After taking a tour of the new Care Center rooms, hospital board members Kay Olson (left) and Sharon Bloomquist discuss some of the upcoming plans for landscaping with DSGW architect John Geisler. The work for the $24.5 million renovation and addition to the hospital and care center will take two years to complete.
There was an empty chair at the North Shore Health hospital board meeting on August 18.
Following the sale of his Schroeder home on August 12, long time Hospital Board Member Tom Spence submitted his resignation to Board Chair Kay Olson.
“He’s already living in St. Paul,” said North Shore Health Director Kimber Wraalstad.
Spence, a second generation attorney from the Twin Cities, often used the 45 years of legal experience he acquired in his law practice to politely ask pertinent, probing questions at board meetings, all with the aim of protecting the hospital and care center residents, staff and the public served by these facilities.
“I have enjoyed my years of service on the board and wish the hospital, its board, administration and employees nothing but the best for the future. I look forward to following the progress and completion of the remodel online and in the News-Herald in the coming months,” Spence said in his letter to Olson.
The board accepted Spence’s resignation with regrets and Board Member Sharon Bloomquist requested that a letter be sent to Spence thanking him for his years of service, which the board directed Wraalstad to do on their behalf.
Moving day for Care Center
On Tuesday, August 16, 22 care center residents moved into their brand-new rooms in just 4½ hours.
“Everybody pitched in to help,” said Wraalstad. While it will take some time to get pictures hung on the walls and other amenities placed throughout the wing, Wraalstad said that most residents were happy to get into the new, much larger rooms, although a few were still deciding if they liked the move from their smaller rooms to the new location.
Construction continues
Shelly Peterson, vice president and general manager of Boldt Company, gave an update about the ongoing work at the hospital and care center. Currently there are more than 30 workers onsite performing ground work, putting on weather barrier, installing roof decking on the entryway, completing the under slab for the utilities, putting on roof decking on the hospital addition, refiguring the entry way, changing the care center hallways, changing the entry corridor to the new hospital addition and care center, and working on building a new kitchen.
The kitchen won’t be done in September as planned, but is pushed back a month. Meanwhile, other projects are ahead of schedule so overall the $24.5 million project is still on schedule, Peterson said.
Hospital levy stable
After much discussion about the hospital’s upcoming levy, the board decided to make a motion to maintain the $800,000 per year levy at its current rate for the coming year. Wraalstad noted that the hospital board, and not the county board, sets the hospital levy; so if people have hospital levy questions to ask, they should be directed to hospital board members.
Time clock and finances considered
Human Resource Director Bob Willis gave a report about the need for the hospital/care center to update its time clock system. After reviewing three different systems Willis asked the board to approve purchasing an ADP human resources/payroll information system at an annual cost of $33,446 plus a one-time implementation cost of $10,000, which the board approved.
Vera Schumann, FHFMA, director of finance, presented the July 2016 financial Report. “North Shore Health generated income from operations of $67,692 performing $146,428 ahead of budget. Gross hospital patient revenues of $1,210,900 are $159,002 or 15 percent greater than budget. Care Center revenues are one percent below budget,” Schumann said.
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