It’s safe to say that most of us are creatures of habit. We wake up at the same time. Eat the same breakfast. Drive the same way to work. Partake in the same activities. Yet, it’s hard to introduce new habits into our routine. And even though we’ve all heard the magic ‘21 day’ approach, we still fail to implement new, healthy habits into our lifestyle.
Research shows that many of us who try to create healthy habits go about it the wrong way. We shoot for the stars when we only need to shoot for the moon. For example, we’ll decide to exercise more and sign up for a gym membership without a second thought. Suddenly, two months have passed, and you haven’t made it to the gym since. While a go big or go home approach may work for some, many behavioral scientists agree that’s not the right way to go about it.
Our St. Cloud Surgical Center team wants to set you up for success this year with five easy steps to creating healthy habits. Follow these research-backed tips, and you’ll be well on your way to a happier you!
FIRST UP, MAKE A PLAN
When you commit to taking up a new habit, it’s essential to have a clear plan of action before you begin. Start with a long-term goal and keep it S.M.A.R.T:
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Achievable
R = Relevant
T = Timely
Habit: Eat More Leafy Greens
Habit Stack: Eat a side salad at dinner three times a week.
Before moving forward, you need to dig deep into your “why.” Why do you want to make this change? What do you want to be different about your life when you succeed? Write down your “why” and keep it close by; when you feel like stopping, pull it out and remember that you can do hard things.
HABIT STACKING
Habit Stacking is exactly what it sounds like: putting two or more habits together. We recommend choosing times of the day when routines are strongest. For most people, this is usually the morning or before bed. We know day-to-day life can get a little crazy, but there are certain times when patterns are created, making them the perfect place for a positive change.
The best way to form a new habit is to tie it in with an existing one.
Habit: Drink More Water
Habit Stack: Drink water on your morning commute instead of coffee.
BABY STEPS
Remember that go big or go home thing we mentioned earlier? That doesn’t have a place here. Many experts agree that significant changes require high motivation levels, which can be hard to sustain. Instead, you should start with a slight change that will eventually lead to something bigger.
Habit: Exercise More
Baby Step: Take a small (5 to 10-minute) walk on your lunch break.
You can transition to something bigger once you have successfully implemented these daily walks for a designated amount of time. Let’s add weights! And yes, we just created another habit stack. Work break = walk.
CONSISTENCY
Consistency is key. To make something a habit, you need to do it every day. We’ve all heard the magic ‘21 day’ fix, but the fact of the matter is, it’s not one size fits all. One study found that it can take up to 254 days, over half a year, to make a habit stick! Don’t give up.
Habit: Wake Up An Hour Earlier
Change: Your usual wake up call is 6:30 AM, set your alarm to 6:15. Once you’ve achieved that, go back another 15 minutes until you’re at the hour mark. But remember, you need to do this EVERY DAY.
CELEBRATE SUCCESS
Perhaps the most important part of habit-making is rewarding yourself. We know habits take time, but in order to not give up, you need to celebrate every win. Find the thing you love and allow yourself to experience it once you’ve hit a milestone on your habit-forming journey. Sometimes, the results of habits are not immediately apparent. Don’t give up!
HEALTHY HABITS FOR 2024
While the last three years have felt a little uneasy, we have a good feeling that 2024 is your year. Change is hard, but living an unhappy life is harder. Choose your hard. If you need help jump-starting your new healthy habit, check out this list below and get to work using the steps above.
Prioritize Sleep
Move More
Read Instead of Scroll
Get Outside
Eat Healthier
Practice Gratitude and Mindfulness
Drink More Water
Limit Alcohol Intake
Quit A Bad Habit
Find A Hobby
As we enter 2024, we are thrilled to be your local provider for same-day surgery. If you find yourself struggling with ailments from knee pain to blurry vision, the team at St. Cloud Surgical Center may be able to help. Remember to ask your doctor about having your next procedure at our center. Here’s to a happy, healthy new year!
“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” – Hal Borland
It’s hard to believe we’re at this moment again, year-end. Over the past 365 days, we have celebrated many milestones, and it’s clear 2023 was a good year for us. We celebrated many work anniversaries, grew relationships in and out of our facility, and helped nearly 10,000 patients get back to living a life they love through our services.
