HJAR Jul/Aug 2019

dialogue 14 JUL / AUG 2019 I  Healthcare Journal of ARKANSAS   million in renovation, and new services, and new equipment here on campus, and we’re looking to have something similar this year in the way of capital investment. We’re blessed to have that kind of funding and support, but we’re also looking to the future two and three and five years down the road—turning around that out migra- tion just with adding services and adding sub-specialists as well. Editor How do you manage quality through growth? How do you find that balance? Street  Daily. We have something that’s built into our corporate culture in all the hospi- tals across our company, but for sure here at Medical Center of South Arkansas. We have a daily focus on quality, to the point that we meet daily as a leadership team and talk about the quality that is provided to every patient and out-patient that comes to our campus and our hospital for services. There is a tremendous amount of focus on high quality healthcare that’s provided to each one of them. Editor Are there unique needs as a rural community and hospital compared to larger cities? Street  I spent ten years at Baptist in Little Rock, so I can tell you, there are a lot of similarities. Healthcare is a tough environ- ment across the country, and one of our top priorities among is psychiatric care—some- thing that is common in every city across the country. Part of our growth and listen- ing to our community and what is needed in SouthArkansas is more psychiatric beds and more attention to behavioral health, so we are providing that as well over the next year to two years. We’re going to roll out a new focus on behavioral health as one of the top priorities from a care standpoint that we’re going to step up and address, not only just for Union County, but for South Arkansas. There are always financial concerns. When you have large numbers of Medi- care patients, margins are uncertain due to the reimbursement from the federal government. “I’m proud of the local support here in South Arkansas that we are receiving from our community in the way of our growth, and the new initiatives that we’re rolling out.” Ribbon cutting at the reception for the opening of the new patient wing for surgical patients, 2North. Shown l-r: Judge Tom Loftin; Mayor Veronica Creer; Scott Street; City Council Member Billy Blann; City Council Member Dianne Hammond; Christina Street; and Jaren Book, El Dorado Chamber of Commerce. Recruitment is different in rural set- ting for general staff than it is in larger cit- ies because it is harder to find high qual- ity staff in certain areas, highly specialized areas. You offer the same services, and you have the same equipment, but staff is often hard to come by. Editor What are you most proud of? Street  I’mproud of the local support here in South Arkansas that we are receiving from our community in the way of our growth, and the new initiatives that we’re rolling out. We’re partnering with certain large provid- ers because we can’t be everything to every- body, but we can bring a lot of best prac- tices from key providers in Little Rock and other parts of the country to South Arkan- sas through those partnerships and alli- ances, and we’re going to do more of those. We have one withArkansas Heart Hospital, we have one with Arkansas Children’s, and UAMS, and others. We’re going to continue bringing best practice to SouthArkansas as we grow. n