In their first official meeting inside the new Caldwell Medical Center facility Monday, members of the hospital’s board of directors reflected on the facility’s opening weeks and the eventual fate of the old Caldwell County Hospital building.
Patients were moved from the old hospital on Oct. 31.
CEO Charles Lovell Jr. praised the medical center’s staff for their efforts in the transition.
“Everybody stepped up to the plate during the move, and especially the move with the patients,” he said.
“We had a lot of help from our staff. It was a great team effort.”
Lovell noted “a few hiccups” in the first few days of the medical center’s operation.
One of the chief problems was a non-functional phone system.
“We couldn’t get any incoming calls,” he said, noting that extra measures had been in place to prevent the phone issue from happening.
“It wasn’t for lack of trying,” he said.
The phone situation has since been resolved.
Lovell also reported a few issues where some employee ID badges would not open facility doors as intended.
The CEO said he and Chief Fiscal Officer Shane Whittington believed patient numbers have increased since the move.
“The first Monday and Tuesday, we spent most of our time at the information desk, there were so many outpatients showing up,” Lovell said.
To help accommodate the patient levels, the hospital has implemented the use of a beeper system, similar to those used in restaurants.
When a patient signs in, he/she is issued a paging device. When it is time for the patient to be seen, hospital officials activate the beeper, signaling the patient to go to the information desk.
The system eliminates the need for employees to call for a patient by name. It also gives patients and their families an opportunity to venture away from the information desk.
“It seems to be working extremely well,” Lovell said.
The hospital’s volunteers have come through to assist patients learning to navigate the new facility.
As many as three volunteers at a time are posted at the information desk at peak periods, along with a hospital staff member.
Lovell said he had encouraged the volunteers to help the employees “go above and beyond with our customer service.”
Volunteers are often enlisted to escort a patient to his/her destination if needed. “They love doing that socializing part,” he said.
As the medical center’s employees settle into their new headquarters, hospital officials are continuing to orchestrate the elimination of the old hospital building on Hospital Drive.
“We’re looking forward to the day we just have one building to take care of,” Lovell said.
A security guard remains posted in the vacant building but will not be there indefinitely, he told the board Monday.
The building’s parking lot is barricaded and all its doors remain locked. “I don’t anticipate any problems,” he said.
County fiscal court members agreed Tuesday to proceed with the demolition of the building.
And while no prospective tenants seem interested in the facility, Lovell said several individuals and organizations had expressed interest in some of its furnishings.
Lovell said the fair solution to the multiple requests seemed to be to put the furniture and other equipment up for sale at a public auction.
Any items left after the auction could be given away as the board saw fit, he said.
No timetable for the auction has been set.
In other business:
• New board member Pat Lander was welcomed to the board.
Lander replaces former board Chairman Donnie Davis, who has taken a position with the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
• Upon a recommendation by board nominating committee Chairman Bobby Goodwin, board member Brent Bugg was named new board chairman.
Bugg, president of Fredonia Valley Bank, has been a board member since 2006.
“This is a great board to work with,” he said, expressing his appreciation for being named chairman.
• The board agreed to be gold sponsors for Relay for Life activities in Caldwell and Lyon counties.
