[Editor's Note: This is part 8 of a multi-article series on the Commission work session on April 11, as well as on the regular meeting on April 13, 2023. This article begins with the GRMC monthly report.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

At the Grant County Commission regular meeting on April 13, 2023, Gila Regional Medical Center Interim Chief Executive Officer Margie Molitar came forward to give the monthly report and turned it over to Chief Financial Officer Patrick Banks, who presented the February financial report, as the March one had not been yet approved by the Governing Board.

Banks noted the days cash on hand were up from the previous month at 109 days. "We are improving our cost structure. We have had a significant increase in labor costs, but we expect to see an improvement. The hospital posted a $30,000 surplus in operations, which is highly significant. The hospital is grateful to Sen. Siah Hemphill, Rep. Luis Terrazas, our federal congressional delegation, and you commissioners for your support to make sure to keep the hospital going."

Molitar said she continues to carry the message that "we have great people at Gila Regional. We got a good report on the Joint Commission survey, with a few minor deficiencies that we are working through with our correction plan. I do regular rounds with patients and departments. A lot of my work is to make the system more efficient, so staff spends more time in caring for patients and less time in meetings. Our senior leadership is working on a strategic management action plan that was developed when you did your strategic planning last year. We have a plan, and we are looking at it, revising it and seeing how we can take measurable actions and also report it to you."

She said she was happy and proud to report that Dr. Melendez has received his New Mexico license as a general surgeon. He is now working on credentialing and looking at housing. He will join Dr. Gibson and Dr. Rosser. Dr. Durando, a medical oncologist, started this last week. He shares the responsibility with Dr. Shaheen.

"We have been interviewing several radiation oncologists to replace Dr. Hayostek, who will retire in September.," Molitar continued. "We have instituted phone calls to our emergency patients and our inpatients. It's an important call to make sure they understand their discharge instructions, if they have gotten their prescriptions filled, and if they have any questions or concerns we can help them with. That's a very important protocol we have reinstituted. I have reviewed all the staff engagement survey results, as well as the department directors' plans related to those results. And we are now having those directors present their plans of what they are doing, so we can work together and share ideas, because employee engagement is important for anything we do up there. We had our kickoff meeting for the Meditech expansion project. It starts now, and it won't go live until November. We have three physician champions, with Dr. Robinson agreeing to go out for a week-long training. It's important we have those providers engaged in the process, so it is more efficient and easier to use. Some of the 13 resident nurses are coming off orientation and coming on staff, which will help us reduce the number of traveling nurses. Our EMS has a huge commitment to support the Tour of the Gila. We are providing three to four ambulances per day, a huge commitment from (EMS Director) Eloy (Medina)'s team. We are also providing physicians and physician assistants to the Tour of the Gila to make sure those cyclists are safe and we are there if something happens. I had a good meeting with Dan Otero on how to enhance our partnership with HMS (Hidalgo Medical Services)."

She gave a shout out to April 16-22 as National Volunteers Week. "We have some great volunteers, with 36 members in our Auxiliary. They man the front desk, the gift shop, as well as the Surgical and Cancer centers. They have also agreed to purchase three fetal monitors. Our foundation is becoming more active, with activities planned for this summer and fall, to help bring in funding for necessary equipment. I also want to thank our legislative representatives for funding our phone system."

District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce said he asked a couple of weeks ago to recognize several people. "My wife had some stuff going on. I want to say the employees, nurses and CNAs were great. You can see their compassion. I will give their first names, Jessie, Marisa, Marlene, Zabonie, Brian and EMS, they did a great job. I would ask that they be recognized. Saying that, there is still a lot of work to do above them. I would like to know if any have been recognized."

Molitar said she did not have the list, but she will carry the information.

County Manager Charlene Webb, during the work session review of the regular meeting agenda, noted that one item was the financial report. County Financial Officer Linda Vasquez presented the expenditure report, covering the period between March 3 and April 7, at the work session. Expenditures for the period totaled $3749,562.31, which included three pay periods totaling $662,308.20.

Included in the report was a list of extraordinary expenditures above $10,000, listed in the PDF below.

The next article will begin with the regular meeting elected officials reports, then continue with the work session review of the regular meeting and the decisions made in the regular meeting.

For the previous articles, please visit https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/77696-grant-county-commission-work-session-held-april-11-2023-part-1; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/77752-grant-county-commission-work-session-held-april-11-2023-part-2; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/77762-grant-county-commission-work-session-held-april-11-2023-part-3; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/77764-grant-county-commission-work-session-held-april-11-2023-part-4; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/77791-grant-county-commission-work-session-held-april-11-2023-and-regular-meeting-on-april-13-2023-part-5; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/77839-grant-county-commission-work-session-held-april-11-2023-and-regular-meeting-on-april-13-2023-part-6 ; and
https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/77843-grant-county-commission-work-session-held-april-11-2023-and-regular-meeting-on-april-13-2023-part-7 .