Imagine being a heart surgeon preparing for a complex case. Traditionally, you rely on stacks of 2D images from CT scans to build a mental picture of your patient’s anatomy. But the heart isn’t static – it twists and pumps blood in a rhythm unique to each person. Now, thanks to a breakthrough at OSF Innovation, surgeons can “see” their patient’s heart beating in 3D before ever stepping into the operating room.

This innovation is called the 4D Heart. Unlike standard 3D models, which capture a single snapshot in time, the 4D Heart recreates every phase of a patient’s cardiac cycle, allowing doctors to watch their heart beat virtually. And it isn’t just a generic animation. Rather, it is the creation of a digital twin.

“This is taking a CT scan of a patient, a retrospectively gated CT scan, and converting a patient’s own heart – in each phase of that cardiac cycle – and making it beat in a virtual environment,” says Matthew Bramlet, MD, who directs the Advanced Image and Modeling (AIM) Lab at OSF Innovation. The lab is focused on improving the understanding of complex anatomy for surgeons and diagnosticians. Dr. Bramlet also specializes in congenital cardiac MRI for OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois and is an associate professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria and the University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering in Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Bramlet’s efforts began in 2018 with manually segmenting parts of the heart so it could be viewed in virtual reality. It continued with an infusion of grant money two years ago. Using an Innovation for Health (IFH) grant with Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, a team used machine learning to convert standard medical images into a sequence of 3D models that, when played sequentially, create a 3D beating heart – the 4D heart. The initial process took an entire summer.

That made the technology nearly impossible to use in real world clinical care. But in late 2024, researchers achieved a major breakthrough. With the help of engineers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, AIM lab engineers trained neural networks on hundreds of high-quality CT scans and automated the entire process. Now, what once took months can be done with a single click.

“Have you ever seen a flip book where you see a drawing move? That’s what we’re doing with these 3D models in a digital, virtual space.” Dr. Bramlet explains, “We’re just turning them off and on in rapid succession until we have that beating heart.”

For surgeons, the benefits are game-changing. They can see not only the anatomy but also how it changes with every beat. This is especially critical for conditions such as hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, where the problem lies in how the heart contracts. Even more surprising, the AI began rendering valves — structures notoriously difficult to see on CT scans.

“Now we can see that valve which we really couldn’t see before. So, repeat valve procedures are very valuable for this. TAVR or any valve in the cath lab, we’re finding good use with these as well as the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy cases.”

Hospitals across the country are taking notice, sending scans to OSF and receiving beating heart files in return. Some don’t even have the technology to view them yet. Dr. Bramlet says OSF Innovation is pushing the boundaries so far forward, some other health systems will need to get on board with the technology to be able to visualize the data being sent to them.

For now, the ability to view a 4D Heart is already changing how surgeons think about the body’s most vital organ. In some cases, the new view is confirming a surgery plan. In other cases, including a most recent pediatric heart case from another hospital, it changed the approach. Dr. Bramlet says as surgeons interact with the models, they are amazed.

He shares, “I see those lightbulbs go on and there’s nothing like being able to observe and interact with these 3D models in a format, and especially a 4D model, in a way they’ve never been able to see them before, and it will become the standard of care, I have no doubt.”

The ultimate vision is bold: a patient enters the CT or MRI scanner, and their digital twin heart comes out the other side – ready for analysis, surgical planning and even analysis of AI-driven measurements like ejection fraction or blood flow strain to help with diagnosis and a treatment plan.

How long until that happens? Hard to say because as Dr. Bramlet points out, “seeing is believing,” and it might take time for health systems to invest in the technology to make the vision become reality. Government reimbursement for the care will also drive adoption. For now, the work is being covered through research grants, most notably; the Jump ARCHES endowment through the Health Care Engineering Systems Center at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and OSF HealthCare.

Dr. Mathew Bramlet

B-roll-4D Beating Heart

As we begin a new year at OSF HealthCare, we’re reflecting on 2024 and the major strides in digital transformation to make access to care and health information seamless for our patients. At OSF, we continue to collaborate with our academic and business partners to leverage collective expertise and to responsibly use the power of artificial intelligence, always taking care to use guiding principles of what is fair, appropriate, valid, effective and safe (FAVES).

