Hospital board discusses variety of subjects

The Cedar County Memorial Hospital board of trustees held their regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 20.

During discussion at the meeting it was noted that there are 26 positions currently available at the hospital. Not all of those are medical.

During the discussion of policies and procedures board member David Bozarth mentioned that he thought the hospital could have done a better job of responding to the city’s boil water order with something other than a jug of water in the rest rooms. CEO Jana Witt said that they had to do something quickly and that was their immediate solution. (last week she told the Sun that bottles of water with a pump mechanism were now available in the hospital rest rooms.)

The board voted to buy a new dish washing machine for $9,370 dollars. It will take six to eight weeks to receive the new machine.

Northern Cedar County Commissioner Don Boultinghouse was was present to hear Community Services Manager Jenean Ehlers, RN, report on the Health Department.

She reported that the Cedar County Health Department is still working on COVID cases on a daily basis. She said that Joyce Heuser, FNP, has been doing the majority of the investigations and entering data into Epitrax (state reporting system) during the regular work week.

She said, “I feel very confident that no other county is getting the care that we have given our residents of Cedar County.”

She mentioned that the Cedar County Health Department contracts with Polk County for six days a month for environmental sanitation to do the septic installation inspections, lodging and daycare sanitation as well as restaurant/food service. She said the position of environmental sanitation has been changed from anyone trained in environmental sanitation to someone with a four-year degree in environmental sanitation.

Ehlers mentioned a sampling of the services assessable through the Cedar County Health Department: finger printing M-W-Th scheduled by Idemia – cost $3 per person: birth/death certificate daily (walk-in) – $1 birth/$11 – $14 death: Car seat check/install by appointment – no charge to clients: water sample kit (pick-up daily and drop-off by noon M-Th: monthly blood draws on second Wednesday of month – establish cash-based fee schedule (provided by County Health Department & Medical Mall clinic): Women’s health exams third Wednesday of month (revenue varies depending on program) – minimal charge to client: Immunization by appointment M-W-Th – payment varies depending on payer: and In-Home services program is offered through the County health Department.

Director of Finance Carla Gilbert gave the financial report which was approved by the board. Days cash on hand for the hospital is 315. The average for Critical Access hospitals is 66.

The board discussed the renewal of the Health Complex listing with Shannon and Assoc. Real Estate and Auction. They renewed the listing for another six months. The building is priced at $1.5 million.

All board members were present: president Michelle LeRoux. Judy Renn, Julia Phillips, Marvin Manring and David Bozarth.