By Tara DeRock Mahoney
Senior Staff Writer

    Morgan Memorial Hospital billed for services worth $2,342,903 during the month of February, a lifetime high for the facility.
    “That is an all-time record for gross patient revenue,” said John Milliken, treasurer of the Morgan Hospital Authority, at a meeting last Thursday. Applause greeted his announcement.
    “That's 36 percent higher than the same month last year, and seven percent over the month before,” continued Milliken. “And keep in mind that February was only 29 days long, compared to 31 days in January...It just keeps getting better. We're 22 percent better than budget for February,” said Milliken.
    Further, Milliken reported that the hospital emergency room averaged 21 visits per day in February. “It wasn't that long ago that we were seeing about 14 [emergency room] visits per day,” said Milliken. “The community has gained a lot of respect for this hospital, and it's showing in visits.” Finally, said Milliken, the hospital has been profitable eight out of the past 11 months, and seven of those have been the past seven months in a row.
    Patient satisfaction at the hospital remains very high, reported Patrick Cook, vice president of Support and Services, with those completing exit surveys rating the hospital 4.79 out of five overall. Some negative comments by patients for inpatient services last month were attributed to the fact that the hospital had to use a number of contract employees due to a high patient census, because regular hospital staff positions were not yet filled. But nursing supervisory positions have now been completely filled, as are most shifts; the hospital is expected to be staffed with regular employees who have completed all training within a month.

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By Tara DeRock Mahoney
Senior Staff Writer

    Nearly 50 members of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church attended last week's Planning Commission meeting, showing their support for a request to expand their facility by adding an 8,000-square-foot multi-purpose hall to the property.
About two dozen neighbors in opposition to the church's site plan also attended the meeting, which was at times contentious.
    The church had asked the commission to approve both the building of the new multi-purpose hall, which will be completed in stages as the church raises the cash needed, as well as a comprehensive site plan which included a number of future facilities on the church campus, including a ball field, a retirement home for missionaries and a new sanctuary.
    County staff and commission members made clear fairly quickly that the wide-ranging site plan would not be approved by the group; rather, church members would have to come back to the commission as various projects develop over time for permission to continue to build in the Agricultural zoning district. But the new hall was unanimously approved; Morgan County Senior Planner Allison Moon described it as a structure very typical of church campuses in the area
    Church pastor Byron Lee said that the exterior of the new building would be clad to match the existing church structure, in accordance with deed covenants.
    A couple of neighbors, including Chris Brandon and Gary Sherwood, spoke in opposition to the church's plans.
    “I want everybody to understand that I am not against church business,” said Brandon. “But I want to talk about intent...the potential is there for this whole property to become [something] far from the intent of the buyer and the seller of the property.”

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