Mahaska Health Partnership holds “Business After Hours”
Guests of Mahaska Health Partnership visit with new staff and others during a recent open house held in the Cedar Bluff Learning Center on the MHP campus
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Mahaska Health Partnership invited everyone out to their Cedar Bluff room to welcome their five new staff members this past week at a meet and greet event. The meet and greet went from 4:30 to 6:30 pm for refreshments and hors d’oeuvres.
Kevin DeRonde is the new Executive Director of Clinic Services at MHP. DeRonde is a Pella native that has lived recently in Dallas and Nashville. He moved back to the area to be closer to the family and to also take part in one of the other things in life he enjoys, farming. “My goal has always been to get back to a critical access rural hospital. I’ve found my niche, it’s just a different speed, and the people are just great to work with,” DeRonde said about the move to Mahaska Health Partnership. “It’s exceeded my expectations.”
“We’re continuing to recruit. We still need family practice with obstetrics. That’s a big need here,” Jay Christensen, Mahaska Health Partnership’s CEO, noted about the continued recruiting process the hospital is doing to help supplement it’s staff as some of it’s physicians near retirement age. “We have to start planning for what’s going to happen. Recruiting for primary care is so difficult right now. You can’t wait until someone gives you notice to start recruiting. It’s very difficult to recruit in rural area’s right now,” Christensen also said.
The USDA did approve a loan recently for Mahaska Health Partnership, and the project is once again picking up steam. Since a couple of steps in the process are being redone due to the length of time involved in getting the project going, rebidding is happening at this point. Officials are looking to have the new bids for the project in the next 6 weeks or so.
Late September will probably see the dirt starting to get moved in earnest Christensen said. The construction schedule is 18 to 22 months “Starting in the fall like that, it will probably be on the longer end of that,” said Christensen on when we could see the expansion completed Spring to Summer of 2013.
On a personal note, we have all had hospital food in the past, and most of us were not real fans of the food. I have got to give credit where it is due. The food was provided by Frank Knight, the new Director of Food Service. Frank has been with MHP since the first part of the year.
