Alva Review-Courier -

Dr. Donald Ransom is retiring at the end of June, said Share Medical Center CEO Kandice Allen. For many years, Dr. Ransom has handled surgeries at Share Medical Center one day a week. Allen said the hospital is working with SSM (St. Anthony’s) for a replacement surgeon.

Giving her report during the Alva Hospital Authority meeting Tuesday, Allen said now that the Covid-19 threat is abating, Share is working on getting regular visits from an OB/GYN and a cardiologist. Dr. Hummel’s eye clinic has been moved to the west end medical clinic at the hospital. Dr. Whitson is continuing to come to Share for pulmonary patients.

Share Medical is also planning for the opening of a clinic in Waynoka. Allen said it will be located in the Waynoka Clinic building used by the late Dr. Susie Hull. Plans are for an April 1 opening.

Allen introduced Kiki Bowden to the hospital trustees as “Rosemary’s helper.” Bowden will eventually replace Rosemary Herren in taking minutes of the meetings and assist her in other administrative work.

Logan Meriweather has started working at Share Medical as a public relations and marketing intern from Northwestern Oklahoma State University. He has been helping to maintain social media and is getting training to manage other marketing methods.

The majority of door cameras have been installed with seven outdoor cameras remaining. The cameras help improve the security at the hospital.

Regarding KnowBe4 security training, Allen said automated (fake) phishing attempts have been sent out to see how staff does on recognizing malicious emails. Over a six month period, only 49 have clicked on these emails with five attachments opened, and 289 emails were correctly identified and reported to IT as malicious.

The hospital had 45 patients admitted in January with six for observation and 39 acute. Total number of patient days was 150. The ER saw 212 patients in January with 45 admitted and 12 transferred to a higher level of care. Of those seen, 155 were discharged home.

Surgery has opened back up with scopes being done in February. Share hopes to start doing other procedures in March. They have been giving Bam infusions three to four times a week on average.

TruBridge, the contracted billing company for the hospital, has finally starting sending out bills. “It has been a challenge,” said Allen. “It appears customers who have paid on accounts received invoices showing they have a balance due.” She said the hospital is working to correct the errors.

The new CT machine at Share Medical can do cardiac calcium scoring. Allen said the hospital plans to run a March special of $55 for the test. After March, the regular price will be $75.