Your World Today

This Friday night will not only be the Town and Country Bank “Cat Classic” at the Salem High School gym for the basketball game between Salem and Licking, but Homecoming as well. This year’s attendants are freshman Cayleigh Moody, sophomore Jaden Flores, junior Jodi Gotchal, and the three senior quen candidates: Malia Terrill, Mallorie Dittman and Brooklin Shelton. Last year’s Homecoming Queen, Madi Keith, will crown the new queen at the festivities. This year’s escorts will be Reese Dodson, Dawson Conway, Carter Chilton, Silas Wulff, Braiden Carmack and Luke Morrison.

The Ozark National Scenic Riverways has selected Jason Lott to serve as the Acting Superintendent following the retirement of Larry Johnson on January 3rd. Lott will arrive in the park this week to begin the 120-day assignment while a new permanent superintendent is sought. Lott has been with the National Park Service (NPS) since 2002. Lott is a twenty-year veteran with the Army National Guard, having served ten years as an enlisted soldier with a deployment during Desert Storm, and as an officer who served as a Company Commander for the 1086th Transportation Company during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Jason retired as a Captain in 2007. Lott holds a master’s degree in History with an emphasis in Cultural Resource Management from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. He and his wife, Wendy, and their two children are residents of Los Alamos, New Mexico.

The Dent County Commissioners’ regular meeting was held Monday morning at the courthouse. Deloris Gray Wood from the Dent County Historical Society was in attendance to discuss with the commission the 150th anniversary of the Dent County Courthouse. She recommended a celebration on March 30th at the courthouse with a birthday cake and water. March 30th, 1870 is the date the contract to build the courthouse was approved. The other celebration she would like to have is on July 4th. The commissioners agreed to both celebrations and they will discuss further what to do on Independence Day to tie in with the parade and other downtown events. Dent County Treasurer Denita Williams presented the January CART tax receipts for the commission. She reported Dent County received $56,050.15 this January compared to the $54,808.09 received in a January of 2019. That is an increase of $1,242.06. In the road report, District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell said patch grading was being done on Dent County Roads 6230 and 6240. He said the southern part of the county received about five inches of snow from the last storm Thursday and Friday. He also stated that a crossover pipe was being repaired and another was being installed on county road 5170. He said additional road materials would be added to that road as well. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson said brush was being cut on county roads 2560, 2580, 2613 and 4430. He also said men would be working on Dent County Truck #116 and doing shop maintenance. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles reported he would be attending a Department of Natural Resources meeting at the Salem Community Center@The Armory at 1:00 today on preservation grant funds. He is interested on anything that may be able to be used for the courthouse provided that it doesn’t have too many strings associated with it. Dent County Clerk Angie Curley said absentee voting for the March 10th Presidential Preference Primary would begin today. She also said the last day to register to vote for the primary would be February 12th. The next meeting of the Dent County Commission would be Thursday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

The Dent County Sheriff’s Office has released some reports. On Tuesday, January 14th, deputies traveled to a residence in the 100 block of South Pershing Street to serve an arrest warrant. During the course of the incident, a 30-year-old Salem man was arrested for having active warrants through Dent County. The man was transported to the Dent County Sheriff’s Office where he was incarcerated. Then on January 15th a deputy conducted a traffic stop on McArthur Street. During the course of the traffic stop, a 28-year-old Licking man was arrested for having active arrest warrants from the Houston Police Department and Licking Police Department. The man was transported to the Dent County Sheriff’s Office where he was later extradited by another agency. On Thursday, January 16th, a deputy traveled to a residence in the 6500 block of Highway 119 for the report of a burglary. During the course of the investigation, a 19-year-old Salem man was arrested for having an active arrest warrant through Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. The man was transported to the Dent County Sheriff’s Office where he later posted bond and was released. Please call the Dent County Sheriff’s Office at 729-3241 with any information about an ongoing investigation.

