News

The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors held their monthly meeting Tuesday evening in the hospital library. During the summary of operations for the month of February, only 45 patients were admitted while at the same time outpatient registrations were down as were emergency room visits. The summary showed that all revenue sources were below budget and even though the expenses were kept in check, there was loss from operations of $238,626 with an excess of expenses over revenues after taxes of81,627. The cash flow statement showed an increase in cash of $320,088 that included over $130,000 from the electronic health records conversion. The days in accounts receivable was 51, which is down from 53 in January. In the Chief Nursing Officer report for the month of February, there were 692 emergency room visits with 53 transfers. The average turn around time in the ER was 124 minutes for the month. There were a total of 165 ambulance runs with 157 patients being assessed, 20 surgery cases, 1,484 outpatient registrations, 181 Home Health visits, 8,469 lab tests, 886 radiological procedures, 165 CT scans, 14 MRI scans, 8 nuclear med scans, 913 cardiopulmonary procedures, 445 rehab treatments, 166 dialysis treatments and 299 clinical visits. In the flu update, Chief Nursing Officer Carol Lacy reported the hospital is still seeing a few confirmed cases of the flu into March but only two in the last week. For the year, there were 185 confirmed cases of the flu which is the most recorded in Dent County over the last five years and that is up over 30% from last year’s total of 141. Hospital Administrator Dennis Pryor said the hospital auxiliary will have their Scrubs and Beyond fundraiser at the hospital library Thursday, March 26^th. Pryor reported that Dr. Rizvi visited the Salem Hospital twice including once with his family, but the hospital declined to make an offer to him due to his lack of hospital experience. Pryor said the SMDH Rural Health Clinic consolidation went well and the Physician Assistant Nathan Miracle began seeing patients Monday. Assistant Administrator Kasey Lucas reported on the data-base consolidation of Dr. Prince and the family Medicine Clinic occurred Monday. Some duplication took place and that will be taken care of before the next consolidation on April 13^th with Dr. Gulley’s patients. Lucas also reported the Salem Memorial District Hospital successfully piloted the real time transmission of syndromic surveillance information to the Department of Health and Senior Services through Missouri Health Connections. The SMDH Foundation now has a logo for their 5K Fun Run to be held in November at Montauk State Park and that the Fun Run/Walk committee will meet on April 14th. The foundation advisory board will meet on May 19^th at the hospital library. Carol Lacy then reviewed the status of the Community Health Needs Assessment with the board on the three areas they centralized their efforts: obesity, heart disease and cancer. Many of the recommendations have been accomplished with the cooperation of Healthy Dent County and many of the programs they offered. The next survey will come out this fall with the results due by June of 2016. Lucas then explained the work of the Ozark Independent Health Alliance. He said six projects have been completed that have been a joint venture amongst all the hospitals involved. He said a Network Development Planning Grant has been secured along with the Telehealth grant.  The Telehealth Systems are ready to go as the equipment has been installed and they are just waiting on training and determining the projects. Pryor recognized board member Dennis Fiebelman on being selected to receive the MHA Excellence in Governance Award. He will receive the award at the MHA Leadership Forum in June. The last SMDH board member to receive the award was Judy Thompson in 1996. In purchases, the board approved the budgeted purchase of a Coagulation Analyzer System from Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics for $16,000, two desktop computers for Information Systems for $1,381 from SHI, a Powervault for the Information Systems for $5,735 from Dell that will add 2 to 3 years of storage to the current server, a wireless desktop computer from GHA for $400 and a new PACS Server for Information Systems for $26,895. Tabitha Stanfast made a presentation to the board about SMDH becoming part of the Time Critical Diagnosis program. She said Salem could become a Stroke Designated Level 4 center with some Level 3 capabilities. This program will help educate the public and patients about strokes through flyers, ads in the newspaper, ads on the radio, inserts and radio interviews. The program also does require a formal training program within the hospital. The board approved a resolution to support the Time Critical Diagnosis Designation for the Salem Hospital before going into closed session.

The Phelps County Master Gardeners are hosting a Gardening Seminar, Growing Green-Learn-Plant-Harvert-sponsored by the Phelps County Master Gardeners and the Phelps County Extension Center on Saturday, March 21^st. The cost is $10 for either the morning session is from 9:00 am to noon or afternoon session is from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. Classes will be held at the Havener Center-Missouri University of Science and Technology located at 1346 North Bishop Avenue in Rolla. Seating is limited! For more information, call (573) 458-6260.

Sports [TOP]

The St. Louis Blues will stop in Winnipeg tonight as part of the six-game road trip to face the Jets. The Blues have won the first two games by shutout and have three shutouts in their last four games. You can hear the pre-game show on KSMO Radio at 6:30 with game starting at 7:00.

The St. Louis Cardinals had the day off Wednesday and they will play the New York Mets today in Grapefruit League play.

Gerardo Parra hit a three-run homer and knocked in four runs as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Kansas City Royals by an 8-4 margin on Wednesday. Mike Moustakas hit a solo homer and drove in two runs for the Royals, who saw starter Edinson Volquez allow six runs on eight hits over four innings. The Royals will play Colorado today.

Obituaries   [TOP]