Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital

have an extremely low turnover. Number two is our technology. For example, we just purchased a new Siemens 128-slice CT (Computerized To- mography) scan that is the newest machinery on the market. Throughout, the rest of our diag- nostics are brand new.We have a brand new, 3D mammography system; all of our equipment in our radiology department is digital. So, from a technology standpoint, that’s a big key for us. Also, I think we have some skill sets here, especially in our therapies, that are just head and shoulders above everyone else in the area.” According to Coyle, EBCH’s patients tend to agree. “We just went live with our patient satis- faction survey with Press Ganey (a leading pro- vider of patient experience measurement, perfor- mance analytics, and strategic advisory solutions for health care organizations),” he reports. “And we’re very satisfied with our responses. Our hospi- tal and our ER are in the mid-90th percentile for satisfaction, which puts us in the top 5-10 per- cent in the country.” Not content to rest on its laurels, Coyle reports that EBCH’s Board of Directors is busy planning a major expansion, which will bring new specialty services to the campus, as well as more activity spaces. “We’ll have some more common areas; we’ll have education and community gathering rooms,” he notes. “And the look of the new space will be very current. Jodi’s working on a new branding with a new logo, new website, and new social media pages. And we’ll be doing some more things to make sure that our patients are getting the services they need here on campus. A lot of that will come through specialty service partnerships, expanded diagnostic offerings, and a little bit more access to a variety of medical specialties that we don’t have, right now. Hope- fully, groundbreaking will come in 2020.” While the new expansion will cost between $10-15 million, Coyle believes that borrowing, plus the help of several community partners, will help defray the costs. “When you’re talking about a $10-15 million addition, that’s a fairly husky addition for our size town,” he avers. “We have a pretty good nest egg that we’ll use, but most of it will come from some debt financing. Our goal is not to go in debt more than we can handle. Some will come from grants and donations, not only from our foundation and other foundations, but from other local givers. And we’re looking at other partners in this. There’s a host of others in the community that have asked us to partner. For example, a new ambulance service needs a new garage and living quarters and things like that. So, we have good partners that see its impor- tance.” Coyle adds that the hospital’s new strategic plan, which takes EBCH to 2022, is even more bullish on growth. “Number one is a full joint program,” he states. “We’re working with a local orthopedics group and we’re expanding into total joints and joint replacement, which will be brand new for us. That requires an update to our surgi- cal suites and then, obviously, some partnerships with them.We want to have a joint program here; the year-round population is elderly and we know that they struggle, especially up here in this cli- mate for six months out of the year, to travel long distances. So, that’s number one.”