Hospital touts women’s services

Tony Thompson, C.E.O., began the Allen County Regional Hospital board meeting Tuesday with a discussion about a joint effort to provide women’s services to qualified applicants.
“I want to make sure the board is aware that we are participating with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and with support from the Susan B. Komen foundation providing mammograms and pap tests for individuals, who are between the ages of 40 and 64, who have no health insurance and meet income guidelines,” Thompson said.
Next Saturday the hospital will participate in the Chamber Expo and provide blood pressures, BMI measurements, senior life solutions and wound care.
Regarding other business, Terry Schwab an orthopedist from Fort Scott, continues to consider employment with the hospital. There will not be as much of a hurdle as board members had previously anticipated in regards to the equipment he needs.
“There would still be some hurdles if we are fortunate enough to complete that recruitment, more so with how do we set an office up, than with instrumentation,” Thompson said.
The hospital is still looking to fill a position in business development and has an advertisement posted on the website Indeed.com as well as the hospital’s personal website, said Paula Sell, chief human resource officer.
On Feb. 8, hospital administrators met with Tim Moore, project engineer with Murray Company, the construction management firm that oversaw the hospital’s construction, and David Wright, president of Hospital Facilities Group, architects of the hospital, to discuss an ongoing problem with the showers in patient rooms.
“We went through a process of assessing the backside of the shower walls and took some photos,” Thompson said. “From those, David Wright will be putting together a recommendation for action.”
January was a very busy in-patient month, Chief Financial Officer, Larry Peterson said.
 The admissions department was 24 percent over budget, the emergency room was 11 percent over budget. The Iola clinic’s budget was slightly over and the Humboldt clinic saw 60 patients, he said.
 “The Humboldt clinic is on track,” Thompson said. He said he has asked “the team” to track Iola patients who have followed Joanna Curl, physician’s assistant, or Dr. Brian Neely to the Humboldt clinic as well as patients who are now seeing a different provider and new patients who are getting started at the Humboldt location.