Radiology Technician, Carol Hill, shows the new G.E. CT Scanner at MCH.
The entryway at MCH has been updated after more than 20 years.
Terry Amstutz, Chief Executive Officer at Morrison Community Hospital, stands in the new Four Seasons Sunroom.
This is an example of the future assisted living area planned for the second floor wing.
|
Good health care is something we don’t think about until we need it. Terry Amstutz, Chief Executive Officer of Morrison Community Hospital, wants the hospital to be there when we need it. Recently they bought new equipment and upgraded their facility to provide better care.
The hospital is going to showing off their upgrades on Sunday, December 7 from 12:30 to 3:00 pm. A light lunch will also be served. The first thing you notice is new carpeting and wall covering to update the entryway. Stephanie Deckro designed the entry and local contractors completed the project. New paint is also dressing up the rest of the hallways.
MCH has invested $500,000 on a new CT Scanner. The new GE Hi-Speed, top of the line, CAT scanner is a powerful tool for the radiology department. Five local technicians were trained by G.E. and Mercy Hospital to take x-ray imaging to a new level. Instead of just being able to take a one-dimensional x-ray, they can take CAT scans that take x-ray slices of the patient. Detectors collect data and relay a three-dimensional image onto the computer. MCH is affiliated with Mercy Hospital in Clinton so the images are immediately sent to a radiologist there for diagnostics. According to technician Carol Hill, “It’s like having the radiologist here with us.” The CAT scan is good for detecting, cancers, lesions, head trauma, or bleeding in the head (strokes). It is mostly for acute diagnostics while MRI is for chronic diseases. The CT Scanner looks like a big donut and patients slide on a bed into the center. The imaging equipment then rotates around the patient. “This is a tremendous machine for a facility of this size,” explained Amstutz.
The radiology staff works from 7 am to 11 pm Monday through Friday and 7 am to noon on Saturday. But in an emergency they are on call no more than a half hour away. MCH have been using the scanner during the month of November and the only complaint they get is that the room must be kept cold so patients are encouraged to dress in a warm non-metal sweat suit for the scan. They have already done about 18 CAT scans in November but estimate that 30-60 patients are being sent to other hospitals for this service each month. A head scan only takes about 10 minutes.
According to Amstutz, MCH is taking their strengths and enhancing them. Their two biggest strengths are pre-hospital diagnostics and long term care. So they have enhanced their long-term care by building a sunroom. The former Skilled Care Unit is now called the “Four Seasons Living Center”. Residents and their guests are really enjoying the $98,000 Four Seasons sunroom built in the long-term area. “It’s been in the works for the last two years and we are thrilled to have it completed. For a lot of our residents this is home now,” said Amstutz. Their future expansion is to fence in a garden area for residents. Morrison Garden Club and the staff have already started plantings.
They no longer have their Skilled Care on the main floor but instead it is used for long-term care. There are beds for 35 long-term patients. Skilled Care has been moved into the acute care area on the second floor. “It’s really enhanced our care that we can give. They can give 2-3 times the therapy now,” explained Amstutz. There are 15 acute and skilled beds at MCH.
Plans are in the works to make an assisted living area out of the former drug treatment area on the second floor. The application will be made in December and hopefully in a few months they will be able to move residents into that wing. There are currently 8 rooms available for assisted living.
MCH has also changed their Medicare designation to a “Critical Access Hospital”. They are one of 31 in the State of Illinois. The designation is for small hospitals with less than 25 acute beds. This will change payment structure for Medicare.
The hospital currently does cataract and podiatrist surgeries but presently they do not do any orthopedic surgery. It is an area they would like to pursue in the future.
The biggest myth about MCH is that their ambulance service must take patients to MCH. Actually the ambulance staff calls medical control at CGH if patients request to be taken elsewhere. CGH staff decides whether the patient is stable enough to be transported. With the new diagnostic tools available at MCH it makes it more viable for emergency care. “Our physicians are doing a terrific job here, they are all board certified for emergency care,” according to Amstutz. Their job is stabilizing patients, diagnoses, and treatment.
Amstutz has been with MCH for just two years but sees the hospital changing to fill niches needed in the Morrison area.
by Barb Benson, theCity1.com
December 3, 2003
|