Decision April 30 on Samaritan trauma treatment change
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald Former Samaritan Healthcare commissioner Julie Weisenburg (right) receives a gift from the commissioners, presented by Samaritan CEO Teresa Sullivan (left). Weisenburg resigned to take a job with Samaritan.
MOSES LAKE — Samaritan Healthcare officials will learn April 30 whether or not the hospital will earn designation as a Level 3 trauma center.
Washington Department of Health officials visited the hospital last week to evaluate its suitability to treat Level 3 trauma cases, said chief executive officer Teresa Sullivan. The hospital would be the second Level 3 trauma center in central Washington. Currently the lone Level 3 trauma center is Confluence Health-Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee.
Trauma was among the subjects discussed at the regular Samaritan commissioner meeting Tuesday.
The levels refer to the kind of trauma cases a hospital can accept and treat, and the Level 3 designation would allow the hospital to treat more complicated cases. Currently Samaritan is a Level 4 trauma center.
Board member Joe Akers asked if the hospital met the DOH criteria. Sullivan said Samaritan met most conditions, but some areas needed improvement.
“You have to keep a registry for your trauma (cases), and you need to review that regularly. You need to review why patients are transferred, and things like that,” Sullivan said.
“While we have it in place now, we haven’t had it in place for the last year,” said director of nursing Becky DeMers, which was one of the criteria.
Board member Alan White said Samaritan already keeps a record of all its transfers and why they’re transferred. He asked what additional information was needed. Sullivan said the extra information would be specific to trauma cases. DeMers said Samaritan would be required to work with the other hospital to improve its procedures, where that’s necessary.
In other business, Sullivan announced that Richard Zborowski, currently the hospital’s interim human resources director, will become the interim chief operating officer in March. Former COO Kris Neff announced her resignation in January, citing family issues.
Former commissioner Julie Weisenberg resigned her commission seat to take the HR director’s job. She starts in mid-March, she said.
That leaves a seat open on the commission. Sullivan said commissioners have a pool of possible candidates from among volunteers that serve on existing community committees.
Sullivan said the remodeling project on the first floor of Samaritan Clinic is almost completed. The next remodeling project at the clinic will be a suite for additional medical providers in the clinic’s family medicine department.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.