www.thermopir.comOctober 15, 2020 PAGE 5

Graveside services for Janet Heinze Parrent, 82, will be held Friday, October 16, 2020, at Monument Hill Cemetery.

Parrent passed away Monday, October 12, 2020, in Ther-mopolis.

Janet Heinze Parrent

ObituariesDena Balstad passed away, September 30, 2020, in Casper,

Wyo., following a lengthy illness. Claud Deanne Hart “Dena” was born March 14, 1945, in

Thermopolis, Wyo., to Lucille Shoopman Hart and Claude Hart.

Dena married Gary Robinson on May 18, 1963, who passed away September 21, 1963. She later married Thomas R. Balstad on October 29, 1964. They had five chil-dren, Thomas R. Balstad, Jr., David A., Jeffory J., Lucille A. and John M.

She was a lifelong resident of Ther-mopolis and will be remembered by many for her work in the restaurant business. She enjoyed crocheting, antiques and going to yard sales. In her younger years she was a heck of a racquetball player and she enjoyed

hunting and being out in nature. Her smile and the twinkle in her eye will be missed by all.

She is survived by her daughter, Lucy (Lee) Rathbun of Thermopolis; sons, Dave of Thermopolis, Jeffory (Becky) of Gillette and John (Michelle) of El Dorado, Ark.; 13 grand-children; 12 great-grandchildren; brothers, Dick (Sandy) Howe of Thermopolis, Larry of Thermopolis and Mike (Cheryle) of Greybull; and sister, Patti (Tom) Jeunehomme of Thermopolis.

Dena was preceded in death by her parents, Claude Hart and Lucille Wright; and stepfather, Roger Wright; son, Thomas R. Balstad, Jr.; sisters, Mary Lou Charles and Pam Hart; and brother, Hal Hart.

Mortimore Funeral Home is assisting the family with ar-rangements. Messages may be offered at www.mortfh.com.

There will be a celebration of her life scheduled for spring, 2021.

Dena Balstad

Vet Science lessonDr. Kevin Dickey gives instructions and helps Chloee Owsley discover the wonder of pregnancy test-ing a cow. Rectal palpation is the most economical and convenient method of pregnancy testing cat-tle. Using this method, vets can identify pregnant cows as early as six weeks after conception. They feel for the calf’s head, a pulse in the artery supplying blood to the uterus, and the shape of the cow’s uterus. Early detection of non-pregnant cows is the main benefit from pregnancy testing. A ranch-er can decide whether to keep or cull the cow if she is not going to produce a calf the in the spring.

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CALENDARDaily Flushotbyappointment,PublicHealthOfficeThurs.,Oct.15 HelpCenter,CommonGround,noon-3p.m. NatureandDiscoveryCentermeeting,annex,4p.m. OwlCreekWaterDistrictmeeting,annex,6p.m.Fri.,Oct.16 ThermopolisFootball100yearcelebrationathalftime,gamestartsat4p.m. AcousticJam,StateParkPavilion,5:30p.m.Sat.,Oct.17 VFWAuxiliaryBreakfastFundraiser,VFW,8a.m.-10a.m. HopeAgencyFallFestival&CraftShow,CommunityHall,10a.m.-3p.m.Sun.,Oct.18 Harvey&LoisSeidelretirementcelebration,FirstBaptistChurch,11a.m.Mon.,Oct.19 HSCRepublicanPartymeeting,annex,6:30p.m. HSCRecreationBoardmeeting,armory,7p.m.Tues.,Oct.20 HSCMuseumBoardmeeting,HSCMuseum,9:30a.m. WorkforceServices,HSCLibrary,10a.m.-noon/1:30-3:30p.m. Rotary,KirbyCreekMercantile,noon HelpCenter,CommonGround,noon-3p.m. CountyCommissionersmeeting,annex,3p.m. SchoolBoardmeeting,boardroom,6:30p.m. ThermopolisTownCouncilmeeting,townhall,7p.m.Wed.,Oct.21 ImmunizationClinicbyappointment,PublicHealthOffice HelpCenter,CommonGround,noon-3p.m. Travel&Tourismmeeting,HSCMuseum,1p.m. LandUsePlanningmeeting,annex,6p.m.Thurs.,Oct.22 KiwanisClub,DaysInn,6:45a.m. CommodityGiveAway,RiverofLifeChurch,10a.m.-1p.m. HelpCenter,CommonGround,noon-3p.m. MainStreetThermopolismeeting,MainStreetOffice,6p.m.

COMMUNITY

Call 864-2328 to have your community event listed.PublishedasapublicservicebytheIndependentRecordand

THERMOPOLIS 125 South 5th Street, 307.864.5555wypinnbank.com

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ThursdayBeef Stew. Onion Cheese Roll,

Cottage Cheese w/ Peaches, Raspberry Bar

FrIdayLasagna, Italian Vegetables,

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available at the pharmacy. Masks are required.

by Jurri SchenckAt the September Hot

Springs County Memori-al Hospital board meeting, Hospital Foundation Direc-tor Dan Powell reported that they are ready to submit their strategic plan to the founda-tion board for approval at their meeting on October 28.

Powell said that this new strategic plan is more in depth in their plans than they’ve had before. With their To-gether We’re Better campaign which involves employee par-ticipation they currently have eight percent participation and they are looking to in-crease that rate.

