July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.

Teen programs planned at JCH (1/29/04)

Hospital reaching out to teens

By By Jennifer [email protected]

Plans for a new program targeting local teenagers were presented to the Jay County Hospital Board Wednesday.

Terry Brown, JCH community and patient educator, introduced plans for TeenAware, at Wednesday’s meeting.

The program will combine efforts of Jay County schools, doctors and other youth organizations — including the Jay Community Center and Youth Service Bureau — to reach local teenagers, Brown said.

The program, set to launch at the March 6 health fair, will provide local teenagers a chance to discuss health and other issues confidentially by e-mail with JCH health professionals.

A web site featuring local message boards and chat rooms, health information geared towards teenagers and a link to contact local doctors, is also planned.

The program will cover issues that “teens deal with on a daily basis,” such as smoking, teen health problems, anger, depression anxiety, sex and STDs, drugs and alcohol, body image and peer pressure, Brown said.

“We started looking at the age groups being addressed at the health fairs (in Jay County) and noticed that there was not an outreach for teenagers,” Brown said.

“According to a study completed about a year ago, 27 percent of Jay County’s population is under the age of 18,” Brown added.

Brown also said that a weekly call-in radio program on WPGW is planned. Teens will be able to call and asked questions to local doctors, other teenagers and adults. Brown said that a one hour program will cost $50.

Chief executive officer Joe Johnston said that the hospital is planning to sponsor the initial costs of approximately $3,400 to get the program started. Brown told the board that the funding would be used to create the web site and pay fees to trademark the TeenAware logo.

Board members also suggested that Brown look for opportunities to secure grant money to fund the program once it is started.

No action was taken by the board to Wednesday . Hospital officials plan to look at which hospital department’s fund the $3,400 will come from and check if the hospital’s insurance will cover the program, Johnston said.

Also Wednesday, Johnston announced that JCH has been designated as a Critical Access Hospital.

The designation, effective Jan. 1, could mean an additional $1.8 million per year in Medicare reimbursement.

“We should be getting our first (Medicare reimbursement) checks on Feb. 9,” Johnston said.

In other business, board members:

•Heard Johnston announce that the hospital will receive $226,000 from the Health Care For Indigent fund.

Chief financial officer Don Michael said after Wednesday’s meeting that the funds come from the county’s property taxes which are paid to the state and distributed through Medicare.

“We didn’t budget for this so (the money) goes straight to the bottom line,” Johnston said.

•Heard Johnston report that 40 patients have been treated in the hospital’s sleep lab during the three months since it opened. He added that the program continues to draw patients.

•Heard Michael report that hospital admissions in December totaled 89. This figure is up 5 percent from the budgeted number of 85.

The hospital had a net loss of $25,182 in December and lost a total of $81,802 in the last three months of 2003, he added.

•Approved the payment of $10,761 in dues to the Indiana Hospital and Healthcare Association.

•Approved a $5,000 two-year agreement with the Cardinal Health Initiatives Participation Agreement for group purchasing.

Johnston said that this agreement should save the hospital more than $10,000 annually.

•Heard that 71 hospital auxiliary volunteers worked 1,201 hours in December.[[In-content Ad]]
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