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Pullman Regional Hospital
Jeff Elbracht is the president of the Pullman Regional Hospital Board of Commissioners, a seven-member elected board charged with overseeing the public district hospital. This column ran in the Daily News in August and was written on behalf of the Board of Commissioners.
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Hope over fear: Keeping local healthcare strong in times of a pandemic
Pullman Regional Hospital recently launched a short video from our medical community called “Hope over fear.” It is provided as a message of hope grounded in the reality we are facing today.
In the midst of financial uncertainty due to lower volumes that we have been experiencing, the medical community and Pullman Regional Hospital continue to provide excellent healthcare. We are facing this challenging environment head on with creativity and innovation, using science and data as key drivers of decision making and providing the highest levels of safety and care for our patients and staff.
The hospital and our clinics are safe places to receive care. We want to stress how important it is that you not delay your care. We follow the CDC guidelines and screen all patients and visitors who come to our facilities. We have a universal masking policy and restricted visiting hours. We have also limited the number of people in the hospital through the temporary closure of the Red Sage Café and our volunteer program. We have always been attentive to the cleanliness of our facility and clinics but are now implementing even more frequent cleaning and sanitizing.
Our testing capacity remains strong and we have the necessary trained staff and personal protective equipment to take care of COVID-19 positive patients.
We continue to provide telehealth as an alternative to in person appointments when appropriate and participate in the lobbying of insurance companies to reimburse providers at the same rate as in person visits.
We have qualified for and received COVID-19 governmental financial aid to help offset some of the financial impact to our hospital. Additionally, we have been proactive in protecting our financial wellbeing through furloughs, expense reductions and a 60 day pay-cut for all staff implemented in April and May. We remain committed to the goal of no-layoffs.
We are actively fundraising to support the COVID-19 Emergency Fund for equipment, supplies and staff during the pandemic. Please go to www.pullmanregional.org if you would like to donate.
We are grateful to this community for its support of Pullman Regional Hospital and our healthcare community. We believe that with your ongoing support and the dedicated medical staff we have, we will come out the other end of this stronger and even better.
We’ve launched an educational video series called “Spread the facts, not the virus” featuring Dr. Gerald Early, Chief Medical Officer. Check it out on Pullman Regional Hospital’s YouTube channel for the latest news on COVID-19.
The PRH Clinic Network will be holding drive-up influenza vaccination clinics in front of Sid’s Pharmacy (parking lot) in October. Patients of PRH Clinic Network are encouraged to make an appointment with their clinic. All community members, six months of age and older, are welcome. Look for dates and more information on Pullman Regional Hospital’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts soon.
September | Health Education Calendar
1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Work In Progress: AA, Tuesdays, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm, ZOOM, Emily (856) 520-2983; Emily4193@yahoo.com
4th
Vitalant Monthly Blood Drive, Must Make an appointment, 1st Friday, 10:00 am -2:00 pm, Gladish Community Center, Rm. 211, myinbc.org; or email: Nicole.nolte@pullmnaregional.org
7th
CLI Health Tech: Speech & Technology in Treating Parkinson’s , 1st Monday, TBA, CLI Website, Keri Jones, Speech Therapist
8th, 22nd
Caregivers Coffee & Support, Mondays 2nd & 4th, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm, ZOOM, Melissa, (509) 715-0358
16th
Women’s Wellness Wednesdays: Keri Jones, Wednesday, 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm, ZOOM , Noel, (509) 336-7404
13th
Palouse Mental Illness & Advocacy Support Group, 2nd Sunday, Virtual Meeting, Contact Zoe or Lorraine for access, 1:00 pm - 4:00pm, ZOOM, Zoe Cooley @208- 835-3071 and, Lorraine Cline @509-758-0284
11th
CLI-Senior Coffee, 2nd Friday, 10:00 AM, ZOOM, Noel, noel.nicolai@pullmanregional.org
October 3rd
Weekend Childbirth, No more than 5 couples: $75 Fee, Saturday, 9:00 am - 4:00pm, Conf. Rms. “A/B”, BirthPlace
October 5th
Prenatal Breast Feeding Class, $15 Registration Fee, For meeting information consult, 12:30 pm -2:30 pm, BirthPlace
October 12th
Breast Feeding Support, every other week, Mondays, 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm, ZOOM, BirthPlace Childbirth 101, No more than 5 couples: $75 Fee, Mondays, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm, Conf. Rms “A/B”, BirthPlace. Cancelled Weekend Childbirth 101 classes are still meeting Jean’s Reads , Network of National Library of Medicine Book Rec, 4th Friday Pre Op Total Joint Class, Available online at www. pullmanregional.org/orthopedic-center-of-excellence
