Schoolhouse Artisan Cheese Shop Opens in Egg Harbor

(Left to right) Trevor Hietpas, Kathy McCarthy, Derek Grassel, Peter Kordon and Michael Thomas at work in the new Schoolhouse Artisan Cheese Shop in Egg Harbor.

• The Schoolhouse Artisan Cheese Shop has now opened their second location in downtown Egg Harbor next to the marina park. The first location is in the Savory Spoon Cooking School in Ellison Bay.

Three years ago Michael and Janice Thomas, owners of the Savory Spoon and the Schoolhouse Artisan Cheese shop, started visiting the artisan cheese makers around the state and tasting their hand crafted cheese. After establishing relationships with the cheese makers they decided to open their first cheese shop at the Savory Spoon Cooking School in Ellison Bay in 2010. To extend this exciting education to the Door County locals and visitors, the school designed a special evening so that the guests could meet some of these artisan cheese makers. The events are called “ Meet The Cheese Maker Nights.”

Culture is a critical part of cheese making. The culture that is brought to the Door County community by offering such a wide variety of handcrafted cheese has been well received by all. All cheeses are from Wisconsin and handcrafted.

For more information call 920.854.6600 or visit http://www.savoryspoon.com.

• The rehab services department at Ministry Door County Medical Center (MDCMC) has been awarded an Outcomes Excellence Certificate from Focus On Therapeutic Outcomes, Inc. (FOTO®) for the 1st quarter of 2011. MDCMC exceeded the nationally predicted risk-adjusted Functional Change for four consecutive quarter profile reporting periods.

FOTO is a nationwide outcomes database and reporting service for health care providers. These certificates are presented to a select group of providers across the country to recognize the excellence achieved in effectiveness of treatment. By receiving this recognition, MDCMC’s rehab services department has achieved a greater increase in function for their patients than the national average.

According to Deb Whitelaw-Gorski, director of rehab services for MDCMC, “FOTO data collection has helped our outpatient therapy team demonstrate all the good we are doing in a qualitative way. We are proud that the data shows we are efficient in our outpatient care; that we get great outcomes in fewer visits and in shorter periods of time compared to other clinics collecting data. We are also very proud of our therapy staff who provide outpatient care at sites located in Sturgeon Bay at Cherry Point Mall and the hospital, as well as at Algoma Rehab and in Sister Bay at Scandia Good Samaritan.”

FOTO has provided outcome data to healthcare providers since 1994. More than 1,000 organizations have contributed to the FOTO database.