The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board met Sept. 22 in the hospital library at 6 p.m. for its monthly meeting.
SMDH reported some of the lowest numbers seen in recent times this month. Lab tests were indicative of the slump at 7,362, well under last year’s YTD average of 8,354. “This is one year that we’re really, really down,” said Administrator Dennis Pryor.
Chief Nursing Officer Mary Lou Brooks, who gave a report of patient attendance in various areas of the hospital, concurred saying, “Across the board, everything was down.”
Pryor offered an explanation: The high premiums seen under the Affordable Care Act are discouraging Dent County’s poor to gamble and put their health at risk, in order to save money for other needed expenses.
“I’ve had several people stop by and say, because their deductibles are so high, they just couldn’t go to the doctor and get regular lab results,” said Pryor.
He did mention that the health screening held at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory was “99 percent” well-received, and that the event acted as a temporary stand-in, allowing patients to receive at least one more round of their much-needed blood-work tests.
Pryor’s update on the legislature was equally ominous.
“As you’ve all heard,” he said, “there’s not going to be a budget this year, but a week from tomorrow is the end of the fiscal year for the federal government. Oct. 1 starts the new year, and right now, they do not have a spending resolution in place. I know there’s a lot of discussion over Planned Parenthood and whether the government will shut down or not. So a week from Thursday, I’m not sure if the government will be functioning as normal. I’m also not sure how that will affect Medicare and Medicaid. In the past, the government has allowed some of those dollars to come through, but I’m just not sure what’ll happen this time. So our government is at work, and we should all be extremely proud of them.”
Board member Joe Brand mentioned that he’d been hearing from high schoolers that a round of staph infections had hit the schools, but Chief Nurse Mary Lou Brooks was not aware of any uptick locally. “I’ll have to check on those numbers,” she said.
Meanwhile, 200 of the 422 mumps cases this year have been from Illinois, she reported, so a possible state border jump is possible. That scenario has been avoided for the majority of the year thus far.
The physicians at SMDH Family Medicine wished to let the community know that appointments are now available at the clinic until 7:30 p.m., part of the clinic’s new extended hours. “The doctors want to stress that walk-ins are welcome,” said Pryor. “All day long. It’s the only place in Salem that this is available.”
“This is good for our community,” said board member Judy Thompson.
Clinic hours are from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday, with both walk-ins welcome and scheduled appointment slots available until 7:30 p.m. SMDH Family Medicine can be reached at 729-8000.
Other major news the advancements made on acquiring a new nuclear medicine scanner. Pryor noted that the hospital has received three quotes on a new scanner, and will have a fresh machine up and running by “December at the latest.” Nuclear medicine will have to be down for about a week to install the improvements, but the service promises two-day-a-week support, which Pryor stated was “an improvement over what we have now.” The month saw nine nuclear med scans, two above the budgeted seven.
The Board also bemoaned raised interest rates on certificates of deposit, now above one percent from the Bank of Salem, with the highest rate at 1.2 percent on a 36-month, $200,000 amount.
“That’s ridiculous,” said one board member.
All heads turned to Brand, curious to know how his Edward Jones’ expertise would weigh in on the rates, which are to increase again in three years.
“I just did one at 1.7 percent,” said Brand, throwing some cool water on the discussion. “That’s just the way it’s going.”
In more hopeful news, it was reported that proceeds from the Foundation 5K Run/Walk at Montauk State Park Nov. 7 will benefit the Jean B. Weaver Dialysis Unit. It was mentioned that Town & Country Bank handed out 400 flyers promoting the upcoming event.
Also, Asst. Administrator Kasey Lucas stated that the electronic medical records upgrades would go live on Nov. 4.
Finally, the CLIA and Long-Term Care Surveys were both successes, with all deficiencies pointed out prior having been corrected and accepted by the State.
“We were very happy that they didn’t find a single thing wrong in Long-Term Care itself,” said Brooks, praising Bev Martin for her excellent supervising work. The Radiology NRC had no deficiencies cited as well.
“We’ve come a long way,” said Pryor, “We had no patient injuries, and that’s what’s most important. So congratulations to our staff.”
