Progress Notes — July 1987
This document has been recreated below for ease of use. It has been lightly edited for clarity. Hyperlinks have been inserted where additional, relevant information is available.
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Mary Bernard, Editor
Hattie Benton, R.N., Co-Editor
Administrator's Column
By Jerry Marquette
Team work.
As we close the third quarter of fiscal year 1987, I've noticed that we have pulled together to create the team that is necessary for survival. Believe me, it's not over. We must continue to work together, because health care will continue to change.
I'm inspired by you the employees, who have voluntarily taken your own time and have sacrificed so much to maintain the quality of care here at Pointe Coupee General Hospital.
You, the employees provide the services we offer, not the building or equipment. These are only the tools that we use to accomplish our goals. There is no care without you the employees. You make the beds; clean the floors; serve the meals; perform the test; and provide the care; keep the records accurate; and provide extra T.L.C.
Team Work is our answer. We need the physicians, hospital staff, management, and Hospital Services District Board to work as one unit. Let’s not forget our patient support.
All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
Submitted by Lynn Jewell, Director, Bonne Sante Chemical & Wellness Ctr
Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do and how to be, learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.
These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clear up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn sane and think some and draw and paint and sing and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup--they all die. So do we.
And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK. Everything you need to know is there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation, ecology and politics and sane living.
Think of what a better world it would be if we all--the whole world--had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
Hospital Auxiliary News
Pointe Coupee General Hospital's Auxiliary, with 24 active members, and headed by our able and very active leader Nona Felps, President, Virgie Isaac, Vice President and Special Projects Chairman, and Treasurer Laura David, meets the second Tuesday of each month. Our members keep busy at the Information Desk and Gift Shop (in the Lobby) and wherever needed in the hospital. We "Pink Ladies" are pleased to be giving what assistance we can to the fine hospital employees, patients, and visitors at Pointe Coupee General Hospital, whether it is directions, a cup of coffee, or a friendly greeting.
Our Candy Striper Program (headed by Lillie Olinde) has twelve active members. One of the twelve, Samantha Vosburg, was the recipient of the Auxiliary's $100 Scholarship given in May. Auxiliary members helped with the Health Fair in May.
Through dues, bake sales, Gift Shop proceeds, and memorial gifts, we fund items needed for use in the hospital, such as the Resussie Annie Arrythmia Simulator CPR Manikin given in November. Our pre-Faster bake sale was to buy uniforms for the Candy Stripers. We will continue meeting and working through the summer and will decide on another project as a the need arises.
Women’s Health
Women Control Access to Healthcare
Surveys reveal that women have very specific ideas about what they want in the way of healthcare.
Overall, women want health education and information; convenient services; and to be treated with sensitivity.
Women are demanding convenient service today, because more and more women are entering the workforce, yet they are still the ones responsible for making (and keeping) doctor's appointments for themselves and for the rest of their family.
Today, women comprise 50 percent of the workforce and of these women, 60 percent have at least one child. Quite often, as a result, working women must use their sick leave to tend to the children (58 percent of the children enrolled in school have a working mother.)
Mothers are getting older. From 1970 to 1985, the number of women 25 or older who delivered their first child, doubled.
Guilt and the Working Mother
Children of working mothers tend to have higher IQ scores, do better in school, and have better communication skills than children whose mothers stay hame, according to a nationwide study. They also are more self-reliant and miss less school.
Yet, working women worry that they aren't good Mothers. More than 60% of all mothers with children under 18 are out working, and mothers with preschool children make up the fastest growing segment of the workforce.
How to Deal With Work and Stress
List your short-term and long-term goals. How many are things you want as opposed to things you think you should want? How many deal with your own personal development as opposed to your role as mother.
Take an inventory of how you spend your time.
Make personal health a priority.
Develop a support network of other women. Having friends you can talk to, confide in, and cry with can keep you from going over the edge.
Enlist your family's help with home responsibilities. Husbands can cook, wash dishes, and mop. So can children.
Take time out. At least 15 minutes a day.
Superman doesn't exist. But working mother is alive and well and doing her best. She shouldn't feel guilty. She should feel proud.
