Study launches dialogue on health care system

Last fall Bonner General Hospital began conducting a community healthcare needs assessment to engage our community in a dialogue about the local healthcare system. While we'll be finalizing that assessment later this month, something it has already revealed is that people don't always know what services are available at Bonner General Hospital. We'll be taking steps to remedy that in 2008. As a starting point, this brief overview may be helpful.

Bonner General Hospital is a full-service, acute care hospital licensed for 48 beds, and is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

In addition to its medical/surgical unit, which is the “heart of the hospital” where most of the inpatient care is located, BGH has a 24-hour emergency department; a four-room surgical suite that provides general and orthopedic surgery services; an intensive care/cardiac care unit; a comprehensive diagnostic imaging (also known as “radiology”) department; a family-centered maternity unit; a full-service laboratory; and an on-site pharmacy.

In addition to inpatient services, BGH provides a number of outpatient services, including cardiac rehabilitation; diabetes education and nutrition counseling; occupational health services; rehabilitation programs (aquatic, occupational, physical and speech therapies); home health and hospice services. The hospital also operates Bonner General Immediate Care Clinic in Ponderay, Performance Physical Therapy Centers in Sandpoint and Ponderay, and Priest River Medical and Rehab Clinic.

BGH has 47 physicians on active medical staff and 58 on courtesy staff. Active medical staff consists of physicians who regularly admit patients to the hospital and who are located close enough to the hospital to provide continuous care to their patients. Our active medical staff includes physicians in the following areas of practice:

n Family practice

n Internal medicine

n Obstetrics and gynecology

n Pediatrics

n General surgery

n Orthopedic surgery

n Cardiology

n Radiology

n Emergency medicine

n Anesthesiology

n Ophthalmology

n Oncology

n Physical medicine and rehabilitation

The hospital's courtesy staff physicians consists of those physicians who order tests and perform procedures, but who generally admit less than 10 inpatients per year. Our courtesy medical staff includes physicians in the following areas of practice:

n Otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat)

n Dermatology

n Podiatry

n Urology

n Nephrology

n Pathology

n Allergy and immunology

n Dermatology

n Psychiatry

We're fortunate to have a wide scope of healthcare services available here in Sandpoint, particularly considering the size of our community. As we continue to grow and expand the scope of services that BGH offers, our goal is to ensure that our community is aware of the array of resources right here at home.

Lynda Metz is the director of community development at Bonner General Hospital.