Hospital fundraising breaks $1 million mark
Posted by Backroadsnews on Jan 29, 2009 in Uncategorized |
I am thrilled to have found out that the new Washington County Hospital fundraising effort has passed the $1 million mark. This was the fundraising effort’s base goal. Now the effort will focus on the $1.5 million challenge goal.
I think it is fantastic to see how the county has responded to this effort. It is definitely a priority for our county. Even while we feel the effects of an economic crunch, and start to come certain leisurely pursuits out to try to pinch pennies, folks know that healthcare is one of the base needs for our society.
I hope we meet the $1.5 million mark and I look forwarding to taking pictures at groundbreaking!
This county should close the hospital and instead purchase two life-flight style helicopters and have a full time staff of nine available three to a shift around the clock.
But seriously, should they really being building a brand new hospital on a gravel road in rough economic times and in area with rapid economic decline? A question I have oft asked but never received an answer to: how many unique users does this hospital service annually? I don’t need to know the total $ or total # of visits. How many different people use the hospital in Washington?
NEW copters ? 2 of them ? some more info for you . Emergency medical helicopter services cost patients $5,000 to $10,000 a trip, the cost of a copters can be from $6,000,000 – $15,000,000 . That is with out someone to fly it and the maintenance on it . O and then the RN on the flight and so on and so on .So I would to give that one a big NO .
Perfect. maybe you should attend one of the hospital’s informational meetings. I think the times and info were in the last weeks paper. Helicopters? SERIOUSLY? You want to talk about economic decline? Close the hospital and then lose all of it’s staff and explain to the county why they have lost millions of dollars worth of revenue and economic impact. The hospital is obviously going to happen, everyone should be proud of the efforts of our community. I hope that you jump on board with the rest of the supporters because I don’t understand why anyone wouldn’t.
Full time staff of nine, 3 to a shift around the clock???
What happen to the 40 hour work week? I understand dedication to the job, but good luck finding those nine people with no life.
And that doesn’t even touch on the points tigerfan brings up.
Okay people…did you not catch where I started the paragraph following the helicopter talk with “But seriously,”? I was just dorking around. mom: No chopper service on the weekends. (j/k)
I’m not saying the hospital should necessarily be closed, I just think we should consider consolidating with one of the bigger and more established hospitals in the surrounding counties. At the minimum we need to realize we do not NEED a new hospital.
And FYI: nothing is “obviously” going to happen. Probably…maybe. And if you cannot critically analyze the situation enough visualize it from another viewpoint (“I hope that you jump on board with the rest of the supporters because I don’t understand why anyone wouldn’t.”), you have no standing to speak on such things.
I personally don’t think it will be that hard to find employees to staff the new hospital. I believe one of the biggest issues/complaints with staffing the current hospital is due to the dilapidated conditions of the facility, and no one wants to work in it. I think a new facility will change the mindset of people when looking for work. Washington County’s unemployment rate (4.5%) is below the Kansas (4.9%) unemployment rate, but there are people that will be interested. I think we will draw people from surrounding communities that will want to work in a new facility.
Perfect, on January 30th, 2009 at 10:51 am Said:
I just think we should consider consolidating with one of the bigger and more established hospitals in the surrounding counties. At the minimum we need to realize we do not NEED a new hospital.
Perfect, without giving away any info that might let the blog world know who you are, would you be willing to say if you are from Washington? If so, are you saying in that in a medical emergency would rather wait on medical emergency from a “more established hospital in the surrounding communities”, such as Marysville, Belleville or Clay Center? I would say Hanovers facility is comparable to Washington’s so that would not be an option in this scenario. And, in my opinion we do NEED a new hospital. At the very least it will create more jobs and possibly more families if they know we have a new hospital facility.
Sorry about my double talk there, didn’t proof read it before posting!
yes it obviously is going to happen. They needed $1 million minimum to make it happen and they’ve done that (thumbs up). The $1.5 is the next goal and I wish them the best of luck in reaching it, obviously if we can reach $1 million, we can reach the 1.5 goal too.
Perfect “just think we should consider consolidating with one of the bigger and more established hospitals in the surrounding counties.” Sure great idea, why don’t we just consolidate the schools, the businesses, the towns, heck let’s just get rid of Washington county and consolidate with one of the more “established” towns. I’m sorry, but I take great pride in being a resident of Washington county and the small town way of life. I don’t think I’m the only one either because enough people around here believe in it to raise over $1 million dollars!
Yes I have considered the other side of things in this project. I have done my research and have attended one of the meetings and felt that they have done their homework on such an important issue. You don’t just put a bandaid on a broken leg, so why would our community, if it wants to progress into the future, not want to build a new hospital when it will cost less to build new than to renovate the old?
Hats off to the individuals in the community and surrounding areas who have worked so hard on such an amazing goal! I am proud to say that I look forward to utilizing the new facility.
