By Mary Alice Murphy

The Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce holds monthly luncheon meetings for its members, where they not only can network with other members, but also enjoy good food and hear good information.

At the May 5, 2022 luncheon, Gila Regional Medical Center Interim Chief Executive Officer Marion A. "Tony" Thompson served as featured speaker.

"I've been here since mid-March, and I have received a warm welcome from the community we serve," Thompson said. "My journey in health care came about by following family. My sister is a physical therapist. I graduated from Batesville, Arkansas, High School on the White River. It's the oldest continuously inhabited municipality in Arkansas. It lies in the foothills of the Ozarks on the alluvial plains. The industries are primarily rice and corn farming and cattle production to the west toward the Ozark Mountains. The county is now known for poultry, either growing or producing. I grew up on a dairy farm. We were in milk production. Although I enjoyed spending time on the farm, I followed my sister into a job indoors, where there was air-conditioning. I studied nuclear medicine and imaging/radiology. I went back to grad school at the University of Mississippi to take administration courses. I moved to Houston, Texas, and worked at Memorial Hermann Hospital, where I did my two-year internship. I established networks with lots of individuals. My last permanent appointment was in Kansas. My wife said we needed to retire. I said: 'You can go back home and be Nana. I'll do interim jobs with HealthTech S3.' That's what brought me to Silver City."

Thompson said he talked to Mike Lieb, HealthTechS3, and told him that "I was ready to do an interim. It has been a great reception for me here. I appreciate folks being so warm and welcoming. The hospital received shortly after I got here the Health Grades award. They recognized us for excellence. We got one of the 2020 safety awards. We scored in the top 2 percent of 4,500 hospitals across the country. We are the only hospital in New Mexico that got the award. It's a big deal to be in the top 2 percent of patient safety. When people are in the hospital, they might fall, they might get a UTI (urinary tract infection) from a urinary catheter, but they rarely do at GRMC. I'm proud to be part of a hospital that values patient safety."

He also announced that at 2 p.m., May 19, under the canopy in front of GRMC, an event would feature the USDA coming to talk about the grant awards the agency has given the hospital for roof repairs and equipment purchases including a new ambulance.

"We continue to have a tremendous number of capital improvements we need, but this helps us a great deal," Thompson said. "We are building our cash, but grants help."

Grant County Workforce and Economic Development Alliance Director Steve Chavira welcomed Thompson to Silver City. "I have a question. You are in a line of people coming into this job. When do you expect to turn the tide where we can have you or a permanent CEO remain in the position?"

Thompson said the hospital has $200 million in gross revenue, and "we may have about $20 million in cash. We have to address things like air handlers and other critical equipment needs. When we have a community like this one in a location like this, we are appealing for nurses and physicians to come here. We need to find someone for CEO that's 36-years old with 2.2 kids, experienced, but willing to serve here long-term."

"I have worked on employee engagements," Thompson said. "It's part of my makeup. I arrive before 7 a.m. I check on the team leaving their shifts at that hour. I make rounds to the ER, surgery, labor and delivery. I want to make myself available to anyone with questions. If I have the answer, I'll give it to them. If I don't, I'll find out the answer. And if I know the answer, but can't tell them, I'll tell them why."

Chavira said he agrees with the importance of leadership by walking around. "We are a community outside looking in. You've given me assurance that what you're doing will work for the hospital."

"I hope so," Thompson said. "We need to communicate more to the community. As an analogy, the airplane was crashing; we have leveled out and are rising."

Bruce Ashburn, PNM representative and chamber board member, asked Thompson, with wages rising and the challenges of the hospital, "how are you working on recruiting nurses from Western (New Mexico University)? We are so privileged to have a hospital like Gila Regional here."

Thompson said prior to the pandemic, colds and flu were cyclical. The pandemic caused a structural change. "Like all hospital across the nation, we had nurse shortages. No one had vacations. They put sweat into taking care of patients, although at its height, the hospital had only four to five Covid patients a week. But a lot of the hospital could not take elective surgeries. "When there was demand for nurses, there were companies willing to send us travelers to take care of our patients. We had to pay what they were requiring. Fortunately, the federal government helped us out. How I move forward is I steal good ideas from trade publications. We have to reach out to recruit and so, we have created our own internal recruiting agency. Folks who have left our hospital and other hospitals have gotten comfortable with traveling from place to place. We have to be able to travel within the organization. We are actively through human resources developing our new salary ranges. The New Mexico Hospital Association does salary rates, but their data is 1½ years old. We are looking at what does it take to recruit. Internally we will develop our own salary ranges."

He said he remembers a class where for future needs, the assumption was that younger baby boomers would take care of older baby boomers. "It's not happening. The Big Resignation has happened. I'm afraid our expected supply of health-care providers will not be there."

Thompson said the critical access designation has benefited the hospital. "It takes a couple of cycles before the payment rates go up, but we're getting there. But, yes, the challenge is to recruit the providers we need."

To another question from Ashburn, Thompson said: "We have a healthy population with commercial insurance, but I know the larger group is of retirees on Medicare and others on Medicaid. They are all part of the payer mix."

Hugh Epping said: "This community has a great deal of pride. When there was, some years back, talk about selling the hospital, there was a community revolt. Medical providers would have left. The hospital is truly an integral part of the community. Any decision made at the hospital affects the whole community. A big recruitment tool should bring the person to the hospital and then let them look to the north at the mountains and forest. Economic development for the area must have a good school system and a good hospital."

Thompson said the hospital is in good shape with medical staff. "We look at the succession plan. We have the Cancer Center, for which a letter of intent has been signed by a provider, actually the provider that first worked at the Cancer Center. Dr. (Barbara) McAneny is greatly engaged in the transition. When her group left unceremoniously, she hasn't forgotten. She has held fast to requiring a 20-year agreement. We will see that through. We hope to have the transition wrapped up by August 31 with no gap in service. We plan to have a bridge of providers from Dr. McAneny."

Ted Presler said he had a great time at Lovelace recently. "60-80 percent of the nurses were travelers. My best nurse was from Jordan. However, because this was Albuquerque, they were told not to leave the hotel when they were off work. I talked about Silver City and Gila Regional. I asked the nurses if they had considered working here. They said there was nothing to do here. I suggest a concierge nurse that can sign them in and, say they want to go to a movie, get tickets for them. The message about Silver City is not getting through."

Chamber Director Romeo Cruz said: "Tell them to contact the chamber. I'll direct them to where to eat and what to do."

He continued by naming two new members, Autumn Robertson and Wolfhorse Outfitters. "We hired a new employee. Jolynne Massengill. And the theme for the Fourth of July is 'America the Beautiful' for the festival and the parade. If you want a float or booth, we have the applications ready."

Grant County Community Foundation Director Bernadette Smyth announced that Give Grandly was that upcoming weekend. "We have 55 non-profits this year seeking funding. It's a great way for non-profits to get operating funds. If the group gets at least $500, we will match it with another $500. One of the non-profits seeking funding is us, the foundation."

Ashburn announced that PNM has a grant cycle to help offset crime. It's also good for mental health projects. Go to PNM.com/grants. [It was only open through May 13.]

Lori Rogers of Health and Wellness by Lori said she only works with products that are 100 percent peer-reviewed. "I have a special for chamber members. We work to keep you out of the hospital, but when we have to go there, we are happy to have our hospital."

Mike Barragree of Mimbres Film LLC thanked the chamber for getting the display up and "thank you for supporting Grant County."