FROM THE DESK OF CCMH CEO – TERRY NICHOLS

Moving Forward at CCMH

At Cedar County Memorial Hospital, we consider it a privilege to be chosen as your healthcare provider. For the past four months, we have been reviewing and evaluating all of our policies, procedures, operations, and services to determine the most efficient and effective ways to provide better care for you when you need medical attention.

One of the first task was to instill hospital ownership in the staff. An evaluation into the Human Resource department to determine the most appropriate staffing of each department, as well as the pay scales, shift differentials, benefits, scheduling, and roles revealed that changes were needed in how we treated our staff. It is our responsibility to take care of our staff so they can take care of the patient. New programs at CCMH address each of the HR areas allowing us to retain and recruit quality healthcare professional in every department and enabling us to reduce the number of costly agency personnel.

Significant changes have been made in the way we make decisions as we now use a committee approach. Each staff member is a valuable and responsible member of their department committee requiring them to be a part of the decisions as to how their job is performed, what equipment and/or procedures are necessary, and what policies should be followed to perform their duties in the best way for our patients. Open communication is a key to having everyone engaged in the operations, and each partner must know that their input and involvement is not only encouraged, but required.

In addition to improving our staff relations, CCMH is focused on reducing the need for patients to travel for specialty services. Dr. Russell Kemm has been engaged to establish a full functioning GI Lab for scopes, and his clinics are tentatively scheduled to start in late October. Our Swing Bed program, which provides patients to receive therapy and treatment programs after surgery or hospital stays, has been improved for more effective admissions and treatment planning. And, plans are being made for new technological equipment to bring in new specialist services as well as enabling us to establish partnerships with our neighboring hospitals so our communities can get the care needed at our hometown hospital.

A lot has happened in these past four months. And, a lot more will be taking place in the coming months. CCMH wants to be your hospital of choice. To get better at taking care of you, we need to have your input. Please feel free to contact us with your ideas, concerns, or just to see how we are doing.

Cedar County Memorial Hospital – where we take care of our neighbors, friends, and family every day.