DEMOPOLIS-Bryan Whitfield Memorial Hospital’s Executive Director Mike Marshall said the hospital is currently sitting at $127,863 in the red, but that’s a $500,000 improvement over the total at this time last year, which was $651,000 in the red.

“I wished it was in the black, but we will get there a lot sooner than we did last year thanks to our good year so far,” Marshall said.

He said the current revenue for the year is up 16 percent from last year and the customer satisfaction rose from 73 percent last month to 87 percent this month. The increase in revenue is due to a major increase in the amount of surgeries performed at the hospital and outpatient visits. The number of surgeries has increased from 10,000 at the end of last year to 10,720 already this year along with the number of outpatient visits from 1,667 at the end of the year to 2,334 already this year.

“This is a major accomplishment for the hospital,” Marshall said, “This is just a testament to the kind of people we have here.”

He said the hospital has been approved to restructure the nursing stations. He also said the hospital will now have ‘Charge Nurses’.

“This improvement will put decision making and accountability closer to the patient where it belongs anyway,” Marshall said.

He said the hospital infection rate has decreased from .73 from last year to .27 this month. He also sad this was a very good sign because of all the increases in the number of patients visiting the hospital.

He said the hospital was awarded a $28,000 a State Rural Hospital grant, which the hospital will use to purchase some EMS equipment, training and benefits.

He said the hospital would now have a section 125 cafeteria benefit programs for the staff. He also said all next week will be ‘Hospital Week’.

“We have lots of different events planned for the residents of Demopolis as well as the employees here at the hospital,” Marshall said.

He said he was going to speak during the Kiwanis Club of Demopolis meeting on Tuesday and then he was going to speak to the Demopolis Rotary Club on Wednesday. He also said the hospital would be having a free car seat safety check from noon-2 p.m. in the front parking lot.

“There is going to be a free health screening on Thursday in the new classroom at the hospital,” Mitchell said.

He said they would be holding a uniform sale on Friday from 7 a.m.-4 p.m. also in the new classroom.