St. Luke director declares resignation

Committee developing clinic’s new funding model

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Betsy Bond, the director of St. Luke Free Clinic since 2009, is resigning effective Sept. 27.

Bond said she needs to spend more time with her family. If she works, it will be to resume the office organization business she did before taking this job, she said.

Bond is leaving at a pivotal time in the life of the organization. Leaders of the Christian County Health Department decided in June they cannot afford to continue paying the salaries of the free clinic’s staff after June of next year, so a committee is now researching alternative funding models.

But Bond said she’s not just jumping ship out of concern that St. Luke won’t last.

“I see St. Luke there in the future in some form,” she said. “The staff is wonderful. The board has been dedicated.”

Jennie Stuart finance chief resigning

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Sam Brown, who has overseen all of Jennie Stuart Medical Center’s financial affairs for the last 15 years, will be leaving the hospital Nov. 2 to work for a medical system in Texas.

Eric Lee, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer, praised Brown’s qualities as a manager and his skill at communicating with the board of trustees. Beyond Brown’s advanced knowledge of health finance, Lee believes these leadership qualities will make him hard to replace.

“It’s not just about bookkeeping,” Lee said Tuesday. “I’ve teased Sam about wanting a clone for his replacement.”

Shift means death of PACS program

State wants health departments to teach people on food stamps how to eat healthy
By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

The biggest program of Pennyrile Allied Community Services, a nutrition education service that runs on $5.6 million of federal funding each year, will go to the oversight of the state on Oct. 1.

County health departments all over Kentucky will administer it. The state says this will help it reach more people and use the money more effectively.

However, it will also put 75 PACS employees across the state out of jobs, including 25 in the Pennyrile region.

Each health department will decide whether to hire more employees to handle the new responsibilities.

The program aims to help people who receive food stamps live healthier lifestyles by eating more nutritious food and exercising. Fran Hawkins, manager of the nutrition branch of Kentucky’s Department for Public Health, said it will be a natural extension of services county health departments already provide.

Our Opinion: Public will measure work to fix hospital ER

New Era Staff Editorial

Jennie Stuart Medical Center CEO Eric Lee said in a meeting with our editorial board earlier this summer that the hospital’s emergency department had to improve to meet patient expectations. Addressing complaints from patients who went to the emergency room was a priority when he became the hospital’s top executive in January 2011, Lee said.

Anyone who has lived in Hopkinsville at least a few years has probably heard a story or two about someone who went to the ER and didn’t get the level of care they needed. Often, people describe leaving the ER in Hopkinsville and driving to Clarksville or Nashville for treatment.

Revised ER management at JSMC has changed the culture

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Jennie Stuart Medical Center has experienced hit-and-miss success with the doctor groups that have staffed its emergency room in years past.

At low points — including most of last year, Beth McCraw’s first year as vice president of nursing services — the phone rang continuously with complaint calls. Patients could wait all day for treatment for low-level emergencies, and about 9 percent walked off without getting treatment.

McCraw says Align MD, a Clarksville-based doctor group that took over around early March, has reversed the trend.

“It’s a totally different place down there,” she said Friday.

Hospitals aim to reduce early births

Because of health risks for mother and baby, docs say it's best to wait

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Women often choose in advance when to have their babies delivered.

Sometimes it’s because they feel serious physical discomfort in their final weeks. Other times they want to coordinate with the schedule of a visiting relative or hit a certain birthday.

But medical experts say this endangers babies’ development and even their lives, and it often harms mothers.

Now the Kentucky Hospital Association is working with 15 of its member hospitals, including Jennie Stuart Medical Center, to cease the practice except when it’s necessary. Another 15 or so may soon start participating.

Group pushing for kidney disease awareness

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Wanting more autonomy, some local medical workers split off last year from the National Kidney Foundation and formed an independent group based in Hopkinsville.

It let them continue providing services for renal failure patients — medications for poor patients, rides to dialysis appointments — but with fewer bureaucratic complications, said Sarah Rowland, the group’s treasurer.

The group is using its newfound freedom to create an annual picnic for dialysis patients and staff. This year’s picnic, scheduled for Sept. 16 at the A.W. Watts Senior Center, will be the second.