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Can MCMC Entice Staff from St Mary Corwin?

by Carol Bridge
RATON — The board of Miner’s Colfax Medical Center met on March 16th to be informed and to make decisions regarding the hospital and the long term care center.  Kathy McQueary, chairperson; Scott Berry, Cotton Jerrel, Raymond Rodarte, board members; along with Beau Beames, CEO, Dr. Donald Belknap, physician representative, and Dr. Douglas Schmidt, medical director were present.
Dr. Belknap updated the board regarding new and reappointed physicians and physician assistants to staff with the board voting unanimously to approve.  Belknap told the board ER staffing continues to improve.  Dr. Schmidt gave information about the continuous progress of updating and rewriting policy and said that contractual employees remain a drain both on staff morale and financially because short term staff are tremendously expensive.
Beames gave the manager’s report and informed the board of the departure of Peggy Martinez, CFO.  She transferred into the state system and it will take some time to replace her although there has already been some interest generated for her position.  He said that progress is being made in filling the position of the long term care administrator.  Beames also announced that a new mural has been created about the Ludlow Massacre and gave Fermin Ulibarri credit for pushing, not only for the mural but also for two craft rooms for residents use.  A big screen TV, more gardening opportunities and more venues for residents to socialize will improve the quality of life that the facility offers.  Beames gave a shortened financial report and stated that YTD the hospital is showing a $729,000 loss.  He moderated this bad news with information about payments from Medicaid of 1 million dollars and that new construction will help offset depreciation.  He said that ‘cash on hand’ is stable and that there is now a 35 day cycle of stability.  His goal is to have a 60 day cushion and that very healthy hospitals have a 120 day cushion.  Michael Colangelo, retired miner, requested that the board produce a detailed financial statement and McQueary agreed to do so in the future.
Terry Green and Amanda Clerkin reported on the newly formed compliance plan – how it will work and how it will be assessed.  The inhouse organization will work to improve patient care, reduce waste, comply with state and federal mandates, protect whistleblowers, investigate incidents, oversee mandatory training and prepare reports and warn of potential problems.
The staffing reductions of St. Mary Corwin in Pueblo may be a recruiting bonanza for MCMC.  Efforts have been made there to publicize MCMC and to entice staff to relocate to Raton according to Barb Duran, HR specialist.  Because of changes from the state regarding pay scales for nurses and other positions, MCMC will soon be able to offer more competitive rates.  The fewer contractual staff members that are currently being filled and the more permanent employees coming onboard will save the hospital millions of dollars and improve present staff morale.  Dozens of RN, LPN and CNA jobs need to be replaced with permanent staff.  Basic RN pay will increase to $26.25, LPN to $17.59 and CNA to $9.26.  Slotting these positions with permanent staff will result in a savings to the hospital of $101,000 per year each, which reveals how much contractual agencies are profiting.
Eric Armstrong,  project director, updated the board on progress for expanding the clinic.  He also gave information about the recent ‘lock down’ that occurred at the hospital due to threats made to staff.  He commended everyone at the hospital for cooperating and keeping the facility safe for patients until the threat had ended in the arrest of the suspect.  McQueary also thanked local law enforcement and staff for their help.  She said that there was too much time between the incident and informing the public via KRTN and that in future this would be rectified.  Armstrong updated the board about policies regarding the Auxiliary House.  Policies have been clarified, housekeeping issues resolved and all parties seem satisfied at this time.
McQueary reported that Dr. Sood has continued to receive acclaim nationally for his work on lung disease among miners in conjunction with MCMC’s team.  Eric Armstrong and Megan Moreno, who work with Black Lung patients both statewide and regionally, recently went to Washington DC to advocate and inform legislators from several states about the need to care for victims and their families.
The next meeting will be on April 20, at 1 pm in the MCMC Long Term Care building.

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