Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Mick Welding shares updates from Morrison Community Hospital

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Talk Line: Mick Welding shares updates from Morrison Community Hospital · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: All right, Sock Valley, You're back with the Waking crew
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  Speaker 1: here on FM ninety five to one and AM fourteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty w I x N. It's now eight fifteen on
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  Speaker 1: your Tuesday morning, and that means it's time for talk
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  Speaker 1: line and I'm joined well via phone anyway in the
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  Speaker 1: studio by our good friends from Morrison Community Hospital. It's
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  Speaker 1: Mick Welding. Mick, how are you, sir?
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  Speaker 2: Hey, good morning, Brandon. I'm trying to adjust to the
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  Speaker 2: fact that it is Tuesday and not Monday, you know,
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  Speaker 2: after after a little weekend, and so I think we'll
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  Speaker 2: get in the roll again the flow of things here.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I know, I'm doing pretty good. Usually this does
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  Speaker 1: trip me up absolutely, and I would have called it
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  Speaker 1: the wrong day, But so far, so good. We'll see
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  Speaker 1: if this didn't. I'm gonna knock on some wood here, Mick. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: we kind of wanted to start this morning doing a
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  Speaker 1: little recap on an event that did you folks had.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's always a really fun time, Brandon, to
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  Speaker 2: get together with guests people that have always supported our
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  Speaker 2: hospital through the years. And this event is actually our
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  Speaker 2: beer and wine tasting event happened to be the thirteenth
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  Speaker 2: event that I've been involved with since we've gotten in
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  Speaker 2: with our foundation, and it was on May the seventh
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  Speaker 2: at Eagle Point Lodge sold out once again and again
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  Speaker 2: we just kind of like to have a casual night,
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  Speaker 2: you know, where people can gather together and chat, take
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  Speaker 2: some pictures, you know, some group photos. But the first
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  Speaker 2: thing I want to do, Brandon, is just take a
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  Speaker 2: minute to recognize some of the area sponsors that really
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  Speaker 2: make us make this a very popular and successful event.
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  Speaker 2: Storming Commercial Roofing has been with us since the beginning.
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  Speaker 2: They're a good supporter. Vector Steel Fabrication, Mike Vector and
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  Speaker 2: his team out here outside of Morrison. We've always been
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  Speaker 2: very supportive. Barb cop Hammer with Reemax Sock Valley has
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  Speaker 2: h she's on our board and she's an active member
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  Speaker 2: and always supports us and always brings a full table
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  Speaker 2: of guests with her. And then PJ. Hare Is our
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  Speaker 2: is our contractor for our expansion that we're going to
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  Speaker 2: talk about here in a minute, but they've always supported
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  Speaker 2: and then Beswick COM's Community, State Bank, Homestead, Assisted Living
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  Speaker 2: in Memory Care. Most plumbing from the starting Rock Falls Area.
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  Speaker 2: Pest Control Consultants has always been a big supporter of US.
