About Bob Tavani House for Medical Respite and our Team

Annalisa Peterson is an attorney and mediator by training and has focused most of her professional life in the area of communication and conflict resolution. She currently serves as the Ombudsperson for Doctoral and Postdoctoral Programs at Johns Hopkins University. She has served on the board of the Bob Tavani House for Medical Respite since 2021 and believes deeply in BTH's mission of offering hospitality and a safe place to heal after hospital discharge for those who need it in the Twin Ports community.

Karen MS Bastianelli, BS Pharm, Pharm D, BCACP, FAPhA

earned her pharmacy degrees from the University of Minnesota and is a board certified ambulatory care pharmacist.  The first half of her career included multiple community pharmacist roles and culminated as an Associate Professor and Director of the Pharmaceutical Care Learning Center at the University of Minnesota- College of Pharmacy on the Duluth campus.  Dr. Bastianelli served as course director for required and didactic courses, developed an academic rotation within a federally funded patient-centered medical home, cultivated an international education exchange with an Italian university pharmacy program, and implemented an extensive network of community outreach activities that promoted the safe use of medications and the profession.  Dr. Bastianelli served pharmacy organizations at the local, state, and national levels and has been recognized for teaching and commitment to her community.  Additionally, she has been active within several non-profit organization boards and, upon retirement, continues to serve as a preceptor to student-led outreach activities.

Dr. Mary “Daisy” Braaten is originally from Chicago.  She attended the College of the Holy Cross, Trinity College in Dublin and Northwestern University Medical School.  Her residency training was at West Suburban Family Medicine Residency at PCC Community Wellness Center on the West Side of Chicago.  She completed the Cook County Faculty Development Fellowship while working at Primecare Community Wellness and the Women’s HIV Clinic at the Core Center in Chicago and served as the Medical Director of Primecare for 2 years.

When her husband completed his medical training, they moved to Minnesota where they raised their four children.  Dr. Braaten practiced full-spectrum family medicine in Deer River for ten years.  Since 2013 they have lived in Duluth.  Dr. Braaten is core faculty at the University of Minnesota Duluth Family Medicine Residency Program and continues to do emergency room shifts in Deer River.  She is the Faculty Lead for Community Involvement at the residency and staffs a half-day a week clinic at the CHUM shelter in Duluth.  Dr. Braaten helps facilitate a monthly local Healthcare and Homelessness Committee meeting, bringing agencies together to improve communication and collaboration. She enjoys teaching all aspects of family medicine including inpatient care, obstetrics, and behavioral health.   

Jamie Conniff, MD, MPH (he/him) practices full-spectrum family medicine at the Min No Aya Win Clinic on the reservation of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. He is Vice Speaker of the House on the Board of the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians and previously co-chaired the MAFP’s Legislative Committee. He has particular interests in LGBTQ health, including gender-affirming care; addiction medicine; community health; and improving systems to reduce barriers to care. Previously Jamie taught at the University of Minnesota Duluth Family Medicine Residency, where he oversaw the residency program’s community health training and advocated within health systems to promote wellness and improve care for Duluth’s community of LGBTQ people, especially transgender and non-binary Duluthians. Jamie is currently a faculty member for Indian Country ECHO’s Trans & Gender-Affirming Care ECHO. He grew up and received his education in the Northeast, but then moved to Madison, Wisconsin for his post-graduate training, where he learned to provide gender-affirming care from amazing, pioneering mentors. He lives just outside of Duluth with his husband Carson and son Link.

Anthony W. Olson, PhD, PharmD is a Research Scientist at the Essentia Institute of Rural Health and adjunct faculty at the University of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy. He specializes in translational research on community-integrated, person-centered interventions that can improve the care experience and clinical outcomes of persons and communities, especially

those in underserved rural areas. His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control Foundation, and the Health

Resources and Services Administration. Anthony has also served as an

Officer and Executive Committee member for the American Pharmacists

Association, Academy of Pharmaceutical Research & Science and Minnesota

Pharmacists Association.

Mary Rapps has a passion for health equity and population health improvement.

She is committed to improving the health of communities through innovation

and collaboration with community members, public health, health care and

service organizations. Mary served as Executive Director of Generations Health

Care Initiatives from 2018 through 2023 after servi ng over four years as a

Program Director. Mary brings over 21 years of Health Care Administration

experience to her current position. She earned a BAS in Community Health

Education from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and Masters Degree in

Health Care Administration from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Cedar Savage, RN, MSN, PHN, CLC is currently employed as the Infectious Disease

American Indian Liaison for the Minnesota Department of Health. She is an enrolled member of

the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in Belcourt, North Dakota, but has lived her

entire life on the Fond du Lac reservation with her young children who are members.

A nurse by trade, she is passionate about health equity and advancing the health

outcomes of American Indian people. She attended the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community

College where she completed her Associate of Arts and Associate Degree in Nursing. She began

her career as a nurse at Mash-ka-wisen Treatment Center where she was employed from 2015-

2018 and then began working for the Fond du Lac tribe. While at Fond du Lac she worked as a

clinic nurse as well as a Public Health Nurse. She finished her bachelor’s degree of Nursing at

the College of St. Scholastica in 2019 and later went on to finish her master’s degree of science

in Nursing Education at St. Catherine’s University in 2022.

Michael Strasser, MPA, (Masters Degree in Public Administration -

Healthcare Emphasis), UW Oshkosh; BA Psychology – Bethany

College, Lindsborg Kansas

Over 30 years of experience in a variety of Healthcare, Social Work

and Quality Improvement Positions including: Quality Improvement

Analyst, Hospital Case Management and Utilization Review,

Education Resource Center Department Manager, Case Manager,

Social Worker, Admissions Manager for a Psychiatric Hospital and

Project Manager for a research firm focusing on pharmaceutical trials.

Completed Lean Manufacturing Certificate Training with the

Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership in 2007 and over the

next 10 years implemented Lean Process Improvement Strategies at

the University of Wisconsin Health Partners, Watertown Regional

Medical Center. I continue to provide lean/ process improvement

consulting through the Orchid Consulting Group for a variety of clients

in healthcare and social service organizations.

Mike Swanoski recently retired from the University of Minnesota where he served as the Senior

Associate Dean for the College of Pharmacy on the Duluth campus. During his time with the University

of Minnesota he also served as Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs and Associate Department Head. Prior

to joining and during his time with the University of Minnesota, he held various clinical positions

including as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist and Long-Term Care Consultant. He is passionate about

understanding and addressing the healthcare needs of vulnerable populations.

John Arnold

Josh has been involved with The Bob Tavani House for Medical Respite since the beginning.  Having received a M.Div and M.M.N.A from North Park University in Chicago, Josh now operates a custom wood studio under the name Glørud Design and occasionally works a day or two each week as a hospital chaplain at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth.

Your donation can make a real difference in the lives of those experiencing homelessness. Your generosity allows us to continue providing critical services and programs to those in need.

https://donorbox.org/bob-tavani-house

The mission of the Bob Tavani House for Medical Respite is to provide home-style hospitality for folks experiencing homelessness and an acute medical condition. While they’re here, our guests have a safe place to heal while we help them connect to people and services in the community to have positive supports when they transition out of BTH.  

Your support enables us to keep the lights on, provides nutritious food for our guests, and allows us to cover guest needs, like over-the-counter medications not covered by insurance, and boots & shoes in tough to find sizes. We’re so very grateful for your support, and hope you’ll continue to follow our journey!

The Bob Tavani House for Medical Respite is a tax-exempt organization as described in Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.  EIN 86-3626016