National Hospital Week 2013 theme was “A Guiding Light For Changing Times”. This was the platform for a week of work and celebration for the staff of CCMH. .....more>>
National Nurse’s Week was celebration May 6-10 and ended on a high note with acknowledging the extraordinary efforts of a member of the Nursing staff. .....more>>
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It’s a new year and Carroll County Memorial Hospital is under new leadership, with a new direction for the future and the medical community. Several new services are planned for the hospital, as well as a new administration.
Jeff Tindle has been appointed CEO, replacing Jerry Dover, who recently retired.
“Administratively, we are taking a whole different philosophy,” stated Tindle. “We have appointed a leadership council that will make our decision-making faster. With this in place, it will benefit our entire organization, making it more efficient and offering more services.”
The new services that Carroll County residents may look forward to in the future are wound care, geriatric psyche and expanded outpatient care utilizing telemedicine. Tindle also anticipates a dermatology clinic on the horizon.
“The ‘big ticket’ is that we are planning to get back into outpatient surgery,” he added. “The trend has shifted to less inpatient and more outpatient care. Our outpatient surgery closed 10 or 15 years ago and that really hurt the community.
“If we can offer this service here, it will be very beneficial to our patients.”
New construction at CCMH continues. He stated that the new lab is open and the old lab is being renovated for the new MRI and CT scanner. The education room is being built and the ER department work continues. All of these improvements are expected to be finished in 60 to 90 days, he said.
“We are also looking at bringing in one more physician,” he added. “It’s not urgent, but we are paying close attention to it, to be prepared.”
He stated they are “exploring options” for the use of the former clinic building, and have received postive feedback from the community.
Tindle plans to bring transparency and a strong communication between the hospital, staff and community. Town-hall style meetings and surveys have begun, with the hopes of a town-wide survey in the future.
“One other difference,” he noted, “is that through time, we may have expected too much assumption from the public about what we do.” He plans to do more marketing of the hospital and their services, to “make sure they know what we do.
“It concerns me that people are driving out of town for services,” he said. “We want them to know what’s here.”
A new website for CCMH is available and he noted it is user friendly, making information instant.
Tindle is committed to making the hospital financially successful. “There is no reason the people of Carroll County can’t get their basic services here,” he added.
“However, we do understand our role,” he said, “and know when to ship a patient out for more care.”
Tindle also stated that he is proud of the hospital’s early adoption of the Electronic Health Records Meaningful Use program. There are only two or three other hospitals in Missouri that have completed the switch, he said, and noted that although it was difficult to initiate and learn, it has saved money and improved care.
Tindle is excited about the new clinics and services CCMH will offer, explaining that the decision for the wound care and geriatric psyche were based on research and surveys.
“There was clearly a need for both,” he said, “and these are two that Medicare will still pay for.”
He admits it won’t be easy, but as CEO, he feels a strong commitment to being active in the community, working to bring together the community health services such as nursing homes, Health Department, dentists, and schools, and to reach out to all medical entities to give the citizens of Carroll County the care they deserve.