Correction: A detail in the original article about the hospital”s construction project is incorrect. Adventist Health, the nonprofit parent group of Howard Hospital, funded the new hospital’s construction. The Frank R. Howard Foundation used the $4 million granted to them by the City of Willits to purchase additional equipment after construction was completed.
Frank Howard Memorial Hospital’s makeover is complete, with a flood of new equipment capable of offering patients better, faster care. Improvements include new hospital beds, portable X-ray machines, 3D mammography and more.
Purchase of the new equipment was funded by the $4 million settlement from Pepsi for the lawsuit filed by the Willits Environmental Remediation Trust against Remco insurers for contamination of the old site dating back to 1996, previously reported by The Willits News. The Willits City Council originally alloted the money to construct a new hospital, but that project was completed with funds raised by the Frank R. Howard Foundation, according to the foundation’s executive director, Arnie Mello. The hospital, completed last October, became a Level IV trauma center on Dec. 1, one of two in Mendocino County. The other is Ukiah Valley Medical Center.
Mello said the new equipment includes some exclusive technology.
“There is some equipment in there that can’t be found outside of the Bay Area,” he said.
A new ultrasound machine improves vascular studies, helping diagnose conditions that decrease blood flow, like aneurysms, deep vein thrombosis and varicose veins, according to Diagnostic Imaging Director Katie Hageman. Upgraded CT software reduces the amount of radiation each patient receives, potentially lowering the risk for DNA damage and cancer. And 3D mammography, to be installed next year, helps detect breast cancer earlier.
But the big guns are found in the microbiology lab, overseen by Arpad Peter, lab director. The lab tests blood and spinal fluid for pathogens, fungi and bacteria. Whirring away in the back room, the BioFire FilmArray system tests spinal fluid for 17 common pathogens and cuts the time for meningitis testing from two to three days down to a mere 65 minutes. Peter said the machine has already helped the lab detect cryptococcus, a fungal infection of the brain. He said that finding could have saved a patient’s life.
“We’ve found positive things that I’ve never seen in 40 years,” said Peter.
The lab’s crown jewel, arriving next month, is the MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometer/MicroScan AST, a machine that tells the type of bacteria from a culture plate and which antibiotic will kill it. The machine uses a laser to blast bacteria into a protein cloud and separate it into a fingerprint, used to identify the particular strand. The process takes about six minutes, a significant advance in a field where time is of the essence. It also gives doctors the information to prescribe a precise antibiotic instead of a “broad-spectrum,” potentially helping combat antibiotic resistance.
Clinical Lab Scientist Lynne Buske relates the arrival of their new machines to the upcoming holiday.
“It’s kind of like Christmas Day,” she said, “We’re still opening the presents.”
Cici Winiger, community outreach and communications manager, hopes all the new equipment will attract more doctors to the hospital. She said recruiting doctors has always been an issue at Howard Memorial because of location and lack of housing, as well as the county’s reputation as a marijuana mecca.
The hospital also hopes to keep up its four-star patient rating with the purchase of new hospital beds and a new patient experience package, offering educational videos, internet and room controls. Winiger said the rating is one of the best in the area, adding that their patient satisfaction is above the national average.
“People get personalized care when they’re here, (it) feels like family,” Winiger said.
Volunteer Coordinator Becky Hope said they hope to facilitate more communication between hospital staff and patients, and provide more information about procedures and care through the videos.
“(We’re) giving the patient more say in how they get their care,” said Hope.
The hospital donated the old beds to Northbrook Healthcare Center, a nursing home in Willits.
The technology upgrades plus the new distinction as a Level IV trauma center might give the hospital the leg up it needs to get more doctors in its doors.
“We’ve got all this technology and with this designation, it will really make a difference for our community,” said Amy Buckingham, emergency services manager, in a press release.
The Frank R. Howard Foundation purchased the equipment for the hospital with the Remco settlement money granted to the city in December, 2006.
