Wayne Memorial to assist with industrial recruitment
By Laura Collins
Published in News on April 15, 2010 1:46 PM
Wayne Memorial Hospital is joining the campaign to bring more business to the county.
At the Wayne Memorial Hospital board of directors meeting on Tuesday morning, the board approved supporting IMPACT WAYNE, a non-profit arm of the Wayne County Development Association that helps recruit new business to Wayne County. The hospital will give the group $10,000 a year over the next five years.
"We feel like we'd be a good community citizen by helping recruit businesses to this area," hospital President Bill Paugh said.
Paugh also announced that the Peterson Associates architect doing the design work for the hospital's planned expansion of the emergency department has resigned. Paugh said he is confident the resignation will not affect the design work or the planned timetable.
Wayne Memorial Hospital is hoping to expand its emergency department by 2011.
The hospital filed an application with the Certificate of Need Section of the state Division of Health Service Regulation last year to expand the emergency department and to get another CT scanner and X-ray equipment.
The proposed plan is a $21.1 million project that will add more than 31,000 square feet to the facility and renovate more than 4,000 square feet. It would almost double the number of treatment rooms from 22 to 42.
The department has more than 53,000 visits per year, but the facility is built for about 35,000 visits per year. The facility will remain one story, and the current location will likely be used for infusion therapy as well as a waiting area.
Also at the meeting, Vice Chairman William Broadaway updated the board on February's finances. He said revenues were under budget by about 9 percent for the month, which was mostly due to lower volumes. Psychiatric admissions were below budget by 20 percent and outpatient revenue was down 7 percent because of lower emergency department and MRI outpatient visits, Broadaway said.