Danville Regional Medical Center has made some major improvements over the past year, according to a report given to Danville City Council by Eric Deaton, the hospital’s CEO.
Deaton, who took over the helm of the hospital in February 2010, told Danville City Council this week the past year has brought major improvements to the hospital. The changes, he said, ranged from physician recruitment through investments in new equipment and technology.
One of the biggest changes has been an improvement in employee morale.
Deaton showed City Council the results of a recent employee satisfaction survey, comparing it to the results of the same survey taken a year ago. Across the board, employees are happier about their jobs, management and the way the organization works.
In 2010, 75 percent of the employees were pleased with their jobs, but only 23 percent were pleased with their supervisors and only 25 percent were content with upper management. Overall satisfaction with the hospital as a place to work was a dismal 26 percent.
Those numbers increased dramatically in this year’s survey, according to Deaton.
Now, 86 percent are pleased with their jobs, and satisfaction with supervisors rose to 75 percent. Upper management satisfaction jumped to 76 percent, and overall satisfaction with the hospital as a place to work rose to 67 percent.
Since Deaton arrived, more than $5.1 million has been spent on capital improvements, such as a completely renovated heart catheterization laboratory, improved instruments in the urology department and better monitoring in the emergency department and step-down unit.
The women’s and children unit in the hospital has been completely renovated - “It’s beautiful,” Deaton said - and the hospital will hold an open house Aug. 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to show off the unit and give people a chance to meet the pediatricians on staff. There will also be free onsite immunizations provided.
Six doctors have been added to the staff, as well as the hospital’s first full-time chief medical officer and a director of medical education to head the residency program.
Two new clinics - one in Brosville and one on Executive Park Drive in Danville - will be opening shortly and a dozen new jobs will be created to operate them, Deaton said.
“We’ll see anyone, regardless of their ability to pay, in these clinics,” Deaton said.
Room service dining began in May, giving patients choices in what they are served for meals, and valet parking at the main entrance will begin in September to make it easier for families and patients to get to the hospital.
Deaton also pointed out that the hospital has become much more involved in the community over the past year, sponsoring dozens of events and initiatives, from Festival in the Park to Danville Little League.
DRMC has also pledged $500,000 to Averett University’s nursing programs and the same amount in scholarships for 60 scholarships for students attending Danville Community College’s nursing students over the next five years, giving 12 students each year enough money to cover tuition and fees for two years.
Deaton reported in 2010 the hospital paid more than $1.5 million in local taxes and supplied more than $226 million in “uncompensated care” to the community. He said that figure reflects unpaid costs of Medicare and Medicaid (the difference between what the hospital would normally charge and what those programs allow), charity care and bad debts.
Danville City Council members responded very positively to the improvements Deaton outlined, particularly Councilman Larry Campbell, who is also a member of the hospital’s board of directors.
“I want to commend you for turning the hospital around,” Campbell said. “We can now advise the citizens they don’t have to elsewhere. We have the best facility.”
