A local hospital held their annual Board of Governors meeting at Hamilton’s last night.
Passavant Area Hospital’s Board of Governors meeting is held each year and allows for the hospital to review some of the achievements over the past year, as well as plan for future endeavors in the coming year.
President and CEO Harry Schmidt explains the purpose of the yearly Board of Governors Meeting.
“The Board of Gove rnors is the governing body that basically is mandated through the by laws that help us select the Board of Directors that govern the hospital. I’m thrilled to be a part of the event tonight, and I’m really thankful that we’ve got this level of commitment here in the community. One of the duties of the Board of Governors will be to approve the slate of directors that we need to present to them for one replacement seat and then we’ve got three seats on the Board of Directors who will be continuing their service either to a second or third year term, depending on where they are in their service to Passavant,” says Schmidt.
Schmidt breaks down some of Passavant’s major accomplishments during the 2016-17 year.
“We’ve started up our Radiation Oncology Service through partnership with Memorial’s Regional Cancer Center. So right here in Jacksonville, we’re delivering the same high quality cancer care that patients are receiving over in Springfield, but we’re delivering it here through the same physicians as well as the same technology and equipment. That was about a $6 million project that went live in the April time frame of this year. Additionally, we’ve expanded our pain management services, so we’ve gone from two-and-a-half days a week to five days a week, and we’ve seen over a 55 percent increase in our patient volumes for a much-needed service here in the community. And we’re also proud that we’ve expanded our service for weight-loss and wellness, one of the health initiatives that is in alignment with our community benefits strategy here in Jacksonville,” Schmidt says.
Looking ahead to the coming year, Schmidt says there are a number of projects that Passavant is aiming to complete.
“The first thing that we’ll end up completing is the private patient room initiative, the first phase of that will go live in December. We also will complete renovation of the front entrance, which is going to create a more functional, safe approach to the hospital. We’re also looking forward to delivering a center for women’s health. We’re renovating an office building on the campus right now that should be complete in the January-February time frame. And through our partnership with SIU healthcare, we’ll be delivering additional OBGYN services to the community. Finally, we’re also developing a behavioral health partial hospitalization program, which is designed to bridge the gap between outpatient behavioral health services in an effort to intervene before somebody gets into a crisis,” says Schmidt.
Elected to Passavant’s Board of Directors last night was Daniel Hallam, MD, and Peter Russotto, DPM…and being re-elected was Doug Awe, Nancy Spangenberg and Kelly Staake to new four year terms.