The roof can’t leak, the lights must stay on and the heating and air conditioning need to work every day at a hospital.
Coahoma County Super-visors took an extensive tour of Northwest Mississippi Medical Center earlier this month and were handed a checklist of maintenance needs and plans and then heard from doctors, department heads and administrators about the numbers and needs of the hospital.
The hospital checkup was also aimed at showing the county the facility is treating patients and back up to speed after emerging from bankruptcy in June.
Built in 1952 the Clarksdale hospital has been renovated and expanded several times. Last week’s tour with supervisors carried them from the basement to the rooftops of the 180-bed hospital that serves Coahoma and surrounding counties.
“I don’t think people think about the heating and air conditioning, plumbing and power it takes to run a hospital,” said Michael Smith, Director of Plant Operations at Northwest. “It takes a lot to keep the building working so doctors and nurses can work.”
Smith showed supervisors generators, boilers, heating and cooling systems, roofs, miles of plumbing and basic building maintenance needs at the hospital.
Supervisors were told, while the details are not finalized, the local hospital will probably drop to under 75 beds and mothball two wings. Smith said the two wings are not being used at this time.
The county was also told what the hospital does have and plans to capitalize on the doctors and specialist that currently work at NWMMC.
The hospital has doctors and nurses who offer services in:
• Cancer Care
• Diagnostic Imaging
• Digestive Health
• Ear, Nose & Throat Care
• Eye Care
• Heart Care
• Infectious Disease Care
• Infusion Services
• Kidney Disorders
• Men's Health
• Neurology
• Orthopedic Services
• Pediatric Care
• Rehabilitation Services
• Surgical Services
• Urology
• Wellness Services
• Women's Health
• Wound Care
“We’ve got to get the community to realize what we have here,” said Dist. 3 Supervisor Derrell Washington. “We also need to train the community that not every pain or sickness requires a trip to the emergency room.”
NWMMC wrote off $15 million in unpaid medical bills several years ago, many of those who simply walked into the emergency room, were treated and then walked out.
NWMMC is currently a Level 4 Trauma Center meaning they can handle most emergencies and can perform surgery to stabilize patients before sending them to a Level 5 Trauma Center – the medical professions highest level of care.
NWMMC is also a primary stroke center and routinely offers a better outcome for patients who have had a stroke. The hospital is also an accredited chest pain center.
The hospital has a Labor and Delivery Suite, which includes two labor and delivery rooms, five regular labor rooms, two delivery Rooms and a 23-bassinet newborn and intensive care nursery. NWMMC saw over 700 births last year or about two a day.
Supervisors were told the hospital plans to focus on the things they do well and downsize the facility footprint. That plan is typical of rural hospitals suffering in the current healthcare market that is tailored to larger metropolitian hospitals.
“I don’t think people realize all it takes to keep a hospital running,” said Board of Supervisors President and Dist. 1 Supervisor Paul Pearson. “All the equipment, the nuts and bolts of healthcare and of course all the people besides just doctors and nurses.”
Supervisors and their attorneys traveled to bankruptcy court in Nashville in May and worked out a deal where Curae, the company most recently running the hospital, stepped aside and allowed CHS, the previous manager of the hospital, to join with the county to find a buyer or new manager.
Coahoma County signed an agreement with Trilogy Healthcare Solutions a consultant specializing in attracting and retaining doctors and healthcare professionals in June.
