Coronavirus

March 16, 2020

Declaration of Public Health Emergency

On Friday, March 13, 2020 the Cook Hospital & Care Center declared the threat of the COVID-19 Virus (Coronavirus) a public health emergency.  In order to protect our patients, residents and staff, we have put the following measures in place:

No visitors will be allowed in the Cook Hospital facilities except for instances of compassionate care, and those visits must be arranged and approved prior to arrival.  Emergency room patients will be allowed one support person.  Only approved clergy and vendors will be allowed in the facility.  Please consider communicating with loved ones over the phone, video chat, e-mail or social media.

All external doors will be locked, to allow us to be able to screen all persons for illness and travel prior to entering our facility.  There is an intercom system that you may use to talk to a staff member should you have to come to our facility for care.

We have also closed public access to our Business Office and Medical Records.  Employees will continue to provide customers with access to their medical records and will be available to answer any billing related questions over the phone.  Our staff will work directly with individual patients to arrange for safe pick up or send items via mail.  Arrangements can also be made for urgent requests as the law defines a release for records to be within 30 days.  Please contact 218-666-5945 with any questions.

Our employees must follow travel restrictions and have been instructed of this as of Monday, March 16th.  Any employees returning from travel will be placed on administrative leave for 14 days after returning home and must follow the Minnesota Department of Health guidelines on Self-Isolation.  Employees must also self-screen for illness every shift they report to work.

The Adult Day Services Program and the Wellness Center have been closed to the public effective March 16, 2020 until further notice.

We will be suspending all “non-emergency” care, including outpatient colonoscopies and pain injections.  We will be evaluating other outpatient services on an individual patient basis, to determine which patients need the critical service, and which patients can be rescheduled.

If you are interested in learning more about COVID-19, the following websites have the most up to date information:

https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/index.html

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this very difficult and trying time; these measures are being put into place for the health and safety of our community.

About Amy Kemp, OTR/L, Occupation Therapy Supervisor

Amy graduated from St. Scholastica in 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology.  She then went on to graduate again from St. Scholastica in 2020 with her Master of Science in Occupational Therapy degree.  After graduation, she began working at the Cook Hospital and has been here for 4 years.

She enjoys having the opportunity that rural health provides to work with individuals across the lifespan.  Since starting at the Cook Hospital, Amy has become a Certified Lymphedema Therapist (CLT) and has been certified in LSVT-BIG for Parkinson’s Disease and other populations.  

In her free time, Amy enjoys the outdoors, being at the lake, reading, and spending time with her family. She is looking forward to continuing her career here at the Cook Hospital and welcomes all new patients.

 

About Carrie Rahikainen, PTA/L

Carrie is a 1992 graduate of the College of St. Scholastica where she earned her Bachelor’s  degree in Natural Science and minor in Psychology.  She continued her education at Lake Superior College where she earned her A.A.S. degree as a Physical Therapist Assistant in 1996. 

For the first four years after obtaining her degrees, Carrie and her husband lived and worked in Wausau, WI.  While in Wausau, she worked in various units specializing in long-term care, out-patient Orthopedics, in-patient and out-patient Psychology, specialized Dementia and Alzheimer’s units, and an Early Intervention/Pediatric Program. 

They then returned to the Iron Range, where both she and her husband were born and raised.  When returning to the area, Carrie was employed by St. Louis County Schools/Northland Special Education Cooperative.  For six years, she provided physical therapy services in various independent school districts, working with children from birth through the age of 21.

In February, 2006 she began her employment at the Cook Hospital and Rehabilitation and is a full-time employee.  Since starting her position at the Cook Hospital, she has been expanding her Physical Therapy skills by attending a variety of courses focusing on such things as Strain-Counter-strain Technique for pain management, Vestibular Rehabilitation, Therapeutic Exercise for the Geriatric Spine,  Manual treatment of the Lumbar Spine, and Kinesio-taping.

Carrie lives in Britt with her husband and three children, ages nine, ten, and twelve.  In her free time, she enjoys cross country skiing, reading, and supporting her children with their extra-curricular activities such as volleyball, basketball, baseball and Scouting.  As a family, they enjoy spending time on their pontoon boat, camping, hunting, and various types of fishing.

 

About Brian McCarthy, PT

Brian began working in Physical Therapy in 1984 as an enlisted member of the U.S. Air Force. After an honorable discharge in 1988 returned to Duluth, MN where he attended ST. Scholastica and eventually PT school at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse where he graduated in 1993 with honors.

He then began work as a PT at St. Mary’s “Center Therapy” in Duluth in Occupational Medicine, Chronic Pain Management, Orthopedic-Spine, and the Adult Neuro-Rehab departments. In 1996, Brian began working as a contract therapist traveling within the Northern Midwest. During this time he worked in home care, private practice, and out-patient orthopedic settings. His last assignment in 1998 lead him to Cook where he continues to work as the Director of Rehabilitation and physical therapist.

Brian’s career goals are to be well-rounded in all areas of physical therapy, but is especially interested in manual therapy techniques related to orthopedics conditions and wound care interventions. Brian is an active member of the American Physical Therapy Association, National Ski Patrol, and hospitals wound care team. Brian has attended, and continues to attend, yearly continuing education in the field of Physical Therapy and wound care to bring the most current and up-to-date treatment methodologies to the patients he treats.

About Stephanie Elling, PT, DPT, CIMT

Stephanie graduated from The College of St. Scholastica in 2013 with a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology and again in 2016 with a Doctorate degree in Physical Therapy.

After graduation she worked at a private practice in Cloquet, MN in outpatient orthopedics for over two years. Here she gained experience in post-surgical care, manual therapy, return to sport training, and aquatic rehab. Then she transitioned into travel therapy and completed contracts across Minnesota, Wisconsin and Florida in skilled nursing, memory care, pediatrics, acute care at critical access hospitals, and multiple outpatient clinics treating a wide range of orthopedic and neurological conditions.

Stephanie has additional training in TMJ, headaches, sports rehab, dementia care, pediatrics, kinesiotape and manual therapy techniques. Stephanie has a passion for rural healthcare and enjoys working with patients of all ages and diagnoses.

She is excited to join the rehabilitation team at Cook Hospital and looks forward to getting to serve to Cook community and surrounding areas.