EDITORIAL: Moving forward

Posted 4/30/13

Each development is a step in the right direction.

Powell Valley Healthcare hosted a strategic planning session in early April, discussing a wide range of topics. Among them: updating and expanding medical facilities, child care for employees’ …

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EDITORIAL: Moving forward

Posted

Powell valley healthcare making strides, moving past struggles

Progress is taking on a variety of forms at Powell Valley Healthcare.

This month, PVHC leaders continued to map out a strategic plan for the organization’s future. Meanwhile, a court case proceeded against Paul Cardwell, the former CEO and current fugitive who dropped off the map.

Each development is a step in the right direction.

Powell Valley Healthcare hosted a strategic planning session in early April, discussing a wide range of topics. Among them: updating and expanding medical facilities, child care for employees’ families, transportation needs for patients, the new electronic medical records system, the number of primary physicians needed and working cooperatively with other hospitals around the Big Horn Basin. All the while, the organization is moving forward with its “Journey 2 Excellence,” a self-improvement plan.

“Talk about having full plates,” CEO Bill Patten said recently. “We like to joke, ‘We don’t have plates anymore; we have platters.’”

Though it’s a lot to take on now, we expect all of the hard work, time and energy will take the organization in the direction it needs to go.

Powell Valley Healthcare must make up for lost time and opportunities under Cardwell’s brief and disastrous tenure. In addition to being deceptive, Cardwell’s time here also was unproductive, costing the organization both time and money.

Powell Valley Healthcare has since recovered the losses from Cardwell’s fraudulent schemes that totaled nearly $848,000. Now, it’s a matter of making up for lost time.

Taking on so many projects at the same time is certainly a challenge, but we admire leaders’ tenacity and commitment to improving the organization’s overall health.

Progress doesn’t come without some bumps and difficulties along the way. To improve the organization’s bottom line, 11 employees were laid off last fall.

PVHC also had to revert back to its previous medical records system after the new electronic system caused headaches, if not migraines, in multiple departments. This time around, the system is going live in phases. Quirks are still being worked out, but taking it slowly and one department at a time is a wise choice and shows leaders learned from previous mistakes.

Powell Valley Healthcare is a vital organization to our community and the surrounding areas. We depend on the doctors, nurses, emergency responders and so many others who are here to meet residents’ health care needs. When the hospital, care center and other facilities are healthy, we all benefit.

Rather than being defined or debilitated by painful struggles of the past, it’s good to see Powell Valley Healthcare move forward.

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