Saturday's Internet Edition, July 31, 2010.
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| Artist donates money.... Local artist Addie Zamarippa had announced earlier that if she sold the art work, being held by Nada Stuckey, during the Building Bridges Art Show last week, she would donate the proceeds to the Culberson County Historical Museum Association. Well, she sold the art work and made good on her promise Monday. Here she is pictured handing Museum Curator Robert Stuckey the $200 check. The person that bought the art work is also donating it to the Museum to exhibit. |
- Culberson County-Allamoore ISD trustees met Monday evening and got an in-depth look at facilities maintenance areas.
The district’s Maintenance Director, Marcial Gonzales, obviously spent a great deal of time in putting together the slide presentation for trustees, and he spent an hour and a half showing and telling trustees about the strengths and weaknesses within the district maintenance areas.
Trustees currently do not have funds to address all of these areas, however, it appears, to this reporter, that this data will be used in the future to put together a case for either a tax increase or a bond issue, especially since they also received an athletic facilities overview at their February meeting.
Following the maintenance presentation, trustees turned their attentions to the coming Summer Lunch Program and Summer School Schedule.
Superintendent Guillermo Mancha told trustees that this year the lunch program and summer school schedule will be different. They will be on a Monday through Thursday schedule this year. Both will conclude in early July.
Trustees gave their stamp of approval to both of these items.
And, while they were talking summer schedules, Dr. Mancha also asked trustees to approve of a summer schedule for all other school staffers.
That schedule will be from Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. The reason for this schedule is for energy conservation.
Trustees approved of the recommendation as presented.
With regard to other agenda items considered at the meeting, trustees took the following actions:
* Although Debbie Faulknor was not present, Superintendent Mancha did report that the report is still good for the district’s self-funding medical insurance plan. Faulknor will be at the May board meeting to provide an in-depth look at the program.
* Trustees denied the sale of property as presented by the Culberson County Appraisal District because the county and hospital district had already denied the sale and it takes all the taxing entities, in agreement, to sell property.
* Trustees, following discussion, approved Texas Association of School Boards Policy Update 87.
* After approving the monthly financials, trustees went into executive session to consider personnel matters.
* Upon reconvening in open session, trustees approved the resignation, effective April 19th, of Rachel Salinas who has left to join her husband at his new position in South Texas. And, they also approved the resignation of John Favela, high school principal, effective at the end of the school year. Favela is going to retire. Trustee John Clark was the lone dissenting vote on both of these actions.
Hospital plans big Grand Opening
The grand opening of the new addition to Culberson Hospital is scheduled for Saturday, June 19, from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., to coincide with the Van Horn Jubilee 2010. Every resident of Culberson County and Jubilee guest will be invited to tour the new facility including a 14-bed inpatient unit, a new emergency department and a new imaging center.
“We are absolutely thrilled that the new building will be completed in time for the Jubilee celebration,” said Carole Fitzgerald, a member of the Culberson County Hospital District (CCHD) board, “so that current and returning residents will all have an opportunity to view what has been accomplished in such a short time.”
Joining Fitzgerald at the ribbon cutting ceremony will be CCHD board members Don Collins, Edwin Easley, Cheryl Owens and Lloyd Taylor. All of these individuals were on the CCHD board in 2004 when financial and operational problems almost forced the hospital to close. Recognizing the importance of the hospital to the community, CCHD board members spent many hours exploring options, resulting in a partnership with Preferred Management Corporation, Shawnee, Oklahoma, to lease the hospital and assume the financial risk of hospital operations.
“We’ve come a long way in the last six years,” said Collins, chairperson of the CCHD board. “Preferred has brought a level of expertise to our facility that we could not afford as a stand-alone hospital,” he continued. Recruitment of a new physician and a new physician’s assistant, construction of a new 4,000 square foot medical office building, purchase of a CT scanner, replacement of all hospital beds, addition of physical therapy services and replacement of the roof were just a few of the accomplishments reported by Culberson Hospital from 2004 to 2007.
In 2007, with the hospital was on sound financial ground, the CCHD board began to tackle another critical problem: the condition of the building. “Although the old hospital has been well maintained, it was constructed over 40 years ago,” noted Easley, “and the CCHD board felt it was prudent to evaluate the building to help insure the continued availability of quality health care services in Culberson County over the next 40 years.”
The CCHD applied for and subsequently received a $50,000 grant from the Texas Office of Rural Community Affairs to assess the hospital’s facilities and equipment, and develop a master facility plan for the future of the hospital, emergency department, ambulance service and physician clinic.
The consultants conducting the study prepared a detailed list of code deficiencies, engineering and maintenance concerns, equipment issues, and physician and staff needs. Numerous options including both renovation and replacement of the existing facility, and the possibility of converting a portion of the existing facility to a nursing home were presented to CCHD board members.
Based on an analysis of the cost of these options, CCHD board members concluded that a combination of new construction and building renovation would result in the greatest benefit to the county with the least impact on the county’s tax burden. “While we hoped to also build a nursing home, a survey of area residents indicated that utilization would not be adequate to sustain the facility,” said Owens, who is also a nurse. The residents of Culberson County agreed, with an overwhelming vote in May 2008 to approve the issuance of $7.5 million in bonds secured by property taxes.
Working with Rees Associates, a national architecture and engineering firm based in Dallas, Houston and Oklahoma City, the CCHD board requested that the interior and exterior design of the new addition reflect Van Horn and Culberson County. “The results truly exceed our expectations,” said Hooper, “and we believe that everyone in the county will be pleased.”
“Hospital and medical staff are also proud of the new facility,” said Ladelle Bates, hospital administrator. Patients admitted to the hospital for acute inpatient or skilled nursing care will receive that care in a more home-like environment including private rooms and private restrooms with showers. The emergency department has been expanded to five treatment rooms to enhance the care provided to local residents as well as patients traveling through Culberson County, and will have a separate waiting area for family members. Conveniently located next to both the inpatient areas and emergency department, the imaging department will be equipped with updated CT, ultrasound and general x-ray technology.
While most of the equipment in the new addition is being purchased with the proceeds of the bond issue, Preferred has agreed to absorb the cost of a new 16-slice CT scanner and a new x-ray unit. In addition, the CCHD has approached the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other potential grant sources to increase the funds available for needed equipment and replacement of the ambulance garage.
Once inpatients have been moved into the new addition in late June or early July, work will begin on renovations to the existing facility. These improvements may be less visible to the public, but will address many of the electrical and mechanical problems of the old facility, and enable the CCHD, Preferred and county residents to continue to use the building well into the future.
UEB Builders, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is serving as the general contractor for both new construction and renovation, working with local and regional subcontractors to complete the project on a 10-month timeline. Both Rees and UEB were selected to work on the project through a competitive bidding process.
“This project has been a team effort from the start,” noted Collins, “and we have been fortunate to have a great team including everyone in Culberson County.”