A discussion on how to continue providing service amid significant operating losses largely due to COVID-19 was held Thursday during a regular meeting of the Salem Memorial District Hospital board of directors.
The meeting was held via Zoom.
The hospital received a loan of $2.3 million from the Payroll Protection Program. This loan will allow them to maintain staff necessary for continuing to operate the hospital despite hardships faced during COVID-19. This loan will be reviewed at a later date because any CARES Act loans over $2 million are subject to audit.
Funding of approximately $4.4 million of deferred CARES act funding was received. However, any CARES Act funding will be subject to additional audit procedures if available to justify expenses or lost revenue.
Board member Ray Bruno brought up how difficult it is to determine how bad the pandemic really is when the best COVID-19 tests are wrong 20-30 percent of the time, and “the non-invasive tests only have to be 50 percent better than placebo,” Bruno said.
According to Bruno, that in order to be considered viable, the tests only have to be correct 50 percent of the time. On top of that he says we are seeing a decrease in reporting of other respiratory illnesses, largely because we are seeing so many COVID-19 only tests, when in pre-COVID-19 times we would see a lot more tests administered to diagnose various other illnesses.
• Also during Thursday’s meeting:
• It was announced SMDH received a bond issuance of $2.5 million for current renovations, which includes plumbing work being done under the operating room and other significant improvements.
• The hospital received $3.25 million of Medicare payments. This is essentially an interest free loan for approximately two years, pending extension in future legislation.
• All in-person meetings such as first responder and community CPR trainings have been cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19 concerns.
• The next SMDH board meeting is set to be held via zoom Dec. 15 at noon.
