Your World Today – Thursday, April 20, 2017
For previous editions of Your World Today, please visit the Archives page.
Jump to: Sports • Obituaries • Weather
NEWS: Thursday, April 20, 2017
LOCAL NEWS:
The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors met for the regular meeting Tuesday evening at the hospital library. After reviewing the April 4th election results, Attorney Mark Weaver administered the oath of office to Sue Terry and George Gruendel. The Board heard a proposal from City of Salem’s City Administrator Ray Walden and Sewer and Water Supervisor Jack Emory on attaching the hospital to the city’s sewer system. Walden described the DNR mandated sewer upgrades that the city will be implementing over the next couple of years. These upgrades will cost $1.1 million. To try and recoup some of the construction costs the city is looking at ways to add more customers to the city’s water and sewer system. The city is offering the hospital an opportunity to get connected to the city’s sewer system with no upfront costs. The current sewer rate is .0003 cents per gallon and the water rate is .00027 cents per gallon. This would allow the hospital to stop using the current lagoon system that has tremendous DNR regulations and oversight. Connecting the hospital, and then potential future customers near the hospital, would mean that the water and sewer lines would need to be located across private property and easements would need to be obtained. The city was asking for a written confirmation that the hospital would agree to connect to the services once they were built and made available. No decision was made at this time. Chief Financial Officer Monica Gargus gave the summary of operations for March that the hospital had a gain from operations of $108,333 with an excess of revenues over expenses of $144,549. Chief Nursing Officer Debbie Hines reported during the month there were 75 acute care admissions plus 857 emergency room visits with an average turnaround time of 127 minutes. Also during the month, there were 229 ambulance runs, 23 surgery cases, 1,700 outpatient registrations, 2431 home health visits, 8,575 lab tests, 1,073 radiological procedures, 197 CT scans, 335 MRI scans, 6 nuclear med scans, 798 rehab treatments, 173 dialysis treatments and 371 clinical visits. Hospital Administrator Kasey Lucas reported the Hospital Auxiliary met this month and is working on future fundraisers. Their next meeting will be May 5th at noon at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory. The Foundation will have a Golf Tournament on May 5th at the Spring Creek Golf Club. The next health screening dates will be May 10th and 11th at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory. Lucas reported on the Patient Satisfaction surveys for the Emergency Department. All surveys results were very good if not excellent in all areas. Gargus gave the Finance Committee report and reviewed the proposed 2018 fiscal year budget with the board. The committee is proposing a total budget of $22,138,082 in revenue and $21,975.112 in expenses. The budget includes a 4% increase in rates as well as salary increases with and $320,200 for new capital expenses. The board approved updating several bank signature authorizations by making Lucas, Gargus and Hines as the authorized signers on the accounts. The Board approved the budgeted purchase of a heat press for the materials management department at a cost of $1,755 from Penn Enterprises and 25 IV pumps to be used hospital wide for a total of $92,422 from BBraun. The board then went into closed session.
An accident occurred at 9:45 Wednesday morning in Iron County on county road 86 about 43 miles south of Viburnum. According to the highway patrol report, a Kawasaki Brute Force ATV driven by 64-year old Ricky Dotson of Bixby was traveling southbound and the ATV overturned, ejecting the driver. Dotson suffered serious injuries and was taken by Air Medical to Mercy Hospital in St. Louis. He was not wearing a safety device at the time of the accident. The ATV sustained minor damage and was removed by the owner.
Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22. Worldwide, various events are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970. There were Earth Day events in more than 193 countries. The Earth Day Network now coordinates events globally. Earth Day's goal is to bring awareness to pollution. Back in the 1970's when Earth Day was founded it was legal for industrial plants to release huge clouds of black smoke into the air or to dump chemicals into water sources. There was no EPA to monitor these factories, and it was not promoted to take these business' to court for the damage they were doing to the environment. Earth Day was founded to celebrate clean air, water and land. To learn more about Earth Day you can visit epa.gov/earthday.
SPORTS [TOP]
Salem Baseball Coach Phillip Karr reports the Salem Tigers baseball game scheduled with Cabool this afternoon -HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
The Salem Tigers track teams will be at the Ava Invitational today starting at 4:00.
Dexter Fowler broke out of an early season skid Wednesday afternoon with two solo homers as the St. Louis Cardinals swept the Pittsburgh Pirates with a third consecutive 2-1 win at Busch Stadium. Michael Wacha (2-1) gave up one run and four hits over 6 2/3 innings, walking two and fanning three to earn the win. Trevor Rosenthal got the save, hist first of the year. The Cards will be at Milwaukee tonight starting at 7:10 on KSMO Radio.
Jason Vargas outdueled Madison Bumgarner as Kansas City beat the Giants 2-0 on Wed. night. The Royals closed out the homestand with 5 victories in 6 games to even their record at 7-7. The Royals will start a four game series with Texas tonight.
Charlie Coyle and Martin Hanzal scored in the first two periods and Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves to keep Minnesota alive in the playoffs with a 2-0 win Wed. night over St. Louis. The win cut the Blues' lead in the first-round series to 3 to 1. The series shifts back to Minnesota for Game 5 on Saturday.
OBITUARIES [TOP]
Funeral services for Lawrence Edward “Ed” Dunlap of Boss, age 69, will be held this morning at 11:00 at the Wilson Mortuary in Salem. Visitation will be this morning from 10:00 until service time. Interment will be in the Hanson Cemetery.
Funeral services for Kermit Allen of Salem, age 86, will be held this morning at 11:00 at the Salem Christian Church. Interment will be in the Cedar Grove Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the Salem Christian Church or the American Heart Association.
A Celebration of Life for Sharon Marie Mace, age 60, will be held Sunday, April 23rd from 2:00 to 4:00 at the Wilson Family Center in Salem. There will be no interment. Memorials may be made to Project Win. All the arrangements are under the direction of the Wilson Mortuary in Salem.
WEATHER [TOP]
Today..Mostly cloudy with a 60% chance for showers, high of 72.
Tonight..Mostly cloudy with a 40% chance for showers , low of 48.
Friday and Friday night..Cloudy with an 80% chance for showers and thunderstorms, high around 60, low of 46.
Saturday..Mostly cloudy with an 80% chance for showers, high around 48.
