OCR Text |
Show Bright, new look at San Juan Hospital renovation will help San Juan County Hospital be more competitive in many by Hyrum Taylor This week is National Hospital Week and hospitals everywhere have sched- uled special events. At San Juan Hospital in Reception desk in the lobby at newly-remodel- San Juan Hospital. ed Hyrum Taylor photo The San Juan Record HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER FOR SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH 30 cents Vol 78 No 31 May 11,1 994 Monticello, the staff is preparing to give hearing tests, vision tests and blood tests on Thursday. Blood tests will be offered Friday at the Blanding Medical Center. I spent some time at the hospital this past week. I was not sick, I was taking a tour. Dana Barnett, administrator, spoke with pride of the renovations underway. He also praised the staff and health care delivery in the county. Commission will petition IHS for more aid The San Juan County commission plans to petition Indian Health Service for financial support for health care delivery in the county. The news came Monday during a report by Gary Angott, Public Health Service. Angott spoke about his agencys services both on and off the reservation. The list includes such programs as home health, support, infant development, tuberculosis testing, and drug and alcohol education. In other business, commissioners granted a building permit to Michael to construct a garage next to an existing house near Boulder Creek on the old dude ranch road. Rick Bailey, aide, told in-ho- El-dr- ed commissioners that the Community Impact Board awarded a $60,000 grant to the Mexican Hat Service District. The money will be used for planning and developing a new culinary water source. Bailey said the CIB turned down a grant for the county solid waste disposal facility proposed for construction south of White Mesa. He said, however, that the CIB offered the county a 2.25 percent interest loan for building the waste dis30-yea- posal site. Lieutenant Bill Christensen of the Sheriffs Department asked for approval to contract for a different telephone system for inmates at the county jail. He said the system he wants will not increase monthly Commisexpenditures. sioners will give Chris- tensen an answer in the near future. Commissioner Redd presented a job posting from Steve Chaney at Natural Bridges National Bluff library wants new The library in Bluff wants to be part of the county library system. Rosalie Goldman of Bluff made a formal request at the April meeting of the county library board held at the Bluff Elementary School. Goldman said the librarys greatest need is for a full time paid librarian. She said six years of dedicated volunteer service has given the town of Bluff a much needed library. She said it is now time for the county to incorporate the Bluff facility into the county system. Following Goldmans presentation, board members visited the Bluff li- - r, Monu- - built on ment. The job is for three youth conservation corps leaders for two months beginning June 1. Application deadline is Monday, May 16. the library grounds. The pavilion -Dine Baa Hane - is for use by senior citizens and for Goldman storytelling. noted that the Bluff library also serves as a tourist information center. Board members ask Goldman to track circulation at the library and provide them with a report similar to the reports filed by county librarians. In other business, the board learned that February and March circulation for the Bookmobile was 8,519; 3,734 for the Blanding library; and 2,188 for February only in Monticello. old Nolan March, lost one of the tubes in his ear. After he had had several ear infections, Dr. Porter decided it was time for another tube. A week later, he put the tube in. 18-mon- th DWR workshop set for May 16 Sportsmen with questions about 1994 big game hunts are invited to attend a Utah Division of Wildlife sponsored workshop in Moab or Blanding. The workshops have been scheduled as follows: Monday, May 16, at 7 p.m., Moab Civic Center, 450 East 100 North; Tuesday, May 17, at p.m., San Juan High School Auditorium, Bland7 ing. The workshops have been scheduled to help hunters complete their big game ap- plications. Proclamations and applications are available at any license agent or DWR office in Utah. status brary and a pavilion being understood when Dana spoke of the quality of service available in an area with such a small population. From personal experience I appreciate the kind of service available here. My family and I moved to Monticello in January. In I Legislative alert A proposed U. S. Forest - Service law change 36 CFR 261.58M will ban possession of firearms on forest land. 36 CFR 261. 10D will further restrict discharge of firearms on forest - land. The Firearms Coalition of Colorado is asking people to write to the Forest Service in Washington D. C. to protest passage of these proposed changes. Address your letters to: Jack Ward Thomas, Chief (5300), Forest Service USDA, PO Box 96090, Washington DC Write before May 19, 1994. 20090-609- 0. Back in Washington State it was much more complicated. The pediatri- cian recognized Nolans problem and referred us to a specialist. The specialist referred us to a surgeon. The surgeon set us up with an anaesthesiologist and a hospital. That made six different offices to deal with and six payments to make. The GP - one doctor does it all -makes a lot of sense to me. But back to San Juan Hospital. The renovation project should be completed in r late June. The project was made possible two-yea- by a $1 million Community Impact Board grant and a long-terlow interest m loan. At first glance, one notices the new administration building. A new building, Barnett said, was more cost effective than an addition. This is due, in part, to regulations and safety codes peculiar to hospitals. Inside the original hospital building, the area that once was administrative offices and records is now a modern reception and admitting lobby. Health care is a business, and being modern and state of the art is important. As in any business, there is a lot of competition. The ways. For example, attracting more people and keeping medical staff and spe- cialists. Barnett said the birth rate in San Juan County is the highest in Utah. The average age in San Juan County is 19, compared to a national average of 33. This is reflected in services offered at the hospital. Four out of five procedures are O.B. related. Such statistics played a role in planning the renovation. Two modern birthing rooms and a separate OB nurses station complement the d facility. General surgery also received a face lift. Costs were offset by keeping older items such as sinks. However, a new lighting system, sterilizer and anaesthetic machine were in21-be- stalled. Barnett said the hospital constantly battles an economic principle called planned obsolescence. As with all state of the art equipment, parts are often not available for delicate machinery. In other words, technology outpaces the life of hospital equipment. Most companys do not offer repair service because newer is better. Barnett explained to me that the support service area labs and kitchens - did not get a face lift. The equipment, he said, is modern and does the job. Work remaining in the renovation project includes the existing nursing station and remodeling the emergency room. - ng The emergency room will be enlarged to a size that can handle several patients at one time. After all this remodeling, we can expect to pay more for services, right? This is not the case. The project was funded by grants and a loan. low-intere- st Hand-in-han- d with reno- vation came new management and goals. Barnett said some of the goals are (1) to attract specialists in such fields as ophthalmology and orthopedics, (2) to build bigger fa- cilities in Blanding, and (3) to network and share with nearby medical com- munities. Barnett emphasized that the overall goal is to provide the community the best services the budget will allow. |