Olney Hamilton Hospital Board Meeting

Olney Hamilton Hospital Board held a meeting Friday, June 26, at 6:45 a.m. in the Education Center located at 902 Hamilton Street.

Primary discussion topics listed on the agenda included: Recommendation to fill the board vacancy, medical staff report, finance and budget committee report, capital expenditures, educational assistance, sale of properties, grant petition and order tax cap election. Grace Perez administered the Oath of Office to Lindsay, Rita, Ron, and Bob Craig. Board members approved the recommendation for the new board member, Randy Whitmire. Mike Huff brought forth the Administrators report, stating that “We are safe. We have gone through extraordinary measures to keep our patients and employees safe,”. Mr. Huff played a commercial about the Hamilton Hospital for the board, which will run through July. The commercial discusses the safety that the Hamilton Hospital and Olney family clinic provides--including “COVID-19 screenings, personal protective equipment, and thorough sanitization of all of our facilities,” as stated in the commercial.

The highlight of the financial report for the month of June indicated that the financials have increased enormously after a few slow months due to COVID-19. The net revenue after deductions was up $263,000 for the month, as well as the operating expense being up. Financials decreased tremendously in the month of April due to COVID-19 concerns and fears in the community, but began to bounce back in May, and is now fully back on track in the month of June as the fear of COVID-19 settled down, due to the fact that we now discovered more about the capabilities of COVID-19 and how to handle it going forward until a vaccine is ready for individuals in the United States. The board discussed donations given that will help different aspects of the hospital, including new sliding doors, all new hospital beds, and new, innovative ways to help potential COVID-19 patients that come into the hospital. This is all subject to change as the pandemic moves forward.

The meeting ended with a discussion of a grant petition and tax cap election. The meeting ended with discussing the approval of executive session before adjourning.