
path is and what it looks like,and it's it's our job, actually
(32:33):
, but I say it's my job tomechanicalize that and push
through.
When I look at people, thethought is everybody has a story
and I walk around and Iliterally look at people.
You know this person's got astory If we get in the
challenges, everybody's got abackground.
And I try to take pause and Itry to emulate, take the time to
(32:54):
listen to somebody, hear it out, see where they're coming from.
What kind of resource do theyneed?
Maybe they just need to talk toyou, maybe they need some real
resources, but everybody has astory and I just think we need
to slow down and understand andappreciate people at its core
and try to try to make thisworld a better place, because
(33:15):
it's tough, right, and we've gota tough job and I'm I say I'm
blessed to get up and I get togo to work every day.
I get to go to work and I workwith some amazing people and it
definitely it's work, but it'swork that's worthwhile, and so
Thank you, thank you both, andwith that, if our listeners want
(33:37):
to get a hold of you, wherewould they do that?
Ryan Aga (33:39):
You can hold me on LinkedIn.
Post a lot of the informationon our team there.
So don't hesitate to reach outto me on the LinkedIn portal
Same here.
Don Brock (33:49):
Okay, If they wanted to find us through the health
partners too, they can find usthrough the health partners org.
But I'm on LinkedIn as well.
I don't post like Ryan does.
He's a phenomenal.
I just concur with what he putson there.
That's wonderful.
Deb Tauber (34:03):
Like and share.
All right, thank you so muchfor your time and your
contributions to healthcare.
We really appreciate it.
Thank you, thank you both.
Thank you so much for your timeand your contributions to
healthcare.
Ryan Aga (34:11):
We really appreciate it, thank you.
Thank you, Jared, appreciate it.
Deb Tauber (34:16):
Happy simulating.
Disclaimer/ BrainNet ad/ (34:24):
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(34:45):
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