One of the things that we are most proud of is our ability to do good in our community. When our founder, Dr. Joseph Belshe, who passed away this year at the age of 102, envisioned the future of St. Cloud Surgical Center, he prayed for a company that paid it forward whenever possible. To continue his wishes, we support various organizations that are near and dear to our hearts through fundraising.
In 2023, St. Cloud Surgical Center teamed up with the following organizations.
Pockets of Hope (Day of Service)
We started our year of good by packing backpacks for Pockets of Hope during our Annual Day of Service. This organization in our community does incredible work helping children who are rescued from abuse, neglect, and abandonment. When children leave these situations, they are often separated from belongings that give them comfort and enter foster care with nothing. Pockets of Hope provides these children with new backpacks filled with personal care items that they need and comfort items they can call their own. Our team was able to fill backpacks for 48 special children.
Make-A-Wish Minnesota
We participated in Jersey Mike’s Subs Day of Giving for the second year in a row. This year, all sales, not just profits, from their Minnesota-based sub-shops, were donated to Make-A-Wish Minnesota. To join their mission, we catered in subs for our staff, who were also celebrating National Doctor Day, and collectively raised $357 for Make-A-Wish. In total, Jersey Mike’s was able to raise $580,844 for the foundation, and we are proud to be a small part of that.
Pack The Porches
In March, our generous team partnered with Catholic Charities to raise $1595 and 20 lbs of food for their Pack the Porches Food and Fund Drive. Did you know monetary donations allow the food shelf to purchase three times the amount of money raised?
Harvest to Holidays
The holiday season is all about giving, and we do just that at the St. Cloud Surgical Center. Our Harvest to Holidays basket fundraiser is a fan favorite. Each department puts together themed baskets, and employees bid to take them home. This year, we adopted seven families to receive the money raised from bidding. The holidays can be a challenging time for many and there is nothing sweeter than putting a smile on the faces of our adoptive families.
SCA Values Heroes Program
St. Cloud Surgical Center is partnered with SCA, a national surgical solutions provider committed to improving healthcare in America. For more than a decade, all SCA Health teammates and physician partners come together to nominate and recognize those who best represent our values through the Values Heroes program.
At St. Cloud Surgical Center, we turn this opportunity into a special celebration for our employees by honoring a select few who go above and beyond for our patients and community. This annual event allows us to recognize outstanding teammates who are committed to our seven core values and showcase the care, inclusion, and effort our patients expect and deserve. Simply put, team members who do GOOD.
Values Heroes is a nomination of peers. We ask our employees to nominate a co-worker they feel represents our organization the best. This year, six St. Cloud Surgical Center Employees from all different teams were nominated.
Ashley Bischof, RN
Cheri Korman, CST
Robine Schaap, CST
Mary Storms, Cook
Cameron Schroeder, Maintenance
Melissa Stang, BO Manager
Our Good Neighbor
To round out the year of good, we couldn’t forget to mention Our Good Neighbor, Bob. If you follow us on Facebook or Instagram (if you don’t, you should), you may have heard of Neighbor Bob. He came into our lives during the height of the pandemic when he would visit our team outside in the testing shed. With him, he would always bring his “Share A Smile with a Stranger” buttons, which he designed in honor of his wife Evie, who passed away in 2018. Bob cared for Evie during her journey through Alzheimer’s and is passionate about early detection and community support for caregivers.
This year, Bob turned 90, and we threw a big party at our facility to celebrate. His contribution to our team during the pandemic and beyond has been uplifting. We devise ways to visit with him often, and our staff enjoys hearing about his adventures. Bob has lived an enormous life filled with so much love and happiness. He’s even authored three books and has appeared in several Minnesota movies! Read more about his living legacy here.
We are all better because of Our Good Neighbor, Bob!
Happy Holidays from Us to You.
Our staff would like to thank you for supporting St. Cloud Surgical Center this year. Every blog read, every photo liked, every comment cheering on our staff, and everyone who chose our facility for their surgery, you made our year. We exist to bring good back into your life and good into our community. It is with the utmost gratitude that we continue to serve you!
As we approach the six-month mark of Dr. Joseph Belshe’s passing, we feel compelled to honor him one final time. The following story has been on our desk for over a year, and it’s too good not to share with the community he built. TIME Magazine even published an article about the heroic act back in 1957! Whenever we think of Dr. Belshe, we are reminded how fortunate we are to have been a part of his legacy..
