During their meeting Thursday morning, Gila Regional Medical Center Chief Nursing Officer Kelly Rodriguez informed the hospital’s Governing Board that the county-owned facility has seen a sizable increase in employed registered nurses, which has been a point of concern here and at hospitals across the nation.
“We have actively visited Doña Ana Community College, UNM, Pima [Community College] in Tucson, Eastern Arizona University and, in two weeks, we will be going to UTEP,” Rodriguez said, referencing recruiting efforts being made to help fill nursing gaps. “We have also passively spoken to and provided flyers for recruitment to NMSU, as well as Cochise County Community College.”
Rodriguez said that this has generated two applications from registered nurses and recruited three graduate imaging technicians to serve at the hospital. She added that since she reported a 25 percent nursing vacancy rate at the hospital last December, 22 nurses have been hired, including nine recent graduates of the Western New Mexico University nursing program.
“We are moving very swiftly, and hopefully we continue down that path,” she said. “Right now, I have about 17 open nursing positions.”
According to Rodriguez, the national rate for nursing vacancies at hospitals is 17 percent, while Gila Regional now sits at 21 percent.
A recently vacated administrative position was also filled, she said.
“We were also able to successfully recruit an emergency room director,” Rodriguez said. “She starts on May 9, and I’m very excited to have her on board.”
Rodriguez said that the new ER director has 12 years of nursing experience, but did not provide her name. She did not respond to requests from the Daily Press.
She also provided the Governing Board with a brief update on planning for the reconstruction of the Women’s Center, informing the board that hospital staff has met internally and with Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments Director Priscilla Lucero to determine the “scope and intention” of funds for the remodel.
“We have kind of realigned the efforts related to the Women’s Center,” she said. “We’ll have their plans by May 12.”
Rodriguez also informed the board that after the hospital was recently awarded $1 million in Emergency Rural Health Care grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the hospital submitted its first USDA-funded purchase of equipment.
“That is for our anesthesia machines, so that is moving through the USDA process right now,” she said. “As you all know, our anesthesia machines are something that we have desperately needed over the course of the last three to four years.”
The hospital was also recently awarded American Recovery Act grants that will allow them to purchase new medical equipment and two new ambulances. One ambulance has already been purchased, and its cost will be mostly reimbursed through the grants, as hospital Chief Financial Officer Paul Rogers mentioned in his presentation.
During new business, the board approved a memorandum of agreement with Hidalgo Medical Services for renewal of CareLink, an HMS program that helps “patients with serious mental illness or serious emotional disturbance transition between levels of care within our community and service area,” said hospital interim CEO Tony Thompson.
The board also passed an amendment to a lease agreement with HMS, after some discussion about the Lordsburg clinic’s financial viability.
“As you might remember, Dr. [Norman] Ratliff uses space in Lordsburg, so this is a three-year extension of the agreement that began in ’21,” Thompson said. “It’s considered a space-use agreement, and there are no changes to the existing terms.”
“So we can assume that this has been a successful enough partnership that we want to sign on for another three years?” board Chair Alicia Edwards asked.
“Dr. Ratliff really enjoys his outreach,” Thompson said, but he could not quantify whether the partnership had been financially successful.
“I realize Dr. Ratliff is happy with it. That’s not the same as knowing that this clinic is sustainable financially,” board member Harry Browne said. “We have a history in this hospital of opening clinics elsewhere that were not financially successful, so I’m just wanting to make sure you’re looking at that.”
Thompson told the board he will provide a report on this issue at their next meeting. In the meantime, the board ultimately voted to approve the amendment.
The board also passed a number of agreements at the end of the meeting, including an inpatient services agreement with Presbyterian Medical Services’ Catron County Medical Center and Camado Medical Center to allow for the transfer of patient information from those hospitals to Gila Regional, and an agreement for advisory insurance services with Daniels Insurance Inc. that will allow the board to work with a broker who transferred from their previous business insurance provider.
The board also approved an engagement letter, the predecessor to an actual contract, with Dingus Zarecor and Associates, which has performed tax audits for the hospital before and will perform an audit of the hospital’s financial statements as of June.
The board tabled an agreement with Gila Health Resources that would provide health services to hospital employees, because it was not clear in the wording of the agreement whether the the health services would cost a projected $53,000 per year, or $53,000 over the life of the four-year agreement.
The board will reconsider that agreement at their next regular meeting May 12 at 9 a.m.
—DAVID MARQUEZ
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