Board members discuss changes coming to a local hospital

JACKSON, Tenn. — The West Tennessee Healthcare board met for their monthly meeting to discuss changes to the hospital system.

There could be some changes coming to Jackson-Madison County General Hospital. On Friday, hospital board members discussed a variety of topics, including surgery center renovation.

“Our board approved two urology tables with C-Arms at a cost of about $375,000, somewhere around there, for our West Tennessee surgery center,” said Amy Garner, Vice President and Chief Compliance and Communications Officer.

Another topic discussed was the purchase of a software platform.

“It’s very exciting. It’s going to improve nursing workflow, and it is going to improve patient safety here in our organizations. It’s going to eliminate a lot of the equipment that the nurses have to use, so they are going to have new software, new devices they’ll be using rather than having different devices in the patient room, and it’s really found to help out their workflow,” Garner said.

During the meeting, board members also discussed the donation of property in Martin.

“We donated a piece of property in Martin that the Martin Housing Authority has been leasing for many years, and we don’t have a strategic need for that property so we donated it to Martin Housing Authority so they can continue their mission up there,” Garner said.

Dr. Eric Sievers also spoke at the meeting, announcing a big accomplishment for the hospital system. The hospital now has the highest ranking heart program.

“That means that we are one of the top six to 10 percent [of] heart programs in the country, so we are very, very excited about that,” Garner said.

The cost of the new software program is estimated to be about $3.1 million.