Local News – Friday, January 24th, 2020

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.