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The Box Butte General Hospital (BBGH) Board of Trustees met Monday, January 30 for their regular monthly meeting. It’s this time of year the BBGH Chief Nursing Officer Carolyn Jones usually approaches the board for its approval to fund this year’s scholarships and she did so Monday evening. “This program has been a great success for our hospital over the years,” she said. Ms. Jones listed a number of current employees who received scholarships in the past who now work at the hospital, as well as several others currently in college who have indicated they want to return to BBGH for employment in a variety of capacities. “One thing I’d like to focus on this year is targeting potential or current non-traditional students with an interest in health care careers,” she said. Such non-traditional students would include moms or dads who have been home with children, and now that their children are grown, the parent is looking for something new and rewarding. After a few questions on how applicants are chosen as scholarship winners (applications are given to a hospital board of trustees in eastern Nebraska and rated by them before being sent back), the Trustees moved and unanimously approved $5,000 in scholarships. This includes $500 scholarships awarded to students planning to enroll in general education classes and $1,000 scholarships awarded to college students working towards a health care degree. Box Butte Health Foundation Board (BBHF) members followed suit Tuesday morning when they voted to approve another $5,000 in scholarships from BBHF, for a total of $10,000 from BBGH and BBHF.

The board also conducted the following business.

The Trustees recognized Hope Miller, Central Sterile Technician, as the January Employee of the Month. Also recognized were Amber Smith, RT(R)(M), Diagnostic Imaging, for being named the 2016 Employee of the Year and Lori Fields, BN, BSN, for obtaining her Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN) certification. New employees were welcomed, including: Nadine Dunn, Controller; Keysha Sanchez, Environmental Services; Jared Carter, Assistant Cook; and Cynthia Cleays, RN.

After approving the consent calendar and hearing from BBGH Chief of Staff Dr. Tim Narjes on a brief update on what kinds of cases medical staff are seeing (RSV cases are lower than previously reported), the board discussed the 2017 Strategic Plan. CEO Lori Mazanec had provided a copy of the plan, developed by Quorum Health Resources after input from community stakeholders over the past year. Board Chairman Tom Furman, DVM, asked Ms. Mazanec to pick out the top priorities hospital staff will focus on out of the 35 page report. Ms. Mazanec said all the data contained in the report could be boiled down to five priorities: 1) Identify partnership opportunities to support physician/provider recruitment and retention; 2) Strengthen quality and service excellence to enhance patient experience; 3) Develop plans to regain market share and reduce outmigration through mutually beneficial collaboration with other healthcare organizations (e.g. local facilities and providers); 4) Work with staff to improve physician engagement; and 5) Develop strategies to improve employee morale and redefine perceptions regarding employee turnover. After further discussion on how staff would approach those priorities and setting a time frame to have plans in place for May of this year, the Trustees unanimously approved the strategic plan.

Ms. Mazanec asked the Trustees how they wanted to conduct the board self-assessment follow-up. The Trustees said nothing further was needed, as the assessment has already helped each of them identify their strengths and weaknesses.

Ms. Mazanec then gave an update on the Fitness Center renovation, the last stage of the renovation project. She said the last punch list of items that needed to be fixed had been completed, with those items identified already taken care of. The Fitness Center, closed this week to move equipment to the new space, will be open again next week, with all members having to re-do orientation prior to use. All new equipment should be in soon, and the hospital plans to have an open house in March to tour the new facility, as well as celebrate the hospital’s 40th anniversary.

After handing out conflict of interest statements the Trustees must fill out, Trustee Randy Langemeier, who is also the hospital’s Finance Committee Chairman, informed the board the committee wanted to be pro-active in establishing a line of credit of $1,000,000 with a county financial institution in order to be sure the hospital will always be able to honor a 90 day or more cash on hand covenant contained in the $28.8 million USDA loan. He said the hospital is in great shape financially, but that the committee wanted the line-of-credit available as a forward looking tool to meet future needs. The line-of-credit would not be used for anything but keeping the 90 day cash on hand covenant. The committee had received proposals from five area financial institutions who presented terms and condition proposals to the committee. The committee recommended the hospital go with Sandhills State Bank. After discussion ensuring that the line-of-credit would only be used when a “break the glass” need occurred and that the Trustees would be part of that decision to use whatever amount was needed to meet the covenant, the Trustees (with Mr. Langemeier abstaining due to conflict of interest) unanimously approved the Sandhills State Bank proposal and to inform the bank to start the paperwork required to finalize the line-of-credit. The motion also stipulated that final board approval will be made after all the paperwork is completed.

The Trustees unanimously approved all credentialing requests and then entered into executive session at 8:00pm to review legal matters. They returned to open session at 8:38pm and adjourned at 8:39pm with no action taken. The next board meeting will be held Monday, February 27 at 7:00pm in the Alliance Room. As always, the public is invited to attend.

Box Butte General Hospital is an equal opportunity provider and employer.