MCLEANSBORO, Ill. -- A southern Illinois hospital was awarded nearly $900,000 to help fund a records system, at the same time completing two isolation patient rooms.
The Hamilton Memorial Hospital District (HMHD) was awarded an Emergency Rural Health Care grant from the U. S. Department of Agriculture for a total of $895,000.
The grant money will go towards helping fund the Epic Electronic Medical Record system which was installed in September of 2022.
鈥淏eing able to present this award in person is the best part of our day, of our week, of our month, and of our year. This is where we get to see all of the amazing things that you are doing with the grant funding. Rural Development鈥檚 mission is to improve the quality of life and economic opportunities for people in small towns,鈥� said Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, USDA Illinois State Director.
The hospital also completed the construction of two additional state-of-the-art inpatient isolation environments. These are newly renovated isolation patient rooms, a $345,000 project which was financially supported by the Memorial Hospital Foundation through community financial support and CARES Act Provider Relief Funds.
HMHD said both the grant and the new patient isolation rooms will help in assisting patient healthcare needs.
鈥淲e are overwhelmingly grateful to have been selected as a recipient of the USDA Emergency Rural Health Care Grant and for our additional patient isolation rooms. With these funds, our Epic EMR allows for a one-stop clinical documentation platform 鈥� from the physician鈥檚 office for preventative or chronic care to the patient鈥檚 bedside locally, regionally, and even nationally. This integration and new construction of additional patient isolation rooms drastically improves the healthcare we are able provide to our community,鈥� said Victoria Woodrow, CEO of Hamilton Memorial Hospital District.
The聽Epic electronic medical record system was available through an agreement with SSM Health. This improves coordination of care between HMHD and SSM Health facilities and also allows HMHD to seamlessly connect medical information of patients with Epic EMR facilities everywhere.
鈥淲e collaborate closely with larger health systems because we rely on them for higher levels of care patient transfers and specialty care that is sometimes unavailable locally 鈥� Epic allows for valuable clinical information to seamlessly follow the patient,鈥� said Rodney Miller, M.D., Medical Staff President of Hamilton Memorial Hospital.
HMHD will be able offer four patient isolation rooms, which allows the hospital to keep more patients close-to-home, while ensuring the care environment is safe for patients and staff with the conclusion of this major construction project.
鈥淯ltimately our hospital is merely the vehicle in which extraordinary health professionals care for their communities 鈥� thanks to the USDA, Hamilton Memorial Foundation, and our SSM Health colleagues we now have these state-of-the-art tools to assist our amazing staff in caring for and improving lives,鈥� stated Wayne Morris, Board of Directors President of Hamilton Memorial Hospital.
