Aurora Health Care Inc.

Jane Root, RN, is currently the Chief Nurse Executive and Director of Patient Care Services at Aurora BayCare Medical Center. Ms. Root is a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives. She serves locally as a non-voting member of the Brown County Emergency Medical Services Council and as an Advisory Committee member for the UWGB Professional Program in Nursing. A native of Ripon, Wisconsin, Ms. Root has brought 10 years of experience in healthcare management with her from pervious positions held at Marshfield Clinic and Howard Young Medical Center. A graduate of Rush University, Ms. Root is currently completing an Academy fellowship program through the Health Care Advisory Board, as well as a graduate degree from Silver Lake College.

Gwen Baumel is currently the Vice President of Human Resources for the North Region of Aurora Health Care. Ms. Baumel is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay and Silver Lake College. Ms. Baumel began with Aurora Health Care in 1996 at Aurora Medical Center in Manitowoc County and has 18 years experience in Human Resources in the health care setting.

Judy Murphy, a nurse, is Director of Application Development at Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is responsible for the systems that support all clinical areas and leads Aurora's EHR (Electronic Health Record) implementation. She has been in systems work for 21 years, involving extensive system implementation experience with both custom program development and purchased vendor products, and is currently responsible for 120 analyst and programming staff. Judy has published and lectured nationally and internationally on the use of computers in healthcare, project management methodology, and clinical documentation systems.

Tom Ginter is currently the Director of Support Services for Aurora BayCare Medical Center. Mr. Ginter graduated from Silver Lake College, Manitowoc. He has 10 years of experience as a Clinical Engineering Technician with an additional 10 years in Support Services Management. Tom is a native of Green Bay and a graduate of Green Bay West High School.

Dr. Parekh, a board certified pulmonologist and critical care provider, brings more than 10 years of managed care experience in his role as Assistant Medical Director. As Assistant Medical Director, Dr. Parekh is instrumental in developing and implementing IPN's clinical, quality and utilization management programs. Dr. Parekh currently practices as part of a specialty group, Pulmonary/Critical Care Associates in Cudahy, Wisconsin. He also practices as an eICU Critical Care Physician for Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Dr. Parekh received his undergraduate degree from the Elphinston College, University of Bombay. He received his medical degree from the Seth G.S. Medical College, University of Bombay. In addition, Dr. Parekh has completed a Master's degree in Health Administration at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Candice Giesen, a mother of three sons, is active in community development in Manitowoc County where she serves on the development committee for the St. Francis School System, as a section co-chair for the international food festival, as a volunteer for the Red Cross and on the Branch House Events Committee. She and her husband are co-owners of Village Inn on the Lake, and she is employed as an event planner with Aurora Health Care in Manitowoc.

Elizabeth Gridley is Vice President of Life Protection Arts & Sciences. She is a professionally trained presenter and co-founder of "Life Protection Skills for Women by Women". She continues to study and holds rank in three styles of reality based self defense systems of martial arts: Combat Hapkido first degree blackbelt (the science of self defense), Ryukyu Kempo Tode-Jitsu, an Okinawan pressure point combat art and Kavanah, an Israeli dynamic self defense system. She is a certified Taiji Qigong: Six forms for health instructor. She has also studied or received specialized training in: Russian Systema, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, defensive knife tactics, ground survival skills, and other weapons such as stick, cane and gun. Liz works in the compensation department for Aurora Health Care and holds an undergraduate degree in Business, specifically Human Resource Management with honors. As a woman, she has had to use her skills in the real world. Through her experiences, she strongly believes in empowering others to grow personally and professionally. She has a passion to share the continual and ongoing benefits from the life skills she has learned through her self protection training.

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John Bruce has nearly forty years of safety and security experience in a number of areas including manufacturing, office buildings and construction, but most of those years were spent in healthcare. He also operated a safety consulting business for a number of years. He is currently the Corporate Safety Officer for Aurora Health Care, the largest healthcare system in Wisconsin. John is a co-founder and past president of the Wisconsin HealthCare Safety Council. WHSC recently celebrated its fifth anniversary and has a membership of about 100 health care safety professionals from Wisconsin, Illinois and the Upper Peninsula. John serves on a County Emergency Preparedness Committee and has served on various State Expert Panels for Physician Offices and Clinics relative to Emergency Preparedness. He has also been a regular contributor to SafetyXChange since its beginning.

