HOSPITAL CONSTRUCTION MOVES FORWARD
APRIL 23, 2008

Construction at Stephens County Hospital continues to move forward. That is according to Hospital Administrator Ed Gambrell, who says everything remains on schedule for completion of patient room renovations. Gambrell says they have spent $1.4 million out of pocket on the project, but that was expected.

He says that is where profits brought in every year are expected to go. "While Stephens County Hospital does make a profit, we take that profit and since we do not have stockholders, so we do not have to pay dividends, what we do with our profit is we throw it back into the operations of the hospital in terms of capital projects of different sorts," says Gambrell.

Gambrell says last fiscal year, the hospital made about $1.7 million, all of which is put back into capital projects. The administrator goes on to say that because of all of the projects ongoing at the hospital, including the renovations, the hospital did have to dip into cash reserves to cover some costs, adding that was also expected.

When complete, the patient room renovations will result in brand new rooms, 79 percent of which will be private rooms. Even the semi-private rooms, Gambrell says, will have more privacy because of their design. The $5.4 million renovation project is expected to wrap up in late June or early July.