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New hospital construction underway

Ground was broken April 24^th for the new Wayne Hospital .

According to Wayne Deschambeau, President/CEO of the Hospital the construction project will include a new emergency department, a new radiology department and new surgery suites at the Hospital.

“Health care is changing at a rapid pace and we are making these very necessary changes to our physical plant to be able to meet the needs of our patients,” Deschambeau said

After recording an almost 13 percent increase in patients seen in the Emergency Department in a single year, Wayne Hospital is addressing a huge need, Deschambeau said. The new construction will replace the current 10-bed department established 25 years ago.

“This has been a trend we’ve identified over the past several years,” Deschambeau said, “and it’s reached the point where it is a critical need. The trend has been for an increase in the number of patients we see in the Emergency Department and a newly-designed ED will increase our efficiency.”

Robert A. Girmann, M.D., Medical Director of Wayne Hospital’s Emergency Department concurs, “We’re very busy in the ED. A new ED will allow for better patient care and for the expansion of some of the other departments within the hospital that are landlocked because of the constraints of the current physical structure.”

The price tag for the construction project is estimated at around $48 million, according to Deschambeau. The project will be financed out of current hospital operating margins. This means that price increases are not anticipated to pay for the project.

A new main entrance will also be added to the new addition. The canopied main entrance and three-story atrium lobby will face Sweitzer Street.

Many of the Hospital’s departments remain cramped for space, Deschambeau said and the expansion project would provide an opportunity for virtually all of the clinical departments to grow within the Hospital.

“This whole project can help make Wayne Hospital more efficient,” he added. “With the new space, Cardiopulmonary can move beside the new Radiology Department, which is excellent since those two departments have an enormous amount of interaction with patients.”

With the new radiology department, Wayne Hospital will add an in-house MRI scanner to its array of diagnostic equipment, according to Deschambeau.

“The Radiology Department is so inter-related to the Emergency Department, by constructing this new space we are able to have all the diagnostic tools our ED needs located very closely to the emergency department bays,” he said.

The expansion project will also include new patient and visitor elevators and upon completion of the construction, adding a heli-pad on Central Avenue .

The timetable for the expansion project is completion of the project sometime in 2010. The current Emergency Department was built in 1981 and was expanded in 1996 to its current configuration when the Ambulatory Care Center was built. According to Ray Sanders, Director of Plant Services for the Hospital, the ED when built in 1981 was expected to see roughly 1,000 patients a month or 12,000 a year. Currently, nearly 25,000 patients are seen on an annual basis at the Wayne ED.

Second National Bank Teaming Up With Wayne Hospital

             Rural health care is important to Darke County and Second National Bank has teamed up with the Wayne Hospital Foundation to help improve the delivery of preventive health care in the area.
            Ken Kurz, Executive Director of the Wayne Hospital Foundation, said, “we’re very excited that Second National Bank has seen the need in the area and is helping us address it.”
            According to Kurz, Second National Bank has donated $5,000 in 2007 to assist the Wayne Hospital Foundation in developing a program that will reach the Darke County farming community.
            “Our thoughts are that farmers often miss out on preventive care for a variety of reasons,” Kurz said. “We want to take that preventive care to the farmer. We’re looking for partners in Darke County to help make that happen. Second National has become the first partner to financially support this mission. We’re thrilled to have them on board.”
            Marv Stammen, President of Second National, said, “We’ve always been big believers in Wayne Hospital and our community as a whole. The farming community is a huge asset to Darke County and we felt this type of program has merit and is worthy of our support.”
            Kurz explained that Wayne Hospital will be holding health fairs in areas and at times of the year that will be convenient for the farming community.
            “We can take a small number of Hospital employees to a grain elevator or a rural church or even a big farming operation and set up a mini-health fair,” he said. “We can do tests to screen for skin cancer, diabetes, screen for osteoporosis, test pulmonary function, draw blood to check for a variety of health issues, and make it so the farmers can still get their daily work done.”
            “We’re hoping that others will join Second National and Wayne Hospital in making sure this program gets established,” Kurz added.