The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors met Tuesday night at the hospital library. At the meeting, the board heard from Karolyn Adams, the Clinical Director of the SMDH Family Medicine, about the history of the clinic and changes over the years. For the month of December, CFO Monica Stogsdill reported 120 patients were admitted with only 286 inpatient census days. The acute care average amount of patients per day in December was 10. Outpatient registrations came in at 1,736 while there were 1,736 cardiopulmonary procedures, 8,514 laboratory tests, 1,420 radiological procedures, 782 emergency department visits, 578 rehab treatments and 278 Home Health visits. A total of 226 ambulance runs were made in December with 178 patients transported with 48 dry runs. For the month, the hospital had a loss from operations of $346,551 with an excess of expenses over revenues of $289,169 after tax receipts. The expenses in December were driven by contractual services that included those for nursing, rehab care and also for billing and medical records. With the loss from operations, there was a cash decrease during the month of $42,158 with the days cash on hand still at 46. Days in net receivable continues to rise during this time of transition and now stands at 89 days with over 16 million dollars of total receivables. Stogsdill said bills were just sent out for over $2 million dollars of private pay bills with another round of bills going out soon for another 1.4 million dollars. CNO Debbie Hines said there were nine reported cases of flu in Dent County since December 1st. Hospital CEO Kasey Lucas said the hospital auxiliary had nine members at their January meeting at the Salem Community Center@The Armory. They talked about the fundraisers for the year. COO Jason Edwards reported on the hospital foundation and they have 10 couples for this year’s “Dancing with the Salem Stars” to be held Saturday night at the Salem High School Gym. Some floor tickets are available for $20 in advance and if any are left, they will be $25 at the door. Bleacher tickets will be available at the door only and will be $5.00 each. Contact Edwards at the hospital for more information at 729-6626, ext 4003. Edwards also talked about the Diabetes Support Group that will begin meeting at the Salem Community Center@The Armory on March 12th with Dietician Nicole Hancock holding the one hour class from 4:30 to 5:30 on the second Tuesday of every month. Lucas went over the SMDH Emergency Department and SMDH Family Medicine Patient Satisfaction Survey results with the board. Both surveys came back with extremely positive responses. Lucas also reported on the Chief of Staff’s meeting held where Dr. John Demorlis was re-elected as the Chief of Staff, Dr. Yvonne Prince was elected the Vice-Chief of Staff and Dr. Ralph Ford was elected Secretary. The board then reviewed the medical staff reappointments and approved all the active staff and courtesy staff that reapplied. Lucas stated that only Judy Thompson of District #1 and Willie Strader of District #4 filed for those seats for the Municipal Election. Since there are no races, these individuals are automatically elected and the hospital does not have to pay for an election. Thompson’s term is for six years and Strader’s term is for three years. Lucas reviewed with the board the strategic planning for the hospital for 2020 that includes employee education and onboarding, facility expansion, standards of care, electronic medical records consolidation and affiliations such as the high school sports medicine program and telemedicine grant. The board approved the conflict of interest policy and a Home Health by-law change before announcing the finance committee this year. Ray Bruno will be the chair with Mike Swyers and Willie Strader making up the rest of the committee. The board approved the purchase of a Vein Viewer for the Laboratory from AccuVein for $5,645; two high flow heated Nasal Cannulas for the Cardio Department from Fisher and Paykel Healthcare for $6,055; a Hoyer Calibre Lift and Sling for Acute Care from McKesson for $7,314; a Weight Bed Stretcher for the Emergency Department for $7,695, three IV Pumps for the Emergency Department from B. Braun for $8,013, and a new floor scrubber for housekeeping from Cape Janitor Supply for $6,495. Lucas also reminded the board about Health Fair on February 5th and 6th at the Salem Community Center@The Armory from 6:00 until 9:00 in the morning. The board then went into closed session.

The Dent County Health Center Board of Trustees and their staff is proud to announce that the Dent County Health Center will be moving to their new location at 1010 E. Scenic Rivers Blvd (the old Dr. Cunningham office location) to enable them to serve clients more efficiently and expand on current services. The old office will be closed January 27th through January 31st for moving, weather permitting. They plan to re-open at the new location on Monday, February 3rd. If you have questions, please call them today at 729-3106.