Monticello Live

Leslie Searcy, a long-time employee of Drew Memorial Hospital, was recently named the Health Hero for month of February. Searcy was selected after hospital administration learned how she, on her own initiative, and using her personal time and funds, assisted a patient in need.

“When following up with a patient who had been recently discharged from the hospital, Leslie discovered that the patient had very little food and had no one to buy groceries for him,” stated Keith Van Dee, Human Resources Director. “She also learned that he did not have enough money for the medication that he needed. Leslie purchased the medicine and delivered groceries to his home.”

Searcy was presented a plaque and a check for $100 in recognition of her service to the hospital at the February board meeting.

Drew Memorial Hospital participated in a regional exercise titled “Operation Twist and Shout” on February 25, 2010. The drill was designed to test the area’s ability to respond to a large-scale natural disaster.

The exercise involved emergency preparedness planners from hospitals, as well as state and local agencies, who were given an opportunity to evaluate current response concepts, plans, and capabilities for responding to a natural disaster. The drill focused on key local responder coordination, critical decision making, and integration of the state and federal assets necessary to save lives and protect the public following a natural disaster, such as a tornado.

According to Drew Memorial Hospital CFO Shannon Clark, preparedness has been a priority for quite some time. “We want to be ready for whatever comes,” stated Clark. “We take the exercises very seriously. Every time we are given an opportunity to participate, we come away feeling more prepared than we were before.”

Karon Beavers, RN, Director of Drew Memorial Hospital Home Health Services has announced her retirement from Drew Memorial Hospital. Karon has been employed at Drew Memorial Hospital since June 1977. She has been the Director of Home Health since January 1985.

There will be a Retirement Party held in Karon’s honor on Friday, February 19, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. at the Home Health Office of Drew Memorial Hospital, which is located at 821 Hwy 278 East in Monticello. All friends, coworkers, former employees, and associates of Karon’s are invited to attend.

Read the rest of this entry »

At Drew Memorial, a gentleman and his wife typically have their labwork done at the same time each month, but the husband came by himself earlier this week. Irma Brunson, one of our phlebotomists, asked the gentleman why his wife was not with him. He told Irma that his wife was sick and could not make it in to have the lab done. Irma asked the husband where they lived and he replied “ in Wilmar”.

Irma had asked earlier if she could take off for a couple of hours at lunchtime to attend a meeting in Warren.  After her meeting was over, Irma stopped in Wilmar at the patients house tu draw her blood so she could have her labwork done on time and did not have to get out while she was ill.

Irma cared enough about the patient to notice that his wife was not with him, and stopped and drew the patients blood on her own time without being prompted to do so.

 That is why Irma Brunson has been named as the DMH Health Hero for January 2010

Lashonda Taylor has been named the DMH health hero for December 2009.

A DMH patient was scheduled for an induction on recently. Dr. Shrum had provided the patient with a motel room, so she wouldn’t have to leave Pine Bluff at 4:30 am. Still, she didn’t have a ride to the hospital for a 5:45 am admission. Lashonda set her alarm for 5:20 am and went to the motel and picked the patient up and brought her to the hospital. This was literally done in the middle of the night…something that no one, including the patient expected her to do.

This shows the caring and dedication Lashonda has for our patients. DMH CEO Mike Laydifield complimentedTaylor by saying, “I am very proud of her for giving up her sleep to do this.”

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The Drew County Quorum Court heard the monthly report from Drew Memorial Hospital, Tuesday night, as presented by DMH CFO Shannon Clark.

Items included in the report included news about the hospital’s new website, drewmemorial.org,

a 15% USDA grant for medical equipment has been approved, and

December has been a record setting month for the number of surgeries performed at the hospital.

Trees located on the land north of Drew Memorial Hospital are being removed to make room for the future allied health building, and the proposed medical office building that are planned for the site.

DMH CEO Mike Layfield described the tree removal as “bittersweet”, explaining, “We don’t like to see the beautiful trees go, but we need to take them down to make way for Hospital and health service expansion.  Clearing the land now, one year in advance of construction, will allow the land to settle in for our building modernization project.”

Andrea Thomas was named 2009 DMH Health Hero of the Year. Andrea Thomas was honored at the Drew Memorial Hospital Annual Christmas party in front of approximately 80 people. Andrea received a $600 cash award ($200 coming from our four (4) local banks), a dozen red roses, a beautifully engraved clear glass trophy and a standing ovation! Read the rest of this entry »

The Drew Memorial Hospital Health Hero of the month was Monisa Allen for her unselfish act of giving away a free mammogram certificate that she had won at a DMH health fair, to a patient who had no way of paying for a mammogram that had been ordered by physician. The procedure led to the discovery of an issue that needs medical attention, which makes Monisa’s gift even more important.

Monisa is shown here, being congratulated by DMH human resources manager, Keith Van Dee.

At Tuesday’s Quorum Court  meeting during the hospital report, DMH CEO Mike Layfield told the court that Minnie Mae Moffatt had been visiting at the hospital and noticed that only about 15 of the rooms had flat screen TVs. The other 33 rooms had old box TVs.

Mrs. Moffatt asked Layfield how much it would cost to buy flat screen TVs for those other rooms. After hearing the price of $23, 000, Moffatt left, only to return a few days later with a check for that amount. She told Layfield she was giving the money for the TVs in the spirit of Christmas.

Monticello Medical Clinic, located at 906 Roberts Drive, has annouced that their seasonal Flu Vaccine shipment has arrived.

Everyone is encouraged to come by to get your Flu shot!

