Cox Health Systems improves regional service

|tab|

Three Cox Health Systems projects will make Cox services more accessible and available to patients in the southwest Missouri region.|ret||ret||tab|

The health system is constructing a 9,100-square-foot clinic in Lebanon that will house Cox Medical Associates of Lebanon.|ret||ret||tab|

According to Joy Kemna, physician practice manager for Cox Health Systems' Regional Services, the new building should be ready for occupancy in October.|ret||ret||tab|

She said the physicians who will practice at the new clinic, Dave Weems, DO and Steve Harriman, MD, practice out of a small office in a shopping center. Kemna said in addition to office space for Weems and Harriman, the new clinic also may include a health care-related retail area, space for board-qualified specialists and an office for Burrell Behavioral Health.|ret||ret||tab|

Kemna said Cox has a total of 52 satellite clinics, including the Cox CARE mobile and the family practice residency program. |ret||ret||tab|

"We try to anticipate where the population growth is going to be, so that we can have a presence there and be able to serve the communities like we would like to," Kemna said.|ret||ret||tab|

Cox Health Systems is also expanding its hospital in Monett, according to Greg Johnson, administrator of Cox-Monett Hospital. Johnson said the facility obtained its certificate of need in June and the hospital was awarded $3.7 million for its portion of a total of $5.3 million in improvements during the next five years.|ret||ret||tab|

Johnson said the changes to Cox-Monett are in direct response to what the community of Monett wants, because when administrators updated the hospital's strategic plan in late 1998 and early 1999, the Monett community was surveyed.|ret||ret||tab|

Johnson said he thinks the return of obstetrical services, which have not been available at Cox-Monett since 1987, will be the most important improvement to the Lawrence County area.|ret||ret||tab|

"There are a lot of expectant mothers who aren't getting good prenatal care in the areas we serve, and a lot of people are driving up to an hour to deliver their babies. It's not a good situation, and that came back loud and clear from the community," Johnson said.|ret||ret||tab|

Improvements will include a new obstetrical unit with four birthing rooms and Jacuzzi tubs, with a special Caesarean section room and brand new nursery. |ret||ret||tab|

Additional changes for Cox-Monett will include the addition of two new operating rooms and a remodeling of the second-floor medical-surgical unit.|ret||ret||tab|

The outdated facility was another concern, Johnson said.|ret||ret||tab|

"We had done part of our building in 1998 we had remodeled the first floor and added space to our emergency department, and the community wanted to see that continued modernization," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

Changes to the facility are expected to be complete by July 2001, Johnson said. He said CMH will be licensed for 47 beds following the renovations.|ret||ret||tab|

Also included in CMH's five-year plan is a physicians' office building and physical therapy facility, which will be located in a former Ramey's grocery store and will cost about $1 million. He said renovations should be finished by May 2001 and two physicians will begin practicing in the new facility in July 2001. He said the hospital plans to recruit three additional physicians.|ret||ret||tab|

Part of the funding for the Monett projects will come from a $2.5 million fund-raising effort by the Cox Health Care Foundation. Johnson said $2 million has already been raised with pledges from several local businesses, including Jack Henry & Associates.|ret||ret||tab|

"Monett has always had a strong industrial base, and health care has been lagging a little bit. Industry wants to see health care match what they've done. Health care is very important to recruit and grow a business," Johnson said.|ret||ret||tab|

Cox Health Systems' primary service area encompasses 18 counties, said Larry Wallis, chief executive officer of Cox Health Systems |ret||ret||tab|

"We support making health care as convenient as we can for the patient. It makes sense to have a physician presence in communities of those sizes, so the accessibility to the physician is enhanced," Wallis said. |ret||ret||tab|

"We believe the remodeling and expansion of the Monett facility is of utmost importance, specifically the re-establishment of obstetric services," he added.|ret||ret||tab|

A recently completed Cox project is its Rogersville ambulance service. According to Mark Alexander, director of pre-hospital services for Cox Health Systems, the Rogersville ambulance unit was staffed in April, and it moved to its quarters in the new Rogersville fire station in August. |ret||ret||tab|

"The city of Rogersville had approached us with the idea of putting an ambulance crew there if they were willing to build the base. We looked at that carefully and thought that it would be a good idea," Alexander said.|ret||ret||tab|

He said the city of Rogersville provides quarters for the crew and a bay for the ambulance, and Cox takes care of the service.|ret||ret||tab|

"The (new) unit has been beneficial in serving southwestern Webster County, where we had (ambulance) service either out of our Springfield service going east, or from our Webster County service going west from Marshfield or Seymour," Alexander said. "What this has done is allow us to reduce the response times for those folks out there that previously had to wait for units to come from elsewhere. It's been a busy unit since we put it in."|ret||ret||tab|

Wallis said growth and aging of the southwest Missouri population base will likely require the expansion of Cox's services and facilities in years to come.|ret||ret||tab|

|ret||ret||tab|

[[In-content Ad]]