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The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Director held their regular meeting at the hospital library last week. At the meeting, Controller Stephanie Wofford reported that the hospital had a loss from operations of $438,576 for the month of October, and year to date, the loss from operations is at $459,958. The loss is a result of a combination of fewer outpatient services being used, fewer patients being admitted, and less ER visits. These factors mixed with higher salaries, employee benefits, physician contracts and maintenance led to the higher loss. There was a decrease in the cash account for October of $93,165. Days in accounts receivable did improve to 50 days for the month. In the Director of Nursing report, there were 61 acute patients admitted to the hospital in October and that averages to 8.1 patients per day. There were 854 emergency room visits with a turnaround time of 120 minutes. In October, there were 162 ambulance runs with 154 patients assessed with 111 patients transported. Also during the month, there were 28 surgery cases, 161 Home Health visits, 7733 lab tests, 971 radiological procedures, 193 CT scans, 28 MRI scans, 6 nuclear med scans, 1621 cardiopulmonary procedures, 444 rehab treatments, 227 dialysis treatments, 398 clinical visits, and 34 telehealth visits comprised of 32 cardiology visits and two other visits. Hospital Administrator Dennis Pryor said that the hospital auxiliary raised $952 with the Scrubs and Beyond Sale and another $1,569 from the Masquearade Jewelry Sale. He said that the Holiday Home Tour this year was postponed because they only had two houses who had committed to the tour and it will be held next year as the auxiliary already has commitments for three homes. In the construction update, Pryor said that 90% of the Long-Term Care expansion is finished. The work that remains in other areas of the hospital is dependent on the completion of that work. The board approved Courtesy Staff privileges for Shiraz Ahmad Daud, MD and Paul McGowan MD as recommended by the medical staff. Pryor said that the hospital met with four prospective physicians during the month of October with one of those prospects taking a job in Iowa. He said that Dr. Vasquez would be joining the staff of Dr. Prince as a physician’s assistant in January. Kasey Lucas reported that the PDF pointer from MEDHOST has been at the hospital a year and still isn’t working properly. He says that situation has to be corrected. He also said that the Interface Testing of AllScripts would be held December 5^th. The board approved the new bylaw establishing that the board meetings be held on the Tuesday following the third Monday of the month beginning January 1^st. The next meeting will be a joint meeting and medical staff dinner on Thursday, December 8^th at the hospital library. The board approved the budgeted purchase of a scanner for the pharmacy for $1,025, and the non-budgeted purchase of and EMS and ER radio remotes for $4,640, and an informational interface for the Futurenet transcription service for $9,000. Administrator Pryor said that the hospital had a number of assets to sell including 25 plus surge protectors, 10 plus space heaters and 16 chests from Long-Term Care. The term of Board member Leon Kreisler is set to expire in April and the filing dates for the position are from December 13^th until January 17^th, 2012. Kreisler did indicate that he plans to run again for the six-year term. The board then went into closed session.

The Salem Ranger District is seeking public comments on a proposal for the Radford Hollow Fed Project, located on about five acres of the National Forest System lands in Reynolds County. The proposed action is to remove encroaching woods shrubs by cutting them with a chainsaw and dragging them from the fen during the winter when the fen is frozen and to relocate a section of existing ATV trail #2 away from the fen. This would involve closing about .37 miles of the existing trail and constructing about .06 miles of new trail. Two existing perennial stream crossing would be eliminated and one new perennial stream crossing would be constructed. Written comments can go to: Thomas Haines, District Ranger, Salem Ranger District, 1301 South Main Street, Salem, MO, 65560; comments can be faxed to (573) 729-2867 or call James Turner, Environmental Coordinator at the Salem Ranger District, from 8:00 am and 4:30 pm at 729-6656.

Sports [TOP]

The Salem Tiger basketball team will be hosting West Plains tonight at the Salem High School Gymnasium. JV will start things off at 6:00 with the varsity to follow. You’ll be able to hear the varsity contest on KSMO Radio.

James Franklin threw a pair of second-half touchdowns to help lift Missouri to a 24-10 win over the Kansas Jayhawks in the annual Border Showdown at Arrowhead Stadium Saturday. Franklin turned things around after throwing three first-half interceptions, two of which led to points for Kansas. Kendial Lawrence ran for 63 yards and a TD for the Tigers (7-5, 5-4 Big 12). 

Kim English made seven three-pointers and finished with a career-high 29 points, as No. 21 Missouri continued its strong start with an 88-59 dismantling of Binghamton. Ricardo Ratliffe added 18 points on a perfect 7-for-7 performance from the field, and Marcus Denmon chipped in 13 points for Missouri (6-0), which is off to its best start since 2006-07. Missouri plays Northwestern State Friday night.

David Backes scored a power-play goal in the third period to lift the St. Louis Blues to a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. Former Blue Jacket Kris Russell scored the other goal for St. Louis, which improved to 7-1-2 under Ken Hitchcock. Brian Elliott continued his stellar play between the pipes, recording 23 saves to up his record this season to 10-0-1. The Blues will be in Washington to face the Capitals Tuesday.

Beanie Wells rushed for a career-high 228 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries, leading the Arizona Cardinals to a 23-20 win over the St. Louis Rams at Edward Jones Dome. Sam Bradford completed 17-of-31 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown and Brandon Lloyd hauled in five balls for 74 yards and a score for the Rams (2-9), who have lost two straight. The Rams play the San Francisco 49ers Sunday.

Keenan Lewis' interception with less than a minute to go in the fourth sealed a defensive 13-9 victory by the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Kansas City Chiefs. Tyler Palko went 18-for-28 through the air for 167 yards and three interceptions in his second career start. Dwayne Bowe caught a game-high seven passes for 69 yards and Ryan Succop made all three of his field goal attempts for Kansas City (4-7). The Chiefs play the Chicago Bears Sunday.

Obituaries   [TOP]

Funeral services for Sarah Jeanne Gatrell of Steelville, age 69, will be held today at 11:00 at the Britton-Bennett Funeral Home in Steelville. Interment will be in the Keysville Cemetery in Keysville. Memorials may be made to the cemetery.

Funeral services for Carl Douglas Shaw of Salem, age 76, will be held today at 1:00 at the Wilson Mortuary in Salem. Visitation will be held from 11:00 until time of service. Interment will be in the Boss Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the cemetery.

Weather [TOP]