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Dallas County Hospital News

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More than 30 exhibitors were on hand Saturday, May 3, 2008 at the McCreary Community Building to provide information and demonstrations for kids, families and seniors.

The fair also feature a supervised kid’s fitness zone, health screenings including blood pressure checks, body mass indexes, pulmonary function tests and body fat analysis as well as a wide range of organizations dedicated to a healthy Dallas County. The Perry Fire Department had fire trucks on site and provided demonstrations to the public. 275 people attended the fair.

Conner Leads a Medical Mission to Guatemala

Dallas County Hospital CEO, Laurie Albert-Conner recently returned from a trip to Jalapatagua, Guatemala where she accepted the invitation to share her expertise and passion of serving others. Conner assembled a team of volunteers that included Dr. Dave Huante, family physician at Dallas County Hospital, his wife Celia who served as their interpreter, Todd Hudspeth, Buena Vista Regional Medical Center CEO and Tiffini Mericle, chief clinical officer of Wright Medical Center in Clarion.

Conner was invited to the country through Cross Ministries and Dr. Pablo Recinos, a native of Jalapatagua, who practiced general and vascular surgery in Mason City for 35 years. Upon Dr. Recino’s retirement, he returned to Guatemala with a dream to build a hospital in his home town. In partnership with the local priest, Father Jospeh Camilleri, the duo worked to raise both private and public funds. It has taken five years to see the hospital become a reality.

The service area of this much needed health care facility is very poor. The town experienced many black outs for periods of time due to previous hurricane and storms that passed through the country a week before our arrival. Conner is hopeful this hospital will make a difference to the poverty stricken area it will serve. “I received the call to lead this mission and feel that the first part of our calling was successful. It was a very rewarding and eye opening trip.” The team arrived home with a renewed appreciation for the health care system that the United States does have in place. “No system is perfect, but we are fortunate to be as progressive as we are in the delivery and access of quality health care.”

The team of physicians, board members, and donors asked Conner and her volunteers to conduct an operational and facility assessment, assist in establishing policies and procedures, determine staffing ratios and cross training opportunities, ensure budget and inventory controls were followed and to assess the equipment needs the hospital is still in need of in order to become fully operational. “There are significant challenges yet to overcome such as appropriate water treatment, inadequate electrical capability, outdated information technology network, construction problems, storage issues, staff competencies, clinical protocols, etc…”, Conner said, “ It was our role to offer recommendations that would make sense in the scope they are capable of addressing them”.

Conner and Todd Hudspeth, CEO at Buena Vista Regional Medical Center will continue routine interaction with the new administrator to mentor him step by step on how to operate a hospital, allowing for progress reports and advice.

Dallas County Hospital will continue to work with other hospitals in third world countries to donate resources, equipment and expertise. Jalapatagua will be a recipient of such donations in the future. Conner will serve as point person in coordinating donations to this hospital as she indicated not all donations are appropriate and necessary. In fact, it is very difficult to dispose of broken equipment, expired drugs and other goods that are sent to third world countries just because they are not useful to us in the United States.

If you are interested in volunteering or donating to this mission, please contact Laurie Albert-Conner, Dallas County Hospital CEO at 515-465-7600.

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