March 28, 2024

Flu clinic to come, high-dose vaccine delayed

Greater Regional Health’s Board of Trustees discussed flu clinics, vaccine availability and capital expenditure requests at their meeting 6 p.m. Monday via electronic means.

Gwen Buck, Chief Ancillary Officer, reviewed the current plans for setting up a flu clinic in Creston with the board. The clinic will not be ready for a couple of weeks but will be located at the Union County Emergency Management Agency, 705 E. Taylor St.

“Right before Thanksgiving is our scheduled flu clinic, so we’ll just continue to do that out there. ... They were gracious enough to allow us to rent some space there which will be very good, and they have good parking, so that will be excellent,” she said.

Buck said that they are providing the standard flu vaccine but have run short on the high-dose vaccine, due to delays. The high-dose vaccine is designed specifically for those age 65 and above. While both vaccines provide protection against two influenza A viruses and two influenza B viruses, the high-dose contains four times the amount of antigen compared with the standard vaccine, which prompts the body to make more antibodies, creating a stronger immune response.

“We have been out of the high-dose, even all of Creston there are places ... (that) have been out of that. So, it’s frustrating people that want to have the high-dose, but we’re still giving out the vaccine to provide some protection,” she said.

Buck said another shipment of the high-dose flu vaccine will arrive this week.

COVID-19 patient care

Buck said they are still waiting to hear about the possibility of a COVID-19 vaccine.

“That will occur probably at a different site location depending on what all is going on,” she said. “So, there are still a lot of questions up in the air on that, but it will be dispersed through public health. We will have a clinic and then (it will be) dispersed out to agencies in the area that do want to do that. ... Nothing’s set in stone because there are still too many questions.”

Amanda Mohr, Chief Nursing Officer, said that Urgent Care and the ER at Greater Regional Health have continued to stay busy and along with many other hospitals across the state they are seeing a higher census than normal.

Mohr said they’ve been averaging about 14 patients on the medical-surgical side, but there is a plan in place for serving COVID-positive patients and any one else who requires isolation.

Mohr said, on the surgical side, the Mako machine that the board recently approved — a robotic-arm that assists in surgery — has been having positive outcomes. According to euronews.com, this type of cutting-edge technology is being implemented across the globe to assist surgeons in providing care to COVID-19 patients, because “by using a robot, surgeons don’t need to use their hands to directly touch the patient.”

Mohr said another step the hospital has taken in patient care is signing a transfer agreement with UnityPoint.

“So, something else so far that we’ve seen this year, is if we have a patient come in and they need a higher level of care, we’re actually transferring them to Des Moines. They’re fixing them up and taking care of them, and then once we’re capable of bringing them back, we’re transferring back down to acute in our facility, which is something new, and it’s worked out really well,” she said.

Mohr said this includes patients who have tested positive for COVID-19.

“And it’s not just COVID, we’re also seeing that with other patients,” she said.

Teresa Newman, Director of Rural Health Resources at UnityPoint Health Des Moines, said she is a part of a newly formed COVID-19 vaccine preparation committee.

“Right now, what we’re hearing, we’re hoping that there may be a possible vaccine available end of November or for sure by the end of the year. What we don’t know is how much we are going to be receiving, so part of our plan is strategizing who would receive it first, which employees would get it first and throughout our whole system,” she said.

COVID-19 testing continues to be available through the Test Iowa Clinic located in Urgent Care at Greater Regional Health. For more information, visit greaterregional.org/covid-19 or call 641-782-1194.

New Life

Carol Eckels, Chief Clinic Officer, reported that New Life Family Medicine will be joining the Greater Regional Health team, bringing with them more than 3,000 patients. Karen Krogstad, MD Family Medicine and OB/GYN, Jill Breach, ARNP, FNP, CNM and Emily Turner, FNP are among the newly integrated staff.

“We’re excited to have Dr. Krogstad and Jill Breach and Emily Turner and their team officially a part of Greater Regional, even though they’ve been really in our culture for a long time,” Eckels said. “... We’re just so glad to have New Life on the team.”

Employment Opportunities

Greater Regional Health is currently looking to hire a dermatologist and a neurologist for the hospital and an advanced practice provider for a nursing home.

“In our area, with our audience, we have a very heavy nursing home population. We want to make sure we’re able to continue to take on new patients, as well as take care of our nursing home audience,” Eckels said.

Expenditure requests

Additionally, the board was presented with capital expenditure requests including two mammography screens and a computer that would run the screens for the radiology department with an estimated cost of $35,000. Seven Stryker bassinets for the OB/GYN birthing center was also presented as a need, due to the current ones being almost 10 years old and the wood on them beginning to chip. The new bassinets would be easier to clean, would rise up and down which would better serve the mother and would be easier to push by staff. The estimated cost was $23,502.57. The board unanimously approved both requests.