Tuesday night Victoria Alexander-Lane , the CEO/President of Sebasticook Valley Health, made a presentation in front of the Town Council to discuss upcoming events and activities with them. To let the Town Council know what is going on.
Sebasticook Valley Health plans on expanding the hospital so there are more private rooms or semi-private suites for patients. This will help with safety and privacy in the hospital. They would also like to redo the ER which sees approximately 15,000 patients a year though it is built for 8,000 a year.
The plan for the ER is to build it for 13,000 patients a year while trying to get people to visit some of the clinics associated with the hospital for preventative care. They are also looking into adding additional ambulance personnel.
With the expansion Sebasticook Valley Health hopes to help improve the quality of service given to the patients of the hospital.
Mrs. Alexander-Lane told the Town Council that there would not need to be a lot of fundraising because Sebasticook Valley Health is doing good financially. Sebasticook Valley Health has one of the lowest costs of health care in the state due to changes that have been implemented such as the integration of electronic health records, but as people go to other places to get care the expenses could increase.
Right now Sebasticook Valley Health has a revenue of $34,208,000 from that there is a payroll of $14,582,000. $2,842,000 is given to various charities. There is also $1.4 Million in bad debt from people that cannot pay their bills which the hospital ends up covering.
Sebasticook Valley Health would like to break ground around 2013 during the 50th Anniversary of the hospital when they open up the Time Capsule. As the time gets closer to the 50th year of existence more information will be given to the public. As well as events to help with things such as obesity and diabetes among others.
Kathryn Ruth the Pittsfield Town Manager, asked Mrs. Alexander-Lane “When will the draft plan be final?”
She was told that due to the price of contingency needed for the work that it will be ready around the time they break ground.
Timothy Nichols,the Mayor of Pittsfield said, “That hospital has grown in leaps and bounds since the 60’s.”
Also during the meeting Kathryn Ruth said that nomination papers for 3 upcoming vacancies on the Town Council are available at the town office.