Hospital Corner – December, 2018

With holidays coming to a close, time to focus on the new year ahead—and what a year it promises to be.  2019 will be a year of change at Mt. Grant.  While most of us do not like change, it often brings opportunities for improvement. That’s just what we have in mind for your local hometown hospital. Where should we start?

Groundbreaking ceremony for new business office building & maintenance facility is expected late next year; we have been in the planning and fundraising stage for several months already. The new business building will replace the current office trailer (our clinic in the 1970s & 80s) where HR, IT, Data Processing, Medical Records, etc. are now located.  You would be surprised how many people and offices are crammed into that dilapidated trailer.  Veteran Mt. Grant employees get a bit starry-eyed when the subject of a new office complex comes up.  It will be built adjacent to trailer, which will be hauled away once new building is finished.

The ramshackle series of small buildings on the south side of the hospital is collectively known as Maintenance. Built at various periods over the past 55 years to meet hospital needs, time has come for change here as well.  One modern and spacious maintenance facility will replace it; everything required to maintain the hospital, clinic and nursing home will be organized under one roof.

Also in the planning stage now is expansion of the Lefa L. Seran Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF).  Your input is critical to determining what this expansion will look like.  With the assistance of the University of Nevada-School of Medicine, survey data is now being collected to help us design a SNF that will meet our community’s needs in the years ahead. One proposal is for a stand-alone structure (just to the south, of course) adjacent to existing SNF building (connected by patio area).  This facility would have 15 rooms, 10 private and 5 shared, in addition to shower/bathing and dining areas.  If you have yet to fill out a survey, please stop by hospital or clinic to get one; better yet, go online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/MGGH2018.

Dr. David Rivas will be leaving us in late January to pursue opportunities elsewhere; we are grateful for his service here the past 18 months and wish him the best.  We are actively searching now for a replacement provider, ideally a doctor who will make Hawthorne his or her home.  Notices were recently mailed out about the change; please call me or your doctor’s office if you have any questions.

Change can also be inevitable.  There comes a time when each of us must make a decision about the next stage in life; such is the case with our maintenance supervisor Andy Stinson, who will be retiring this winter.  Andy has worked here since the early 1990s.  He knows everything is there is to know about the hospital, how to fix almost anything, and is on a first-name basis with just about everyone in the county.  He will be missed.  We are fortunate that Randy Canady has worked alongside Andy for many years, as he will be taking over (though no one can replace Andy).

The community is always welcome at Mt. Grant General.  If you have a spare moment, stop in and say hello. Better yet, walk with me to the day room in the SNF. There, at the west window with a view of the hospital’s namesake mountain, sits a piano.  On it is a simple brass plate with these words: Donated to MGGH, In Loving Memory of Joan E. McCloskey Gazaway, “Gone but not forgotten.”  George & John (Bud) Gazaway.

Hugh Qualls, Administrator