Hailey emergency room to close
‘Smaller cuts, sprains…’ continue to be treated
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
The day the new St. Luke’s hospital south of Ketchum is scheduled to
open--Nov. 19--also is the first day south-county patients must begin traveling an extra
10 miles for emergency medical treatment.
That news came Oct. 16, when the St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center
and the Hailey Medical Clinic agreed to convert Hailey’s emergency department to an
urgent care center.
Hospitals define urgent care as a level of service aimed at treating
illness or injuries that are less than immediately life threatening. Emergency care
provides evaluation and intervention for illness and injuries that may be
life-threatening.
Closing day for Wood River Medical Center and its emergency department in
Sun Valley also is scheduled for Nov. 19. That will make the new St. Luke’s hospital
two miles south of Ketchum the county’s sole emergency care provider, a situation
that has spawned concern among south-county residents about traveling long distances for
emergency treatment.
In 1996, residents voted to close the county-run Hailey and Sun Valley
hospitals and replace them with the new privately run St. Luke’s hospital. County
Commissioner Len Harlig said yesterday that St. Luke’s agreed verbally in 1996 to
provide an urgent care center, though not an emergency room, somewhere in the south county
before the new hospital opened.
To further address south-county concerns, St. Luke’s Wood River
Medical Center officials met with the Carey City Council on Oct 17 to discuss emergency
coverage in the Carey area, which is about 35 miles south of the Hailey clinic.
Carey Mayor Rick Baird said Monday city officials wanted to "make
sure residents of the south county could look forward to more than just a longer ambulance
ride during an emergency."
Baird said during the Oct. 17 meeting he was "satisfied" with
the answers St. Luke’s officials gave the city council about how emergency medical
services would be provided.
Most reassuring, he said, is the pending upgrade in the level of ambulance
service the county provides. County emergency medical technicians have recently begun
training to become paramedics in an effort to provide more care during transport to the
hospital for injured and ill patients.
Even so, Baird said, there is a "distinct possibility" more
Carey-area patients in the future will be transported by air ambulance to hospitals
outside the county.
That could be especially likely for the most critical patients who
won’t be able to receive care in Hailey.
A St. Luke’s press release states Hailey’s new urgent care
center will not provide the level of service required for trauma, heart attack or major
emergency victims. Rather, the urgent care center will treat "smaller cuts, sprains,
ear infections, cases of the flu and a variety of other minor illnesses that need quick
attention," states Dr. Carl Barbee, a Hailey Medical Clinic physician.
The Hailey Medical Clinic plans to own and operate the new urgent care
center in Hailey with a $200,000 startup contribution from St. Luke’s Wood River
Medical Center.
Along with the transition from emergency care to urgent care will be a
reduction in the hours of operation in Hailey from 24 hours per day to the hours of 8 a.m.
to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Even though those hours may be eventually expanded, based on patient use,
the release predicts the reduced hours will be adequate to meet demand for the reduced
level of service.
Healthcare providers anticipate a large percentage of the patients who
normally use the emergency department will be able to use the urgent care center instead,
the release states. Officials predict "only a few patients per day" of those who
currently use the Hailey emergency department will need to travel north to the new St.
Luke’s emergency department.
"We are very pleased to be able to reach a cooperative agreement with
the Hailey Medical Clinic…" stated Jon Moses, St. Luke’s Wood River Medical
Center CEO. "This arrangement will provide a cost effective, high-quality service
that avoids an unnecessary duplication of efforts."
Along with recent emergency care changes, St. Luke’s announced Oct.
13 the start-up of its "Call St. Luke’s" health information telephone
service.
"Call St. Luke’s" is a 24-hour, menu-driven hot-line
staffed by specially trained nurses, who provide callers with general health information,
referrals to physicians and community health resources and information about services
available at St. Luke’s facilities.
The hot-line is designed to help people decide where to go for minor
medical emergencies, the press release states.
The Hailey Medical Clinic plans to staff the new urgent care center with
members of the Hailey Medical Group, including Dr. Frank Batcha, Dr. Carl Barbee, Dr.
Randy Coriell, Dr. Rich Paris, Dr. Kathryn Woods and physician assistants Nanette Ford and
Emily Karassik.