Shocking The Heart
In January 1957, in the small Wisconsin town of St. Croix Falls (pop. 1,500 at the time), history was made when three doctors conquered a medical first. When resident William F. suffered a massive heart attack and his heart stopped beating, it was assumed he was dead upon arrival. However, no one knew that his team of doctors had other plans, our very own Dr. Joseph Belshe among them.
Given the town’s size, the St. Croix Memorial Valley Hospital was small and slightly underfunded. This meant technology was lacking, and there was no fancy defibrillator on site. When the patient arrived, Dr. Belshe made an instant decision to act. He ripped open his clothes, made an incision, and plunged his hand into the man’s chest to massage the stilled organ. After 10 to 15 minutes of massage, all the team received was a flutter – “ventricular fibrillation,” usually a sure sign of a dying heart. With no aforementioned defibrillator, the team had to get creative.
Dr. Riegel, one of the other doctors on staff that day, looked around the room and spied an extension cord. Quickly getting to work, he cut the outlet off the cord in the emergency room, stripped the insulation off the ends of the wires, and plugged the other end into the other ordinary house current. With gloves on, he touched the wires to the opposite sides of the patient’s heart. The results were not immediate. The shock failed twice. Yet, the team did not get discouraged. Dr. Riegel wrapped each wire around the base of a hypodermic needle and plunged the needles into the heart muscle. Under this heroic stimulus, William’s heart resumed its natural beat.
After a week in the hospital, William was able to go home, and he went on to live a long, healthy life into his mid-80s. All because of our founder, Dr. Joseph Belshe, and the incredible doctors on his team who devoted their lives to saving others.
In August, we published a blog on the patient experience at St. Cloud Surgical Center. In that article, we discussed everything from preparation and surgery to rehab and recovery. Of all the things we are known for, outstanding patient care is the accolade we hang our hats on. If our patients feel well taken care of from start to finish, we know we have done a good job!
Read more about one patient’s experience at the St. Cloud Surgical Center. Their last-minute surgery turned into an experience they’ll never forget.
“Recently, I had to have a last-minute foot and ankle surgery and was referred to St. Cloud Orthopedics. I met with Dr. Lindsey Hjelm on a Thursday afternoon, fully expecting to have to wait until the following week for surgery. Thanks to the quick work of Dr. Hjelm and the staff at St. Cloud Surgical Center, I was scheduled for surgery the next morning! From there on, I knew this experience was going to be different.
When the surgical center called me to start surgery prep, I could tell they felt a little rushed, given the quick turnaround. However, they handled it like the professionals that they are and did a great job preparing me for my surgery the following day. You could tell they were very sweet and professional over the phone. Truly, you could hear their high level of compassion!
When I arrived at St. Cloud Surgical Center the next morning, bright and early, might I add, the first nurse I saw helped me get around as much as I needed. Even though it was 6:30 AM, she smiled through it all and never balked at my questions. She helped keep my nerves down, that’s for sure! When it came time to place my IV, I had to advocate for myself on placement based on prior experiences earlier this year with other medical professionals. The RN who was working with me was so understanding and placed the IV higher up into my forearm as I asked. It was placed perfectly without issues. Honestly, everyone who came to help me prepare and get me confidently into surgery mode was absolutely amazing.
When it was time for surgery, and I arrived in the OR, the nurses and even my doctor were all there waiting with a smile on their faces. They helped me get comfortable and explained everything that would happen in the next hour. After that, I was quickly under anesthesia, the surgery was performed, and I woke up with my support person sitting beside me in a recovery room. The surgery was successful!
I am now three days post-surgery, and the communication hasn’t stopped. A nurse from the surgical center just called to check up on me. I know that is part of their protocol, and I am not getting special treatment, but it made me feel so valued as a patient. The nurse was extremely friendly and genuinely cared about my pain levels and recovery.
With how rushed this surgery was, I’ll admit I was a little anxious, even though I have had many surgeries in my lifetime. The staff at St. Cloud Surgical Center made it a fantastic experience for me, and I can’t thank them enough. Their quick response to my needs, fast scheduling, and top-notch care make them easy to recommend.”
If you need surgery and are interested in experiencing the difference between an outpatient surgery center, like St. Cloud Surgical Center, contact us today. We can set you up with a surgeon and a care plan.
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