PERRYVILLE OB UNIT IS UPGRADED

PERRYVILLE -- While some rural hospitals have discontinued obstetric services, Perry County Memorial Hospital has improved its facilities.

The Perryville hospital opened its new obstetric department last month as part of an overall expansion and remodeling project.

Patrick Bira, hospital administrator, said the OB ward was "relocated and renovated."

It is set up to handle seven patients at one time, although the hospital's obstetric department is actually licensed for 12 beds.

The obstetrics unit previously had encompassed most of the hospital's second floor. As part of the remodeling, it has been moved into a renovated but slightly smaller area on the second floor, Bira said.

The new OB unit is about 6,000 square feet in size, about 30 percent smaller than the old department, he said. "The labor and delivery rooms themselves were simply moved down the hall."

Bira said the new rooms serve as labor, delivery and recovery rooms so that a patient doesn't have to be moved from one hospital room to another. "It's more convenient for her to be kept in one place," said Bira.

The new OB ward includes some new equipment designed to improve obstetric services. "We certainly can provide a very broad range of obstetric care," Bira said.

"Many of the small hospitals discontinued obstetric services because physicians were not able to afford the malpractice insurance or for competitive reasons the patients just were no longer coming to the small hospitals for that service," he said.

"The reason we are continuing to provide obstetric services is that we do have the physicians who are interested in doing obstetric care," explained Bira.

In the area of obstetrics, the hospital has two doctors on staff and a third will be coming on board in July.

Bira said the hospital delivers about 120 babies a year. With the addition of a third doctor, the number of deliveries should increase, he said.

Some people in the past may have gone to other hospitals for obstetric services because the Perryville hospital did not have a contemporary-styled facility, he said. But Bira said the renovated facility has addressed that issue.

"The facility is extremely contemporary, very well designed and should provide excellent service to the community," said Bira.

The remodeling and relocation of the OB department has allowed the hospital to move its business and insurance offices to the second floor, Bira said. The changes are part of a two-year, $3 million project involving renovation and expansion of the hospital. The project is expected to be completed by April.

The original building was constructed in 1951. In 1981, the hospital expanded the facility by 15,000 square feet.

As part of the latest project, said Bira, the facility was expanded by 13,000 square feet and another 22,000 square feet were renovated. In all, the hospital is now about 60,000 square feet in size.

He said the expansion included relocating the emergency room services and tripling its size. "The outpatient services area was about doubled," he said.

The hospital's physical therapy unit was relocated and tripled in size. The hospital also has a new pharmacy and a new lobby area.

"Since 1981, almost every inch of the facility has been upgraded," said Bira.

Perry County Memorial Hospital receives nominal tax support from the county. The hospital operates on an annual budget of about $10 million. The tax revenue amounts to about $90,000 a year.

"So it is not as though the tax support is keeping us afloat," said Bira. "It certainly helps but it is not a major source of income for us."

The 87-bed hospital has 210 employees and a medical staff of 42 physicians.

Bira said the expansion and renovation means better medical services for the Perryville area. "I think the board, the employees, the volunteers here, all are very proud of what we now have to offer."