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.