In The News...

2010 Schoolcraft County Health Fair
The 2010 Schoolcraft County Health Fair will take place this year on Saturday, September 25, 2010 at the Emerald Elementary School in Manistique from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. SMH is proud to be part of this community event and will join numerous other health care and social community providers.  SMH Laboratory will be on sight to conduct their annual blood tests for a nominal fee of $15.00 for each test that includes, cholesterol, lipids, and prostrate; free screenings provided by SMH include, PAD – peripheral artery disease; skin cancer; blood sugar testing for diabetes and pre-diabetes, blood pressure, CPR, bone density and so much more.  The RHC will be on sight to provide flu shots and the Pneumonia Vaccine and Tetanus Booster for a nominal fee.  Watch your newspaper for more details, or call Alison Jones at 906-341-3293 or
1-888-460-8724 for more information.

Update from George Montgomery…
I am happy to take this opportunity to update everyone in the Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital service area about what has been happening at the hospital over the last few months.

As I think most of you know, SMH is celebrating sixty years of service to the community this year. We are proud to do this in conjunction with the City of  Manistique’s 150th birthday. The hospital has planned several events to mark the occasion. During hospital week in May we recognized many of our employees for their dedicated years of service. We also had a special presentation honoring Dr. Duane Waters for his service to the hospital and the community. We unveiled a portrait of Dr. Waters and placed it on the wall near our lobby with the portrait of other honored physicians,     Dr. Fyvie and Dr. Wehner.  Dr. Waters also honored us by riding in the Fourth of July parade as our guest. A picnic for employees and retirees took place July 25th at the Indian Lake State Park. 

Growth continues at SMH.   We have added a few small pieces of equipment in our laboratory and surgery departments and have focused on the further development of our electronic medical record (EMR) system.  Over the next few months we will be implementing a number of changes to our EMR so that we meet the requirements set by the recent Federal Healthcare legislation. As with most hospitals this process will take time. The results will include an electronic record system in our clinic which will
eventually give our patients quicker access to their personal health information.     

At the end of June the hospital submitted a full application for our replacement hospital to the USDA Rural Development Program. This application included a completely new building schematic design configured to fit on the Thompson Township site yet protecting all of the wetland and historic features of the old Southtown property. The new design, which includes our rural clinic, is overall smaller but more efficient than previous designs. The total projected cost at $22 million is significantly less than the previous design which was projected to cost more than $35 million. The funding for the new design will be through a combination of loans and loan guarantees. The favorable interest rates available today make this project affordable.

I will let the community know as soon as we hear from Washington.  I am certain that this will be a project that the community will be proud of when it is completed. At this point I must thank the dedication of our board members, and many hospital staff that have worked many hours to complete the application.