The efforts are highlighted here in our Top 10 Digital Health and Innovation stories of 2024 in no particular order.

1. OSF Unveils new 55+ primary care service in south suburban Chicago: Called OSF Complete Care 55+, this is a unique collaboration between OSF HealthCare Little Company of Mary Medical Center and OSF OnCall, the digital arm of the health care Ministry. When launched in early 2025, this primary care program will incorporate in-person visits, plus a mix of virtual care, digital health monitoring tools and 24/7 access to a care team focusing on those with chronic conditions.

2. Building an AI prepared workforce: OSF HealthCare leaders took just six weeks to develop mandatory training about generative AI for all 24,000 OSF Mission Partners (employees) because tools were already publicly available. Melissa Knuth, Vice President of Planning, outlines that to rise to the challenge, she worked with OSF Innovation to use mixed media to keep the content interesting and tapped generative AI tools to assist with the content creation.

3. OSF Digital Hospital patients in Rockford area say it’s the best medicine: OSF OnCall expands its digital hospital program to Rockford and receives rave reviews from some of its first patients. In addition, a well-known farm broadcaster shares her story about receiving acute-level care from the comfort of her own home and urges others who are eligible to consider the option.

4. OSF Innovation sets the table for solution to prevent cancelled surgeries: Two OSF HealthCare nurses turned to the OSF Innovation Studio team to help improve their Device Table software that serves as a database for implanted medical devices – offering information needed for surgical teams to reference for safety in surgery planning. We also reported on the creation of a spin-off company, OpenSurg, which will license and promote widespread sales of Device Table and related support features.

5. OSF HealthCare experts: ‘Establish guiding principles when developing digital care strategy’: OSF OnCall was a spotlight vendor and presenter at this year’s American Telemedicine Association’s annual Nexus conference in Phoenix, Arizona. OSF OnCall Senior Vice President Jennifer Junis advised during her presentation that health systems use guiding principles when developing their approach to digital health and to involve clinicians and patients when piloting new programs and digital tools. OSF HealthCare has also become a founding member of an ATA Digital Center of Excellence.

6. Mapping the future for early diagnosis of rare diseases: A Jump ARCHES grant-funded project with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is using generative AI and knowledge graphs that map symptoms to detect rare diseases. Adam Cross, MD, who leads the OSF Children's Innovation Lab in Peoria, Illinois, wants to create a point-of-care tool for primary care providers to help patients get an early diagnosis of a rare disease.

7. Health economist: Connectivity and trust can expand telehealth: OSF OnCall hosted its first-ever digital health symposium which drew nearly 150 clinicians and vendors. Keynote speaker health economist and advisor Jane Sarasohn-Kahn stressed evidence-based digital technologies can improve health outcomes, but health systems need to build trust and expand community partnerships to increase engagements.

8. Fast-Tracking Hope: Rapid Intake at the OSF Cancer Institute: OSF HealthCare began 2024 with the opening of its new comprehensive Cancer Institute, offering advanced radiation therapy such as brachytherapy and proton beam therapy.  It also launched a new rapid intake system, developed by OSF OnCall and OSF Innovation to offer a single point of contact through OSF-HOPE (844- 673-4467) so cancer patients can be immediately connected to treatment and support services.

9. Piloting a smarter colonoscopy: OSF HealthCare St. Joseph Medical Center piloted artificial intelligence-backed colonoscopies, using a company called GI Genius, to improve detection of precancerous polyps. During the pilot, the adenoma detection rate (ADR) averages increased among all patients involved to as high as 12%, while individual physician ADR increased as high as 32.8%. The technology is now being implemented across the OSF Ministry.

10. Testing the path to better concussion diagnosis: An OSF Innovation lab-designed FlightPath app is now being tested by athletes at Illinois State, Bradley and Illinois Wesleyan Universities. The app only takes about two minutes to collect more than a million data points as a person tries to catch a hummingbird within a 3D space on a screen. The clinical trial could last two years. 

Taylor De Boer knows how quickly life can take a drastic turn.