Linda M. Smith, FACHE, is presently the Administrator of Aurora BayCare Medical Center, a 132 bed acute care tertiary hospital in Green Bay Wisconsin. She is also the Executive Vice President for the North Region of Aurora Health Care covering seven counties from the Michigan border to Manitowoc. Ms. Smith is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and a member of the Packerland Hospital Association. She is a member of the American Hospital Association's Regional Policy Board. Prior to her present position, Ms. Smith was the Deputy Executive Director of Women's and Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University, she has been in hospital management for 18 years.

Dr. Lindo-Drusch was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She graduated from Barat College in Lake Forest, Illinois with double degree in chemistry and psychology. In June 1980 she received her MD from St. Louis University School of Medicine. She completed her Family Practice residency in Dayton, Ohio at St. Elizabeth Medical Center and passed the Family Practice board examinations. During medical school she had been awarded a Health Professions scholarship through the United States Air Force and after finishing her residency, served at Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, Michigan, attaining the rank of Major before her honorable discharge in 1986. After joining Nicolet Clinic in Menasha she became involved with hospice and volunteered her services to the Neenah/Menasha VNA Hospice program. When LaSalle Clinic was formed in 1989 her office was moved to Lincoln Street, where she remained until leaving Affinity Medical Group in September 2000. From then until June 2002 she was required to work out of the area because of a restrictive covenant. During those years she was an Emergency physician at St. Mary Hospital in Kewaunee until it closed in June 2001. For the last year she has been working for Aurora Health Care in De Pere, Wisconsin. She became board certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine in 1998 and is presently one of the Medical Directors of ThedaCare-at-Home Hospice, which includes Cherry Meadows Hospice at Peabody Manor. Dr. Lindo-Drusch has been married to Joseph H. Drusch for over twenty-five years and they have four children - Monica, Greg, Daniel, and Madeleine. She enjoys singing and playing her flute in the folk choir at St. Mary Parish in Appleton, attending her childrens' sporting events, and watching old movies on TV. The doctor enjoys doing "womb to tomb" medicine, that is, caring for the entire spectrum of life from prenatal care and birth, through childhood, adolescence, young adulthood and childbearing years, into mature adulthood and finally, old age and death. She feels privileged to accompany her patients through the important and difficult parts of their lives, hoping to provide counsel and help throughout whatever happens.

Joanne Disch, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., of Minneapolis, MN, recently was elected Vice President - Board Governance/Board Chair and in that capacity chairs the Board meetings and the Board Governance Committee. She also chairs the Governance Review Committee and the CEO Evaluation Committee. Dr. Disch previously chaired the Board Audit and Finance Committee as well as the National Nominating Committee and the Board Nominating Committee. She has been a member of the CEO Evaluation committee for four years. Currently, Dr. Disch is professor and director of the Katharine J. Densford International Center for Nursing Leadership, and holds the Katherine R. and C. Walton Lillehei Chair in Nursing Leadership at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing. She has been an administrator in a number of health care facilities and has past experience as an educator, leader, researcher, policy maker, and spokesperson. She has served as a member and chair of numerous committees including executive, strategic planning, audit and finance, and public affairs. In a volunteer capacity, Dr. Disch was president of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), a 65,000-member nursing specialty organization, and president of the AACN Certification Board. She also chaired the American Nurses Association's Committee on Nursing Practice Standards and Guidelines, and the University Healthcare Consortium's Council of Chief Nurse Executives. Currently she serves on several editorial boards, and is a member of the Boards of Directors for the American Academy of Nursing and Allina Health System. Dr. Disch has received numerous awards including the Dorothy Garrigus Adams Award for Excellence in Fostering Professional Standards from Sigma Theta Tau International, and Outstanding Alumna Awards from the University of Wisconsin School of Nursing and the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.