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For the third straight month, the Salem Memorial District Hospital has shown a gain from operations for a year to date gain of $540,836. The total patient revenue is up 33% over budget and 41% over last year’s figures while expenses have increased only 5%. For the month of September, the hospital showed an excess of revenues over expenses of $112,898. Cash increased by $11,819 and days in accounts receivable remained low at only 43 days in September. During the month there were 60 acute care patients admitted, 888 emergency room visits with 83 transfers, 216 ambulance runs with 35 dry runs, 30 surgery cases, 1,888 outpatient registrations, 234 home health visits, 8,927 lab tests, 1,374 radiological procedures, 310 CT scans, 48 MRI scans, 13 nuclear med scans, 384 rehab treatments, 222 dialysis treatments, and 474 clinical visits. The average clinical visits have increase more than 100 per month for fiscal year 2010 over fiscal year 2009.The hospital auxiliary raised $1,409 from the Colors of Cancer Banquet in Salem and will hold a book fair Monday at the hospital library. The hospital received back 108 emergency room survey responses and they showed outstanding results in all areas. There were only 17-inpatient satisfaction survey responses received and the results were very good with the biggest concern being the patient handbook. Director of Nursing Carol Lacy stated that the hospital is going to try to change the color of the booklet to make it more visible to the patient. Hospital Administrator Dennis Pryor reported that work continues on the SMDH video and during the week of November 9^th, there will be interviews with physicians and hospital personnel. Assistant Administrator Paul McVicker reported that the hospital graded out at 3.079 on the their electronic medical records adoption which is ahead of critical access hospital median of 2.03 and the mean of 1.6826. He also said that Salem is right on target with all Missouri hospitals as that median is 3.1940. He did say that the transition for the EMR in Dr. Punzalan’s Medical Clinic has been delayed until at least January, and e-forms in surgery for nursing has been pushed back to February of 2010. The board discussed four different options that deal with the hospital’s lagoon. The two that were the most viable to pursue included adding a land application that would cost between $35,000 to 45,000 depending upon the final design; or upgrading the wastewater treatment system that would cost in excess of $50,000 to meet future requirements. They will look into these options further before any decisions are made. The board approved the budgeted purchases of seven task chairs for Acute Care from Automated Business Systems for a total of $3,200, a laser printer for Central Supply from Staples for $280 and a laser printer for Rehab for $495 from Quill. In non-budgeted purchases, the board approved the purchase of non-glare window film for the Long-Term Care Unit from Dent County Glass for $750, a demo Bariatric Stretcher from Stryker for $5,000 for the Emergency Room, a task chair from ABS for the business office for $250, two ProCurve mini GBIC’s for the Information Systems for $556, additional point of care licenses from CPSI for the Information Systems for $15,300, a fax machine for Information Systems from ABS for $125 to be used as a spare, and a Scissor Lift for the Maintenance Department from Rommel’s Lock and Alarm for $4,000. The board then went into closed session.

Dent County Sheriff Rick Stallings is pleased to announce the receipt of two additional grants to support the South Central Missouri Computer Crime Task Force. In August an award of $5,758 was received from the Recovery Act -Multi-Jurisdictional Cyber Crime Grant through the Missouri Department of Public Safety. On October 20^th an award of $15,756 was received from the Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force through the federal PROTECT Act. These grants will fund additional training, software and equipment for officers in South Central Missouri involved in investigating Internet crimes against children. The Task Force provides law enforcement in South Central Missouri with a resource to assist in the investigations of computer crime, particularly crimes against children. Dent County is the recipient of the grants and administers the grant for Task Force agencies. There is no local match requirement for these awards. These awards will help train and equip officers from the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department and the Rolla Police Department. In addition, it will add additional forensic tools to the existing lab in Salem.  In particular, it will expand our ability to examine cell phones, including the capability to capture cell phone data in the field. The South Central Missouri Computer Crime Task Force provides investigative technical support, computer forensic examinations, officer training in identifying and seizing electronic evidence, and Internet Safety presentations to schools in the region. The Task Force includes Dent County Sheriff’s Department, Salem Police Department, Rolla Police Department, Phelps County Sheriff’s Department, St. James Police Department, Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department and Fort Leonard Wood Police Department. Services are available to any agency in the South Central Missouri region.

Sports [TOP]

The Salem Tiger Football team beat the Sullivan Eagles, 29-26 Friday night to move to 2-0 in district play. Ty Floyd ran for 206 yards and had two scores, and Andy Kissir rushed for 148 yards and had also two touchdowns. Jake Schafer had two interceptions in the game including one with 10 seconds left to seal the victory for Salem. The Tigers are now 6-3 on the year and will host St. James Friday in the last district game of the year.

The Salem Lady Volleyball Tigers begin district play this afternoon as they will travel to Sullivan to face the host Lady Eagles starting at 5:30. The winner of the match will face St. Francis Borgia on Tuesday at 5:30. You can hear the match on KSMO Radio and ksmoradio.com. The cost of admission is $3.00.

Colt McCoy had an efficient night, completing 26-of-31 passes for 269 yards and three touchdowns, leading third-ranked Texas to a 41-7 rout of Missouri. Blaine Gabbert connected on 8-of-16 passes for 84 yards with a score for the Tigers (4-3, 0-3), who have dropped their last three games, all by at least 15 points. Gabbert hurt his ankle and was replaced in the third quarter.

Marty Turco made 27 saves as the Dallas Stars downed the St. Louis Blues, 4-1, at Scottrade Center. Alex Pietrangelo had the lone goal while Ty Conklin was charged with four goals on 31 shots for the Blues, who have lost five of their last seven games. St. Louis plays in Carolina on Wednesday.

Peyton Manning authored another solid performance, tossing for 235 yards and three touchdowns, as the Indianapolis Colts remained unbeaten with a 42-6 thrashing of the winless St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome. Steven Jackson had 23 carries for a season-high 134 yards for St. Louis, which has dropped 17 straight games dating back to last season.

Philip Rivers completed 18-of-30 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns, as the San Diego Chargers demolished the lowly Kansas City Chiefs, 37-7, in a Week 7 battle between AFC West rivals at Arrowhead Stadium. Matt Cassel connected on 10-of-25 passes for 97 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions for the Chiefs (1-6), who were coming off a 14-6 victory over the Redskins last Sunday. Larry Johnson rushed for 49 yards on 16 carries. Bobby Wade hauled in four passes for 66 yards, while Dwayne Bowe caught a TD pass for Kansas City, which has suffered defeats in 29 of its past 32 games.

The St. Louis Cardinals will hold a press conference on Monday to reportedly announce that former slugger Mark McGwire will become the team's hitting coach. In addition, the team will also reportedly announce that manager Tony La Russa will return for a 15th season with the club. According to a report in a St. Louis newspaper, Hal McRae was informed on Friday that his contract would not be renewed and he would be replaced by McGwire as the hitting coach. McGwire has not played or coached in the major leagues since retiring in 2001 due to chronic injuries amid steroid controversy. La Russa, who has managed the team to eight postseason appearances and a World Series title in 2006, will see his two-year, $8.5 million contract expire at the end of the month.

Obituaries   [TOP]