Van driver seeks common ground with all his passengers

It’s not even 7 a.m. yet, but Nick Bartholomew is already on his second cup of coffee and fully engrossed in the sports program crackling through the radio. He sits in the driver’s seat of the 15-passenger van, the tank-like vehicle idling in the brisk September morning. As the early-morning sun melts through the fall morning, assorted vehicles begin to pull into the lot surrounding Bartholomew’s grumbling van. Slowly, the scrub-clad hospital employees and patients piling out of their parked cars begin to collect around the passenger doors of the van.

Like an ambulance driver who has just received a call to some nearby crisis, Bartholomew snaps to life. His large frame appears official and obeisant in the neat button up white shirt tucked into straight leg black pants, but his wide-eyed smile and already forming beard betray him as the jovial 25-year-old he is.

As the dozen or so passengers pile into the van, Bartholomew switches off the radio and begins engaging the solemn personalities climbing into the seats behind him.

“Where are we going today, guys?” he jokes. The question is sarcastic, because this van only has one destination: the currently under renovation Luther Hospital.

Bartholomew’s job is unusual. Since late March, Luther Hospital has been busy constructing new additions to the hospital’s medicinal capabilities. The two new additions include a Healing Garden as well as an expanded Critical Care unit. According to press materials provided by Luther Midelfort’s Media Relations Coordinator Susan Barber Lindquist, the project has a projected cost of $13,500,000 for the Critical Care Unit alone.

In the process of the construction, much of the hospital’s parking lot was destroyed or has been occupied by equipment, making employee parking at the facility near impossible.

To answer the problem of parking for the ever-moving culture of hospital employees and patients, the hospital established makeshift parking on Cameron Street just north of the downtown area. As a service to the employees and patients that make the trek between the temporary parking lot and the hospital, security officials set up a shuttle service to move the passengers to and from the various entrances of the hospital and the parking lot.

For Bartholomew, the job is an interesting balance between staying engaged with his passengers while protecting their safety, and staying awake.

“It gets so boring sometimes because people only really need to move at certain times in the day,” Bartholomew said. “The rest of the time it’s really about listening to the radio and trying not to fall asleep.”

The job isn’t just unusual for a 25-year-old, but for Bartholomew in particular, it means a new level of responsibility. Originally from Osseo, Bartholomew moved to Eau Claire after finishing high school to attend Chippewa Valley Technical College. After two years of wrestling with a degree in computer networking, Bartholomew dropped out and bounced around between odd jobs, including retail work and delivering papers for the Eau Claire Press Company.

“When I took on the job with the security division, I didn’t realize how serious it was going to get,” Bartholomew said with a laugh. “They’ve got me learning disaster codes, and they want all of us to be so prepared in case of an emergency. I’m not sure what exactly they want me to do when somebody’s heart stops.”



Van driver seeks common ground with all his passengers By Matt Keil keilmm@uwec.edu It’s not even 7 a.m. yet, but Nick Bartholomew is already on his second cup of coffee and fully engrossed in the sports program crackling through the radio. He sits in the driver’s seat of the 15-passenger van, the tank-like vehicle idling in the brisk September morning. As the early-morning sun melts through the fall morning, assorted vehicles begin to pull into the lot surrounding Bartholomew’s grumbling van. Slowly, the scrub-clad hospital employees and patients piling out of their parked cars begin to collect around the passenger doors of the van. Like an ambulance driver who has just received a call to some nearby crisis, Bartholomew snaps to life. His large frame appears official and obeisant in the neat button up white shirt tucked into straight leg black pants, but his wide-eyed smile and already forming beard betray him as the jovial 25-year-old he is. As the dozen or so passengers pile into the van, Bartholomew switches off the radio and begins engaging the solemn personalities climbing into the seats behind him. “Where are we going today, guys?” he jokes. The question is sarcastic, because this van only has one destination: the currently under renovation Luther Hospital. Bartholomew’s job is unusual. Since late March, Luther Hospital has been busy constructing new additions to the hospital’s medicinal capabilities. The two new additions include a Healing Garden as well as an expanded Critical Care unit. According to press materials provided by Luther Midelfort’s Media Relations Coordinator Susan Barber Lindquist, the project has a projected cost of $13,500,000 for the Critical Care Unit alone. In the process of the construction, much of the hospital’s parking lot was destroyed or has been occupied by equipment, making employee parking at the facility near impossible. To answer the problem of parking for the ever-moving culture of hospital employees and patients, the hospital established makeshift parking on Cameron Street just north of the downtown area. As a service to the employees and patients that make the trek between the temporary parking lot and the hospital, security officials set up a shuttle service to move the passengers to and from the various entrances of the hospital and the parking lot. Enter Bartholomew. For Bartholomew, the job is an interesting balance between staying engaged with his passengers while protecting their safety, and staying awake. “It gets so boring sometimes because people only really need to move at certain times in the day,” Bartholomew said. “The rest of the time it’s really about listening to the radio and trying not to fall asleep.” The job isn’t just unusual for a 25-year-old, but for Bartholomew in particular, it means a new level of responsibility. Originally from Osseo, Bartholomew moved to Eau Claire after finishing high school to attend Chippewa Valley Technical College. After two years of wrestling with a degree in computer networking, Bartholomew dropped out and bounced around between odd jobs, including retail work and delivering papers for the Eau Claire Press Company. “When I took on the job with the security division, I didn’t realize how serious it was going to get,” Bartholomew said with a laugh. “They’ve got me learning disaster codes, and they want all of us to be so prepared in case of an emergency. I’m not sure what exactly they want me to do when somebody’s heart stops.”			Links: See the Web page for the Mayo Health System, which includes Luther Midelfort. See a map of downtown Eau Claire on the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corporation Web page.
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