(April 28, 2016) Two more Berlin area nonprofits sought inclusion in town government’s FY 17 budget Monday night by making presentations to the mayor and council.
Michael Franklin, president of Atlantic General Hospital, addressed the council first and reiterated the points he had made in a January presentation, when he talked about the hospital’s improved operating margins, increased productivity and positive effect on the community.
Franklin said AGH was moving towards a system of coordinated care, something it had been building to for years. He also discussed better ways of “consuming” health care.
“What’s driving that is the cost of health care,” he said. “There is a lot of utilization of health care services that’s unnecessary … How do we drive these things out of the health care system?”
Readmissions to the hospital, which could have been prevented, were a large part of that unnecessary utilization. AGH works closely with the Berlin Nursing and Rehab Center, and Franklin said new telemedicine programs, launched last summer, have helped reduced readmissions there from 17 to eight percent.
State mandates called for reducing readmission to the acute care portion of the hospital to 53 percent. In six months, AGH was able to cut that number to just 15 percent.
The hospital is also working on preventative programs, including a health literacy initiative in grades one through five in local schools. Eventually, Franklin said, he would like to see that in place all the way through eighth grade.
A 2020 master facilities plan produced by AGH includes a “one stop” health care center for women, and expanded surgical services and emergency care.
Franklin said the hospital employed more than 850 people, with a payroll of more than $46 million, “bringing a rich, diverse medical community into the region, as well as creating a good economic engine.”
Wendy Myers, program director at the Cricket Center, also addressed the council.
She said the nonprofit is one of only two accredited child advocacy centers on the Eastern Shore, and it addresses a crucial part of the population.
“National statics are, before children turn 18 years old, one in five boys experience some form of child sexual abuse, and one in three girls experience some form of child sexual abuse,” Myers said. “It is a crime of secrecy, so we believe part of our mission is to go out into the community and talk about abuse.”
At the center, children who have been victims of sexual abuse can receive medical exams and trauma-based therapy, and benefit from a “multidisciplinary” investigation team, in one place, in a child-friendly environment.
During the last fiscal year, Cricket Center reviewed 81 cases, put in 495 “trauma hours” with victims, and identified 34 sex offenders.
It also helped produce, through partnerships with local police, 18 arrests in relation to producing or distributing child pornography.
All of the services at the Cricket Center are free to the victims and their families. The center is supported by grants and donations.
Williams said he hoped the facilities at the Cricket Center, which includes a specialized space where police and trauma counselors can interview and videotape victim testimony, would help keep children from having to face their abusers in court.
Under the current legal system in Maryland, defendants have the right to face their accusers in court – a law that extends to children.
“If a county has the facilities that qualify with the expertise, the funding and the technical capabilities you all [have], then the child should not have to be required to go to court,” Williams said. “This is a good place, maybe, to begin that light.”
Michael Franklin, president of Atlantic General Hospital, addressed the council first and reiterated the points he had made in a January presentation, when he talked about the hospital’s improved operating margins, increased productivity and positive effect on the community.
Franklin said AGH was moving towards a system of coordinated care, something it had been building to for years. He also discussed better ways of “consuming” health care.
“What’s driving that is the cost of health care,” he said. “There is a lot of utilization of health care services that’s unnecessary … How do we drive these things out of the health care system?”
Readmissions to the hospital, which could have been prevented, were a large part of that unnecessary utilization. AGH works closely with the Berlin Nursing and Rehab Center, and Franklin said new telemedicine programs, launched last summer, have helped reduced readmissions there from 17 to eight percent.
State mandates called for reducing readmission to the acute care portion of the hospital to 53 percent. In six months, AGH was able to cut that number to just 15 percent.
The hospital is also working on preventative programs, including a health literacy initiative in grades one through five in local schools. Eventually, Franklin said, he would like to see that in place all the way through eighth grade.
A 2020 master facilities plan produced by AGH includes a “one stop” health care center for women, and expanded surgical services and emergency care.
Franklin said the hospital employed more than 850 people, with a payroll of more than $46 million, “bringing a rich, diverse medical community into the region, as well as creating a good economic engine.”
Wendy Myers, program director at the Cricket Center, also addressed the council.
She said the nonprofit is one of only two accredited child advocacy centers on the Eastern Shore, and it addresses a crucial part of the population.
“National statics are, before children turn 18 years old, one in five boys experience some form of child sexual abuse, and one in three girls experience some form of child sexual abuse,” Myers said. “It is a crime of secrecy, so we believe part of our mission is to go out into the community and talk about abuse.”
At the center, children who have been victims of sexual abuse can receive medical exams and trauma-based therapy, and benefit from a “multidisciplinary” investigation team, in one place, in a child-friendly environment.
During the last fiscal year, Cricket Center reviewed 81 cases, put in 495 “trauma hours” with victims, and identified 34 sex offenders.
It also helped produce, through partnerships with local police, 18 arrests in relation to producing or distributing child pornography.
All of the services at the Cricket Center are free to the victims and their families. The center is supported by grants and donations.
Williams said he hoped the facilities at the Cricket Center, which includes a specialized space where police and trauma counselors can interview and videotape victim testimony, would help keep children from having to face their abusers in court.
Under the current legal system in Maryland, defendants have the right to face their accusers in court – a law that extends to children.
“If a county has the facilities that qualify with the expertise, the funding and the technical capabilities you all [have], then the child should not have to be required to go to court,” Williams said. “This is a good place, maybe, to begin that light.”