April 2012 Edition - Frederick Memorial Hospital

FMH President’s Letter Tomas A. Kleinhanzl
Dear Friends,
I hope that you have had the opportunity to get outside and enjoy our early spring. It has indeed
been a treat to see the trees and flowers blooming three weeks ahead of schedule. I must admit that
I was not thrilled about mowing the lawn so early in the year! Oh well. I suppose that warmweather
chore was coming our way sooner or later anyway.
Along with one of the mildest winters ever experienced in central Maryland, you may have noticed
that the flu season passed us by with little more than a few cases of fever and dehydration. That is
a good thing for the health and well-being of the community we serve. The down side is the
patient volumes around which our fiscal year 2012 budget was planned simply did not happen. We
have some catching up to do. The best way for us to address those issues is by closely monitoring
the expense side of the ledger. By working together, I am confident that we will end the fiscal year
well within our budgetary projections.
The construction projects on the second and fourth floors of the hospital are complete. The 2C
inpatient unit, the area where the administrative offices used to be located, began accepting
patients in March. The 4A North unit will begin housing patients by the end of April. We expect
to receive approval from the State for the additional beds planned for the 4A South unit in mid-
April. Construction will resume on the fourth floor when that approval is received. Some
finishing work is continuing on the roof and one more layer of concrete needs to be poured on the
helipad. The elevators that will transport patients from the helipad to the Emergency Department
are scheduled to arrive later this month and they will be installed in May.
In early March, the Frederick City Planning Commission approved the site plan for the
construction of a 420 parking space addition to the existing garage. The bidding process for the
project will begin shortly and the plan is to have a contractor signed on to the project by midsummer.
The hospital has agreed to make some enhancements to the hospital’s 7 th Street entrance
before construction on the parking deck begins, and that work will begin in the fall. Construction
will take 12 to 14 months, and all of us will have to work around the inconveniences that come
with a construction project of this size. I thank you in advance for your patience and support.
Best regards,
Tom Kleinhanzl
President & CEO
Frederick Regional Health System
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