Their annual appeal bro-chures went out last week. They are hoping for donations to come from that.

Power also submitted a grant application to the Wy-oming Breast Cancer Initia-tive to help fund their 3D vi-sual mammography project. In their golf tournament that took place in August, they raised $8,544.96. They also received a check for $2,500 from the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation to help meet needs in the lab. How-ever, since applying for that money in March the need in the lab went away so they are looking for another approved use of that money on a differ-ent item.

In the WyoGives online fundraiser in July, they col-lected over $12,000 in dona-tions and ranked eighth place in raising the largest amount of money out of 130 nonprofit organizations in the state.

Doctor Hallie Bischoff re-ported for the first time in person about the medical

staff. She is usually on call Tuesday nights and made ar-rangements to attend.

Bischoff said that Doctor Miller is working on building his staff and numbers back up since COVID hit and there was a slowdown. His num-bers are now beginning to come back up. Bischoff said that they hired some new people, a specialty clinic co-ordinator, new front desk staff and a lab tech. The new hires are getting up to speed with their training. Bischoff said, “It’s exciting” to have new employees.

She also reported that or-thopedic “Dr. Lee is leaving in December, “which is sad for us. He has a new opportu-nity in Colorado that’s pretty exciting for him and his fam-ily but it’s a huge loss for us. Dr. Lee is wonderful. Patients love him.”

Regarding potential re-placements for Dr. Lee, Bischoff mentioned Dr. Fran-cisco and Dr. Landon, both of Lander could potentially come to Hot Springs County to provide care. They espe-cially love sports medicine. Bischoff said she appreciates their communication and care and thinks they could be a valid option.

Bischoff reported that Dr. Folker, an ear-nose-throat doctor, of Cody, will come to Hot Springs County to hold a clinic starting October 2. He will be in Thermopolis the first Friday of every month

in the afternoon to do clin-ics and procedures. Bischoff said many families especial-ly love Dr. Folker in how he cares for his patients and their kids with allergies and ear infections.

Prospective general sur-geon Dr. Nicole Jamieson who interviewed and was looking to come to Hot Springs County has signed. She will start next August 2021. She and her husband are looking forward to coming here. They are still talking to Dr. Stephen Asay and he will do a site visit in the near future.

Bischoff said that they are still working on getting a rapid testing machine for COVID. They should have multiple ways of testing for COVID soon. This will help patients to get tested quick-er so that they can return to work sooner or be ready for surgery.

Nina Landis said in her quality report that they are looking at a new software called Doctor First. It is a medication reconciliation pro-gram that interacts with the pharmacy so that they can see every medication the patient is taking or even ones they discontinued years ago. This makes things more accurate in record keeping.

Hospital CEO Margie Mo-litor added to Dr. Bischoff’s report and said she is excited to have Dr. Nicole Jamieson on board the staff. Molitor clarified on the COVID test-

ing saying they do have a Bio-Fire, which is a large instru-ment that will be put in the lab as soon as the technician from the manufacturers in-stalls the machine and trains the staff. They have wave test-ing which they hope to go live in the middle of October.

Regarding construction, Molitor said, “We all had to be flexible.” She thanked all the patients and staff for co-operating in dealing with the construction, as many things changed such as routes along the progress of building. Also, the new CT machine will ar-rive on October 26. The ma-chine will be certified and have new training, and Mo-litor said she hopes to start using it with patients by No-vember 12.

John Gibbel in his services report previewed the board with a new design on the hos-pital website. The new web-site will be able to be owned by the hospital instead of the host, and they can control and update it at any time. The website is still a work in process and will be pub-lished soon. The design clear-ly shows the various services, clinics, specialties, providers and staff and gives much de-tailed information to the user including financial services and others. Gibbel said he aims to go live with the web-site in November.

Gibbel also reported that they won a Wyoming Associa-tion of Broadcasters award for a first-place radio spot for a sleep study ad they produced. It was the best single commer-cial in a small market. Gibbel also said that they will start Lab Well in Worland, which will begin the last Tuesday of October and will be weekly on Tuesday. For marketing pur-poses, they will also put up a billboard in Shoshoni to ad-vertise the hospital.

Shelly Larson said in her financial report that they in-creased their cash on hand from 177 days to 181 days. They also went from $1.8 million accounts that were greater than 60 days down to $540,000. Larson also mentioned the two new staff members that work remotely that do claim submissions and follow-ups, and their help is making a huge difference. La-

son said, “It’s a nice, refresh-ing change.”

Larson added that she re-ceived a revision letter for the audit engagement from Koerwitz et al. accountants due to the amount of work that needs to be done. The estimate for fees done will increase from $30,000 to $40,000 with no cap. It origi-nally was $30,000 to $35,000 and not to exceed $35,000. Also, the audit for single com-pliance which is specifically related to CARES Act funds, those fees increased from $15,000 to $20,000 with no cap. It originally was $10,000 not to exceed $10,000. The use of these funds will qualify as expenses to spend on the CO-VID-19 and CARES funds. The board made a motion and voted to pass the revi-sion costs for the increase in fees related to the accounting of the CARES Act.

Hospital board ready to submit new in depth strategic plan