Last week the Surry County Board of Commissioners removed two long-time members of the Northern Regional Board of Trustees — Chairman Bill Woltz and Vice Chair Monty Venable.
Chairman Van Tucker introduced a motion that passed unanimously to remove the pair, after a nearly two-hour long closed session. The board had moved from its regularly scheduled open session, held at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History.
Tucker said the morning of May 8, the removal of the two board members was not due to any one reason but rather was a course correction which the commissioners felt was needed. The removal of Woltz and Venable did not coincide with the end of their term and Tucker said the board was seeking their replacements now. “I would expect those additions in the short term,” he said adding that more changes may be on the horizon, alluding to potential financial difficulties for the hospital.
He went into some detail to explain the charter system under which Northern Regional Hospital was formed in the 1950s and still operates today.
“Northern is a public not-for-profit community hospital set up under a charter in the late 1950s; the voters wanted it and voted it in,” Tucker explained. “Making money was not the goal and under that model today they still cannot turn patients away which puts us under the eight-ball.”
He went on to say that Northern Regional Hospital has “traditionally never made much money but has done very well. During the pandemic we had the most beds available and the highest occupancy we ever had — but it did not translate to more money. We bled money hand over fist.”
There are only ten independent hospitals in North Carolina and Surry County has two of those in Northern Regional Hospital and Hugh Chatham Health in Elkin.
“The county commissioners are the governing authority and are synonymous with the Northern Regional governing body,” Tucker said. “Therefore, it is their job to maintain some level of oversight over the hospital’s board and they place one county commissioner on that board to act as a direct liaison. To have replaced two members of the board is a small change relative to action the county commissioners took many years ago when Tucker said they removed the entire board at Northern in one fell swoop.
He added, “We must be very vigilant to keep an eye on the ball and be as cautious as possible in a harsh climate” where small rural hospitals have failed, such as ones in Yadkin and Wilkes counties.
“We have a wonderful team at Northern Regional,” Tucker said, who have integrated themselves and the hospital into many other aspects of the county. “Our lives would have been much worse off without Northern Regional.”
The close relationship between Northern Regional, Surry Community College, and Surry-Yadkin Works is just one example of how the hospital creates a benefit for all residents of the area and not just Surry County. Many patients also cross into Surry County from bordering counties and Southern Virginia to seek care.
Tucker continued, “I want to go to Northern Regional Hospital every time unless it’s the few big things they don’t do. They have that homegrown talent, the kind of folks you want to take care of you. The hospital and its staff are shining stars of Surry County.”
He admitted that this hospital is struggling financially, as all small rural hospitals are because of the not-for-profit model they operate under. Extra patients during the pandemic and recent Medicaid expansion have not yielded more profit for the hospital. “We have some challenges,” he said. “Are we struggling like the other nine independents? We are.”
As the governing body, he said the board of county commissioners made the change to get some fresh ideas and new eyes onto the hospital and their long term financial future. “We would be foolish to not be concerned and to do everything we can to keep the hospital open and viable for five, ten, twenty more years.”
What the commissioners are not doing, Tucker said, were making changes just for the sake of doing so. “We’re not poking around because we have nothing better to do. We (the board of commissioners) have been paying attention and started asking for profit and loss statements before the pandemic to see what was going on. We’ve been watching and they’ve been doing really good — then the pandemic came.”
“We have the latitude to change, adjust, enhance, or infuse the board with new ideas, it is our responsibility to do so. Again, this is not because anyone did something stupid, and it’s not because of their performance.”
“We are just looking at a new direction,” Tucker said. “Not for any reason, impropriety, nothing is coming down the line. There is so much at stake though and as a governing board, we are doing what we can to keep Northern Regional viable.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0