By Jeff Shultz

Publisher

Seventeen employees at Pauls Valley General Hospital were given pink slips Wednesday, January 25, in a move to save the hospital thousands of dollars each week, hospital officials announced Wednesday.

The move comes two days after the PV Hospital Board and St. Anthony’s announced the hiring of a new CEO for the hospital.

Gayle Sturgis, interim CEO for PVGH, told the News Star the positions eliminated ranged from as high up as directors to housekeeping employees.

“Some employees were offered other open positions here at the hospital while others were given a severance package,” she said.

The severance package included all remaining holiday and vacation pay each employee had and an expedited unemployment benefits process for those employees who will be leaving the hospital.

Sturgis said the decision was made by the PVGH Hospital Board and the Hospital Authority in an effort to improve efficiency of clinical and support functions within the hospital and position the hospital for the future environment under healthcare reform.

“It was a hard decision to make, but each week we put this off the hospital was losing $25,000 per week,” Sturgis told the News Star.

She added that PVGH is undergoing restructuring of its operations and that additional actions will be taken to improve operational performance outside of position reductions such as billing policies and making the hospital more efficient in it’s purchasing decisions.