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Tuesday evening, the Memorial Hospital and Manor (MHM) held a board meeting to discuss updates and changes to the Hospital. Glennie Bench, Chairperson of the MHM, started the meeting by having a motion to approve November meeting minutes. Next, Norman LuDecke, I.T. Director, gave an update on the status of the recovery process since the ransomware attack. He stated, “The core assignment we’re working on is the client-server historical environment. We’ve restored some clinical functionality by recreating brand-new servers.” LuDecke continues to explain how many servers function well in the departments. LuDecke redirected back to the main goal, to get client servers operating again through collaboration with Meditech. He stated, “Meditech either doesn’t respond or they re-deflect the question.” Nonetheless, “the database servers are restored. Technically, we may be about to bring up some functionality right away, but we have to have Meditech make sure our data is aligned and put in a condition to function properly, and we can’t do that.” David Paugh, Chief Financial Officer, added to LuDecke’s process by stating, “There’s just missing data, but we’re almost back up to 100%.”

The next item on the agenda was the CEO report. Paugh discussed the Fiance section in the report. He explained that MHM is back at 90% allocation after Baxter International’s NC manufacturing plant closed due to Hurricane Helene, which caused Baxter to place all customers on 40% allocation. Project Wise, the painting of the walls is completed. The refresh of the 1st-floor main hallways in the Hospital continues. Also, the floor product has been ordered, and the Hospital is awaiting product delivery and a confirmation of the installation start date. Lori Eubanks, Chief Nursing Officer, and Stephen Gambrell, Assistant Administrator, discussed their request for a 2-year $1.0 million grant to support CDI improvements and conversion in Radiology from CR to DR technology. The Operating and Capital budget for next year has begun. The department heads have submitted capital equipment requests, with the next step being each department head meeting with the executive team to formally present their request.

Next on the CEO report was the Growth section. Paugh discussed that the MRI lease will expire this October, and several options are being considered. Gambrell discussed creating additional treatment rooms in Outpatient Rehab. Afterward, Paugh explained the eICU grant that the Hospital received in 2022. It will expire on March 31.

Continuing with the CEO report, Eubanks discussed the Quality section, starting with the trauma designation, which requires research to start data collection. Next, Eubanks considered the AHA GWTG Stroke Project, in which she will continue to work with the Capital Regional Stroke Team to become a Stroke Designation Center. Julia Brantely, Quality, Risk, and Compliance Director is working with Quality to ensure documentation of required data in EHR. Eubanks and Brantely are working on Optimizing Newborn Nutrition and the Cardiac Initiative.

Paugh discussed Recruitment and Staffing Challenges. Paugh stated that one of the biggest challenges is Labor and Delivery and OR.

The Community Health Fair is in November 2025.

The Leadership of Decatur County program will visit the Hospital on January 28 for the healthcare portion of their learning experience.

The Satisfaction Survey will be open for employee input from February 3 to 21.

Terrell Anderson was promoted to Plant Operations Manager, so the department has posted an HVAC Tech to fill Terrell’s previous position.

The cyber incident caused disruption in transmitting patient survey data to Press Ganey on the Patient Satisfaction Scores. The Hospital continues to work with them to restore communication. The Hospital is taking other initiatives to increase the survey return rate by creating survey promotion posters throughout the organization, creating Thank-you cards to place in patient discharge packets, educating discharge staff to inform patients about the survey, and placing welcome letters in rooms from Eubanks and Gambrell.

A security review will be completed in the 1st quarter, with an initial step already in place to move the Security office to the ED Lobby.

Paugh also thanked all six board members who successfully completed the requirements for the recertification in the Georgia Hospital Association & Georgia Southern University Hospital Leadership Training Program.

The meeting went into an executive section and then adjourned.