By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette
During the Guthrie County Hospital board of trustees meeting on Feb. 22, the trustees heard from foundation chair Dennis Flanery about ongoing fundraising efforts and plans for some of the funds raised. In particular, Flanery talked about the Feb. 24 cornhole tournament.
“That’s raising money for scholarships to any high school students in the four schools that serve Guthrie County that are going on to a health care-related field,” said Flanery.
Flanery also mentioned several upcoming foundation fundraiser events, including the April 5 Handbags and Bingo event. He said the event drew 240 participants last year, and he expects around 280 this year.
Flanery said the 5K color run will again be held this year but is being moved up to sometime in June and will include a health fair. He also mentioned the annual golf tournament will be July 9.
CEO Chris Stipe gave an overview of the hospital’s financial status.
“I think things are going well. I thought January’s financials were going to be tough, and we actually turned out better than I thought,” he said.
Stipe also spoke about the challenges in collecting Medicaid revenues owed to the hospital. He said he’s been awaiting a quarterly payment for services provided July through September 2023.
“No news is not good news in this case,” said Stipe. “There’s still a lot of politics and a lot of process that have to happen for us to get our first payment. It’s very complicated.”
Stipe said he hopes to receive that first payment by June 30 at the latest.
The board’s next regular meeting will be Thursday, March 28 at 4 p.m. The public is welcome at all Guthrie County Hospital board meetings, in person or remotely, other than occasional special closed meetings. To attend remotely: Phone 1-469-208-1512 code: 915921694# or attend via Microsoft Teams meeting ID: 270 117 496 60 and enter code: PUrhxW.