(McLeansboro, IL) – Hamilton Memorial Hospital District (HMHD) has been awarded a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Emergency Rural Health Care Grant totaling $895,000. This grant will assist in funding the implementation of the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system installed in September
of 2022.
“Being able to present this award in person is the best part of our day, of our week, of our month, and of our year. This is where we get to see all of the amazing things that you are doing with the grant funding. Rural Development’s mission is to improve the quality of life and economic opportunities for
people in small towns,” said Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, USDA Illinois State Director.
During the announcement, the hospital also marks the construction completion of two additional, state-of-the-art, inpatient isolation environments. These newly renovated isolation patient rooms were a $345,000 project funded by Hamilton Memorial Hospital Foundation through community financial
support and CARES Act Provider Relief Funds. Both the USDA Emergency Rural Health Care Grant and new patient isolation rooms will assist the
hospital in responding to the health needs of patients for years to come in the post-pandemic landscape.
“We are overwhelmingly grateful to have been selected as a recipient of the USDA Emergency Rural Health Care Grant and for our additional patient isolation rooms. With these funds, our Epic EMR allows for a one-stop clinical documentation platform – from the physician’s office for preventative or
chronic care to the patient’s bedside locally, regionally, and even nationally. This integration and new construction of additional patient isolation rooms drastically improves the healthcare we are able provide to our community,” said Victoria Woodrow, CEO of Hamilton Memorial Hospital District.
The Epic EMR has been made available to HMHD through an affiliation agreement with SSM Health.
This group-purchase hosted solution of Epic EMR does not simply improve coordination of care between HMHD and SSM Health facilities, it also allows HMHD to seamlessly connect rural patient medical information with Epic EMR facilities everywhere. “We collaborate closely with larger health systems because we rely on them for higher levels of care patient transfers and specialty care that is sometimes unavailable locally – Epic allows for valuable
clinical information to seamlessly follow the patient,” said Rodney Miller, M.D., Medical Staff President of Hamilton Memorial Hospital.
More isolation environments in rural health care facilities are important given access to care difficulties the COVID-19 pandemic presented. With the conclusion of this major construction project, HMHD will offer four patient isolation rooms which allows the hospital to keep more patients close-to-home while ensuring the care environment is safe for patients and staff.
“Ultimately our hospital is merely the vehicle in which extraordinary health professionals care for their communities – thanks to the USDA, Hamilton Memorial Foundation, and our SSM Health colleagues we now have these state-of-the-art tools to assist our amazing staff in caring for and improving lives,”
stated Wayne Morris, Board of Directors President of Hamilton Memorial Hospital.
(Photo 1 HMHD USDA 6.7.2023) – left to right; Dave Severin, Illinois Representative; Terri Bryant, Illinois
Representative; Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, USDA Illinois State Director; Victoria Woodrow, Hamilton Memorial
CEO; Wayne Morris, Hamilton Memorial Board President; Kim Swisher, USDA Area Director;
Rodney Miller, MD, Hamilton Memorial Medical Staff President; Mike McKee, USDA Area Specialist.
(Photo 2 HMHD USDA 6.7.2023) – left to right; Elaine Miller, Hamilton Memorial Marketing Manager; Betsy
Dirksen Londrigan, USDA Illinois State Director; Victoria Woodrow, Hamilton Memorial CEO; Wayne Morris,
Hamilton Memorial Board President; Holly Schuster, Hamilton County Chamber of Commerce President;
Jamie Vineyard, Hamilton County Chamber of Commerce Treasurer.
