Image provided by: North Santiam Historic Society; Gates, OR
About The Mill City enterprise. (Mill City, Or.) 1949-1998 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 1971)
3—TTie Mill City Enterprise, 'Rumday, Sept 2, 1971 staffing, hospitals couldn’t be compared to the personnel, or Report to the People from Santiam Memorial Hospital By Gale Christensen How would you like to go to ward the patient who is still a hospital for treatment only to in pain after the prescribed medication. Surgery by com find a world of machines? You could explain your puter also presents some uni symptoms to a computer and que problems. It seems that as long as the receive a diagnosis in seconds. Your room assignment would patient’s illness fits into the be automatic and you’d be con computer’s program, the treat veyed there by a remote-con ment is adequate. But failure trolled cart. The room would of one treatment or unusual be spotless when you arrive,! complications can’t be pro having just been cleaned ul-' grammed. Computers also can’t trasonically. If you needed be programmed to care about something, you would press' patients, even the most ser- your buzzer, allowing your I iously ill. In some ways it’s computer-nurse to appear on unfortunate that computers the closed circuit television can’t replace the hospital’s doc screen in your room. If it tors and nurses, dietitians and couldn’t handle the problem, therapists, personnel directors it would call in the computer and administrators, pharma doctor. All laboratory tests cists and lab technicians. If would be evaluated by anoth-1 they could your hospital bills er skilled machine, and still would be more than cut in others would plan and serve half because you wouldn’t be paying people’s salaries. But your meals. The system probably can’t if you were the patient, how be beat for efficiency, but would you like recovery to some disadvantages remain. depend on a computer? Hospitals are introducing au Computers can’t seem to cope with a patient whose heart tomation in areas where it can suddenly stops. And a rather be used effectively to save the callous attitude is taken to- patient’s money. Many lab pro cedures and business office procedures are now done by computer. But most hospital care depends on judgments and personal services. These simp ly can’t be automated — at least not in the foreseeable Now Accepting limited future. Why does it cost so much to enrollment of students rely on human employees ra ther than mechanical ones? flor piano, organ and ac Unlike machines, a person can’t work 24 hours a day— cordion lessons. in fact, hospitals sometimes have to hire five people for Wfll teach in your home. one job in order to cover three eight-hour shifts, seven days a week. People also have to be For Information given coffee breaks, vacations, sick leave, and other benefits Ph. 897-2963 which the less demanding ma chines never insist upon. Without round - the - clock MARY DAY FRONTIER INN NOW FEATURING STEAKS SEA FOOD Prepared By Chef CHUCK GOODING live Music Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK—until 2:30 a. m. On Highway 22 — Gates, Oregon prepared as well as they are. Expensive equipment and fac ilities, and the people to oper ate them, are ready any and all the time. This costs money, but anyone who has an acci dent at 3:00 a.m. appreciates the fact that hospitals don’t offer their services only dur ing “prime time.” Two-thirds of a hospital's total costs are in payroll, while business and industry devote only one-third of their budget to salaries. In addition, payroll is frequently higher in the hospital field be cause so many skilled employ ees are needed. (In the hospital field, one in three employees is highly skilled and trained, while in the auto industry the average is one in six.) Salar ies of all hospital personnel must be competitive with those of business and industry in or der to keep all hospital ser vices operating. Other factors contributing to rising health care costs are ex pense of supplies, the cost of doing business with Medicare and Welfare, and keeping up with new and needed equip ment for patient care. But these elements are secondary people factor. Salary expense can’t be par ed down or eliminated because “personal" services to patients must be administered and on ly “Personnel” can provide them. Because of this, the ad vances in medical technology have improved patient care but haven’t replaced people. In fact, more personnel are re quired; almost twice as many today as two decades ago. “As health care becomes more complex, more trained people are needed to staff hos pitals,” “And as this happens, ' care becomes more expensive. “You know, a dog's life Health care costs more per day Isn't just too bad if you're in 1971 than it did in 1961, but I a dog, what?” the length of a hospital stay is usually shorter. If a person would result in an immediate must enter the hospital, he cut in costs, but this would be would prefer a five day hos unacceptable for both the com pital stay at $50 a day to ten munity and the hospital. What days at $25 a day. i is needed is a total effort to de- Everyone agrees hospital ! velop new ways of delivering costs are high, everyone would and financing health care, and like to have the same quality an increased understanding by care at bargain prices. But if the community of the factors the hospitals were to give a 20 contributing to increases in percent discount, where would health care costs. they find the money to meet payroll and other expenses? Why don't you subscribe to Cutting back on services The Mill City Enterprise. Eat Drink and Be Merry Fiesta Sundaes HALF PRICE Thursday, Friday and Saturday ORDERS TO GO tirimi Phone 769-5311 Stayion, Oregon NEW HOURS: Mon. thru Thurs. 10 a.m. to 11 p.in. Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to Midnight Live a Little
