BY MARY ELLEN POWELL DBJ Contributing Writer

Health care in the Delta is seeing both boom and bust times in the year 2001. Many hospitals laud the addition of new facilities, administration, medical staff and services, but others feel the pressure of dwindling revenues.
Tri-Lakes Medical Center in Batesville is one of those hospitals that is enjoying a brand new facility. Tri-Lakes relocated to its new facility at the first of April and Tri-Lakes Administrator and CEO Richard Manning says that the transition has been smooth.
“We have a had a good response from the community and a good crowd at our open house. It speaks well of our community that we are able to provide a facility such as this to meet the health care needs of our area’s residents,” says Manning.
Greenwood Leflore Hospital has also been undergoing a great deal of construction. Work on their 96,000 square foot addition began in June of 2000. Hospital administrators say that work is running ahead of schedule and may be completed as early as April 2002. The hospital’s additions are occurring in the area of personnel as well as new facilities.
Tim Moore, Greenwood Leflore’s Chief Operating Office, says, “We added a new radiologist and cardiologist in May and will be adding an anesthesiologist in July and an orthopedic surgeon in August.
“The addition of these physicians allows us to provide additional services to the people of our community. We have had a cardiologist in Greenwood three days a week, but will now have someone here full time. The anesthesiologist will help support our pain management program and help in the OR. The orthopedic surgeon has interests in industrial medicine and sports medicine. The new radiologist will allow us to continue to provide quality radiological services.”
At Bolivar Medical Center in Cleveland, many changes have taken place within the last year with one of the biggest being the lease of the hospital by Province Health Care of Brentwood, Tennessee. In that time, they have added a new administrator, Lowell “Bo” Benton, and a new radiologist, Dr. Jason Morris. They have also added new nuclear medicine equipment and a nuclear medicine technician. In the near future they will also begin offering MRI services.
Marketing Director Barbara Levingston explains that the year has brought some exciting additions to the technical capabilities, as well. “Province Health Care has equipped the hospital with a new computer system. With this system, nurses are able to input doctor’s orders right from the nurses’ station. Also, in our obstetrics unit, there is a new monitoring system that allows the medical staff to monitor all the patients’ progress at one time.”
Don Fisher, CEO of King’s Daughters Hospital in Greenville, is excited about the first half of the year at his hospital as they have taken a very proactive approach to meeting the health care needs of the community. Construction on the new Emergency Care Unit is well underway and the hospital has received certification of its Sleep Disorders Lab, making it the only one of its kind between Jackson and Memphis. King’s Daughters in Greenville is now offering MRI services two days a week and its mobile imaging services unit is available to give support to medical clinics in other parts of the Delta.
“What I am most excited about, however, is our staff,” says Fisher. “It is our excellent staff that makes all of these other changes possible. We have been able to make advancements and changes at our hospital and still provide the high quality of service and care for which we have been known and it is all because of our staff.”
Change is something with which the staff of Delta Regional Medical Center is also familiar. The hospital, located in Greenville, has recently added a second heart catheterization lab that will help further its emphasis on treating heart disease in the area of the country known for having the nation’s highest rate of heart disease.
The health care facility is receiving updates in its physical appearance and also in its parking facilities to insure that coming to the hospital is a pleasant experience for its employees, patients, and visitors. Delta Regional is also continuing the renovation of the former Lowe’s building on Fairgrounds Road for the relocation of some hospital departments. This additional space on their south campus will leave the main campus flexible for any future expansion projects.
Delta Regional has also experienced change in its top administrative office with the arrival of new CEO Ray Humphreys. Humphreys comes to Greenville with a vision for helping Delta Regional become a regional referral center for the Ark-La-Miss area. To do this, the hospital will continue its focus on giving the highest quality of service available at the lowest possible cost to the patient.
At Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in Clarksdale, Butch Frazier, an assistant administrator, says that the hospital’s current focus is on recruiting a number of physicians in a variety of specialties that will be beneficial to the community.
“We continue to upgrade our equipment, facilities, and personnel because we feel that families in the Delta deserve the best health care possible,” says Frazier.
In Ruleville, North Sunflower County Hospital has focused on diversifying its health care services in an effort to meet the needs of its community and also diversify its revenue stream.
“We are licensed for 96 beds,” says Joe Hammond, hospital administrator. “52 of those beds are nursing home while 44 are acute care beds. We also have an excellent nursing home facility which has received national recognition.”
