Local News – Wednesday, July 17th, 2019

The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors met for the regular meeting Tuesday at the hospital library. Two directors were in attendance to provide the board with reports on their departments. Linda Maledy, Director of Materials Management, gave the report on the changes made in her department over the last couple of years going to exclusive electronic ordering and billing, and working with two main vendors that increases their discounts. Trudy Rutland from Long Term Care gave an overview of her department and credits the successes there on the staff and the job they do with the patients. In the summary of operations for June, Chief Financial Officer Monica Stogsdill reported on the gain from operations of $67,145 with an excess of revenues over expenses of $72,196 for the month. For the fiscal year, the hospital had a gain from operations of $974,766 with an excess of revenues over expenses of $1,474,831. She did mention those are unaudited numbers. In June, there were 139 patients admitted to the hospital and the amount of acute care patients per day came in at 13.2. There were 86 medical and surgery patients occurred during June with 282 in-patient census days being reported. The cash flow statement showed a decrease in cash of $461,511 for the month with days in accounts receivable rising to 65 as the hospital’s Medicare biller took a vacation and then suffered an illness. Chief Nursing Officer Debbie Hines reported during the month there were 854 emergency room visits, 196 ambulance runs with 147 patients being transported to the hospital, 29 surgical procedures, 1,793 outpatient registrations, 392 home health visits, 9,411 lab tests, 1,407 radiological procedures and 598 rehab treatments. She said there were 352 of the 2019 SMDH Community Health Needs Assessments submitted and the top four priority health needs were illegal and prescription drug abuse, affordable health care and the lack of health insurance in the area, obesity in adults and diabetes, and smoking and the health risks linked to it including COPD, asthma, cancer and heart disease. Hines said an implementation plan has already been put in place to address these issues, mostly through education, but also in working with other health agencies in the area including the Dent County Prevention Coalition. Hospital Administrator Kasey Lucas said the hospital auxiliary did not meet in July and the Hospital Foundation will hold their “Wings and Strings” fundraiser on Saturday, August 3rd at The Commons. He also said there will be a “Patient Appreciation Day” this Friday at the SMDH Family Medicine parking lot where they will serve up FREE hot dogs and hamburgers from 10:00 until 2:00. There will also be games, a bounce house, prizes, giveaways and more. It is absolutely free and it is where the public can meet all the caretakers and staff. Kasey presented the board with the SMDH Emergency Department quarterly surveys for April through June. A total of 114 surveys were returned and the hospital scored over 90% in almost all categories. He also presented the surveys from the SMDH Family Medicine for the 2nd quarter of the year and there were a total of 579 responses. Again, a positive rating of over 94% was received in all the categories. The board approved courtesy staff privileges for teleradiologists Rebecca Mueller, MD; Thomas Schroyer, MD; Matthew Stadnyk, MD; and John Stephens, MD. Lucas discussed the hospital expansion and said the plans are about 97% completed with some small tweaking still being done. He said the hospital will begin their search for some financing in the near future. Lucas also reported on the SMDH Long-Term Care central bath and restroom renovation and the patient room window replacement. He said the contractors will be submitting their contracts in the next week or so and the clock will begin on the work getting done. The board elected Dennis Fiebelman as the chairman for the new fiscal year while Judy Thompson was elected Vice-Chairman. Ray Bruno was elected as the Secretary. The board agreed to hold the public tax meeting before the next meeting on August 20th at 5:45 before going into closed session.

A new Salem Historic Ghost tour will be held in Salem this Friday night at 8:30 as Jacob Stotler will host a journey through the most commonly misspelled street in Salem..MacArthur Street! This is a one time event, hosted as a leg of our Downtown Ghost Tour. The tour will begin at the First Baptist Parking lot, venturing down MacArthur Street and veering off to explore the side streets joining it. Learn about the architecture, history, and most importantly the spirits that roam the original residential district in Salem. Who was Mr. Butler? Who lived in the Orchard house? Who haunts the old Casey’s? Learn all of this and more at our one and ONLY MacArthur Street Historic Ghost Tour!

The Doe Run Company awarded two full scholarships for two recipients to attend the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) 2019 Summer Explosives Camp in June. The scholarship recipients were Keara Brickey from Bunker High School and Tanner Morgan from West County High School. As part of the camp, students toured one of Doe Run’s mines to see firsthand how skills they’ve learned apply to mining careers.

The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce announced the winners of the Independence Day Parade where the Commercial Float winner was Quality Plumbing and Construction, and the Non-Commercial winner was the Salem Memorial District Hospital. The Horsemanship Award went to Jodie Dean. The Salem Chamber thanks everyone who attended the parade on July 4th and all those who participated.