A rising star in the volleyball world,  De Boer was gearing up to play at the University of Illinois in 2023, after serving as captain for Team Canada’s U19 team in 2022.

But Taylor started having health problems in May 2023. First, she experienced sinus, ear and eye infections. After getting her wisdom teeth removed, they got infected. She went on antibiotics, but Taylor wasn’t getting any better. Something was clearly wrong.

After her medical team ordered several tests, Taylor, who was 17 at the time, was sent to OSF Children’s Hospital of Illinois in Peoria. There, it was discovered she had Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody (ANCA) Vasculitis. ANCA is a rare autoimmune disease that can attack many systems, like the lungs, kidneys, joints and sinuses, all at the same time.

"We were very scared and worried,” says Lisa De Boer, Taylor’s mom. “It was a really difficult time because it's a very challenging diagnosis.”

After a week of treatment at the OSF Children’s Hospital, Taylor was allowed to go home with her family. Unfortunately, the symptoms persisted, and she was hospitalized again.

"When I first got out of the hospital, I was having sinus issues and joint pain in my legs, struggling to walk in the beginning,” Taylor says. “In my lungs, I had gotten pneumonia at the time and my kidneys were slowly affected. I started getting plasma transfusions.” Her kidney function decreased to 30%. She was admitted to the Critical Care Unit – Taylor’s road to recovery was going to last far longer than first expected.  

Taylor’s physician is Kelsey Grimes, DO, a third-year resident at OSF Children’s Hospital of Illinois. As a former athlete, she connected with Taylor’s desire to get back to her sport.

Dr. Grimes says it was an honor to care for Taylor. “The whole time she was very positive and did exactly what we recommended,” she says. “A lot of times on these journeys it becomes hard. Your spirit gets down, but she had family support. Her parents were there and they're awesome!”

After spending a couple of weeks in the Critical Care Unit where Taylor received plasma infusions, her health greatly improved. Lisa, Taylor’s mother, says one of the positive turning points was frequent visits from the hospital’s therapy dogs.

“Taylor has always had dogs her whole life, and that was something that after being so isolated, it started to change her mood a little bit,” Lisa says.

In early August 2023, the medical care team decided Taylor was feeling good enough to return home. Now came another tough chapter of the journey – the recovery. While she was feeling better, Taylor was in no condition to return to volleyball full time. She returned to Champaign, Illinois, and went through extensive rehab while redshirting for the University of Illinois volleyball team.

"The different organs that were impacted because of this illness, you have to give them time to recover with that. That is sometimes hard to tell. Everyone recovers differently. You have specific medications you have to stay on to prevent infections. That can be a prolonged thing," Dr. Grimes says. “Then you have the deconditioning that happens because of prolonged admission. She's not doing the same exercise that she was doing prior, so you have to work your way back up from a physical and muscular standpoint.”

Taylor agrees. Looking back at her recovery, she says it wasn’t easy at all.

"Your body needs time to learn how to move again. I basically had to learn how to play volleyball again, which was a little ugly in the beginning," says Taylor, laughing. “I'm at a point where I have a jump count I have to hit, to keep elevating the number of times I jump so I'm more comfortable in every practice setting. I'm working out with the team full time, practicing full time and am back in the swing of things which is nice.”

Dr. Grimes teamed up with Taylor’s coaching and training staff to ensure the recovery plan was at the right speed, and not going too fast.

Taylor has a new outlook on life. She wants to use her story to help others.

"I just want to be an advocate for those who feel like they can't do that anymore or struggle to find their passion for it because they think they're not allowed to do it,” she says.

And she’s doing just that. She now works with the Uplifting Athletes organization, giving encouragement to other athletes suffering from rare autoimmune diseases.

She returned to full training with the U of I team this year and is gearing up for the fall season now.  

Her mom’s advice for loved ones going through similar situations is to be in the moment and lean on your support systems.

"I remember days where there were lots of tears, and days where she was overwhelmed. She talks about it a lot now, but trying not to be too toxically positive, knowing that it was a bad day. Letting the bad days be the bad days," Lisa says. “That was hard as a parent because you want to take away some of the anxiety and stress and make things better, but you can't always do that. It was a matter of sitting with her in her tough days and being present.”