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  Speaker 2: Sterling Federal Bank. My gosh, they've been with us since
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  Speaker 2: day one. Uh, they've always supported us very well as
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  Speaker 2: TBK Bank and Trained, So those are our primary sponsors
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  Speaker 2: and we're just so thankful for those. This year, Brandon,
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  Speaker 2: we actually we do a dessert auction where we get
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  Speaker 2: area businesses and individuals that are much better bakers than
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  Speaker 2: I am, and they donate desserts and we auction those
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  Speaker 2: off in a silent auction format where people just put
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  Speaker 2: money in an envelope and we added up and those
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  Speaker 2: that are have the most money in the envelope get
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  Speaker 2: the first choice of the thirty four desserts we had
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  Speaker 2: this year, and the first five tables actually bid over
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  Speaker 2: one thousand dollars each, so it came down to how
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  Speaker 2: much over a thousand were you, you know, to get
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  Speaker 2: your first choice of your dessert, and so it ended
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  Speaker 2: up we were just about one hundred dollars short of
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  Speaker 2: eleven thousand dollars. That is the most we have ever
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  Speaker 2: raised in the dessert auction. So we are so excited
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  Speaker 2: about the way that people have come out and supported us,
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  Speaker 2: and overall we ended up between forty and forty five
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  Speaker 2: thousand dollars in profit, you know, so all of that
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  Speaker 2: goes right back into the hospital foundation where we support
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  Speaker 2: the hospital and their activities.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it just really speaks a lot to
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  Speaker 1: the area and how appreciative they are to have the
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  Speaker 1: kind of healthcare services that Morrison Community Hospital really provides
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  Speaker 1: in the area. And you're right, these things are you know,
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  Speaker 1: the different events that you have and whatnot are always
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  Speaker 1: going back into the hospital, And I mean, I think
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  Speaker 1: that couldn't be any more evident than you know. The
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  Speaker 1: next point, which you would already kind of shadowed to,
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  Speaker 1: is the expansion that's been going on over there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, we completed one back in twenty twenty one,
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  Speaker 2: and we battled through COVID to get that expansion done.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, you honestly think that that's it. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we've met the needs that we were seeing that needed
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  Speaker 2: to happen in the community. Added a couple of operating rooms,
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  Speaker 2: some medical surgical rooms, but we begin to attract a
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  Speaker 2: lot of new doctors. And I know when I started
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  Speaker 2: thirteen years ago, we didn't have any doctors and so
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  Speaker 2: the fact that we now have seventeen is really a
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  Speaker 2: testament to the growth that we've seen here. And each
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  Speaker 2: of those have you know, in theirs, practitioner or a
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  Speaker 2: physician assistant with them, and so those numbers have grown dramatically.
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  Speaker 2: So when you get a new provider, it usually means
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  Speaker 2: that they bring about three or four, sometimes up to
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  Speaker 2: six staff members with them when you count their surgical
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  Speaker 2: team and their day to day care team and even
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  Speaker 2: those that schedule appointments those types of things. All of
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  Speaker 2: that has to grow when that happens, and we begin
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  Speaker 2: to realize about a year and a half ago that
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  Speaker 2: we were putting four nurses in rooms where there probably
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  Speaker 2: was better suited for two, and so we expanded, Uh,
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  Speaker 2: we put in this new expansion that we're going to
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  Speaker 2: be it's pretty much completed. They're doing some deep cleaning
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  Speaker 2: over there, some decorating, you know, some of the final
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  Speaker 2: touches you put on a on a new edition, just
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  Speaker 2: like you would do your home. And they're they're completing that.
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  Speaker 2: And I would imagine by we should take occupancy in June,
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  Speaker 2: and most likely in July, you'll probably see a some
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  Speaker 2: type of fundraiser or I mean I shouldn't say a
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  Speaker 2: fundraiser or an open house ribbon cutting, So we'll be
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  Speaker 2: advertising that probably in the next months more fervently with
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  Speaker 2: an exact date and time.
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  Speaker 1: That's wonderful. It's always something going on over the hospital.
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  Speaker 1: And yes, you know, like you had mentioned, this is
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  Speaker 1: not the first expansion that the hospital just continues to
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  Speaker 1: progress and progress and it really, you know, it serves
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  Speaker 1: that need esp in these rural communities where especially a
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  Speaker 1: lot of the surrounding communities and even for other you
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  Speaker 1: know across the bridge, people are looking for quality healthcare
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  Speaker 1: they know they can depend on, and you guys just
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  Speaker 1: kind of keep adding that value to it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, back in nineteen seventy two, there was an open
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  Speaker 2: house and one of our board members gave me a
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  Speaker 2: brochure from that, and it was really neat to go
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  Speaker 2: back and look and see what the operating rooms look
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  Speaker 2: like back then and compared to what they are today
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  Speaker 2: and big changes, but to see things like that, and
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  Speaker 2: they said, back then we were seeing about three thousand
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  Speaker 2: patients or four thousand patients a year, and now the
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  Speaker 2: growth that I have seen, you know, since I've been
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  Speaker 2: here in the thirteen years, we've progressively gotten and increased
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  Speaker 2: the number of patients per month. And now we're up
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  Speaker 2: to about five thousand a month. So with that many
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  Speaker 2: patients coming through the door, we were just faced with
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  Speaker 2: an expansion and this next one that we've this last
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  Speaker 2: one that we built that we'd be celebrating here shortly.
