Hospital Corner – June, 2018

Hospital Corner – June, 2018

Busy time at your local hospital—with no sign the pace will let up anytime soon. But help is on the way!  Pleased to announce that Dr. Francisco Dofeliz will be returning next month; many of you may remember him from his first stint here before leaving in 2015.  Glad to have him back.  He will be sharing Clinic space with Dr. Ventura; look for information soon about scheduling appointments with Dr. Dofeliz.  Greg Jones, CRNA, will also be joining our staff in July.  Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist is a challenge to say aloud—and even harder to find in rural Nevada.  We are fortunate to have Greg join the Mt. Grant team; he will be assisting with various outpatient surgical procedures.

Physical Therapy (PT) is an often overlooked but essential part of the healing process.  What’s worse, until recently, PT was available locally to very few in Mineral County.  That changed in December when Dr. Kimberly Wortman joined the Mt. Grant staff.  Word soon spread of her skills, knowledge and tireless energy; before long, we had a lengthy waiting list for outpatient PT services.  Only one thing to do: hire a PT Assistant.  Andrea started with us in late May and began seeing patients immediately.  She and Dr. Wortman have quickly outgrown their existing therapy room and now expanded to the hospital annex across the parking lot.  With two PT locations to serve you, our goal is to ensure all receive the therapy services so critical to reducing pain, restoring function, and/or preventing disability.  No need to drive an hour or two for quality PT: you can find it in Hawthorne at 200 South A Street.

Residents at the Lefa L. Seran Skilled Nursing Facility continue with weekly trips to Care & Share for lunch and bingo.  Friday excursions are regular event as well.  Recent outings included tours of Armed Forces Day decorations and events (seniors were thrilled by the stunt bike riders outside Barley’s); another Friday afternoon was spent shopping at one of our local dollar stores.  But the highlight of the month was an all-day adventure up Tioga Pass, into Yosemite National Park, sightseeing through Tuolumne Meadows, and lunch along the shores of Tenaya Lake.  We even made a quick stop at the famous Mobil Station in Lee Vining before heading home.  These trips are made possible by our dedicated nursing home staff; thank you SNF team.

Safety and Security: while drills and training are critical to being prepared for random acts of violence, sadly more is often needed to ensure the safety of hospital personnel, patients, residents and visitors. Recent events have forced us to implement enhanced security measures to achieve this.  Leading our efforts is Carol Lemieux, hospital safety officer, who has played a key role since assuming the job last fall to make Mt. Grant safe and secure for all.  Keep up the great work, Carol.

Golf, anyone?  The Nevada Rural Hospital Partners recently hosted a fundraising tournament at Washoe Golf Course in Reno.  More than 30 teams from across Nevada competed in a best ball format for the honor of top rural hospital team in the state.  MGGH sent two teams.  Yours truly was on the “B” team, which finished with a respectable two under par.  Our A Team (Foster Kenton Jr., Foster Kenton III, Mauro Viani Jr., Oscar Berry) did a little better. When the final scores were posted, they finished in first place—besting the second place team from Yerington by more than a dozen strokes.  Hawthorne is America’s patriotic home, and now also home of the 2018 rural Nevada hospital golf champs (just hope we get invited back next year).

Hugh Qualls, Administrator