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4 Sunday,March 2,2008 WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES
PROGRESS 2008
Hospitals undergoing renovation to attract top staff
FROM PAGE 2
cian assistants to allow doctors
to spend more time in their offices,
including the hospital’s
health clinics, and reduce their
on-call hours, Mr. Burch said.
Hospital officials are looking to
bring in some services from an
oncology group in Utica and add
an orthopedic surgeon through
Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists
to increase emergency room
coverage from 10 to 25 days per
month, he said.
Mr. Burch said he hopes that a
partnership of hospitals,
through the Fort Drum Regional
Health Planning Organization,
will soon undertake a $1 million,
federally funded project linking
their facilities to the Development
Authority of the North
Country’s fiber-optic network.
“That would get us into
telemedicine,” he said, noting
the connection would allow
doctors to send patient vitals
and other information to specialists
elsewhere for rapid consultations.
RIVER HOSPITAL
“We think the telemedicine
can really enhance patients and
help doctors,” said Ben Moore
III, chief executive officer at River
Hospital, Alexandria Bay.
The high-speed connection
also could be used to provide inhouse
nursing training via
videoconferencing, he said.
Over his past year at the hospital’s
helm, Mr. Moore oversaw
completion of a $1.7 million operating
room project that allows
routine surgeries to be performed
on site. “In 2008, we
hope to build up the volume,” he
said, adding that about a dozen
doctors in the region are interested
in using the new facility.
The hospital had not had an
operating room since 1992,
when it was called E.J. Noble
Hospital and was operated by
SMC. It became an independent
facility in 2003.
Thanks to community philanthropy
and implementation
of a formal budget process, the
hospital ended last year “in the
black” for the first time since the
administrative changeover, Mr.
Moore said. “That lays a good
background for us to move forward,”
he said.
Hospital officials by early
summer plan to install a modular
building that would double
its number of examination
rooms from six to 12. “That will
really help a lot of things,” Mr.
Moore said.
The hospital board hopes to
begin utilizing information garnered
from a community survey
last fall, which gave the facility
“good grades” but requested
more primary care, screening
and educational services, he
said.
Plans are to bring in two new
doctors and a nurse practitioner
this year.
However, Mr. Moore, a past
executive director at Upstate
Medical University in Syracuse,
acknowledged the difficulties of
recruiting doctors to a small
community. “You’re sort of limited
to people who like that
lifestyle,” he said, noting most
successful recruits were either
raised or trained in a rural locale.
One advantage River Hospital
has is its location on the banks of
the St. Lawrence River. “This
area sort of sells itself,” Mr.
Moore said.
Hospital officials also attempt
to convince potential recruits
that the regional medical community,
while relatively small,
tends to be very supportive, he
said.
As a relatively new facility,
River Hospital has focused on
partnering — rather than competing
— with hospitals and
physicians from neighboring
communities, Mr. Moore said.
CANTON-POTSDAM HOSPITAL
On the job for eight months,
CEO David B. Acker says his top
concern is the tiny profit margin
Canton-Potsdam Hospital,
along with many other rural
medical institutions, survives
on.
Last year, the hospital had a
profit of less than 1 percent, or
about $350,000 on $60 million in
revenues. In 2006, it lost money.
“What we see in rural Northern
New York is really typical for
what we see around the country
— that most rural facilities have
populations that are older and
poorer, and find it difficult to
generate adequate operating
margins to replace buildings as
they are outgrown, and acquire
technology as it continually accelerates
in its pace,” Mr. Acker
said. “We start every day in the
hole.”
He worries that the problem
will only intensify as the government
proposes further cuts in
Medicare and Medicaid funding.
The hospital is spending
$700,000 to renovate its E.J. Noble
Medical Building in Canton,
by repaving the parking lots, installing
high-efficiency windows
and replacing air conditioning
systems.
The After Hours Care Clinic
and physical therapy treatment
area will be renovated and expanded
in the East Main Street
building.
The main campus’s location
WNYF FO X 28
Y OUR N ORTH C OUNTRY F OX
progress ad #1b 2/21/08 3:54 PM Page 1
Purcel Construction Corp. workers last year put up metal beams on the new section of Carthage Area Hospital.
in a residential neighborhood in
the village of Potsdam, hemmed
in by houses on all sides, has
prevented the facility from expanding
its footprint and created
a shortage of parking.
Mr. Acker plans to hash out its
plans for future expansion with
village officials in late March or
early April.
“If we’re going to survive, we
need to grow. And if we’re going
to grow, we need the space to
grow,” Mr. Acker said.
Canton-Potsdam Hospital
owns four surrounding houses
— and is purchasing a fifth — for
hospital and doctors’ office
space. The hospital hopes to
have its property rezoned, possibly
as a health care zone, so it
can demolish the houses and
build parking lots or other facilities
there.
The hospital faces a shortage
of physicians, although five have
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WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES
WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES
With a new obstetrical/maternity center featuring private rooms and birthing suites, Carthage Area Hospital
may see 400 annual deliveries, up from about 230 in the past year.
does benefit from its proximity
and close ties to SUNY Canton,
where it recruits more than half
of its nurses.
See HOSPITALS, page 15
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The latest technology and treatment options are only part of what allows
Samaritan Medical Center to meet our community’s healthcare needs.
Our people make it happen through their unwavering commitment to
caring, which makes a difference in hundreds of lives each and every day.
Bringing new physicians to our community.
Samaritan Medical Center and the 180 members of its Medical Staff
proudly welcome these 19 new physicians to the dedicated, skilled and
compassionate team of professionals who care for our community.
Meet the 19 newest members of our Medical Staff:
Bradford Bilicki, D.O. General Surgery (arriving Summer ‘08)
Yurii Borshch, M.D. Anesthesiology
Douglas Brown, M.D.* Obstetrics & Gynecology
Tony Chuang, M.D. ENT
Carl Crossley, M.D. Pediatric Neurology
Peter DeJager, M.D. Emergency Medicine
Myla DeJesus, M.D. Pediatrics
*Indicates a military physician with privileges at SMC.
David Flint, M.D.
Scott Goodrich, M.D.*
Joan Guevarra, M.D.
Patrick Joasil, M.D.
Lisa Johnson, M.D.*
Chikku Paul, M.D.
Harold Phillips, M.D.
Hospitalist/Internal Medicine
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Hospitalist/Internal Medicine
Hospitalist/Internal Medicine
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Pediatrics
Pediatrics
Bhasker Reddy, M.D.
John Savino, D.O.
Sheila Skurpski, D.O.
Julian Thomas, M.D.
Erum Zahid, M.D.
General Surgery
Psychiatry - Child & Adolescent
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Cardiology
Hospitalist/Internal Medicine
www.samaritanhealth.com
830 Washington Street, Watertown