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  Speaker 2: We actually were looking ahead and the third floor was
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  Speaker 2: built for it's an open area for future expansion. But
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  Speaker 2: I'll tell you, Brandon, the way things go, I would
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  Speaker 2: almost see I'm going to forecast by the end of
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  Speaker 2: the month, we'll start seeing some kind of use being
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  Speaker 2: made out of that future expansion area.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I am certain they're with you that it'll be
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  Speaker 1: buzzing' oh man.
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  Speaker 2: And even recently, our rehab department, you know, is kind
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  Speaker 2: of a subset of what you know, our direct care.
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  Speaker 2: After people have had surgeries, or people that have had
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  Speaker 2: some type of balance issues, you know, whatever it may be,
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  Speaker 2: need some occupational therapy. That has seen quite an expansion
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  Speaker 2: in growth. And in fact, we just hired another physical
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  Speaker 2: therapist who brings some some additional skills in some of
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  Speaker 2: the areas that he addresses. And so in our meeting
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  Speaker 2: we had about a month ago, in our board meeting,
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  Speaker 2: we decided that our hospital is going to give up
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  Speaker 2: our conference room, the new one which is located right
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  Speaker 2: adjacent to the rehab area. They're going to expand into
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  Speaker 2: that area and double the size of their facility, and
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  Speaker 2: then we'll put a new conference room on the front
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  Speaker 2: of the building. And so when I say the expansion
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  Speaker 2: is done, it really is not, you know, So here
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  Speaker 2: we go again. We'll break around on that, and the
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  Speaker 2: board has approved that unanimously, so we'll put a new
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  Speaker 2: conference room on and then begin renovating the old one.
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  Speaker 1: You know, with all the expansion the improvement that goes on,
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  Speaker 1: you know, it's not surprising that you guys just have
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  Speaker 1: plan after plan lined up. But one of the things,
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  Speaker 1: you know, that's often you know, the most obvious thing
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  Speaker 1: people think of when they think expansion or improvement, but
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  Speaker 1: it also goes beyond the you know, the physical what
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  Speaker 1: you see, and into the different training you know that
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  Speaker 1: your staff and the and the physicians there undergo, including
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  Speaker 1: a complications course.
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  Speaker 2: Right, that's right, and we that's something that doctor Jeger
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  Speaker 2: brought on board with us a few years ago when
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  Speaker 2: he started and we're now in our twelfth year of
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  Speaker 2: doing the complications course. And this is a course that
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  Speaker 2: it is like you said, Brandon is completely outside the
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  Speaker 2: scope of what we do here at the hospital. Because
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  Speaker 2: with the skill set that we have, we realized that
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  Speaker 2: there wasn't a whole lot of training opportunities for pediatrists
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  Speaker 2: in the area, and so we launched a training for
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  Speaker 2: a pediatrist and we do that each year at the
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  Speaker 2: University of Illinois and their Naperville Conference Conference Center, and
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  Speaker 2: last year and the late year before and the year
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  Speaker 2: before that, we've attracted about eighty five to eighty eight
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  Speaker 2: doctors that come annually for training where they can get
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  Speaker 2: CU credits, practice on cadavers, you know, from the knee down,
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  Speaker 2: and then also have some educational seminars as well, and
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  Speaker 2: they walk away with sixteen CEUs and a great opportunity
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  Speaker 2: to interact with docs that they may see only just
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  Speaker 2: a couple of times a year, you know. So it
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  Speaker 2: is viewed as a bit of a social event as well.
