During the Greenwood County Hospital (GWCH) Board of Trustees meeting held on Thursday, May 23, CEO Sandra Dickerson discussed ongoing work to transition the former CareArc dental office into a suitable space for medical examinations. Exam rooms have been closed in, drywall has gone up and flooring installation was completed last week. It is anticipated that the project will be finished within the next two weeks. Dickerson noted that, when work has finished, Dr. Mark Basham and Jennifer Eagleson, APRN, will move into the space.
GWCH has been exploring companies which provide pain management services in hopes of once again offering this at the facility. Two providers are being explored. Dickerson shared that both would offer more services than the hospital had previously received through the last company. GWCH is looking to determine which company would be the best fit and hopes are that local access to pain management services will return to the facility within the next few months.
The health technology platform, Cerner, was revisited. Dickerson noted that GWCH is still waiting for the official quote to be submitted, but anticipated that it would be received by the end of May.
Work to the former recovery room is still pending. Dickerson told board members that the individual slated to perform this, is also working on the ongoing HVAC project. She shared hopes that the project would begin in June.
Installation of hot water heaters at GWCH were recently completed. Dickerson reported significant savings in this as the cost of heaters was much lower than had been anticipated. Initially, this was anticipated to cost $60,000, but was able to be done for $36,000.
Work to update flower beds around the facility has recently been conducted. Dickerson explained that, as the facility does not have groundskeepers, work to simplify landscaping was being completed to reduce high maintenance plants and the number of beds to upkeep. The planting and mulching portion of the project has been completed by members of the GWCH staff.
Patricia Ringer will soon be serving as the new Hospitalist for GWCH. Ringer has been practicing as an APRN for 16 years and her experience also extends to mental health among other areas of health care. Originally from Wichita, Ringer likes the idea of raising her young children in a small community and plans to move to Eureka. Her official start date was shared as June 3rd.
GWCH received the rural hospital initiative grant and this is now in the board checking account.
The next bill from Trane for work in the HVAC project was presented with an update from Dickerson. In regards to the boiler, installation of the new electrical and controls are in progress.
Progress for chiller installation is anticipated in June. Work to upgrade and increase efficiency of facility lighting has mostly been completed. A walk through to review the punch list was conducted and only a handful of items are still needing addressed. The Trane bill in the amount of $199,974.99 was approved.
Financials for the month of April were reviewed and approved. Revenue was reported as being in line with normal numbers. It was shared that GWCH was showing a loss of $99,000. This was noted as being in relation to the increase in salaries being paid and fees for placement services/ recruitment for staffing largely contributed. As difficulty finding staff was discussed, lack of housing in Eureka was noted as an issue. During the review of ratios for the month of April, it was shared that there had been a decrease in days of cash on hand, which was noted as having been impacted with the purchase of a building.
The 2025 preliminary budget was presented to the board and was approved.
Human Resources Director Janel Palmer provided the board education. She discussed her position and some of her responsibilities which included: screening applicants, job opportunity management, taking applicant calls and checking references, coordinating benefit enrollment, maintaining the payroll system, processing tax returns and W2s, supervising the payroll specialist, coordinating open enrollment for benefits, coordinating terminations and resignations, handling unemployment claims, serving on various committees and coordinating insurance.
The following were approved: appointment of Jane Hurst and reappointment of Robert Schmaltz, MD, Radiology consulting.
During the Medical staff report, it was shared that they met on May 21 where presenter Dr. Michael McClintick provided education. Appointments and reappointments were approved and the monthly and quarterly reports were presented. Board members approved the report.
The consent agenda approved for the evening included the following items: Minutes of the April 25 meeting, the April treasurer’s report, disbursements, payroll in the amount of $777,641.35 and accounts payable in the amount of $1,080,543.08.
The next meeting of the Greenwood County Hospital will be held on Thursday, June 27.
