2 Sunday,March 2,2008 WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES PROGRESS 2008 Samaritan Medical Center is beginning construction of a parking garage with a helipad and 112,000- square-foot patient pavilion. It also plans to renovate 71,500 square feet of hospital space to expand the WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES maternity unit and create a new neonatal intensive care unit and construct a connection between the hospital and Samaritan Keep Home. Hospitals upgrade to handle expansion of services GETTING BETTER: Recruiting staff among priorities amid renovations By STEVE VIRKLER TIMES STAFF WRITER Over the past few years, contractors have been nearly as noticeable at north country hospitals as doctors and nurses. And area hospital administrators say that past, present and future upgrades should not only improve patient services but also help entice new doctors to practice at their facilities. Physician recruitment “is an important challenge, one we identified two years ago,” said Thomas H. Carman, chief executive officer at Samaritan Medical Center, <strong>Watertown</strong>. “Our number one need for the next one to three years is to develop a system to recruit and retain needed primary care and specialists,” said Walter S. Becker, Carthage Area Hospital’s administrator. Doctors and graduating medical students trained at state-ofthe-art facilities likely will be hesitant to work at an aging hospital, said Mr. Carman, whose facility is moving forward with a four-year, $61 million expansion and renovation project. Suburban teaching hospitals “have all the technology,” said Mr. Becker, whose facility is finishing up a $9.2 million capital project. “They have all the specialists in the world.” Rural areas like the north country also tend to have patients with lower incomes than in more urban locales, he said. Hospital officials agree that facilities and equipment alone will not attract needed physicians to north country communities. Lifestyle issues are important in physician recruitment, Mr. Carman said. For example, it’s difficult to recruit a doctor who would be on-call every couple of nights in a smaller hospital but only once every week or two at a larger one, he said. “Obviously, we’ve got to make sure the spouse is comfortable,” Mr. Carman said. Following is a look at how hospitals — typically among the largest employers and economic engines in their respective communities — are attempting to progress. SAMARITAN MEDICAL CENTER Physician recruitment must be done with the needs of the community and existing doctors in mind, Mr. Carman said. “You want to make sure you get the right balance,” he said. To that end, Samaritan officials in 2006 created a physician “Whatever we do to benefit Fort Drum ultimately benefits the north country.” Thomas H. Carman, chief executive officer, Samaritan Medical Center development committee to research community needs and recommend the types of doctors that should be sought. That process began to bear fruit last year, Mr. Carman said. Samaritan officials added 19 doctors, including four internal medicine practitioners, three pediatricians, two general surgeons and three obstetrician/gynecologists at Fort Drum who were authorized to deliver babies at SMC. They are working with existing medical staff to recruit physicians in the following areas: general surgery, primary care, gastroenterology, pulmonary/critical care, ob/gyn and urology. Samaritan is beginning construction of a parking garage with helipad and 112,000- square-foot patient pavilion. It also plans to renovate 71,500 square feet of hospital space to expand the maternity unit and create a new neonatal intensive care unit and construct a connection between the hospital and Samaritan Keep Home. With about 85 percent of the current hospital space built before 1972, the upgrades are needed, SMC spokeswoman Krista A. Kittle said. Capital and service upgrades are planned with the entire community, including military families, in mind, Mr. Carman said. “Whatever we do to benefit Fort Drum ultimately benefits the north country,” he said. Soldiers and their spouses typically are young and healthy and tend more often to utilize departments such as maternity, emergency, mental health and orthopedics, increasing the need for those services, Mr. Carman said. He touted the Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization, which was created a couple of years ago to provide better health services to military families. “It’s everyone coming together to listen to the issues of Fort Drum,” Mr. Carman said. CARTHAGE AREA HOSPITAL “Our biggest goal is now to use our new building,” Mr. Becker said. With a new obstetrical/maternity center featuring private rooms and birthing suites, the Carthage administrator said he hopes to see 400 annual deliveries, up from about 230 in the past year. “It’s a target I think we’ll hit,” Mr. Becker said, adding that the facility should prove attractive to mothers-to-be from civilian and military backgrounds. The capital project, which is nearing completion, also includes expansion of the surgical area and laboratory, addition of waiting rooms and opening of a full-time magnetic resonance imaging service and coronary intensive care unit. Plans include the upgrading of medical floors and nursing stations, Mr. Becker said. The hospital also plans to add school-based health clinics at Carthage Elementary and La- Fargeville Central schools to its five other school-based clinics and 10 other health centers and clinics throughout the region. “We’re trying to get health care out to the community,” Mr. Becker said. While recent building upgrades have helped the hospital recruit a surgeon and urologist to the community, the administrator said he’s not sure he has ever seen a more challenging period for physician recruitment during his 37 years in the health care industry. “It’s everybody’s problem,” he said. The hospital is looking to recruit psychiatrists, family practitioners, psychologists, dentists, orthopedic surgeons and certified social workers, Mr. Becker said. To combat the problem, the state needs to provide more incentives for medical students to locate in rural areas, and the community needs to be involved in the recruitment process, he said. Mr. Becker said he hopes to work with school districts to encourage area youth to enter the health-care field. “At some point, these kids may come back home,” he said. LEWIS COUNTY GENERAL HOSPITAL “Physician recruitment and retention is a priority here,” said Eric R. Burch, interim CEO at Lewis County General Hospital, Lowville. The county-owned facility has a strong track record in recent years because hospital officials have focused on working with existing physicians to bring in complementary doctors who will provide needed services, not Thomas H. Carman just compete for patients. “I think the medical staff here is a huge plus,” Mr. Burch said. “We’re partners.” Mr. Burch, also the hospital’s chief financial officer, has been serving as interim CEO since October. Hospital officials are interviewing several candidates, including Mr. Burch, for the permanent job. LCGH last year completed a $4.1 million expansion and renovation project of the diagnostic imaging and emergency departments. Eric R. Burch Hospital officials are exploring a major upgrade of its heating and air conditioning system, Mr. Burch said. “It’s about a $2 million project that pays for itself in 10 years in energy savings,” he said. The hospital is working to start a sleep lab, dialysis center and full-time MRI service and considering an operating room renovation and finding a larger site for its Beaver Falls clinic. LCGH has added some physi- See HOSPITALS, page 4 WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES Work proceeds last July at Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, Ogdensburg, which is in the midst of a $9.9 million building project. A new outpatient ambulatory surgery unit and expanded radiology department and patient registration department have already been completed; new mental health and ob/gyn units are expected to open this spring.
PROGRESS `08 BLACK ■ MAGENTA ■ CYAN ■ YELLOW ■ PROGRESS 2008 W A TERTOW N D AIL Y T IMES Sunday, March 02, 2008 3
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