Community

Jack Boerger, son of James and Maren Boerger, is the September Optimist Sauk Prairie High School Student of the Month. Jack has participated in the National Honor Society, serving as vice president, Future Business Leaders of America, going to state in economics the past two years and in the summer research project studying monarchs. He also has excelled in cross country and track, going to state numerous times and leading the boys cross country team to a conference title. Sauk Prairie High School Cross County Coach Sherman states, “I am simply impressed with him as a competitor. He knows exactly what he has to do during his races. It’s almost as if a switch gets flipped in his head and he becomes a different person. He has great confidence in his own abilities, and he uses that to his advantage. He is one of the more impressive male athletes I have had the pleasure of working with.” Jack Boerger was honored as the September SP Optimist SPHS Student of the Month on September 7 at the Jaybird Cafe’ and Spirits. Left to right are: Sauk Prairie High School Assistant Principal Shane Been; Maren Boerger, Jack’s mother; Bart Mauch, Sauk Prairie Optimist President; Jack Boerger, September Student of the Month; James Boerger, Jack’s father.

Sauk Prairie Optimist Club President Bart Mauch, left, presented Kids Ranch Director Penny Johnson, right, with a check for $250 to support the literacy program Kids Ranch provides children. Kids Ranch connects at-risk youth, ages 6-10, with caring community members to build self-esteem and self-respect through educational and recreational programs. Kids Ranch provides free or reduced-rate early intervention and prevention programs within four Wisconsin school districts—Baraboo, Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells, and Sauk Prairie. Each year, over 160 children participate in some or all of the following Kids Ranch programs: Literacy Program (September-May), Mental Wellness Program (Year-round), and Summer Day Camp Program (June-August). For more information go to www.thekidsranch.org.

On August 31, the Sauk Prairie Optimist guest speaker was Rich Bonjour of Sauk Prairie Healthcare, who explained EHR, or Electronic Health Records. Sauk Prairie Healthcare recently studied EHR companies and selected a finalist for a new EHR system. EHRs track all data on patients such as registration, schedules and discharges, documents, labs, orders—basically all patient information. Other parts of EHRs include billing, medical coding, general ledger and more. When the process of HER selection began, Sauk Prairie Healthcare was currently using three EHRs which didn’t work well together, were disjointed, and old. Challenges to selection were a minimum of a 10-year commitment, how the change could affect staff, the (sometimes strong) opinions of staff, a lot of misinformation, and expense, where a mistake in selection could be very costly. The three main players in the selection were Meditech, Cerner, and Epic. The EHR Vendor Evaluation Project by Sauk Prairie Healthcare had 45-50 participants and 10-15 providers. Meditech was the EHR company selected to be the new EHR. Epic was ruled out based on several opinions, like small hospitals losing the ability to focus on things that are most important to them, and small hospitals face the threat of take-over as Epic works primarily with large hospitals who have little incentive to take on smaller hospitals. How will the new EHR improve patient care? There will be a single EHR throughout the Sauk Prairie Healthcare organization, a better communication ability with care partners, the ease of adding new services, evidence-based decision making, increased user satisfaction, and enhance Patient Portal functionality, The new system will go live on November 1, 2022. Rich Bonjour of Sauk Prairie Healthcare, left, and Bart Mauch, SP Optimist President, right, after Bonjour’s presentation to the Club at their noon meeting August 31 at Jaybird Cafe’ and Spirits.

Join River Arts on Saturday, October 1st at 7 p.m. at the Sauk Prairie River Arts Center (105-9th Street, Prairie du Sac, WI) to see classic country artist Mo Pitney live! Mo Pitney took the country music industry by storm with the release of his single, “Country” in 2014. Since then, he’s released two albums “Behind this Guitar” and “Ain’t Lookin’ Back,” which reached Billboard’s Top Ten Country Albums chart the first week of its release. A regular guest on “Country’s Family Reunion” and recently an opening act for Josh Turner and Diamond Rio, Mo exudes classic country at its finest. Tickets are $35/adults and $15/students and can be purchased online: www.RiverArtsInc.org/mo-pitney, in person at River Arts on Water (590 Water Street, Prairie du Sac), over the phone at 608-643-5215, or at the door the day of the show. Mo Pitney is sponsored by Consumer’s Coop.

The Donor Advisory Board of the Ochsner Family Fund voted to award $500 grants to three local charities at its annual meeting August 24. Siblings Carl and Judy Ochsner of California presented $500 grant checks Friday, August 26, to the Sauk County Historical Society and the Aldo Leopold Foundation. A third $500 grant was awarded to the Sauk Prairie Area Historical Society/Tripp Heritage Museum. The Ochsners emigrated from Switzerland to Wisconsin in the mid-nineteenth century. They prospered and rose to prominence in Sauk County, where one of the original family farms is still in operation near Plain. The Ochsners donated the land that is now the Ochsner Park and Zoo in Baraboo and they were involved in building Park Hall in Sauk City. Although many of the family have moved out of the area, several descendants return each summer to visit and provide financial support to area nonprofits through the Ochsner Family Fund, a component fund of the Community Foundation of South Central Wisconsin. The Ochsner Family Fund was established in 2008 and receives support from Ochsner family members all over the world. The Community Foundation of South Central Wisconsin is a nonprofit public charity whose mission is to encourage charitable giving, matching local gifts to local needs. Governed by a volunteer board of community leaders, the Foundation is based in Baraboo and serves Adams, Columbia, Iowa, Juneau, Richland, Sauk, and Vernon counties. The Foundation has distributed $10 million in charitable grants since its founding in 1998. Donations to support the Foundation’s work may be sent to the Community Foundation of South Central Wisconsin, PO Box 544, Baraboo, WI 53913. For more information, call (608)355-0884 or email director@cfscw.org.