The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON—The Hospital District’s board of commissioners have authorized a request from Columbia County Health System (CCHS) CEO Shane McGuire to spend $250,000 from CARES Act funds allocated to the District. The requested funds are for the Construction Review Services application, electrical service relocation, and construction-ready documents for the proposed hallway construction project. The hallway to be constructed will join the Acute Care wing of the hospital with Hall One at the Booker Rest Home and will feature two negative-air rooms to quarantine and treat patients with an infectious disease such as COVID-19.

Speaking at the board meeting last week, McGuire told the commissioners the new rooms would include infrastructure necessary to accommodate heavier patients. This aids patient care and can help to prevent serious injury to nursing staff.

The hallway will provide staff with better access to swing-bed patients in Hall One at the nursing home.

McGuire said an engineering team used numbers from a recently completed project to produce a square foot cost estimate for the hallway construction. The estimated cost for just the rooms and the corridor, with stairs, is estimated at $1.5 million. Adding a ramp for moving bed or wheelchair-bound patients will bring the cost to $2.5 million.

The District received $2.8 million from the Provider Relief Fund under the federal CARES Act. It allocated $1.5 million for the hallway construction project, with $1.3 million to other projects on the hospital campus.

Making the project “shovel-ready” puts the District in a good position to pursue grants and other funding mechanisms to pay for the rest, McGuire said.

Other projects using the Provider Relief Funds are underway. The Med air/Med gas/suction project has begun with a completion date at the end of July, and the new hospital generator has arrived.

Provider Relief Funds are not being used for the dental clinic addition project. With help from State Rep. Skyler Rude, much of the funding for construction will come from the state.

That project is on time, and within budget, McGuire said. A local dentist has committed to working in the clinic one day a week. A dental hygienist and an assistant have also been hired. The clinic will have a soft opening the first week in June and will initially operate three days a week. The focus will be on Medicaid patients.

Melissa Czapka, ARNP, presented information to the board about the Wound Care Clinic program, which offers advanced treatments and diagnostics to provide comprehensive care to patients.

McGuire said very early discussions have begun about building a free-standing wound care center on the CCHS campus.

Financial Statement

McGuire referred to March as a financial recovery month, saying it shows similar volumes to March 2020, indicating a return to a more normalized business status. April trends look similar, he said.

He said the Hospital District’s financial auditor, Tom Dingus, will attend the board meeting in May to present the 2020 audited financial statement.

HRSA Grant

The Columbia County Health System (CCHS) has been awarded $231,426 per year for five years through a Health Resources and Services Administration grant for its Healthy Rural Hometown Initiative. The award will be used to treat patients with heart disease, chronic respiratory disease, and stroke. Interventions may include in-home visits, home monitoring, and team-based care.

New staff

McGuire said David Woolever, MD, MBA, an Internal Medicine doctor from Walla Walla, has been hired for the Waitsburg Clinic. He will begin work there in June or July.

“We are so fortunate to be putting together such an amazing team of skilled practitioners,” McGuire said.

CCHS recently hired Dr. April Biggs and Seth Alford ARNP, working out of the Columbia Family Clinic in Dayton.

Vaccine update

McGuire said even though the state is allowing more people to get the vaccine, community interest in getting the vaccine is waning. He said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is now available.

Five-year Strategic Plan

The Executive Team at CCHS has begun work on the Five-Year Strategic Plan and asked the board to bring their thoughts and community feedback to the June meeting. The team anticipates completing the plan by the end of the year.