January 15, 2015 I The Lovell Chronicle 13
DAVID PECK
Delicate hoarfrost coated plants in northern Wyoming Tuesday and Wednesday
mornings, formed by an icy fog that blanketed the region.
TITLE 25 NOT PROFITABLE continued from page i
provide compassionate care
to those needing it in a time
of crisis through a suicide
prevention program coordi-
nated by local law enforce-
ment agencies.
"We have Title 25 pa-
tients that come to our fa-
cility," explained Schroed-
er. "In cooperation with the
Town of Lovell Police Dept.
and the Big Horn County
Sheriffs Office, those who
are deemed not at risk to
hurt themselves or others
are given the opportunity of
being admitted to the hos-
pital rather than having to
be held in jail. NBHH loses
money every time we have
a Title 25 patient, but we
do it because it is the right
thing to do for patients in
crisis. They are admitted to
our facilities because access
to mental health (services)
is limited due to bed capaci-
ty both in Lovell and across
the state."
Concern was expressed
at the meeting that the cur-
rent law needs to be clari-
fled and properly funded.
Wyoming currently has the
highestsuicide rate in the
nation,
TOBACCO TAX
Boley encouraged legis-
lators to give more tax dol-
lars to medical providers to
deal with the many medi-
cally related issues that are
caused by smoking.
"The WHA believes
that health care services
should receive the lion's
share of any tobacco tax,"
said Schroeder.
Currently, a large por-
tion of the money goes
to tobacco use cessation
programs.
CONVALESCENT CARE BILL
A convalescent care bill
that would allow ambulato-
ry surgical centers (ASCs)
to build convalescent care
centers is also on the table.
The bill would allow ASCs
to keep patients for up to 72
hours. The WHA is against
the proposal, citing concern
for patient safety.
"The real concern for
us is patient safety," said
Schroeder. "The typical
ASC does not have 24-hour
provider coverage, nor does
it have an emergency room
or nursing staff trained in
emergency situations. If
there is an unexpected sit-
uation that develops in a
postsurgical patient's con-
dition that requires emer-
gency care, they have to dial
911 so the local hospital can
care for their patients. To
me that does not appear to
be as safe as it would be if
the same situation were to
occur in a hospital."
LOAN REPAYMENT
PROGRAMS
A law that repays nurs-
ing .students for their edu-
cational expenses is expect-
ed to sunset if not renewed.
The WHA Supports the re-
newal of the law, which
increases the number of
trained nurSes available
in the state. Schroder said
NBHH has hired very few
nurses out of the program.
"We presently have no
nurses on the loan repay-
ment program nor have we
since I've been here," said
Schroeder. "We have had
several nurses apply for as-
sistance, but all have been
denied. Nursing recruit-
ment and turnover is an ex-
pensive proposition. We are
very fortunate at NBHH in
that we have very low nurs-
ing turnover."
Other issues related to
Center for Medicare Ser-
vices (CMS) and other fed-
eral requirements were dis-
cussed a great length, in
particular the increasingly
lower reimbursement rate
to providers and the myri-
ad of compliance issues con-
nected with CMS in par-
ticular. Long-term care
issues were also discussed,
along with a discussion re-
garding whether or not the
state is ready for medical
marijuana.
Guest speaker Char-
lotte Carlton spoke about
the issues surrounding any
type of marijuana use, rec-
ommending a moratorium
of at least three years on
any changes to the current
law, which prohibits mari-
juana use of any kind in the
state.
"It was a very good
meeting, well attended and
I believe that the messages
were received," said Schro-
eder. "I thought it was a
benefit that the combina-
tion of legislators, board
members, hospital leader-
ship and WHA represen-
tation were able to hear
a consistent message at
the same time about key
healthcare legislation. The
dialogue shared was benefi-
cial for all parties in under-
standing the current state
of the issues, as well as how
the future may look for crit-
ical access hospitals. I was
particularly pleased that
our local legislators seem to
be on board with expanding
Medicaid."
CITIZENS SPEAK OUT continued from page I
speaking just for myself, is
that it's the town of Lovell.
The town of Lovell has to go
forward regardless. I would
hope that would not be an
issue, that would not be the
case. I can't answer to it
because I've never been in
that situation before, but by
a matter of fact, all appoint-
ments must be approved by
the town council."
"A lot of us here hope
that's the way it goes, too,
and that there's not stone-
walling and things like that
to try to undermine May-
or Montanez," Brinkerhoff
said.
Heather Sawaya said
she has friends and loved
ones on both sides of the is-
sue, noting, "We are a small
community and a tight
community. This has been
a very divisive issue. This
is about more than history
and egos. This is about heal-
ing our community. This is
about being respectful of
police in our community.
"I like you, I like you
both. I would like you to
move forward on some of
the positive changes on
your agenda and things
we talked about when you
were campaigning. I'm dis-
appointed in your decision
to fire Nick the way it hap-
pened and the timing that
it happened, and I'm dis-
appointed that you did not
give him a chance and even
attempt to work with him
in his position. I would like
to ask you to reconsider."
Dale Smith spoke in
support of change, noting,
"I was once told, change
is ridiculed by people who
fear. Change is something
that needs to happen. Those
of us, whether it be on the
other side of the law or the
law itself, need to have jus-
tice, fairness, for every-
body in the community, not
to be pinpointed, not to be
ridiculed, but fairness as a
whole, whether your skin
color is black, white, yellow,
purple, it doesn't matter."
Jack Brinkerhoff also
supported Mayor Mon-
tanez, saying, "I hope the
council will take very seri-
ously Angel's decisions and
recognize that there are
those who voted for that
change, and we hope that
you will take that into con-
sideration and realize he
was duly elected."
