Press Releases
Outpatient Therapy Moving Into New Building
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Therapy Plus: Hospital Board of Control president Darlene Beardsley, front row center, is joined by the physical therapy unit’s Brenda Beard (l) and Latronda Lornes, and (back) respiratory therapists Ron Kimery and Carolyn Garner in the doorway of the planned conference room segment of the new 3,500 square foot building. The therapy module is being lowered to the foundation on the right. The units will be joined and acquire a brick façade prior to opening in August.
Outpatient therapy will leave Mercy Health/Love County’s cramped ‘A’ Wing and settle into an expansive new building a few feet east in August.
The 3,500 square foot Therapy Building will house a gym, a lift-equipped whirlpool, and office/treatment rooms for physical, occupational, speech, and respiratory rehabilitation.
An enclosed entryway will connect the Therapy Building to ‘B’ Wing of the hospital. Doors will be automated for wheelchair access.
“We’re looking forward to having more space,” said Brenda Beard, a physical therapy assistant with 28 years of experience, the last eight in service at the hospital.
Beard and other therapists are eager to move the shared treadmill and stationary exercise equipment from an ‘A’ Wing room into the new building’s 22’ by 50’ foot gym.
“We’ve enjoyed working together in one small room, but it’s been crowded. Now we will be able to see more patients,” said Carolyn Garner, a 30-year respiratory therapist...
Emergency Med Tech-Basic Course Being Offered
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
An Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-Basic) course will be offered by Mercy Health/Love County EMS starting August 10.
Classes will be held on Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. until mid-November at the Emergency Services building on Merle Wolfe Road near the WinStar Golf Course.
Seating is limited and an entrance exam is required, according to EMS training officer Natasha West, who will teach the course.
Applicants must be age 18 and have a high school diploma.
Tuition is $450. Love County residents may apply for scholarships.
Further information is available by calling West at 276-3347, ext. 259 or at the EMS web site, www.lovecountyems.net.
Hospital, EMS, Trust Work Together On Ambulance Purchase
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
A shiny new ambulance is scheduled for delivery at Mercy Health/Love County EMS in August.
The vehicle, which will replace an older model, will keep the fleet at five modern, full life support ambulances. Three will be on duty daily to speed paramedics to the aid of seriously injured or ill residents and visitors to the county, and two will be on standby.
All of the vehicles are equipped with diesel engines and none has more than 100,000 miles of usage, an enviable distinction for the EMS among small counties in Oklahoma.
Acquiring the ambulance has been a joint project of Love County EMS, the hospital, which manages the EMS, and the Wilkins Estate Trust, which is operated for the benefit of the hospital by the Love County Commissioners.
Under the arrangement, the hospital requested the Commissioners to purchase the ambulance with funds from the trust. Love County EMS will repay the trust, interest-free, with collections from the percentage of sales tax that the EMS district receives monthly.
“We have used a pass-through loan from the Wilkins Estate Trust to purchase ambulances several times. It is a nice solution for our need to update the fleet on a planned basis,” explained Richard Barker, hospital administrator.
“Thanks to the cooperation of all of the public agencies and their citizen boards, we have ambulances for the every-day operation of the two EMS stations, plus stand-by response for catastrophic...
Nurse Returns to Hospital as a Volunteer
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
Lady in Pink: Retired registered nurse Paulette Manning shows scarves from the Hospital Auxiliary gift store in the Mercy Health/Love County lobby.
The Hospital Auxiliary’s newest volunteer is no stranger to the institution. Paulette Manning retired as a registered nurse 12 years ago.
But she felt pulled back out of gratitude for care rendered to her late husband, Ronald Manning. He passed away last December.
“He was in and out of the hospital every two or three months the last two years. It didn’t bother me to go home because I knew Ronald would be taken care of. There are not a lot of places you feel you can leave your family member and have that assurance,” Manning said.
Now, whether taking ice or reading material to patients or working in the gift shop, Manning lets her volunteerism express love for her family and the staff of Mercy Health/Love County.
The couple was married 40 years and raised two sons, David and Michael. David and his wife Kerry have two children, Alex, 13, and Sarah, 11.
Ronald Manning spent his career with Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, retiring in 2003 as the trainmaster in Gainesville.
When not at the hospital, Manning can be found at Marietta Elementary School. For the past five years, she has volunteered several afternoons a week in the second grade classrooms of Lawanna Reed and Wilma Willis.
“I listen to kids read. It’s amazing what children can do when...
Mercy Health/Love County Hosting Area Training in Emergency Medicine
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
Hitting the Books: Dr. Larry D. Powell, center, examines the 12-pound course manual for an advanced life support course Mercy Health/Love County will be co-sponsoring next week. Richard Barker, hospital administrator, (left), and Rod Hargrave, flex program coordinator of the Oklahoma Office of Rural Health, will host the training for area rural hospitals at the Winstar Events Center.
Armed with a 12-pound course manual, a team from Mercy Health/Love County will undergo advanced training in emergency care for rural hospitals from a group of medical educators from the University of Minnesota next week.
The two-day training will be May 11-12 at the Events Center of WinStar World Casino. Mercy Health/Love County, the Chickasaw Nation, and the Oklahoma Office of Rural Health are sponsors.
Participants will encounter staged scenarios of emergency traumas, such as burns, brain injuries, drug overdoses, and non-responsive infants to teach concepts and enable the team to respond.
“I haven’t seen anything as comprehensive and intense as this except at multi-week physician conferences,” said Dr. Larry D. Powell, who is leading the Mercy Health/Love County contingent.
“I expect to learn new clinical skills myself and for all of us to become better prepared for things not normally encountered.”
The 24-member class filled quickly, said Rod Hargrave, flex program coordinator with the Oklahoma Office of Rural Health. Hargrave...