RGH board meets digitally for usual monthly business

PORTALES — The Roosevelt General Hospital board met digitally Tuesday evening to take care of its usual monthly business, with Chief Executive Officer Kaye Green giving a brief update on the hospital’s efforts to combat the COVID-19 outbreak.

Green said RGH has officially set up a nurse hotline using Centers for Disease Control protocols; patients can call in and see whether or not they should come in for treatment, stay home or to get any other information on the coronavirus.

The hotline went live Tuesday and can be reached at 575-356-9292. Nurses will be avaialble to talk from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Next week, Green said the hospital hopes to have a telehelp service where patients can stay home and still get medical care from a health provider through video chat on a computer, phone or tablet.

Green added that RGH is working with Eastern New Mexico University on possibly commandeering its west campus for beds for the hospital to use in case they’re needed.

Green also said the hospital has received community support for supplies it has been running low on and has received donations of items like toilet paper, face masks and even food items like eggs.

• RGH terminated its contract with Envision and signed a six-month contract with Fedko Physician Staffing effective May 1. Green said the change may cause some emergency credentialing meeting in the next few months.

• The board selected Meditech as its new electronic health record service.

• RGH’s new Emergency Department is at 95 percent design and was scheduled to select the final parts this week.

• RGH's new phone system has been installed and is fully operational.

• The board approved a new $106,249 server.