Olivia P Tucker
Times Reporter
Scott County Board of Commissioners discussed an update on the increase of transfers of patients for Scott County EMS and updates on the hospital at their meeting on Nov 1.
On September 30, Scott Memorial Hospital changed ownership to Norton Health Care of Louisville, KY and because of that change there has been an increase in transfers from Scott County to Louisville for patients to get the proper care that they need that the hospital can not currently provide.
“For clarification, this is no shade on the hospital, I am not complaining, Scott County EMS director Nick Oleck said. “This is an informative thing from me only. Initially the average runs or transfers out of the hospital about 4.2 a day. Right now currently to date from this last month I am sitting at 7.8 and running 4 and 5 (ambulances) a day.”
Oleck pointed out that his payroll had increased by $8,000 to $12,000 due to increased use of the 4th and 5th ambulance trucks.
“I am not here asking for money. I am not here especially asking permission, I am just letting you know what is going on right now,” Oleck told the commissioners.
Kathy Vancampen, a representative of Norton Health Care for Scott County said, “With Scott Memorial becoming a part of Norton Health Care and those of you who know Norton, they are known for their quality. So we are really taking this time to pause and look to see how do we bring in Norton policy and procedures. How do we work with them to get the specialists here that we don’t have in our community? Norton’s number one focus is keeping care close to home.”
Kathleen Exline, administrative officer for Norton Health Care for Scott and Clark County said, “How do we come together and accommodate, that the budget can be met or exceeded but we are also serving our community? We met with Nick on Oct 24 and we agreed our job is to serve our patients.”
Exline also said that if the EMS service could not make a transfer, Norton had available services to contribute. However, Scott County being a closed county for outside ambulance services, Norton would have to have permission granted from Oleck before being able to respond to the transfer.
Currently, employees at Scott Memorial are getting caught up on Norton’s pay scale of the years of service. The goal next in the future for the Scott hospital is to have primary healthcare offices and eventually be able to have surgeries be available to those who need that type of care, Exline said.