Everyday Making a Difference
As a community hospital, Massena Memorial Hospital provides the same quality healthcare as the big medical centers. Caring for your health takes a dedicated team. The kind we have on the job every day. Making a difference in every patient, it takes the Massena Memorial Hospital team.
“Last year had presented many challenges and changes in the form of legislative reform, economic recession, and medical staffing that have left the hospital financially challenged. In spite of these challenges Massena Memorial Hospital finished in a positive bottom line and remain constant, our mission. We continue to persevere and focus on providing quality healthcare in a professional, compassionate and cost effective manner,” said Charles F. Fahd, II, FACHE, Chief Executive Officer.
Our goal is to provide the personal attention you expect to receive in a local community hospital setting, while offering the most advanced technology available for you and your family. You might be surprised to learn that our 50-bed Hospital can meet 90% of the healthcare needs you may experience during your lifetime. From preventative medicine to full surgical care; obstetrics and maternity to geriatrics; simple lab tests to state of the art cardiac monitoring – Massena Memorial Hospital is here for you just when you need us.
“As a leader in the healthcare community, MMH has realized many accomplishments over the past year. As we reflect on 2011, MMH has had many accomplishments. Dialysis Services have expanded to include peritoneal and acute-care dialysis. The hospital has once again been recognized as one of the nations “most wired” hospitals according to the Hospitals and Health Networks Magazine. MMH has made significant gains with the implementation of bedside medication verification, physician office integration and ongoing training with clinical reviews and order entry.” Fahd said.
“We have recently given Medicaid proof of meeting “meaningful use” which should result in better reimbursement. MMH has initiated a new interactive website offering tools such as online preregistration, bill pay, job application processing, physician searches and patient education. MMH Laboratory has earned Joint Commission Accreditation again by demonstrating compliance with national standards for health care quality and safety. MMH has welcomed six new doctors to the staff. We have successfully partnered with the Syracuse VA Medical Center to provide medical services to the North Country Veterans for another year resulting in 18 successful years of partnership.
MMH established a Fast Track Care program in our Emergency Department and a Physician Practice Management Program and opened the Louisville Family Health Center,” Fahd reflected.
Massena Memorial Hospital reflects on 2011 as a great year of accomplishment and as a year of planning. When revisiting the last twelve months there are many accomplishments, which can be credited to the contributions of the entire staff, physicians and volunteers.
MMH continues to serve the community; our outpatient services remain constant, along with the inpatient and observation patient admissions. However, more remarkable is the growth in outpatient registrations; MMH saw over 122,582 outpatient registrations. Again, we credit a majority of this not only to our great staff but also to our physicians. The physicians admit patients, and order the tests. Massena Memorial has been very fortunate to have such a great medical staff, Fahd explained.
MMH is very proud of its outreach clinics and how they bring much need medical care to community within our service area. The North Country Veterans Clinic continues to see veterans from across the North Country, last year; the clinic saw 8,423 patient visits. Additionally, the Veterans Clinic offers a mental health services to the local veterans.
The hospital has developed an Endoscopy center that is a state-of-the-art endoscopy lab, fully digitized and is a premier Endoscopy Center for the North Country. Surgical Services has working three operating room, which enables more scheduling time for both the patients and physicians convenience. The Surgical Services team performed approximately 3,000 procedures, while maintaining very high accolades on the patient satisfaction surveys.
The hospital MMH Dialysis Center continues to provide life-sustaining hemodialysis treatments for nearly 40 patients throughout the year. Last year, the progress continues to grow in the hospital’s Dialysis service we offer the patients in our community, in fact the clinic delivered 6,105 treatments last year, a 10% increase. Dialysis Services have expanded to include peritoneal and acute-care dialysis.
2011 was a busy year for the Physical Therapy Department seeing nearly 11,000 patients and over 25,000 treatments. Physical Therapy Director Eileen Fregoe, PT, said the department are in a unique position to offer not only the wound care expertise, but also the complementary modalities such as ultrasound or electrical stimulation to assist in wound healing. They are also the experts in positioning, and modification of seating systems. As part of the additional training, physical therapists are able to perform “conservative sharp debridement” (removing harmful or unhealthy tissue using tweezers or scissors), which other members of the healthcare team cannot.
Respiratory Therapy saw growth in the outpatient Pulmonary Function Testing, up 34% compared to 2010 and a 30% increase in BIPAP patient days. The hospital’s Respiratory Therapy also received a new Pulmonary Function Machine and a BIPAP Machine, non-invasive ventilation purchased by the MMH Auxiliary.
Massena Memorial Hospital is proud of the North Country Family Health Network they have developed over fifteen years ago. The network includes the North Country Veterans Clinic, Levine Outpatient Center, Kids Korner Pediatric Center, Louisville, Brasher Falls and Norfolk Family Health Centers, along with the Dialysis Center, Pulmonolgy, and Oncology Clinics. These outreach clinics saw 36,832 patient visits in 2011, once again bringing primary healthcare closer to home.
The Patient Financial Counseling Department continues to offer the P.R.O.U.D. Program. The P.R.O.U.D. Program offers payment relief options for the uninsured and their dependents. Within the program, individuals can apply for prompt pay discounts, uninsured discounts, and account consolidation.
Once again, the Laboratory experienced an increase of patients with over 500,000 tests performed. The Lab installed two new Siemens Vista 500 Chemistry/Immuno/Therapeutic substance monitoring systems that completely integrate the process of the laboratory from four instruments to a single unit with complete mirror back up.
