DON and ADON

The Saratoga Care Center and the Platte Valley Clinic have recently welcomed several new staff members. The Saratoga Sun would like to introduce these caregivers to the community. The Saratoga Sun plans to introduce these new people over the coming weeks and will begin this week with the new Director of Nursing and Assistant Director of Nursing at the Saratoga Care Center.

Sandy Mink RN,

Director of Nursing

Sandy Mink is originally from Denver. She joined the U. S. Navy and retired as an Aviation Electronics Technician, a position she held for 29 years. Sandy came to Rawlins after her retirement with her family.

Mink wanted to further her education toward a Bachelor of Science degree, then became familiar with the Carbon County Higher Education Center and found that they had a nursing program through Western Wyoming Community College.

Mink graduated the program and received her degree in Nursing and also a Associates of Applied Science in Electronics. Sandy began her nursing career at Rawlins Family Medical Center.

Mink continued serving the community by working at another clinic, the nursing home in Rawlins, the Wyoming State Penitentiary and the Casper Re-Entry Center before applying for the opening at the Saratoga Care Center.

Mink stated, "I love the staff, I love working here and everyone here seems to be working very well with one another. I like that environment–good cohesion here."

When asked if things were moving in the right direction she replied, "Absolutely. There has been so much bad publicity on what this facility has been through and when it was run by the previous company. There has been nothing but positives since Health Management Services took over." When asked about the patient's happiness she replied, "They seem very, very happy. When this place was having problems before and they had to basically shut down this facility, I was at the nursing home in Rawlins. We were absorbing some of the patients that were moved from this facility. That was a horrible incident". She then added, "I am glad to see we are getting this one back on good steady ground again."

Stephany Ponish, RN

Assistant Director

of Nursing

Stephany Ponish was first introduced to nursing while serving in the United States Navy as a hospital Corpsman. During her military career she had opportunities to work with the United States Marine Corp and travel abroad.

Upon being honorably discharged after seven years of active duty service, Ponish moved to Laramie where she had two children. After having her children, she moved to West Virginia where she gained a bachelor's degree in nursing in 2007.

Ponish then worked at long term care and assisted living facilities in West Virginia and Virginia.

Today her son, Tristan, is a senior at Saratoga Middle/High school and her daughter, Courtney, is studying at the Naval Academy.

Currently an RN, Ponish recently moved to Saratoga to be closer to her parents.

Within two days of being in Saratoga, Ponish had been hired to work at Saratoga Care Center.

Asked what she saw in the community Ponish replied, "The community as a whole-there is a huge opportunity for the growth of healthcare services. It's been positive, me coming here. I've been welcomed by everybody."

After the formal interviews, Mink and Ponish noted that there is currently a high percentage of prior military working at the care center. This being the case, they agreed that the attitude was "get it done" and that there was an ease of communication between staff members.

People to come

The Saratoga Sun will let the new Medical Director, Emma Bjore, at the Saratoga Care Center get settled in before we bother her, but there are several other new faces at both the Saratoga Care Center and Platte Valley Clinic. The Saratoga Sun will try to introduce them to the Valley in the coming weeks.