 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
The Privacy Notice requires Adobe Acrobat Reader
|
MARCH 2003 NEWSLETTER
MARCH 2003 NEWSLETTER
Washington County Memorial Hospital has recently gained the regular service of a second Board-Certified Cardiologist, so in addition to Dr. Dwyer we now have Dr. Tariq seeing patients at WCMH on a regular basis. It is certainly a good thing for the people of the Washington County area to have regular cardiology service available locally. Dr. Tariq in particular utilizes a lot of recently upgraded diagnostic capabilities to perform very sophisticated diagnostic cardiac testing right here at Washington County Memorial Hospital. We can perform echocardiography with our newest clinical piece of equipment, which is a state-of –the-art ultrasound machine. We conduct routine stress tests, and also cardiolyte stress-testing which combines nuclear scanning with routine treadmill stress testing in order to measure and take pictures of the blood flowing through the heart and arteries. Several months ago a patient would have had to leave Washington County to obtain this level of service capability. Again, we are very pleased to have Dr. Dwyer and now Dr Tariq providing cardiology services.
As you know, commercial health insurance and managed care plans are very complicated these days and are changing constantly. In fact it is difficult for patients, doctors, and hospitals to keep up with the changes. The hospital has recently engaged some specialists in the field of insurance contracting to help us negotiate with these companies in the best interests of not only the hospital but the patients as well. One breakthrough for our hospital which I hope we can announce officially in a few days will be that we expect Washington County Memorial Hospital to become an approved and participating hospital in Mercy Health Plan, which is a health insurance program with more than two thousand members, or covered lives, in our service area. Mercy Health Plan has in the past limited the number of participating hospitals they accepted, and excluded our hospital. I believe we should able to finalize an agreement with Mercy Health Plan and make an official announcement in a few days.
I would like to strongly encourage young people as well as older people considering career change to think of the healthcare field. There is a workforce crisis in the health care industry which shows very few signs of diminishing. The shortage of nurses, medical technicians, pharmacists, and other personnel has the potential to severely restrict the availability of health care services nationally in the future. At the core of the problem is the growing elderly population in the United States and the reduced pool of young people entering the workforce. There are many, many factors involved. At the least, I would like parents and young people in particular to understand that there is scholarship assistance available for many of the school programs that lead into healthcare fields. School counselors have information about this. The Missouri Hospital Association has a website with information and links to health careers and scholarships, and that website is www.mhanet.com. Also, if anyone wants to contact my office I will try to help them get the information they need. The hospital’s number is 438-5451.
I am often asked about the possibilities of having a dialysis service in Potosi. Very understandably, this is a topic of utmost importance to patients requiring ongoing dialysis, and to their families and loved ones. Finally, we are on the brink of having a dialysis center in Potosi. The Potosi Dialysis Center is scheduled to open approximately April 15, and will be located at 824 High Street, Suite 2. This is not a hospital service, it will be a privately owned and operated dialysis center. Its Medical Director will be Dr. Singh, a Nephrologist who has been seeing patients at our hospital several days a month for the last several years. He is an outstanding physician. The Center’s Administrator will be Sue Blalock, RN. They will be making their own announcements soon, but this is not a secret and since I am asked so often I thought it would be worth mentioning here. This will be a tremendously good thing for the many people of our area who need dialysis on an ongoing basis and presently have to spend lots of time and energy and money traveling to receive this service.
For those who have not been to Washington County Memorial Hospital in a while, I would like to say that our renovation project has now been completed. In fact we have done even more renovation since our last big project was completed last Spring. We have new facilities for cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation, physical therapy, outpatient clinics, respiratory therapy, the business office, and a new personnel office. We have a new patient registration area for better privacy. We have upgraded equipment in nursing such as IV pumps, pneumatic stockings, patient monitors and defibrillators, and even patient beds. We have added and upgraded equipment in respiratory therapy, adding diagnostic services which among other things help diagnose and treat the causes of asthma in children. We have upgraded our ultrasound equipment which helps with cardiac workups and will also help with the diagnosis of certain orthopedic problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome and joint disease. We have a top-notch sleep disorders center, both in terms of our equipment and staff. In fact, our Director of Respiratory Services Tammy Reed recently received a specialty certification as a Registered Polysomnographic Technologist, and she is one of only 5,100 individuals in the entire world with this level of credentials! So I guess you could say I am proud of a lot of things about Washington County Memorial Hospital and the many fine people who work there. We are continuing to improve on behalf of our patients.
Finally, I am very pleased to announce that Nurse Practitioner Connie Young has now joined the practice of Dr. Fred Yap at Austin Plaza Primary Care. Connie is a fine individual with a very impressive background in patient care. She lives in Leadwood and is a graduate of West County High School and the University of Missouri-St. Louis where she received her Masters Degree in the Family Nurse Practitioner Program. She is certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support as well as being a certified ACLS Instructor. We are proud to have her working here in Washington County.
H. Clark Duncan, Jr. Administrator