Taxpayer Identification Numbers Now Required for Dependents
As a result of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, a taxpayer claiming a dependent who is at least 5 years old must include that dependent's taxpayer identification number on the taxpayer's return. For most individuals, this number is the individual's social security number. This new law is effective beginning with 1987 tax returns.
If the dependent has a social security number, but the taxpayer does not know what it is, the taxpayer should contact a Social Security Administration Office.
To get a social security number, a dependent must have evidence of:
date of birth
U.S. citizenship or legal alien status
identity
A public, hospital, or religious birth record is generally sufficient for the first two items. A school record and certain other documents can be used for proof of identify. For more information, taxpayers may ask at any Social Security Administration Office.
Birthdays
July
07-03 - LuAnne Speed
07-06 - Hattie Benton
07-09 - Debra Paul
07-14 - Penny Dehon
07-19 - Marion Sazion
07-19 - Monica Gilbert
07-21 - Patricia Snyder
07-28 - Posey Rucker
07-28 - Billie Dejean
07-29 - Judy Coursey
07-29 - Liz Chustz
07-30 - Ann Volta
August
08-01 - Karen Williams
08-03 - Gloria Robbins
08-04 - Ellen Joseph
08-05 - Clarissa Battley
08-07 - Rosemary Hollins
08-10 - Pat Springstead
08-10 - Mary Grezaffi
08-11 - Fatima Hakeen
08-13 - Fran Talbot
08-14 - Jodi Sorrels
08-15 - August Page
08-17 - Lelia Bordelon
08-19 - Doris Jewell
08-21 - Beverly Davis
08-25 - Cindy Hedge
08-25 - Susan Guillory
08-25 - Janet Major
September
09-03 - James Terrance
09-04 - Beverly Torres
09-04 - Dorthea Jack
09-08 - Lynette Lemoine
09-12 - Esther Alford
09-19 - Karen Nelson
09-20 - Sibert Terrance
09-21 - Gerald Ducote
09-27 - Mary Lee Augustine
October
10-10 - Cindy Major
10-12 - Barbara Scallan
10-15 - Debbie Barnes
10-19 - Barbara Hayes
10-22 - Jean Ducote
10-23 - Ellen Crochet
10-26 - JoAnne Guerin
10-31 - Carolyn Witty
Medical Staff
07-13 - Dr. Emil Laga
07-25 - Dr. Carl MeLemore
09-29 - Dr. Bobby Fulmer
10-09 - Dr. Donald Doucet
Retirement
We hope Dr. Wheeler enjoys his retirement. We at PCGH will certainly miss him. We wish Dr. Wheeler and his wife, Clara the best in the future.
Employee of the Month
March - Dietary - Morris Frederick
April - Housekeeping - Ellen Joseph
May - Laboratory - Liz Chustz
June - General Stores - Philip Decuir
Suggestion of the Month
March
Rita Darensbourg and Ginny Major had the same suggestion. Daily menu placed by time clock. Menu is now posted on the bulletin board accross from the time clock.
April
Ginny Major - Give meal tickets for the best suggestion of the month instead of money. Ginny received the first free meal ticket for that suggestion.
Congratulations
Barbara Hayes - baby girl, born 4-22-87
Cindy Major - baby girl, born 5-13-87
Carolyn Witty - baby boy, born 6-18-87
Notes and Quotes
Confucius said, "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
Great minds have a purpose, others have wishes.
Tell someone there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he'll believe you. But tell him a bench has just been painted and he has to touch it to be sure.
A crowd of troubles passed him by
As he with courage waited;
He said, "Where do you troubles fly
When you are thus belated?"
"We go," they say, "to those who mope,
Who look on life dejected,
Who meekly say, good-bye to hope,
We go where we're expected.
A good woman inspires a man; a brilliant woman interests him; a beautiful woman fascinates him, and a sympathetic woman gets him.
A merry heart doth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Proverbs 17:22
If you are overweight you may have a medical problem. Your body could be retaining ice cream.
A good thing about dreams is that if they don't come true you can always dream new ones.
Six essentials for success: sincerity, personal integrity, humility, courtesy, wisdom, and charity.
