Bucktail Medical Center Calls Community Meeting
SOUTH RENOVO – Leadership of the financially beleaguered Bucktail Medical Center has called a community meeting for next week to answer questions from western Clinton County residents.
According to a Monday announcement, the medical center will host the meeting at the Renovo Fire Hall at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 18.
Administrator Tim Reeves said the meeting is to “avoid misinformation in the community about staffing and utilization of services” at the South Renovo facility. He said those two conditions “create a crippling challenge” for the medical center.
Reeves in a release last November had touched on the extra costs involved in staffing the medical center given the difficulty in maintaining sufficient in-house nursing. BMC has been forced to rely on outside agency, more expensive hires to provide adequate staffing.
The full medical center statement:
BMC Community Meeting
As a follow up to a Letter to the Editor by Tim Reeves, Administrator at Bucktail Medical Center (BMC) titled, BMC Facing Staffing Challenges and an article titled Bucktail Medical Center Facing Staffing Shortage, both in the November 28 issue of The Record, BMC is hosting an open community meeting on Tuesday, February 18, 2020, 6:30 pm at the Renovo Fire Hall.
Hospital staffing challenges aren’t new to Clinton County over the past few years. “Using agency staff to fill our nursing schedule is an expensive proposition, but it also affects the care we provide”, Reeves said. He continued, “One of the factors that impressed me about Bucktail Medical Center when I first came here was the personal relationship that staff had with residents and patients. They weren’t providing care for Mrs. Jones in room 100 bed 2; they were providing care for Mary Jones, our neighbor, our mother’s best friend, our Sunday school teacher, or my babysitter when I was growing up. There was a personal connection that positively influenced the care they provided.”
While the medical center has been fortunate to attract experienced and caring agency nurses, they are not here for the long term. In the December 19, 2019 issue of the Lock Haven Express, in an article titled Reynolds touts 100 percent reduction in contract nursing, Ron Reynolds, President of Lock Haven Hospital, speaks about the encouraging changes at that facility after filling all nursing positions with local staff.
“Though the extra cost for agency staff and the change in environment are troubling, more concerning is the decline in utilization in every department at the medical center”, Reeves stated. A December 06, 2019 article in the Lock Haven Express titled UPMC Susquehanna in Sunbury closing its doors explained that facility was closing because local residents were going to other facilities for care.
Mr. Reeves shared that “These two conditions occurring simultaneously create a crippling challenge for BMC.”
In discussing the purpose for the meeting, Mr. Reeves stated, “To avoid misinformation in the community about staffing and the utilization of services at BMC, I look forward to an opportunity to answer your questions, listen to your ideas, and provide you with relevant facts.”
The meeting will be held at the Renovo Fire Hall on Tuesday, February 18, 2020 at 6:30 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend.