Speaking strongly in
favor of Lewis was Robert
Grater, who stated, "One
of the people mentioned
change. Also, progress is
something. The police de-
partment has progressed to
a point where it's extreme-
ly efficient. A lot of people
don't like that. That's OK,
but the council has the abil-
ity to change the way the
appointments are made,
and I suggest you do that
because you're losing a
very big asset, and it makes
Lovell look like crap."
Jennifer Padilla said
she wholeheartedly sup-
ports Mayor Montanez,
saying she believes Lovell
has a corrupt department.
She said she looks forward
to Montanez's positive
change, adding, "I think our
police department needs
a change and I've proba-
bly put a big bulls-eye on
myself and on my vehi-
cle and anything associat-
ed with me, because that's
the corruptness I hear
about. Working in Cody I
• hear snide comments about
our town, which is really
disheartening.
"I wholeheartedly sup-
port you and your decision
to change our police chief. I
hope our council can stand
behind the mayor. He was
voted in for change and
some are too afraid to ac-
cept this change and now
we have it and we have to
deal with it. I hope we're not
too afraid to accept that."
Ken Ferbrache also ex-
pressed support for the
mayor, noting he supported
Montanez's campaign and
spoke highly of him, though
he disagrees with the pro-
cess regarding the chief.
"I told people you
weren't going to do what
you did," he told Montanez.
"I'd just like it to be han-
dled, whatever happens. I
don't think Nick wants to
work for someone in an en-
vironment where it's hos-
tile, either. I just want this
to be handled in as profes-
sional a manner as possi-
ble and move forward in
a professional, upstand-
ing manner. It does make
Lovell, the way it was han-
dled and turned around,
look a little bit foolish, and
if we'd slowed down a lit-
tle bit and looked around it
may have been a little bit
different."
Rosalie Patina said she
supports the mayor's deci-
sion and said she doesn't
think the decision to fire
Lewis makes Lovell look
bad; rather, the way peo-
ple reacted makes Lovell
look bad:
"I don't think all of
that is on Angel's shoul-
ders," she said. "I think we
need to support our may-
or and what he chooses to
do."
Bernie DuMonthier
warned about an excessive
desire for change, noting,
"Change is a very intox-
icating word. Change for
the sake of change is not
necessarily a wise thing."
He said people must
think of the context of the
change or it could be "quite
disastrous."
"Simply to change be-
cause 'we want a change!'
is not necessarly always
a wise thing," DuMonthi-
er said. "Everybody who's
elected, they are to rep-
resent the majority of the
people. I'd like to remind
everybody of that. They
reflect the majority of'the
people that elected them."
EARLY AGENDA
Tuesday's meeting be-
gan with the council voting
to remove from the table
the swearing in of newly
re-elected councilmen Wol-
sey and Jones after that
act was tabled at the Jan.
2 swearing in of Mayor
Montanez. Clerk-Treasurer
Valerie Beal administered
the oath on Tuesday.
Beal then read the dis-
closure of interest forms
that the mayor, coun-
cil and top officials must
fill out annually, disclos-
ing the local financial in-
stitutions they do business
with.
The council named as
official depositories the
Bank of Lovell, First Bank
of Wyoming, Big Horn Fed-
eral and Wyoming State
Treasurer's Asset Reserve.
The council also approved
the Lovell Chronicle as the
official newspaper of the
Town of Lovell.
ADMIN ISTRATOR
Montanez said he
wants to return to the
town administrator system
the town had several years
ago and presented a reso-
lution funding the wages
and benefits for the posi-
tion through the end of the
fiscal year on June 30.
Councilman Allred said
he supports the position
but doesn't want to dip
into reserves to pay for it.
"Although I support
you 100 percent in the de-
cision to have a town ad-
ministrator, I really have
a hard time pulling mon-
ey out of savings," Allred
said. "What I'd like to do is
go ahead and proceed with
the town administrator po-
sition and try to absorb it
into the town budget...At
the end of the budget year
we can look for a way to
move money around with-
in the budget so we don't
have to spend any more,
and at that time if we don't
have it we can go out to do
a resolution to go into the
reserves."
To move the process
forward, Allred moved to
pass the funding resolution
for $43,400 out of general
fund reserves, and the res-
olution died for lack of a
second.
MAINTENANCE AN ISSUE AT ANNEX continued from page i
appropriate."
Per the current agreement, the town
handles regular utilization of the facility,
bathroom supplies, light bulbs, etc., up to
$12,000.
The commissioners discussed other
options including selling the annex to
the town or another entity.
"There's just a whole lot of issues
that need to be considered," Hyde said.
"I firmly support keeping a presence,
but I think we can be fairly creative,"
Commissioner Jerry Ewen said. He said
that could be asking the town to pay rea-
sonable rental rate to alleviate the drain
on the county finances.
Commissioner Felix Carrizales in-
quired about grant funding to help re-
pair the facility or build a new county
facility.
Hyde said currently the county is
short on buildings, noting both the north
and south search and rescue units need
more facilities.
"Getting rid of Lovell annex right
now is not the proper thing to do, but
I'm all in favor of charging Lovell a rea-
sonable rate," Hyde said, adding that he
would go to the town and let them know
the county would be looking to change
the terms of the current agreement.
Werner noted that in addition to the
$21,000 annually, the county has spent
about $250,000 over the pfist five years
on improvements in the facility including
a new boiler system.
They have sincerely requested no party or
encourage well wishers to send them a card.
Drs. Hoffmann
Join us in congratulating them on
deserved retirement!
THE HOFFMANN CHILDREN
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2015
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Lovell High School Gym Foyer
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Questions?
Contact Angie Spann
307-272-5912
Trista Marchant 307-272-9130
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