Taylor and Lisa agree that the care team at OSF HealthCare was top notch, supporting her and her family the entire journey.

"Every nurse and doctor took their time, was really patient with me and understood that I didn't really know what was going on,” Taylor says. “It was also a new setting because I was a 17-year-old kid, and everyone else on my floor was little babies. So, it was definitely a different experience, but everyone treated me really well and I was really lucky.”

With close monitoring, Taylor is ready for the upcoming season, and she hopes to return to Team Canada soon as well.

“We now celebrate the normal,” Lisa says.

To follow Taylor’s sports journey, the 2024 University of Illinois volleyball season can be found here.

Video Interview Clips

Taylor De Boer B-Roll

The Mason family includes multiple generations of doctors and has been involved in philanthropy and community service in Danville and across Illinois. In 2004, the healing garden in front of OSF Sacred Heart (then called Provena United Samaritans Medical Center) was named in Mason Jr.’s honor.

Mason Jr.’s children recently toured OSF Sacred Heart to see quality patient care firsthand. The hospital’s family birthing center reopened in September to meet a critical need in the Vermilion County area.

“Every patient care area in the hospital is on our list to upgrade so our guests have a comfortable experience,” said Ned Hill, president of OSF Sacred Heart. “This contribution from the Mason family will go a long way toward that goal in our birthing center, a busy area of the hospital where our caregivers help mothers during their life-changing experience. We’re grateful for the Mason family’s commitment to OSF Sacred Heart and to Danville.”

Families interested in a tour of the family birthing center at OSF Sacred Heart can call (217) 443-5214. Those interested in supporting OSF Sacred Heart’s mission of serving with the greatest care and love can learn more here.

Interview clips

B-roll

The Illinois Science & Technology Coalition (ISTC) released a new report showing university campuses in Illinois founded 694 startups over the past five years, contributing 2,093 new jobs to the state. The unique data was released at Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center in Peoria, Illinois through ISTC’s Illinois Innovation Index on University Entrepreneurship. The report focuses on new business creation in the state through university assistance and affiliation.

The Index also found that of the active university-supported startups founded over the last five years, 82% (359) remained in Illinois. John Vozenilek, MD, vice president and chief medical officer, OSF Innovation and Digital Health says the report is impressive in showing how universities, which are anchor institutions in their communities, are economic drivers.

OSF HealthCare has 15 hospitals that also serve as anchor institutions in Illinois and Michigan. To accelerate innovation, OSF partners with five higher education institutions throughout the state. Dr. Vozenilek says leveraging their expertise in emerging technologies will advance new transformative ideas for health care coming from students as well as from OSF Mission Partners (employees).

Vozenilek was the keynote speaker at the event that highlighted the Illinois Innovation Index report findings. It also brought together key university, community and state economic development leaders to discuss the findings. Vozenilek stresses that new technology, such as virtual and augmented reality, as well as the Metaverse, will allow entrepreneurs to more easily scale educational simulations and training for new innovations, including new medical devices.

According to the ISTC report, women-founded companies increased their share of the startup population, from 28% in the 2018 Index to 40% in 2023. Vozenilek finds those results especially encouraging.

“I love to see the growth of women-owned businesses so the idea there are support structures and dedicated efforts to bring more diversity to our field, I think is incredibly important. We’ll see all kinds of new businesses coming from these constituencies.” 

Foreign-born founder percentages increased from 35% in 2020’s Innovation Index to 48% this year according to the coalition. As Vozenilek sees it, that could help OSF HealthCare ensure it is tapping into global expertise.

“I was also intrigued by the state’s interest in foreign born entrepreneurs to give them visas so that some of their ideas take hold in our communities; so think about how we can really draw from the world community (experts) to address challenges here in Central Illinois.”

The Illinois Science & Technology Innovation Index also provided evidence that for every dollar spent on a university-backed startup, it resulted in $10 in follow-up venture capital funding, offering more evidence that university supported efforts are a good investment that result in turning successful ideas into promising businesses.

