What's Happening

4.16.2008 - Cargill Contributes Toward EMR Project

Cargill Meat Solutions and Cargill AgHorizons have donated $10,000 to the Culbertson Memorial Hospital Foundation to be used towards the purcharse of an electronic medical records system at the Beardtown Clinics. The new electronic medical records system (EMR) will help improve patient care and staff efficiency. The EMR will provide the clinics with a permanent electronic record that is easily transferable to hospitals, specialists, and labs if needed. "We are pleased to support the Beardstown Clinics," said Glenn Karlinsey, general manager of Cargill's pork processing plant. "We feel their work is vital to provide health services and, ultimately, a better quality of life for our employees and the community." Each year, Cargill donates in excess of $100,000 to local organizations in the Beardstown area as part of its effort to enhance the community.

4.16.2008 - CMH Foundation Opens Scholarship

The CMH Foundation is announcing that applications are now available for the CMH Foundation Scholarship. This scholarship is being offered to a high school senior student in the CMH service area of Schuyler, Brown, Cass, and South Fulton, who has been accepted in a health realted field. The amount of the scholarship is $2000. Proof of acceptance or enrollment must be submitted with the application. The scholarship will be paid directly to the school in which the student is enrolled. High school students may pick up their application from their guidance counselor and return it to: Luan Phillips, CMH Foundation, 238 South Congress St., Rushville, IL 62681. Applications must be received by May 1, 2008.

.. - Make a Difference! Become a Friend of CMH

Culbertson Memorial Hospital is introducing a new volunteer program called Friends of CMH. This new program offers a wide variety of volunteer opportunities for both men and women. If you can spare up to three hours a week for at least three months, give us a call. We will send you information about our new volunteer program that will explain how giving a little bit of your time can make a huge impact in the lives of our patients. Currently, we are looking for volunteers to act as patient escorts to accompany out-patients and visitors to various departments or treatment areas throughout the hospital. To learn more about Friends of CMH and how you can help, call Luan Phillips at 217-322-4321, ext. 269.

.. - CMH A Safe Haven for Abandoned Newborn Infants

Each year in Illinois, there are disturbing reports of newborn babies found in dumpsters and other unsafe places. State Senate bill 335 was designed to halt these disturbing occurrences by designating every Illinois hospital, police station or staffed fire station as a Safe Haven for abandoned newborns. Desperate parents who feel they cannot keep a newborn baby who is 7 days old or younger, may hand the unharmed baby to any personnel at hospitals, police or staffed fire stations. The parent can then walk away with no questions asked and no fear of prosecution. “We want to educate the public about the existence of this life saving law,” said Community Relations Director Luan Phillips. “It was created to save the lives of babies and also prevent desperate parents from potential criminal charges. Unwanted pregnancies can be traumatic and can cause feelings of shame, fear, or isolation that could lead a parent to harm their baby. Now these parents can bring their baby to CMH or another site that is designated a safe haven. We won’t ask questions, we won’t call the police and the parent is free to leave whenever they are ready. The baby will get the medical care it needs and will eventually be adopted. Anyone who wants to know more about the Safe Haven law can call 1-888-510-2229 for confidential information or can visit the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation web site at http://www.saveabandonedbabies.org.

.. - Employee of the Quarter

Maintenance Crew Member Randy Richey is the new Employee of the Quarter at Culbertson Memorial Hospital where he has worked for ten years. Richey’s many skills are in great demand at the hospital because staff members know that they can count on him to repair almost anything. Richey’s duties include year round yard and building maintenance throughout the hospital, Culbertson Gardens, the Medical Arts Building, the Billing building, and the Cox Therapy building. Richey has, at one time or another, painted or hung wallpaper on every wall of every building that CMH owns. The Vermont native, is just as well known for his friendliness and sense of humor as he is for his hard working habits. Richey and his wife Patricia live in Rushville and have two grown daughters, Keli and Jessica. Richey’s greatest source of pride is his two month old grandson Richard Dean Fowler, whom Richey plans to take fishing at his first opportunity. As employee of the quarter, Richey will receive a U.S. savings bond, a reserved parking space, and eligibility in the Employee of Year award.

.. - Lynn Stambaugh Named Chief Operating Officer

Lynn Stambaugh Appointed Chief Operating Officer The CMH Board of Directors has named Lynn Stambaugh, RN, BS, as the new Chief Operating Officer of the hospital district. The creation of this new position is part of a transition plan that calls for Stambaugh to become CEO in 2010. Current CEO David Sniff suggested this new leadership position after board members asked him to reconsider his plans to resign this fall. “Chairman of the Board David Hester asked me to take another look at my plans to leave in October,” said Sniff. “After some thought, I suggested a plan that would create a CEO/COO model of leadership. I explained that for this model to work, the COO should be an internal candidate who possesses certain innate attributes that make them a candidate for leadership. Lynn Stambaugh has the natural ability to lead people. I can teach the right person the fundamental skills of running a hospital. I will be working closely with her over the next five months as she gradually takes over more and more daily operations. Assuming this goes well, I will gradually reduce my presence at the hospital to one to two days a week. In the meantime, I will continue to oversee strategic planning, administrative meetings, Foundation activity, and other ongoing projects. By the time I am scheduled to leave permanently in 2010, I am confident that Ms. Stambaugh will have the fundamental tools to assume the position of CEO.” Stambaugh has been a fixture at CMH from the time she was 16 when she started working after school in the Dietary Department to earn spending money. Even after she became a nursing student, Stambaugh spent summers and weekends working at CMH as a nurses’ aid. “I graduated from nursing school one day and started working as a registered nurse on the medical floor at CMH the next,” Stambaugh said. “Then, in between working and getting married and having babies, I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in professional arts with an emphasis on health care administration.” Never one to rest on her laurels, Stambaugh soon developed an interest in obstetrics and worked in that department whenever possible. She eventually developed and taught community childbirth classes and became a certified neonatal resuscitation instructor. Stambaugh was promoted to OB Supervisor in 1991 and maintained that role until 2003, when she accepted the position of Quality Improvement and Utilization Review Coordinator. “The switch from providing direct patient care to an administrative role was very satisfying,” continued Stambaugh. “Instead of focusing on one patient at a time, I learned to look at the broader picture. Were we doing the right things to promote quality care and patient safety? How do we compare to other hospitals in treating pneumonia and heart failure? Are we meeting all of Medicare’s guidelines for appropriate levels of care? Now it’s easy for me to see how the decisions we make at the bedside, translates into data that can be used to improve each department.” Stambaugh says she is just as excited about her next challenge as she was as a young nurse caring for her first patient. “It’s becoming more common for nurses to transition to CEO positions,” she said. “So I won’t be the first or the last. I feel that knowing this hospital and this community the way I do gives me a distinct advantage over someone who comes in from the outside. I know that I will have to expand my scope of knowledge again, but I’m confident that I can do it. I think the most important factor is that I really love this hospital. I was born here, I had my babies here, and I’ve spent my entire career working here. This is where my heart is, so I’m glad they want me to stick around for a while.”

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