Local News – Thursday, April 22nd, 2021

The Salem Memorial District Hospital regular board meeting was held Tuesday evening in the Hospital Library. District 2 Board member Mike Swyers was sworn in by Hospital Attorney Mark Weaver after running unopposed in the Municipal Election. In the summary of operations for the month of March, the hospital had 105 inpatient admissions with 211 inpatient census days. The average amount of patients per day in Acute Care was 6.8. The hospital showed a loss from operations of $613,362 and expenses over revenues after taxes of $584,707. During the month, there were 593 emergency room visits to go with 202 ambulance runs where 148 patients were transported, 39 surgery cases, 2,098 outpatient registrations, 9,033 lab tests, 1,184 radiological procedures, 286 Home Health visits and 725 rehab treatments. The cash flow statement showed the hospital had a cash decrease for the month of $243,308 and the days in accounts receivable remained at 92 for the second straight month. Chief of Nursing Debbie Hines gave the Acute Care Staffing by Patient Acuity report that showed the average acuity at 17 per day with seven patients per day. Hines said That only 95 people were vaccinated at the fire station on April 16th as the hospital had 600 vaccinations available. The hospital redistributed 400 of those to Missouri Baptist Hospital in Sullivan and Phelps Health took the remaining doses back. Since January 15th, the hospital has had 19 events and 3,600 people have been vaccinated and another 135 have not yet had their second dose. Hines also said there are two active COVID-19 cases in Dent County as of Tuesday so there will be no changes to their visitor policy. Hospital Administrator Kasey Lucas said it has been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic and he said one of the biggest concerns is the deductions from revenue. This is being discussed internally on a weekly basis and the hospital has a plan on how to reduce this amount. Lucas said he would be meeting with auditors BKD next week to discuss this further. Chief Operating Officer Jason Edwards said the Golf Tournament is scheduled for June 4th and the hospital has received $8,100 in sponsorships so far and five teams have signed up. Another round of sponsorship letters will be going out soon. Edwards said the TytoCare Product has been tested and evaluated in house, and all up-to-date documentation has been sent to the USDA. Edwards has spoken to a rural school to start piloting the program and the hope is to have the program in all the schools at the beginning of the next school year. Lucas reported on the hospital expansion and said the new water heater electric has been installed. The new water heater will be installed soon followed by the water softeners and that will finish the expansion project. Lucas said the Cerner Conversion for payroll is underway as they are currently running dual payrolls to make sure all the deduction codes the hospital has are recognized and the first payroll using Cerner will be dated July 2nd. He also said the departments are all working on creating workbooks for the conversion to be done in early fall with Microsoft Dynamics 365. Lucas said the next finance committee meeting is pending as they are trying to get more accurate numbers for the budget preparation. Once they feel they have an accurate prediction, the committee will meet. There were no purchases for the month and the board went into closed session.

The 6th Annual Veteran Affairs Day will be held Friday from 10:00 in the morning until 2:00 in the afternoon at the American Legion Walker Roney Post 99 and All-American VFW Post 6280 on Highway 32 West in Salem. The Veteran Affairs Day is an annual outreach to all veterans from parts of central rural Missouri to provide easier access to VA services. It includes the American Legion District 16 and the VFW District 2 which includes Camden, Cole, Crawford, Dent, Howell, Laclede, Maries, Miller, Phelps, Osage, Pulaski, Reynolds, Shannon, Texas and Wright counties. Representatives from the Department of Veteran Affairs, including enrollment and claims processing specialists as well as benefit advisors, will be in attendance. The Truman VA Hospital will also have the COVID vaccine available for veterans and their spouses. The Columbia Veteran Center will have counselors and advisors on hand in their mobile unit. In addition, the Missouri Veterans Commission will have Service Officers at the event. A light lunch will be provided around noon. It doesn’t matter when you served, if you are a veteran and have questions, have a claim or need to enroll into the VA healthcare system or get the COVID vaccine, please attend. Don’t miss out on your hard-earned benefits. Truman VA Hospital has confirmed that they will NOT be using the Johnson and Johnson single dose vaccine (presumably due to recommendations by FDA & CDC). They will now be administering the Pfizer two dose vaccine. The second dose will be administered on Friday, May 14th from 10:30 in the morning until 2:00 that afternoon in the Bingo Hall in the Legion/VFW building. Call the American Legion Post 99/VFW Post 6280 at (573) 729-3710 for questions, to get vaccinated or to schedule a private time with a counselor.