By K. Richard Douglas
As the nation’s top producer of cheese and milk, Wisconsin rightly owns the moniker “The Dairy State” and has capitalized upon that fact for years. While the term “cheesehead” is commonly known, the historical fact that the ice cream sundae was born in the state is less well known.
A major healthcare provider, with headquarters that span Wisconsin from east to west, is Emplify Health.
With 729 licensed beds, Emplify Health is a major provider of healthcare services. The medical device inventory of such a large provider requires an equally robust HTM department.
Headed by Enterprise Director Melissa Wilke, CBET, BSHA, ITDS, the Emplify Health Biomedical and HTM Department has a total of 43 team members. There are three supervisors. Supervisors Josh Bachim and Darren Budde are positioned in La Crosse. Supervisor Jessica Paul is positioned in Green Bay. Jason Young is the enterprise manager.
“Emplify Health is a not-for-profit, patient-centered, community-focused healthcare network with headquarters in Green Bay and La Crosse, Wisconsin. Formed by a merger between Bellin Health and Gundersen Health System, Emplify Health has nearly 16,000 employees, including more than 1,400 clinicians, in 11 hospitals and more than 100 clinic locations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Upper Michigan and Iowa,” Wilke says.
She says that with community partners, Emplify Health strives to lead – with love – a local, regional and national healthcare transformation to inspire people’s best lives at every stage.
“Biomed team members are assigned to specific departments, equipment or applications. OEM training is provided for team members to adequately and efficiently support both equipment and departments. Some areas of specialty support include linear accelerators, dialysis, nuclear medicine, anesthesia, NICU, respiratory therapy and mammography. Additionally, Emplify Health Biomed has several technicians that support rural critical access hospitals. This makes each of them especially unique as their strength is adaptability and flexibility to support a multitude of departments and equipment,” Wilke says.
She says that the biomed department has been working for the past several years to align service contracts under the biomed accounting unit. This ownership of service contracts brings responsibility and opportunity. The advantage of centralizing contract ownership is the ability to create a standard workflow.
“It is crucial to involve team members as it leverages their expertise in service and support of equipment to identify the actual needs without any fluff,” Wilke says.
The convergence of HTM and IT integration operations happen under the CIO.
“As new equipment is evaluated and inventoried, collaboration with IT ensures that all devices meet rigorous security standards and are seamlessly integrated into the existing network infrastructure,” Wilke says.
Right: First-rate HTM professionals in Green Bay are (backrow, left to right) Tom Pietrzak, Alex Cormia, Jake Larson, Matt Denis, Jason Zimmerman, Simon Nammychai, (front row) Jim Shelby, Supervisor Jessica Paul, Matt Peper, Txue Xiong and Tony Gronseth.
SUPPORTING THE TINIEST PATIENTS
New construction and facility update projects can often mean additional challenges for biomed departments. Extra care is demanded to provide quality healthcare to the tiniest of patients.
“One of the most transformative projects the team has supported is the development of the Emplify Health Family Integrated Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Green Bay, Wisconsin, which opened in 2022. This unit introduced ‘couplet care,’ which is a model that allows mothers and their newborns, who require intensive care, to stay together in the same room. Emplify Health is the first hospital in Wisconsin to offer this approach,” Paul says.
She says that from the beginning, the biomed team was deeply involved in the planning and implementation of this innovative care model. The team ensured that each room could safely support maternal and neonatal intensive care needs, integrating advanced monitoring systems, neonatal ventilators, maternal care equipment and secure data connectivity – all within a single, family-centered space.
“Currently, the team is proud to be supporting the next phase of this journey: transitioning from a Level II to a Level III NICU designation. This upgrade involves expanding clinical capabilities, increasing equipment complexity, and ensuring readiness for higher-acuity neonatal cases. Biomed is actively working on equipment evaluations and compliance with regulatory standards to meet the rigorous requirements of Level III care,” Paul adds.
She says that this transition has also created exciting opportunities for professional growth. The biomed team has been training in a range of new technologies, including the Giraffe Shuttle, which allows seamless transitions between rooms without interrupting patient care. The team is also preparing for neonatal transport with integrated systems – including an incubator, gas blender, ventilator, suction and vitals monitor – and scheduling training on new oscillators to support advanced respiratory care.
“It’s been a rewarding experience for biomed, knowing that their work directly contributes to seamless, high-quality care during a vulnerable time for families. This project exemplifies how biomed professionals not only support clinical excellence but also help create environments where healing and connection can thrive,” Paul says.
The HTM team has also demonstrated its problem-solving skills in conjunction with its IT colleagues and a vendor.
“When one of the hemodynamic monitoring systems began crashing, it became an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ situation between biomed, IT and the vendor. Biomed provided in-room support, initially assisting the cath lab team in navigating the errors and completing the current case. We then began troubleshooting the problem and calling in other IT teams,” Bachim says.
He says that it became apparent that a network security issue was corrupting the system and ultimately required the hard drive to be replaced.
“Biomed worked with the vendor to get a replacement hard drive shipped overnight. After installation, biomed partnered with the IT network security team to ensure the system was correctly assigned to the appropriate organizational unit (OU) and configured with the correct security permissions,” Bachim adds.
He says that after sitting through several days of patient cases actively monitoring the system, the team was confident the issue was resolved.
Away from the work setting, team members remain active in the HTM community.
“The Emplify Health Biomed and HTM Department is an active participant in the Wisconsin Biomedical Association (WBA). There are several team members who currently serve on the WBA Board of Directors. This includes Darren Budde and Ladd Dafoe. I serve as the treasurer. Outside of attending annual WBA conferences held across the state of Wisconsin, attending HTM Mixers in Milwaukee have been highlighted events. The team always enjoys these incredible events in their own backyard,” Wilke says.
In The Dairy State, the HTM professionals at Emplify Health are making a difference in the lives of patients and supporting clinical colleagues.
