VISTA Staffing Solutions | Locum Tenens

Our friends at IVUmed conducted another successful surgical workshop this spring in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The workshop, which ran May 6-23, included the first ever laparoscopic nephrectomy in Mongolia. It was performed by Drs. Chris Dechet and Brian Duty, and host Dr. Dagvadorj Bayanundur.

This was the second joint pediatric and general urology IVUmed workshop at State Central Hospital #1 and the Maternal and Child Hospital in Ulaanbaatar. Like all of their workshops, this one focused on “teaching one, reaching many.” The dedicated multinational team served 85 children and adults while providing training for more than 30 Mongolian physicians and nurses. Total value of the services provided was $450,590!

The IVUmed team consisted of four urologists, one pediatric anesthesiologist, one nurse, three trip secretaries, and IVUmed’s first ever Resident Scholar, Dr. Brian Duty. Japanese anesthesiologist, Norifumi Kuratani, continued his skilled teaching and service as part of the IVUmed team at the Maternal and Child Hospital.

I know that the incredible work provided by IVUmed volunteers hits close to home for many of the locum tenens physicians who work with VISTA. To read more about this historic trip, for information about their upcoming women’s health workshop in Nigeria (August 7-21), or to read real-time blogs from the field visit www.ivumed.org . And please mark your calendar and attend IVUmed’s Annual Benefit, September 12, 2009, in Salt Lake City.

As we announced on June 1, VISTA Staffing Solutions and our worthy competitor, CompHealth, have challenged each other to a Food Fight to help end hunger in our communities. It’s CompHealth’s 663 Salt Lake City –based employees against VISTA’s 189 employees, most of whom work in Salt Lake City. Additional VISTA employees are contributing from our offices in Atlanta, Wilkes-Barre, PA, and Cary, NC. The winners will be determined by total pounds of food contributed per employee.

It’s a month-long challenge, so it seemed appropriate to do a mid-month weigh-in. Can you do a drum roll in a blog? Well here goes…

CompHealth: 603 pounds/663 employees=.9 pounds per employee

VISTA:685 pounds/189 employees=3.62 pounds per employee

Woo-hoo! That’s a total of 1288 pounds of food donated. And the Utah Food Bank tells us that 1.28 pounds of food makes up one meal, so our combined efforts have put 1006 meals on the table for hungry families.

Remember that in addition to the satisfaction of feeding hungry people, the winning team will have the satisfaction of seeing the officers of the losing company dressed in competitor’s logos at the next National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations (NALTO) conference.

CompHealth and VISTA Staffing Solutions go pound for pound to help hungry in Utah and beyond

There's nothing like hunger to get the competitive juices flowing. VISTA Staffing Solutions has challenged our competitor, CompHealth, to a Food Fight to End Hunger. We will compete through the month of June, with the winning company gathering the most pounds of food per employee on behalf of the Utah Food Bank and food banks in three additional states.

VISTA and CompHealth are fierce competitors in a fiercely human business. Our employees impact the lives of people across the globe by providing quality healthcare providers when and where they are needed. This is our chance to focus some of that energy on our own communities.

I know CompHealth management and employees feel the same way. David Baldridge, president of CompHealth Physician Staffing, put it this way: “We can’t wait to join forces with our competitors for a great cause. Our employees have big hearts and believe in giving back to the community to make it a better place.”

CompHealth will pit the 663 employees in its Salt Lake City office against VISTA's 189 employees, most of whom work in Salt Lake City. Additional VISTA employees will contribute from the company's offices in Atlanta, Wilkes-Barre, PA, and Cary, NC.

The winning team will have the satisfaction of helping the Utah Food Bank meet a 57% increase in requests for food this year, and of seeing the officers of the losing company dressed in competitor's logos at the next National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations (NALTO) conference.

Keep an eye on this blog for weekly updates on the Food Fight to End Hunger!

Utah Hunger Facts

• 1 in 10 Utahns and 1 in 8 Utah children lives in poverty. A family of four living in poverty makes just over $22,050 a year to cover health care expenses, shelter, food and other household expenses (U.S. Census Bureau: Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2009).
• 1 in 7 Utah children under the age of 18 is at risk of hunger. 1 in 6 young Utah children under the age of 5 is at risk of hunger (Child Food Insecurity in the United States, 2005 – 2007)
• Utah is ranked 4th in the nation for the highest rate of food insecurity. More than 345,700 individuals are at risk of missing or skipping a meal due to lack of resources (US. Department of Agriculture, Household Food Security in the United States, 2007).
• Over 134,000 Utahns receive food stamps, which are not even half of those who are eligible (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2005).
• In Utah, over 63,000 people a month eat dinner at a soup kitchen (Utahns Against Hunger, 2006).
• Nearly 300,000 Utah children receive free or reduced lunch -that’s about 40% of all school-age children (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2004).