Medical Imaging performed 33,400 procedures in 2011. The department provides general, diagnostic, and interventional radiology and other non-radiation imaging support. High quality imaging services and care is provided in eight (8) diverse imaging modalities via a combination of in-house and contracted capabilities to include: General Imaging, CT, Mammography, Ultrasound, Echocardiography, Nuclear Medicine, MRI and PET scanning. Medical Imaging continues to be a rapidly evolving specialty – with technological advancements in all modalities. As Massena Memorial Hospital extends, expands, or adds new services and providers, Medical Imaging will continue to evaluate its equipment and support relative to such changes. Medical Imaging remains committed to providing the highest, most advanced, diagnostic imaging support and services in the most cost-efficient manner possible. Thanks to significant and generous donations made through the annual Massena Memorial Hospital Foundation Radiothon – Medical Imaging was able to obtain a new Bone Densitometry unit at the end of 2011. This unit is used to image a patient’s lower back and hips to help in the diagnosis and treatment of osteopenic and osteoporotic conditions which can lead to chronic back and hip fractures – most frequently in post-menopausal women. The Hologic Discovery C system purchased features faster and more comfortable scan times and provides for digital transmission, storage, and archive of images. It is a welcomed addition to our quality state-of-the-art Women’s Imaging Center.
Physician recruiting is a key element to the hospital’s success; this past year Dr. P.T. Nguyen, OB/GYN, Dr. Vijay Kumar, General Surgeon, Dr. Nor Ramli and Dr. Amanda Hedges, Pediatricians, Dr. Priti Mandalaywala, Internal Medicine/Hematology, joined the medical staff. This year the hospital plans to continue its efforts in bringing new physicians to the community, currently the plan is to bring Internal Medicine physicians, Orthopedic Surgeon and an otolaryngologist to the community.
“The past decade has been excellent for the hospital’s successes. Though we recognize 2011 was financially challenging, we continue to be very conservative in moving into this year with expenditures,” Fahd explained. “We continue to strive for community access to healthcare despite the continued economic challenges of New York State and the effects it has on our hospital reimbursements.”
In 2011 the Emergency Department continued to service the community; they saw 19,796 patient visits; that is over 380 a week or nearly 50 patients a day; this is over 20% growth since 2007. Last year, the hospital has added a Fast-Track Care to the Emergency Department in peak hours of utilization. Additionally the ED went online with the new MedHost Electronic Medical Record.
In the Tender Touches Birthing Center, Perinatal Services, they saw 256 newborn babies in the beautiful new maternity center. Additionally, Maternity has a new Sonosite ultrasound for the providers to have a ‘quick view’ of the baby’s position and the placenta.
The Medical/Surgical and Pediatric Unit is the heart of the facility when speaking about patient care. The healthcare team of nurses, aide, and health unit coordinators treat individuals from three days old to the golden years with a wide variety of surgical procedures and medical conditions. In 2011, the unit saw and expansion of the cardiology patients with Dr. Gardella being full time in the community and acute dialysis patients. The Intensive Care Unit experienced high volumes with the additional cardiac and dialysis patients last year. The new Phillips Cardiac Monitors system was installed.
Another arm of the hospital, which contributes to its success, is both the Foundation and Auxiliary. Both of these two organizations are made up of hundreds of volunteers who support the hospital in immeasurable efforts throughout the year. The Foundation raises monies to aid the hospital with much needed equipment.
The Auxiliary raises money to buy equipment, but additionally, aid in many volunteer efforts, such as the Gift Shop, the Information Desk, Patient Juice Cart, Scholarships, and Whale Program, and Organ Donation, teddy bears for patients, baking for sales and community health fairs and seminars. Over 205 Auxiliary members have given of themselves countless hours to help others and the hospital. In 2011, the theme was “Volunteers Touching Lives Lifting Spirits” and our Auxiliary certainly has exemplified that theme by their works in our Massena hospital. In spite of economic hard times members all participated in fund raising efforts, which allowed them to meet their $10,000.00 pledge to the hospital foundation, along with donating money to purchase two Transvenous Pacemaker Medtronic for the ED and ICU, along with a Doerges Difficult Airway Bald for the C-Mac to assist in patient intubation in the ED and a BiPAP machine for respiratory therapy.
Massena Memorial Hospital continues to undergo a transition with the Information Services in updating and planning for Electronic Medical Records. Health Information Services implemented the Bedside Medication Verification System, a new interactive website and mobile medication carts along with Code Barcode scanners and Physician Office Integration. This allows the department to meet the health information needs of the physicians, hospital staff and community we serve with the enhanced quality/technology.
In 2011, the hospital offered hundreds of hours for community health education, through health fairs, support groups, tobacco cessation programs, child birth and breast feeding classes, blood drives and more.
“Over the past year, we have all come to expect the ongoing economic uncertainty that has affected nearly every aspect of our lives at home and at work. However, we have also witnessed the hospital staff’s determination, loyalty, teamwork and positive attitude in spite of the economic climate,” said Fahd. “Last year we received approval from the New York State Department of Health to move forward with a new Medical Office Building to be located on Maple Street across from the hospital. We have welcomed new physicians to our medical staff along with mid-level providers, providing new full-time specialty services to our community and opened another community Family Health Center in Louisville.”
“I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation to the staff for their tireless dedication which has resulted in an overall delivery of quality healthcare for our community. This year we look forward to celebrating our 60 Anniversary. Together we have overcome these obstacles and continue to make a difference in the lives of those in need. MMH has over 400 employees; 45 physicians and hundreds of volunteers. When it comes to basic healthcare procedures, most hospitals are alike. What makes our hospital different from most, would be the people who do the caring.”
