Texas County Memorial Hospital board members met last week with three members of the company that will oversee construction of the hospital’s 58,000 square foot expansion and renovation project.
“We’re excited about this project,” said Vance McMillan, assistant vice president at JE Dunn Construction Company and project director for the TCMH construction project.
McMillan has worked on healthcare construction projects for Dunn for 18 years. He explained that JE Dunn considers the TCMH project to be “a blessing in this economy.”
Attending the meeting with McMillan were Dunn employees Matt Evans, project manager; and Ronnie Brooks, project superintendent, who will also work on the TCMH project.
“We will strive to keep the hospital running smoothly with as little disruption as possible,” Brooks explained.
“I like to do construction on healthcare facilities because I know they take care of people,” Brooks said.
He is already making plans to move to Texas County while the expansion and renovation project is under way at TCMH.
Evans, a native of Cabool, was born at TCMH. He will oversee the contracts that JE Dunn will enter into with subcontractors.
JE Dunn will begin to reach out to subcontractors in the next few weeks, planning local, public meetings for area subcontractors that would like to bid part of the hospital construction project.
“We pledge to you that we will work with your local people whenever we can,” McMillan said. “We want to give everyone the best chance to build the hospital that they are going to use.”
Omanez Fockler, chairperson of the TCMH board of trustees, commended McMillan and his team for their commitment to Texas County.
“We want to reach out to the local communities in everything we do,” Fockler said, “so it sounds like we are all on the same page.”
Founded in 1924 in Kansas City, JE Dunn Construction Co. has six operating companies located in 16 cities from the East to West Coasts.
The Ozark Region Office of JE Dunn based in Little Rock, Ark., is doing the TCMH construction project. In the Midwest, Dunn has constructed large and small hospital projects such as McCune-Brooks Hospital in Carthage and Barton County Memorial Hospital in Lamar.
One of the projects more readily recognized in southwest Missouri is Missouri State University’s JQH Arena.
Dunn was originally chosen for the TCMH project in 2008 through a traditional bid process when the hospital began the construction and renovation project. Dunn even took the TCMH project to bid in September 2008 before the bond market collapse, which put the TCMH project on hold until other financing could be secured. The hospital was awarded an $18 million loan through Rural Development last year.
“It means a lot to us to have you here with your experience and healthcare construction knowledge,” said Wes Murray, chief executive officer at TCMH. “We are ready to get this thing going and to build a great hospital for our county.”
TCMH officials continue to work with the USDA to finalize documents needed for the low-interest loan construction project. Notification of bids will be publicized soon. TCMH is also scheduled to take the finalized construction documents to the state for final approval in February.
A ground breaking for the project will be in the spring.
Linda Pamperien, TCMH chief financial officer, presented the financial report for December, showing a positive bottom line of $199,346 — bumping the hospital’s year to date bottom line up to $315,178.
Inpatient and outpatient volumes were up for the month. Inpatient admissions at the county hospital were up by 125 admissions compared to the end of 2009.
“We are headed in the right direction,” Pamperien said. “We knew it was going to take some time.”
In 2010, TCMH opened the TCMH Mountain Grove Clinic and ambulance base and added three full-time physicians at hospital clinics.
Pamperien also noted that the hospital’s finance department has made an effort to try to get the TCMH year-end numbers as close as possible to the final audited numbers. BKD, LLC of Springfield, the hospital’s auditing firm, will be on site in March to conduct the field portion of the hospital’s annual audit.
“We have already submitted several of the required documents prior to the audit,” Pamperien said.
TCMH is subject to a more in-depth audit due to receiving the expansion loan from the USDA.
TCMH continues to recruit for a full-time physician to work in the Mountain Grove clinic. Nurse practitioner Sheri Stofer has given her resignation to the hospital due to unforeseen medical issues.
“We appreciate everything Sheri has done for us,” Murray said, “and we are already searching for a full-time mid-level provider to work in Sheri’s place.”
In his administrator’s report, Murray also gave special recognition to the TCMH Healthcare Foundation for its efforts in raising more than a half million dollars since 2005.
“My hat is off to the foundation board of directors for what they are doing,” Murray said. “They are impacting healthcare in our county more each day and in a broader way.”
In other business, TCMH board members agreed, pursuant to state statute, that an election will not be held for a hospital trustee in April. Incumbent Fockler filed for the position, and it was not contested by anyone.
Present at the meeting were: McMillan; Brooks; Evans; Murray; Pamperien; Doretta Todd-Willis, chief nursing officer; Dr. Charles Mueller, chief of staff; Dr. Charlie Rasmussen, vice chief of staff; Joleen Senter Durham, director of public relations; Terri Dreisel, physical therapy department director; Derek Orle, physical therapy student; and board members Fockler, Janet Wiseman, Jane Kirkwood and Mark Hampton.
Board member Mark Forbes was absent.
The next meeting of the TCMH Board of Trustees is noon Tuesday, Feb. 22, in the downstairs meeting room of the hospital.
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We will strive to keep the hospital running smoothly with aslittle disruption as possible.”