Lecture Open to the Public
July 28th 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Aids the disease in our community, how to protect yourself.
To be held in hospital lobby.
Kitchen Treasures - Prepared by the Early Childhood Center Students
Bacon - Get some raw bacon, put it in the stove for forty minutes. Then wait for it to burn. Then take it out and eat it.
Pizza - You need milk, flour and 2 eggs. mix it up and that's the crust. Put hot pepperoni on top. Bake for 5 minutes in a hot oven… Then the man knocks on your door and leaves pizza at your house.
White Cake - Put one cup of sugar, 3 eggs, one cup of milk and one teaspoon of butter in a pot. Now mix 8 times. Put one scoop of ice cream in. Put the pot in the oven and bake for one hour. Take it out and eat it.
Rabbit - First you go hunting and kill 5 rabbits. Then clean them. Put about 2 cups sauce on them and mix it up. Put a lot of pepper and stir it for 20 minutes.
Beat the rabbits 2 times with the mixer to cut them up. Put it all in a pot on the stove and cook about 40 minutes.
Chicken - Get 10 chickens and put parsley on it. You don't have to put salt and pepeer on it. Put it in a pan and cook it in the old microwave in the new house for about 30 minutes. Put it on a plate and eat.
Survival of Rural Hospitals
Submitted by Jerry Marquette, Administrator
Rural hospitals account for 47 percent of the nation's total, and thet've got problems. In 1984, 17 rural hospitals closed. In 1985, 20 discharged their last patients. in 1986, 37 rural hospitals went out of business.
Those numbers result not just from changes in the health-care industry, but also from the decline of the nation's rural economy.
Under Medicare's prospective payment system, rural hospitals receive up to 30 percent less than urban hospitals for treating the same diagnosis, though costs are only 10 to 15 percent less in the rural setting. This payment variance is especially hard on rural facilities since a greater percentage of their patients are Medicare recipients. On average, 37 percent of rural discharges are Medicare users, compared to 31 percent for urban hospitals. At Pointe Coupee General Hospital, 55 percent of our discharges are Medicare patients and 25 percent are Medicaid.
The plight of rural hospitals is further aggravated by the depressed state of the rural economy. The rural economic chain begins with farmers, and cattlemen, who can subsist for only so long while waiting for their industries to turn around. Every 10 percent decline in farm populations, for example, causes a 15 percent decline in key community services. In Pointe Coupee parish our unemployment rate is above 22 percent. This figure does not include the farming industry in this parish.
The local hospital feels the pinch when rural residents move out of the area. The remaining residents often travel greater distances to shop where they can find wider selections, compounding the problem for rural merchants and health-care professionals, who need volume in order to continue offering goods and services.
With 52 percent of rural hospitals owned or leased by local governments and little immediate relief in sight from the problems that plaque those institutions, large subsidies will be needed to keep them open. But because of economic conditions, there's less money available.
Thus, rural hospitals appear to be doomed by the weight of economic problems and changes in health-care trends. But is it worth fighting to save them? Many rural people think so, counting on a change in economic factors that will give their communities renewed vitality.
For people living in rural communities, there are compelling reasons to resist the closure of their local hospital. Large numbers of senior citizens reside in rural areas, where - to an extent not recognized by people in more populous areas - transportation is a critical component of any activity. Because older people often must depend on others for transportation, a nearby community hospital is vital. Also, rural occupations incur more on-the-job injuries, and in emergencies it is important to have a local care facility stabilize a patient before transportation to a larger center.
The hospital also is often one of the largest employers in the area, providing many jobs for second-income families. A community seeking to attract new industry will cite the hospital and the service it offers. Potential employers value readily available health care. Additionally, the hospital is a drawing card for a new physician planning to establish a rural practice; it provides a place to care for sicker patients and allows access to technical equipent not normally maintained in a private clinic.
Therefore, communities want to keep their hospitals.
Please vote YES July 18, 1987, ½ Cent Sales Tax.
Pointe Coupee General Hospital is your hospital, let's keep it.
News From the Editors
Thank you for all the articles submitted. We appreciate your help.
Please remember to vote July 18th.
