Feather River Bulletin from Quincy, California • Page 10

PagelOA Feather River Bulletin February 12, 1986 hospital'. faces mew future between November throuah hospital profits will go to the operating profit, but sense that thino will imorove. With By Sandra Qubel Eastern Plumas District Hospital (EPDH) entered into an agreement Monday with the management force which operates Wkshoe Medical Center in Reno. "Keeping the doors open is the major reason" for the change, bord chairman Jackie Marquette sa(d- Administrator Mike Shaw and mjny others agree with her. first established as Western Pacific (WP) Hospital in 1910, could no longer make it on its own.

(Western Pacific Hospital, out of financial troubles, gave way to establishment of tax-supported EPDH in 1966. Economic and government influences seem to have lead to the troubles EPDH has seen. Nevada Health Systems (NHS) now assumes management and financial responsibility for EPDH. The local hospital will remain a district hospital, though it will be has been deemed "the juggling act" by Shaw and business manager Marian Gonzalez. November, 1985 operating revenue was down 49 percent from the previous November, a loss of almost $40,000, as compared to a gain of almost the same in November, 1984.

While December, 1985, showed an operating loss of $30,000, Mrs. Gonzalez said last month, January, was much better because of improved census. At the end of December, 1985, the number of patients discharged from EPDH was down 22 percent from the previous year, and the length that patients stayed, went down an average of 31 percent. Unchanging, fixed costs of some $190,000 per month have been "cut to the bone" in recent months, in an attempt to keep losses to a minimum. "We're lean, there's no fluff here," Shaw said.

Utilizing voluntary cuts in salary and the cutting of employee hours. EPDH saved about $15,000 January, Mrs. Gonzalez said. A "Workshare" program enabled those whose hours were cut, to draw a percentage of unemployment benefits-a great help to the hospital and employees, she added. "Collections on bills are being maximized," Mrs.

Gonzalez said, in an effort to improve cash flow. Also, close supervision of "days out," the number of days until reimbursement is received from various sources, is being done, with good results, she added. Cash from NHS last month, $117,000, helped EPDH to pay November bills. NHS now assumes financial responsibility retroactive to January 1, as well as bills for December. The advance, "borrowed" from NHS with no interest, will be "paid back" to them, taken from profit the hospital district receives, as provided for in the new arrangement.

The contract stipulates that one-third of discussed, with County Supervisor John Schramel volunteering to investigate what other bridges in the State might be available to Plumas County. re-named, simply, Eastern Plumas Hospital. Local tax monies will be used by the hospital board for upkeep on the district's buildings, land and equipment. It now faces what many believe is a more certain future. NHS has stated it intends to ''network" area health care and increase local service.

Increasing the number of patients in the hospital is a high priority of the management crew. "Networking" is already taking place, with the sharing of EPDH's surgical team. Traveling to another NHS facility, Sierra Valley Community Hospital in Loyal ton, there are many other plans to cooperate in the health care venture. Shaw believes there are three advantages to the new arrangement: financial stability, expansion of services, and greater efficiency. For the past year, EPDH has held especially shaky finances, and in recent months, payment of bills bridge, and move the iron portion to provide access over Wolf Creek to Greenville Community Park.

Quincy District Ranger Bob Wilcox provided a brief history of the bridge, which was constructed as part of the old Immigrant Road, serving as the first all-season route between Indian and American Valleys. In 1983, the USFS closed it to all vehicular traffic, after engineers determined that it was structurally deficient and in disrepair. He estimated that it would cost approximately $200,000 to bring it up to standards for vehicular use. Jim Brock explained the County's position. A new bridge constructed for the Greenville Park would cost approximately $130,000, he said, but he estimates the cost of moving Shoofly to be The County would not be using the bridge's wooden section, but would move the iron trestle only.

With new, pressure- Don't move Shoofly Bridge, pleads Historical Society Calgom cleaning up after cyanide leaks into Wolf Creek IJi-lsy Curry Week Staff Writer Along with Friends of Indian Creek, the Plumas County Historical Society (PCHS) voted unanimously to urge the U.S. Forest Service to keep Shoofly, the oldest bridge in Plumas County, at its original location near Indian Falls, en lieu of moving it to serve as the future access to the new park in Greenville. At a public hearing last Thursday in Greenville, U.S. Forest Service officials listened while Bob Cooke, Chairman of the Board for PCHS, read a letter written by Bruce Livingston, a PCHS member, who has offered to head a special committee to save the old bridge and restore it to a safe condition. The meeting's purpose was to provide the Forest Service with public input regarding the County's recent proposal to dismantle the nearly 100-year old district.

Patients in the hospital are declining, among reasons, due to higher insurance and deductible costs. On the hospital's end, along with declining patient numbers has also been many other problems. Contributing to weakening EPDH's financial stance was a "bill" from Medicare early last year, stating that EPDH owed the government around $200,000 from overpayment. In previous years, hospitals could estimate, and obviously overestimate what their Medicare costs would be, Shaw said. Banking the money until the government asked for the overpayment back, EPDH's 1984 "profit" was of this type, he added.

