Another drippy Monday, but 23 Rotarians and 1 guest gathered for fun, anyway!

 

Our guest today was Stacey Gabriel, Director of the Emergency Room and Urgent Care at Hocking Valley Community Hospital.  Stacey is also our speaker for the day.

 

President Dave called us to order and got things rolling by calling on Jim Robinson to conduct the lottery.

 

Small pot winner today was Jerry Hutton, for a big $14, but he couldn't find the right Lady to put the BIG POT of $279 into his pocket.  Maybe next time, Jerry.

 

In the absence of Larry Kiezle, the ever popular Jim Rogers took the floor to keep us all in line.  He first fined President Dave for the short notice on being Sgt. at Arms, and then hit Jon Mesarch, Kathy Krumlauf, John Smith and Jim Robinson for late fines.  He went to fine Jerry for the lottery, but Jerry upped the ante and tossed back $5!  Thanks, Jerry!

 

Happy Bucks:  Dave Snipes was happy about his grandson's first communion; Kathy was happy about learning things from other Rotarians.  Thanks to a program by Jason Quier last year, she made contact with the appropriate people and her father is being escorted on trip to the WWII memorial in Washington DS; Lucy paid to announce that her daughter had gotten a scholarship for her sophomore year at OU; Jon Mesarch gas us a short run down on his trip to France where he followed the path his grandfather took during the D-Day Invasion.  He said it was fabulous!  Jim Robinson continues to be happy about his LHS boys Track and Field team winning the league title and his son Ralph, winning the discus title!

 

Jerry Hutton thought he was home free until Valery questioned why he didn't report on his weekend radio appearance.  While digging out his $1 fine, he claimed that he was just about to mention it himself (a likely story) and did give us all a report.  He was invited to participate on a national radio/web broadcast about advanced energy automobiles.  Poor thing -- he had to go to Pensacola, Florida to do the broadcast, and reported that the seafood was very tasty!  Congratulations again, on all the positive attention you bring to Logan, the Energy Institute and Hocking College!

 

PRES. Dave reminded everyone to make their calendar notations for the Pancake serving gig we have line up on June 20 for GOBA. Yes, it's early, but in 4 short hours, between 5am and 9am, we stand to make close to $1000 for the club for just serving and cleaning up!!!  This is an easy project  - and many hands will make the light work for us all!  Sign up sheets will be available soon.

 

Upcoming program:

Next week - Lucy Burcham

5/31 - Holiday

6/7 - Melissa Brown

6/14 - Highway Clean Up

 

PANCAKE TICKET REMINDER!!!  There are 3 members who have not yet paid for their pancake feast tickets.  Please clear this up ASAP, so we can move on to the next project -- lie BICYCLES!!!  We are only 6 months away from delivering our 2010 bicycles to Toys to Share!  Watch for good buys at yard sales this summer, but remember -- spare parts aren't cheap, so it needs to be in very good shape to start with!

 

The program today was presented by Van Cardaras.  Van invited Stacey Gabriel to talk to us about the Emergency Room/Urgent Care Departments at the hospital.  Stacey is the Director of these departments.  Van said that his 14 years on the Board of Doctor's Hospital has made him very aware of the problems and possibilities of quality service in these areas.

 

Stacey has been an employee at HVCH for 16 years, hired by Mike McGreevy, no less (way to go, Mike!).  She has worked in many other departments including med/surg and the operating rooms, but she loves the ER!  Stacey is also in charge of the Disaster Preparedness program and works closely with Doug Fisher at the Health Department.

 

Stacey was quick to point out that the ER at HVCH doesn't do everything, but they are a great "first stop".  Nurses are trained to triage illness and assign to ER or Urgent Care as needed.  The ER now has 8 beds and urgent care has 7.  Increasing the Urgent care beds from 4 to 7 last fall did require some additional staff, but has streamlined the treatment process quit a bit.  

in 1004, with an 8 bed ER and a 4 bed Urgent Care, they served 21,000 people.  In 2009, with only increasing the Urgent Care bed number in late Fall, the increased to 29,500 served.

 

Stacey was proud to announce that the TWIG Auxiliary has just recently donated $87,000 to purchase new cardiac monitors for the ER.  This will greatly enhance their ability to diagnose and plan treatment for heart problems in the ER.

 

The HVCH ER also participate in the 3rd party HealthStream patient satisfaction program.  According to the HeathStream statistics, 35 to 40% satisfaction rating is considered very good.  During the 1st quarter of 2009, the HVCH ER received an 89.6% satisfaction rating!  This rating is based on 150 surveys of randomly selected patients at the ER.  Compared to the other 147 hospitals in the HeathStream program in Ohio, our HVCH ER ranked 27th with this satisfaction level.  It goes to show -- it's not "stuff" that makes the difference, but PEOPLE!  Congrats to Stacey and to LeeAnn Helber, HVCH CEO.

 

Thanks Van for bringing us all this great information, and thanks, Stacey, for a great presentation.