Dateline: May 24, 2007

Hospital board look to expand MCNH

The Donley County Hospital Board is taking bids to replace the roof of the Medical Center Nursing Home following their regular meeting last Tuesday.

The project is expected to cost more than $90,000, and Administrator Vicky Robertson said Monday that the district can pay for the project with money on hand, but they hope insurance will cover some of the cost.

“We’ve contacted the insurance company, and they’ve sent an adjuster,” Robertson said. “We had a hail stone actually go through the roof last spring, but the adjuster then didn’t find anything to pay a claim on.”

The now leaking roof became an obstacle to the board’s effort to sell the home when it was cited as one of the reasons Ron and Sharon Wetzel backed out of purchasing the facility last month.

The board also voted last week to hire an architect to put together a plan for adding four new semi-private rooms on the west side of the nursing home in an effort to improve the facility’s profitability and make it more attractive to potential buyers.

The eight new beds could generate an estimated $280,000 in new revenue annually.

The board expects the addition to cost about $200,000, and Robertson said that could also be paid for largely by money the district has in reserves.

“We want to pay for most of it up front and finance as little as possible,” Robertson said.

The district is moving forward with listing the facility with a Houston firm that will try to sell the nursing home.

While MCNH is on track to finish this fiscal year in the black, the board continues to worry about the long-term financial health of the home.

The hospital district’s new fiscal year starts in July, and Robertson says they know of an estimated $13,000 increase in Worker’s Compensation insurance premiums. Rising fuel costs and an expected hike in the federal minimum wage are also expected take a toll on the budget for the home.

“That and other increases mean a loss of maybe two positions,” Robertson said. “I hope we don’t have to do that, though.”