Video clips with Dr. John Vozenilek

The latest round of grants will fund 10 projects, leveraging OSF Innovation expertise and faculty from 16 colleges and health sciences at UIC. Grant recipients are expected to create solutions that can be deployed quickly, within four to six weeks.

The projects will examine patient experience for at-risk individuals who use the emergency department at OSF HealthCare Little Company of Mary Medical Center in south suburban Evergreen Park, explore ways to build a pipeline for allied health and first-line health care providers, develop a plant-based diet that would appeal to Black men at risk for prostate cancer and expand communication tools for exploring social needs for patients, particularly for non-English-speaking individuals and those with special needs.

Other projects will launch a pilot in homeless shelters, use an artificial intelligence (AI) -based tool to check for diabetes-related vision problems and develop AI curriculum for medical students. Another will focus on creating the best strategies to communicate the risks of cannabis consumption on women of child-bearing age before, during and after pregnancy.

“Given the massive workforce shortages across the industry, our focus is on using technology and evidence-based approaches for strategies to serve our patients most effectively and solve some of the biggest challenges that prevent individuals from achieving better health and wellness,” says 
Dr. John Vozenilek, chief medical officer for Innovation & Digital Health at OSF HealthCare. “We’re also attempting to make sure we reach all populations that deserve a holistic approach to improving their health and their experience with health care.”

TJ Augustine, vice chancellor for Innovation at UIC says, “As Chicago's only public research university, we are uniquely positioned to address a wide range of community health challenges. Having OSF HealthCare as a partner is key to implementing solutions that make an impact. We’re proud that our partnership will yield best practices that help not only UIC and OSF, but that also support community medical providers who serve diverse populations.”

Here is a complete list and description of the projects receiving CHA grants.

Highlight Project: Prenatal Cannabis Exposure: Investigating Reasons and Messaging  
With cannabis laws changing at a rapid pace, traditional media and social media are saturated with positive messages about recreational or medicinal use of cannabis, and many people think it is safe because it’s marketed as being “natural.”  Dr. William Bond of OSF HealthCare is working with co-lead Erin Berenz, PhD, of the University of Illinois at Chicago on a Community Health Advocacy (CHA) grant to investigate women’s risk perceptions of using cannabis in pregnancy.  Read more.

OSF HealthCare joined today with Bradley University to announce an expansion of the Bradley-OSF HealthCare Strategic Alliance. The new Innovation for Health (IFH) partnership is aimed at generating scholarly research that can translate into practical solutions to improve individual and community health.

Designed to create a robust, collaborative research community, the new agreement is between employees at two of Peoria’s largest and most impactful nonprofit institutions: Bradley University and OSF HealthCare. Significantly, Bradley will be the first private university to enter into a formalized research partnership with OSF HealthCare. The two anchor institutions have a shared history within the Peoria community; Lydia Moss Bradley was instrumental to the founding of both organizations.

The IFH partnership will connect faculty scholars from Bradley’s five colleges with clinical researchers through OSF Innovation Labs and other OSF HealthCare providers to address health care challenges within and beyond the greater Peoria area. OSF Innovation is an arm of OSF HealthCare, comprised of designers, engineers, data scientists, performance improvement specialists and other experts who work tirelessly to find the best ideas that will bring the greatest value to patients and communities. The formalized relationship will leverage Bradley’s expertise in the health and natural sciences. It will also create opportunities for Bradley University faculty in business, engineering, education, computer science, interactive media, communications, the humanities, the social sciences, and other areas to contribute to solutions-based research focused on the social determinants of health (factors influencing health outside of a medical setting), rural health, and dimensions of cancer treatment and prevention.

Financial support

The OSF-Bradley agreement commits $1 million for each of the next five years to provide annual funding opportunities in the fall and spring for innovative, interdisciplinary projects addressing important health care challenges. The first request for proposals with awards up to $50,000 will be announced soon.

“We believe expanding academic collaborations can assist OSF HealthCare with breakthrough innovations, including new medical devices, digital solutions, improved work processes and new service models,” said CEO of OSF HealthCare Bob Sehring. “Bradley University is a natural partner because of its proximity to our headquarters, but more importantly, because we can tap into the expertise and ideas incubated and accelerated through Bradley’s Turner School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation as well as the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center, also housed at the university.”

