“That’s why you’re seeing a lot of these hospitals dry up and close.” “And we’ve already had less to begin with,” he said. Rising costs and dwindling reimbursements mean rural hospitals have to do more with less. “It presents a very unique opportunity, a great opportunity for growth, for this little, rural hospital.” “One of my overall goals here is not just to improve access to health care and quality of care here in Haskell County, but in the entire region,” he said.
It’s not clear yet, he said, what that might look like, or what kind of collaborations might result. “What we've really got to do is start looking at how we can all work together," he said. In light of the closure of rural hospitals in the area, including facilities in Stamford and Hamlin, Strickland sees a need for a new strategy. “We're taking on a new, major community focus for the hospital,” he said.
His goal is to do what he can to help the county and the city grow, which in turn should help the hospital grow. "So great health care, the land is affordable, housing is affordable.” “We have great school districts, we have a great hospital," he said. Highway 277 between Interstates 40 and 44 and, to the south, Interstate 20. Haskell is primed for growth, he said, sitting on U.S. Strickland, who started July 25, came to Haskell Memorial from his position as chief operating officer of Salem Memorial District Hospital in Salem, Missouri. "So you just kind of have to look for every avenue you can to get those funds and try to maintain the hospital.” Good location "We’ve got a couple of tax abatements through wind and solar farms that came into the county in, I guess, the last three years," McCown said. The hospital sought grants and participated in the Medicaid 1115 Waiver Program, which took the place of Medicaid expansion in Texas. “From our standpoint, I always tried to look for other reimbursement things we could get,” she said. Those plans do not offer a cost settlement, McCown said, making them good for consumers but perhaps less so for providers and medical facilities. Haskell typically has about 65 percent Medicare patients, she said.Ī challenge has arisen with Medicare Advantage plans, a type of Medicare plan offered by private companies that contract with Medicare. In 2003, it received its critical access designation, “a big deal for a rural hospital out here,” Olson said. "We have a total of six providers and a number of specialists from the Abilene area that see patients here on a regular basis," Olson said. The hospital today offers offers inpatient/outpatient services, a swing bed program, physical therapy, cardiac rehab, state-of-the-art CT, newly updated x-ray equipment, a lab, two outpatient clinics and an emergency department.
for example, notes that surgeries and delivery were once among the palate of options, Olson said. Services available at the hospital have altered through the years.Īn Abilene Reporter-News article from October 1939. “I thought it was interesting that they chose a woman to be superintendent of this brand-new hospital,” Olson said. Its first superintendent, Vera Harwell, who previously had the same job in Knox County, made $150 a month. The hospital's first six board members had their inaugural meeting in August 1939.
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It was finished the day before.Ī Haskell Free Press article at the time dubbed the finished facility one of the most modern and best-equipped hospitals in West Texas. There was $25,000 available for equipment. The additional money meant capacity could be increased from a 20-bed to a 30-bed hospital. The hospital is currently licensed for 25 beds. That bumped up available funds by $35,991, increasing the total available to the project to around $95,000.Ĭonstruction was ongoing, so things had to pause for a bit.Īfter another round of bids, a contractor out of Lone Wolf, Oklahoma, was chosen to complete the work. “But in 1938, that 1936 application was approved.” “I don’t know if it just sat on a desk somewhere or it stayed in the application pile and as money became available they reviewed applications,” Olson said. In June 1938, the county judge received a telegram saying the Public Works Administration grant applied for in 1936 had been approved.
It didn’t have a positive outcome.īut then, a surprise. "And that, of course, as you can imagine, didn’t go very well. "They sent two people to Washington, D.C., to further pursue the grant’s approval," Olson said. “The commissioners were finally advised that the PWA money was not available it had already been earmarked for other uses before the county’s application even came through,” she said.īut the county didn’t want to take no for an answer. Mothes of Seymour.Īll the time, the PWA grant was “still hanging out there,” Olson said.
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