Having to pay back the $200,000 during 1985 severely limited cash reserves, and began to affect more than that, Shaw said. Shaw, board members and hospital employees believe it will take a while to see a turnaround in The last date for written input from the public to the Forest Service is February 14. After consideration and review of the project, USFS intends to make its per million at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, according to lab results of Forest Service samples. Later samples at the bridge did not turn up traces of the cyanide, according to the Forest Service.

The Environmental Sanitation Department sent samples taken from wells supplying drinking water to the Greenhaven subdivision near Greenville to a state lab. The 270 parts per million cyanide concentration is instantly lethal to humans, according to Ann Kirkpatrick, geology professor at the University of Colorado. She said exposure to 135 parts per million of cyanide will kill you after 30 minutes. The ponds contained 170-220 parts per million cyanide at their peak, said Wickman. Grandall said drinking a mix of 10 parts per million a day is not deadly.

Cyanide can also pass through human skin. Early Monday morning (February 3), Forest Service workers using inexact field testing kits picked up the last measurable traces of cyanide in Wolf Creek where it meets the seasonal wash trickling a mile down from the mine ponds. Monday night, Calgom and PNF officials readied to let pond water nuetralized with chlorine into the wash feeding Wolf Creek a little a time to avoid uncontrolled release as the rains continued. But the weather eased up, said Ken Roby of the Forest Service, and the Calgom mine "got a little wiggle PAID POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT Plumas Suite Reno, Nevada 89509 January 9, 1986 t-V, Anna" ien Walters, P.E OR BY CITIZt'NS TO RETAIN I tONARl) MAKCi AKL I Silt AH 1 1 Al Kl'l KS( 1 resources available from NHS, which is also affiliating with other small rural hospitals, supplies and services, technical information and management expertise are on the horizon. With stepped up marketing efforts by NHS to increase patient census, and improved management of operations, most look forward to "happier days," though with a little sentiment.

"Sizing up" of operating procedures in various departments is reported to be a first item on the NHS agenda. "I expect we'll see changes over the course of the first year," board chairman Marquette said. "The end result is both the hospital and doctors will do better," Shaw concluded. "And the additional services will really be a plus." decision on Shoofly's fate within the next few months. If their offer is accepted, the County will move the bridge to Greenville this summer.

room. The mine workers dug three more emergency holding ponds, said Wickman, ending the need to dump tainted water into the watershed. By Thursday afternoon, the Forest Service said they had found the cyanide source. The refuse heap of supposedly detoxified ore gleaned of its gold showed "hot" spots that morning, said Wickman. Mine workers had been nuetralizing the holding ponds.

The Forest Service gave them 24 hours to clean up the mine tailings. The worst was long over, but the Forest Service continued monitering Wolf Creek and the mine site through the end of the week. The Calgom operation is shut down until the mine wins permission from the state to resume work, said Wickman. The cyanide is used to help strip gold from ore. The mine violated its state permit which does not allow any cyanide discharge, according to Grandall.

He added the Forest Service water samples also picked up traces of zinc and copper. The future for the mine is uncertain, at least for winter operations, said Roby. "They are basically just a water treatment plant right now," said Wickman. 702 827-6546 ROSS KF.FDW HOT lt Don Rogers m.iIT Writer The Calgom goldmine above Canyon Dam finished cleaning up last week after rains touched off a cyanide leak reaching four miles down Wolf Creek to Setzer Bridge outside Greenville, reported the Plumas National Forest (PNF)- The crisis began January 31 during a storm when Calgom workers saw cyatiittNlaced holding ponds about to overflow, said Greenville district ranger Mike Wickman. The workers hurriedly dug two more ponds to catch the spill.

By midnight Friday, the 4.5 million capacity ponds overflowed into the new one million gallon dugouts. The mine workers added nuetralizing agents to the water to defuse the cyanide, Wickman said. When Sunday morning (February 2) sampling on Wolf Creek turned up traces of the cyanide, the PNF called it a hazardous spill and sent word to federal, state and county agencies as well as local residents, said Forest spokesman Warren Grandall. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not deem the leak serious enough to merit them jumping in, but the state water quality control agency, the Department Fish and Game and the Plumas County Environmental Sanitation Department each responded. One Setzer Bridge cyanide reading put the poison at five parts WALTERS ENGINEERING 6070 Specials From Robbins! treated wood to support it, Shoofly at its new location would last 35-40 years, he stated.

"The bridge is in trouble in its present condition," he said. "It should be used and it should be preserved." Some of the questions raised by local residents who attended the meeting included a concern over whether Shoofly would qualify for a National Register Historical grant if left at its original site, and whether moving it would affect Highway 89's designation as a Scenic Route. Others commented that there would be "a lot more people viewing it if it's moved." There was a general concern about the fate of Shoofly if the Forest Service denies the County's request to move the bridge. The possibility of obtaining another bridge to solve Greenville Park's access problems also was $24 19 Beautifuly Gift Boxed! Many to Choose From! VERY SPECIAL! Jewel Box Holds Lots of Treasures! Elegant Musical Jewelry Chest f3J mm IP 1 if otuu. af Car wHa ho crtwi.

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