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  Speaker 2: But in the many years that I've been doing it,
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  Speaker 2: I've told doctor Yeager before, I said, I think after
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  Speaker 2: watching doctors and pediatrists practice on cadavers, you know, doing
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  Speaker 2: bunyan ectomies and some other procedures that they do, I said,
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  Speaker 2: I think I might be able to do it myself,
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  Speaker 2: and he goes, yeah, you just go ahead and try that, Meca.
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  Speaker 2: We'll see how the results are. Well, I said, it
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  Speaker 2: won't be minimally invasive, and it probably won't be paining free,
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  Speaker 2: but I'll probably get I could get her done.
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  Speaker 1: But oh yeah, that's almost like No, that that sounds
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  Speaker 1: like me and carpentry, Like, sure, I can cut that
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  Speaker 1: up and make you a table.
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  Speaker 2: Oh gosh, I think you just cussed. You said carpentry.
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  Speaker 2: But that's not for me either, I hear you.
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  Speaker 1: We got a couple of minutes left make Was there
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  Speaker 1: anything else you wanted to share this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, we will be doing an open house
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  Speaker 2: for that expansion and and I would imagine look for
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  Speaker 2: that in probably mid July. And we typically like to
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  Speaker 2: shoot for a Sunday afternoon Brandon where people, you know,
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  Speaker 2: maybe wrap up things at church and then come here
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  Speaker 2: anywhere anywhere between noon and three o'clock and have a
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  Speaker 2: tour of our new facility. Let us let them see
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  Speaker 2: that firsthand, let them experience, you know, what it what
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  Speaker 2: it might be like if they were to come in,
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  Speaker 2: so they'd have an understanding that when they how they
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  Speaker 2: enter the building. And the nice thing about this one
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  Speaker 2: is that for doctor Yeager and Foad, who are located
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  Speaker 2: on our ground floor, when they pull in on that
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  Speaker 2: new facility off of Knox Street, they'll be pulling into
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  Speaker 2: a parking garage, and so the building is actually built
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  Speaker 2: above the an area where they'd be able to park
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  Speaker 2: their cars. So park there and then they take an
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  Speaker 2: elevator up to get to those those docks. And so
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  Speaker 2: that's another little, you know, improvement that we're going to
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  Speaker 2: see on that end. And and then because the volume
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  Speaker 2: for those two doctors has grown as well, so we
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  Speaker 2: just get so excited. But look for that to happen.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, we've got a newsletter going out here probably
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  Speaker 2: in the next week or so to all of the
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  Speaker 2: homes and Dixon and all around, a direct mail piece.
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  Speaker 2: Look for that to see some of the new expansion
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  Speaker 2: opportunities that we're doing here at the hospital, including some
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  Speaker 2: hormone replacement therapy that doctor Nicky and bridget Woodhull are doing.
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  Speaker 2: They'll see some vein procedures that doctor Maddox is doing,
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  Speaker 2: and also read a little bit about doctor Yeager and
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  Speaker 2: doctor Powers, who we just brought on board from the
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  Speaker 2: Dixon area has been a really he's just jumped right
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  Speaker 2: in and he is super busy as one of our
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  Speaker 2: new surgeons. So those are things they're going to be
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  Speaker 2: in that newsletter in them days to come.
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  Speaker 1: Well, look for that newsletter in your mailbox. Better yet,
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  Speaker 1: you can go online as well, or listen to this conversation,
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  Speaker 1: or go on down to the hospital. They've got the
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  Speaker 1: people who've got all the information you'll need.
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  Speaker 2: Nick.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for all of the updates and
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  Speaker 1: the fine work that you folks do over at Morrison
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  Speaker 1: Community Hospital to make sure that we have trust healthcare
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  Speaker 1: in this area. And I look forward to more updates because,
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  Speaker 1: as I know you folks the way that I've come to,
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  Speaker 1: you're just full of updates, full of progress, and I
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  Speaker 1: can't wait till the next update.
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  Speaker 2: Happy to be a part Brandon, and thanks for supporting
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: us absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks Mick