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Tag: Fairfield Memorial Hospital

  • FMH Debuts Stroke Detection Program

    Fairfield Memorial Hospital is pleased to announce the Telestroke Program is now available in our Emergency Department and has been since June 18. This can be a life-saving service for the possible stroke patients who present to the Emergency Department.

    A neurologist will tell you that if he can get to a stroke victim within three hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke. The trick is getting a stroke recognized and diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within three hours. This is difficult but possible.

    The Telestroke Program will make it easier for a possible stroke victim coming in the Emergency Department to receive treatment from a stroke specialist at Palmetto Richland Hospital through a wide-screen TV that is connected directly to the specialist. This will allow the doctor to screen the patient, make a diagnosis and prescribe appropriate medications/treatment in a timely manner.

    “We are very excited to have the Telestroke Program at Fairfield Memorial,” said Mike Williams, FMH CEO. “Our goal is to provide quality care to our citizens in the county and this is just another way that we can give appropriate care without sending these patients to Columbia.”

    Recognizing a Stroke:

    Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

    • Ask the person to SMILE.

    • Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (coherently).

    • Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

    If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

    There is now a new sign of a stroke: stick out your tongue. Ask the person to “stick” out his tongue. If the tongue is “crooked,” if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.

    Understanding these symptoms could possibly save someone’s life. The more one knows, the better things will be!

  • After Injection of County Cash, Hospital Turns Corner

    Fairfield County Council received an update Monday night on their $1.2 million investment into Fairfield Memorial Hospital in a meeting on the Midland’s Tech campus with the hospital’s Board of Directors.

    “The good news is that it’s good news,” Tim Mitchell, the hospital’s Chief Financial Officer, said.

    Mitchell reported that the hospital, for the first time this fiscal year, turned a profit in May, with revenue exceeding expenses by $40,255, according to his report. While the hospital’s operating numbers were more than $39,000 in the red, non-operating income came in at $79,293. Year-to-date expenses are also down for the hospital by more than $474,000 over last year.

    Mitchell also reported that the hospital was now current on its payments into the State Retirement System, as well as the employee insurance program. The hospital has also met its obligations to the Town of Winnsboro for utility payments, Mitchell said, and all outstanding taxes have been paid and all liens satisfied.

    Patient days and admissions were up in May, something Mike Williams, the hospital’s Director, accredited to the hospital’s partnership with Palmetto Health.

    “Over the last two and a half, three months, we’ve worked very closely with Palmetto Health getting a collaboration with them,” Williams said. “They have staff members that come to Fairfield, and we have staff members that go there.”

    Mitchell said the Senior Connections program, launched in April, also contributed to the May turnaround.

    “But I would caution you that we are entering a very slow period,” Mitchell warned. “The summer months are not typically a high-volume period.”

    Williams said patients coming in from clinics are actually down in recent months, and County Council Chairman David Ferguson said he had expected the Eau Claire clinic to have had more of an impact on the hospital’s numbers by now.

    “I have been a little bit disappointed in the coming out of Eau Claire,” Ferguson said. “They really haven’t hit the community like I feel like they’re going to have to if they’re going to be an interested part of the community, and they haven’t done that yet.”

    Ferguson said the County was in the process of setting up a meeting with Eau Claire to determine what role they could play in the future of the hospital.

    Another potential future for the hospital is a new home closer to I-77.

    “We’re thinking long-term,” Williams said. “We’ve got to look at the stability of the hospital and where a hospital can survive. I-77 can help support the hospital. It is very, very difficult to survive in Winnsboro. It’s something we’ve got to look at if you want to have a hospital in the county.”

    Ferguson said that once the first of the new reactors comes online at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station, and that tax money begins to flow into the County, the hospital and the County should give consideration to the idea of relocating the hospital.