From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital bed capacity has been top-of-mind for health leaders around the globe. It’s no different for leaders at Gundersen Health System. Gundersen’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nursing Officer Heather Schimmers, Post-Acute Care Clinical Operations Director Mandi Pericak, and Gundersen Geriatric Hospital Medicine physician Elizabeth Cogbill, MD, were part of a groundbreaking partnership in January 2022 between the Wisconsin National Guard and Hillview Healthcare Center. 

Through the partnership, National Guard members served as CNAs at Hillview, allowing Gundersen to move rehab-eligible patients out of the hospital and into nursing homes. Gundersen nurses also contributed to the effort by assisting in the care at Hillview. Before the partnership, only 50 patients were transferred to Hillview between August and December of 2021. In the first month and a half of the partnership, 38 patients were transferred.