Wallowa Memorial Hospital (WMH) is located in the rural northeastern Oregon community of Enterprise. This 25 bed critical access hospital and adjoining 32 bed intermediate care facility make up Wallowa County Health District.
As the county’s premier health care provider and largest employer, WMH’s mission is to continually progress while offering the best possible care to their community.
Recent dedication to this mission is clear. A new, $23 million, state-of-the-art hospital building opened its doors in March of 2007. Plans are also underway to build a new care center building and to upgrade medical offices. In 2009, WMH enhances both its cardiac care and cancer screening services with the recent addition of new cardiac monitoring equipment and a digital mammography machine to be installed this fall. In addition to facility and equipment upgrades, the staff and programs at WMH continue to display considerable progress with the exploration of expanded wound care and pain management programs as well as a growing surgery program now led by the hospitals first employed physician, General Surgeon Dr. Ken Rose.
The decision to participate in the Oregon Health Network was a natural step that aligns seamlessly with Wallowa’s mission of progress and technological advancement. Having originally taken advantage of OHN to increase their teleradiology capability, the hospital is now eagerly anticipating a variety of benefits to participation. These include experience enhancement for both patients and employees as WMH looks forward to augmenting continuing education programs and accelerating turnaround time for image screening. OHN has already connected WMH to a 10 Mbps line that sends medical images 4-5 times faster than their old T1 line. Connection to the Network Operations Center (NOC) is scheduled for November.
Not only will participation in OHN promote technical prowess at Wallowa Memorial Hospital, but it will also help to tackle organizational challenges including maintaining financially viable operations and recruitment of health care providers. OHN has already helped to decrease operational expenses. The newly installed 10MG line is not only faster, but significantly cheaper; $1500 a month cheaper to be exact. In terms of recruitment, the increased level of technology and connectivity provided by OHN will help potential staff to feel more attached to cutting edge medical advancements across the state.
As one of the first rural health care organizations to join the Oregon Health Network, we are proud to know that Wallowa Memorial Hospital CEO David Harmon and CIO John Straughan have high expectations for the future based on their experiences thus far. Stay tuned as the Progress Report checks in with updates on WMH and other participants as our network, services and partnerships grow.