Mercy has finalized a lease agreement to operate and manage Perry County Memorial Hospital in Missouri, investing $6.5 million to transition to an Epic EHR system.
SPR s Doug Nadvornick reports.
The Covid outbreak that hit the small Ferry County town of Republic in April is slowly abating.
The outbreak was triggered by one or more gatherings at a local social club.
For the first time in a few weeks, administrators at the Ferry County Memorial Hospital say there say they saw no new cases over the weekend.
Cindy Chase, the chief nursing officer, says 125 residents have tested positive in during the last month, compared to 76 positive tests for the entire year between March 2020 and March 2021.
She says the people coming to the hospital with Covid symptoms are often really sick. Nine residents have been airlifted to other hospitals in the last three weeks. Two people have died.
Credit Courtesy of Ferry County Memorial Hospital
Ferry County has become the fourth Washington county to move back to Phase 2 in the state’s coronavirus reopening protocol.
The Northeast Tri-County Health District on Friday announced that it has moved Ferry County back a step because of an outbreak, brought upon, at least in part, by two maskless parties at an Eagles’ Lodge in Republic in mid-April.
The health district reports the county has had 106 positive Covid cases since April 12, including seven people who were transported out of the county to be hospitalized. One person infected with the virus has died. The health district reports the hospital in Republic has worked with the state to receive help in medical staffing and other logistics needed to care for the sick.
SPR s Doug Nadvornick reports.
It’s the third week of Covid vaccinations in Washington. Hospitals and other health care facilities are making varying degrees of progress.
In Republic, local hospital officials expect to begin administering second doses of the two-dose regimen this week, perhaps as early as Wednesday.
Ferry County Hospital CEO Aaron Edwards is proud of what his employees have been able to accomplish in terms of inoculating people during the last few weeks.
“We purchased two small tiny homes, one for a testing trailer and one for a vaccination trailer so we didn’t bring folks into our facility as much as possible to protect our long-term care residents that live here, he said.