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Show VVMC board gives staff 60 days to revise bylaws By BRUCE LEE Record Editor CEDAR CITY The Valley View Medical Center Governing Board has given its Medical Staff 60 days to revise its bylaws, giving new doctors more say in decisions. According to Board Chairman Frank Dalley, the decision to do such was made at the board's most recent meeting, July 28, although such a move has been in the works for some time and was not necessarily undertaken because of the recent controversy surrounding the Medical Staff. The new bylaws will departmentalize the doctors at the hospital and will place specialists over the various departments, thus placing them on the executive committee of the Medical Staff. This is one possibility suggested by Dr. Paul Christensen when the controversy con-troversy first erupted early last week. "The action would probably give a newer doctor who comes onto the staff more voice ... in what they are doing," Dalley said. The action came after two new specialists in town took complaints of harassment by more established doctors to the local media, causing a major stir among the residents of the county. The board also reaffirmed its strategic plan "to improve the quality and availability of medical and health service in this area," said a prepared statement by WMC Administrator Dahl T. Gardner. "The plan supports the recruitment of primary care specialists to Iron County and the necessary support by the hospital to insure their success in the short term." Gardner, in a later interview, also noted that this would bring things into appropriate balance at the hospital and would solve about 90 percent of the concerns voiced over the past couple of weeks. He was pleased with the board's decision and with the positive steps being taken in the medical community. com-munity. He also had praise for all the doctors in the community. "I think we have some of the most proficient doctors I have ever had the chance to work with or know," he said. However, he also pointed out that the hospital needs both general practitions and specialists. "They're both needed, and they both have a role to play, and it's a complementary com-plementary role." "The emphasis now is quality," he said. "We are not going to allow . . . slipshod practices, inappropriate practices." "We expect all doctors, both general practitioners and new specialists, to cooperate to work together for the betterment of the hospital and the community," he continued. "They (the governing board members) will not tolerate disruption from any quarter of the Medical Staff." He also said he would like to get back to the business of running a hospital. He noted that the census at the hospital has increased 10 to 20 patients over the past few months, and that the length of stay and the quality of care have both improved. im-proved. In addition, many cases which in the past would have needed to be referred to Salt Lake City or St. George are now being taken care of in the local facility. Dalley also had good words for the action taken by the board and for the improvement at the hospital "I had a good feeling when we left the board meeting, solid support for moving ahead," he said. "We feel good about it." Also, Dr. Paul Christensen, who last week had handed in his resignation from the Medical Staff, has withdrawn that resignation and is very pleased with the turn of events. "I'm pretty happy about things now," he said. "I'm not really happy about how we had to do it, but sometimes we have to go to extremes to get things done." T3 u K v . 'y-ss f' j-i ill n ''SP0"''- i III y Brooks Bradshaw, 14, goes up for the dunk in a friendly basketball game at the Cedar City pool this week. Watching are Jimmy Graff (left), 14, and Clay Crandall, 16. However, such rites . of summer will soon fade when all three boys return to Iron County Schools this month. |