The Bristow City Council met in chambers Monday evening for the last meeting of 2021. After the innovation and pledge of allegiance, the council closed the city side of the meeting and went straight into the Bristow Hospital Authority agenda. The council gave the floor to Chief Operating Officer and President of Carrus Lakeside Hospital LLC, Jon Rains, to inform the public of the outcome of a walk through performed by the Oklahoma State Health Department on Dec. 8. Rains stated that they the health department had red tagged the hospital which basically means that no new patients can be admitted to the hospital under the new license due to electrical issues, infection control issues and fire safety. Right now that is the three main issues. Rains said the the state is going to allow them to operate in the existing building, however certain items will have to be brought up to code in order to do this. Rains said, “If we don't bring the items up to code then the health department will turn it over to CMS and CMS will step in and say well no you will have to do x, y and z before operating in the building. Rains stated that semi private rooms will be okay and modifications such as venting to the isolation room will need to be made. “We will need to add some hand washing staions in areas,” said Rains.”Things of that nature that will bring the old hospital up to code for operations while the new hospital is being constructed.” Rains stated that the health department and CMS are aware that a new hospital is being built and stated that the repairs to the existing building will be as minimal as possible and as soon as Carrus gets the full list of the items that need corrected, then that list will be given to the council. The council asked if they had any idea when the upgrades will take place. Rains said, “The OSDH has stated they can go with a segmented approach. For instance, once we get the ER up to code and operational, they can close off the in patient care and work on it while the ER is fully operational. The plan is to have a 12 hour urgent care and a 24/7 emergency room. Rains says that Carrus has submitted everything they need to in order to get the process started, just waiting for CMS approval. The hospital will need to be closed for a couple of weeks to allow the upgrades to be made and then will reopen, don't panic, the community is not loosing its hospital, it will only be closed for a short period of time to allow for the improvements. Carrus, the city and all involved is working diligently to make all this happen but to make it happen in the right way so the community has good health care.
The board then went into executive session for confidential communications regarding the Bristow Endeavor Healthcare vs the Bristow Hospital Authority, Case No: 2021-142.
The hospital authority side of the meeting was adjourned and the council moved on to the city and municipal side of the meeting. The council took action approving blanket claims for the Bristow Fire Department for uniform allowances for nine firefighters at $600 each. The board then went into executive session to discuss the employment of Redford Johnson, Joey Gasperini and Charles Pulley to the public works department and Blake Dowty and Brandy O'Neal as police dispatchers.