Well blog at least we agree on this one
The saying “Time is muscle” when dealing with a heart attack should SCREAM at the people who don’t think we need a new hospital. Even if you don’t Dr here you are a fool to go anywhere else in a TRUE emergency if this is the closest hospital.
Yeah, I want to go an extra 20 or 30 miles with my heart muscle dying, a bleed in my brain, or not being able to breath because my chest smashed into the steering wheel when I hit that deer and wasn’t wearing my seatbelt. Sounds like sooo much fun, NOT.
This building is way past the bandaid fix, but opponents of the new building don’t want to hear that.
Sometimes the truth hurts.
Blog-
No, I do not currently live in the city of Washington. And to answer your question, I would want local stabilization services, but that is far short of needing a “do-it-all” hospital.
I have been to one of the “informational meetings”. Having been to numerous “informational meetings” for other causes, I can tell you with certainty that this was more of a “sales pitch” more than a forum to discuss options and opportunities. Nice folks to be sure, but I left unconvinced. Amongst other things, they were talking about less than a handful of jobs over the next ten years under the best of circumstances. So few jobs hardly rationalizes spending this kind of money.
Tigerfan-
It is my understanding the $1.5 million is being collected in order to get a loan for the remainder. Have you heard how well the credit market is doing these days? Do you think it wise to borrow unneccessarily? Also, it is not cheaper to build a new hospital. It is cheaper to renovate. Don’t believe me? Ask Everett.
As far as consolidation, it is just another idea to kick around. Are there not already plenty of people around here who want further school consolidation, etc? The legislature has discussed on multiple occassions the consolidation of counties. Based on my own research, I would venture to say there should probably be about 25 counties in Kansas. It’s likely only a matter of time. 2K to 6K people is not enough people per county to realistically support the kind of redundancies we have.
Mom-
You say this building is “way past the bandaid fix”. What specifically are you basing this on? Who said it only has to be a “bandaid fix”? Is there not some middle ground here (like is trying to be found in the pool situation)?
If you honestly believe, as Blog, Tigerfan and Mom do, that the county needs and will support this endeavor, than I respect your opinion. I however cannot help but ponder the other side of the coin in these situations.
mom, on January 30th, 2009 at 12:13 pm Said:
Well blog at least we agree on this one
Oh mom, surely not. Just yesterday someone on here told me I was nothing but a trouble stirrer…or whatever they called me….anyway, I support the new hospital, great infrastructure for the future of Washington, I support a new pool, same issue with the hospital, spend 2/3 of the cost (only a guess) of a new one to renovate an old one, and I would love to see a movie theatre in town as well.
Perfect -
The building has already had the “band aid fix” for years. How do you think the budget was kept down all those years. It needs to be rewired, new HVAC, there is asbestos in the old system, needs a new generator, the roof has patches on top of patches, (if the roof leaked what else might there be?), the rooms for ER and X-RAY (to name a few) are too small, there isn’t room to expand, etc. etc.
Local stabilization requires alot more than just a one room few person situation. You will still need lab and X-Ray, Lifestar won’t fly in all conditions so you just might have to wait here a day or so until you can transfer out (our EMT’s are great but can only take basic tranfers by ground). In that case you might want to eat, and have clean linens and a clean room. The nurses can’t do all of this as that would creat a cross contamination situation which the state frowns apon.
Also who’s to say you would be the only person with a crisis at this time, they might need 2 rooms.
Also…
Physical Therapy serves alot of people who would have to drive the 20 – 30 miles up to 5 times a week.
What a pain in the butt.
blog -
great point – infrastructure, Washington will only continue to decline if we dont keep our infrastructure up to date. We need jobs, and modern amenities to attract and keep people here.
Great Job Hospital Fundraisers!!! Dick
We have people in our town and county that don’t have enouth money to feed their kids, thus the take home meals and fee meals at school. Do we really need to spend money on a pool, hospital, etc or should we be trying to help these people .
Also the current hospital wouldn’t have so much trouble hiring help if they weren’t firing the employes they have or had.
the EMT s do more than basic transfers and do a very good job
The Washington ambulance is only certified as a BLS service. Meaning they have no MICT on the service. That is what Ks. calls it’s paramedics.
Those letters stand for BASIC LIFE SUPPORT. That is what a basic transfer is. It only means they are limited to the BASIC level of life support skills. Certainly misleading based on the job they do, but not when compared to the further education required for the ADVANCED LIFE SUPPORT certifcate that a MICTcould provide.
I’m sure the EMT’s knew what a basic transfer ment. I know they do an excellent job I said they were great.
actually Perfect, I have talked to Everett on the matter of price and the baseline cost to rennovate would be lower that building new, but the matter and research was discussed further and according to the research from Kansas hospital’s association, every time a hospital renovated instead of building new, they spent more money on it because of unforseen items when they started ripping into the walls of the old structure, not to mention the revenue that was lost as certain parts of the building had to be closed during the renovations. Think about the staff too, “I’m sorry, we don’t need you to work the next month because your department is being renovated”. I don’t know about you, but if that was me, my family couldn’t survive without me working a month.
