News – Friday, August 7th, 2026

There will be a special meeting of the Salem R-80 Board of Education on Wednesday, Aug. 12th at noon within the Administration Building off J Hwy. This meeting will be open to the public until a vote to move into executive session takes place. After the call to order and agenda approval, the board will discuss and vote on several items under new business, including: a ECSE First Student Transportation contract, a Wagner Photography contract, a bid of a Ford Expedition by Schicker Automotive, a renewal of Power School, a bid for the Upper Elementary parking lot, and authorization of prepayment of the Series 2020 bonds in the total amount of $180,291.67. Under personnel, the board will consider the hiring of Sydney Dothage as an ECSE Aide and Jessey Kissir as a Middle School Paraprofessional, along with the resignation of Angel Hunter as a ECSE Paraprofessional. The board will then adjourn and vote to move into executive session for the discussion of personnel. The open session portion of the meeting is open to the public.

The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors held its regular meeting on Tuesday last week. After approval of the agenda and previous meeting minutes, Will Mahurin was sworn-in to the board. Board elections were also held, with Mike Swyers elected as Chair, Zach Moser as Vice Chair, and Frank Barnitz as Secretary. Governing bylaws were reviewed and approved by the board, with no changes reported. Medical staff bylaws were reviewed with two changes reported: removing Home Health services, and adding that nurse practitioners would have privileges in the treatment room. Medical staff bylaws were approved with only one dissenting vote from Moser. Medical staff privileges were also approved for two physicians: Kiran Chunduri, MD for Tele Radiology and Akanchha Khadka, DO for Family Medicine. Changes in policies and procedures were approved for the pharmacy, laboratory, and RHC. After discussion, the board approved financing for two ambulances with a five-year lease from the Bank of Salem at a 6% interest rate. Moving forward, both the Chief Executive Officer Report and Chief Nursing Officer Report were presented by Amber Hogan, CNO. Brent Peirick, who will join the team beginning Aug. 24th as Chief Executive Officer, was in attendance virtually. Hogan reported that she has been attending plenty of meetings in transitioning the hospital to Equalize RCM, which will provide revenue cycle management services. Director of Quality Improvement & Risk Management Kendra Mobray and Hogan attended a meeting for the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) Horizon 2, which discussed Electronic Health Records (EHR) data and interoperability improvements. In addition, Hogan attended the RHTP leadership meeting for hub anchors, in which Phelps Health has put in an application to be the regional hub anchor and requested five permanent voting seats and five elected seats. Salem Memorial Hospital will be a permanent voting seat. These seats will be meeting weekly for the next two months. Show-Me High Value Network Committee meetings are ongoing with an anticipated price for participation in the first-year lowered to $15,000. Meanwhile, opportunities to expand point-of-care testing in the Rural Health Clinic is being looked into. Work is ongoing with transitioning to 1st Credentialing. Moving to the CNO report, Hogan shared that another contract employee is being sought, and that ER is increasing its staff with applicants received for an ER tech position. The Infection Prevention quarterly meeting was held. A Time Critical Diagnosis (TCD) designation is being worked on for the hospital. Hannah Harris presented the Statistical Summary of Operations and noted that in June, inpatient admissions was 78, with 186 inpatient census days. Outpatient registrations totaled 1,149, while radiology procedures numbered 1,232, and clinic visits totaled 916. The hospital recorded 656 emergency room visits, 28 transfers, 59 admissions, and 210 ambulance runs. Total operating revenue for June was approximately $2.7 million. Total operating expenses were also approximately $2.6 million, resulting in a net profit over expenses of $127,981.62. Net 340B revenue was reported at $29,021. A FY 2026 year-to-date loss was reported at $363,065.30. Harris further stated work is ongoing with Equalize RCM to collect in the coming year on Accounts Receivables (AR.) The hospital currently has 27 days of cash-on-hand. There were ten new hires and four departures in June. Meanwhile, Mobray reported on the 2026 Employee Satisfaction Survey, highlighting that the survey had responses from 70% of the 185 employees currently at the hospital. Quality Improvements highlighted by Mobray included the Emergency Department’s Left Without Being Seen (LWBS) rate which decreased by 1.3%, exceeding the department goal of a 0.5% reduction and reaching the national benchmark of approximately 1%. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Salem Memorial Hospital Board of Directors will be held on Aug. 25th at 6:45 in the Doctor’s Library and is open to the public. At that time, a tax hearing will precede regular business. 

The Dent County Chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP) will be holding its next meeting on Monday, Aug. 17th, from 5:30 to 6:30 in the evening in the Walden Room at the Armory. Contact Patti McKeown at (703) 964-6495 or patti.mckeown@shpbeds.org for more information.