If you have any questions, feel free to call them at 870-367-6867.

At Tuesday’s Drew Memorial Hospital board meeting, Drew County Quorum Court member Ron Echols strongly encouraged the hospital board to ask the voters of Drew County for 1/2 cent sales tax to build a new hospital.

This series of comments followed a portion of the meeting, where the board was describing the upcoming improvements, that will be built in phases.  Phase I and II are currently involved the low interest loan process with USDA.  This loan will be for $14 million, and will be paid off by money earned by the hospital.

Echols told that board that he felt they should “consider an alternate form of financing,” and told them that the hospital is “owned by the citizens of Drew County.”  A lively debate followed.

The board did not make any changes to their plan to pay for the hospital improvements out of hospital funds.

Drew Memorial Hospital’s board of director’s meeting was held Tuesday, and here are the actions and main discussion points. Read the rest of this entry »

The annual “Omelet Breakfast” sponsored by the Drew Memorial Hospital Auxiliary was held recently, and according to estimates, around 200 people came out for breakfast, and to take part in it’s accompanying silent auction.

DMH CEO Mike Layfield and his wife Jackie are shown here visiting with the cooking staff, while their meals are being prepared.

The silent auction was located in the nearby hallway for the convenience of those attending.

For the second consecutive, Monticello’s First Assembly of God church was the location where Drew County residents went to get free flu shots, last Friday. 

The event started at 7 a.m., with the added difficulty of working by the light of car headlights shining the windows, because electricity wasn’t restored to the area until around 10:30, after storms the night before.

This year, a total of 1562 shots were given: 1426 were for the seasonal flu; 136 were for the H1N1 strain, which was available only for priority risk residents (as designated by the state) such as expectant mothers.

Last year over 1600 shots were given, but this year, workers used all of the available vaccine before 3 o’clock.

Karen Brown, administrator of the local health unit, seemed pleased with the days results, and complimented the 50 staff and volunteers, who made the event possible.

The Cancer Support Group will meet on Monday, November 9 at 6:00 p.m. at the First Methodist Church, lead by Mary Whiting.

Anyone with cancer, has a family history of cancer, caring for someone with cancer, or just learning more about cancer, is welcome to attend.

The Drew Memorial Hospital Board Meeting was held Wednesday, in the hospital’s board room.

• Representatives from the hospital administration and the USDA met last week to finalize the application for a $12 million loan from the USDA. The hospital’s new architectural firm, Cromwell, will reassess the hospital’s building modernization program and update the USDA application for the hospital’s architectural plans.

• The board approved the hospital to go forward with a financial feasibility study to complete the USDA application to complete phase I and II of the hospital modernization program. Read the rest of this entry »

Fifteen organizations received Governor’s Quality Awards Monday evening in Little Rock, and Drew Memorial Hospital received the second highest award possible.

The top award went to White River Medical Center, receiving the Governors Award for Performance Excellence. Drew Memorial Hospital received the next highest award from the Governor, the Governors Achievement Award.  Several organizations received the third place award, the Governors Commitment award and several more received the forth place award, the Governors Challenge Award. Read the rest of this entry »

This past Saturday, Monticello was represented in the Race for the Cure, including team “Fight Like a Girl”, walking in honor of Kristina Levi-Thomas. (Click here for more about Kristina’s story.)

Team Fight Like a Girl is pictured here with team captain Shelley Smith. The team is made up of friends and family of Kristina, including two of her daughters, Lauren Weaver (13), and Ava Thomas (4).

Kristina’s other team is shown with “FLAG.”  They were compiled of mostly Walmart employees (from here), and were called “Girl Power.” That team’s captain was Carrie Martin. Kristina’s mother is a former Monticello Walmart manager, and her aunt Elaine currently works there.

Shelley is shown here with Ava Thomas, Kristina’s 4-year-old daughter.  She walked with Shelley at the race because Kristina was and still is in the hospital in Fort Smith with pneumonia.

Businesses that supported the group were: Monticello Walmart, Triple A Towing; SS Weddings, & Ryburn Automotive Superstore.

During the regular Quorum Court meeting held last Thursday, County Judge Damon Lampkin brought up the new Medical Office Building. Dr. Sidney Collins and Dr. Jeffrey Reinhart were there to discuss the status of the prospective building. Collins stated that they had come to a roadblock in the building because the land was appraised for much higher than they were hoping to pay.

The county paid for an appraiser to come in and examine the land and his estimate for the five acres of land was around $224,000. The doctors then paid for a different appraiser to examine the land and his estimate for the five acres was $110,000. The doctors do not want to have to pay $224,000 with all the restrictions that were put on the building. They asked the court to lower the price of the land. Read the rest of this entry »

A special called meeting of the Drew Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees was held at noon Thursday. The purpose of the meeting was to select a Architectural firm to provide traditional architect/General contractor bid process and over site services for the planned $14 million Hospital expansion and modernization program.

Proposals from three architectural firms were reviewed . All firms were based in Little Rock ,have extensive hospital experience and are large enough to work with government funding requirements. Proposals were reviewed from: Polk, Stanley and Wilcox Architects; Wittenberg,Delony&Davidson and Cromwell Architects and Engineers.

The board voted to select Cromwell Architects and Engineers from Little Rock as the hospital’s Architect to provide services for the allied health building and 41 inpatient bed wing.

Bailey Adair, Hannah Jones, and Sidney Sizemore have been raising money for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

They sold cupcakes and brownies to people in the community, and raised over $600 in three days.

The girls will participate in the race this weekend in Little Rock.