“For OSF HealthCare, the expanded partnership will support the needs of researchers, medical educators, clinicians and most importantly, patients,” added John Vozenilek, MD, vice president and chief medical officer, OSF Innovation and Digital Health. “We’ll now have additional resources and a formal process to focus strategically on ideas and novel approaches to impact medical education and simulation, prevention and treatment significantly. Additionally, we’re excited about the prospects of developing digital health solutions and novel approaches to improve access to quality patient care and to reduce health care costs, which is vitally important, particularly for our most vulnerable populations.”

The newly signed agreement comes as Bradley University celebrates 125 years of giving students practical skills to contribute to the modern world as founder Lydia Moss Bradley desired. Given Bradley’s strong commitment to experiential learning, the partnership will also allow faculty to engage their talented students in impactful applied research. Conceivably, students could participate in projects that encompass a variety of disciplines, such as nursing, data security, game design and development, health literacy, psychology, social work and biomedical engineering.

Bradley University President Stephen Standifird, PhD, said expanded collaboration supports the Bradley mission and strategic plan. It also should improve the pipeline and recruitment of future employees for both institutions.

“We want to foster innovation and creativity through collaboration and build powerful alliances that can help each organization,” said Standifird. “Bradley’s faculty represent curious, industrious and socially conscious individuals who have an entrepreneurial mind-set. Together, we can explore solutions to some pressing needs in health care. In addition, our strategic plan embraces the contributions of each of our colleges and units. They can facilitate learning experiences for our students that will benefit the broader Bradley community while advancing thought-provoking, practical, and interdisciplinary scholarship.”

Blazing  a Trail

A Trailblazer Challenge will be the first effort under the Innovation for Health or “IFH” umbrella, crowdsourcing ideas for later development, while serving as a catalyst for building a connection between Bradley faculty, OSF clinicians and members of the innovation team.

Christopher Jones, PhD, vice president for strategy and innovation at Bradley University, said faculty are poised to make significant contribution to solutions that’ll make a difference, not only for health care in Peoria, but for health systems throughout the country and beyond.

“Peoria has been at the epicenter of some amazing developments such as mass production of life-saving penicillin,” said Jones. “This collaborative work could also serve as an economic engine, potentially generating intellectual property the two institutions can share, as well as new opportunities that align with the goals of Peoria BioMade, Distillery Labs, Peoria Next and other entities advancing discovery, innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth in the region.”

The agreement provides opportunities for Bradley alumni and other community stakeholders to contribute financially or offer their talents for research, pilots and prototypes that ultimately could attract additional resources through local, state and federal grant dollars.

As a testimony of their visionary philanthropy and as a reflection of their ongoing commitment to innovative health care, Kevin and Lisa Schoeplein and OSF HealthCare Foundation have worked together to create the Kevin and Lisa Schoeplein Innovation Endowment. This will help fund collaborative work with Bradley University, including the best projects emerging from Trailblazer Challenges.

Bradley University affiliate faculty member and director of the OSF Innovation Design Lab, Scott Barrows, is excited about having a reliable source of funding to spur ongoing collaborative research.

“We have seen the importance of health literacy during the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to expand options to reach those who can be easily influenced by disinformation and misinformation,” stressed Barrows. “This agreement will accelerate and expand our capabilities to advance community health education, and to develop and test solutions that improve health outcomes in Greater Peoria and Central Illinois.”

The Innovation for Health partnership is built upon successful models. Since 2014, OSF has partnered with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria (UICOMP) to fund 124 research projects with grants totaling $8.3 million. Those Jump ARCHES efforts are aimed at improving patient outcomes and reducing health care costs. In 2021, OSF formalized a research partnership and made a significant financial commitment with the University of Illinois Chicago through the Community Health Advocacy (CHA) grant program to address health and wellness challenges in urban communities.

Video clips with Bob Sehring, Steve Standifird, Chris Jones and Dr. John Vozenilek

Signing B-roll

Shield CU, a partnership between OSF HealthCare and the University of Illinois, is highlighting its efforts to keep east central Illinois safe from COVID-19 through the quick and free administering of tens of thousands of saliva tests.

