Beavers will be working as a mid-level practitioner, taking care of the walk-ins at the clinic. This will allow the current on-call physician to utilize his time for regularly scheduled patients. Beavers will be working only at the Paynesville clinic under the current plan.
Shari Heitke, geriatric nurse prac-titioner, will be pursuing her Family Practice Nurse Practitioner certification. She will need to be gone for one-half day per week for classes. The Joint Management Committee members feel it is in the best interests of PAHCS to grant Shari the opportunity to pursue this degree.
The surgical coverage for PAHCS currently is 24 hours a day, five days a week, with no weekend coverage from the Central Minnesota Surgeons group. This is due to the loss of two surgeons. The group is actively trying to recruit another surgeon at this time, which would improve coverage on weekends.
PAHCS is working on purchasing a lot in Richmond on which to locate a new clinic building. The current owners of the prospective lot, Jim and Carol Backes, need to get the property rezoned to commercial before PAHCS can purchase it. The PAHCS board approved asking the Richmond City Council for tax increment financing for use in the construction of the new facility.
Willie LaCroix, PAHCS Admin-istrator, noted that the first negotiation session for the LPN contract, which expires Sept. 30, 1998, is set for Sept. 18, 1998.
A hospital board election will be held along with the general election on Nov. 3, 1998, for residents of the townships of Paynesville, Roseville, Union Grove, and Zion. Those positions are currently held by Grace Peteler, Mel Jones, Dr. Mike Hansen, and Don Thomes, respectively. Filings are open with the respective township clerks until Sept. 8, 1998.
In other business, the board:
• approved an engagement letter for the audit with Deloitte and Touche for $31,500 for fiscal year 1998-99. This is an increase of $1,000 over 1997-98.
• approved temporary privileges for Dr. Ahmed Soliman, ENT, to the consulting staff.
• noted the PAHCS Auxiliary has raised over $8,000 towards the purchase of a wandering system for use at the Koronis Manor. This system will alert staff when a resident leaves the facility through any door.