Foundation Golf Classic A Big Success

    Twenty-five teams were scattered across the Greenville Country Club course for the inaugural Wayne Hospital Foundation Golf Classic on Monday, October 8^th during record October heat.
    When the swinging and sweating was done, the Dave Knapp Ford team made up of Dave Ernst, Mike Albright, Jim Francis and Jeff Bixler were the overall champions with a 13-under par 58.
    The A-Flight winners were from Medline. The team was Rick Hammerly, Stephanie Land, Dirk Benson, and Ken Tifft with an 11-under par score. The Spirit Medical Transport team of Josh Spradling, Aaron Guthrie, Craig Idle and Bob Guthrie placed second in the A-Flight.
    The B-Flight winners were John Warner, Jim Roe, Bob Bitner, and Todd Reisch of the Brethren Retirement Community. Second place in the B-Flight went to the team from Country Side Painting made up of Ron Nelson, Bob Hartzell, Ben Stull, and Tim Villasenior.
    According to Ken Kurz, Executive Director of the Foundation, the tournament was established for a two-fold reason.
    “We wanted to create an event that had people talking about the Foundation and Wayne Hospital and we hoped to raise money to support our initiative to bring more health care to Darke County ,” he said. “I think we accomplished both goals on Monday.”
    Kurz said money raised by the golf tournament will be used in 2008 to start a program of wellness services to the Darke County farming community.
    "We’re teaming with the OSU Extension office, the Darke County Farmers Union, the Darke County Farm Bureau, and the Darke County Chamber of Commerce,” he said. “Our vision is to take a wellness program directly to the farmers. That means we’ll have mini wellness fairs at grain elevators, or even at some of the bigger farms in Darke County ,” Kurz said.
    These wellness events will offer the farmers an opportunity to be screened for skin cancer, have their cholesterol checked along with several other blood test screenings, and farm safety will be another focus.
    But, according to Kurz, there wouldn’t have been money raised without contributions from businesses and individuals.
    "We have several major sponsors for the day. Second National Bank was our dinner sponsor, while Medical Mutual of Ohio was our lunch sponsor. Our drink sponsor for the tournament was Medline, while Timmerman Truss provided our golfers with snacks on the course. Our raffle grand prize sponsor was CPSI, and our door prize sponsor was Sodexho and our golfer’s proximity prize sponsor was Spirit Medical Transport,” Kurz said. “The Daily Advocate staffed the putting contest for us and the winner of the putting contest, Scott Marker, donated his winnings back to the Foundation!”
    The raffle that was held was made possible because of some very special items donated, according to Kurz.
    “The Matt Light Foundation donated a mini-helmet signed by Matt, Tony Stewart’s Foundation donated a shirt signed by Tony, Joe Marker donated a Rudi Johnson-signed NFL football, Innovative Office Furniture donated a nice leather office chair, the Darke County YMCA donated a year membership, Sure Shot photography donated an portrait sitting and an 11x14, and money donated by CPSI was used to purchase several nice KitchenAid appliances,” Kurz said.
    Many other businesses donated items for door prizes. Those who donated included: AAA of Miami Valley, Ace Hardware, Advance Auto Parts, AutoZone, Community Blood Center, Club 7, CPSI, Darke County YMCA, Domino’s Pizza, Doolittle’s Auto & Towing, EMB Designs, Fairlawn Steak House, Francis Furniture, Firestone Tire, Fitzwater Tree & Lawn, Furniture Express, Granny’s Corner, Helen’s Flowers, Infinity Marketing Team, Innovative Office Furniture, Joe Marker, Ken Kurz Photography, KitchenAid Experience, March of Dimes, Marco’s Pizza, Matt Light Foundation, McDonald’s, Michael Anthony’s at the Inn, Mercer Savings Bank, Papa John’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, Readmore’s Hallmark of Greenville, Rest Haven, SNAP Fitness, Sodexho, Southwest Traders, Spencer Landscaping/Gifts at the Gardens, Subway of Greenville, SureShot Photography, Teaford’s Dairy, The Don’s Pizza, The Flower Patch, The Winery at Versailles, Tony Stewart Foundation, Tropical Isle Tanning, Wayne Hospital, Wayne Hospital Foundation, Wieland Jewelers, Whirlpool, and Youniques.
    Many businesses purchased tee or green signs to support the Foundation. Those businesses were: Ball Publishing, Big Hill GMAC Realty, Bolyard’s Heating, Brumbaugh Construction, Buchy Food Service, Burrows, Celtic Marketing, Cox Insurance, Daily Advocate, Dave Knapp Ford, Edward Jones, Embarq, EMB Designs, Fairlawn Steak House, Firefly Creative, Greenville Federal, Greenville National, Hamilton Motors, Hanes, Schipfer, Cooper, Graber & Detling, Hansbarger’s, Helen’s Flowers, Hittle Pontiac, Holland Signs, Jones Day, Loudy Office Machines, McDonald’s, Medical Mutual, Medline, Montage, Optim, Randall Insurance, Second National Bank, Versailles Policy, Wayne Builders, Whirlpool, Williamson Insurance, and Zechar Bailey Funeral Home.
    “We’re already planning for next year’s tournament,” Kurz said. “We’ve picked a date of October 13, 2008 and we expect a bigger and better tournament!”