The university developed the saliva COVID test before the start of the fall 2020 semester. The COVID-19 resources OSF HealthCare also offered to the community proved to be a good match, and the Shield CU partnership was unveiled in March of 2021. As of June 12, Shield CU has conducted 77,703 tests. OSF HealthCare Mission Partners (employees) staffed the community testing sites each day. Nursing students from the U of I and Parkland College also assisted at the sites while obtaining clinical hours. OSF HealthCare was proud to partner with these local stakeholders to serve the community and slow the spread of the virus.

Aside from the general public, multiple school districts and employers used the Shield CU tests. Testers used a smartphone app to track results.

"MTD was grateful to partner with OSF and the U of I to bring a testing site to our employees,” said Karl Gnadt, managing director of the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District. “We were even able to open the testing to employees' household members. OSF Mission Partners made our site easy to manage, and we never had to ask twice for anything."

“The partnership between the University of Illinois and OSF HealthCare has helped to meet the needs of COVID-19 testing for our community members during the pandemic,” said Wanda E. Ward, University of Illinois executive associate chancellor for public engagement. “Our collaborative work has been guided by the university’s land-grant mission of education, scholarship, service and engagement. It is essential we continue to serve as an anchor for the community working toward enhancing overall health. ” 

“In the past couple of years, COVID-19 has put the world and our community to the test,” said Cristina Romero, supervisor of OSF digitally-enabled Community Health Workers. “Even though COVID kept us socially distanced, it has been heartwarming to see our community coming together to find ways to keep everyone safe and to combat the effects of COVID-19 through this program. We are honored that members of the community trusted us to provide them with the greatest care and love throughout this pandemic.”

As previously announced, Shield CU testing sites have closed at the end of June to correspond with the end of state funding. Residents are advised to check with their local public health department or primary care provider for COVID-19 testing options. The federal government also continues to offer free at-home tests. The latest COVID-19 information from OSF HealthCare can be found online.

B-Roll

The prize? Not a restaurant gift card or a commemorative photo. Rather, the trio unlocks defibrillator pads to use on the “patient” – a manikin appropriately named Anita Shock.

No, this isn’t your traditional escape room.

The effort – technical name “gamification of simulated environments” – is part of advanced cardiac life support training for OSF HealthCare Mission Partners (employees). The innovative approach is the brainchild of OSF HealthCare clinical educator Ashley Bruens. She spent a week creating the scenario, crafting each puzzle in great detail.

“They would use their knowledge about [heart] rhythm to solve one puzzle. They would use information about medications and what indications they're needed for, for one puzzle,” Bruens explains. “There was one about what we call H's and T's, which are reversible causes of cardiac arrests. They will look at symptoms and presentations.”

Bruens calls the escape room her passion project, and she’s not alone. She says more hospital systems and universities are seeing the benefits of taking training away from computers and books and toward hands-on, puzzle-solving activities.

“In an emergent situation, it's important to have good communication, good team-working skills, and good delegation skills with the people involved in that team so that everybody is doing something pertinent that's going to help the patient,” Bruens says.

You can count registered nurse Laura Hauersperger among the supporters of those concepts. She was in the group of three who took part in Bruens’ game.

“It was a way to add in a fun learning element in a real-life situation that we deal with,” Hauersperger says.

“You’re kind of getting that hands-on learning, and so many people learn much better by hands-on learning,” Hauersperger adds. “And you have that knowledge base of ‘I've done this before. I can do it in this current situation. And I feel more comfortable and confident with it.’ And I think that's an ideal way to train medical professionals.”

At OSF, innovation is encouraged to make care better and easier for patients and providers. That includes coming up with agile solutions designed to meet every day needs, including developing simulations, such as what Bruens devised, to improve retention of life-saving skills.

Bruens says she’ll continue to think outside the box for training. More escape rooms and even tasks incorporating virtual reality could become common across OSF HealthCare.

And as for the “patient” Anita, she received her life-saving shock from defibrillators with four minutes to go on the escape room timer.