Hospital presents plans to consolidate some services in Sun Valley

A public forum on consolidation of the Hailey and Sun Valley campuses of the Wood River Medical Center revealed intense emotions about emergency care services, which hospital management promised would not be moved to Sun Valley unless it was safe to do so.

The forum, held at the Blaine County Courthouse last Tuesday, July 20, was led by WRMC administrator Jon Moses and attended by a group of about 75 people, mostly nurses and physicians from the two hospital campuses.

"We fully expect and want debate," Moses said in his opening remarks.

Moses got just that after outlining his tentative plans for transferring some services from the Hailey campus to the Sun Valley site.

The reasons for this consolidation, Moses explained, are to improve the quality of care, facilitate the transition to the new St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center and to reduce costs associated with operating two hospitals.

The plans, which will be voted on by the WRMC Board of Trustees on Aug. 4, include moving in-patient nursing and surgical services to the Sun Valley campus within the next 60 days and moving emergency services to the Sun Valley campus.

Emergency services would not be moved to Sun Valley, Moses emphasized, until three requirements were met: 1) Implementation of an information phone line explaining which campus to go to for particular services. 2) Development of protocols to reduce risk associated with transfers between south county and Sun Valley, and 3) Development and implementation of urgent care at the Hailey campus.

Urgent care refers to a level of service that includes treatment of less severe conditions—such as ear aches, abdominal pain, cuts requiring suturing and minor injuries. Urgent care comprises 70 percent or more of the cases now seen in emergency rooms here, Moses said.

The proposed closure of services at the Hailey campus, particularly emergency care services, spurred most of the debate Tuesday night.

Transferring patients in need of emergency care from south county to Sun Valley could cost lives, according to physician Tracey Busby.

"If you close the Hailey ER, people could die," Busby cautioned.

Some south county residents expressed concern about that threat.

"I had my life saved here at the Hailey hospital," said Pete Kramer, who lives and works in Hailey. "I don’t want to go to Sun Valley. If I was in bad shape like I was before, I might not have made it."

Another Hailey resident said that traffic congestion between the south county and Sun Valley would be a problem.

Moses responded that the consolidation of emergency care services would only occur if it were safe to do so. That determination will come from an emergency services council, made up of Wood River Valley fire, police and emergency medical personnel.

With highway improvement projects and concomitant traffic on the horizon, it is possible that the council will never deem it safe to consolidate emergency services. The Hailey ER would, in that case, remain open until the new St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center opens, Moses said.

Already, the majority of trauma surgery and trauma care, even if initiated in Hailey, is ultimately cared for at the Sun Valley facility, Moses said.

Physician Carl Barbee read a position statement signed by eight physicians, who supported Moses’ recommendation to keep the Hailey ER open until the transfer protocols were "up to speed."

"That’s going to take at least a year," Barbee said.

The physicians also supported consolidation of surgical services but they opposed closure of in-patient services.

An operating room nurse, Charlene Malone, said she stood behind consolidation.

"Hailey is a very difficult layout to do our work in," Malone said.

Physician Richard Paris attacked Moses and the WRMC board for not listening to or including the public in the decision-making processes, a charge that Moses vehemently denied.

"Don’t you dare say that, as a member of this medical staff, you don’t have access to this board," Moses said to Paris.

"I do have access, but they don’t listen," Paris responded. "They do what you say, not what the public says."

On a similar note, a Hailey resident attacked Moses for not noticing the forum appropriately, referring to an advertisement that ran in the Idaho Mountain Express on July 14. "The public is not represented here tonight."

The advertisement mentioned "tentative plans regarding the 18-month transition and the consolidation of services" as topics of discussion but does not mention closure of services at the Hailey campus.

Moses agreed that the language of the notice was "dry" and "managerial," but he said it was factual and honest.

In addition, Moses said several radio interviews regarding the forum were broadcast all day Monday and Tuesday and that another notice, printed and distributed by the Hailey Medical Clinic, informed the public about the forum.

Another physician, Ambrose McLaughlin, came to Moses’ defense.

"You need to trust Jon Moses," McLaughlin said. "He won’t mislead you. He’s done as much as possible to level the playing field for physicians, and we’re better for it."

The public will have a chance to provide further input on the tentative plans for consolidation at the WRMC Board’s meeting Aug. 4.