ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Southwest Medical Center CEO Amber Williams updated Seward County commissioners about what is happening at the board’s Nov. 3 meeting.
In September, Williams said the hospital moved to an outsource company to manage its hospitalist program.
“We did that for several reasons, number one being the cost savings,” she said. “They were bringing the model down to what we thought it should be, which is one hospitalist and one physician assistant instead of the three and three.”
This, Williams said, will help SWMC meet best practices and continuity of care.
“We will have consistent people, and they will be doing consistent care,” she said. “That should be a plus for the community. Those providers also have met with all providers in town.”
Williams said the hospital has also started an outreach with Critical Access Hospitals to let them know SWMC can take care of their patients those hospitals are unable to take care of themselves.
“We’re comfortable doing that,” she said.
The hospital likewise has an internal medicine physician starting in early December.
“He’s double board certified in internal medicine and pediatrics, but does not want to do the whole labor and delivery,” Williams said. “He will not be doing pediatrics. He will be focusing on internal medicine.”
Williams said she was excited to announce SWMC now has a contract with an orthopedic surgeon.
“We’ve only had once since the beginning of January,” she said. “We have a contract out being reviewed by another candidate we hope to take to the November board meeting. He will not only do ortho, but he’s also a spine specialist.”
This hire, Williams said, will be part of a new spine program being started at SWMC.
“Currently, we refer about 24 patients a week out for various spine and neck issues Dr. Abraham will be able to take care of,” she said.
Last week, the hospital was scheduled to get a visit from a pediatrician from Kansas City looking to relocate to Southwest Kansas.
“We also have a pediatrician coming to visit from Kansas City,” Williams said. “He wants to get out of the city and move somewhere he can make a difference. We have two great pediatricians, but we have enough small children and babies born in this county that a third pediatrician is really needed. We hope that goes well.”
Hospital officials were also scheduled to meet with officials from Winfield’s Southwestern College last week.
“They’re going to be starting up some new health-related programs and want to talk to the hospital about partnering to do clinicals here, and what our need is for nurses and other allied health people, which is crucial,” Williams said.
Williams later discussed October’s Community Health Fair, which she called incredible.
“Last year, we got a donation from the city for $20,000,” she said. “We were able to give lab draws for free last year. This year, we did go back to our normal price, and we still did about 220 more than we’ve ever done any other year except for last year. We did 916 lab draws. We had 1,300 people attend, and we did over 2,600 free screenings and exams.”
Lastly, Williams talked about some landscaping being done at the hospital, with the help of funding from the SWMC Foundation.
“Those go to restricted funds as to what they are restricted for,” she said. “They’re for brick and mortar. We used that money when we did the windows and the building. We have a bunch of money in restricted from the foundation for landscaping. We’ve increased some sprinkler coverage. We were doing some lights around the trail in the back. We do have a lot of people using that walking trail, and we’ll continue to do more landscaping as we see fit.”
