By Dewey Terrill
JC Post
Members of the Geary Community Hospital Trustees on Monday discussed their decision to close the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital by Feb. 1. Trustees Chair Theresa Bramlage noted that they had been advised to that action as far back as 2019 by Community Hospital Corporation when an assessment was done because GCH had been losing money with the ICU. "The path that we're on financially, we just can't afford to keep it open."
If there are patients that need intensive care there will be an attempt to transfer them to other hospitals. "We're also coming up with a game plan on how we keep them in house when we can't find another hospital that will take them which right now with COVID that's a situation that we've been dealing with, with our ICU open," said Bramlage.
Bramlage does not anticipate any more closure of operations or services at the hospital right now. All services are being assessed. "What we want to be is a hospital that serves this community, quality top excellence of service, but also make money. So that's what we're struggling with."
Trustee Vice Chair Cecil Aska commented that unfortunately that they needed to look at when considering the long term of keeping GH open. It's a step that needs to be taken now. Aska added that if things get better the ICU could be redefined, but at this point the closure is something that is necessary.