Local News – Wednesday, November 29th, 2023
The Salem Memorial Hospital regular board meeting was held last Tuesday evening, November 21st, in the hospital library. In the Administrators Report, Interim CEO Jason Edwards reported that all work papers have been completed and the auditors final report is expected by the end of the month. He also said the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency testing is complete, and the CLIA lab inspection plan of correction has been completed. The Iron County Commissioners met last week to discuss the Doe Run Tax protest. Doe Run wants to devalue their property that would affect the approximately $174,000 that the hospital gets in taxes. If the latest proposal is not accepted, legal action will proceed. CFO Doug Hoban reported hospital admissions were 80 which included four Swingbed admissions with a total of 202 patient census days. In October, there were 1,541 Outpatient Registrations, 968 Cardiopulmonary Procedures, 6,474 Lab Tests, 1,280 Radiology Procedures, 608 Rehabilitation Treatments, 33 Surgical Procedures, and 213 Home Health Visits. There were 596 Emergency Room visits with 46 patients being admitted. A total of 220 ambulance runs were made with 159 patients being transported. The hospital had expenses over revenue in October of $307,794 with a loss from operations of $309,395. The 340B plan showed revenues over expenses for October of $44,000. The Rural Health Clinic net profit was $18,694.80 but this does not include employee fringe benefits or indirect costs. If these costs were included it would show that the clinic loses money each month. The current Interim Clinic Director and Nurse Manager Director is Tina Pabin. Edwards reported that he is working with the state to get reimbursement for the hospital of up to $1 million to match what the hospital has spent from July 1st to May 31st. Deb Gorman presented a Proposed Revised COVID Policy that removed the mandate that all employees be vaccinated. She reported that the Medical Staff are all against mandatory vaccinations. After a lengthy discussion by the board, a motion was made and approved to continue to mandate that all employees be vaccinated for the COVID-19 vaccination unless a documented medical or religious exemption was approved. Edwards presented proposed employee health insurance rates for 2024. The current anticipated cost for 2024 was up 35% with the employees portion up 20.6%. The board felt this needs to be bid out to better establish competitive rates. A motion was made and approved to get more bids by the end of the year. Hoban presented two CD’s that need to be renewed and the board approved renewing them at Town and Country Bank at a rate of 5.42%. They also approved renegotiating the CD’s being held at the Bank of Salem totaling $400,000 with rates under 1% for higher rates. The meeting was then adjourned.
Preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) shows young hunters ages 6-15 harvested 3,574 deer during Missouri’s late youth portion of the 2023 firearms deer hunting season, November 24th-26th. Of the 3,574 deer harvested, 1,697 were antlered bucks, 361 were button bucks, and 1,516 were does. Top counties for the late youth portion were Texas with 77 deer harvested, Pike with 62, and Callaway and Morgan, each with 61. In our area, Crawford County youth harvested 33 deer, Dent County youth took 46, the Phelps County count was 39, while Reynolds County young hunters took 47 deer and Shannon County’s total deer harvested was 31. For more information on this season’s harvest totals, visit the MDC website.
The Salem Community Center @ the Armory will host a benefit fundraiser and auction to help Michala Pope as she battles a rare and aggressive form of angio sarcoma cancer in her heart. The live auction will begin at 11:00 in the morning on Sunday, December 3rd. Donations will be accepted at the armory on Saturday evening, December 2nd from 6:00 to 7:00, and on Sunday morning, December 3rd, from 9:00 until 10:00. Admission to the fundraiser is a case of water or soda. This “HopeForPope” fundraiser will include lunch at $10 a plate, then a live auction of donated items with auctioneer Tom Wulff and a silent auction of baked goods. T-shirts are for sale for $20 each and a “March for Michala” walk around the city park will begin around 5:30 that evening with glowsticks. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to the Pope Family. For more information, call Susie Cahill at 739-1127.