In addition to its nursing home facility, the hospital is also is licensed to admit patients into their geriatric psychiatric senior care program and a chemical and alcohol treatment unit.
Offering a variety of different services is very important to the well-being of many rural hospitals today as they seek to offset the damages caused by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA). North Sunflower County Hospital is currently participating in a study sponsored by the Health Care Finance Administration (HCFA) to determine if it is beneficial for hospitals to operate as both a critical access hospital and a geriatric-psychiatric facility.
Hammond and the other many administrators interviewed strongly believe that health care is a key component in economic growth. Especially in small communities such as those in the Delta, all of the community’s components are interdependent and if one suffers, they all suffer.
“When a business or family looks at locating to an area, one of the things they looks at is the access to health care,” explained Hammond.
Giving Delta residents access to health care is one of the missions of the small rural hospital. Many of these hospitals, however, are struggling under the reimbursement cutbacks put down by the BBA.
“The community needs to see the true economic value of the health care institutions located there. If a community loses their hospital, it costs them more than just a few missed doctor’s appointments,” says Debra Griffin, Administrator of Humphreys County Memorial Hospital in Belzoni.
The economic impact of a hospital can easily be seen in the fact that hospitals are often the largest employers in a community.
Richard Manning, CEO and Administrator of Tri-Lakes Medical Center in Batesville, says the community is extremely pleased to have the updated hospital in the area. Opened April 7, Manning says that “overall, it’s been a wonderful experience to oversee what we’ve done here.
We have really had an incredibly positive reception from our local community here, as well,” Manning adds. “We’ve also gotten good feedback from our patients who have been here since we opened. Certainly, being in a structure so new and modern has been a tremendous morale booster for both our patients and our staff.”
One of the biggest advantages of being in the new Tri-Lakes Medical Center is, according to Manning, the X-ray department. “We have all new equipment there,” Manning enthuses, “including a new CAT scanner, new ultrasound and mammography machines, physical therapy and cardiac equipment, as well as many more newer pieces of equipment. We are totally updated and modernized now.”
Manning is also pleased with the general layout of Tri-Lakes, which includes newly updated labor and delivery rooms. “The rooms throughout the hospital are very attractive, and that certainly adds to the patient’s well-being,” Manning says.
Along with a new facility, Manning says that a new pediatrician also just joined the hospital staff, and that more additional specialists will be forthcoming. “We’re getting a number of inquiries from physicians from all over the Southeast,” Manning says, “which is a major positive for us.”
Manning claims that it speaks volumes about the growth and progressive nature of Batesville that Tri-Lakes Medical Center was built. “I think it shows the tremendous potential in the community we live in,” he says. “It shows that we have a great deal to offer, are growing exponentially, and that we are preparing for more growth.”
Jim VanderSteeg, CEO and administrator of Baptist Memorial Health Care in Oxford, on board since December of last year, says many new things are on the horizon for his hospital.
“We filed two Certificates of Need late last year,” VanderSteeg relates, “one for an outpatient diagnostic center, the other for an outpatient radiation center and cancer center. We are in the process of getting drawings done and meeting with our medical staff, and hope to receive approval for both facilities in June.”
Once approval is made, VanderSteeg says a general contractor will be brought in and then construction would hopefully start by the end of the summer. “We’re probably looking at this being anywhere from a 12 to 15 month job,” he adds. “I hope to be open in the summer of 2002.” The project will run a little over $19 million. VanderSteeg says than Baptist filled another CON on June 1 for surgical, cath, cardiology and emergency areas. “I believe that this process will go smoothly as well,” VanderSteeg says.
A new cath lab is also slated to open at the hospital within the next three to six weeks. “With the volume of caths we’re doing here, it became imperative to open another lab, one that is much more modern and updated,” VanderSteeg says. “It will be a great asset to our staff and to our patients.”
VanderSteeg says that Baptist measures patient satisfaction through the famous Gallup polling company, and that their scores have increased significantly over the last five months. “This truly says something about the great staff we have here,” VanderSteeg says. “I am very proud of them and the work that they do. This rise in customer satisfaction scores is probably the thing I am most excited about here,” he adds. “That’s what we’re here for.”
The majority of patients who come to Baptist Memorial are, surprisingly enough, from outside Lafayette County, according to VaderSteeg. “Our draw area consists of some 260,000 people,” he says, “and that is substantially more than the population of our county. We feel that because of the services we offer, such as open heart capabilities, as well as because of our reputation, Baptist does draw from a wide area.” DBJ