Mom- you bring up GREAT points about care in an urgent situation! I’ll take my small local hospital to help me get stable before I’m sent on for further treatment. It’s funny that the ones that always critisize us “Small town hospitals” are the ones that need them most when a crisis happens. I just want to be prepared not only for myself, but for others as well, I wish tragedy upon no one. And, another great point. There was someone several years back that wanted to go to an “established” hospital instead of the closest one and guess what happened, the EMS had to stop and wait for a train and the person died in route.
tigerfan-
Three points:
1)The Kansas Hospital Association is a special interest group who get more money the more fancy new hospitals get built. So, might they have their own interests first at heart?
2)There have been countless renovations of countless business over the course of time where nobody got laid off. They can use existing space and move facilities around. It happens every day.
3)I want to reiterate that I do not want to see the hospital closed. We do need local access to stabilization and life-saving services. We do not need more bells and whistles.
Before someone gets all excited and says the trains aren’t an issue anymore, there are still alot of things that can slow a transfer down other than trains. Not very long ago I was making a late evening trip to Marysville for some last min. things at Wally World and there was a herd of cattle out in the median. Cops on both sides of the highway stopping traffic and then letting them go through slowly. At some point those cattle were going to have to cross the highway to get back to where they came from. Traffic would be stopped on that side then for awhile. Thats just one recent example.
Perfect -
Lab and X-Ray equip is perm. installed where it is.
X-Ray can use the portable, limited pics and not as good quality. Lab would need to send alot of their stuff out. If that isn’t lost revenue I don’t know what is.
Besides where would they go? Lab could expand into the parking lot, but then where would those displaced people park? Parking is already an issue at the hospital. I suppose X-Ray could build out into the ambulance bay, but where do the ambulances unload pts then? Of course they would have to move the Federally required decon shed first. And the pt rooms on that side of that wing would have even less of a view than they have now, which is bad.
I don’t have a floorplan of the hospital in front of me, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.
The EMS service CAN and does do advanced life support transfers utilizing the nurses and sometimes even the doctors at the hospital. Take away the hospital and you eliminate their ability to do those.
Yes they can and do, but those people are not part of the EMS service, and even with an RN on the service they can’t be ALS certified.
And, like you said, no hospital…
Just to reiterate, I am not saying no hospital. I am saying no new hospital.
If the current administration let the old hospital run down and didn’t make the upgrades over the years that were needed, why do we think a new one is the answer? Will it be any different?
I have built many new hospitals, built many additions on hospitals and rennovated many hospitals. I never saw any hospital lay employees off for any of the work. There are so many factors to look at when doing any work weather it is new construction, rennovation or addition. The architect, construction manager, general contractor and specialized contractors all play a big roll in how much a project will cost. This is something the hospital board members will have to evaluate for costs. A new hospital might be a cheaper route considering what they are looking for. Then again, a rennovation could be cheaper too. There are too many factors that come in to play when trying to say which one is cheaper or better for the community. An example could be weather or not they are wanting to add state of the art equipment and facilities. That will depend on the price. There are many variables to look at. The hospital boards members need to look at all aspects and research it.
Let’s pretend we all want Washington to remain a viable community. Which I’m sure we all do.
Now I know this is a stretch, but let’s pretend that we need some sort of medical care here. Whether it be a new hospital, a renovated hospital, or even a chopper service, we WILL need physicians here to accomplish that, to maintain any level of sustainability.
What would the community say to these prospective physicians to settle in this community? Regardless of how amazing you and I know Washington is, she has competition.
The shortage of primary care physicians is only getting worse, and I can promise you, communities all over Kansas are vying for them. Offering state of the art hospitals, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cancelled loan debt plus huge sign-on bonuses, some even throw in a new house and Harley Davidson Motorcycles!
I assure you that regardless of what we do, we need doctors. As talented and hard-working as Doctor Hodgson is, he can’t do it on his own forever. So what makes Washington so special? What could we possibly offer them? I can tell you right now that regardless of how wonderful our town is, how determined we are to make Washington a better community for years to come, no young physician will ever take the time to fall in love with it without this new hospital. It speaks volumes to young physicians when a community can unite behind a common goal to accomplish something that will benefit the whole of the area in the long run, even during hard times.
Because when an emerging doctor decides to settle somewhere, especially in primary care, they are taking a risk, the risk that the size of Washington will not do what it takes to survive. And he or she will have to start all over somewhere else, with little or nothing to show for their hard work. And I’m sure that is how many entrepreneurs of Washington County feel as well.
But it isn’t too late. Washington has so much going for it that many others never did! And despite the fact that there are differing opinions on almost every post on this site, there does seem to be one commonality, one inspirational fact – everyone is trying to do what they think is right for Washington, for us, and that speaks volumes to any family considering making Washington their home, especially a physician.
Now let’s show them that Washington is worth believing in. We may have been here for 150 years, but lets how ‘em we can make it another 150!